The Complete Films of Broderick Crawford

By Ralph Schiller

Today the name Broderick Crawford means nothing to twenty-first century young people. As far as they’re concerned, All The King’s Men is a miserable movie starring Sean Penn! They have absolutely no idea that way back in the twentieth century Broderick Crawford was a highly-paid major box-office Hollywood film star who made over ninety motion pictures. He also won the prized Academy Award Oscar for “Best Actor In A Starring Role”. On top of that he starred in an enormously successful, blockbuster television series that ran for decades in world-wide syndication making him an unpaid babysitter for an entire generation of baby boomers. In the pages of this book, the reader will discover an extraordinary actor and film star with an incredible body of work. He enjoyed a durable career in show business spanning forty-five years that hit Hollywood’s lofty heights and bottom-scraping depths more than once.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781329930162

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The Complete Films of Broderick Crawford

The Complete Films of Broderick Crawford

By Ralph Schiller

A CP Book

First Edition

February 2016

Published by

CP Books LLC

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Copyright © 2016 Ralph Schiller

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any information source and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without prior written permission of the publisher, except for the quoting of brief passages in connection with a review of this book.

Some material herein, previously copyrighted, is in the Public Domain in the United States of America. Some quotes and images may be protected by copyright and are used in this reference/research work under the Fair Use Doctrine of the U. S. Copyright Law.

Dedication

To my wife Kathy Schiller, who got me off the couch to write a book on my favorite movie star, to his gallant son Kelly Crawford, to Toby and Casey, and to all police and law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect us.

Credits And Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted for the support and invaluable assistance of good friends Jan Alan Henderson, David Maska, Ted Okuda, Karl Holmberg, Dr. Richard Larson, Jack Bohy, Paolo Faillace, Joseph Joyce and the late Joel Bloomberg. To my patient publisher Jerry Schneider, and to Gary Goltz for co-writing the chapter on the Highway Patrol TV series and for letting me ride in his replica squad car! To the late Kelly G. Crawford and his loving wife Jean Crawford for their blessings and encouragement. To authors Bruce Dettman, Carl Glass, Lou Koza, and Michael B. Druxman for their contributions and encouragement. Thanks to the UCLA Film & TV Archives and to Mary K. Huelsbeck of the Wisconsin Center For Film and Television Research at the University Of Wisconsin Madison for opening their film vaults to rare, obscure Broderick Crawford films. Thanks also to the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb.com), a valuable source for information. Enormous thanks to all of Broderick Crawford’s friends and co-stars interviewed in the book who spoke of him with great love and affection, the late Ernest Borgnine, the late Farley Granger, and the late Jeanne Cooper, the late Noel Harrison, the late Jackie Cooper, the late Richard Kiel, the late Biff Elliot, the late Anita Bjork, the late Arlene Martel, the late Ralph Taeger, and Marisa Pavan Aumont, Barbara Hale, Dovie Beams, Ruth Terry, Karen Sharpe, Roger Perry, Sally Kellerman,  Barbara Eden, Jill Townsend, Brigid Hanley, Deanna Lund, Susan Saint James, Ruta Lee, Bruce Dern, Erik Estrada, Tommy Smothers, William Schallert, Shani Wallace, Richard Erdman, Mark Forest, Diane Baker,  George ‘Skip’ Homeier, Jean Hale, Ambassador John Gavin, Larry Cohen, George Kennedy, Don Murray,  Russ Tamblyn, Johnny Crawford, Bill Jackson and Dirty Dragon, Gary Conway, Rita Gam, Pamela Susan Shoop, James Drury, Steve Sandor, Louis Lettieri, Jan Merlin, Mary Owen, Richard Dix, Jackson Bostwick, Ned Romero, Steven Marlo, Brett Halsey and James Daris.

Introduction

By Jan Alan Henderson

With each passing moment, memories of the Golden Age Of Hollywood fade into a nonexistent cinematic sunset. The people, places, and celluloid pioneers are now all but a distant memory. A huge percentage of these forgotten folk are the great character actors. Among these was the irrepressible Broderick Crawford, mostly remembered for his starring role on the ZIV Television production Highway Patrol. His career began after a mere three weeks at Harvard, after which he found his way into the ‘Theatre Of The Mind’ radio, graduating to the Broadway stage as the dimwitted Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men. Like his bosom buddy Lon Chaney, Jr., he was physically a bear of a man. After losing the role of Lennie on the big screen to Chaney, Brod and Lon forged a friendship based on their love of spirits, brawling, and hanging dressing room furniture from the ceiling at Universal! While both actors had ample film work, Brod after years of toil and frustration hit pay dirt by winning an Academy Award for his performance in the 1949 production All The King’s Men. It put Brod into A-list pictures, which was a feat Chaney could not match with the exception of his portrayal of the broken down sheriff in Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon.

I can still vividly remember the spring day I sat with character actor Terry Frost in his beautiful Toluca Lake home in the early 1990s. As he put it, we were telling lies to each other (something he and pal character actor Tris Coffin used to do on location) while I was conducting an interview for Film Fax magazine. Terry was spinning tales of his co-star Brod while they were filming the Highway Patrol TV series with a gleam in his eyes that clearly revealed deep affection for his drinking buddy. Now those were the good old days!

What Ralph Schiller has done with this book is to pay tribute to Broderick Crawford, the man and the actor which is long overdue. Leading man, character actor, radio actor, Brod was a pillar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Hollywood is now a suburb of Los Angeles. The new Hollywood is rapidly erasing the old. So if Hollywood has moved onward and upward, perhaps Broderick Crawford is sitting in a mahogany casting office with his contemporaries, smiling down because this book of Ralph Schiller’s has finally given him his well-deserved place in the Hollywood hereafter.

Note: Jan Alan Henderson is the author of the books Speeding Bullet: The Life And Bizarre Death Of George Reeves, The Legendary Lydecker Brothers and co-author with Steve Randisi Behind The Crimson Cape: The Cinema Of George Reeves. He has written several hundred articles on film and television history for Film Fax magazine, Cult Movies magazine and many other periodicals.

Broderick Crawford, Hollywood’s Forgotten King

Today in the Internet age of instant communications and digitally produced images the name Broderick Crawford means nothing to twenty-first century young people. As far as they’re concerned, All The King’s Men is a miserable movie starring Sean Penn! They have absolutely no idea that way back in the twentieth century Broderick Crawford was a highly-paid major box-office Hollywood film star who made over ninety motion pictures. He also won the prized Academy Award Oscar for Best Actor In A Starring Role. On top of that he starred in an enormously successful, blockbuster television series that ran for decades in world-wide syndication making him an unpaid babysitter for an entire generation of baby boomers. By the 1960’s Crawford’s old movies were frequently telecast on television stations all across America. Movie fans, young and old, soon recognized Broderick Crawford’s name in the TV guide or film credits, and tuned-in to watch one of their favorite stars. Whether the movie was good or bad Broderick Crawford always gave his absolute best and never let audiences down.

Movie historians, old movie fans, and baby boomers still remember the actor and his trademark, rapid, machine-gun style voice with great affection. Prolific published author and lifelong movie fan Ted Okuda said The name Broderick Crawford is never mentioned in the same breath as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Spencer Tracy and yet his acting talent was equal to these esteemed players. His screen presence was also no less dynamic. The proof of his star power is that the viewer’s attention automatically gravitates to Crawford, regardless of who else is in the same scene! An examination of his career is much needed and long overdue.

Distinguished published author and film historian Bruce Dettman wrote "I love Broderick Crawford, I don’t care if it’s silly old stuff like The Black Cat, looking ill-cast in When The Daltons Rode or chewing the scenery in dramas like Not As A Stranger not to mention Highway Patrol, he can do no wrong in my eyes (well, there’s Goliath And The Dragon)!"

Screenwriter and novelist Michael B. Druxman is the nephew of Highway Patrol producer Frederick Ziv, and was a personal friend of Broderick Crawford. In an interview with the author Druxman recalled I once got a call from Brod and I took him to lunch at the Brown Derby (a landmark Hollywood restaurant long since torn down). He was such a sweet, gentle man. Whenever we talked or saw each other he was always warm and friendly. I miss him a lot!

The Oscar-winning star was literally born in a show business theatrical trunk as William Broderick Crawford on December 9, 1911. His father was vaudeville headliner Lester Crawford and his mother was famed Broadway comedienne and former Ziegfeld star Helen Broderick. She was blessed with perfect comic-timing and in 1929 starred on Broadway in the comedy-musical Fifty Million Frenchmen. In 1931, Helen went to Hollywood to repeat her role for the film version. She made over thirty films and was frequently cast as the deadpan, wise-cracking girlfriend of the leading lady. Her best known films are Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936) both starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. As a young actor, auditioning for producers, Broderick Crawford always denied being as funny as his famous mother. Subsequently he proved in many motion pictures and TV appearances he inherited her natural flair for comedy.

Brod, as a young boy, was sent by his loving parents to the Dean Military Academy in Franklin, Massachusetts. During his time there he excelled in all sports while growing into a tall, broad-shouldered young man with an athletic build. Throughout his happy childhood he dreamed of following in his parents’ footsteps into show business. They wanted the best for their son and packed him off to Harvard University for an Ivy League education. On campus Brod felt out of place and quit college after one semester. He earned his living by doing various manual, backbreaking jobs including laboring as a merchant sailor on a tramp steamer. Young Crawford decided after all that acting was in his blood. In honor of his parents he dropped his first name and billed himself theatrically as Broderick Crawford (close friends and family always called him Bill). He took any acting job he could get on radio and in plays. His first break came in 1934 after playwright Howard Lindsay cast the muscular Brod as a football player for his comedy play She Loves Me Not which opened overseas in London’s West End. Celebrated actor-playwright Noel Coward was so impressed with his performance he cast him in his Broadway play Point Valaine. It opened in 1935 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and starred Broadway’s King & Queen Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine. The cast included South African-born actor Louis Hayward, who co-starred with Broderick Crawford thirty-eight years later in the 1973 horror film Terror In The Wax Museum.

In 1937 at the age of twenty-five, Broderick Crawford won, over the toughest Broadway competition, the starring role of Lennie Small, John Steinbeck’s half-witted giant in his landmark tragedy Of Mice And Men. The play opened November 23, 1937 at the Music Box Theatre and Crawford’s heart-breaking performance won universal acclaim from every critic on Broadway (prior to the existence of the ‘Tony Awards’). Movie producer Hal Roach, who was ambitiously upgrading his comedy film studio into a major, purchased the film rights to Of Mice And Men. Broderick Crawford knew that it was a star-making role, and hoped with all his heart to repeat his performance as Lennie Small for the big screen. However Roach tapped Lon Chaney, Jr., who played Lennie in the play’s Los Angeles touring company. Crawford watched with dismay and disappointment as the magnificent film adaptation Of Mice And Men made Lon Chaney, Jr. (who was unforgettable in the role) into an overnight film star. Even so Hollywood (Samuel Goldwyn and Columbia’s Harry Cohn) called Crawford. It would take another ten years but he eventually eclipsed his one-time rival and lifetime pal Lon Chaney, Jr. in motion pictures and television.

During World War Two, Broderick Crawford interrupted his budding film career in 1942 to serve in the United States Army. After basic training he was assigned to the Army ‘Special Services’ unit where he was an announcer on Armed Forces Radio. He returned to films in 1946.

Like many other famous Hollywood movie stars Broderick Crawford’s personal life was sometimes stormy. In the 1930’s, as a young man on Broadway and in Hollywood, Brod dated many beautiful women, and was briefly engaged to a young, stunning, blonde-haired Lucille Ball. Finally in 1940 he married elegant, socialite Kay Griffith. The couple had two boys, Kelly Crawford and Kim Crawford. For many years the marriage was a happy one. In 1958 at the height of his national popularity for Highway Patrol, Kay divorced Crawford, who was shattered by the split. He became romantically involved with a young, gorgeous, blonde actress, Joan Tabor, who co-starred with him on his new King Of Diamonds television series. They married in 1962 and divorced in 1967. Joan Tabor died later at age thirty-six from an accidental overdose. In 1973 Broderick Crawford married lovely actress Mary Alice Moore in a happy union that lasted for the rest of his life. The couple acted together on the dinner-theatre circuit in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Broderick Crawford died on April 26, 1986 at the age of seventy-four after a series of strokes. He was laid to rest next to his parents in Ferndale Cemetery, in Johnstown, New York. His sons, Kelly Crawford and Kim Crawford, are both deceased with no children. All that remains of Broderick Crawford’s legacy are ninety-five films and several hundred television appearances.

In the following pages, the reader will discover an extraordinary actor and film star with an incredible body of work. He enjoyed a durable career in show business spanning forty-five years that hit Hollywood’s lofty heights and bottom-scraping depths more than once. According to IMDb.com when asked about his fame as an actor Broderick Crawford answered with great humility, My trademarks are a hoarse, grating voice and the face of a retired pugilist with small narrow eyes set in puffy features which look as though they might, years ago, have lost on points.

Part 1: The Early Years (1939-1942)

Woman Chases Man

Woman Chases Man (1937) was released by United Artists and filmed in black and white. It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and was directed by John G. Blystone with a running time of 69 minutes. The screenplay was by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, and Joe Bigelow and based on a story by Lynn Root and Frank Fenton. The score was composed by Alfred Newman.

Woman Chases Man is a funny romantic ‘screwball’ comedy handsomely produced by the Goldwyn studios during the 1930’s depression. It also marks the film debut of character actress Helen Broderick’s son, Broderick Crawford.

Young millionaire Kenneth Nolan (Joel McCrea) refuses to help his father B. J. Nolan’s (Charles Winninger) construction company. The old man hires pretty Virginia Travis (Miriam Hopkins) as personal assistant to get the money from Kenneth. She prepares the closed-up Nolan mansion for Kenneth’s arrival with his gold-digging fiancée Nina (Leona Maricle). She hires unemployed friends Hunk (Broderick Crawford) and Judy (Ella Logan) as butler and maid.

Kenneth and Virginia are attracted to each other. The young millionaire has second thoughts about marrying Nina. Hunk runs interference for B. J. keeping Nina and phony Uncle Henri (Erik Rhodes) occupied in the library while Virginia romances Kenneth. After a few drinks Kenneth declares his love for Virginia and signs over the money so his father can build affordable housing for the masses. Virginia refuses to trick Kenneth into marriage and pours ice water over his head but to her joy a sober Kenneth proposes marriage.

Woman Chases Man is an enjoyable romantic romp with a good cast but no comedy classic. No less than five screenwriters and story writers are credited, which is always a bad sign. Although the cast worked hard under expert direction and the Goldwyn studio’s superior production values Woman Chases Man falls short. It was directed by comedy veteran John G. Blystone, who began his career in silent movies at Mack Sennett’s Keystone studio. Under Blystone the cast indulges in rowdy slapstick knockabouts to cover-up the flaws in the screenplay and often succeeds. The enjoyable score was composed by Alfred Newman, who later headed 20th Century Fox’s music department for twenty years and composed the famous, majestic trademark Fox fanfare still used today. It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn. His company was the Rolls Royce of film studios producing prestigious, big-budget productions with Hollywood’s top stars.

Joel McCrea plays the naïve, romantic Kenneth Nolan completely straight to great effect and Miriam Hopkins is vivacious as Virginia Travis in spite of a weak screenplay.

Broderick Crawford has seventh billing for his first motion picture, Woman Chases Man. The young twenty-five-year-old actor is tall, very slim, and strong-looking with a full head of hair. He already has the booming voice that became his trademark. He is perfect as the tough but lovable ‘palooka’ Hunk showing a natural flair for comedy. He also wins many laughs working with his big co-stars. When Joel McCrea’s Kenneth arrives home, he asks for the family butler but Hunk responds Well, he was let go for stealing. Miriam Hopkins is a bit too cute in the comedy scenes, while Crawford is a natural. In the library scene when Nina calls Hunk, he startles her by immediately jumping into the room as he was just outside the door. A suspicious Henri says, You came in so fast Hunk they should be calling you Flash!

Broderick Crawford’s mother, screen star Helen Broderick was proud of her son up there on the big screen opposite big Hollywood stars and getting laughs. Unfortunately due to his performance in Woman Chases Man, Broderick Crawford repeatedly played the same role in a dozen films with no hint of the great dramatic actor he would become later in his film career.

Start Cheering

Start Cheering (1938) was released by Columbia Pictures and filmed in black and white. It was directed by Albert Rogell, with a running time of seventy-eight minutes. It was produced by Nat Perrin and written by Eugene Solow, Richard Wormser, and Philip Rapp based on a story by Corey Ford. The score was composed by Johnny Green.

Start Cheering is a musical-comedy that showcases an all-star cast of Columbia players. Broderick Crawford is billed ninth after the Three Stooges! Start Cheering was popular with 1938 movie audiences and career-wise Crawford was moving up.

Movie star Ted Crosley (Charles Starrett) leaves Hollywood to go to college. He boards the ‘student special’ train headed for the Ivy League Midland College with agent Sam (Walter Connelly) and assistant Willie (Jimmy Durante) in pursuit. Midland is bankrupt and Dean Worthington (Raymond Walburn) is delighted the movie star has enrolled. Ted meets the Dean’s daughter Jean Worthington (Joan Perry) on the train and its love at first sight. Her boyfriend is campus football hero Biff Gordon (Broderick Crawford), who resents Hollywood’s pretty boy stealing his girl. Biff and his teammates crush Crossley on the football field.

Ted quits and catches the next train for Hollywood. Sam and Willie stop the train and say that Jean loves him. He returns to win the big game with Biff’s help and saves Midland College from bankruptcy. Ted and Jean embrace as the swing music kicks in!

Start Cheering is a handsomely-produced fun comedy-musical that typifies the pre-war escapism of the 1930’s. With an excellent cast of star players, Start Cheering was a box office hit. Just like all other college musicals, students never open a book, take a test or ever attend a class. Movie audiences must have thought college life was idyllic without studying and plenty of attractive people to fall in love with. The screenplay was written by Eugene Solow, Richard Wormser, and Philip Rapp based on Corey Ford’s story treatment tying separate musical and comedy sequences together with romance thrown in. It was well-directed by Hollywood veteran Albert Rogell who keeps the corny story moving at all times. In the 1940’s Rogell moved over to Universal Pictures where he directed four Broderick Crawford films, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Baby (1940), The Black Cat (1941), Tight Shoes (1941), and Butch Minds The Baby (1942). Johnny Green wrote the film score including five entertaining songs. It was produced by Nat Perrin, who kept this big-budget Columbia film on time and under-budget.

Striking brunette Joan Perry is very good as Jean Worthington. Charles Starrett, a future cowboy star, is likable as Hollywood film star Ted Crosley. He always keeps a straight face during the comedy swirling around him and only falters when his singing voice is obviously dubbed. Jimmy Durante is top-billed in Start Cheering although his funny character Willie Gumbatz is a supporting character. In one great scene Willie sails into a song I’m Gonna Strut-A-Way In My Cut-A-Way that made the Hit Parade for Durante.

The Three Stooges play themselves as campus policemen and are funny as always. In one scene Larry Fine pushes aside Broderick Crawford’s Biff Gordon to ask a co-ed, How long have you had a man in your room and why wasn’t it me? Unlike everyone else in Start Cheering including Broderick Crawford, the Three Stooges are more famous today than they were in 1938.

Broderick Crawford appears sixteen minutes into Start Cheering playing the big man on campus Biff Gordon. To be sure, it’s a thankless role for Crawford who loses his girl to handsome movie star Charles Starrett, but he plays it perfectly. In one scene after Ted Crosley is knocked for a loop by the team on the football field, Biff sneers Don’t worry Ted; you’ll get started in the last thirty seconds of the game. That’s what you always do in pictures, don’t ya? Although Biff is a jealous bully, in the end he’s big enough to respect Ted Crosley for socking him on the jaw when he had it coming.

For his next films, Broderick Crawford went out of his way to play different dramatic roles, including sinister screen villains.

Ambush

Ambush (1939) was released by Paramount Pictures and filmed in black and white. It was directed by Kurt Neumann with a running time of 62 minutes. It was written by Laura and S. J. Perelman. The score consisted of stock studio music.

Ambush is a good crime melodrama. It was produced by Paramount’s ‘B’ unit as a second feature with Broderick Crawford in a supporting role for his first film under contract to the studio.

Mr. Gibbs (Ernest Truex) is the deceptively meek leader of a gang consisting of trigger man Sidney (John Hartley), disgraced aviator Randall (Broderick Crawford wearing eye-patch like famous pilot Wiley Post), and inventor Charlie Hartman (William Henry). Using gas, the Bank of the Pacific is robbed. Sidney kills three male bank employees and a female customer in cold blood. They get away with $100,000, an enormous sum in 1939. Bank secretary Jane Hartman (Gladys Swarthout) recognizes her brother as one of the robbers. A nationwide manhunt for the fugitives is led by Police Inspector Weber (William Frawley).

Jane joins her brother, and Gibbs uses her good looks to hijack a truck driven by Tony Andrews (Lloyd Nolan). With the gang in a hidden compartment, Tony’s truck sails through police roadblocks. They board a plane flown by Randall to Tony’s remote farm. Tony and Jane fall in love. On a trip for groceries in town, Tony steals six gold watches at a general store. The owner tells the Sheriff (Rufe Davis) who pursues with Inspector Weber and the state police. Charlie orders Randall to take off in his plane. He sacrifices himself for his sister by forcing the plane to crash. Jane lights a fire in the fireplace alerting police. Tony disarms Gibbs as police break down the door. Inspector Weber happily hands over the six watches to the Sheriff. Tony and Jane will use the reward money for their farm and marry.

Ambush is an action-packed thriller with a tight running time just over an hour. Paramount used it as fodder for the lower half of a double-feature but nevertheless is entertaining to watch. The interesting screenplay was written by husband and wife writing team of Laura and S. J. Perelman, who successfully combined romance and crime into the story. They also wrote a popular Broadway comedy play, Larceny, Inc., which later became a hit movie with Edward G. Robinson and Broderick Crawford! Ambush lacks a producer’s credit. The score is stock music from the Paramount music library. It was directed by German-born Kurt Neumann, who did outstanding work.

Gladys Swarthout stars and does fine work as Jane Hartman, who tries to save her spineless brother. What is surprising is that this very attractive, young-looking brunette was a thirty-nine year old opera singer. The leading man is Lloyd Nolan, giving a first-rate performance as Tony Andrews, an average all-American guy, who fights back when pushed into a corner. Nolan has the audience rooting for nice guy Tony right from the beginning.

Homicide Inspector Weber was played by character actor William Frawley, who is terrific in a straight performance as a police detective. The intelligent inspector apprehends Gibbs and saves Tony and Jane. The evil, heartless Mr. Gibbs is surprisingly played straight by comic actor Ernest Truex as a criminal mastermind who ruthlessly carries out his intricate plans to the letter, murdering anyone in his way. Gibbs has no intention of splitting the $100,000 with his partners and an umbrella in his hands is a lethal weapon. Truex and Broderick Crawford worked together in Start Cheering (1938) and Island Of Lost Men (1939).

Broderick Crawford has sixth billing after Ernest Truex, and gives an excellent performance as a former drunken airlines pilot who lost his plane, passengers, and an eye in a crash. Randall is no dumb palooka but an intelligent, discredited aviator with a cynical sense of humor. Although Randall loathes vicious killer Sidney, he knows that the dignified Gibbs is more dangerous and treacherous. Only Randall is wary of Gibb’s deadly umbrella and at one point tells his boss Hey, careful with that parasol! Broderick Crawford’s vivid performance overshadows the fine work of Gladys Swarthout and Lloyd Nolan.

Ambush was the first of seven films Broderick Crawford made in 1939. By the end of the year, he moved up into ‘A’ productions.

Sudden Money

Sudden Money (1939) was released by Paramount Pictures and filmed in black and white. It was directed by Nick Grinde with a running time of 62 minutes. It was written by Lewis R. Foster based on a play by Milton Lazarus. It was produced by William C. Thomas with a stock music score.

Sudden Money is a charming family comedy for depression-era movie audiences with the theme that money can’t buy happiness. Although early in his career, Broderick Crawford shines in a comic supporting role among a strong cast of players.

Mild-mannered Sweeney J. Patterson (Charles Ruggles) lives in little Rudgate managing the local National Cigar Store. Sweeney’s lazy brother-in-law Archibald Doc Finney (Broderick Crawford) uses the shop’s pay phone to play the horses but always loses. At home is Sweeney’s loyal wife of twenty years, Elsie (Marjorie Rambeau) and boy Junior (Billy Lee). His beautiful daughter, Mary (Evelyn Keyes), spurns boyfriend Eddie Dunn’s (Phil Warren) marriage proposal. She tells Grandpa Patterson (Charley Grapewin) she prefers to marry a rich boy. Doc talks Sweeney into buying an ‘Irish Sweepstake’ ticket winning $150,000!

Overnight the happy Patterson family is corrupted by their new wealth. Sweeney reunites his old college band without success, Junior is packed off to military school breaking the boy’s heart, Elsie becomes a snob, and Mary goes to finishing school to catch a rich husband. Fun-loving Doc worries about real money but Grandpa keeps his head. Mary’s expelled from school for running around with a spoiled rich boy. The money is squandered, but Sweeney gets his old job back with National Cigar. Elsie fires the servants and cooks her own meals. Gramps tells Mary that Eddie owns his own gas station and came to see her. She runs to kiss him. Doc plays with the horses again as Grandpa and Junior play baseball outside. Sweeney, smoking a cigar while playing drums in the basement, is again the king of his little castle.

Sudden Money is an amusing comedy from Paramount’s ‘B’ unit that charmed movie audiences to be careful what you wish for because it might come true. Also money isn’t everything and there’s no substitute for old-fashioned American middle-class values. Although modestly produced for the lower half of a double-feature, Paramount actually bought the rights to an unproduced play by Milton Lazarus and Lewis R. Foster adapted it into a fine screenplay with many laughs. It was directed by Nick Grinde who kept this fun comedy to a tight 62 minutes. It was slickly produced by William C. Thomas on-time and under budget while turning out an entertaining, quality movie.

Sudden Money succeeds as a comedy because of its first-rate cast of players led by Charles Ruggles, who is wonderful as wistful Sweeney Patterson. Lovely Evelyn Keyes is excellent as immature daughter Mary Patterson. She worked again with Broderick Crawford in Slightly Honorable (1940). Charley Grapewin, third-billed, is heartwarming as crusty, kind-hearted Grandpa Patterson. In fact, Gramps is the only adult in the Patterson family who keeps his sanity after winning that sudden money. Grapewin worked again with Broderick Crawford in Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940).

Broderick Crawford is amusing as the likeable palooka Doc Finney who works diligently at avoiding a job. In fact Doc tries to cheat the operator on the pay phone at Sweeney’s cigar store saying That line was busy, could you give me my nickel back? [pause] Who’s a chiseler? Although his character disappears for much of the film’s second half, Broderick Crawford makes the most of his scenes, especially with Charlie Ruggles. In a hilarious scene, Sweeney and Doc steal Junior’s college fund piggybank when they’re spotted by the local Irish cop on-the-beat Charlie (Howard M. Mitchell) who tells how he captures two bank robbers trying to steal the hard-earned pennies away from widows and orphans, and he would love to strap them into the electric chair! The frightened expressions on Sweeney and Doc’s faces are priceless. They squirm with shame while desperately passing the piggybank behind their backs, back and forth like Laurel and Hardy with each hoping to unload the incriminating evidence on the other.

Broderick Crawford moved up to fourth billing in Sudden Money from sixth billing in his previous film, but he was still in the ‘B’ hive.

Undercover Doctor

Undercover Doctor (1939) was released by Paramount Pictures and filmed in black and white. It was directed by Louis King with a running time of 66 minutes. It was written by Walter R. Lipman and Horace McCoy based on a book by J. Edgar Hoover. It was produced by Edward T. Lowe, Jr. with a stock score from Paramount’s music department.

Undercover Doctor is a good Paramount programmer with the theme that crime does not pay as professed by Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover. J. Carrol Naish has the title role, with Broderick Crawford in strong support as America’s ‘Public Enemy Number One’.

In Midville, Dr. Bartley Morgan (J. Carrol Naish) drinks because he is broke. He gets an emergency call to an old barn to treat famous criminal Johnny Franklin (Stanley Price) for a gunshot wound. He recognizes America’s most wanted fugitive Eddie Krator (Broderick Crawford). Dr. Morgan saves Franklin’s life. Krator generously pays off Morgan with thousands and puts him on the payroll as an undercover doctor.

Dr. Morgan, now rich, sets up a practice catering to wealthy patients and is engaged to rich heiress Cynthia Weld (Heather Angel). The FBI, led by Special Agent Robert Anders (Lloyd Nolan) rounds up several of Krator’s killers. Each one has professional surgical scars on their body. When Anders is wounded in the line of duty, Dr. Morgan saves his life. He recovers to fall in love with beautiful nurse Margaret Hopkins (Janice Logan) who works for Dr. Morgan. Krator drags the doctor and nurse to a roadhouse to operate on wounded Franklin. Morgan, in debt to his broker, demands $25,000 up front or the man dies. Krator pays but vows revenge. The FBI finds Franklin. Agent Anders realizes Franklin’s scars are identical to his own. The police trace Krator to a remote fishing lodge and capture him. Krator escapes from the jail after killing a police officer, becoming ‘Public Enemy Number One’. He orders Dr. Morgan to change his face through plastic surgery. The doctor is interrupted by Agent Anders and police, who arrest Morgan and Krator.

Undercover Doctor is a good crime melodrama packed with gunshots, and siren-wailing excitement in a brief 66-minute running time. It’s also a showcase for the FBI highlighting the police organization’s efficient, modern, and scientific crime-solving techniques. It was the second of four films produced by Paramount Pictures based on J. Edgar Hoover’s ‘true crime’ book, Persons In Hiding, a 1938 best seller. The first film with the book’s title also starred J. Carrol Naish, with Louis King directing, and was a box office hit. Paramount mined every case in Hoover’s book to crank out three more films that depression-era audiences gobbled-up like Halloween candy. Krator’s jailbreak was taken right out of the pages on the daring 1933 escape of ‘Public Enemy Number One’ John Dillinger from a Crown Point, Indiana county jail after killing a sheriff’s deputy. The screenplay for Undercover Doctor was written by William R. Lipman and Horace McCoy, who delivered on Paramount’s ballyhoo He held the power of life over men of death! It was capably directed by journeyman Louis King, who made an exciting film with good performances from a strong cast. Edmond T. Lowe produced and kept the film on budget.

J. Carrol Naish is perfect in the title role of Dr. Bartley Morgan. He’s a surgeon who is sliding into alcoholism as his practice suffers during the 1930’s depression. A chance phone call gives Morgan the opportunity of a lifetime to get rich while protecting the gang of America’s ‘Public Enemy Number One’. Always a fine actor, Naish brilliantly shows Morgan’s change of character nearly overnight from a once-dedicated surgeon into a greedy, social-climbing predator who betrays everyone. More corrupt than the criminals he treats, he loses audience sympathy by the end of the movie. Dr. Morgan might have been saved by pure-hearted nurse Margaret who loved him.

Lloyd Nolan plays FBI Agent Robert Anders with wit. Although dedicated and relentless, this G-Man is not above trying to finagle a date with pretty nurse Margaret. J. Edgar Hoover preferred his G-Men in movies be portrayed by ordinary-looking actors and not pretty-boy Hollywood types, so Nolan fit the bill. Prophetically Nolan worked with Broderick Crawford in The Private Files Of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) based on the life of the man who wrote the book that Undercover Doctor was based on.

As America’s ‘Most Wanted’ fugitive Eddie Krator, Broderick Crawford is fifth-billed in Undercover Doctor with a role larger than co-stars Janice Logan and Heather Angel who are billed second and fourth. Crawford delivers a tough, complex performance in a two-dimensional film of good guys versus bad guys. Surrounded by the FBI and police who order him to come out, Krator defiantly shouts I’m not coming out except to bury you! Make no mistake; although Krator is a vicious, criminal killer, he uses his brains just as effectively as he uses his guns. It’s Krator who recognizes Dr. Morgan’s surgical skill long before anyone in high society does, and sets-up an on-call surgeon in an expensive practice to save the lives of his fellow gangsters. He’ll kill a police officer or an FBI agent in a heartbeat but not when it comes to his own men. Krator lives by a code of conduct that demands he put his own life on the line to save his brother gangsters. Once he makes a deal, he never goes back on his word. He’s appalled at Dr. Morgan, who without honor betrays his ‘Hippocratic Oath’ to heal the sick unless he’s paid a wad of money up front. Crawford is compelling in his scenes after the jailbreak, where desperate Eddie Krator, exhausted on the run, has every underworld sanctuary slam its door in his face no matter how much money he offers.

Broderick Crawford and his co-star J. Carrol Naish moved up to ‘A’ pictures for their next film.

Beau Geste

Beau Geste (1939) was released by Paramount Pictures and filmed in black and white. It was produced and directed by William Wellman with a running time of 112 minutes. It was written by Robert Carson based on the novel with the same