Dudley Nichols Movies
An Oscar-winning screenwriter and sometime director, Dudley Nichols started out as a reporter for the New York World and ventured to Hollywood in 1929 when the film capital began drawing in writers to work with the new medium of talking pictures. He began an early association with John Ford in Men Without Women (1930), and subsequently wrote or co-authored the screenplays for some of Ford's best-known films, including The Lost Patrol, Judge Priest, The Informer (which earned Oscars for writer and director), Stagecoach, The Long Voyage Home, and The Fugitive. Nichols' other screenwriting credits include Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby and Air Force; the scripts for Jean Renoir's two best English-language films, Swamp Water and This Land Is Mine; Fritz Lang's Man Hunt and Scarlet Street; and Leo McCarey's The Bells of St. Mary's. At its best, Nichols' screenwriting displays startling elements of lyricism and poetry -- Swamp Water, for example, has long, haunting passages amid its complex character development that sings of the mystery and wonder of its rural, swampland setting, and was so effective as a script that it was remade a decade later as Lure of the Wilderness. Conversely, The Bells of St. Mary's, despite its relatively light touch and gentle humor, raises serious philosophical and spiritual questions that give the movie much more substance than meets the eye. And Air Force, despite the restrictions of its wartime setting, manages to avoid most wartime cliches (although it did create a few) and is highlighted by a scene in which a dying pilot takes his plane up one last time, completely in his imagination. Man Hunt is a wartime thriller of extraordinary menace and unease, completely unlike the heroic vehicle that one would have expected. And Nichols could also delve into the dark side of the human spirit with equal effectiveness -- The Informer does just that, while wrestling with decidedly Christian themes of betrayal and morality. And Scarlet Street is so utterly bleak and amoral, that it is scary to watch, even 50 years later. Nichols also directed a handful of features: Government Girl, Sister Kenny, and Morning Becomes Electra, all of which received favorable critical notices but failed financially. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1933
The Man Who Dared was inspired by the career of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, here called "Jan Novak" and played by Preston S. Foster. The first portion of the film dwells upon Novak's early years in Chicago's Bohemian community, then follows him on the political trail. In the face of governmental corruption, Novak is scrupulously honest; despite the pressures of big-business barons, Novak tirelessly champions the working man. Elected mayor of Chicago during the Prohibition era, Novak stands his ground against gangsterism. At the end, he is shot down by a sniper who was aiming at President-elect Roosevelt (just as Anton Cermak was shot at the Chicago Century of Progress exhibition in 1933). As Novak dies, he expresses no regrets, declaring his gratitude that Roosevelt was spared. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Zita Johann, (more)
- 1933
In this western, based on a Zane Grey novel, a cowboy is falsely accused of stealing cows. Fortunately, his gal stands by her man as he tries to prove his innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1932
The fast-paced world of polo provides the backdrop for this sports drama that centers upon John Steele, a US Army captain obsessed with polo. The trouble begins when he tries to get revenge upon the polo player who took liberties with his daughter Mickey. The vengeful captain causes Charles, the polo player, to have a fatal accident on the playing field. Investigators are not fooled by the "accident" and justice eventually prevails, but not before the whole mess goes to trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
- 1931
In this western, three disreputable cowboys begin pursuing a beautiful lady because she possesses a map to a valuable gold mine. All three compete to win her hand because by law a wife must share all her belongings with her spouse. Despite their efforts, the woman falls in love with a decent fellow who takes her far from the three bad men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
A woman trying to live down her past finds it coming back to haunt her in this drama. Steve Pelton (Owen Moore) is the leader of a gang of confidence men and petty criminals who have set up a base of operations in a large house they all share. One of Pelton's roommates is his girlfriend, Janet Gordon (Joan Bennett), who is convinced Pelton will propose to her someday. However, when Pelton and his mob are raided by the police, Gordon ends up in jail with the rest of them. With the help of kindly cop Dan Emmett (Douglas Cosgrove), Gordon gets an early release, and she meets Stuart Elliot (Hardie Albright), a wealthy and sophisticated man about town. Elliot falls for Gordon and they soon marry, but her happiness is shattered when Pelton is released and decides to blackmail Gordon, threatening to tell Elliot about her scandalous past unless she does his bidding. Hush Money also features George Raft and Myrna Loy in supporting roles as members of Pelton's gang. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Hardie Albright, (more)
- 1931
Though he'd intended to retire when talkies came in, silent-screen matinee idol Thomas Meighan kept returning to the screen by popular demand until 1934, two years before his death. In Skyline, Meighan is cast as James McClellan, a builder specializing in Manhattan skyscrapers. Though fiercely independent, McClellan generously takes on talented young architect John Breen (Hardie Albright) as his partner, nurturing his protégé into a successful career of his own. What McClellan knows, but Breen doesn't, is that the younger man is McClellan's illegitimate son. Before McClellan reveals the truth, there is an unpleasant story twist when Breen falls in love Paula Lambert (Myrna Loy), his father's mistress. Part and parcel of the film's happy ending is Breen's romance with ingenue Kathleen Kearney (Maureen O'Sullivan). Skyline is based on East Side, West Side, a novel by Felix Riesenberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Meighan, Hardie Albright, (more)
- 1931
The first of director John Ford's three films for 1931 was the now-forgotten The Seas Beneath. Essentially a reworking of Ford's 1930 effort Men Without Women, the story concentrates on the WWI submarine crew captained by rough-and-tumble Bob Kingsley (George O'Brien). While trying to coerce a German sub into a winner-take-all battle, Kingsley learns that his sweetheart Anna-Maria Von Stuben (Marion Lessing) is an enemy spy, and that her brother and fiancee are officers on the German vessel. Adding to the intrigue is Mona Maris, a sexy Cabaret singer who likewise moonlights as a spy. The Seas Beneath was largely filmed on location in and around Catalina Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Marion Lessing, (more)
- 1930
One Mad Kiss was designed to showcase the Latin-American performers in the employ of Fox Studios. Tenor Don José Mojica heads the cast as a dashing Spanish outlaw who fights the corrupt provisional government. Heroine Mona Maris despises the hero at first but learns to love both him and his cause. The evil governor hopes to capture the bandit by using an intercepted love letter as bait. Little does "the guv" know that Mojica is already one step ahead of him -- maybe even two. Broadway comedian Tom Patricola provides a few laughs in a frustratingly minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jose Mojica, Mona Maris, (more)
- 1930
In this drama, a macho ironworker and his equally tough friend decide to leave New Orleans to work as beam-walkers on a New York City skyscraper. This arouses the ire of his Cajun girlfriend who promptly shoots at him as he walks away and then follows him to the Big Apple where she becomes a nightclub performer. Time passes and her ex-lover becomes the head of the ironworker's union. He then finds himself dishonest crooks who are trying to manipulate him into embezzling treasury funds for them by having their most luscious moll seduce him. Fortunately, the ever-jealous Cajun girl and her pistol intervene, and the treasury money is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, William Harrigan, (more)
- 1930
John Ford directed this undersea adventure from the early days of the sound era; it features talking sequences along silent passages with intertitles. After a brief shore leave in Singapore, where sailors have the opportunity to slake their thirsts for both liquor and women, the crew of a U.S. Navy S-13 submarine is ordered back to duty (with many still drunk) in hopes of getting into safer waters before rough weather hits. In the midst of a storm, the sub collides with a ship and starts to sink; the S-13 begins taking on water, which knocks out their radio equipment not long after they begin sending out distress signals. The sub has a limited amount of oxygen on board, and tempers begin to flare as the men begin to wonder who (if anyone) can survive if they are not rescued soon. Adding to this tension is the presence of torpedo launcher Burke (Kenneth MacKenna). The ship's commander, Weymouth (Charles Gerrard), thinks that Burke may actually be Quartermain, a British officer who was the enemy of Weymouth's best friend and was widely presumed to be dead after going missing in action. A young Frank Albertson plays the sub's ensign, and John Wayne has a small part as a radio operator. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth MacKenna, Frank Albertson, (more)
- 1930
A Devil with Women is the best way to describe soldier-of-fortune Jerry Maxton (Victor McLaglen). At large in South America, Maxton romances anything in skirts, though he seems most attached to fair senorita Rosita (Mona Maris). Unfortunately for his libido, Maxton must contend with a band of Mexican bandits who, as capper to their other misdeeds, kidnap the heroine. Racing to the rescue are Maxton and his new pal, wastrelly rich man's son Tom Standish (a surprisingly clean-cut Humphrey Bogart, in his third film). Legend has it that A Devil with Women was supposed to be the opening volley in a McLaglen-Bogart series; thank heaven this didn't happen, else Casablanca would have starred Ronald Reagan after all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Mona Maris, (more)
- 1930
This drama is set during the mid Twenties when gangsters were a bit more genteel than their 1930s counterparts. Based on a true story, it profiles the experiences of a young gangster who, after getting caught during a robbery is given a choice: he can either go to prison or join the military and fight. He chooses the military. There he becomes a hero. But when he returns home, he immediately returns to gangster life. Trouble ensues when he falls for an aristocratic woman with a daughter. Their happiness is interrupted by an old enemy who kidnaps the girl. The protagonist successfully saves the girl and kills his enemy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen, (more)
