Douglass Dumbrille

During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet. During the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes--and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> World-renowned pirate Jean Lafitte is drawn in to the defense of New Orleans during the War of 1812 by his love for the daughter of then-Governor of Louisiana Claiborne. He is betrayed by the Americans and must deal with the stubborn General Andrew Jackson to get his crew released from jail. The two strike a bargain and Lafitte comes to Jackson's rescue in the defense of Louisiana, only to be outcast again. —R.B.

To win back her husband, a divorcee pretends to be married to a loser.

When the Daughters of Dixie nominate a candidate for State Senator, the local political machine run by Northerners fears its candidate will be defeated, and chooses her husband as a candidate in order to split the anti-machine vote. The first Eagle-Lion film stars Kenny Delmar as Senator Beauregard Claghorn, his "Allen's Alley" resident-character heard on Fred Allen's radio program. Claghorn was a blustery, one-man-Chamber-of-Commerce for all things Southern, who had no tolerence for anything north of the Mason-Dixon line, although he made allowances for South Philly. The character inspired the creation of one of the most popular of the Warners' cartoon characters, Foghorn Leghorn, who re-worked most of the originals material and style. The title of this movie is a stock line- "it's a joke, son"---he would feed a befuddled Fred Allen each week. In the film, Claghorn gets into some financial difficulties and is forced by a machine-political gang to enter a race for state senator against his wife (Una Merkel) who appears to have a good chance to beat the political hack backed by the machine. Claghorn is in to siphon votes and ensure his wife's opponent will win and is expected to run a campaign that will defeat himself and his wife. But, he runs to win and the machine's henchies abduct him. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Two vaudeville flops pose as bad guys and join the Klondike gold rush with a saloon singer. At the turn of the century, Duke and Chester, two vaudeville performers, go to Alaska to make their fortune. On the ship to Skagway, they find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been stolen by McGurk and Sperry, a couple of thugs. They disguise themselves as McGurk and Sperry to get off the ship. Meanwhile, Sal Van Hoyden is in Alaska to try and recover the map; it had been her father's. She falls in with Ace Larson, who wants to steal the gold mine for himself. Duke and Chester, McGurk and Sperry, Ace and his henchmen, and Sal, chase each other all over the countryside, trying to get the map. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Stranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con women. Chuck and his pal Fearless flee an African carnival after their sideshow causes a fire. Following several similar escapades, they've finally saved enough to return to the USA, when Chuck spends it all on a lost diamond mine. But that's only the beginning; before long, a pair of attractive con women have tricked them into financing a comic safari, featuring numerous burlesque jungle adventures. —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Semi-fictional account of pirate Jean Lafitte's involvement in the War of 1812. In the War of 1812, the British have sacked Washington and hope to capture New Orleans, where pirate Jean Lafitte romances blueblooded Annette de Remy and openly sells his loot in a pirates' market. But he never attacks American ships. Can the British bribe Lafitte to help them? Can Lafitte persuade American authorities of his loyalty? Will a love triangle between Annette and pretty Dutch girl Gretchen (survivor of a pirates' prize) bring about Lafitte's undoing? —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him. Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town and leads a small-town kind of life, including playing the tuba in the town band. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow picks up his tuba and moves to the big city, where he becomes an instant target for everyone from the greedy opera committee to the sensationalist daily newspaper. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. Babe is a hot-shot reporter who figures that the best way to get close to Deeds is to pose as a damsel in distress. When small-town boy meets big-city girl, anything can, and does, happen.

A former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him. When a movie theater usher is fired, he takes up with criminals and finds himself quite adept at various illegal activities. Eventually though, the police catch up with him, and he runs to hide out in Los Angeles. There he stumbles into the movie business and soon rises to stardom. He has gone straight, but his newfound success arouses the interest of his old criminal associates, who are not above blackmail... —Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net>