Harry Rapf Movies

According to the MGM publicity department, Gallant Bess was based on a true story, as told by Naval Reserve officer Marvin Park. Bess is a beautiful mare owned by young Tex (Marshall Thompson), who runs a stock ranch. When Tex joins the Seabees at the outbreak of WW2, he is forced to leave Bess behind. The mare dies while giving birth, putting Tex in a deep blue funk until he befriends another horse while stationed on a tiny Pacific Island. The horse turns out to be a good-luck charm for Tex and his fellow seabees, prompting a series of rather incredible plot twists. Though Gallant Bess was accepted as gospel by the great majority of filmgoers, ex-navy men laughed and laughed at the film's depiction of "kindly" commanding officers and C.P.O.s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The zippy world of auto-racing provided the basis of this off-beat actioner that centers on an auto magnate who is relentlessly driven to break every speed record with his cars. Unfortunately, his drivers keep dying on the track. This doesn't stop the obsessed manufacturer from continuing his quest. One day the tycoon and his daughter are at the race track scouting new drivers when he spots a talented young hayseed who wins the race. Impressed, he signs the naive lad on. The magnate's daughter meets the driver and soon falls in love with him. Even though the rube is well aware that his predecessors have died, he vows that he will succeed. He does, but not before learning the real reason behind the mysterious string of deaths. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally filmed in Sepiatone, Let Freedom Ring is a satisfying Nelson Eddy musical with patriotic overtones. Set in the years following the Civil War, the story focuses on the battle of wills between Harvard-educated idealist Steve Logan (Eddy) and bullying railroad magnate Jim Knox (Edward Arnold). Launching a newspaper aimed at combatting Knox's engulf-and-devour tactics (could the villain be intended as a frontier Hitler?) Logan is disowned by his wealthy family and frozen out by his society friends. But with the help of woman-of-the-people Maggie Adams (Virginia Bruce), Logan sticks to his guns and perserveres. Let Freedom Ring goes out of its way to erase Eddy's "Singing Capon" image by having him engage in as much virile physical activity as possible, including a well-staged fistic bout with the gargantuan Victor McLaglen. Fey comedy relief is provided by Charles Butterworth, who does the most with the least material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wallace Beery plays one of his patented good bad guys in this MGM Western. "Trigger" Bill (Beery) is an outlaw with a heart of gold who discovers that his estranged son Jeffrey Burton (Dennis O'Keefe) has become a prizefighter. In his attempts to get Jeffrey out of the ring and into law school, Bill reforms and gives up thieving. When the villainous "Blackjack" McCreedy (Bruce Cabot) tries to interfere with Bill and Jeffrey's lives, however, Bill must return to the way of the gun. This film was initially released in a sepia-tone tint; most prints now available are in black-&-white. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Everybody Sing is an uncertain blend of screwball comedy and standard MGM musical. Reginald Owen plays Hillary Bellaire, patriarch of a looney theatrical family, while Billie Burke co-stars as his overly dramatic actress wife Diana. What story there is gets under way when the Bellaire's daughters Judy (Judy Garland) and Sylvia (Lynne Carver) are expelled from school because Judy insists upon singing Mendelssohn to a "swing" beat. As it turns out, Judy is the most sensible member of the family! In one of her few film appearances, Fanny Brice is rather wasted as a Russian maidservant, though she does get to perform a musical number based on her "Baby Snooks" radio character. Far better served within the film's framework is MGM's resident tenor Allan Jones as the family's chauffeur and Reginald Gardiner as Diana Bellaire's long-suffering stage leading man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Young Roger Calverton (Ronald Sinclair) and his uncle Sir Peter Calverton (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bring their prize race-horse The Pookah to America, hoping to win a major purse and save their impoverished family estate. They cross paths with Tim Donahue (Mickey Rooney), one of the top young jockeys in the business, and also with Cricket West (Judy Garland), the niece of Mother Ralph (Sophie Tucker), who runs the boarding house where Donahue resides. Cricket likes to sing every chance she gets, and also has a terrible crush on Tim, but even she can't abide his brash, cocky attitude about himself -- and as a good hostess and also a sensible girl, she also gets just a tiny bit smitten with Roger. He and Tim have a rough first meeting but find that they do sort of like each other, and soon Tim -- who has had a tough, hard-scrabble life -- becomes very close to his new friend from England and to Sir Peter, especially when he finds out how much they love horses and racing. He agrees to ride The Pookah -- but then the young jockey is suckered by his estranged father (Charles D. Brown), a low-life member of a gambling syndicate, into throwing the race. This leads to a tragedy that forces Tim to walk away from his profession and everyone he knows, until Cricket finds him and convinces the boy that what he did wasn't entirely his fault, and that he still has the power to make up for a part of it. Tim steals some of the money he gave his father -- supposedly to save the man's life -- to help Roger get The Pookah into another race, but he still has to overcome the machinations of the mob so he can right the wrong he did to the best friends he's ever had. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this WW II era drama, a timid, pacifistic clerk is befriended by a gutsy circus barker while they are in the military. Tensions arise between the friends after they fall for the same woman. The circus man is captured by the Germans and shortly thereafter, the clerk marries the girl. In time, the clerk finds courage he never knew he had and becomes a legendary hero. The war ends, but by the time, the clerk is returned to civilian life, he has come to like killing others. Unable to adjust, he becomes a gangster, something he conceals from his wife. Years pass and he runs into his old friend the circus barker, who has become the owner of his own circus. By this time the gangster's wife has learned of his profession and she teams up with the ringmaster to help straighten him out. When all else fails, she turns him into the cops. To earn money while he serves his time, the woman joins the other man's circus. It's all innocent, but the gangster, having just busted out of prison, doesn't realize this. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

We Went to College is a perceptive spoof of alumni "homecoming" reunions. Hugh Herbert plays a daffy economics professor, who invites old grads Glenn Harvey (Charles Butterworth), Phil Talbot (Walter Abel) and Senator Budger (Walter Catlett), among many others, to attend the annual homecoming rally. It isn't long before the three middle-agers jump-start their old campus rivalries, much to the consternation of their wives. Our heroes also try their best to interfere with campus activities, notably the all-important homecoming football game. The finale, in which the inebriated Glenn Harvey stumbles onto the football field to prevent a touchdown, was based on an actual incident, which presumably wasn't quite as amusing as what happens on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

British humorist P. G. Wodehouse wrote the story upon which Piccadilly Jim was based. Frank Morgan and Robert Montgomery play a well-to-do father and son, who find themselves rivals in love. The object of their affection is Madge Evans, who likes them both but favors the son. Everything could have been wrapped up in eight reels, but MGM had a mania about lengthy running times, so Piccadilly Jim lumbers on at 100 minutes. Fortunately, such accomplished farceurs as Billie Burke, Robert Benchley and Eric Blore are around to pep up the dull spots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a Damon Runyon story, Three Wise Guys stars Betty Furness as a Broadway golddigger hired by gangster Bruce Cabot to romance playboy Robert Young, then take the sap for every penny he's got. But when Young marries Furness, he is disinherited. Furness decides she's truly in love with Young and leaves town with him. Pursued by Cabot and his henchmen, the couple takes refuge in a deserted farm. Cabot is about to exact vengeance on Furness when he discovers that she's pregnant, and due at any minute. Thus the chastened Cabot and his "wise guy" companions aid Furness in bringing her baby into the world. That's right, it's Christmas...and it's also in a little town called Bethlehem. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this remake of the 1920 Will Rogers comedy Honest Hutch, Wallace Beery stars as the eponymous Hutch, the ne'er-do-well patriarch of a large and needy family, who unexpectedly becomes rich when he stumbles upon $100,000 worth of hidden swag. Ironically, because Hutch has become so notorious as the town layabout, he must now reform into a responsible, hard-working member of the community, in order to provide an excuse for the excessive funds suddenly available to him. The money just as abruptly becomes unavailable again when it's stolen by bank robbers, but the yarns Hutch spins to explain away the missing cash wind up leading to the arrest of the thieves. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Spencer Tracy plays a hard-driving newsman with a special instinct for solving sensational murders before the police can. This earns him the grudging respect of his peers, but his editor always puts him in his place. Tracy spends most of his time solving cases and almost never sleeps at home. This worries his lovely colleague Virginia Bruce who secretly loves him and wants him to settle down. Trouble comes after Tracy's estranged wife commits suicide and con-artists destroy the life of Tracy's dad. Vengefully, Tracy begins plotting the perfect murder of these larcenous crooks. This was Tracy's first film for MGM. He would remain with the studio for the next twenty years. Murder Man also marks the debut of Jimmy Stewart who appears as a cub reporter jokingly named "Shorty." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide