Randolph Scott Movies

So Red the Rose is a Civil War drama that plays like a warm-up for Gone With the Wind--and, unlike Wind, has two genuine Southerners in the leading roles. Margaret Sullavan is the aristocratic mistress of a sprawling Southern plantation, whose sheltered lifestyle is rent asunder by the War. All that sustains her during the conflict's darkest days is her love for her distant cousin, a Confederate officer played by Randolph Scott. Despite the incursions of Yankee troops (most of whom are portrayed as one step above gorillas), Sullavan holds her family together even after her mansion is burned to the ground. She even manages to talk her slaves out of rebelling, in a scene that must have caused embarrassment for everyone concerned in later years. The fact that So Red the Rose died at the box office (industryites dubbed the picture "So Red the Ink") was the principal reason why so many producers turned down Gone with the Wind a few years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Zane Grey's frequently-filmed story Border Legion was produced in 1934 under the title The Last Round-Up. Randolph Scott plays Jim Cleve, one of several volunteers keeping the US-Mexican border safe on behalf of American settlers. Ostensibly the hero, Cleve is actually out-heroed by the film's nominal villain, outlaw leader Jack Kells (Monte Blue). It is Kells who brings about the story's happy ending, sacrificing his own life to ensure the blissful future of young lovers Cleve and Joan Randall (Barbara Fritchie). The Last Round-Up was one of ten Paramount-produced Zane Grey adaptations starring Randolph Scott, whose association with westerns would endure until his retirement from the screen in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This atmospheric suspense film from the makers of White Zombie marked an unusual turn for glamorous Carole Lombard as heiress Roma Courtenay, who is approached by phony psychic Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart), who claims to bear an important message from her recently deceased brother. After attending a bogus seance, Roma suddenly becomes possessed by the malevolent spirit of executed triple-murderess Ruth Rogen (Vivienne Osborne), whose unfinished business includes killing Bavian, her one-time lover. Fearing that Roma is actually under the charlatan's control, her fiancé (Randolph Crane Scott) sets out to rescue her -- and eventually discovers that the supernatural influence is quite real. Though too subdued to generate real suspense, this atmospheric film benefits from the visual style of director Victor Halperin. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1923, Zane Grey's To the Last Man manages to pack plenty of A-level production values into what was essentially a B-picture budget. In the years following the Civil War, Kentucky man Lynn Hayden (Randolph Scott) moves his family to Nevada, partly to start life anew, but mostly to leave behind the bloody family feud between the Haydens and the Colbys. This, alas, is not to be: once in Nevada, Hayden lands in the middle of a war between cattlemen and sheepherders -- a war involving the same two families. The film's title is grimly accurate: virtually no one is left standing at the end of the film. The superb supporting cast includes Esther Ralston as heroine Ellen Colby (seen to excellent advantage in a semi-nude swimming sequence!), Jack LaRue and Noah Beery Sr. as the slimy villains, and Shirley Temple in a small part. In addition to its many other plusses, To the Last Man introduces a novel method of billing the actors: each player is introduced by name as he or she appears on-screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Insanely jealous of his wife, wealthy zoologist Lionel Atwill uses his knowledge of animals to dispose of any would-be rivals. Atwill brings his latest collection of wild animals to a major metropolitan zoo. Here he continues his homicidal ways, dispatching his wife's lover (John Lodge) with the severed head of a poisonous snake. When his wife (Kathleen Burke) gathers up enough evidence to go to the police, Atwill unceremoniously dumps her in the zoo's alligator pit. A young animal specialist (Randolph Scott) and the zoo owner's daughter (Gail Patrick) suspect foul play and get the goods on the villain. Attempting to escape, Atwill accidentally locks himself in the python cage, and.....Despite the drunken comedy relief of Charlie Ruggles, Murders in the Zoo is a genuine spine-tingler, from its first scene--in which Atwill sews a man's lips shut and leaves him to be devoured by jungle wildlife--to the last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Man of the Forest is based on a Zane Grey story, previously filmed in 1921 and 1926. The title character is two-fisted frontiersman Brett Dale, played by Randolph Scott. Dale gets wind of a plot to kidnap Alice Gaynor (Verna Hillie), the daughter of wealthy rancher Jim Gaynor (Harry Carey) and after numerous obstacles saves the girl from the villains' clutches. Chief heavy Clint Beasley is played by Noah Beery Sr., the epitome of double-dyed villainy. In the film's best scene, long-suffering Mrs. Beasley (Blanche Frederici) begs Clint not to go through with his lust-inspired abduction of Alice, reminding him "We've been married 20 years" -- whereupon Beasley growls "Wall, ya needn't count the last 19 of 'em!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reported to have cost a whopping $2 million, this musical was actually made for far less -- and looks it. But unlike She Done Him Wrong (1932), filmed simultaneously next door, Hello, Everybody! made nary a nickel. Both films starred newcomers, but unlike the irrepressible Mae West, hefty Kate Smith, of radio fame, was given very little opportunity to shine. Awarded script and casting approval, the radio star had chosen a Fannie Hurst tearjerker about a goodhearted but plump farm girl who finds solace in music while her boyfriend takes off with her svelte sister. Paramount, however, made the fatal mistake of casting Smith's real-life manager Ted Collins as her on-screen agent as well, and Collins' overbearing presence was of no help whatsoever to the nervous songbird. Adding insult to injury, Sally Blane, the nearly emaciated sister of equally svelte Loretta Young, played Smith's sibling, insuring that Kate's ungainly girth remained steadfastly in focus. A wardrobe consisting of matronly housedresses and an especially atrocious production number entitled &Pickanninnies' Heaven" put the final nail in the coffin. In the end, Hello, Everybody! proved enough of a loser for Kate Smith to stay away from feature films entirely until a brief cameo in the all-star wartime extravaganza This is the Army(1943). Mae West, meanwhile, considered the phrase "Hello, Everybody!" such a jinx that she reportedly prohibited anyone from using it in her presence! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This first film version of H.G. Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau stars Charles Laughton as Dr.Moreau, a dedicated but sadly misguided scientist who rules the roost on a remote island. Shipwrecked sailor Edward Parker Richard Arlen finds himself on Moreau's island, agreeing to stick around until another boat can come along and take him home. But that's not quite what Moreau has in mind: he'd rather Parker stay on the island and marry the exotic Lota (Kathleen Burke), who curiously possesses the characteristics of the panther. In fact, all the island's natives seem more animal than human, especially the hirsute Bela Lugosi. And why not? They are animals who've been transformed by Moreau into humanlike creatures via surgery. Moreau's plans to mate Parker and Lota are complicated by the arrival of Parker's fiancee Leila Hyams, who has been brought to the island by ship's captain Stanley Fields, one of Moreau's flunkies. When Moreau kills Fields for this insubordination, he makes the mistake of breaking one of the rules he himself has imposed on the island: That no creature shall kill another. Island of Lost Souls does its job of inducing goosebumps so well that one can forgive the cherubic excesses of Charles Laughton in his portrayal of Dr. Moreau. The film would be remade under Wells' original title in 1978, with Burt Lancaster in the Laughton role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second filming of Zane Grey's novel (first brought to the screen by Paramount in 1924 with Bebe Daniels as the female lead) gave Randolph Scott his first starring role. Rancher Adam Naab (J. Farrell MacDonald) owns a spread that includes the only way out of the valley where gang-leader Judson Holderness (David Landau) is hiding a huge herd of stolen cattle, and he won't let Holderness move them across his land. The outlaw leader decides he's going to take the ranch, first by disputing and jumping Naab's water-claim and trying to starve him out. But Naab is one step ahead of him, and hires Jack Hare (Randolph Scott), a surveyor from back east, to remap and confirm the property lines, and Hare survives an attempt by Holderness' henchman Lefty (Guinn Williams) to kill him in the desert. Jack's arrival, however, turns the head of Judy (Sally Blane), Naab's ward (and the daughter of his late business partner), who is supposed to marry Naab's son Snap (Gordon Westcott). Snap already owes Holderness a lot of money from gambling losses at the latter's saloon, and he plays off of Snap's jealousy to get him to betray his own father. Complicating matters still further is the fact that Naab himself has long dreamed of Snap and Judy marrying, and won't let her growing infatuation with Jack get in the way of that plan. Matters all come to a head when all of Holderness' plans seem to unravel and he decides to take the ranch by force. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Richard Arlen more or less revives his aviation-ace role from Wings in the Paramount programmer Sky Bride. Arlen plays Speed Condon, the star attraction of a barnstorming troupe of stunt flyers. When his best friend Eddie (Tom Douglas) is killed during a staged "dogfight," Speed quits the troupe and takes a job as an airport mechanic. By chance, he boards a plane already occupied by Eddie's mother (Louise Closser Hale), who is as yet unaware of her boy's death. Now feeling even more responsible for Eddie's demise, Speed breaks his promise to himself and takes to the air again when Eddie's parachutist kid brother Willie (Robert Coogan) gets stuck in the landing gear of a plane in flight. As was customary in the Paramount product of this period, Jack Oakie supplies the good-natured comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1929 and released early in 1930, Dynamite was Cecil B. DeMille's first all-talking feature. As one observer has noted, this 128-minute opus has enough plots for seven pictures. The basic storyline here involves spoiled heiress Cynthia Crothers (Kay Johnson) who will lose her fortune if she isn't married right away. Her love Roger Towne (Conrad Nagel) isn't interested in marriage, so Crothers decides to wed convicted murderer Hagon Derk (Charles Bickford). Her plan: Derk will die, then she'll be a millionaire, free to chase after Towne without benefit of clergy. Unfortunately for Crothers, Derk is pardoned at the last minute when the real killer (Leslie Fenton) confesses. Crothers tries to drive Derk out of her life by humiliating him at a fancy party, only to discover that the conditions of her inheritance require that she live with her husband for a set period of time. She swallows her pride and heads for Derk's home town, a grimy mining village. Touched by Crother's inept efforts to keep house and cook dinner, Derk eventually falls in love with her--though he makes it clear that he wants no part of her money. Crothers, in turn, falls genuinely in love with her brutish but basically decent husband. It must needs be that fortune-hunting Towne arrives in the mining village, leading to a powerful climax wherein Derk, Crothers and Towne are trapped in a mine cave-in. Though the dialogue is occasionally quite silly (after the killer commits suicide in a crowded restaurant, one of the patrons is heard to complain "It's ruined my dinner!") and the performances overripe at times, Dynamite actually holds up better than you'd expect. DeMilles' utilization of sound is both innovative and imaginative, especially during the noisy climactic sequences. The film was a success, paving the way for DeMilles' camp classic Madame Satan (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a greedy poacher travels to a small island in the Bering sea to rob a seal rookery. There he falls for the governor's daughter who learns that the poacher is the estranged son of a prominent, but dead, citizen. She reveals his true identity to him, and he decides not to kill the baby seals. Unfortunately, one of his henchmen attempts to continue the slaughter. The ex-poacher stops him and is thereby, welcomed into the community. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide