Olaf Hytten Movies
Piping-voice, hamster-faced Scottish character actor Olaf Hytten left the British stage for films in 1921. By the time the talkie era rolled around, Hytten was firmly established in Hollywood, playing an abundance of butlers and high-society gentlemen. The actor was primarily confined to one or two-line bits in such films as Platinum Blonde (1931), The Sphinx (1933), Bonnie Scotland (1935), Beloved Rebel (1936), The Howards of Virginia (1940) and The Bride Came COD (1941). He was a semi-regular of the Universal B-unit in the '40s, appearing in substantial roles as military men and police official in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes series and as burgomeisters and innkeepers in the studio's many horror films (Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, etc.) Olaf Hytten was active until at least 1956; one of his more memorable assignments of the '50s was as the larcenous butler who participates in a scheme to drive Daily Planet editor Perry White crazy in the "Great Caesar's Ghost" episode of the TV series Adventures of Superman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1921
Although this British production featured the normally solid Milton Rosmer, plus American actress Evelyn Brent in a featured role, its production values fell way below American standards of the day. Richard Mutimer (Rosmer) is a labor leader who toils for his fellow workers. But then he inherits his uncle's fortune and his newfound wealth completely goes to his head. He forgets his values, the workers, and even his sweetheart, marrying a rich girl and accepting his life of luxury as his due. It doesn't last long, however -- the money, as it turns out, wasn't his after all and he has to give everything up. During this time, the workers have been depositing their money into Mutimer's bank. A cashier runs off with the whole sum, and the laborers form an angry mob which brutally beats Mutimer to death. The real heir to the fortune promises the workers that he will cover their losses. This drama was based on the novel, Demos, by George Gissing. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Rosmer, Mary Brough, (more)
- 1922
In this star-studded British mystery, the title refers to a band of blackmailers who have marked a group of important people for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1922
A young woman in England is pressured into joining a sect of Mormons in this silent film. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Anthony Barraclough (Clive Brook) is the unemployed worker hired to impersonate a secret-agent trying to steal valuable radium. He tries to escape from England to travel to the volatile Balkan state that holds the substance. His efforts to exit by auto and airplane are thwarted by gang members who want the coveted radium for their own evil political intentions. Anthony poses as a wealthy financier to cover up the real reason for his mission in this mystery of double-crossing political intrigue. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Herbert Heyes, a prominent stage and screen actor of the teens and twenties (and the father of writer/director Douglas Heyes), stars in It is the Law. Heyes is framed for murder by Arthur Hohl, who is jealous over the fact that he lost his girl friend Mimi Palmieri to Heyes. The man killed by Hohl was his wealthy exact double, whose identity Hohl assumes. Years later, justice is belatedly served when Heyes kills Hohl-then is let off the hook because he can't be tried twice for the same murder! It is the Law was adapted from a play by Elmer Rice and Hayden Talbott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Hohl, Herbert Heyes, (more)
- 1925
The tale of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves was made into this silent picture by British producer Graham Wilson. Betty Blythe stars as the beautiful Zahrat, who is kidnapped by Abou Hassan (Herbert Langley) on the day she is to wed her lover, Omar (Jameson Thomas). Hassan sells her to Kasim Baba (Randle Ayrton), a miser and moneylender of Baghdad. But then, disguised as Chinese Prince Chu Chin Chow, he kidnaps her once again, promising her freedom if she reveals the whereabouts of some valuable jewels. He goes back on his promise, and Kasim Baba's brother Ali Baba (Judd Green) comes in search of the jewels, too. Through Ali Baba, Zahrat is freed and at a big feast. She exposes the 40 thieves hidden in 40 jugs by Hassan. He is reviled by the crowd and Zahrat finally returns to Omar. This story was remade as a talkie in 1934. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Blythe, Herbert Langley, (more)
- 1925
This low-budget production -- Josef von Sternberg's first directoral effort -- earned praises from Charles Chaplin and was released by United Artists. (Chaplin also used the female lead, Georgia Hale, in The Gold Rush.) The Salvation Hunters was a highly unusual film for its era. Its moody cinematography, symbolism, and purposely ugly backgrounds just did not exist in other films (except for Erich von Stroheim's Greed). In spite of Chaplin's high praise, however, this wasn't a film that audiences of the 1920s found appealing, and nowadays, when von Sternberg's once innovative techniques have become integrated into modern filmmaking, it seems heavy-handed. The story focuses on a boy (George K. Arthur), who is a failure and a coward; a girl (Hale), who is used to the rough life on the riverfront; and a child (Bruce Guerin), whose parents have been killed by the dredge on which the girl lives. In order to "get away from the mud," the boy convinces the girl to take the child and accompany him to the city. There they meet up with the brute (Olaf Hytten), who offers them shelter only because he fancies the girl. The brute takes them out to the country, where he begins to abuse the boy, who finally drops his cowardice and overcomes him in a fight. The girl, who was disgusted by the boy's weakness, is now thrilled with his valor, and they look to the future with new hope. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George K. Arthur, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1928
Cabaret dancer Alberta Vaughan falls in love with upright Southern gentleman Gareth Hughes. To save Hughes' sister Vivian Rich from ruination, Vaughan "comes on" to Rich's would-be seducer Bud Shaw. The younger girl is kept from losing her virtue, but the price of her salvation is Vaughan's reputation. But when the heroine rides her family's "old" horse to victory in a Big Race -- despite the fact that the race has been fixed in the favor of Shaw's nag -- all is forgiven. Very, very cheaply made, Old Age Handicap was redeemed by the razor-sharp cinematography of Jules Cronjager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberta Vaughn, Vivian Rich, (more)
- 1929
Basically a silent picture for most of its 92-minute running time, Kitty switches to sound during its last 2 1/2 reels. Handsome young aviator Alex St. George (John Stuart) is on the verge of marrying his sweetheart Kitty Greenwood (Estelle Brody) when he's called off to serve in WWI. Hoping to break up the romance, Alex's domineering mother (Dorothy Cumming) does her best to convince her son that Kitty has been "playing the field" in his absence. So unnerved is Alex by these falsehoods that he cracks up his plane and ends up crippled, apparently for life. Returning to England, Alex undergoes a painful physical rehabilitation, while Kitty struggles to rekindle his affections for her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Brody, John Stuart, (more)
- 1929
In this British action film, an early talkie, a young German girl is hypnotized by a circus performer who makes her do risky parachute jumps. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
In this sparkling musical comedy, a bungling waiter (Maurice Chevalier) loses his job at a tony restaurant. His employment prospects look grim until the opportunistic restaurateur learns that his ex-employee is slated to receive a vast inheritance. Hastily, he hires the youth back and then tries to convince him to fall in love with his very eligible daughter. Unfortunately for the scheming employer, the waiter finds out about the money and disdains the girl while continuing to work at the restaurant just to bedevil his boss. At night though, the young fellow becomes a notorious, club-hopping playboy until he insults an aristocrat and finds himself challenged to a duel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Frances Dee, (more)
- 1930
George Cukor received his first film directorial credit for Grumpy, though he was contractually bound to share billing with Broadway director Cyril Gardner. Cyril Maude recreates his stage role as a cranky retired lawyer with the requisite 14-carat heart. The lawyer's daughter (Frances Dade) has a boyfriend who is accused of stealing a valuable diamond. Setting his nightcap and pacing around his living room in his pajamas, "Grumpy" solves the case. Adapted from the play by Horace Hodges and Thomas Percival, Grumpy was previously filmed in 1923 with Theodore Roberts in the title role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cyril Maude, Phillips Holmes, (more)
A rather bleak comedy-drama from Frank Capra, Platinum Blonde basically starts where Capra's later and much more buoyant It Happened One Night (1934) ends: the marriage between a brash newspaperman and a society dame. But where the latter comedy was enhanced by the director's patented optimism, Platinum Blonde, produced at the height of the Great Depression, expresses no faith in a common ground between the classes. Star reporter Stew Smith (Robert Williams) falls in love with the sister (Jean Harlow) of his latest victim (Donald Dillaway). They marry despite the misgivings of Ann Schuyler's blue-nosed mother (Louise Closser Hale) and Stew's cynical colleagues ("Ann Schuyler's in the blue book. You're not even in the phone book!"). Unable to stand life in a gilded cage for long, Stew upsets the Schuyler mansion by inviting his friends to a wild and woolly party. Returning home unexpected in the middle of the drunken revelry, Ann lays down the law and Stew bolts -- right into the arms of girl reporter Gallagher (Loretta Young), whom he has loved all along without realizing it. Jean Harlow is surprisingly realistic as the callous society girl but Robert Williams' wisecracking reporter comes across as rather grating. An up-and-coming comic lead, Williams died after an operation for appendicitis on November 3, 1931, less than a month after Platinum Blonde had premiered to mostly positive reviews. Ironically, Loretta Young, who received top billing, had demanded to star in this film when it was still known as "Gallagher," the name of her character. Harlow, needless to stay, stole the limelight completely and Capra changed the title much to Young's chagrin. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Robert Williams, (more)
- 1931
In this entry in the mystery series, the Chinese criminal mastermind exacts revenge upon his enemy Fletcher, the man responsible for slaughtering Manchu's wife and son during an uprising. To get even, he sends out his daughter to kill Fletcher, but en route, she meets up with a Scotland Yard detective and her plans are waylaid. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, (more)
- 1933
Eagle and the Hawk is a "war is hell" saga slightly reminiscent of All Quiet on the Western Front. Fredric March plays a British World War One flying ace suffering from emotional fatigue. March's happy-go-lucky pilot buddy (Cary Grant) tries to help his friend forget his problems by accompanying him on leave in London. March meets a beautiful young lady (Carole Lombard), to whom he pours out his problems and with whom he has an implicit affair (made even more discreet when this film was edited for reissue). Tortured by the memory of the his fallen comrades and by the men he's killed in battle, March finally breaks and commits suicide. To save his friend's reputation, Cary Grant props March's body up in the cockpit of his plane, flies the craft into the air, and makes it appear that March died while shooting it out with a German ace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Cary Grant, (more)
- 1933
Adapted from John Balderston's successful stage fantasy (itself based on a story by Henry James), Berkeley Square is the story of a modern-day London scientist (Leslie Howard), who is romantically fascinated by the 18th century. A freak accident propels Howard back to 1784, where he assumes the identity of one of his own ancestors. Howard falls in love with his distant cousin Helen (Heather Angel), while his other relatives regard the time-traveller as a "sorcerer" due to his disturbing knowledge of future events. Gradually, Howard is disillusioned by the squalor and bigotry of the 18th century. He bids farewell to Helen, explaining that he will actually be born years after her death but that they will be reunited "in God's time". Returning to the present, Howard discovers that Helen died young without ever marrying. He renounces his own fiancee and determines to live out his life as a bachelor, to be united with his true love in death. Long considered a lost film, Berkeley Square was rediscovered in the mid 1970s. The film had already been remade in 1951 as the Tyrone Power vehicle I'll Never Forget You. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, (more)
We first lay eyes on Jimmy Cagney in Lady Killer while he's working as a movie theater usher. This job lasts just long enough for Jimmy to be swindled in a "badger game" orchestrated by hard-boiled Mae Clarke and a gang of crooks headed by Douglass Dumbrille. Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Cagney joins the mob, and soon is calling the shots. But though he's got larceny in his soul, Cagney draws the line at murder, and when gang member Raymond Hatton is bumped off, Cagney and Clarke board the Super Chief and head to California. With the cops laying for Cagney in LA, he's suspicious of everyone. A shifty-looking mug (William B. Davidson) takes after Cagney on the street; catching up to the winded Cagney, the mug explains that he's a movie director, and that Cagney is a perfect "type" for an upcoming prison picture. After several months as a bit player, Cagney befriends good-natured movie-star Margaret Lindsay, who encourages Cagney to seek out bigger parts. The enterprising Cagney engineers a phony fan-mail campaign encouraging the studio to give him starring roles. Though now a slick, pomaded romantic lead in pictures, Cagney is still Cagney; when a snooty critic pans Lindsay's most recent performance, Cagney forces the reviewer to literally eat his words! It must needs be that Cagney's old gang shows up in Hollywood, planning to use Cagney's influence to gain entree into movie stars' mansions, then steal their valuables. Cagney says ixnay to this, so the mob schemes to take him for a ride. Tipped off by Clarke, Cagney is able to rout the crooks, save the day, and claim Lindsay for his bride. Lady Killer is vintage Cagney, throwing virtually every one of his star-making attributes (including one cute reference to his legendary "grapefruit scene" in 1931's Public Enemy) into one entertaining 76-minute stew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Mae Clarke, (more)
- 1933
Design for Living was based on the stage comedy by Noel Coward, though little of his dialogue actually made it to the screen. Playwright Fredric March and artist Gary Cooper both fall in love with Miriam Hopkins, an American living in Paris. Both men love the girl, and the girl can't make up her mind between the two men, so the threesome decide to move in together--strictly platonically, of course. As the men gain in success and prominence, the chasteness of the "menage a trois" begins to be threatened, and soon both March and Cooper clash over Hopkins. She reacts by marrying her wealthy but dull boss (Edward Everett Horton). Miriam is bored to tears until March and Cooper invade one of her husband's stuffy parties and chase the tiresome guests away. Miriam's husband huffily agrees to a divorce, and the girl returns to her unorthodox relationship with her two former suitors. The subtle homosexual implications of the Noel Coward stage original were dissipated by the presence of the aggressively masculine Gary Cooper and Fredric March in the film version of Design for Living. Replacing these implications were the equally subtle but more "mainstream" boudoir innuendos of director Ernst Lubitsch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Gary Cooper, (more)
Sherlock Holmes and Watson solve a puzzling case in which a bloody foreign word is found beside a murder victim. The plot has little to do with author Doyle's original story of the same name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Owen, Anna May Wong, (more)
- 1934
British Agent starred the Hungarian/British actor Leslie Howard in the title role, was directed by full-fledged Hungarian Michael Curtiz, and costarred American leading lady Kay Francis as a Russian spy. Based on the memoirs of R. H. Bruce Lockhart, who had been the unofficial British emissary to the Russian Revolutionary government in 1917, British Agent spends more time on its romantic subplot than in recreating the birth of Bolshevism. Leslie Howard's purpose in this film is to dissuade the Bolsheviks from signing a separate treaty with the World War I German regime. It is obvious to modern-day viewers that Howard is merely looking after Britain's interests and has no concern for the Russians; this was par for the course in a 1930s film, but does not play well with less jingoistic audiences of the 1990s. The most interesting aspect of British Agent is the performance of saturnine Irving Pichel as a young Josef Stalin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, (more)
- 1934
A witty Norman Krasna script distinguishes this airy romantic comedy. Millionairess Dorothy Hunter (Miriam Hopkins) is tired of finding out that her boyfriends love her for her money, and equally weary of losing eligible beaus who don't want to be considered fortune-hunters. That's why she trades identities with her secretary Sylvia (Fay Wray) before embarking on her next romance with Tony Travers (Joel McCrea). This causes numerous complications not only for Dorothy and Tony but for Sylvia, whose own husband Philip (Reginald Denny) is not the most patient of men. The Richest Girl in the World was remade in 1944 as Bride by Mistake, and in 1955 as the Jane Russell musical The French Line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Henry Stephenson, (more)
- 1934
The official cast list of Warner Bros. Mandalay states that Kay Francis plays a character named Tanya. For most of the film, however, the heroine -- if she can be called that -- goes by the name of Spot White (or "Spot Cash," as she's cynically designated by one of the lesser characters). Betrayed by her smuggler lover Tony Evans (Ricardo Cortez), Tanya/Spot White becomes one of white slaver Nick's (Warner Oland) stable of girls in old Rangoon. She eventually escapes this sordid lifestyle, and is later instrumental in the redemption of dissolute doctor Gregory Burton (Lyle Talbot). Falling in love with Burton, Spot White resorts to drastic measure to purge the ubiquitous Tony Evans from her life. Most sources list Shirley Temple in the cast as "Betty," but her role has apparently been excised from the currently available prints of Mandalay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot, (more)
