Jean Carmen Movies

The war between cattle ranchers and sheepmen once again took center stage in this low-budget Western starring former opera baritone Fred Scott. Scott played Army Lieutenant Fred Dawson who upon learning that his father has been wounded heads for home disguised as a medicine show performer. He arrives just in time to prevent a range war, falling in love with sheepman's daughter Jean Carmen along the way. The war, as it turns out, was created by the greedy head of the local stockmen's association (Frank LaRue), who had been hoping to purchase enough cheap land to control the territory. In Old Montana was the second of four singing Westerns Scott made for producer C.C. Burr. Leading lady Jean Carmen, here playing a character amusingly named "June Allison," was a 1934 WAMPAS Baby Star who also acted under the name Julia Thayer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Elmer Clifton, whose career reached back to the D.W. Griffith days, warmed the directors' chair for the States'-Rights quickie Paroled from the Big House. When her storekeeper dad is murdered by protection racketeers, feisty Pat Mallory (Jean Carmen) vows to bring the killers to justice. She is aided in this mission by police lieutenant Nixon (Richard Adams), who goes undercover to gain the gang's confidence. The film's title is a reference to the gang's leader, who manages to wangle an early parole thanks to an on-the-take official. With character names like "Red", "Killer", "Slicker", "Duke" and "Gunner", Paroled from the Big House sounds more like a Bowery Boys epic than a crime melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

To those well versed in the Bob Steelewesterns of the 1930s, it's hardly surprising to reveal that the plot of Arizona Gunfighter was motivated by the murder of the hero's father. One of the more novel plot twists finds good-guy gunfighter Colt Ferron (Steele) casting his lot with reformed outlaw Wolf Whitson (Ted Adams). The fight scenes are impressive, the straight-acting scenes less so: though he was capable of delivering a good performance, Steele often as not ran the emotional gamut from A to B. Arizona Gunfighter was one of several Steele westerns produced by A.W. Hackel for Republic release. Most of these were directed by Robert N. Bradbury, who happened to be the star's father. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A streamlined, fast-paced silent B-Western, this Tom Tyler vehicle was one of several oaters featuring a very young, still brunette, Jean Arthur. She plays Eunice Morgan, the daughter of a businessman (Fred Gambold) who loses his Western ranch to an unscrupulous employer (LeRoy Mason). Unbeknownst to Morgan, there is oil on the property and it is up to ranch foreman Tyler to catch the villain before he can get the deed notarized. The stalwart Tyler does just that and wins the love of Arthur in return. Tyler's usual sidekick, juvenile actor Frankie Darro, was joined by Buck Black, a toothy ten-year old who had played a young Theodore Roosevelt in Lights of Old Broadway (1925). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Produced by small-scale Mascot Pictures, this behind-the-scenes look at a now forgotten annual Hollywood event, the WAMPAS Baby Star selection, starred former MGM light leading man William Haines in his penultimate film role. Well cast as Bob Preston, the brash publicity director of Superba Pictures, Haines will stop at nothing to make his girlfriend, WAMPAS Baby Star June Dale (Judith Allen) a movie queen, never mind if the result should strain their relationship. Finagling a contract with Superba's Samuel Goldwyn-like president (Joseph Cawthorn), Preston nevertheless nearly loses June to a Pasadena playboy (John Miljan), winning her back only by staging a fake suicide attempt. While Bob pursues June, the other 12 WAMPAS babies get to join vaudeville comedians Shaw and Lee in a rousing production number to J. Keirn Brennan and Ted Snyder's "Hush Your Fuss" and generally strut their stuff. Inaugurated in 1922, the yearly selection by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) produced such future stars as Colleen Moore (1922), Clara Bow (1923), Joan Crawford (1926), and Ginger Rogers (1932), but by 1934 studio interference and competing pageants had made the event nearly obsolete. Instead of the yearly coming-out party, Hollywood studios were asked to feature the year's crop in their productions but only Paramount (with Kiss and Make Up) and Mascot obliged. In the end, only ten of the 1934 winners actually appeared in Young and Beautiful, albeit billed above the title: Judith Arlen, Betty Bryson, Jean Carmen, Dorothy Drake, Jean Gale, Hazel Hayes, Ann Hovey, Lucille Lund, Lu Anne Meredith, and Katherine Williams. One had to be left out to make room for the film's non-WAMPAS leading lady, Judith Allen, and the other two were apparently busy elsewhere. Helen Cohan, the daughter of George M. Cohan, Gigi Parrish, and Jacqueline Wells (aka Julie Bishop) were the no-shows and two of them were replaced with alternates Naomi Judge and Lenore Keefe. With the possible exception of Miss Wells/Bishop, none of the girls lasted more than a year or two and the yearly WAMPAS selection went the way of the Model-T. Aside from this now obscure yearly pageant, the best reasons to view Young and Beautiful today are William Haines' engaging performance and an enticing peek behind the gates at Mascot Pictures, the former Mack Sennett studios and future home of Republic Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi