Leo Carrillo Movies

Moonlight Murder takes place virtually in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite dire warnings by a sinister mystic (Pedro de Cordoba), opera-star Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) insists that he will sing in the Bowl's current production of Il Trovatore. He gets no farther than the "Anvil Chorus" before he drops dead in full view of the audience. It turns out that D'Acosta was murdered, placing everyone in the cast under suspicion. As night segues into morning, detective Steve Farrell (Chester Morris) -- whose past mistakes have put him in hot water with his boss -- teams up with lady-scientist Toni Adams (Madge Evans) to piece the clues together. The hot-potato issue of euthanasia is raised during the course of Moonlight Murder, and as a result the film turns out to have one of the most sympathetic and reasonable culprits in "B"-picture history. Trivia alert: One of the suspects is played by Duncan Renaldo, who later co-starred with "victim" Leo Carrillo on TV's The Cisco Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim Buchanan (Herbert Marshall) is a wealthy, highly successful automobile company president, who is about to enter into a marriage-of-convenience with a socially-connected young woman (Frieda Inescort). When his board of directors votes down a new, revolutionary line of cars that he wants to adopt, Jim walks out on his company and his social obligations to re-think his future. He meets Joan Hawthorne (Jean Arthur), an unemployed and homeless young woman, in the park; she doesn't recognize him, and mistakes his uncertainty for desperation similar to her own. Joan persuades him to pose as her husband so can apply as the cook and butler in the home of Mike Rossini (Leo Carrillo), who turns out to be a gangster laying low in the wake of Prohibition's end. Rossini loves Joan's cooking and tolerates Jim's butling; but his henchman Flash (Lionel Stander), who is suspicious of everyone, is puzzled by the fact that the couple don't seem to be living as husband and wife, and also by Jim's nocturnal wanderings back to his corporate offices. Still hiding his identity from Joan, he passes himself off as a frustrated engineer (which he is), and impresses her with his ideas and drawings. A case of mistaken identity and mis-directed good intentions briefly lands Joan in jail, while Jim keeps trying to sort out his attraction to her, versus the loveless marriage he's about to enter into. When all seems lost for Joan, Rossini -- who likes her and her cooking -- comes through with his boys, kidnapping Jim out of his own wedding to try to get the couple back together. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this lively comedy, a humble Italian barber wins the Irish sweepstakes. Unfortunately, he has misplaced the ticket. Mayhem ensues as the family turns things topsy-turvy to find it. The baby then becomes the prime suspect for hiding it. Things get hilarious as the adults try to get the infant to tell them where the ticket is. Fortunately, the ticket is found and prosperity ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A far from factual filmed biography of Mexican patriot Pancho Villa, Viva Villa! was written by lengendary screenwriter Ben Hecht. We first meet the young Villa when his father is beaten to death after protesting Diaz' seizure of the Mexican peons' land. Pancho exacts a temporary revenge by knifing one of his father's killers, then heads for the hills, where he organizes a band of renegades. As he "matures," Pancho is played by child actor Phillip Cooper and adult star Wallace Beery. Though ruthless in his treatment of the rich, Pancho is a hero to the poor, who receive the spoils of Villa's raids. Befriended by American reporter Johnny Sykes (Stuart Erwin), Villa becomes internationally famous thanks to Sykes' articles concerning his exploits. Pancho also finds a strong ally in Don Felipe de Castillo (Donald Cook), who introduces the rebel bandit to Madero (Henry B. Walthall), the leader of the peon revolt. Madero convinces Villa to join forces with him, the better to oust the Diaz regime. His principal rival in this goal is ambitious General Pascal (Joseph Schildkraut), who intends to set up an even more despotic regime once Diaz is eliminated. Emerging victorious in his fight against the federales, Villa is encouraged to go back home by Madero. Illiterate and dangerously naïve, Villa quickly runs into trouble with the new government, giving Pascal a chance to humiliate his former "comrade in arms." Later, Pascal shows his true colors by assassinating Madero and assuming control of Mexico. Thirsting for revenge, Villa and his men go on a bloody rampage, culminiating in the ritualistic murder of the treacherous Pascal (he is staked out on an anthill and covered with honey). Made president of Mexico upon the elimination of Pacal, Villa once more finds himself in over his head. Unable to deal with political infighting, Villa retires to his ranch. One day, after running into his old friend Johnny Sykes (Stu Erwin), Villa is shot and mortally wounded by his onetime friend Don Felipe, who holds Pancho responsible for the death of his sister Teresa (Fay Wray). As he dies, Villa begs Johnny to tell him what his epitaph will be. Improvising quickly, Johnny tells of Villa's love for Mexico and his many accomplishments. Partially filmed on location in Mexico, Viva Villa was plagued with a multitude of production problems, not least of which was the diplomatic gaffe committed by Lee Tracy, the film's original Johnny Sykes: While standing on a balcony watching a military parade, an inebrieated Tracy relieved himself on the troops below and was immediately fired. Another crisis arose when the Mexican government objected to star Wallace Beery, on the grounds that Beery usually played villains or buffoons. Despite these and other setbacks, Viva Villa was finally completed under the assured directorial hand of MGM troubleshooter Jack Conway and the expert supervision of David O. Selznick. Though some critics objected to the film's violence, Viva Villa was a financial success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Young had to be the busiest leading man in Hollywood in 1934. He appeared in no fewer than nine pictures, four of them at his home studio of MGM. The Band Plays On features Young as one of four close pals, who have grown up together and are now college football champs known as "The Four Bombers". So inseparable are these chums that, when one is injured in a car accident, the remaining three quit the team. But everyone is back on the field for the inevitable Big Game, including Young, who of course scores the winning T.D. Robert Young plays a football star as realistically as he'd played a baseball star in the earlier Death on the Diamond (34)--meaning that the film relies a heavily on stunt doubles and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Notorious as the movie that gangster John Dillinger attended on the night he was killed, Manhattan Melodrama has weathered the years as one of MGM's finest examples of pure storytelling. The pageant-like story begins in 1904, when the excursion steamer "General Slocum" blows up and burns in the East River. Two young boys are orphaned by the disaster. They are adopted by a kindly Jewish businessman (Harry Green) who has lost his own children. Years later, when he is killed during a anarchist rally, the boys are separated once more. They grow up to be straight-arrow attorney Jim Wade (William Powell) and big-time gambler Blackie Gallagher (Clark Gable). Though the two men still like and respect one another, they are now on opposite sides of the legal fence. The professional rivalry becomes personal when Jim marries Blackie's ex-mistress Eleanor (Myrna Loy). The typically stellar MGM supporting cast includes Nat Pendleton as Blackie's faithful stooge, Isabel Jewell as his addled girlfriend, Mickey Rooney as the younger Blackie (a marvelous piece of mimicry here), and blonde singer Shirley Ross, here appearing in blackface in a Harlem nightclub sequence, singing a new Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune that would later gain popularity (with different lyrics) as "Blue Moon." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a 1933 play, this mediocre whodunit was independently produced in New York City with a Broadway cast. Lora Baxter plays Elsie Manning, a famous actress who suddenly finds herself stuck with the dead body of her former lover, James Nichols (Russell Hicks). Dr. Gruelle (Leo Carrillo) offers to take the dead man off her shoulders and pretend that Nichols died from natural causes while under his care. But Elsie disagrees with the arrangement that includes part of the 200,000 dollars she stands to inherit. As it turns out, the good doctor proves to be a homicide detective in disguise and the real murderer is unmasked. Before Morning marked the only feature film of stage actress/playwright Lora Baxter and the screen debut of Louis Jean Heydt, a member of the play's original Broadway cast. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this drama, Joe Tomasso, a slightly corrupt gambler, goes completely straight after he catches an orphan hanging around the racing stables and decides to take the lad under his wing. He then helps the kid become a jockey. Later the boys real mother appears and begs her son not to race; she also falls in love with Joe. Later Joe decides to help the mother reunite with her boy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An immigrant and his wife arrive in America hoping to make it big in the world of music. Shortly thereafter, though, the husband finds out his wife is having an affair with a local lowlife; when he turns up dead, the husband is jailed for his murder, even though he protests his innocence. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

In this western, a lovely Mexican woman falls in love with the gringo pilot whose plane crashed nearby. Unfortunately, her father's neighbor, a powerful rancher is in love with her. He orders the execution of the happless Yankee aviator. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide