An affair is about to be consummated in a planned trip to Venice, but complications ensue when the woman’s husband returns unexpectedly from the Olympics. Cary Grant is the javelin-wielding Olympian in his first feature film. For probably the last time he gets fifth billing behind, among others, a sparkling Thelma Todd and Charlie Ruggles.
Very pre-code in its sensibility, with clear references to Lubitsch.Read More »
Synopsis: When ex-cop Steve Rollins is released from San Quentin after five years, his only thoughts are of revenge on the men who framed him for manslaughter. Back in San Francisco, his quest for the truth brings him up against ruthless waterfront gang boss Victor Amato.Read More »
If Republic’s skating star Vera Hruba Ralston could go “dramatic”, so too could Monogram’s skating star Belita. Produced by the enterprising King Brothers, Suspense takes place in an ice-skating emporium owned by Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker). No-good heel Joe Morgan (Barry Sullivan) not only strongarms Leonard into sharing the establishment’s profits, but also tries to move in on Leonard’s wife Roberta (Belita). Read More »
Review by TV Guide Of the six films Eddie Cantor made for Samuel Goldwyn, Roman Scandals was his fourth and second only to The Kid From Spain in popularity. When Goldwyn’s idea to adapt George Bernard Shaw’s “Androcles And The Lion” as a vehicle for Cantor proved too difficult, the producer hired Robert Sherwood and George S. Kaufman to fashion a story that would take Cantor to imperial Rome. Displeased with their draft, Goldwyn brought in Nat Perrin, George Oppenheimer, and Arthur Sheekman to add jokes, and William Anthony McGuire to get the whole thing into shape for shooting. This film turned out to be one of the best Cantor-Goldwyn associations. With humor, music, and more than a little female flesh, Roman Scandals is a sort of Wizard of Oz in that Cantor, a wacky delivery boy in West Rome, Oklahoma, goes into a dream sequence and imagines himself to be a slave in old Rome.Read More »
Previously filmed in 1926 the George Kelly stage comedy The Show-Off was remade in
1930 as Men Are Like That. Broadway star Hal Skelly steps into the role of chronic braggart
Aubrey Piper, incapable of either telling the truth or shutting up. Insinuating himself into the
home of his wife Amy’s (Doris Hill) family, Aubrey does his best to impress his in-laws with
tall tales about his business acumen and his grandiose financial transactions. Even after
he’s been exposed as a fraud and saved from ruin and disgrace by Amy, Aubrey continues
to run off at the mouth — and even throws in a few songs and dances for good measure.
Despite a witty script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Men Are Like That is sabotaged by the
calculatedly obnoxious Hal Skelly, who never did develop into a satisfying screen
personality. The property was refilmed under its original title The Show Off by Spencer
Tracy in 1934, and by Red Skelton in 1948.Read More »