Sol Lesser Movies
Born in a tent in Spokane, Washington, producer Sol Lesser was six weeks old when his family moved to San Francisco. Not long after the 1906 earthquake, Lesser's father got out of the candy-store business in favor of the burgeoning nickelodeon industry. Lesser followed his father's footsteps, eventually running his own theatre chain and distribution center. With the 1919 Mack Sennett feature Yankee Doodle in Berlin, Lesser went into the production end of the business; his biggest silent-era success was the Lon Chaney Sr. version of Oliver Twist (1922). In the mid '20s, Lesser forsook production for distribution again, returning to the creative end of moviemaking in 1931 when, through his friendship with writer Upton Sinclair, he became involved with the Sergei Eisenstein project Thunder over Mexico. While this film fomented a great deal of anti-Russian hostility, Lesser was able to parlay the publicity into establishing his own production company, distributing his product first through 20th Century-Fox, then United Artists. His most successful ventures of the '30s included several western series with stars like George O'Brien and Smith Ballew, as well as a group of musicals featuring boy soprano Bobby Breen. These moneymakers enabled Lesser to tackle more ambitious and less surefire movie properties like 1940's Our Town. In 1943, Lesser secured the film rights for Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan; he continued making Tarzan programmers to excellent financial returns until 1958. Sol Lesser retired that year, explaining "I had reached the age that one either finishes on top or far below. I decided I would end on top, and I was satisfied." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1938
Though it may be difficult for modern audiences to understand or appreciate the appeal of canary-voiced boy soprano Bobby Breen, the fact remains that he was one of the most popular box-office attractions of the 1930s. Adapted from Don Blandings' novel Stowaways in Paradise, Hawaii Calls stars Breen as shoe-shine boy Billy Coulter, who in the company of his young newsboy pal Pua (Pua Lani) stows away on a Honolulu-bound ocean liner. Here he finds an unexpected ally in the form of persimmon-faced musician Strings (Ned Sparks), who conspires to hide Billy and Pua from irascible Captain O'Hare (Irvin S. Cobb). Once the ship arrives in Hawaii, Billy eludes the authorities by hiding with Pua's native family. The plot goes off on a new tangent when foreign spy Blake (William Harrigan) steals valuable Navy secrets from young Commander Milburn (Warren Hull). Billy and Pua save the day by locating the thieves' hideout and alerting Milburn. Before this happens, Bobby Breen sings ever so many Hawaiian tunes, this best of which include "Down Where the Trade Winds Blow" and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Ned Sparks, (more)
- 1938
Filmed on location, Hawaiian Buckaroo is certainly the most novel of the Smith Ballew westerns. Pineapple plantation worker Jeff Howard (Ballew) and his pal Mike (Benny Burt) go to work on a cattle ranch run by haughty Paula Harrington (Evelyn Knapp). It doesn't take long for our heroes to figure out that Paula's foreman Riga (Georges Regas) is a crook. Acting quickly, Jeff and Mike prevent Riga and his confederates (Harry Woods and Pat O'Brien -- no, not that Pat O'Brien) from depleting Paula's stock for their own purposes. Ethnic humor is provided by black actor Fred "Snowflake" Toones, while Honolulu cabaret entertainer Princess Luana shows up unbilled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
- 1938
With Panamint's Bad Man, the brief film starring career of singing cowboy Smith Ballew came to an end. The star plays Kimball, a good guy who poses as a bad guy to gain the confidence of outlaw chieftan Gorman (Noah Beery Sr.) Kimball assumes the identity of Black Jack (Stanley Fields), a Texas desperado who spends most of the picture behind bars. Much of the film is played for laughs, especially when the likeable Black Jack discovers to his chagrin that he's been unwittingly helping the feds in bringing Gorman to justice. Heroine Evelyn Daw is on hand solely to provide an enthusiastic audience for Smith Ballew's song renditions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Evelyn Daw, (more)
- 1938
Boy soprano Bobby Breen dons a pair of skates in the oddball musical Breaking the Ice. Escaping his super-strict Mennonite relatives, our hero gets a job singing at a Philadelphia ice-skating rink. Here he tries to earn enough money to help his beloved widowed mother (Dolores Costello) wrest herself free of those selfsame relatives. The plot requires canary-voiced Breen to share the spotlight with six-year-old skating sensation Irene Dare. Within a year, Breaking the Ice producer Sol Lesser attempted to launch another series of family musicals built around the talents of little Ms. Dare, but the first entry in this project--Everything's on Ice--was also the last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Charlie Ruggles, (more)
Singing cowboy Smith Ballew is the nominal star of Rawhide, but the audience only had eyes for Ballew's co-star: baseball-great Lou Gehrig, in his one-and-only screen appearance. Gehrig plays "himself"-that is, he's a rancher named Lou Gehrig. Pressured by crooks to give up his spread, Gehrig, his sister (Evelyn Knapp) and cowboy-lawyer Ballew inspire the neighboring ranchers to form a united front. During a climactic fist-fight in a pool hall, Gehrig utilizes his pitching skills to subdue the villains. A fan of B westerns in real life, Gehrig does his best to fit into the proceedings of Rawhide; his acting is strictly from hunger, but he does possess an imposing physique and an eagerness to the please the filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Lou Gehrig, (more)
While the "Tarzan" series was going full blast at MGM, several independent producers managed to secure the screen rights to Edgar Rice Burrough's Lord of the Jungle for their own low-budget adventure films. Taking into consideration the fact that MGM's Tarzan was Olympic swimming star Johnny Weissmuller, Sol Lesser managed to cast two Olympic athletes in 1938's Tarzan's Revenge: 1936 decathlon champion Glenn Morris as Tarzan and aquatic medal-winner Eleanor Holm as "Eleanor". The audience doesn't see much of old Tarz' during the first few reels, as Eleanor, her uncle (George Barbier), her sweetheart (George Meeker) and her aunt (Hedda Hopper) safari through the jungle in search of big game. But when Eleanor is kidnapped by lascivious jungle sultan Ben Alieu Bey (C. Henry Gordon), Tarzan comes swinging to the rescue. Though an irredeemably awful actor (his "jungle yell" is so ludicrous as to be laughable), Glenn Morris cuts quite a figure in his Tarzan loincloth, while the curvaceous Eleanor Holm demonstrates just what it was that attracted so many celebrity suitors on both sides of the Atlantic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Morris, Eleanor Holm, (more)
Peck's Bad Boy and his gang of mischievous misfits (including Spanky McFarland) make all kinds of trouble around the circus. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Kelly, Ann Gillis, (more)
- 1937
Roll Along, Cowboy was the second starring vehicle for Smith Ballew, producer Sol Lesser's answer to Gene Autry. Our hero reports for work at the ranch of middle-aged Ruth Robinson, only to find that she's being threatened by outlaws. With a song in his heart and a gun in his holster, Ballew routs the villains and wins the hand of Robinson's pretty daughter Cecilia Parker. The supporting cast includes former "Our Gang" regular Wally Albright and future cowboy star Gordon "Wild Bill" Elliot. According to the credits, Roll Along, Cowboy was based on a Zane Grey story, but doesn't say which one (Grey's novel were noticeably bereft of singing cowboys). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Cecilia Parker, (more)
Also released as The Gentleman from California, this budget-conscious swashbuckler is strongly reminiscent of The Mark of Zorro. Nineteenth-century California aristocrat Ramon Escobar (Ricardo Cortez) returns after several years' schooling in Spain to discover that his native land is in the hands of corrupt politicians. The villains are systematically forcing the "old" Californian families from their property, using a variety of legal but highly unethical maneuvers. In retaliation, Escobar adopts the guise of a mystery avenger to right all wrongs and re-establish justice. Based on a story by Harold Bell Wright, The Californians was directed by Gus Meins, heretofore most closely associated with Hal Roach's "Our Gang" comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Marjorie Weaver, (more)
- 1937
The very urban Paul Kelly is the unlikely hero of It Happened Out West. Sent to Arizona to persuade ranch owner Anne Martin (Judith Allen) to sell her property, banker Dick Howe (Kelly) begins to wonder if this transaction is a good idea. His doubts are fueled by the behavior of Anne's foreman Burt Travis (Leroy Mason), whose eagerness to sell the girl's ranch is downright sinister. Sure enough, Travis and Dick's boss Middleton (Reginald Barlow) are in cahoots to get their hands on the ranch's hidden silver deposits. Our hero foils the villains, enabling Anne to keep her land -- an excellent wedding present, as it turns out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Kelly, Judith Allen, (more)
- 1937
Released in Great Britain as Gangster's Valley, Secret Valley is a modern western (that is, it takes place in 1937). Richard Arlen plays a Nevada rancher who is compelled to extend his hospitality to headstrong Virginia Grey. She has arrived to establish residency in Nevada, the better to secure a divorce from her husband Jack Mulhall, a notorious gangster. When Mulhall shows up with guns at the ready, he finds out that his city methods are no match for the Cowboy Way. Secret Valley was produced independently by Sol Lesser, and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Virginia Grey, (more)
- 1937
Canary-voiced boy wonder Bobby Breen once more croons his way into our hearts in Make a Wish. While vacationing at a boys' camp, the rambunctious Breen befriends famed composer Basil Rathbone. Stuck for an inspiration for his latest operetta, Rathbone at last finds it when he meets Breen's gorgeous mother Marion Claire, a popular singer. Alas, her stiff-necked fiance Ralph Forbes refuses to allow her to return to the stage, whereupon Rathbone spirals into a depression -- and even worse, a profound case of writers' block. But Little-Mister-Fixit Breen manages to patch up everything just in time for Claire to debut in Rathbone's latest masterpiece. Offering much-needed comedy relief are Henry Armetta, Leon Errol and Donald Meek as a trio of parasitic would-be songwriters. Make a Wish was based on a story by Gertrude Berg, of "Molly Goldberg" fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Basil Rathbone, (more)
Former nightclub crooner Smith Ballew made his singing-cowboy debut in Western Gold. Set during the Civil War, the story finds Union soldier Bill Gibson (Ballew) heading West to prevent valuable Northern gold shipment from being systematically stolen by Confederate spies. Making our hero's job difficult is the fact that his old friend Fred Foster (LeRoy Mason) is in charge of the Rebel raiders. Anguishing over the notion of having to arrest his lifelong chum, Bill is "saved" when Foster is dispatched by a bullet conveniently fired from a stranger's gun. The leading lady in Western Gold is British-born Heather Angel, who looks mighty confused by her unfamiliar frontier surroundings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1936
The Calling of Dan Matthews is a modernized and sanitized version of Harold Bell Wright's muckraking novel. Minister Dan Matthews (Richard Arlen) wants to rid his community of its seamy "Old Town" district, a breeding ground for prostitution and other crimes. Most of the property in question is owned by leading citizen J. B. Strong (Frederick Burton), who is ignorant (or chooses to be) of the appalling conditions in his tenements. Mathews convinces Strong that changes must be made, but is still compelled to whale the tar out of Hardy (Douglass Dumbrille), the evil vice lord of Old Town. The good reverend also wins the hand of Strong's daughter Hope (Charlotte Wynters). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Charlotte Wynters, (more)
- 1936
In this North western, a Mountie is assigned to patrol the Canadian and US border. He also stops the evil outlaws that have been terrorizing bordertowns by going undercover and infiltrating their gangs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Irene Ware, (more)
- 1936
In this western, a polo-playing free-loader convinces a farmer to take him in; the cad then proceeds to take advantage of the farmer's daughter. But when a Realtor begins threatening to repossess the farmer's land, the lazy leech gets involved. In the end, he stops a fire from destroying the homestead and is rewarded by the young daughter's love and devotion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Mae Clarke, (more)
- 1936
Previously filmed in 1924 by producer Sol Lesser, Harold Bell Wright's popular suspense novel The Mine with the Iron Door was again adapted to the screen by Lesser in 1936. Suckered into buying some evidently worthless property in Arizona, Bob Harvey (Richard Arlen) discovers that he may actually have come into possession of the Mine with the Iron Door, a legendary cache of Spanish gold. Teaming up with detective Dempsey (Stanley Fields) and Marta Hill (Cecilia Parker), a young woman whose family lives on Bob's property, our hero goes a-prospecting, with eccentric archaeologist Professor Burton (Henry B. Walthall) leading the way. In love with Marta himself, the jealous Burton does his best to kill Bob during the expedition, but virtue ultimately triumphs and everyone but the villain strikes it rich. Some of the background music in Mine with the Iron Door had originally been composed for 1915's The Birth of a Nation -- which ironically starred Henry B. Walthall as the hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Cecilia Parker, (more)
- 1936
In this romantic comedy a border patrolman must cite a young, wealthy, and very spoiled young woman for smoking in a non-smoking area. Later her parents hire him to protect their wild young daughter. Unfortunately she accidently gets involved with jewel thieves. It is up to her dashing body guard to save her. In the end he wins not only her respect, but also her heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Polly Ann Young, (more)
- 1936
The Zane Grey story King of the Royal Mounted had already been adapted as a comic strip by the time it was transferred to the screen in 1936. Robert Kent is cast as Sergeant King of the RCMP, while Rosalind Keith co-stars as heroine Helen Lawton. Helen arrives in Canada to claim a gold mine which she's inherited from her father (Frank McGlynn Sr.) The villain, a crooked attorney named Becker (Alan Dinehart), intends to cheat her out of her claim. Well, why not? He already killed her father, as King proves in the final reels. King of the Royal Mounted is sometimes confused with the later radio series Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, if only because Preston owned a dog named Yukon King. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Kent, Rosalind Keith, (more)
- 1936
In this musical, a talented young boy escapes from his orphanage and joins a traveling show where he is adopted by a has-been opera star who teaches helps him develop his marvellous singing voice. When his mentor finds himself terminally ill, he takes the lad to New York to see a real opera. There the boy meets his real father. Songs include: "Let's Sing Again", "Lullaby", "Farmer in the Dell", "La Donna e Mobile", from Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto", ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Armetta, George Houston, (more)
- 1935
This satisfying George O'Brien western was released in most markets as Whispering Smith Speaks. O'Brien is "Whispering" Smith, so named because he speaks softly but knows how to fend for himself. The son of a railroad president, Smith is determined to learn the business from the ground up, so he gets a job as a track walker for his dad's rail line. While going about his duties, he meets Nan Roberts (Irene Ware), who is about to sell her Colorado ranch. Smith finds out that there are valuable tungsten deposits on her land and makes certain she won't be cheated by the villains. The rip-roaring finale finds Smith commandeering a locomotive so that he can file his claim in Denver ahead of the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Irene Ware, (more)
Cowboy Millionaire is one of the last and best of George O'Brien's western vehicles at the Fox Studios. O'Brien is in charge of a dude ranch, where his newest customer is wealthy English girl Evelyn Bostock. They fall in and out of love, and soon Bostock is heading back to the British Isles. O'Brien follows her, setting British society on its ear with his no-holds-barred behavior. Cowboy Millionaire was produced by Sol Lesser, who when he wasn't busy financing westerns could be found recording the cinematic exploits of boy soprano Bobby Breen and grown-up jungle man Tarzan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Evalyn Bostock, (more)
- 1935
After a brief flurry of non-western actioners, George O'Brien returned to the West in Thunder Mountain. Based on a story by Zane Grey, the film casts O'Brien as Kai Emerson, whose claim on a gold strike is met with skepticism by heroine Sydney Blair (Barbara Fritchie). Despite damning evidence to the contrary, the girl remains convinced that the gold's rightful owner is villainous claim-jumper Rand Leavitt (Morgan Wallace). Ultimately, however, Leavitt tips his hand and Emerson is proven right, but not before a knock-down drag-out battle on the edge of a high cliff. Despite its potential, Thunder Mountain is rather skimpy in the action department, but this shortcoming would be corrected in subsequent O'Brien vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Barbara Fritchie, (more)
- 1935
A frequently-filmed Harold Bell Wright novel was the source for this leisurely-paced George O'Brien western. His fortune wiped out, Easterner Larry Knight (O'Brien) heads West to start life all over again. He manages to land a job as a ranchhand, and in this capacity develops a love of horses. Larry's "Rite of passage" to full manhood is manifested in his efforts to tame and ride a champion bucking bronco. Along the way, he also gets enmeshed in a local feud over water rights. Dorothy Wilson is the well-poised heroine, while Harry Woods, as always, is the villain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Dorothy Wilson, (more)
- 1935
Hard Rock Harrigan is an easygoing George O'Brien actioner with emphasis on comedy and romance. The plot revolves around a rivalry between sand-hog "Hard Rock" Harrigan (O'Brien) and his foreman Black Jack Riley (played by O'Brien's frequent screen sparring partner, Fred Kohler Sr.) At the center of their conflict is their mutual affection for heroine "Andy" Anderson (Irene Hervey). But when the chips are down and Riley is trapped in a tunnel cave-in, it is Harrigan who comes to the rescue. George O'Brien's films could never be accused of being High Art, but they sure delivered what his fans wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Irene Hervey, (more)
