Vintage45's Blog

One for the must see list for fans of the early talkies. It’s based on a story by Dashiell Hammett. Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney are mixed up in the beer racket. Look for good performances from Guy Kibbee as Pop McCoy and Paul Lukas as a sleazy gangster known as The Big Fella. Watch out when someone offers to shake your hand and say, “No hard feelings.”

The Kid (Gary Cooper) works behind a shooting gallery in a carnival. He’s a crack shot. His girlfriend Nan (Sylvia Sidney) urges him to quit the dead end job and work with her stepfather Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee) in the beer racket. He wants nothing to do with it.

The gang is run by Maskal aka/The Big Fella (Paul Lukas). He is having it on with Agnes. She’s the gun moll of Blackie, Maskal’s lieutenant. Blackie objects and Maskal orders Pop to take care of him. Pop calls Nan and tells her where to meet him even if it means a broken arm. That’s code for her to wear a sling. Pop shoots Blackie and puts the gun in Nan’s sling and tells her to dump it in the river.

A witness saw the exchange. Nan keeps her mouth shut and ends up in prison. One of the prisoners tells her she can’t wait until her boyfriend Johnny comes to get her. Nan says she’s glad her boyfriend isn’t in the rackets. Time for the prisoners’ release. Two cars pull up and before she leaves one car takes off. She opens the door to the other one. There’s Johnny. Dead.

Pop manages to get Kid to join up. When he visits Nan she’s not happy he’s finally involved. When she’s released she finds that Pop is married to a mental midget named Pansy.

Maskal thinks he’s a chick magnet and tells Nan he’s throwing a party to celebrate her release. He monopolizes her time and won’t let Kid dance with her. Kid has had enough but Maskal warns him off. Then he puts out a contract on him.

Kid takes Nan home. A bit later the doorbell rings. A man to see Kid. Outside two guys are in a car with guns pointed at the doorway. Kid sneaks up on them, takes their guns and sends them on their way.

Kid is steamed and tells Nan he’s going after Maskal and settle this once and for all. Nan is afraid for him. She puts a gun in her purse and calls Maskal and says she’s coming over. He tells Agnes to pack up and hit the road. Now things get nasty.

This is definitely one to check out.

Along with her many movie and TV roles sitcom fans know Sylvia Sidney as the first Mama Carlson on “WKRP In Cincinnati” in 1978.

Gary Cooper-Sylvia Sidney

Bland time waster about a wealthy grandmother who wants to buy her grandson from her son’s widow Sabina. Her twin sister and sleazy husband plot to get the money for themselves.

Lenora Spence has her lawyer bring in a down on his luck lawyer to help get her grandson. She’s offers Preston Morgan (Craig Hill) fifty grand to go to Acapulco and make Sabina (Marcia Henderson) sign away her young son Billy to Lenora. She’ll get a half million bucks.

Lenora never approved of the marriage since Sabina was a dancer with her twin sister Dara (Marcia Henderson). The act broke up five years ago when Sabina married Robbie Spence. He was recently killed in a car race. After some hemming and hawing Preston agrees to head for Mexico.

Sabina turns him down flat. Dara and her husband John (Robert Lowery) want her to take the money. John wants it so he can build a nightclub. The one he has is bankrupt. Dara works there as a stripper. As Preston is leaving Billy asks for a ride in his car and gets in. Manuel Lopez was Robbie’s mechanic and has stayed on as a man of all work. He’s loyal to Sabina and protective of Billy. No rides with strangers.

Preston gets back to the hotel. Manuel is waiting and jumps him. The cops show up and haul Manuel to jail.  Lt.Reyes wants Preston at the police station the next morning even though Preston says he doesn’t want to bring charges. At the station Sabina is there. Under the circumstances they make a date to have a day at the beach. You know where that’s going.

No matter what kind of arguments Dara presents Sabina refuses to take the money. Back in L.A. Lenora and her lawyer Thorne Fletcher see an article in the paper about the assault at the hotel. They decide to fly down there.

John and Dara aren’t sitting still. They come up with a master plan. It all leads to a really insulting ending and makes this one to avoid.

Craig Hill played pilot P.T.Moore in “Whirlybirds” (1957-60).

Robert Lowery had many movie and TV roles but his most famous was Batman in the 1949 movie “Batman And Robin.”

Marcia Henderson as the evil Dara laying the charm on Craig Hill

Good combination of romance and mystery as a chorus girl investigates the murder of her friend. She blackmails the suspect but it isn’t for money. The movie is told via flashback as the girl is on a train.

It’s the late 1800’s in London. Chorus girls Daisy Arrow and Belle Adair (Peggy Cummings) are done for the night. Belle takes off with bookie George Gilby. Daisy leaves with a mysterious stranger. Belle hears his voice and George got a quick glimpse of him but that’s all they could manage. When Belle gets back to their rooming house she finds Daisy dead. Next to her is a bible with a page marked with a moss rose.

Belle decides to investigate. The cab driver who picked up Daisy the night before tells her where he dropped the man off. Belle spots him sitting by himself in a hotel dining room. He’s the wealthy Michael Drego (Victor Mature). He’s joined by his mother Lady Margaret (Ethel Barrymore) and fiancee Audrey Ashton. Michael is going to join them at his country estate in a few days.

Belle goes to his room and confronts him about Daisy. He’s sure she’s blackmailing him and he throws her out. Belle sees a wedding announcement in the paper about Michael and Audrey. She cuts out enough letters to send an anonymous note to Scotland Yard. Police Inspector Clinner (Vincent Price) and Deputy Inspector Evans (Rhys Williams) bring Michael in.

They call in two other cops while Belle listens in. They all read a statement. She identifies the voice of Michael. When Evans thinks they should read different statements Michael reads a statement that sends a clear signal to Belle that he’s ready to cooperate. Belle changes her mind and says she’s not sure and everyone goes home. Later Michael gives her five hundred pounds. As he’s ready to leave the hotel for the country he’s given a letter that was just left for him. Belle wants to met him later that night.

On Waterloo Bridge she gives him the money back. She says she’s always dreamed of living on an estate with servants and see what the life of a Lady is really like. He takes her to the country. Audrey’s not happy to see her but Lady Margaret likes her and shows her the house.

Later on Lady Margaret isn’t happy to find Belle in a room that’s been kept closed for years. It’s Michael’s room from when he was a small child. His father took him to Canada and Lady Margaret never saw him again until he was an adult. She swears Belle to secrecy.

While Audrey is in London Michael admits to Rose that he doesn’t love Audrey and that it’s an arranged marriage. Audrey and Rose go to a bookstore. That’s where it’s discovered that Audrey bought three bibles. Later Clinner and Evans visit the estate to question her. Clinner also wants to see the moss roses Lady Margaret grows.

Then there’s another death. Next to the body…a bible and a moss rose.  The mystery deepens as the movie moves along. This is one to definitely look up.

Vincent Price-Ethel Barrymore