Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: She's A Lady! - Part XLIII

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

She's A Lady!

Part XLIII

Yes, sometimes? It takes a lady.

Or so these films would have us believe.

They promise lots of drama, the occasional comedy or musical, and a little bit of dirt!

Let's take a walk down Hollywood Blvd. and shine a light on these magnificent classic films.

This way, if you please. But remember...

Ladies first!

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The Lady From Nowhere

(1922)

AKA: La Femme de Nulle Part

A woman appears at the house where she used to live a long time ago. The new inhabitants, a married couple with a toddler, welcome her to stay for the night. Meanwhile, the wife has to choose between family and adventure.

This French film was directed by Louis Delluc and stars Eve Francis and Roger Karl.

The screenplay was one of three screenplays published under the title Drames du Cinema in 1923.

With hindsight, the film is considered an "early masterpiece of impressionist cinema". This film can be seen in its entirety for free on YouTube.

Eve Francis

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The Lady from Nowhere 

(1931)

As a shot rings out, a girl stumbles into detective John Conroy's hotel room. He hides her from the hotel detective, but when he returns to the room, she has vanished, leaving him a note with her address. Later that evening, in response to the note, he visits the woman, Marian, at the home of Mr. Barstow. In return for favors he granted to her father, Barstow has asked Marian to seduce Conroy. Conroy is on the trail of a gang of counterfeiters, secretly headed by Barstow. Hoping to thwart him, Barstow circulates Conroy's photo to the gang. When this does not work, Barstow sends Mollie Carter, one of the gang, to steal a paper from Conroy's room, but he catches her in the act and calls the police. In anger, she reveals Marian's connection with the gang. In the meantime, Marian has fallen in love with Conroy and when she overhears Barstow plan his murder, she rushes to stop it. Escaping the ambush, Conroy heads to Barstow's house to round up the rest of the gang. In the ensuing struggle, Barstow is killed and Conroy wounded. He awakens in the hospital, to find Marian watching anxiously over his sickbed. Delighted, he announces his intention to marry her.

This American crime drama was directed by Richard Thorpe and stars Alice Day, John Holland and Phillips Smalley.

Alice Day

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The Lady from Nowhere 

(1936)

Olly Dunlop, a manicurist at the barber shop in a Fifth Avenue hotel, is summoned to room 916, occupied by Alfred Brewster; the latter is really a gangster named Al Lustig and shortly after Polly arrives at the room, a rival gangster named Fletcher barges in and is murdered by Lustig. Polly escapes but realizes she is the only witness and fears for her life. She borrows money from her roommate, Mabel Donner, and catches a train to Hartford, Connecticut but gets off at rural Clearview Junction instead. Meanwhile, college girl Dorothy Barnes, has left school to elope with a foreign prince much to the displeasure of her father, millionaire James Gordon Barnes, who has offered a large reward to anybody who knows her whereabouts. Local newspaper reporter, Earl Daniels, mistakes Polly for Dorothy. Meanwhile, Lustig has gathered all his henchmen in Jersey City and dispatches them in a search for Polly.

This American crime film was directed by Gordon Wiles and stars Mary Astor, Charles Quigley and Thurston Hall.

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Find The Lady

(1956)

During New Year's Eve, a young model spends the day searching for her godmother, who has suspiciously gone missing as a trio of comic baddies attempt to rob a bank while one of them poses as an archaeologist.

This British B-movie comedy/thriller was directed by Charles Saunders and stars Donald Houston, Beverley Brooks and Mervyn Johns.

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Intended presumably as a comedy thriller, Find the Lady lacks wit and is only intermittently exciting. It is difficult to decide from Beverly Brooks' performance whether the heroine is meant to be as empty-headed as she appears. Of the supporting cast, only Maurice Kaufman and Edwin Richfield manage to bring any conviction to their parts."

Donald Houston and Beverly Brooks

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Find The Lady

(1976)

The daughter of a wealthy businessman has been kidnapped, and the chief of police, under a lot of pressure to find her as soon as possible, assigns officers Kopek and Broom to track her down and bring her back safe and sound. What nobody on the police force realizes is that the kidnapping was meant to be a fake: the girl's father hired a couple of mafia goons to stage a kidnapping, so that he could use the ransom money to pay off his gambling debts. Unfortunately for him, the hired thugs get the wrong girl. While this should've been fairly easy to resolve, the daughter has decided to run off with her boyfriend, after which she actually does get kidnapped by someone else. To add to the complications, a third party is also claiming to be holding her for ransom. Somehow, the bumbling pair of officers has to wade through this mess and find the lady.

This detective comedy was directed by John Trent and stars John Candy, Dick Emery, Peter Cook, Mickey Rooney and Lawrence Dale.

This is the second comedy movie in which Lawrence Dale and John Candy played two bumbling cops. They previously did this in the film It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975). Both films became regarded as a public domain title a few years after their release. This film can be seen in its entirety for free on YouTube.

John Candy was still an unknown outside of North America when the film was released. In the UK and Australia the films' posters and advertising centered around the more well known British comedy stars Dick Emery and Peter Cook.

The Calgary Herald wrote, "Find the Lady is a numbskull number about as funny as a slice of pizza in a hat... A British-Canadian co-production, Find the Lady stumbles from one worn-out comedy chestnut to another. There is the off-key opera singer, the transvestite who complains that life is a 'drag', lots of dumb blonds, and even dumber cops."

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And that's all for now, folks.

Tune in next time...

Same place, same channel!

 

Find The Lady

(1976)