Benjamin Stoloff Movies

In this crime drama an escaped killer hunts the man who squealed upon him. He stalks the man onto a train bound for San Francisco. The stoolie is killed. As a result another passenger, who witnessed the killing becomes determined to catch the cold-blooded killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this wartime drama, a doctor discovers that one of his patients isn't as crazy as he thought, with dangerous consequences for the whole world. Dr. Michael Lewis (John Garfield) is an intern at a hospital where a woman named Jane (Nancy Coleman) is admitted. Jane was injured in a car wreck, and she tells Michael a remarkable story. She claims that she is actually an espionage agent with top-secret information that could help the Allied war effort; the accident occurred while she was trying to escape from Axis spies who will do anything to get her documents. Michael, who is supposed to keep an eye on Jane, thinks she must be delusional, and when psychiatrist Dr. Ingersol (Raymond Massey) arrives with Jane's father, Mr. Goodwin (Moroni Olsen), he signs Jane out in their custody. However, Michael soon discovers that Mr. Goodwin isn't Jane's father at all; he and Ingersol are actually the Nazi spies Jane was fleeing in the accident, and someone must rescue her before it's too late, both for Jane and the Allied war effort. Dangerously They Live was scripted by Marion Parsonnet from her novel, Remember Tomorrow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama a high-school principal's principles are put to the test when he, also a member of a parole board, is given the ultimate power to decide whether his son, a brutal criminal is to be paroled. The others do not know about the inmate's relationship to their colleague and the son tries to use this to his advantage. Sure enough his blackmail works and the heartless crook is freed to go on an unparalleled crime spree with his moll until his father comes forth and gives him final justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A remake of Howard Hawks's 1928 effort A Girl in Every Port, Goldie is the sort of film for which the phrase "Male Chauvinist Pig" was invented. Finding a book of girl's addresses, a sailor named Spike (Warren Hymer) learns to his dismay that every one of the girls has been tattooed by her previous sweetheart. Vowing to beat up the man responsible for this, Spike finally tracks the perpetrator down; he turns out to be another sailor named Bill (Spencer Tracy), who winds up as Spike's closest friend. Later on, the boys find themselves in Calais, where Spike falls in love with carnival girl Goldie (Jean Harlow). Bill considers Goldie to be nothing more nor less than a gold-digger, but Spike refuses to believe him. Goldie shows her true colors when she "comes on" to Bill, whereupon the latter leaves behind another tattoo as a warning for the gullible Spike. Geez, ya just can't trust dem dames! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At least Heartaches looks more ambitious than it is-no small feat for a PRC production. Ken Farrell plays Vic Morton, a popular movie crooner whose voice is actually supplied anonymously by the gloriously nicknamed Bogey Mann (Chill Wills). Not long after Morton begins receiving mailed death threats, his press agent Mike Connelly (Frank Orth) is murdered, the second such killing in as many days. Reporter Jimmy McDonald (Edward Norris) investigates, uncovering a complex conspiracy and exposing an unsuspected culprit. Incredibly, in addition to Chill Wills, the supporting cast of Heartaches includes a starlet named Chili Williams! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Radio actor Kenny Delmar created the character of bombastic Southern Senator Claghorn for a 1945 installment of The Fred Allen Show. The character immediately caught on with the public, spawning an overabundance of merchandising and thousands of ersatz Claghorn imitators (foremost among these was the Warner Bros. cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn). In 1947, Delmar attempted to parlay Claghorn into film stardom with It's a Joke, Son. From the outset, screenwriters Robert Kent and Paul Gerard Smith were faced with a problem: Senator Claghorn was very funny in small doses on The Fred Allen Show, but could the character sustain a feature-length picture? Their solution to this dilemma was to "humanize" the Senator by removing some of his obnoxious braggadocio and transforming him into a harmless, henpecked small-town windbag. Living in his decaying ancestral Southern mansion with his long-suffering wife Magnolia (Una Merkel), Claghorn has trouble making ends meet financially. Magnolia hopes to resolve their money problems by running for state senator on behalf of the Daughters of Dixie. A band of northern political crooks convince the gullible Claghorn to run against his wife in the senatorial race, thereby splitting the vote so that their own equally crooked candidate can win the election. Complication piles upon complication until Magnolia, realizing that Claghorn is being set up as a patsy, has him kidnapped "for his own good"-a plan which predictably backfires. Future TV star June Lockhart is decorative as Claghorn's daughter, while Kenneth Farrell is adequate as the obligatory romantic lead. It's a Joke Son was the initial Hollywood effort from the Eagle-Lion Productions, a British-based firm which would eventually absorb PRC Pictures, where this film was made on the very cheap. Though moderately successful, the film proved that Senator Claghorn was much funnier heard than seen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sad drama, a remake of Oil for the Lamps of China, a South American rubber planter nurses a broken heart after his U.S. fiancee jilts him. In addition, he has trouble with the natives who do not respect him. His troubles ease when he meets a caring nightclub singer who he marries against the wishes of his employers. He is hoping that marriage will protect her from the U.S. detective who has been looking into her past. Unfortunately, the investigator finds her and extradites her back to the States where she must stand trial. Her husband accompanies her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the first years of the talkies, every studio drew up plans to release annual "all-star" musical spectacles, but only Fox Pictures truly stuck to the notion. A follow-up to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, Movietone Follies of 1930 once again offers a maximum of production numbers and the barest minimum of plot. Rich young Conrad Sterling (William Collier Jr.) is in love with struggling actress Mary Mason (Miriam Seeger). To prove his love, he hires Mary and the entire company of the show in which she is appearing to entertain his weekend guests at his lavish mansion (a plot device previously utilized, with variations, in Fox's Sunny Side Up). The lion's share of the footage is devoted to dialect comedian El Brendel, cast as a Swedish butler who poses as a millionaire. Likewise good for laughs are Fox's resident soubrette Marjorie White and comic singer Frank Richardson, doing what they did in every picture they were ever in. Of the mostly forgettable songs, the best is I'd Like to Be a Talking Picture Queen, a blatant imitation of the studio's 1929 hit If I Had a Talking Picture of You. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alexander Carr, a Jewish-dialect comedian usually confined to small roles, is practically the whole show in the sentimental drama No Greater Love. Carr is cast as delicatessen owner Sidney Cohen, who unofficially adopts Irish-Catholic orphan girl Mildred (Betty Jane Graham). Hoping to finance an operation that will enable the crippled Mildred to walk, Cohen hocks all his possessions and sells his store. The insensitive adoption authorities intervene, snatching Mildred from Cohen's arms, but the girl eventually walks all the same, inspired by the love of her foster father. No Greater Love was partially remade in 1938 as City Streets, with the protagonist changed to an Italian (played by Leo Carrillo). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the popular comic strip by Ham Fisher, this fast-paced and funny boxing outing follows the exploits of a boxing manager and the up-and-coming fighter he mentors to. The film is also known as Joe Palooka. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this newspaper drama, a star reporter learns that prominent city officials are covering for a bootlegging crime lord. Naturally the corrupt politicos attempt to prevent him from publishing; this leads the disillusioned reporter to join a small, independent paper. There he is finally able to expose the wicked group and bring them to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Every so often, RKO Radio got the notion to launch a series of annual musical extravaganzas a la MGM's Broadway Melody and Paramount's Big Broadcast films. Despite the disappointing results of such earlier efforts as Radio City Revels and New Faces of 1937, RKO gamely tried again with 1945's Radio Stars on Parade. The film's ostensible leading actors are played by Abbott & Costello wannabes Wally Brown and Alan Carney, who play a couple of agents attempting to bestow radio stardom upon singer Sally Baker (Frances Langford). Along the way, our heroes stumble into a broadcast of Ralph Edwards' popular comedy quiz show Truth or Consequences, easily the film's highlight. With no budget for new songs, RKO dug up several compositions heard in previous films, notably McHugh-Loesser's "Can't Get Out of This Mood" and McHugh-Adamson's "Don't Believe Everything You Dream" and "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide