Beryl Mercer Movies
Born in Spain to British parents, actress Beryl Mercer was on-stage from early childhood. Too short and matronly for leading lady roles, Beryl thrived for four decades as a character actress. In films from 1922, she specialized in frail, motherly roles in talkies, e.g., All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Public Enemy (1931), and Broken Lullaby (1932). She was also supremely... (read more) capable of conveying feistiness and determination; in the last year of her life, she played a snappish spiritualist in Hound of the Baskervilles and Queen Victoria in The Little Princess. Beryl Mercer was the wife of British leading man Holmes Herbert. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1939
Though it takes a few liberties with the Arthur Conan Doyle original -- not the least of which is turning Sherlock Holmes into the second lead -- The Hound of the...
A Woman Is the Judge
1939
The title tells all in Columbia's A Woman is the Judge. Frieda Inescourt stars as lady jurist Mary Cabot, who 20 years earlier had lost contact with her infant daughter...
The Little Princess
G 1939
Shirley Temple's first Technicolor feature, The Little Princess was inspired by the oft-filmed novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Set in turn-of-the-century England, the...
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
This fictionalized biography of the famed American inventor's life provided actor Don Ameche with his signature role. For years after its release, people even referred to...
Call It a Day
1937
Call It a Day is a Warner Bros. attempt at British light comedy. Nothing much happens of any consequence in this story of a day in the life of a typical middle-class London...
Night Must Fall
1937
Emlyn Williams' theatrical horror piece Night Must Fall was filmed by MGM without the usual studio-imposed happy ending. Robert Montgomery stars as Danny, a wickedly...
Hitch Hike Lady
1936
In this emotional drama, a lonely British housekeeper, uses her hard-earned savings account to finance a trip to America so she can see the successful son she has been proud of...
Forbidden Heaven
1936
Forbidden Heaven was accurately assessed by "B"-film historian Don Miller as "a weepie unabashed -- and a successful one." Silent-film heartthrob Charles Farrell stars as a...
My Marriage
1936
In this crime drama, a girl whose father was murdered by gangsters wants to marry into a rich family. Her fiance's mother hates the idea, but consents to the marriage so that she...
Magnificent Obsession
1935
A man who has ruined a woman's life attempts to make good on his debt to her (and his conscience) in this sudsy drama based on a best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Bobby...
Age of Indiscretion
1935
Critics in 1935 recognized immediately that Age of Indiscretion drew its inspiration from the well-publicized Gloria Vanderbilt custody battle. Paul Lukas plays publisher...
Three Live Ghosts
1935
Three former POWs return home and find that they have been listed among the dead. This comedy follows their attempts to prove themselves among the living. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi...
The Richest Girl in the World
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...
Change of Heart
1934
Four courageous college graduates become heroes when they successfully complete a 15-hour coast-to-coast plane flight. Alas, things don't go so well for the foursome when they...
Jane Eyre
1934
This version of the Charlotte Bronte classic is the first to use sound. The story closely follows the book as it chronicles the romantic travails of a troubled orphan girl who...
The Little Minister
1934
Based on the novel and play by James M. Barrie, The Little Minister turned out to be Katharine Hepburn's best vehicle since Little Women. John Beal plays the...
Supernatural
1933
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...
Broken Dreams
1933
In this melodrama a father rejects his son after his wife dies in childbirth. As a result, the boy is sent to live with his relatives. Six years later, the father reconsiders and...
Cavalcade
1933
The only Academy Award winning picture for Fox Studios (in its pre-20th Century-Fox era), Cavalcade is a stately film adaptation of the pageant-like stage hit by Noel...
Blind Adventure
1933
After saving RKO Radio from receivership with King Kong, producer-director Ernest B.. Schoedsack relaxed a bit with the comparatively sedate crime caper Blind...