Mischa Auer

Destry rides again! Thomas Jefferson Destry, Jr. (Jimmy Stewart) is the deputy sheriff without a gun. He believes the law and public opinion is the answer to outlaws and gunfights. Bottleneck is a lawless town run by bad guys and gunslingers. Kent (Brian Donlevy), a host of gunslingers, the corrupt Judge Slade (Samuel S. Hinds), crooked gamblers and dishonest saloon gal Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich) were cheating, stealing, and forcing farmers to sell them their land against their will in order to have control of all the land when the railroad comes through the territory. The outlaws kill the old sheriff because he is wise to their game. In order to keep law and order out of Bottleneck, Judge Slade appoints the town drunk and apparently incompetent Washington Dimsdale (Charles Winninger) to be the new sheriff. Charles sobers up and is shocked by the news, but steps up to the challenge. Before he was a drunk he had been deputy for Sheriff Tom Destry Sr., who was the roughest, toughest sheriff of all time. Destry Sr. used his fists and his guns to clean up the lawless town, and was Sheriff there until gutless outlaws shot him in the back. Sheriff Dimsdale wires for the younger Destry, the most crack-shot Sheriff of Bottleneck since Destry, Sr. The towns villains hear about Destrys reputation and decide to meet his stagecoach in Bottleneck, and give him a not-quite-warm welcome. When the stage arrives, to everyones surprise, Destry is carrying a birdcage and parasol because he is helping a female passenger - a sweet Bottleneck girl he fancies - debark from the stage. The entire town roars with laughter at the sight of the new deputy who appears to fall short of the lawman ideal. The new sheriff is agreeable and unconcerned about the mocking. Later, he goes to the saloon and attends unarmed: I dont believe in guns, he tells the astounded locals. This prompts more ridiculing from the outlaws. Destry then meets Frenchy, who has a cat fight with a Russians wife who has come to claim her husbands pants after Frenchy won them in a fixed poker game earlier. Destry stops the fight, pouring a bucket of water on Frenchy. Naturally, this enrages the theatrical lady, but her scrap with the new sheriff sparks a romantic interest between Destry and Frenchy. Destry then makes the Russian a deputy; Bottlenecks new triumvirate then decide to trick the outlaws to find out who killed the previous sheriff and why. They make an arrest. The outlaws and people of Bottleneck soon learn that there is more to their laughable deputy sheriff than friendly talk, especially after his friend Dimsdale gets shot in the back while guarding the new prisoner. It is revealed that Frenchy was implicit in Dimsdales death, and she deliberately distracted Destry whilst Dimsdale is murdered and the imprisoned outlaw is freed. Destry straps on his guns and goes looking for those responsible. A large brawl erupts, and Frenchy changes her allegiances once more, catching a bullet for the otherwise doomed deputy. Destry, as formidable as his father, vanquishes the outlaws and cleans up Bottleneck. The Russian finally gets his pants, Destry falls in love with a girl from the stage, Bottleneck is saved, and Destry rides again!

The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development. Stenographer Alice Sycamore is in love with her boss Tony Kirby, who is the vice-president of the powerful company owned by his greedy father Anthony P. Kirby. Kirby Sr. is dealing a monopoly in the trade of weapons, and needs to buy one last house in a 12-block area owned by Alice's grandfather, Martin Vanderhof. However, Martin is the patriarch of an anarchic and eccentric family where the members do not care for money but for having fun and making friends. When Tony proposes to Alice, she states that it would be mandatory to introduce her simple and lunatic family to the snobbish Kirbys, and Tony decides to visit Alice with his parents one day before the scheduled get-together. There is an inevitable clash of classes and lifestyles: the Kirbys spurn the Sycamores and Alice breaks with Tony, changing the lives of the Kirby family. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tony Kirby Jr., vice president of Kirby and Company, and his stenographer Alice Sycamore are in love with each other and want to get married. They both realize that a major problem in doing so is the incompatibility of their respective families. Tony's father, the company's owner and president Anthony P. Kirby, is a cutthroat businessman who doesn't care who he steps on to earn the almighty dollar, the amount of which being how he measures his worth and the worth of others. Tony's mother is a pretentious snob. Both his parents openly but quietly disapprove of the union. Alice's extended family, on the other hand, are an eccentric lot. They all have a "do whatever you want to do because you like doing it" mentality, which was initially fostered by the family patriarch, Alice's maternal grandfather, Martin Vanderhof, in whose house they all live. With the exception of Alice, they are somewhat blissfully unaware that their lives are unconventional. However, their attitude of openness and inclusion has reaped them the rewards of a multitude of unconditional friends, some who live with them solely because they came one day, liked what they saw, were welcomed with open arms, and have never left. Tony and Alice want to deal with the incompatibility issue head-on, although they both take differing paths in how to deal with it. Another problem is that A.P. Kirby is working on the biggest deal of his career - cornering the munitions market, especially lucrative in the lead up to probable war--that requires a massive land acquisition, which includes Grandpa Vanderhof's house, but he refuses to sell. Grandpa is unaware of who wants to buy his house, while A.P. is unaware that Grandpa is the one hold-out who could ruin his entire plan. —Huggo Anthony P Kirby is a wealthy banker. In order to clinch his next deal, his company, Kirby and Company, is buying up all the properties in a neighborhood. Everyone has sold, except one. Martin Vanderhof won't budge, not for any offer. He is happy where he is, living with his daughter, son-in-law, two granddaughters, grandson-in-law and a few other people in a community largely free of life's pressures. Mr Kirby's son Tony, is a new-appointed Vice President of Kirby and Company and is in love with his secretary, Alice Sycamore, Mr Vanderhof's granddaughter. Their relationship, and the property issue, puts the two families, the Kirbys and Vanderhofs, on a collision course. It's more than a clash of families but a clash of outlooks, ideals and what's important in life. —grantss Sweet-natured Alice Sycamore falls for banker's son Tony Kirby. But when she invites her snooty prospective in-laws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice's peculiar extended family--including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof, hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie and fireworks enthusiast father Paul--might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys. —Jwelch5742

Immigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella. Immigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Three sisters scheme to reunite their divorced parents before their wealthy father marries a conniving gold digger. The three Craig sisters, in Switzerland with their ten-years-divorced mother, run away to New York to prevent their father from marrying calculating socialite Donna Lyons. The overpowering vivacity of the Smart Girls (nominal ages 14-20) sweeps all before it, but a romantic complication between middle sister Kay and their accidental ally, Lord Michael Stuart, threatens shipwreck to their schemes... —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu> Teenage sisters Joan, Kay and Penny Craig have lived with their mother Dorothy Craig in Switzerland ever since their parents divorced ten years ago, their wealthy New York banker father, Judson Craig, who they have not seen since. As they know their mother still loves their father and has always dreamed of a reconciliation, the sisters, with help from their faithful housekeeper Martha and without telling their mother beforehand, decide to travel to New York upon media reports that their father is thinking about remarrying, to a younger woman named Donna Lyons. Upon arriving in New York, their father barely remembers or recognizes them which does not deter their mission of breaking up their father and Donna, especially when their fears are confirmed: that Donna is nothing but a gold-digger. Judson has to do a balancing act between keeping Donna happy against getting reacquainted with his daughters who he really does love. While the sisters find they have extra reinforcements in their father's investment manager Bill Evans and their father's faithful longtime butler Binns who too believe Donna only has dollar signs in her eyes, Donna and her mother can see what the girls are up to, setting the battle grounds. In the process which includes many hiccups along the way, some due to some misunderstandings, Joan and Kay may embark on their own romances, adding to the mix Australian banker Lord Michael Stuart, and penniless alcoholic, Hungarian Count Arisztid. —Huggo Hoping to reunite their divorced parents, the three Craig sisters plot to prevent the marriage of their father to a gold-digger. Their scheme to match her up with a penniless Count backfire, but but a wealthy Australian saves the day. —Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com>