Ben Holmes Movies
When rustic comedian Chic Sale began making 2-reel comedies at RKO Radio in the early 1930s, Sale's vaudeville partner Ben Holmes came along for the ride. Before long, Holmes gave up acting to join RKO's writing and directing staff, overseeing the short-subject antics of such comedians as Clark and McCullough, Edgar Kennedy and Leon Errol. With 1934's Lightning Strikes... (read more) Twice, Holmes branched out into features, directing RKO medium-budgeters like Maid's Night Out (1938) and Petticoat Larceny (1943). Ben Holmes also handled the second-unit direction of Sandrich's Buck Benny Rides Again (Paramount, 1940). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Petticoat Larceny
1943
Best described as "cute," Petticoat Larceny was intended as a showcase for RKO Radio's latest juvenile discovery, 11-year-old Joan Carroll. The story concerns a bratty...
Dear! Deer!
1942
...
The Saint's Double Trouble
1940
Responding to star George Sanders' complaint that his role of "modern Robin Hood" Simon Templar was becoming a bore, RKO Radio permitted Sanders to essay a duel...
One Crowded Night
1940
The One Crowded Night of the title takes place at a tourist camp on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert. In true "Grand Hotel" fashion, the film manages to keep several subplots...
The Saint in New York
1938
The Saint, Leslie Charteris' charming but deadly criminal-turned-sleuth, made his first film appearance in RKO Radio's The Saint of New York. Faithful to Charteris'...
I'm from the City
1938
Radio comedian Joe Penner, of "You Naaassty Man!" fame, was very much an acquired taste in 1938, and even more so when seen today. Nevertheless, such Penner movie vehicles...
Little Orphan Annie
1938
Harold Gray's long-running comic strip Little Orphan Annie was first brought to the screen in 1932, with Mitzi Green as Annie. This 1938 version was produced by...
The Maid's Night Out
1938
Joan Fontaine was still two years away from full stardom when she appeared in the B-plus comedy Maid's Night Out. Future cowboy star Allan Lane plays Bill, a millionaire's son...
We're on the Jury
1937
In this comedy drama (a remake of 1932's Ladies of the Jury), an apparently bubble-headed but mule-stubborn jurist is convinced of the defendant's innocence and refuses to...
There Goes My Girl
1937
In this comedy, the shady editor of a newspaper does all he can to keep his best reporter from marrying a journalist from a rival paper. In spite of the editor, the wedding day...
Too Many Wives
1937
Poor Barry Trent (John Morley) has Too Many Wives in this RKO programmer. Actually, Barry starts out with no wife at all, which doesn't rest well with his new boss. To save...
The Farmer in the Dell
1936
In this homespun comedy, a farm family in Iowa lead a pastoral existence until old Ma decides that they must pull up stakes and head for Hollywood so their daughter can become a...
Lightning Strikes Twice
1935
It's a dark and stormy night. The butler of a large mansion is annoyed by the howling of a cat. He fires a few gunshots at the annoying feline, which rouses the attention of two...
The Plot Thickens
1935
Dithery ZaSu Pitts is miscast as novelist Stuart Palmer's crime-solving schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers in The Plot Thickens. As usual, Hildegarde tries to figure out the...
Odor in the Court
1934
...
Cockeyed Cavaliers
1934
Considered by many to be the best of the many Bert Wheeler-Robert Woolsey vehicles of the 1930s, Cockeyed Cavaliers is set in Merrie Olde England, where the comic-opera...
Art in the Raw
1933
...
Clark and McCullough: Inspired Madness
1933
Broadway comedians Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough were as popular as the Marx Brothers during the 1920s and 1930s. While mustachioed straight man McCullough was...
Melody Cruise
1932
Melody Cruise, director Mark Sandrich's first feature film, is an unofficial extension of Sandrich's Oscar-winning RKO short subject So This is Harris (1933). Once again,...
The Expert
1932
An elderly gentleman finds himself in a difficult situation when he finds himself faced with becoming a burden on his children or going into an old folks home. ~ Sandra Brennan,...