Joe May Movies
One of the earliest and most prolific contributors to the German film industry, writer/ director Joe May was in charge of his own production company as early as 1914. May helped to establish the reputation of filmmaker Fritz Lang, who contributed scripts to several early May-directed productions. Though a leading light at Berlin's UFA studios, May's films were not always highly regarded by contemporary critics, who complained that he spent too much time making "entertainments" rather than masterpieces. May's best efforts were the pioneering "reality bites" Homecoming (1928) and Asphalt (1930).Forced to flee Germany after Hitler rose to power, May headed to Hollywood where, after directing the impressively moody Confession (1937), he was consigned to the "B" unit at Universal pictures. Some of his Universals were quite good, notably The Invisible Man Returns (1940) and House of the Seven Gables (1940), but May's disillusionment with Hollywood began evincing itself via lethargic pacing and sloppy storytelling. The man who once effortlessly commanded thousands of extras in The Indian Tomb found it impossible to control the on-set shenanigans of the Dead End Kids (Huntz Hall, Billy Halop et. al.) while filming You're Not So Tough (1940) and Hit the Road (1941). Oddly, one of May's best directorial efforts was his last and least typical: Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (1944), a sprightly screwball comedy which gave a major leg-up to the career of Robert Mitchum. In addition to directing, May wrote the screenplays for such Universal programmers as The Invisible Woman (1941) and The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler (1943). Retiring from active filmmaking in 1950, Joe May spent his declining Hollywood years managing the trendy Blue Danube restaurant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1917
Produced and directed by German veteran Joe May and starring his wife, Mia May, this allegorical drama was based on a screenplay by Fritz Lang, the future director's first entry into the burgeoning film industry. May played the title role, an actress who makes the mistake of marrying a murderer (Ernst Matray). The husband is subsequently slain by the police, but their offspring may have inherited his father's mental defect. In due time, Hilde is forced to prevent her son from committing further crimes against humanity. Typical of Lang's later oeuvre, a figure of Death was superimposed onto the film's early scenes, foreshadowing Hilda's ultimate fate. Contrary to published reports, Lang did not play Death himself: Hilde Warren under der Tod was produced in Berlin, at a time when the screenwriter was recuperating in Vienna from wounds suffered during the Austrian campaign in Poland. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mia May, Ernst Matray, (more)
Even though Americans embraced The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, they seemed a bit puzzled by this fanciful German-made melodrama. Three Oxford graduates -- Robert Allen (Paul Richter), Carl Langland (Olaf Fonss) and Indian Prince Ayan (Conrad Veidt) -- pledge to remain devoted to one another. It doesn't take long for the oath to be broken, as the prince believes that his wife, Princess Savitri (Erma Morini), has been unfaithful with Allen. He decides to bury his wife alive and has Yogi Ramigami (Berhard Goetze) travel to England to fetch Langland. But when he orders his old pal to build him a tomb, he refuses. The prince holds him prisoner, and his fiancee, Laura Valmy (Mia May), comes looking for him. She too is captured and Ayan, with Ramigami's help, subjects all of them -- Langland, Allen and Laura -- to cruel torture. Finally Langland tries to rescue Savitri from the prince's troops by carrying her across a suspension bridge, but she sacrifices herself by cutting the bridge's ropes and falling to her death. Meanwhile, the prince renounces his religion, damning him to a fate worse than death. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- Starring:
- Erna Morena, Conrad Veidt, (more)
- 1928
Most of the late silent films of German director Joe May exhibited what one cinema historian has described as "a synthesis of Hollywood and Neubabelsberg." Put in layman's terms, May's later films were assembled with his usual German craftsmanship and eye for impressionism, but with most of the audience-pleasing ingredients that would score with American filmgoers. Homecoming (Heimkehr) could just as well have been made by the MGM assembly line as by UFA, but this doesn't diminish its excellence one iota. Set during World War I, the film concentrates on a romantic triangle, utilizing all the "popular" elements within a refreshingly cliche-free framework. The diffused-lens romanticism of Homecoming was not to be found in May's next project, the melancholy "street drama" Asphalt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dita Parlo
Starring American expatriate Betty Amann, this still extant German silent film features a young citizen of Berlin, who, driven into poverty, steals a valuable piece of jewelry. Caught by a handsome policeman (Gustav Froehlich), the girl attempts to seduce him into letting her go. She succeeds beyond all expectation and they marry. Born in Germany to American parents, Betty Amann went on to appear in several Hollywood films, including Nancy Drew, Reporter (1938). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gustav Froehlich, Else Heller, (more)
- 1931
Ihre Majestaet die Liebe (Her Majesty, Love) stars Kaethe von Nagy as a charming Berlin barmaid, in love with aristocratic Franz Lederer. The hero's stuffy businessman brother disapproves of the romance and tries to buy the girl off, while her ex-vaudevillian father Szoeke Sakall (later known as S. Z. Sakall) does his best to marry the girl off to a wealthy baron. Thanks to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, the heroine ends up as the baron's bride, but the couple comes to the mutual agreement that the marriage is a mistake, and the baron gives the girl a divorce -- making her a baroness in the process and thus a suitably "high born" bride for the faithful Lederer. Ihre Majestaet die Liebe was remade in Hollywood as Her Majesty Love, with Marilyn Miller as the heroine and W. C. Fields as her father. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kaethe von Nagy, Francis Lederer, (more)
- 1934
The 1932 Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Broadway hit Music in the Air was brought to the screen two years later by Fox Studios. Temperamental Bavarian prima donna Frieda (Gloria Swanson) and equally volatile lyricist Bruno (John Boles) spend half their time quarrelling and the other half making love. To arouse each other's jealousy, Frieda and Bruno pair off respectively with music teacher Lessing's (Al Shean) virginal daughter Sieglinde (June Lang) and her schoolmaster fiancee Karl (Douglass Montgomery). The impressionable young couple respond to the attentions heaped upon them until they realize they're being used, whereupon the tables are turned upon the main characters. Though boasting such lilting tunes as "The Song is You" and "I've Told Every Evening Star" and the stylish direction of Joe May (perhaps his best American film), audiences didn't respond to Music in the Air; as a result, star Gloria Swanson vowed for the millionth time to "permanently" retire from pictures, a promise she kept to herself for a whole seven years. Incidentally, one of the screenwriters of Music in the Air was Billy Wilder, who later co-wrote and directed Swanson's 1949 "comeback" feature Sunset Boulevard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, John Boles, (more)
- 1934
In this musical romance, a Viennese composer is assigned to create an operetta. While composing, he ends up falling in love with a young woman. Unbeknownst to him, she is the star of the opera company that commissioned him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1935
A remake of a German film, No Monkey Business certainly lives down to its title. Goonish comedian Richard Hearne dominates the film as Charlie, the acrobat pal of circus performer Jim Carroll (Gene Gerrard). In love with anthropologist's daughter Clare Barrington (June Clyde), Jim realizes that he'll never impress the girl unless he proves himself of a scientific nature. Thus, Jim talks Charlie into posing as a gorilla, then claims that he's trained the "beast," thereby thrilling Clare. The plot thickens when a real gorilla appears on the scene. Yes, it's Charley's Aunt with fur, and no opportunity for a low, cheap laugh is overlooked. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gene Gerrard, June Clyde, (more)
- 1937
German director Joe May brought a decidedly Teutonic ambience to his American film Confession--no surprise, since the film was based on the 1935 German production Mazurka. Kay Francis plays a onetime singer who confesses to the murder of her pianist, Basil Rathbone. In flashback, we learn that Rathbone had been responsible for the breakup of Francis's marriage. Years later, Rathbone came back into her life, this time with the intention of seducing Ms. Francis' grown daughter (Jane Bryan). In a variation of Madame X, Francis was stuck with the dilemma of deflecting Rathbone from his "mission"--and of keeping her true identity secret from her daughter. Prior to Mazurka, the Hans Rameau story upon which Confession was based had been filmed as a silent picture starring Gloria Swanson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, (more)
- 1939
When German director Joe May was working on such silent classics as The Indian Tomb and Asphalt, he probably never imagine that he'd one day wind up at Universal turning out something called Society Smugglers. Preston Foster stars as Treasury agent Sully, at present trying to break up a vicious smuggling ring. To this end, Sully assigns undercover agent Joan Martin (Irene Hervey) to go to work for gang boss Massey (Walter Woolf King). A bit more inventive than most films of its ilk, Society Smugglers contrives to have the crooks use a slogan contest and a trip-to-Europe first prize as part of their scheme. Featured in the cast is Regis Toomey, who halfway through the film performs another one of his patented death scenes (in "A" pictures, Toomey was generally bumped off in the first reel). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1939
A remake of Paul Leni's The Last Warning (1929), this "Crime Club" series entry once again presents the spectacle of an actor murdered in mid-performance and in front of a sellout crowd. This time the unfortunate thespian is John Wofford (Don Douglas), whose body subsequently disappears. To solve the mystery, police detective Arthur McHugh (William Gargan) goes undercover as a producer wishing to reassemble the original cast for a staging of the seemingly hexed play "Dangerous Currents." During rehearsal, the actor playing Wofford's old role, Carleton (Walter Woolf King), is found murdered and a series of threatening notes purportedly written by the dead actor continue to frighten the surviving cast and crew. Wofford's voice, heard over a disconnected telephone, adds to the terror, as does the actor's very dead body, which reappears behind a crumbling wall. But is the theater really haunted? And, if not, who is behind the strange goings-on and why? To learn the answers to these troubling questions, McHugh and his equally undercover wife, Gloria De Vere (Dorothy Arnold), must discover exactly how the original murder was committed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1940
In this entry in the long running saga of the "Dead End Kids," the East Side boys leave the Big Apple and go to California to seek their fortunes. They'd rather not have to work for their money, but end up working on the ranch of an aged Italian woman who treats her employees kindly (unlike other farmers of the era, who often treated their migrant workers worse than animals). Her son disappeared as a baby and one of the boy's decides to convince her that he is the long lost child in hopes of getting an inheritance. After a while, he is so moved by her kindness that he changes his mind and tries to help her for real when the truckers team up with a union to keep her harvest from reaching the market. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nan Grey, Billy Halop, (more)
- 1940
This fine adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale about a cursed family opens with a title card that reveals how the Pyncheon family stole, cheated, lied, and murdered their way to wealth. But within the hearts of the family's bloodline lay fear of the curse of Matthew Maule, a man they crossed many years earlier. Jumping to the year 1828, upstart judge Jaffrey Pyncheon (George Sanders) is called to his family's beloved seven-gabled house where he is told by his father (Gilbert Emery) and brother Clifford (Vincent Price) that the home is to be sold in order to pay their debts. A bitter, loathsome man who deeply believes in Maule's curse -- and the legend that gold is hidden in the house -- Jaffrey takes the opportunity of his father's death to accuse the innocent Clifford of murdering their patriarch. Clifford is sentenced to life in prison, but in a bizarre quirk of legal fate, the house is left in the care of Clifford's lively fiancée Hepzibah (Margaret Lindsay), who immediately boots out the hateful Jaffrey. The passage of 20 years leaves the house in shambles and Hepzibah a bitter spinster. The arrival of two people -- Hepzibah's pretty young cousin Phoebe (Nan Grey) and a mysterious boarder named Matthew Holgrave (Dick Foran) -- spark Hepzibah into opening the old house as a business. Clifford is finally released from prison and returns home for a touching reunion, but after a serious a strange reports about him leak out, Jaffrey plots to have his brother committed. However, Clifford has some plans for his evil brother and a plan to end the family's curse. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1940
Dispensing with the melodramatic excesses of Universal's previous "Invisible Man" films, 1941's The Invisible Woman aims strictly for laughs. Virginia Bruce stars as Kitty Carroll, an outspoken department store model fired from her job by tyrannical Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). Intrigued by an ad in the personal columns requesting the services of an "adventurous woman", Kitty offers her services to eccentric scientist Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore, doing a dead-on impression of his brother Lionel). Much to the dismay of his timorous butler George (Charles Ruggles), his housekeeper Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton), and his nephew-financier Richard Russell (John Howard), Gibbs has been experimenting with an invisibility formula, and Kitty turns out to be a most willing guinea pig. Cloaked in her new invisibility, our heroine gets even with her old nemesis Growley and sets out for new escapades, while Gibbs and his entourage anxiously search for the girl lest harm befall her. The whole affair ends up in the Mexican refuge of gangster Blackie (Oscar Homolka), who hopes to use Gibbs' formula for his own nefarious purposes. Given the fact that Blackie is saddled with such moronic henchmen as Bill (Ed Brophy) and Frankie (Shemp Howard), he doesn't stand a chance against the resourceful Kitty, who thoughtfully permits the nonplussed Richard into thinking that he's rescuing her. Shakespeare it isn't, but The Invisible Woman is consistently funny and inventive, enhanced by Universal's usual excellent special effects. Future leading lady Maria Montez shows up as one of the models in the early scenes, along with former Warner Bros. star Anne Nagel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, (more)
- 1940
A semi-sequel to the 1933 Universal horror masterwork The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns stars Vincent Price in the title role. Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Price begs doctor John Sutton to inject him with the invisibility serum invented by Claude Rains in the first film. Sutton does so, even though he warns Price that the serum will very likely drive him insane. Sir Cedric Hardwicke co-stars as the genuine murderer, a colliery owner who framed Price. Though his behavior veers dangerously close to homicidal, Price is able to mete out retribution to Hardwicke without stooping to murder. As he gradually weakens, Price is recaptured and rushed to the hospital, where his life is saved by an emergency blood transfusion. Price's face is revealed to us for the first time as he vows his undying love to leading lady Nan Grey. Taking a less playful approach to the grim goings-on than director James Whale had in The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns is a grim little morality play, containing vestiges of The Count of Monte Cristo and distinguished by an odd preoccupation with the mechanics and minutiae of death (a characteristic trait in the screenplays of Curt Siodmak). The film helped to solidify the cinematic reputation of Vincent Price, though it would be years before he'd specialize in horror on a full-time basis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, (more)
- 1941
German director Joe May was light-years removed from his glory days at UFA when he helmed the "Little Tough Guys" entry Hit the Road. This time, the youthful protagonists-Tom (Billy Halop), Pig (Huntz Hall), String (Gabe Dell) and Ape (Bernard Punsley)-are all the orphaned sons of gangsters who'd been murdered by mob boss Spike (Edward Pawley). "Graduating" from reform school, the boys show every sign of follwing in their parents' footseps, so they're paroled in the custody of kindhearted reformed gangster Jimmy Ryan (Barton MacLaine). Taking the kids to his cattle farm, Ryan gives them more than enough chores and responsiblities to keep them out of trouble, and before long the boys have cleaned up their act-but not without a bit of strong-arm persuasion from Ryan's tough-talking wife Molly (Gladys George). When Spike and his mob try to steal the $50,000 which the Ryans have saved to build a Boys' Town-like school for wayward youths, the Little Tough Guys rally to the defense of their benefactors, throwing punches and wisecracks with reckless abandon. The most pleasant aspect of Hit the Road is the presence of charming leading lady Evelyn Ankers (who later recalled having to fend off the amorous advances of teenaged Huntz Hall by deploying a well-aimed knee!); the least pleasant is the lachrymose performance of child actor Bobs Watson, who never spoke when crying would do. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gladys George, Barton MacLane, (more)
- 1943
This curious bit of wartime wish-fulfillment stars Ludwig Donath as Franz Huber, a famed Austrian actor known for his impersonations of celebrities. Captured by the Gestapo, Huber is ordered to undergo plastic surgery. When he emerges from the gauze, Huber is the living image of Adolf Hitler! It's all part of a Gestapo plot to assassinate the troublesome Fuehrer and put the ostensibly more pliable Huber in his place. The anti-Nazi Huber is able to foil the Gestapo and strike a blow for Democracy, but he meets his Waterloo at the hands of his own wife (Gale Sondergaard), who has no way of knowing that he isn't Hitler. The labyrinthine screenplay was cowritten by Fritz Kortner, who also plays one of the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ludwig Donath, George Dolenz, (more)
- 1944
The sparkling screwball comedy And So They Were Married was originally released as Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More. French-Canadian girl Simone Simon leases a Washington DC apartment from Marine William Terry. Since the Nation's Capital is overcrowded (wartime, don't you know), Simon must put up with a steady parade of Terry's old cronies and girlfriends, all of whom have keys to the apartment. She also becomes the romantic bone of contention between Terry and his sailor pal James Ellison. The last half of the film is dominated by Robert Mitchum as a Chief Petty Officer, who wants to rent the apartment for himself and his wife. A whimsical touch is added by the presence of midget Jerry Maren as a Cupid-like gremlin, who takes great delight in complicating Simon's life. Blessed with a great cast, an above-average production values (especially for a Monogram release), this King Bros. production proved to be the last directorial effort of German expatriate Joe May. Watch for fleeting appearances by horror-film perennial Rondo Hatton as a well-dressed gentleman entering Simon's cab, and Our Gang's Mickey "Froggy" Laughlin as a ratchet-voiced kid. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Simone Simon, James Ellison, (more)
- 1944
Uncertain Glory finds Errol Flynn atypically cast as French criminal Jean Picard, a craven coward whose many misdeeds have earned him a date with the guillotine. Detective Marcel Bonet (Paul Lukas) intends to see that Picard keeps his appointment with the executioner, despite the fact that there's a war on. When the Nazis capture 100 French hostages to force a resistance saboteur to surrender himself, Picard offers to pose as the saboteur and thereby save the lives of the innocent villagers. In truth, he plans to escape once he's turned himself over to the Nazis, leaving the villagers in the lurch, but at the last moment his latent patriotism overcomes his sense of self-preservation. Errol Flynn's character is almost as inconsistent as the script, but war films invariably made money in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas, (more)
- 1950
The Buccaneer's Girl of the title, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is Deborah McCoy, an entertainer who's been around a bit. While visiting New Orleans, Deborah falls in love with aristocratic Frederick Baptiste (Philip Friend), who turns out to be a pirate. Baptiste is basically a decent fellow: his piracy is aimed exclusively at the crooked shipowner who destroyed his father. Deborah is a bit more mercenary, hoping to marry into wealth by posing as a high-born lady. By the seventh reel, however, she's perfectly content to settle down with the raffish Baptiste. Though played tongue-in-cheek, Buccaneer's Girl never resorts to "camp": it invites the audience to laugh with the film, rather than at it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Philip Friend, (more)
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