77% (2) The Charge of the Light Brigade 115 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, Romance, War] [Michael Curtiz] [20 Oct 1936]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, Rotten Tomatoes: 83%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 nominations.
Actors: Errol Flynn, Henry Stephenson, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles
Writer: Alfred Lord Tennyson (poem), Michael Jacoby (original story), Michael Jacoby (screen play), Rowland Leigh (screen play)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Major Vickers is an officer at the 27th Lancers in India 1856. When the regiment is on maneuver, the barracks are attacked by Surat Khan and his soldiers who massacre British women and children. This leaves an inextinguishable memory and Vickers promises to revenge the dead.
Rotten Tomatoes: Of the many film versions of Alfred Lord Tennyson's narrative poem, 1936's Charge of the Light Brigade has the least relationship to the facts concerning the famous 19th century British military blunder in the Crimea. Reflecting the popularity of 1935's Lives of A Bengal Lancer, the film uses the climactic charge as the culmination of events which begin in British India. Errol Flynn and Patric Knowles are cast as cavalry officers who are also brothers; both love Olivia De Havilland, but it is Knowles who wins out (this should tip us off that the rest of the film is pure fantasy). Indian potentate C. Henry Gordon, angered that the British government has cut off his subsidy, stages a revolt against the English settlements. Ordered on maneuvers, Flynn is unable to bring rescue troops to the besieged fort commanded by De Havilland's father. Gordon supervises the slaughter of every man, woman and child at the fort, then leaves India in the company of his Russian advisors. Flynn and his fellow Light Brigade lancers are then transferred to the Crimea--where, as luck would have it, Gordon is now ensconced with the Russians. Thirsting for revenge, Flynn falsifies an official order so that he and the Light Brigade can battle Gordon and his allies at Balaclava (thus are Britons Lord Cardigan and Lord Ragan, the actual instigators of the doomed charge, exonerated). As passages from the Tennyson poem are superimposed on the action, Flynn leads a suicidal charge against the Russians; he manages to kill the treacherous Gordon before being slain himself. Its dozens of historical inaccuracies aside, The Charge of the Light Brigade is rousing entertainment. Animal lovers be warned, however: several horses were killed during the climactic charge, a fact that compelled Hollywood (under the auspices of the ASPCA) to install safer and more stringent standards concerning the treatment of animals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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73% (1) Wise Girl 70 min, APPROVED, [Comedy] [Leigh Jason] [31 Dec 1937]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews
Actors: Henry Stephenson, Miriam Hopkins, Ray Milland, Walter Abel
Writer: Allan Scott (story), Charles Norman (story), Allan Scott (screen play)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Italian, Russian, French Country: USA
Plot: Snooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with their uncle in Greenwich Village. Once she finds them, she discovers that the Bohemian life is fun and free of the constraints her country-club life places on her. But she decides to take the uncle to court anyway to free him from the kids so he can paint.
Rotten Tomatoes: Wise Girl is a medium-level screwball comedy with faintly serious undertones. Miriam Hopkins plays an heiress whose millions can't help her gain custody of her two nieces from their stubborn widowed father (Ray Milland), an impoverished Greenwich Village artist. Hoping to win the widower over without revealing her identity, the heiress disguises herself as a penniless "Bohemian" and infiltrates the Village's artists' colony. When he finds out he's been duped, the man stubbornly insists upon remaining in jail rather than hand over custody of his daughters to the headstrong heiress (yes, that's perennial Laurel & Hardy foil James Finlayson as the friendly jailer). It all turns out for the best when hero and heroine realize they're in love with each other.
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73% (1) The Prince and the Pauper 118 min, Approved, [Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy] [William Keighley, William Dieterle] [08 May 1937]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Barton MacLane, Claude Rains, Errol Flynn, Henry Stephenson
Writer: Mark Twain (novel), Laird Doyle (screenplay), Catherine Chisholm Cushing (dramatic version)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: On the same day two boys are born: the pauper Tom and prince Edward. As a kid, Tom sneaks into the palace garden and meets the prince. They change clothes with each other but the guards discover them and throw out the prince, since they are almost identical. Nobody believe them when they try to tell the truth. Soon after, the old king dies and the prince will inherit the throne. The evil earl of Hertford attempts to murder the prince to gain power for himself.
Rotten Tomatoes: Warner Bros.' rousing The Prince and the Pauper is the first talkie version of Mark Twain's fanciful mistaken-identity novel. According to Twain, young Prince Edward, son of Britain's King Henry VIII, had an exact look-alike, a lowborn beggar boy named Tom Canty. Weary of royal protocol, Edward talks Tom into trading places with him. As a result, Tom is thrown into a life-threatening vortex of political intrigue when King Henry dies, while the prince experiences first-hand the cruelties and inequities of Britain's class structure. The overlong climactic coronation scene in Westminster Abbey was obviously intended to cash in on the international excitement surrounding the crowning of Britain's King George VI in early 1937. Top-billed Errol Flynn plays soldier-of-fortune Miles Hendon, who comes to both boys' rescue, while Claude Rains is the scheming Earl of Hertford, who tumbles to Tom Canty's secret but goes along with the Coronation plans in order to advance his own political agenda. The Prince and the Pauper are played by real-life twins Billy and Bobby Mauch, talented veterans of the Let's Pretend radio show who appeared separately and together in a handful of subsequent films before entering the production side of the business as film editors.
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70% (1) Thirty Day Princess 74 min, [Comedy, Romance] [Marion Gering] [18 May 1934]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews
Actors: Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Henry Stephenson, Sylvia Sidney
Writer: Preston Sturges (screenplay), Frank Partos (screenplay), Sam Hellman (adaptation), Edwin Justus Mayer (adaptation), Clarence Budington Kelland (story)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: On a visit to a spa in the Ruritanian Kingdom of Tyronia, American financier Richard Gresham meets the country's ruler, King Anatol XII, and convinces him that he could arrange for $50 million dollars in loans to benefit his impoverished nation if the king's charming daughter could do reciprocal public relations in the States. Unfortunately Princess Catterina falls ill with the mumps and is quarantined for a month aboard ship. Rather than risk having his very lucrative endorsement deal fall through, Gresham hires out-of-work lookalike actress Nancy Lane to impersonate Catterina. Complications arise when she falls in love with investigative reporter Porter Madison, who is looking into Nancy Lane's disappearance. She tries to maintain the precariously delicate balance of playing the two parts convincingly with both the loan and her heart at stake.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, a European princess travels to the U. S. to see if the country will back her country's bond issue. Unfortunately, she contracts the mumps. Not wanting to lose a huge commission, the banker who planned to issue the bonds searches for someone to masquerade as the princess.
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69% (1) This Above All 110 min, APPROVED, [Drama, Romance, War] [Anatole Litvak] [12 May 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 nominations.
Actors: Henry Stephenson, Joan Fontaine, Thomas Mitchell, Tyrone Power
Writer: Eric Knight (novel), R.C. Sherriff (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Although she comes from an aristocratic family, beautiful Prudence Cathaway defies convention by joining the WAAFs and becoming romantically involved with an AWOL soldier.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, Tyrone Power plays a conscientious objector, who deserts the British army because he doesn't believe in fighting to preserve his country's oppressive class structure. But Power is no coward, and through the love of Joan Fontaine, he realizes that love of one's country supersedes all social outrage.
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69% (1) Spring Parade 89 min, [Comedy, Musical] [Henry Koster] [27 Sep 1940]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: Deanna Durbin, Henry Stephenson, Mischa Auer, Robert Cummings
Writer: Bruce Manning (screenplay), Felix Jackson (screenplay), Ernst Marischka (original story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman(Deanna Durbin) attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer (Robert Cummings) who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka (Durbin) secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman (Deanna Durbin) attends a fair in Austria and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer (Bob Cummings) who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka (Durbin) secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.
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64% (1) The Richest Girl in the World 76 min, APPROVED, [Comedy, Romance] [William A. Seiter] [21 Sep 1934]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, External Reviews
Actors: Fay Wray, Henry Stephenson, Joel McCrea, Miriam Hopkins
Writer: Norman Krasna (story and screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Dorothy Hunter is an heiress of untold wealth. She believes no one will love her for herself and not for her money, so she pretends to be her secretary Sylvia while Sylvia pretends to be Dorothy. The real Dorothy, attracted to handsome young Tony Travers, pushes him to fall in love with the fake Dorothy, believing that if he does, it proves he is only after her money. But Dorothy's scheme is too complicated and begins to backfire, leaving everyone, especially Dorothy, confused about who loves whom.
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