When signing on for the Classic Movie Blog Association’s (CMBA) “Forgotten Stars” blogathon I selected Helen Twelvetrees as my subject with the intention of posting a traditional biography of one of my favorite pre-Code stars. Well, my Twelvetrees biography was due Tuesday and I haven’t even reached first draft yet. It’s coming. But for now, I’m going to deliver Part 2 of my Helen Twelvetrees post before Part 1.

The best part about researching a film star’s biography is reacquainting yourself with the movies that they appeared in, and I’ve spent a lot of time with Helen the past several days! When my tidy little “Capsule Review” section revealed itself to be a 4,000-plus word monster that I have every intention of lengthening in the future, I decided the smart thing to do was break it off into its own post. And so, you’re getting Part 2 of Helen Twelvetrees, “The Films of,” prior to Part 1, “Biography of,” which will post by the end of this week.

Be sure to check out all of the other classic film bloggers who have contributed posts to this week’s “Forgotten Stars” CMBA blogathon. The blogathon runs through this Friday, October 31, and I hope to be back with Part 1: A Biography of Helen Twelvetrees by that date.

The Films of Helen Twelvetrees

I still haven’t caught Helen’s first few movies, and there are some holes in what I’ve seen of her final few film appearances, but I have now seen her in all available titles from her peak, beginning with 1930s Her Man and running through 1934. My memory is fuzzy on a few of these, but here’s at least a little something about each of more than half of the movies she ever appeared in, 20 of 32 titles so far, with emphasis on those prime years.

Her Man (1930, Pathe)

Helen’s breakthrough role in a Tay Garnett film that deserves better recognition than it has today. A Frankie-and-Johnnie story that features the equally under-appreciated Phillips Holmes as Helen’s young lover and the dastardly Ricardo Cortez, who’d be a frequent co-star, as Johnnie, owner of a bar frequented by sailors where Helen helps shake down the patrons. Excellent work from Marjorie Rambeau with a brief appearance by a brunette Thelma Todd. Comedy stylings of James Gleason and Harry Sweet do not age well at all and threaten to ruin the film. Twelvetrees and Holmes are co-revelations here, along with Garnett in directing one of 1930s most fluid films.

• Rating: 8/10
• 12Trees Scale (of How Much Helen): 12/12
• Excerpt from my 2013 post:
  

  She lures the male clientele of the Thalia, mostly hard-drinking sailors, to her side, tells her sob story and then picks their pockets after they drink the Mickey Finn that Johnnie directs his bartenders to serve them. While her Frankie is a willing enough employee in Her Man, the character played by Helen Twelvetrees in Panama Flo (1932) feels terrible when forced to take part in the exact same scam with hopes of raising enough cash to make it back to America. No such regrets here. Not until she becomes attracted to a handsome young sailor, Dan Keefe, played by Phillips Holmes.

  Read the rest HERE

• Check FindOldMovies.com for grey-market DVD-R copies.

The Painted Desert (1931, Pathe)

Not quite sure why Pathe would do this to Helen off the success of Her Man, but with Millie right around the corner everything would turn out okay in the short term.

The Painted Desert opens with old-timers William Farnum and J. Farrell MacDonald going their separate ways after an argument over a baby they find. The grudge holds and the years pass as the baby, raised by Farnum, grows up to be William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd. In those intervening years MacDonald has lost a wife and raised a daughter, who we first meet as a young woman played by Helen. Farnum and McDonald hold their grudge, and daddy’s girl Helen is all for continuing it, but Hoppy is looking to make peace since he knows he was the original cause of their split. Clark Gable happens along and winds up in MacDonald’s employ, a position he accepts largely because he’s attracted to Helen. Hoppy splits with step-dad Farnum when he pushes peace too far, and winds up forming a partnership with MacDonald after they overcome their personal hurdles. Helen and Hoppy fall for each other, and Gable doesn’t like it. When Hoppy and MacDonald run into some troubles, the blame falls to Farnum, but it’s not too hard to see who’s really at the cause of their problems.

Helen Twelvetrees is a somewhat versatile actress, but this one proves that Westerns weren’t her forte. When we first meet her she’s a rifle-toting tomboy backing up her father in his grudge against Farnum. She’s given dialogue such as this: “Well, Dad, if they think they gonna water cattle here tonight, here’s two Winchesters that say they ain’t.” This one has hurt Helen retroactively, gaining a wider audience than it deserves due to the presence of Hoppy and Gable, plus public domain status making is so easily accessible. Please don’t start here.

• Rating: 5/10
• 12Trees Scale (of How Much Helen): 3/12
• You can pick up this public domain title for The Painted Desert or watch it for free online.

Millie (1931, RKO)

The movie that cemented Helen’s brief reign of stardom and, luckily, the most available of any of her films. A Madame X type story of mother love that follows Twelvetrees’s Millie Blake from youth through marriage, motherhood, middle age, and murder. A fine pre-Code showcase that will push you towards finding Helen’s other less available films. Featuring Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell as Helen’s golddigger friends, a daughter who grows up to be played by Anita Louise, with Robert Ames and John Halliday among her numerous suitors. Sex and booze abound.

• Rating: 8/10
• 12Trees Scale: 12/12
• Excerpt from my 2014 review:
  

  Millie allows her another opportunity to excel after the men around her let her character down. A difference between Millie and the several similar films Twelvetrees appeared in around this time is that the story doesn’t end with Twelvetrees swept into the arms of any actor … When marriage proves disappointing to Millie she rebels against the institution. When monogamy does the same she gets her kicks by running roughshod over the entire male sex. There is a price to pay for such independence in the final act, but Millie succeeds in the end.

  Read the rest HERE

• I like my copy from Alpha Video, but you can also find this one online for free.

A Woman of Experience (1931) RKO Pathe

Helen gets a shot at historical drama and romance in this tale of a Viennese prostitute, who only wants to aid her country at the onset of World War I. Her Elsa is rejected from serving in more typical ways, such as a nurse, but C. Henry Gordon’s Captain Muller sees a useful patriotism in the girl, even if she is so well-known professionally as to appear on a state ledger of streetwalkers. He reports his findings to his superior (H.B. Warner), and Elsa is summoned to duty. She eagerly accepts her task, and sets off intending to get the goods on traitor Lew Cody. An encounter with a young soldier (William Bakewell) leaves Elsa head-over-heels and unwilling to follow through on her commitment to seduce Cody. But Elsa is no ordinary prostitute, she’s Helen Twelvetrees, so sacrifices are made and the mission is seen through while her young lover is off at sea in a submarine.

Warner, Gordon, and Cody are all strong as military men, while ZaSu Pitts doesn’t get in the way too much as Elsa’s maid—though a speech she gives near the end of the movie does teeter off the tracks some. Franklin Pangborn, for the second time in a Helen Twelvetrees movie (the other being Her Man), is miscast as a tough guy, this time a sailor serving under and loyal to Bakewell. Bakewell’s okay, but plays his part extremely straight. I really wanted him to lighten up a little. Helen isn’t perfect, but close to it in a part that is definitely tailored to her talents. There were a couple of times she seemed to have trouble with her dialogue, dated and stilted though it was. She’s the best when it comes to reacting to slaps to her virtue, but she’s not quite as believable when acting gallant.

Still, a decent historically set movie, though I’m glad an outlier for Helen, who RKO-Pathe seemed to be putting through the paces of trying out in a variety of genres. Pair it with MGM’s Mata Hari starring Garbo, which was released four months after A Woman of Experience.

• Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 8/12
• I caught it recently on TCM, so gray market copies should eventually hit the market. Check FindOldMovies.com

Bad Company (1931, RKO Pathe)

Poor Helen discovers that not only is her husband (John Garrick) a gangster, so is her older brother (Frank Conroy). But those two are gentlemen compared to the real star of Bad Company, Ricardo Cortez as an Al Capone type hilariously named Goldie Gorio. Goldie’s got a complex about everything along with a crush on Helen that leads to him trying to rub out her husband, who just happens to be his top underling. Lots of nice touches from director Tay Garnett, who did the same for Twelvetees and Cortez in the previous year’s Her Man. While Helen gets a few moments as Goldie’s captive near the end, Bad Company is all Ricardo Cortez, whose slimy smirk is a perfect fit on Goldie. He’s almost reptilian in the climax, preening and posing as the gunfire rings out below in an exciting machine gun battle between cops and gangsters in Goldie’s hotel lobby. Not a top showcase for Helen, but an unheralded gangster entry with plenty to recommend.

• Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 6/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com

Panama Flo (1932, RKO)

A knock-off on Her Man, but I saw this one first, and so I enjoyed it quite a bit when I found it. Charles Bickford hams it up as a brute with a booming voice and Robert Armstrong is the man from Helen’s past who reappears. Unlike Her Man, Helen’s character is an unenthusiastic participant in the barroom vice games this time around, but the scenes are fun all the same (as is her boss, Maude Eburne).

• Recollected Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 10/12
• Excerpt from my 2013 post:
  

  Panama Flo captures the hardboiled spirit of 1932, a dark side not so easily enjoyed in that time itself. For most viewers Panama Flo’s most familiar visit to the wrong side of the tracks comes in the New York speakeasy portion of the story that frames an even more morally objectionable flashback. Moving back in time we first join Flo (Helen Twelvetrees) as she sings and dances with a line of girls in a Panama honky-tonk before circumstance forces her south for a more extended stay in the dense jungles of South America where she is more or less a captive of wildcat oil man McTeague (Charles Bickford).

  Read the rest HERE

• Check FindOldMovies.com

Young Bride (1932, RKO-Pathe)

A fascinating look at Depression-era young love provides a great showcase for Helen, Eric Linden, and, to a lesser extent, Arline Judge. Helen plays a quiet librarian, still not over the shock of her mother’s death a year ago. She’s introduced to loudmouth braggart Linden at a dance hall and the two fall hard for each other. The problem is, while Helen is fully invested in the relationship, Linden’s character is more interested in himself. He talks a big enough game to get Helen to marry him, but unable to produce any of his promised big deals, he immediately goes stir crazy inside their apartment and starts stepping out with Judge again. Nothing comes of his big talk professionally. Helen gives him every chance, but with a baby on the way she’s finally fed up with him. So are all of his old friends. A wild bar brawl leads to the expected conclusion. It’s just a movie about people, young people, and provides both Linden and Helen with very strong parts. Also got a kick out of seeing Polly Walters, who usually just plays grating phone operators, in an extended role.

• Rating: 8/10
• 12Trees Scale: 10/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com

A complete review of Young Bride was later posted.

State’s Attorney (1932, RKO)

From the William J. Fallon based cycle of 1932, this is one of the more likely places for you to have already seen Helen, but despite good work this is intended entirely as a John Barrymore showcase. Barrymore keeps Helen out of prison for tapping on windows (prostitution) and brings her back to his apartment, where she stays and they fall in love. The movie is all Barrymore, and that includes tossing society woman Jill Esmond in his path to distract him from good, common Helen for awhile. Highly recommended, but not so much for Twelvetrees.

• Rating: 7.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 6/12
• This title is officially available as a manufactured-on-demand DVD-R from Warner Archive.

Is My Face Red? (1932, RKO)

Ricardo Cortez plays a Walter Winchell inspired gossip columnist in this film released months ahead of the superior Blessed Event. To really enjoy this one, you’ll see it before the later film, because otherwise it’s impossible not to think how much more effective Lee Tracy is there than Cortez is here. Twelvetrees plays a showgirl who was at Cortez’s side from the start, providing tips for his column and falling in love with him. She’s top billed here, but it’s more of a supporting role to Cortez. Robert Armstrong is good as a rival reporter, who doesn’t buy into Cortez’s methods, though their best scene together comes when they drop their grudge for a few drinks of a brew that Clarence Muse helped specially prepare. Aline Judge is around again, this time as Cortez’s snappy secretary and no threat to our Helen. Jill Esmond back as well as the society woman that distracts Cortez from Helen for a few scenes.

• Rating: 5.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 7/12
• Available as a manufactured-on-demand DVD-R from Warner Archive

Unashamed (1932, MGM)

Twelvetrees gets the MGM glamour treatment, and outperforms her material besides. In love with Monroe Owsley, typically playing one of his fortune-hunting weasels, it’s easy to get distracted by Helen’s disturbingly adoring brother, played by Robert Young, and a Lewis Stone court performance that will leave you wondering how he ever rose to become a judge in Carvel. After lover Owsley is killed by Young in a misguided attempt to save his sister’s reputation, Twelvetrees takes the unusual step of siding with her lover’s corpse over dear brother. When she finally comes back around she’s pushed too far and her brother’s fate on death row is practically sealed, unless Helen can make herself so despicable on the stand that she can sway the jury.

• Rating: 6/10
• 12Trees Scale: 9/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com

Read my CMBA award-winning “Best Film Article” for 2015 about the real-life crime that Unashamed was based upon.

A Bedtime Story (1933, Paramount)

Paramount debuts Baby LeRoy as “Monsieur” Baby, and LeRoy takes over the mantle as top child star in the world for a couple of years. Despite featuring the baby, A Bedtime Story really starts out as a sex comedy (yay, pre-Code!) and graduates into a sweet romantic comedy after Helen arrives as Baby LeRoy’s nurse.

Maurice Chevalier is Rene, one of his typical fun, over-sexed pre-Code characters, who is carrying on affairs with characters played by Betty Lorraine, Leah Ray, and Adrienne Ames, who’s just married Rene’s insanely jealous friend, Max (Earle Foxe). Oh, meanwhile Rene is engaged to Louise (Gertrude Michael), who’s hosting a party at her mansion where everything breaks apart near the end of the movie.

Before that, Helen appears at Rene’s door posing as a nurse for Baby LeRoy. When the real nurse happens along, Helen’s Sally tells Rene the truth: She’s an American magician’s assistant who’s stranded in Paris. She apologizes and heads for the door, but after she swoons with hunger, Rene hires her on and dismisses the other nurse who was waiting for her interview. Rene’s hilariously cuckolded butler, Victor (Edward Everett Horton), has his suspicions over Sally, but she quickly makes good and wins him over along with the audience, who were hooked as soon as we saw her.

While A Bedtime Story isn’t top tier Chevalier (nor top tier Helen), director Norman Taurog keeps the 87-minute film moving at a quick pace and spaces out the laughs, songs, and lovers well enough so that we don’t feel the length. Chevalier sings four tunes, each catchy enough, none great, and the movie includes a laugh-out loud scene where Edward Everett Horton shaves him with a straight-razor just as the butler receives some very disturbing news about his wife. The punchline is a piece of ice.

Adrienne Ames vamps, while Gertrude Michael gets to be the bitch. Baby LeRoy isn’t too distracting, and I even found the gag with his Chevalier-like lower lip kind of funny.

Helen, in her first work under contract to Paramount after leaving RKO, is handed one of her sweeter roles, as the audience is supposed to fall as hard for her as Chevalier’s character does. She doesn’t show up until about a half hour into A Bedtime Story and takes a definite backseat to Chevalier once she does. I felt a little bad for her as she shared the screen with Chevalier during one of his songs, as all she could do is smile at him and glow with love. She only has a few moments of heartbreak in this one, enough to allow her to wear some of her pained expressions, but it would have been startling if A Bedtime Story didn’t end as sweetly as the overall tone dictated.

• Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 8/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com on this one

A ‘Lightning Review’ of A Bedtime Story was later posted.

Disgraced (1933, Paramount)

Helen is a store model that playboy Bruce Cabot notices when paying fiance Adrienne Ames a visit. Helen breaks dates with nice neighbor boy Ken Murray and tells lies to her cop father, William Harrigan, to spend all of her off hours with Cabot, who surprises her with an out-of-the-way beach house where they can spend nights together. When Helen gets serious, Cabot breaks away with plans for an elopement at sea with Ames, who has Helen model her wedding dress the next day. In her final meeting with Cabot, Helen fires a gun at him, misses, and is promptly locked in a closet while Cabot calls the D.A. to help him out of the potentially sticky situation. The D.A. sends a policeman along, but when it turns out to be Helen’s dad, tragedy unfolds. More of an open ending than a twist ending, which is a little frustrating, though novel.

• Rating: 7/10
• 12Trees Scale: 9/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com

My Woman (1933, Columbia)

This movie has so many of my pre-Code favorites, and they’re all at the top of their game in an entertaining title that quickly moves from a Panama cafe to New York’s world of radio. Wallace Ford is a hoot as Helen’s lout of a husband (more obnoxious than Linden in Young Bride even!), who she helps maneuver to stardom, only to see his head grow even bigger. Victor Jory runs the radio station and falls for Helen right away, but respects her marriage to Ford until Wally starts running around with socialite Claire Dodd, who’s way out of his class. Dodd fans will love her, everyone else will hiss as intended. Unfortunately, it’s much of the usual flavor for Helen, who is nonetheless great as suffering but loyal wife, leaving the often outlandish Ford to really make his mark.

• Recollected Rating: 7/10
• 12Trees Scale: 9/12
• I wrote a little about this one back in 2009, though reading that over, I like it a lot better now. Doesn’t look like Helen had hooked me yet either. You can read that oldie HERE.
• Check FindOldMovies.com

King for a Night (1933, Universal)

A strange one, in that I really hoped it would be better than it was, but while entertaining it didn’t really grab me until near the end when Chester Morris and Grant Mitchell do special things for a few moments. Morris is the star and, shocker, Helen is not his love interest, but his kid sister, who follows the hot-tempered fighter to the city, where he gets involved with another favorite, Alice White. Helen leaves Frank Albertson behind in the country to fall prey to John Miljan in a movie that, now that I think of it, has some similarities to Unashamed. But whereas the earlier movie was a Helen Twelvetrees movie, this is first and foremost a Chester Morris movie.

• Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 6/12
• I covered this one in brief earlier this year. An excerpt:
  

  Morris plays Bud Williams, pugnacious son of a minister (Grant Mitchell), who given that background really is a good kid at heart, but is often overcome by a quick temper and quicker fists. Twelvetrees is not Bud’s love interest, but his kid sister who winds up following big brother to New York to pursue her own wild side as a showgirl. Alice White is the love interest, Evelyn, a showgirl herself, who helps Lillian (Twelvetrees) land work for Walter Douglas (John Miljan), one of those shady Depression-era businessmen with a finger in every sour pie, including the boxing racket that Bud wishes to conquer in the ring.

  There’s a bit more about King for a Night at the top of THIS post.

• Check FindOldMovies.com for a copy

Now I’ll Tell (1934, Fox)

(Revised) Gave this one another view shortly after posting this and it fared better than I had remembered. The movie is based on a story by Mrs. Arnold Rothstein, widow of the infamous gangster dubbed “King of the Roaring Twenties.” Spencer Tracy stars as a character based on Rothstein. Helen plays his wife, a wholly respectable part, no surprise considering the source. Towards the beginning of the movie the Spencer Tracy character wonders if anybody at his table had the power to change the future, if they’d know what to do with it. Helen seems quite sure: “Well, I’d like money enough to travel, and leisure enough to read good books, and I want to live among nice people. And always be in love with you.” Well, three out of four ain’t bad, but Spence causes roadblocks to a couple of those goals based on who he is. Helen is very quiet in the early part of the film, and then young Alice Faye stampedes across the screen as Tracy’s girlfriend for awhile, a part that I originally believed really had upstaged Twelvetrees, which to some degree it does. I had forgotten how strong Helen was in her later scenes with Tracy, which account for some of the best purely dramatic work of her career. I raised the 12Trees rating on this one quite a bit below.

Also of note, a brief appearance by Shirley Temple that sees her light up the screen with Tracy for a few moments and make you forget she has a kid brother (Tommy Doran Jr.) sharing the scene with her. This bit came just after Shirley’s breakthrough role in Little Miss Marker.

• Recollected Rating: 6.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 6/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com. Currently there’s a DVD-R version available for sale on Amazon, but I cannot attest to the quality. As you can tell from some of the screen captures in this section, that’s not something I’ll typically let bother me anyway.

A ‘Lightning Review’ of Now I’ll Tell was later posted.

One Hour Late (1934, Paramount)

Helen holds her own despite being miscast as a scatterbrained secretary in a film otherwise conceived to put over two songs by top billed Joe Morrison. If this one had worked out, maybe Helen would have had a chance at some screwball comedies, but if so, it would have been nice had Paramount let her get her feet wet alongside a stronger leading man. That said, Morrison isn’t terrible and Helen gets to play for laughs against old pro Conrad Nagel, who’s cast as the boss of the company where Helen, Morrison, and others, such as Arline Judge (again) and Toby Wing, work.

Helen is frustrated with Morrison’s lack of drive, though by coincidence there’s a radio station in the same building that offers a better suited opportunity for him than does Nagel’s office. Helen shares her best scenes in reaction to Nagel, who plays it straight. He’s rumored to be having marital troubles (Gail Patrick plays his wife) so Helen misconstrues an offer to accompany him to his country house as secretary as an offer of something more. But she’s willing to give the affair a shot, not only to teach Morrison a lesson, but to escape the everyday insanity of living with her sister, a situation that includes screaming brat children and an out of work brother-in-law who continually puts the touch on Helen for gambling and drinking money. Bradley Page plays the brother-in-law and, in her final screen role, former silent starlet Gladys Hulette plays Helen’s sister. Morrison makes an surprise proposal to Arline Judge to try to make Helen jealous, and everything comes to a head while Helen and Morrison are trapped inside an elevator, where Nagel’s wife (Patrick) is also trapped. George E. Stone operates the elevator. Silly fluff, but shows a different side of Helen. Overall enjoyment hinges on how much you care for singer Morrison.

• Recollected Rating: 6/10
• 12Trees Scale: 8/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com for a copy. This one is also currently being offered in DVD-R form by a third-party Amazon seller. Quality unknown.

A ‘Lightning Review’ of One Hour Late was later posted.

Times Square Lady (1935, MGM)

This might be my most disappointing experience with a Helen Twelvetrees movie, because it’s anything but a Helen Twelvetrees movie. She’s Robert Taylor’s girlfriend at the start, but Virginia Bruce comes along to eat up any screen time Helen was going to get. Bruce has sidekick Isabel Jewell in tow during many scenes, which is always a positive. An ill-tempered Helen shows she can do more than be vulnerable and hints at the character she played in her movie swansong (coming below). But she’s distant support in Times Square Lady, a movie meant to showcase Taylor and Bruce, while introducing movie fans to Pinky Tomlin.

• Recollected Rating: 5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 1/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com for a copy

The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935, Liberty)

The first screen appearance of Ellery Queen puts Donald Cook in the starring role as the (over-)confident detective, who bumps into Helen, her wealthy family, and a murder case when he tries to take a vacation with his friend, Berton Churchill as Judge Macklin. Harry Stubbs is off-putting beyond intention as the sheriff on the case (Eugene Pallette, where were you?), and not many of the Godfrey family stand out, except for Helen as daughter Stella. Cook tries to stay off the case in deference to falling in love with Helen’s character, but eventually even she calls him out for doing nothing and he springs into action. Low budget, Cook a bit hard to take, but fans of Helen’s will be happy enough.

• Rating: 5.5/10
• 12Trees Scale: 7/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com. For Amazon Prime members The Spanish Cape Mystery is available for instant viewing, though there is no rental option for non-members.

Frisco Waterfront (1935, Republic)

This was a 66-minute release, but I have a feeling it’s tough to see anything other than the shortened 53-minute version I was able to lay my hands on. From Republic, Frisco Waterfront doesn’t appear to have any budget beyond the actors, and all of their best days are behind them. Ben Lyon isn’t terrible, but his character never becomes very likable. Rod La Rocque is terrible, his monotone whine draining any hint of emotion from every line he utters. Bad actor. Helen at least seems to be trying most of the time, but even she has a few scenes where she just seems totally flat. Probably the worst overall effort I’ve seen her give.

The bulk of the story is a flashback with a present-day election framing it. Lyon’s Glenn Burton is running for Governor and, for reasons we soon discover inside that flashback, he’s quite nasty to La Rocque’s newspaperman, Dan Elliott, in the opening scene, as they head into a tent-like structure to vote. All of a sudden, from the top of a hill, the brakes go on a truck that flies down the strip and crashes through the voting tent. Glenn and Dan are both hospitalized. Glenn’s political benefactor, Corrigan (James Burke) enters before the doctor (Purnell Pratt) can put Glenn under, and tells him who his true benefactor is. Helen, as Elliott’s wife, Alice, is then sent in for Glenn to moon over as the anesthetic takes effect.

We flashback to the War years to find Glenn proposing to Alice, but being called off to immediate service by Uncle Sam before any wedding can take place. Glenn is soon listed among the missing in action, so Dan Elliott proposes to Alice, who after two years, finally accepts. It turns out that Dan didn’t tell Glenn had been writing him all along, so Alice is stunned when Glenn appears at the door just as she was heading out to get married. This gets Dan punched in the face and begins a life-long grudge between the former friends, Glenn and Dan. Glenn marries Alice and, as Dan had predicted, turns out to be a bum. Alice is disappointed that Glenn has put behind ambitions of practicing law to settle on becoming a dock-walloper. After a big blow-up she leaves him, runs to Dan, and offers herself to him as his wife, provided he realize she’s only marrying him in order to get Glenn so angry that he’s forced to improve himself.

Well, we met him running for Governor, so that trick seems to have worked. As cheap and poorly acted as Frisco Waterfront is, I can’t deny that there’s a lot happening over just 53 minutes! Still, nothing to seek out unless you’re a fan of Helen, Ben Lyon, or, for some unknown reason, Rod La Rocque.

• Rating: 4/10
• 12Trees Scale: 5/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com

Unmarried (1939, Paramount)

Helen’s final film is a delightful surprise that finds her playing a hot-tempered nightclub owner with a soft spot for a former boxer played by cowboy star Buck Jones. After Robert Armstrong is killed while trying to crack a safe, Helen and Buck happen upon his hidden life and wind up raising his otherwise orphaned son, played by a young Donald O’Connor. Helen carries a razor-sharp tongue in Unmarried, which softens through the years as she and Jones settle into an unofficial (and as per the title, unmarried) familial situation. Also features Buster Crabbe as another boxer, who the years are not as kind to, and Sidney Blackmer as a fight promoter.

• Rating: 7/10
• 12Trees Scale: 10/12
• Check FindOldMovies.com. Also available at this time on Amazon as a DVD-R from a third party seller.

I’ll try to update this section as I watch other available Helen Twelvetrees movies. Of her 32 feature films, 29 appear to be obtainable in some fashion, while The Ghost Talks (1929), The Grand Parade (1930) and, most infamously, The Cat Creeps (1930) are currently considered lost. A few surviving moments of The Cat Creeps featuring Helen can be seen in the Universal short Boo (1932).

December 2015 note: So, I never updated this section, but spent the past year writing a book instead, Helen Twelvetrees, Perfect Ingenue. The first half of the book is a biography of Helen Twelvetrees, while Part 2 takes a look at each of the 32 movies Miss Twelvetrees appeared in. Several of those movie article and reviews actually originated from this post, though all of have been expanded and further detailed in the book.