B.P. Schulberg Movies

In this WW II spy comedy, an American pilot stationed in England is flying a routine mission when the Nazis shoot down his plane. He ends up seeking shelter in the home of an unhappily married Dutch woman. She covers for the pilot by introducing him as her mentally unbalanced but basically harmless husband. A Nazi major has taken over her home, and mayhem ensues when he and her "husband" meet. In the end, the pilot steals a German plane and takes the woman safely to England. The film is also known as Yank in Dutch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Glenn Ford plays Martin Eden, an aspiring writer who signs on a merchant ship as a sailor. Tormented by the ship's sadistic captain (Ian McDonald), Eden survives the voyage, determined to write an expose of his horrible experiences. At first opposed by the maritime authorities, Martin's book becomes a best-seller. Its publication results in punishment for the wicked captain and the exoneration of a sailor (Stuart Erwin) accused of murder. Based on Jack London's semi-autobiographical novel, Adventures of Martin Eden earned a minor niche in media history as the first major-studio film to be released to television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, set in Paris, a devout communist is slowly seduced into becoming a capitalist by a persuasively pretty young woman. The tale begins as the young man shoots at a banker and then flees the police. He runs into the woman's apartment, and for some reason, she decides to let him stay. She then tells him that she is the banker's ex-wife, and they begin to converse; she is fascinated by communist philosophies and in turn shares her views on capitalism with him. He comes to like them and so abandons his other ideologies for the bourgeois life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This "Thin Man" derivation stars William Gargan and Orien Heyward as Dwight and Penelope Stanford. A mystery writer, Dwight enjoys impersonating his fictional hero and solving mysteries on his own. Much to the discomfort of the cops, Dwight insists upon tackling the baffling murder of old man Stettin (Tully Marshall). Then, much to the discomfort of Dwight, Penelope demands to tag along and offer her own theories. Thus when Penelope finds herself in dire peril, the film's title can be offered as explanation. It's odd that the police are baffled in She Asked for It; anyone in the audience could have told them whodunit from the third reel onward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edward Arnold once again plays a self-made businessman who inadvertently engineers his own downfall in John Meade's Woman. Starting with a second-rate tree-cutting business, Meade rapidly becomes a powerful lumber tycoon, using underhanded methods to rise to the top and crushing anyone who gets in his way. He falls in love with Chicago socialite Caroline Haig (Gail Patrick), but she doesn't feel the same way; nevertheless, for business reasons she agrees to marry him. Feeling slighted, Meade jilts Caroline in favor of down-to-earth Teddy Connor (Francine Larrimore), whom he's picked up off the streets. Pretending to be in love with Teddy but secretly laughing at her behind her back, Meade gets his comeuppance when she leads a populist revolt against his attempts to corner the wheat market. Based on the exploits of several real-life "robber barons," John Meade's Women contains several scenes which eerily anticipate Orson Welles' Citizen Kane by nearly four years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not only is "she" no lady, but heroine Jerry (Ann Dvorak) doesn't even have a ladylike name. Jerry is an insurance investigator who moonlights as a jewel thief, making life difficult for professional diamond-swiper Carter (John Trent). It turns out that at least one of these two reprobates is actually working on the side of the law -- but which one? The story is played for laughs, perhaps because the producers realized that this confusing concoction would never be taken seriously. She's No Lady was produced independently by former studio executive B. P. Schulberg, and released by Schulberg's old studio Paramount. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this tragic drama, a pregnant daughter prepares to marry a man she doesn't love when her 'sister' tells her a story. It seems that when the older woman was a girl she too got pregnant by her lover. When her father found out, he had the impregnator sent to war where he was killed. Meanwhile he allowed his daughter to keep her little girl under the provision that she tell the child that she is her sister. The sister of course, is the woman's daughter. Unfortunately, when her father learns that his daughter has told her daughter the truth he has her committed to an asylum. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a tragedy followed by the seemingly unrelated death of a young mechanic. Dispatched to do Wolfe's leg work is his acerbic aide Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander), who manages to discover that both deaths were tied in with a new weapon which silently shoots poisoned needles. Rex Stout wasn't too pleased with the expurgated screen treatment of his fictional sleuth, whose fondness for imported beers was changed by the censors to a predilection for hot chocolate! Well directed by Broadway vet Herbert Biberman, Meet Nero Wolfe was followed in 1937 by The League of Frightened Men, with Walter Connolly as Wolfe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When widower Stephen Blake (Melvyn Douglas) and divorcee Edith Farnham (Mary Astor) are the only guests at a snowed-in mountain resort, sports director Snirley (Romaine Callender) and hostess Alma Peabody (Dorothy Stickney) try to promote a romance between Stephen and Edith. However, Stephen's son Tommy (Jackie Moran) and Edith's daughter Brenda (Edith Fellows) think this is a rotten idea and do what they can to prevent them from getting together. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

The story goes that Peter Lorre wanted to star in a film version of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, but was certain that Columbia Pictures chieftain Harry Cohn would turn the project down flat. So Lorre hired a secretary to type up a synopsis of the story in words of one syllable then submitted this simplified resume to Cohn. Enthusiastic over the project, Cohn gave Lorre the go-ahead -- but first he asked "Tell me -- has this book got a publisher?" Apocryphal story or no, the fact is that Lorre did star in Columbia's Crime and Punishment and in the bargain was directed by the ultra-stylish Josef Von Sternberg. As the arrogant sociopath Raskolnikov, who is convinced that he can get away with the murder of a nasty pawnbroker because he is "above" such intangibles as a conscience, Lorre is excellent, especially when his bravado is slowly eroded by the gentle but determined Inspector Porfiri (Edward Arnold). Like the aforementioned typed-up synopsis, the film oversimplifies the Dostoyevsky original, concentrating only on the crime, the pangs of guilt, the confession and the arrest: the punishment and its aftermath, so essential to the novel's overall impact, are dispensed with entirely. To make the film even more accessible to a mass audience, the story is subtly updated, though any distinctly "contemporary" touches such as automobiles, telephones and current slang are studiously avoided. The supporting cast is wildly inconsistent: Mrs. Patrick Campbell is fine in her brief scenes as the vitriolic pawnbroker, but Marian Marsh is all wrong as the streetwalker heroine Sonya. The principal strength of this Crime and Punishment is the film-long game of cat-and-mouse between the reckless Raskolnikov and the quietly methodical Porfiri. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When he's shipped off to prison on a tax-evasion charge, millionaire Van Dyke (Walter Connolly) breathes a sigh of relief: at least he'll be free of his dizzy, spendthrift wife (Billie Burke) and spoiled-rotten daughter Carol (Joan Bennett). Once behind bars, Van Dyke strikes up a friendship with amiable reformed bootlegger Ricardi (George Raft). Since Ricardi is to be sprung first, Van Dyke suggests that the ex-crook take on the task of "taming" the incorrigible Carol. Unwilling to be stifled by a former jailbird (even a good-looking one), Carol decides to get even by persuading one of Ricardi's former cohorts, a shady character named Tex (Lloyd Nolan) to stage a fake kidnapping. Trouble is, Tex kidnaps the girl for real, obliging Ricardi to race to her rescue -- but only after deliberately breaking every traffic law known to man, so that he'll be pursued by a veritable battalion of motorcycle cops (this hilarious finale was later re-used in the 1941 Buster Keaton two-reeler So You Won't Squawk). A heady blend of screwball comedy and crime melodrama, She Couldn't Take It is one of the fastest and funniest films of 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A European princess heads for New York in order to see if the U. S. will back her country's bond issue. Unfortunately, she is afflicted with the mumps and ordered to bed. This is an ill turn for the banker planning to issue the bonds for if the princess reneges upon her public engagements, the deal could fall through and he will lose a huge commission. Thinking quickly, he starts looking for a look-alike. He soon discovers an impoverished actress who fits the bill. Trouble brews when a prominent and somewhat xenophobic newspaper publisher gets wind of the entire scam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide