Robert Montgomery Movies

Untamed was touted by MGM as Joan Crawford's talking-picture debut, even though she'd already been heard as well as seen in Hollywood Revue of 1929. Best described as Somerset Maugham on toast, the film casts Crawford as Bingo, an oil heiress who has been raised in the tropics. When her rough-and-tumble guardians Murchison (Ernest Torrence) and Presley (Holmes Herbert) decide it is time to "civilize" the girl, they take her to New York, intending to indoctrinate her in the proper social graces. En route to Manhattan, Bingo falls in love with Andy (Robert Montgomery), whose lack of money and breeding means nothing to her. But when Andy finds out that Bingo is worth millions, he avoids her like the plague, refusing to live off the girl's riches. At her first high-society party, Bingo shocks the New York elite with her crude behavior, going so far as to punch out snooty debutante Marjory (Gwen Lee). Later on, Andy breaks Bingo's heart by again refusing to marry her and running off with Marjory. In desperation, Bingo grabs a gun and pumps Andy full of lead -- which has the curious effect of convincing him that she'll make the perfect bride! Aside from Joan Crawford's scintillating performance, Untamed is difficult to swallow when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, three GIs return home and discover that they have been officially listed among the dead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

War Nurse was based on the anonymous memoirs of an American nurse who served with the French Army during WWI. Since the nurse's recollections included several sexual episodes, the book gained a degree of notoriety, and it was assumed that the material was too "hot" to be adapted to film. But MGM scriveners Becky Gardiner and Joe Farnham managed to retain the spirit of the original novel while still remaining safely within the boundaries of Hollywood censorship. Broadway actress June Walker starred as the title character, here named Babs, whose many romances are crystallized into a single passionate affair with downed aviator Wally (Robert Montgomery) and a less-serious entanglement with a married officer named Robin (Robert Ames). Perhaps to atone for the "sins" of the original novelist, Anita Page appears as Babs' friend Joy, who comes to a sad end after being betrayed by Robin, who likewise dies an unpleasant death. War Nurse failed to make back its $600,000 budget, whereupon June Walker, who wasn't too keen on movies anyway, returned to the stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Buster Keaton's talkie debut (discounting his non-speaking guest appearance in Hollywood Revue of 1929) was Free and Easy, an uneven but generally amusing comedy with a Hollywood setting. When pretty Elvira (Anita Page) of Gopher City, Kansas wins a beauty contest, her prize includes a trip to Tinseltown and a screen test at MGM. Appointing himself protector of Elvira and her formidable mother (Trixie Friganza), gas-station attendant Elmer Butts (Keaton) accompanies them to California. Once they've arrived, Elmer manages to disrupt the daily MGM routine, stumbling into films in progress, knocking over sets and breaking props, and finding himself taking a screen test in which he repeatedly blows the single line "The queen has swooned" ("The sween has quooned", "The coon has sweened") over and over. Meanwhile, latin-lover film star Lorenzo (Robert Montgomery) sets his sights on innocent Elvira, attempting to seduce her while Elmer's back is turned. But Lorenzo turns out to be a good guy -- in fact, his real name is Larry, and he's a Kansas boy himself -- and he arranges for Elvira to get her big break. In a surprise turnaround, Elvira doesn't win a contract, but Elmer and Elvira's mom become popular musical-comedy stars! The film is studded with guest appearances by such MGM contractees as directors Cecil B. DeMille, Lionel Barrymore, Fred Niblo, and actors Gwen Lee, John Miljan, William Haines, Karl Dane and Keaton's then-girlfriend Dorothy Sebastian. Free and Easy was also filmed in French, Spanish and German-language versions, with Keaton speaking his words phonetically in all three. The film was remade as Pick a Star in 1937, and as Abbott and Costello in Hollywood in 1945. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norma Shearer earned an Academy Award for playing the not so gay divorcée in this pre-Code offering based, loosely, on Ex-Wife, a 1929 Ursula Parrott novel. Shearer is Jerry, a socialite who marries handsome Ted (Chester Morris) after a whirlwind courtship. But Ted is not exactly the faithful type and after three years of what she in her naïveté considered marital bliss, Jerry learns of his affair with Janice (Mary Doran). "It meant nothing," Ted assures her but Jerry is devastated and decides to investigate adultery for herself by sleeping with Ted's best friend, Don (Robert Montgomery). When she discovers that the old double-standard still applies, Jerry announces that henceforth Ted, and only Ted, is no longer welcome in her bed. After a string of lovers who mean little or nothing to her, Jerry falls for an old flame, Paul (Conrad Nagel), but when she understands the effect their affair has on Paul's poor disfigured wife, Dorothy (Helen Johnson, aka Judith Wood), Jerry returns to Ted, who still loves her despite it all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A remake of the 1927 William Haines comedy Spring Fever, Love in the Rough was designed as a musical, though virtually all the songs were cut from the final release print (we see a chorus of secretaries typing rhythmically in the opening scene, yet this obvious song cue is cut short with nary a note). Robert Montgomery steps into the Haines role as Kelly, a shipping clerk who poses as an executive to gain access to a ritzy country club. Here he boasts of his prowess as a golfer, hoping to win the heart of heiress Marilyn (Dorothy Jordan). Amazingly, our hero bluffs his way into a golf tournament -- and wins, with the help of Jewish caddie Benny (Benny Rubin). If second lead Dorothy McNulty looks familiar, she should: eight years later, under her new nom de film of Penny Singleton, she starred in Columbia's Blondie series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amanda (Norma Shearer) and Elyot (Robert Montgomery) -- a witty, sophisticated married couple -- divorce and marry other mates. Amanda chooses stuffy Victor (Reginald Denny), while Elyot's selection is the tiresome Sibyl (Una Merkel). Coincidentally, both newlywed couples honeymoon at the same Swiss hotel -- in adjoining suites, in fact. Amanda and Elyot realize anew that the flame of their love has never been extinguished, but when both slip off for a lover's tryst, they fall into their old pattern of ceaseless bickering. When Victor and Sibyl catch up with their erring mates, they themselves begin arguing. Once the point has been made that Amanda and Elyot deserve each other and that Victor and Sibyl are likewise perfectly matched, this elegant comedy of manners draws to a quiet close. A fairly faithful adaptation of the classic Noël Coward stage play (virtually all of the witticisms, notably "Some women should be struck regularly -- like gongs" are left intact, though we truly miss "You're looking lovely in this damned moonlight"), Private Lives is played with such polish and expertise that we're willing to overlook the fact that only one of the four principals (Reginald Denny) is genuinely British. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not every Greta Garbo film is an imperishable classic; this was seldom truer than in the case of her repetitious 1931 vehicle Inspiration. A modernized adaptation of Alphonse Daudet's Sappho, the film casts Garbo as Yvonne, a Parisian belle with "a history." When her past returns to haunt her, she decides to walk out on her sweetheart Andre (Robert Montgomery), even though she still loves him. Eventually she returns to Andre, but this time he leaves her. Worried that Yvonne will take drastic action over his defection, Andre returns, whereupon Yvonne breaks up the romance a third time, "all for the best." Had there been a fourth breakup, the audience probably would have walked out. No matter: Garbo illuminates every scene she's in, and that's all anyone could possibly ask for. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norma Shearer stars in this pre-Code melodrama as Lisbeth Corbin, who is in love with Alan (Neil Hamilton), a globe-trotting newspaper reporter, but also strings along Steve (Robert Montgomery), a well-mannered local boy who is good friends with Lisbeth, even though she doesn't love him. When Alan is sent to Mexico to cover a story, love-struck Lisbeth goes with him, but when he's next sent to China, Alan leaves Lisbeth behind. Heartbroken, she heads for Europe, where she tries to forget Alan with a series of short-term love affairs. Try as she might, Lisebth can't forget Alan, but when she returns home, lonely and desperate, she finally agrees to marry Steve. Alan picks this moment to return, but just as she's thrown over Steve for her true love, Alan learns of Lisbeth's escapades in Europe and breaks off the engagement, sending her to the brink of suicide. Keep an eye peeled for an early appearance by Ray Milland as one of Lisbeth's suitors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ivor Novello's elegant stage play The Truth Game was the source for MGM's But the Flesh is Weak. C. Aubrey Smith and Robert Montgomery star as Florian and Max, father-and-son fortune hunters whose ethics and integrity wax and wane throughout the picture. Eventually, Florian outsmarts himself and ends up broke and heavily in debt. To save his father from committing suicide, Max agrees to marry wealthy Lady Joan (Heather Thatcher). Will he be saved from this rash act in time by his true love, poor but proud widow Rosine (Nora Gregor)? In cold print, But the Flesh is Weak may seem like a stark tragedy, but is in fact a witty, polished polite comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lovers Courageous represents a rare direct-to-screen original by Frederick Lonsdale, the playwright responsible for such drawing-room comedies as The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans plays the titular lovers, Willy and Mary. After living a peripatetic existence all over the world, Willy settles in South Africa, where he goes to work for a tobacconist. Here he meets Mary (Madge Evans), the daughter of an aristocratic ex-admiral (Frederick Kerr). The story then develops into a "reverse Cinderella," with the rough-hewn Willy transforming himself into a gentleman, all for the love of "Princess Charming" Mary. Jackie Searl, one of the screen's best "nasty kids," is amusingly if incongruously cast as the younger Willy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Given the usual pedestal upon which mothers were placed by MGM head Louis Mayer, it's all the more amazing that Mayer gave the go-ahead for Another Language. Louise Closser Hale plays a domineering matriarch who controls the lives of her grown, married sons, using a fabricated heart condition to keep them in line. Helen Hayes marries youngest son Robert Montgomery, only to sit by in mute horror as Mother exerts her authority over her timorous offspring at a weekly family get-together. At the end, only Hayes and Montgomery's nephew John Beal have the courage to break the apron strings, but not without the formidable opposition of Monster Mom. Based on the Broadway play by Rose Franken, Another Language represented the screen debut of Margaret Hamilton, recreating the supporting role she'd played on stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide