William Le Baron Movies

The comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey made their fourth film appearance of 1930 in the hectic comedy-melodrama Hook Line and Sinker. This time the boys are cast as itinerant insurance salesmen Wilbur Boswell and J. Addington Ganzy ("Not Pansy -- Ganzy, with a 'G'"!) After talking their way out of a traffic ticket, Wilbur and Addington make the acquaintance of penniless socialite Mary Marsh (Dorothy Lee), who is fleeing a wealthy marriage arranged by her mother Rebecca (Jobyna Howland). Falling in love with Mary himself, Wilbur talks Ganzy into helping her renovate a seedy hotel willed to her by her uncle. With the dubious aid of a decrepit bellboy (George F. Marion) and a nutty house detective (Hugh Herbert), the boys turn the hotel into a thriving enterprise. The plot thickens when a gang of jewel thieves and a band of bootleggers register at the hotel, followed in short order by Mary's mother and the girl's prospective fiance, lawyer John Blackwell (Ralf Harolde) -- who happens to be in league with the bootleggers! A wild gangland shoot-out and nocturnal chase caps this dated but amusing Wheeler and Woolsey vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of Charlie Chan, was responsible for the international-espionage yarn Inside the Lines. The time is WWI, and the place is Gibraltar, where English girl Jane (Betty Compson) is accidentally reunited with her pre-war sweetheart, German-born Wodehouse (Ralph Forbes). Each suspects the other of being an agent for the Kaiser and the mastermind behind a plan to destroy the British fleet. Imagine their relief when they discover that they're both British intelligence agents (this is the sort of dramatic device that would later be played for laughs in such TV spoofs as Get Smart). The only true villain of the piece is a steely-eyed Hindu fanatic Amahdi, played by future character comedian Mischa Auer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This crime drama chronicles the exploits of three Irish brothers who have taken dramatically different life paths. Tom is an amiable policeman while Matt is a surgeon. The third brother, Owen, is the family black sheep who makes his living running illegal booze. He operates under the alias Barney Muller. His more honest brothers have no idea what Owen does for his money. Things go well for the Muller gang until they commit a murder and the newly promoted Tom is assigned to investigate the case. Meanwhile, Tom's beloved goes to a party at Muller's house in Manhattan. There she overhears some damning information about Muller. She goes back to Tom and Matt with the info and together the three learn the truth about Muller's identity. When Muller learns that a cop is dogging his gang, he orders him killed. He has no idea that it is his own brother. The killers prepare a trap for the unwitting cop, but suddenly Owen shows up and tries to stop it; as a result he is shot and dies in the arms of Tom. Later Tom lies to their parents to save them from unbearable shame. He tells them that Owen has gone away on a very long trip. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rio Rita, an expensive filmization of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928, was the first major production for fledgling RKO Radio Studios. Bebe Daniels plays Rita, an Irish-Mexican girl (with thick Hispanic accent) who oversees a large ranch near the Mexican border. Rita's brother (Don Alvorado) is suspected of being "The Kinkajou," a notorious bandit. On the trail of the Kinkajou, an undercover Texas Ranger (John Boles) falls in love with Rita, much to the chagrin of a wealthy but despotic landowner (Georges Renavent). The villain arranges to make it appear that the Ranger is the Kinkajou, prompting Rita to consent to marriage with the cad in order to save her lover's life. The true identity of the Kinkajou is revealed at a lavish costume party, filmed in early Technicolor. Counterpointing the main plot are the antics of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, comic carryovers from the original Broadway show. Wheeler is in Mexico to arrange a quickie divorce so that he can marry his true love (Dorothy Lee). Woolsey is Wheeler's shady lawyer, who learns too late that he can't make the divorce stick. Wheeler and Woolsey have some of the film's best moments, including a riotous drunk scene and a closing musical number wherein they slap one another as their girlfriends sing inanely into the camera. Rio Rita not only made oodles of money for RKO (it was being regularly reissued throughout the 1930s), but it solidified the popularity of Wheeler and Woolsey, who'd become the studio's biggest comedy stars of the early 1930s. 1929's Rio Rita was withdrawn from circulation when MGM bought the rights for a 1942 remake, this one starring Abbott and Costello. Available only for museum screenings during the past five decades, Rio Rita has recently been released on videocassette, with its rare Technicolor sequence intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his movie debut, Rudy Valley portrays the crooning saxophone player who falls in love with a beautiful young woman. Classic romantic tale is fun with Marie Dressler outstanding in her role as the wealthy eccentric. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a notorious pirate meets a Yankee dance-hall girl in the port of Tapit. He also meets her jealous lover whom he kidnaps. He tells the girl that he will only release her lover if she spends a night in his cabin with him. She reluctantly agrees to his terms. After one night, she finds herself in love. She sets sail with the pirate without a backward glance at her lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The first official release from RKO Productions (previous films from this company had been produced by RKO antecedent FBO Pictures), Street Girl afforded Betty Compson to exhibit her considerable skills as a violinist. Compson is cast as Frederika "Freddy" Joyzelle, manager and principal attraction of The Four Seasons, a Jazz Quartet. In love with Mike Fall (John Harron), the group's pianist, Freddy briefly and foolishly falls in love with Prince Nicholaus (Ivan Lebedeff), who hails from the girl's home country of Aragon. But by film's end, Freddy and Mike have patched things up and tied the knot. A box-office hit, Street Girl was remade by RKO Radio as That Girl From Paris (1937) and Four Jacks and a Jill (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

According to existing information, perennial comedy foil Gertrude Astor was afforded top billing in Stocks and Blondes. Still, the bulk of the story deals with the marriage of unemployed stockbroker Tom Greene (Skeets Gallegher) and nitery dancer Patsy (Jacqueline Logan). To pay for their honeymoon cottage, Patsy secretly acquires stock tips from Tom's former boss Powers (Albert Conti). Kept in the dark about Patsy's behind-the-scenes efforts, Tom begins to believe he's coming up with the tips himself and soon turns into an arrogant jerk. Even worse, Tom suspects that Patsy and Powers have been fooling around behind his back. Everything is straightened out at the end, but one wonders what will happen to everybody in the film when Wall Street lays its famous egg in October of 1929. Title writer Jack Conway was not the director of the same name but instead a former movie critic for the trade magazine Variety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location in Manhattan, the 1927 silent New York explores themes later developed more fully in such films as Manhattan Melodrama and Once Upon a Time in America. A product of the Bowery, Trent Regan (William Powell) grows up to become a powerful gangster. Regan's girlfriend Angie Miller (Esther Ralston), hearing that her childhood sweetheart (and Regan's lifelong pal) Mike Cassidy (Ricardo Cortez) is about to marry Marjorie Church (Lois Wilson), pays a visit to Mike to offer congratulations. Convinced that Angie is fooling around behind his back, Regan accidentally kills her. When Mike is charged with the murder, Regan, feeling that "justice" has been served, keeps silent. Ultimately, however, Mike is cleared, and Regan is trapped by the testimony of their mutual chum Buck (Skeets Gallegher). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love's Greatest Mistake was based on the serialized Liberty Magazine story of the same name. It all begins when Honey McNeill (Josephine Dunn) leaves her home town of Bangor, Maine to visit her married sister Jane (Evelyn Brent) in New York. En route, Honey meets and falls in love with banker William Ogden (Frank Morgan). She confides in Ogden that she expects her visit to Jane to be a dull one, because nothing earth-shattering ever happens in her sister's household. Little does she realize that Jane is presently engaged in an extramarital affair with oily Don Kendall (William Powell). Our hapless heroine gets mixed up in a blackmailing plot hatched by Don, from which she is rescued by Ogde -- who nonetheless steps gallantly aside when a younger, handsomer man (James Hall) comes into Honey's life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With a star-director combination like Tommy Meighan and Allan Dwan, how could Tin Gods not succeed at the box office? After the death of his child in an accident, engineer Roger Drake (Meighan) parts company with his politically ambitious wife Janet (Aileen Pringle). Unable to hold onto a job in the U.S., Drake ends up working on a treacherous bridge project in South America. Stricken with fever, Drake is saved through the tender ministrations of native girl Carita (Renee Adoree). But when he recovers, our hero indicates that he may wish to reconcile with his wife, whereupon the heartbroken Carita jumps off the newly-completed bridge to her death. Profoundly affected by this, Drake elects to remain in South America long enough to build a shrine for his lost love. Among the screenwriters for Tin Gods was actor Paul Dickey, who'd previously played Guy of Gisborne in the Allan Dwan-directed Robin Hood (1922). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Who better to play Ace of Cads than that charming reprobate Adolphe Menjou? This time, however, Menjou is reasonably honorable. A high-ranking military officer, he is discredited in the eyes of his fiancee by his military enemies. Driven from town in disgrace, Menjou returns years later to do the "Monte Cristo" bit. Ace of Cads was produced by William LeBaron and directed by Luther Reed, the creative team who'd later put the fledgling RKO Radio studios on its feet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although an executive at Paramount came up with the racy title for this comedy-drama, the plot came from a Saturday Evening Post story by Arthur Stringer. Tessie McGuire (Gloria Swanson) is a department store clerk. When her sweetheart, auto mechanic Johnny Hogan (Tom Moore) goes to Detroit with a gas saving invention, Tessie's friend, Pinkie (Lilyan Tashman), drags her to a party. The host, sculptor Robert Brandt (Ian Keith), finds Tessie's talent at impersonations amusing (she mimics Charles Chaplin), and hires her as a model. But when he tries to "manhandle" her, she goes to work at the shop of Arno Riccardi (Frank Morgan) -- her job is impersonating a Russian countess. Every man she encounters at the upper reaches of society tries to have his way with her, but Tessie remains staunchly chaste. However, when Hogan returns from his trip (his invention sold), he sees her fancy dresses and believes she is less than spotless. Ultimately, he realizes that Tessie has been faithful all along and the couple is happily reunited. This picture was a departure for Swanson -- her mimicry of Chaplin was totally unexpected (but would be repeated some 25 years later in Sunset Boulevard). It delighted her fans, though, and the film was a huge box-office hit. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide