| King of Alcatraz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert Florey |
| Written by | Irving Reis |
| Produced by | William C. Thomas |
| Starring | Gail Patrick Lloyd Nolan Harry Carey. |
| Cinematography | Harry Fischbeck |
| Edited by | Eda Warren |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
King of Alcatraz is a 1938 American drama film directed by Robert Florey and starring Gail Patrick, Lloyd Nolan and Harry Carey. [1] It was the film debut of Robert Preston. [2]
Just as gangster Steve Murkil is escaping from Alcatraz prison, rival San Francisco radio operators Ray Grayson and Bob MacArthur find themselves assigned to a freighter run by Captain Glennan, headed out to sea.
Among those on board are a new nurse, Dale Borden, and passengers including a young woman and her mother. The younger one is Murkil's moll and the mother is Murkil himself in disguise, making a getaway, with several of his cronies also aboard ship.
Ray and Bob both develop a romantic interest in Dale and both end up in confrontations with Murkil. A fight results in Ray being wounded, with Dale receiving radio instructions on how to perform an operation that he immediately needs. Murkil nearly makes his escape until he is shot by Glennan. On shore, Ray and Dale decide to get married, with Bob their best man.
New York Times critic Frank Nugent called the film "a trim little melodrama, tightly written and logically contrived." [1] Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News gave the film three of four stars. She praised Florey's direction and Nolan's performance. [3] An Orlando Sentinel reviewer called the film "a conglomeration of the old gangster films with a not quite conscientious triangle added." [4]
Robert Florey was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor.
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.
Nancy Kelly was an American actress in film, theater, and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time, and appeared in several films in the late 1920s. She became a leading lady upon returning to the screen in the late 1930s, while still in her teens, and made two dozen movies between 1938 and 1946, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), which also featured Henry Fonda, and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone, later that same year. After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 1955 stage production and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film adaptation, her last film role. Kelly then worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for several months. She returned to television for a handful of appearances in the mid-1970s.
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was an American gangster, boxer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles and boss of the Cohen crime family during the mid-20th century.
Robert Preston Meservey was an American stage and film actor and singer, best known for his collaboration with composer Meredith Willson and originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man and the 1962 film adaptation; the film earned him his first of two Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982). For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Academy Awards.
Bob Nolan was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and composer of numerous Country music and Western music songs, including the standards "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." He is generally regarded as one of the finest Western songwriters of all time. As an actor and singer he appeared in scores of Western films.
Ellen Drew was an American film actress.
Edmund Sherbourne Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film.
Dangerous to Know is a 1938 American crime film directed by Robert Florey and starring Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff and Gail Patrick. The picture is based on British crime writer Edgar Wallace's hit 1930 play, On the Spot, which had been inspired by the career of Al Capone. Anna May Wong reprised her stage role from the New York production in the movie. The supporting cast features Lloyd Nolan and Anthony Quinn.
Gordon Oliver was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1933 and 1972.
Roger Touhy, Gangster is a 1944 American gangster film based on the life of Chicago mob figure Roger Touhy, directed by film noir specialist Robert Florey.
Broadway Musketeers is a 1938 American musical drama film directed by John Farrow for Warner Bros. Starring Margaret Lindsay, Ann Sheridan and Marie Wilson as three women who grew up in an orphanage and cross paths later in life, it is a remake of the Warners pre-code crime drama film, Three on a Match.
Alma Lloyd was an American actress. She is best known for her roles in If I Were King as Colette, Song of the Saddle as Jen Coburn, and The Big Noise as Betty Trent.
Follow the Leader is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film co-directed by Norman Taurog and Albert Parker. It stars Ginger Rogers and Ed Wynn in his film debut. The screenplay by Gertrude Purcell and Sid Silvers is based on a play by William K. Wells, George White and Lew Brown, with songs by Buddy DeSylva and Ray Henderson. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Publix Corporation.
Painted Desert is a 1938 Western film directed by David Howard and starring George O'Brien and Laraine Day. The picture is a remake of The Painted Desert, which stars William Boyd and features an early appearance by Clark Gable in a major supporting role. The movie was partially filmed on location in Red Rock Canyon, a popular filming location during the 1930s and 1940s, with a multitude of B-Westerns being filmed there.
Tip-Off Girls is a 1938 American crime film directed by Louis King, written by Maxwell Shane, Robert Yost and Stuart Anthony, and starring Mary Carlisle, Lloyd Nolan, Roscoe Karns, Buster Crabbe, J. Carrol Naish, Evelyn Brent and Anthony Quinn. It was released on April 1, 1938, by Paramount Pictures.
The Storm is a 1938 American action film directed by Harold Young and written by Theodore Reeves, Daniel Moore and Hugh King. The film stars Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Preston Foster, Tom Brown, Nan Grey, Andy Devine, Frank Jenks and Samuel S. Hinds. The film was released on October 28, 1938, by Universal Pictures.
Frontier Town is a 1938 American Western film directed by Ray Taylor and starring Tex Ritter, Karl Hackett and Ann Evers.
