Robert North Movies

Mabel Paige, one of Hollywood's most beloved character actresses, was given her one-and-only starring role in this Republic Pictures tearjerker. Paige plays a wealthy old lady embittered by the long-ago disappearance of her son. She lives alone in a downtown hotel, with only the occasional company of her faithful chauffeur (Harry Shannon). When a group of college boys move into the hotel, Mabel befriends the most troublesome of the bunch (John Craven) because she believes he's her grandson. Her harsh attitude toward the world softened by Craven's presence, Paige dies happy, still under the impression that the boy is her own flesh and blood. Based on a story by Ben Ames Williams, it was remade in 1957 as Johnny Trouble, starring Ethel Barrymore in her final screen role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic's ongoing professional association with the celebrated "Ice-Capades" skating show yielded a number of flashy but forgettable musicals, including 1942's Ice-Capades Revue. Though a plot is hardly necessary, the story concerns New England farm gal Ann (Ellen Drew), whose already-mounting debts are escalated when she inherits a near-bankrupt ice show. Her efforts to revivify this operation are regularly thwarted by a conniving promoter named Duke Baldwin (Harold Huber), who has already tied up all the best arenas for his own skating spectacular. But Baldwin's second-in-command Jeff (Richard Denning) falls in love with Ann and vows to see to it that her show will be staged, come heck or high water. Jerry Colonna goes through his customary zaniness as an eccentric would-be backer who turns out to be a phony, while Barbara Jo Allen again trots out her dizzy "Vera Vague" characterization. Foremost among the skating acts in Ice-Capades Revue is Vera Hruba Ralston, who'd later be elevated to leading-lady status at Republic by her ardent admirer (and future husband), studio president Herbert J. Yates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a country bumpkin spends most of his free time watching movies and becomes such an expert that he can accurately predict which ones will be hits and which will fail at the box-office. An employee at a failing Hollywood studio finds the fellow and takes him back to Tinsel Town. Trouble ensues when the rube convinces the studio to put a no-talent gangster in the leading role of an upcoming gangster movie because he is involved with the mobster's sister. Eventually, the hayseed extricates himself from it all and happiness ensues. Songs include: "Comes Love," "It's Me Again," "Let's Make Memories Tonight," "I Can't Afford to Dream" (Lew Brown, Charles Tobias, Sammy Stapt), and "Jim" (Caesar Petrillo, Nelson Shawn, Edward Ross). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With its slight resemblance to Destry Rides Again (1939) -- probably not entirely coincidental -- this rousing Western from Republic Pictures remains a joy throughout. John Wayne plays Tom Craig, a mild-mannered druggist from Boston who opens a shop in wild and woolly Sacramento shortly before the Gold Rush. The town is "owned" by the Dawson brothers, Britt (Albert Dekker) and Joe (Dick Purcell), who poison Craig's tonic when saloon hostess Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) takes too much of an interest in the handsome newcomer. Town drunk Whitey (Emmett Lynn) has one drink too many, and all of Sacramento is soon in a lynching mood. The news of "gold in them thar hills" saves the druggist in the nick of time, but his business is destroyed. While everyone is heading for the gold fields, Craig prepares to leave town with snobbish debutante Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish), whom he intends to marry. News of typhoid fever among the prospectors changes his mind, however, and the man once referred to as "a human hitchin' post instead of a two-legged man," risks his own life to save the suffering populace. The Dawson brothers, meanwhile, plan to hijack the medical supplies and sell them to the highest bidder, but when Britt Dawson learns that Lacey is helping the sick and may be stricken with the disease herself, he has a change of heart and eventually confesses to spiking Craig's medicine. Cast against type for most of the film, John Wayne fails to make his amiable druggist entirely believable but remains simply John Wayne throughout -- which is as it should be. Binnie Barnes is rowdy and fun whether leading a chorus of "California Joe" by Johnny Marvin and Fred Rose, or jealously interrupting a tête-à-tête between Wayne and 19-year-old Helen Parrish. Usually cast as glacial "other women" in Hollywood films, the British-born Barnes had actually begun her professional career touring Europe and South Africa with bucolic American headliner Tex McLeod, which was as good a preparation as any to play In Old California's saloon belle. Patsy Kelly, who shoots down her laundry with a Winchester, and Edgar Kennedy, as Wayne's tooth-ache plagued sidekick, add to the general fun. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

By Republic Pictures standards, 1941's Ice-Capades certainly qualifies as an "all-star" film. The many subplots center around a performance of the real-life Ice-Capades skating troupe, featuring such luminaries as Belita, Red McCarthy, Megan Taylor, and future Republic film queen Vera Hruba Ralston. James Ellison plays the nominal leading character, a hotshot newsreel cameraman named Bob Clemens. Assigned to film an international skating star in action, Clemens inadvertently wastes miles of celluloid on aspiring skater Marie (Dorothy Lewis) rather than the real star, the unphotogenic Karen Vajda (Rene Riano). But not to worry: With the help of slick showbiz promoter Larry Herman (Phil Silvers), Marie becomes an Ice-Capades headliner in her own right. In addition to Silvers, the comedy relief in Ice-Capades is in the capable hands of Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen), Jerry Colonna and Gus Schilling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed with Mabel Normand in 1920, the old Rose Melville stage property Sis Hopkins was trotted out in 1941 for Republic's newest star, raucous cornpone comedienne Judy Canova. Sporting pigtails and dressed like a potato sack, Sis Hopkins (Canova) shows up at the doorstep of her snooty rich relations in the Big City after her family farm burns down. Though she immediately ingratiates herself to her uncle, bathroom-appliance mogul Horace Hopkins (Charles Butterworth), Sis runs afoul of her bitchy, beautiful cousin Carol (played by a pre-stardom Susan Hayward). Determined to humiliate our heroine and send her packing, Carol arranges for Sis to partipate in a sorority-initiation striptease. Fortunately, Sis wins out in the finale, while Carol must endure such indignities as a well-aimed pan of water and a misplaced bathroom plunger. As a bonus, Sis wins the heart of college bandleader Jeff Farnsworth (Bob Crosby). Adding to the general merriment of Sis Hopkins is Jerry Colonna as a zany college professor. Judy Canova sings several of her patented country-western ditties, then surprises her fans with a "straight"operatic rendition from La Traviata. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As suggested by its title, Behind the News was a "stop the presses!" yarn set in a big-city newsroom. Lloyd Nolan is top-billed as a cynical reporter with a penchant for sticking his neck out too far. Frank Albertson costars as a cub reporter fresh out of journalism school, whose presence is resented by Nolan and his fellow workers. But it is Albertson who, after running afoul of the law, is instrumental in breaking up a ring of racketeers. Behind the News was remade by Republic as Headline Hunters (55). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An innocent young woman is accused of murder by her wicked stepmother. The poor lass ends up in prison. Fortunately, a reporter sets out to prove that she is not guilty and brings the real culprit to justice. Meanwhile the murderous step-mom plots the hapless girl's demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight. The plot is motivated by the show-biz aspirations of bellboy Danny O'Brien (Johnny Downs). With the help of a wealthy chiropodist (Jerry Colonna), O'Brien not only gets to star on a big-time radio show, but also sprinkles stardust upon his sweetheart Kay Barnett (Jane Frazee)-who, unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, is the daughter of the show's sponsor. Unable to secure the services of Bob Hope, Republic did the next best thing by hiring two of Hope's funniest stooges, Jerry Colonna and Vera Vague (aka Barbara Jo Allen). Jane Frazee's excellent showing in Melody and Moonlight landed her a contract with Universal; by the end of the 1940s, however, she was back at Republic as Roy Rogers' leading lady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1929 Fox talkie of the same name, Republic's The Girl From Havana offers blonde-bombshell Claire Carleton (normally relegated to supporting roles) as the title character. The film charts the exploits of two oil-drilling buddies, Woody Davis (Dennis O'Keefe) and Tex Moore (Victor Jory) as they ply their trade in sunny Cuba. Woody and Tex come to blows over the affections of the gorgeous Havana (Claire Carleton), but eventually set aside their differences when the plot takes a melodramatic turn. The climax finds Woody posing as a gun-runner in order to expose a Nazi spy ring operating in the Carribean. Steffi Duna, wife of star Dennis O'Keefe, shows up to warble the "authentic" Cubano number "Querido, Take Me Tonight." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a wealthy man finds that his good life is threatened by his deeply buried, dark past. It seems that years before, the man escaped from prison. Now he is being blackmailed by a former cellmate. Bad things happen, and the man finds himself framed for murder. Fortunately he proves his innocence. Unfortunately his status as a fugitive is exposed and he must return to the joint to finish his sentence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

As indicated by its title, Thou Shalt Not Kill is a strange blend of religiosity and crime melodrama. Charles Bickford plays Reverend Chris, a popular neighborhood clergyman who hopes to clear young Allen Stevens (Owen Davis Jr.) from a murder charge. Complicating matters is the fact that the real criminal has told Reverend Chris the truth during Confessional. How can the priest reveal what he knows without violating the edicts of his religion? Suffice to say he solves the problem, though not as inventively as Montgomery Clift in Hitchcock's I Confess (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide