Mae Busch Movies
Australian-born Mae Busch was the daughter of an opera singer mother and a symphony conductor father. Her family came to the U.S. when Mae was 3 years old, and she was placed in a convent school while her parents toured the world. While still a teenager, Mae achieved stage stardom by replacing Lillian Lorraine in the musical comedy Over the River. In 1915 she became a Mack Sennett bathing beauty at the invitation of her close friend, Sennett-star Mabel Normand. Later, Mae was hired by Eric von Stroheim to play a lusty Spanish dancer in Stroheim's The Devil's Passkey. The director used her again in Foolish Wives (1922), casting Mae as the amoral--and fraudulent--Princess Vera. She was later signed by MGM, where she was billed as "the versatile vamp." Upset at the nondescript leading-lady roles she was getting, Mae walked out of her contract; this action caused producers to hesitate casting Mae in major productions. While free-lancing at second-rate studios, Mae accepted a comedy-vamp role in the Hal Roach 2-reeler Love 'Em and Weep (1927), which represented her first appearance with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Though she made an impressive sound feature-film debut in Roland West's Alibi (1929), the steely-voiced Ms. Busch's stardom had passed, and for the most part her talkie assignments were bits and secondary roles. Her best opportunities in the 1930s came in the films of Laurel and Hardy, where she was often cast as a shrewish wife or sharp-tongued "lady of the evening." In the team's Oliver the Eighth (1934), she essayed her most flamboyant role as an insane widow with a penchant for marrying and murdering any man named Oliver--which happened to be the first name of the hapless Mr. Hardy. Ms. Busch went into semi-retirement in the 1940s, occasionally resurfacing in small roles in such films as Ziegfeld Girl (1946); she died of a heart attack at the age of 49. Formerly married to silent-film star Francis McDonald, Mae Busch was also the aunt of 1960s leading lady Brenda Scott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1929
Adapted from a 1925 play by Patrick Kearney, A Man's Man was popular MGM leading man William Haines' final silent film (albeit released with a musical score and sound-effects track). Haines is his usual bright-and-breezy self as Mel, a likable soda jerk in love with would-be actress Peggy (Josephine Dunn). Her head filled with the false words of self-styled talent agent Charlie (Sam Hardy), Peggy heads to Hollywood, leaving Mel behind. Our heroine manages to break into the movies and becomes a major star, but her heart remains with down-to-earth Mel. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert make "guest appearances" via clips from their previous MGM vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Haines, Josephine Dunn, (more)
- 1924
In spite of the depressing, often tragic, circumstances in this drama, director Finis Fox somehow managed to add in comic relief featuring the likes of Hank Mann, Snitz Edwards, Cissy Fitzgerald, and Hugh Fay. Wall Street operator and all-around bad guy Morgan Wallace has his wife (Irene Rich) locked up in an insane asylum so that he can live the life of a carefree bachelor. He decides he wants to get his hands on the wife (Mae Busch) of a minister (Lucien Littlefield) and convinces her to join him for a yacht party. When the ship leaves port and the wife is forced to spend the night on board, she feels that she has been disgraced and leaves home so that her husband and child believe she has died. Fifteen years later, she gets her revenge on the man who wronged her by having him sent to prison for defrauding the government. When he is released, he is murdered by his own wife (proving that perhaps she was a little crazy after all). The son of the minister (Rex Lease), who joins the clergy himself, is instrumental in bringing his mother back to the family. In a coincidental note, Rex Lease studied for the ministry before becoming an actor. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Wallace, Irene Rich, (more)
Director Roland West was a moody and mysterious Hollywood character, who insisted upon making his pictures in utter secrecy and filming only at night. This may explain the overall foreboding atmosphere of Alibi, West's first talking picture. Chester Morris portrays a ruthless gangster who must establish an alibi after pulling off a warehouse robbery. Regis Toomey and Pat O'Malley are the detectives assigned to get the goods on Morris. Full of vicious bravado when he's on top of a situation, Morris turns into a craven coward when he's trapped--but not before coldbloodedly gunning down true-blue policeman Toomey, who then launches into one the longest and most lachrymose death scenes in the history of movies. Alibi was based on the play Nightstick, written by John Wray, J.C. Nugent and Elaine Sterne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Harry Stubbs, (more)
- 1927
Louis J. Gasnier, whose directorial technique hadn't progressed much since his 1914 effort The Perils of Pauline, did rather better than expected in 1927's Beauty Shoppers. Young Peggy Raymond (Doris Hill) aspires to become a model, while art-gallery proprietor Maddox (Ward Crane) aspires to get his mitts on Peggy. When our heroine turns him down, Maddox frames Peggy for the theft of a painting. She is saved from prison through the efforts of handsome artist Dick Merwin (Thomas Haines). Mae Busch has all the best scenes as Peggy's gold-digging roommate who ends up with a rich husband and a passel of headaches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Busch, James Marcus, (more)
- 1934
Apparently inspired by Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet, Beloved is a lush, lachrymose musical romance set in Vienna, South Carolina and New York City. John Boles stars as Austrian composer Carl Hausmann, whose musical career is very nearly cut short during the 1848 revolution. Carl is whisked off by his mother (Dorothy Peterson) to the American South, where he establishes a respectable reputation in the years just prior to the Civil War. Forced to relocate to New York with his new bride Lucy (Gloria Stuart), Carl languishes professionally for several years, then gives up composing to support his wife and child as a music teacher. Tragedy strikes once more during the Spanish American War, when the Hausmann's son is killed. Carl and Lucy invest all their love in their grandson Eric (Morgan Farley), a Gershwin type who grows up to become a jazz musician in the post-WWI era. As Eric grows richer and more successful, the Hausmanns continue to live in genteel poverty, with Carl all the while struggling to finish the symphony he began so many years before. After an unpleasant episode in which Eric accuses Carl of "stealing my stuff," our nonagenarian protagonist finally hears his symphony in a radio broadcast arranged by his chastened grandson. Contented at last, Carl peacefully passes on. Ironically, leading lady Gloria Stuart was far more attractive when she really reached her 80s than when she was heavily made up as an old woman in Beloved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Boles, Gloria Stuart, (more)
- 1928
Director James W. Horne, best known today for his Laurel and Hardy comedies, called the shots on the inexpensive "emotional" drama Black Butterflies. Heroine Dorinda Maxwell (Jobyna Ralston) enters into a marriage of convenience, even though she cannot abide her new husband. In so doing, she is separated from her true love, David Goddard (Robert Frazer). Fate and the scriptwriters contrive to keep hero and heroine apart for the balance of the picture; at one point, Goddard is blinded in an auto accident. All turns out OK in the end except for the "heavy" of the piece, vampish Kitty Perkins (Mae Busch, likewise a future Laurel and Hardy "regular"), who must pay for her sins with her life. Black Butterflies reaches three possible endings, opting at last for the weakest of the three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jobyna Ralston, Mae Busch, (more)
- 1933
Set during the Depression, this crime drama centers upon a basically honest girl who is forced into prostitution by circumstance. She then becomes a gangster's moll where she learns a bitter lesson about the criminal life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Chester Morris, (more)
- 1924
After seeing their mother (Eugenie Besserer) struggle to eke out a meager existence for her family, her daughters Jeanette (Mae Busch) and Alice (Wanda Hawley) take different paths. Jeanette finds work as a stenographer, while Alice marries a poor workman and gives birth to a brood of children. Jeanette has a suitor, Martin Devlin (Robert W. Frazer), but she turns him down until she is unfairly named co-respondent in her boss' divorce case. To save herself from scandal, Jeanette marries Devlin and tries to settle down. She is miserable over losing her independence, and Devlin's extravagant ways are no help. Jeanette finally decides to leave her husband and return to the working world. She is no happier there, and when she sees how happy Alice is as a stay-at-home mom -- poor as she is -- Jeanette reconciles with Devlin. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Busch, Robert W. Frazer, (more)
- 1924
A very young Norma Shearer and a fine supporting cast that includes Adolphe Menjou and Mae Busch all suffered from a hackneyed screenplay in this silent society melodrama from Metro-Goldwyn, the forerunner of MGM. Shearer plays Grace Durland, a debutante forced to leave college when her father (George Fawcett) goes bankrupt. Reduced to working for a living, Grace falls in love with married Ward Trenton (James Kirkwood), whose disagreeable wife (Winifred Bryson) refuses to grant him a divorce. But when Ward sustains severe injuries in a car accident and may not be able to work again, Mrs. Trenton promptly begins divorce proceedings. Happily, Ward makes a full recovery and proposes to Grace. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1922
A clever approach helped to keep this light domestic comedy entertaining, in spite of a thin plot. Two couples, one poor and one rich, are having the exact same dilemma. Millie (Helene Chadwick), the wife of Newton Craddock (Pat O'Malley), is putting her husband into serious debt because of her extravagance -- she'll buy anything as long as she can put a dollar down and pay fifty cents a week (keep in mind these are 1922 dollars, worth a lot more in those days!). Meanwhile Norman's boss, Thomas Kirtland (Norman Kerry), has to deal with his wife, Dorothy (Claire Windsor), who thinks nothing of buying a fur coat that she can't really afford. Neither couple seems to be able to settle down long enough to start a family. Then both wives think their husbands are seeing other women. Craddock winds up getting some good advice from Kirtland, and vice versa. As a result, the men straighten out their spendthrift wives. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Mae Busch and Owen Moore star in this tale of redemption. Robert Morton (Moore) becomes involved with Dora Malcolm (Dorothy King), a grafter, and she encourages him to forge his father's name on a check. He is caught and his father (Burr McIntosh) allows him to go to jail. Two years later, Robert is released and he winds up down and out in a dive on the Barbary Coast. There he meets Camille (Busch), one of the women there, and she inspires him to straighten out his life. After much effort, he lands work and earns back his self-respect, all with Camille's love and encouragement. Morton senior seeks out his son to ask for forgiveness. He tries to convince Robert to leave Camille, but Robert refuses and claims that they are already married. Morton learns to appreciate everything that Camille has done for his boy, and he accepts both of them into his life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1933
A typically pedestrian whodunit from low-budget entrepreneur Larry Darmour, Cheating Blondes delivered a lot less than the titillating title promised. Thelma Todd played a dual role, twin sisters Anne and Elaine. When the former is caught with the dead body of her lecherous next-door neighbor (Brooks Benedict), she switches places with her look-alike twin, a burlesque dancer. Why the switch would help protect her from a murder rap is never explained, but after a bit of confusion, the real killer is made to confess and both Anne and sister Elaine settle down with their respective spouses (Milton Wallis and Earl McCarthy). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thelma Todd, Ralf Harolde, (more)
- 1931
Not only has Oliver Hardy established a successful business -- in fertilizer -- he has also decided to run for mayor. General manager Stan Laurel interrupts his duties (which involve a fly swatter) in the sample room to help Ollie with a speech. Ollie's old flame (Mae Busch) barges into the office, flashing a compromising photograph from Ollie's bachelor days and requesting money for her silence. The boys frantically hide the blackmailing ex-girlfriend when Mrs. Hardy (Thelma Todd) arrives. She tells her husband to be home that night to entertain guests. Ollie sends Stan to his ex-girlfriend's house to keep her busy while the Hardys have their gathering. Mae keeps herself busy by abusing Stan and calling Ollie's house. Finally in a fit of rage, she storms off to the Hardys, followed by Stan. A gossipy friend of Stan's wife sees them. When the pair arrive, Ollie pawns his ex-girlfriend off as Mrs. Laurel; this tactic is a bit late, as Mrs. Hardy is already steaming over what she can gather from Ollie's strange behavior. The other guests make their exit, leaving Stan and the blackmailer behind; Ollie, in desperation, threatens her with a gun, and she faints. They try to sneak the unconscious woman out the door but are interrupted by Stan's real wife, axe in hand. Both Stan and Ollie are chased out into the night. Chickens Come Home is an almost literal remake of a 1927 Roach silent called Love 'Em and Weep. Although Laurel and Hardy both appear in this earlier film, they weren't yet a team. Mae Busch (who plays the same character as in the later film) has top billing, and James Finlayson has Hardy's role. Originally filmed in black & white, a colorized version was released in the late 1990s for home video. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Childhood sweethearts with lofty goals do not a good Christian lifetime make, in this doomed romance directed by Maurice Tourneur. Glory Quayle (Mae Busch) and John Storm (Richard Dix) have been in love since their youth. Now, all grown up, they decide to travel to London -- John to enter a monastery and Glory to become a nurse. But the lure of the city is too great, and Glory instead becomes a London stage star. John, who can't get Glory out of his mind, renounces his vows. But the nasty Lord Robert Ure (Cyril Chadwick), who has designs on Glory himself, convinces a London mob that John is predicting the end of the world. Incited, the mob goes after John, trying to make sure that his life ends before the world does. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Mae Busch, (more)
- 1931
This Laurel and Hardy two-reeler contains a similar premise to Chickens Come Home, and starts off the same way as Should Married Men Go Home? does -- Ollie and his wife (here, it's Gertrude Astor) are spending a quiet evening at home, away from "those Laurels." Just then, Stan and his wife (Linda Loredo) come by, and even though the Hardys pretend they're not home, they get caught in the lie. Stan and Ollie head for the local ice cream parlor. After they finish dealing with Stan's unrelenting wish for chocolate ice cream when there is none, they hear a woman (Mae Busch) saying good-bye to the world as she leaps into the river. With a little help from Stan, Ollie goes in after her. The woman, however, is not grateful at all; in fact she demands that the boys take care of her and follows them home. She tries to extort money from Ollie, who replies that he will "come clean" with the wives. His nerve fails him, though, and the boys try to hide the crazy woman from them instead. Because of Stan and Ollie's odd behavior, the wives conclude that their husbands must be nuts. Finally a detective (Eddie Baker) arrives and apprehends the woman, who by now is locked in the bathroom with Stan. The detective tells Stan he will get a thousand dollar reward. When Ollie asks Stan --who is sitting, totally clothed, in a full bath tub -- what he will do with the money, Stan says he plans to buy a thousands dollars worth of chocolate ice cream. Disgusted, Ollie pulls the tub's plug and Stan disappears down the drain. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1946
True Confession was one of the unfunniest of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, and its musical remake, Cross My Heart, isn't much of an improvement. Betty Hutton steps into the old Carole Lombard role as Peggy, a compulsive liar who'll do anything to help her attorney fiance Oliver Clarke (Sonny Tufts) get ahead. When it looks as though an unsolved murder case will be Clarke's ticket to success, Peggy, sticking her tongue in her cheek (as she always does when she's about to tell a whopper), glibly confesses to the killing. Peggy's plan is to allow her boyfriend to prove her innocence, thereby cementing his reputation as a man of integrity-but things don't go quite as planned. The subsequent trial is enlivened by the antics of looney Russian actor Peter (Michael Chekhov), who may or may not be the actual murderer. Betty Hutton's song numbers are just about as mediocre as the rest of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, (more)
- 1933
Two-bit hoofer Joe (Edward Norris) hires starry-eyed Sally (Evelyn Knapp) for his vaudeville act. They marry, but the pressures of show business, coupled with Joe's irresponsibility, leads to a breakup. Lou Kenton (Mae Busch), a tough broad with a heart of gold, decides to help the pregnant Sally by introducing her to big-time Broadway producer Wade Valentine (Alan Dinehart). Our heroine skyrockets to stardom, while Valentine subsidizes her private life and even pays the hospital bills when Sally's baby is born. He finally asks her to marry him -- but incredibly, her heart still belongs to Joe, who manages to show up at fadeout time for a tearful reconciliation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Dinehart, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
- 1937
Anna May Wong, who cornered the 1930s market in Eurasian heroines, stars in Daughter of Shanghai. Wong is on the trail of the criminals who murdered her father. The villains are running an illegal-alien operation, smuggling cheap Chinese and Mexican labor into San Francisco and killing those unlucky souls who prove "inconvenient". Wong takes a job as an exotic dancer in a Central American nitery, hoping to trap the murderers in the act. Though J. Carroll Naish and Buster Crabbe are top-billed, the actual hero of Daughter of Shanghai is Chinese actor Philip Ahn, playing an FBI agent protecting Wong from the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, Philip Ahn, (more)
- 1931
Assigned by the police commissioner to catch a notorious gangster, a young police captain discovers that his adversary is a former friend in this low-budget crime drama from Syndicate Film Exchanges. The gangster, Joe Velet (Robert Gleckler), is arrested for possession of a firearm and is revealed to be Phil Terry, a former sergeant with the Riffs in North Africa and the best friend of Police Captain Bill Houston (John Holland). Velet/Terry admits to having become a hoodlum because crime, as he puts it, "pays more than cigarette money." About to be extradited back east to stand trial for several killings, Velet is rescued by a couple of his henchmen masquerading as law officers. At liberty, he challenges Bill to a final confrontation at the Silver Slipper Club, which the gangsters are about to raid. Rival hoodlum Taroni (Paul Panzer), whose girlfriend (Mae Busch) is a police informer, is killed in the melee, but Velet manages to escape once again. In order to get even with Bill, the gang boss kidnaps his adversary's girlfriend, the police commissioner's daughter, Alice (Catherine Dale Owen), and the distraught commissioner (Edmund Breese) orders Bill off the case. Happily, our hero discovers Velet's hideout and Alice is rescued during the ensuing shootout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Breese, Catherine Dale Owen, (more)
- 1932
Fay Wray screams when she first lays eyes on Lionel Atwill in Doctor X, but don't let that fool you. Atwill plays Fay's father this time around, and he may very well not be the diabolical "Moon Murderer" whom the police are seeking. Dr. Xavier (Atwill) maintains a research lab in a remote Long Island estate. The police suspect that one of Xavier's assistants--all "second-chancers" whose previous misdemeanors range from botched experiments to cannibalism!--is the mysterious murderer who strikes only when the moon is full. Newspaper reporter Lee Tracy sneaks into the estate to get a swell scoop, whereupon he falls in love with Fay. In trying to help the authorities, Xavier stages an elaborate trap for the Moon Murderer, with his daughter as the willing bait. The killer (we won't tell you who it is, but you'll figure it out anyway) reveals himself by coating his body with "synthetic flesh", which gives him supernatural powers. Based on a play by Howard C. Comstock and Allen C. Miner, Doctor X was originally filmed in two-color Technicolor; available for years only in black and white, the film was restored to its full tinted state in the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Lee Tracy, (more)
- 1941
Silver fox pelt thefts require the expertise of a federal investigator and his faithful canine. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1928
Director Howard Hawks never attempted another Valentinoesque melodrama like Fazil. Beautiful Fabienne (Greta Nissen) is wooed and won by Arab sheik Fazil (Charles Farrell, who is a bit on the thin side for this role). He takes her off to his fabulous palace, where he holds her a virtual prisoner, refusing to let her see anyone else. Fabienne can't get over past loves -- nor can they get over her, as evidenced by their elaborate attempt to rescue her. Only when Fazil is mortally wounded by her rescuers does Fabienne realizes she's truly in love with him. She takes poison and dies by his side. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, Greta Nissen, (more)
- 1931
A real four-hankie picture, "Fly My Kite" is one of "Our Gang"'s most poignant episodes, though it also manages to be hilariously funny at times. Margaret Mann makes a return appearance as the gang's adopted Grandma, who reads Wild West stories to the kids, gives them boxing tips and dispenses valuable advice about honesty and decency. The fly in the ointment is Grandma's hateful son-in-law Dan (played by James Mason -- not the famous British actor) who orders the old lady to pack up and get out so that he and his new wife (Mae Busch) can move in. On cue, the Gang attacks Dan en masse and forces him to make a hasty retreat, though he warns Grandma that she'd better be gone by the time he gets back. While on his way out, Dan peeks into Grandma's mailbox and finds a letter stating that she is in possession of old gold bonds now worth $100,000. Returning, Dan tells her that the bonds are worthless, hoping to get his own grimy hands on the valuable documents. But Grandma, still unaware of her financial windfall, informs Dan that the bonds did "go up" after all: She has tied them to the tail of the kids' kite, which is now flying high in the air. The rest of the film is a slapstick tour de force, as the Gang uses any weapon at their disposal ---rocks, nails, broken bottles, etc. --- to prevent Dan from retrieving the kite. Utilizing one of LeRoy Shield's lushest musical scores (including such unforgettable tunes as the plaintive "Prelude" and the helter-skelter &"Hide and Go Seek"), "Fly My Kite" is among those rare "Our Gang" films that extends its appeal even to non-fans of the series. Originally released on May 30, 1931, the film represented the last "Our Gang" appearance of series stalwart Allen "Farina" Hoskins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Farina Hoskins, (more)
Actor/ writer/ director Erich Von Stroheim stars as a fraudulent count, living high on the hog in Monte Carlo. He supports himself by extorting huge sums of money from silly married ladies who are dumb enough to fall for his romantic charms. Von Stroheim's partners in crime, phony princesses Mae Busch and Maud George, live in a state of perpetual depravity with the count in a huge mansion. Their latest victim, played by an actress who insisted upon being billed as Miss DuPont, is the wife of an American financier. Von Stroheim's attempted seduction of this particular foolish wife is thwarted at every turn, and the count ultimately gets his comeuppance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erich Von Stroheim, Rudolph Christians, (more)
