Harry Sauber Movies

In this musical, a young socialite reluctantly attends an exclusive school; she would rather be working on becoming a Broadway star. She is so determined to be one that she begins ditching her classes to work as a chorus girl in a musical. Following the show's closing, she invites two fellow dancers to visit her home. Musical mayhem and romance ensue. Songs include: "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "It's So Easy," "All I Know Is Si Si" (Doris Fisher, Allan Roberts), "Boogie Woogie from Nowhere" (Saul Chaplin). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

How Dooo You Do? offers two refugees from radio's Eddie Cantor Show, Bert Gordon and Harry Von Zell, as an erstwhile comedy team. The film's title is a catchphrase of Gordon's, who gained famed in the 1940s as "The Mad Russian". Seeking refuge from their fans, Gordon and Von Zell head to Desert Springs and register at a resort hotel. No sooner have they arrived than a much-despised radio agent is murdered, casting suspicion on our heroes-not to mention fellow guests Cheryl Walker, Ella Mae Morse, Clare Windsor, and Keye Luke. For reasons that aren't explained until the end of the film, practically all the cast members (including bit players Thomas Jackson, James Burke, and Fred Kelsey) appear under their own names. In fact, the Pirandellian ending is the most entertaining aspect of this patchy comedy-mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ann Miller goes through her usual twinkle-toed paces in the quickie Columbia musical What's Buzzin', Cousin? The pencil-thin plotline involves attorney Jimmie Ross (John Hubbard), who moonlights as a singer with the Freddie Martin Orchestra. Using his legal and showbiz know-how, Jimmie revitalizes a broken-down hotel owned by Ann Crawford (Ann Miller) and her family. Musical highlights include Freddie Martin's swing rendition of Liszt's second Hungarian Rhapsody, and Ann Miller's terpsichorial interpretation of the bond-rally standard "18.75." Were it not for the presence of Miller and Martin, What's Buzzin' Cousin? would be utterly forgettable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia's belated effort to cash in on the popularity of Abbott & Costello's Buck Privates was the raucous and generally amusing wartime comedy Tramp, Tramp, Tramp. Jackie Gleason (the same!) and Jack Durant are teamed for the first and only time as Hank and Jed, a pair of dimwitted barbers who are forced into bankruptcy because all their customers have marched off to war. Figuring that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Hank and Jed try to join the Army themselves, only to be rejected for a variety of reasons (When asked to read the eye-chart, Hank says he can't-not because he can't see, but because he can't read). Still wishing to serve their country, our heroes set up a "home guard" unit, and in this capacity manage to trap a gang of homicidal crooks. To his credit, Jackie Gleason does not try to imitate his idol Lou Costello, but the A&C influence is felt throughout this trivial little laughspinner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The brazen audaciousness with which Bryan Foy's B-picture unit at Warner Bros. remade the studio's old properties was seldom more pronounced than in 1941's Here Comes Happiness, a thinly disguised reworking of 1934's Happiness Ahead! The original starred Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson; the remake casts Edward Norris as ambitious sandhog Chet Madden and Mildred Coles as poor little rich girl Jessica Vance. Tired of having her every move dictated by her wealthy mother (Marjorie Gateson), Jessica rebels altogether when mama personally selects the girl's future husband. Our heroine escapes to the tenements, assumes a phony name, and falls in love with Chet, who has grandiose plans about his own future. Secretly financing Chet's pet projects, Jessica loses him when he finds out her true identity and disdainfully gives back her money. It's up to Jessica's foxy papa (Russell Hicks), who admires Chet's inborn business acumen, to bring the lovers back together. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having struck pay dirt with its Blondie films, Columbia Pictures launched another "domestic" film series, based on Margaret Sidney's "Five Little Peppers" stories. The third and last entry in the series was The Five Little Peppers in Trouble, neither the best nor worst of this negligible project. Once more, Dorothy Peterson plays the widowed Mrs. Pepper, while her five precocious and resourceful offspring are portrayed by Edith Fellows, Dorothy Ann Seese, Charles Beck, Tommy Bond (best remembered as "Butch" in the Our Gang comedies) and Bobby Larson (replacing Jimmy Leake, who appeared in the first Pepper outing in 1939). Unable to watch over her kids and go to work at the same time, Mrs. Pepper bundles the little Peppers off to boarding school. The Five Little Peppers in Trouble is describable only as "cute"; you take it from there. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gail Patrick plays a brilliant but naive country lawyer brought to the city to defend gangster Sidney Toler. She is subsidized by pillar of society Otto Kruger, who is actually the "big boy" behind the city's rackets. Ms. Patrick must prove that Toler didn't own a weapon that he is accused of pointing at a terrified states' witness. She believes in her client's innocence, but honest district attorney Robert Preston steers her to the side of Right. Patrick is exonerated of a complicity charge, and bad guys Toler and Kruger are carted off to prison. Ironically, Gail Patrick was later the executive producer of the TV series Perry Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this gangster movie, a criminal king-pin and his gang hide out in his hometown where they witness a religious revival that inspires the man to begin billing himself as a "born-again" evangelist so he can cash in on the guilty consciences of local businessmen. At first he keeps it all for himself, but eventually his conscience kicks in and uses the money for good. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Crime reporter George Melville (Joel McCrea) arrogantly repeated accurate predictions about jewel robberies. He befriends Claire (Jean Arthur), who involves him in a mysterious adventure. Later, George meets producer Blackton Gregory (Reginald Owen), who reveals Claire is an actress hired by other reporters who wanted to show George up. She's starring in a play Gregory is producing, but only as a cover for a tunnel he's having henchmen dig to an art gallery. Gregory is really Belaire, a master thief who everyone but George thinks is dead, so when Claire, now falling in love with George, innocently gives Belaire key information, he uses it against George. To Claire's dismay, this leads to George being fired and, apparently, going nuts. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

To fully accept the premise of Her Master's Voice, one must also accept the notion that Edward Everett Horton is radio celebrity Ned Farrar, "The Fireside Troubadour." Besieged by his adoring female fans, Ned hides out at the home of his wife Queena's (Peggy Conklin) imperious Aunt Min (Laura Hope Crews). He pretends to be Aunt Min's handyman, performing his tasks so well that the old lady refuses to let him leave! This in itself is amusing enough, but the producers felt that a few low laughs were needed, thus the film ends in a slapstick car chase. Adapted from a play by Clare Kummer (which also starred Laura Hope Crews), Her Master's Voice represented another of Dore Schary's early screenwriting assignments before his upward move into the executive suites of RKO and MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast in the title role Dinky is Jackie Cooper, who wasn't all that dinky by 1935. Mary Astor co-stars as Mrs. Daniels, Dinky's mother, who has been framed on a fraud charge and sent to prison. By bundling her son off to military school, Mrs. Daniels is able to keep her shame a secret from Dinky. Upon learning the truth, our young hero voluntarily pulls out of the school and takes up residence in an orphanage. But now it's his turn to hide the truth from his mother, by pretending via correspondence that he's still a cadet in good standing. This surfeit of self-sacrifice comes to a merciful end when Mrs. Daniels is proven innocent. Featured in the cast as bullying cadet Jackie Shaw is Richard Quine, who like Jackie Cooper grew up to become a busy TV and movie director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lew Ayres and Patricia Ellis are the "official" stars of Let's Be Ritzy, but the film is dominated by Frank McHugh as brash radio performer Bill Damroy. In his efforts to appease his social-climbing girlfriend Betty (Isabel Jewell), Damroy gets young hero Jimmie (Lew Ayres) mixed up in all sorts of hair-brained schemes. As a result, it looks as though Jimmie and his young bride Ruth (Patricia Ellis) will never be able to scrape enough money together to rent their own apartment, much less "crash" society themselves. In addition to lavishing praise on Frank McHugh, reviewers in 1934 were quite taken by Robert McWade's performance as last-minute problem-solver Mr. Spelvin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide