Joan Blondell

[4] James Cagney stars as a racecar driver who sacrifices his relationship with Ann Dvorak to help his kid brother (Eric Linden) follow in his skid marks. But when Dvorak gets even by encouraging a girlfriend (Joan Blondell) to take the brother’s eye off the game, the plan backfires. Linden and Blondell really fall in love, and after a tragedy on the race track, Cagney’s …

[7] Two train engineers put their friendship to the test when one of them falls in love with the other’s wife in this noteworthy drama from William Wellman (Battleground, The High and the Mighty). I really enjoyed the first half of this movie, as Wellman gives us an intimate look at the everyday life of railroad workers. He puts the camera on top moving trains, …

[8] Barbara Stanwyck stars in this pre-code drama about a scrappy young nurse trying to save two sick children from an evil chauffeur (Clark Gable) whose poisoning them so he can marry their drunk mother (Charlotte Merriam) and steal their trust fund. Night Nurse is a great vehicle for Stanwyck, who spends the first half of the film befriending wise-cracking Joan Blondell and falling in …

[6] Cary Grant and Joan Blondell star as a private eye and a manicurist-turned-journalist who help solve a mystery that began as a jewelry theft ring and escalates to the accidental shooting death of a baby in Central Park. Yeah, Big Brown Eyes may not sound like the usual Cary Grant movie, but beneath some odd plot choices, it’s not too many shades off His …

[5] Dorothy Mackaill stars as a young woman strung along by a wealthy suitor who eventually declines to marry her, souring her relationship with any man until a rich artist comes along and strikes her fancy. The Reckless Hour is cut from a well-used cloth, but moves briskly for an early talkie and features a couple of colorful supporting performances, namely Joan Blondell as Mackaill’s …

[5] Tyrone Power (The Black Swan) takes a dark turn in this flick about a carnival mentalist whose ambitions get the better of him. At first his character uses his powers for good, like tricking the police into letting his carnival family out of public indecency accusations. But he soon leaves the carnival for a more swanky nightshow act, and later teams up with a …

[6] Joan Blondell (The Public Enemy, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) stars as a bored nurse who gets recruited by a police detective to infiltrate a rich family’s mansion and help him solve a suicide case that looks suspiciously like murder. Blondell is bubbly and irreverent in the role, screaming when director Lloyd Bacon (Marked Woman, 42nd Street) brings out the expressionistic long shadows and then …

[7] Elia Kazan (East of Eden) made the jump from Broadway plays to feature films with this adaptation of the book by Betty Smith. The story centers around a young girl named Francie growing up in Brooklyn in the early 1900’s. Her father is a dreamer who has trouble providing for the family, while his mother works her fingers to the bone to compensate. The girl …

[7] James Cagney makes his breakthrough performance as a Chicago street kid who becomes a successful gangster during prohibition. I don’t usually like gangster movies, but director William Wellman (Wings, The Ox-Bow Incident) frames The Public Enemy as a cautionary tale with a moral ending — it doesn’t glamorize the lifestyle like so many more modern movies do. And while I may not relate with …

[5] Not being a poker player, there’s probably a lot about The Cincinatti Kid that I simply don’t get. Still, for a movie about people sitting at a table playing cards, it ain’t half bad. Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson play the heavies who come head-to-head in the high-stakes climax. Karl Malden plays the man who sets the game up, black-mailed into rigging the …