Art Trouble

Gene takes care of three tough kids sent west from Chicago after their father died and left them a cattle ranch. They help him catch a bunch of rustlers.

A look back at 25 years of Columbia's series of newsreels chronicling the film industry and the lives of Hollywood stars. Clips from earlier films in the series are featured, along with a montage of film greats who have passed away in the intervening years.

The Keystone Hotel hosts a very prestigious beauty contest. When the cross-eyed judge presents the first prize to an elderly cleaning woman, angry members of the audience respond by hurling custard pies. The Keystone Kops are summoned, and arrive just in time to get plastered with pastry.

The Royal Mounties are called in when one of the armored cars owned by Maxwell, containing a gold shipment, disappears with driver George Hill suspected of trying to get away with the gold. Actually, Maxwell and two henchmen had poured acid on the brake lines, causing the car to crash. Genevieve, daughter of the Mountie chief, suspects Maxwell and Thomas Hatch, president of the bank shipping the gold, but she quickly becomes more trouble than help to Sergeant Renfrew in charge of the investigation. Renfrew and Constable Kelly drive the next shipment but Maxwell plans to make them crash the same way as Hill did. Renfrew steers the vehicle into a hillside and this gives him an idea of what happened to the other car.

Chip of the Flying U was Johnny Mack Brown's first western entry for 1940. Brown essays the title role of Chip Bennett, foreman of the Flying U ranch. Before the second reel has tumbled over the spools, Chip finds himself falsely accused of robbery and murder. The actual miscreants are in the employ of a band of foreign gunrunners, who speak in heavily Teutonic accents. Rest assured that Chip makes short work of these bush-league Storm Troopers before the sun sets in the West. Musical interludes are provided by a group calling themselves the Texas Rangers, even though they actually hailed from Kansas City.

Suburban Paradise Park becomes a heaven for social-minded Mrs. Alice Summers (Mary Boland), when she accidentally causes the apprehension of two bank robbers after walking into the bank during the robbery and one of the robbers, in taking money from her purse, left his fingerprints on the purse. She is made an honorary police captain and, with her society sisters sets about "keeping lawlessness" out of the town. From that point on, life becomes miserable for her hen-pecked husband Calvin (Ernest Truex).

Knowing that is contains valuable helium gas, a gang of bad guys first tries to purchase the ranch which Gene straw-bosses. When that fails, they lay a hidden pipeline to snag the gas.

A sailor bets his friends he can get a date with any woman they choose. They pick out a librarian with glasses and a bookish appearance. When he pursues her, he discovers that she is quite beautiful and that he has competition -- but his rival has more sinister intentions than anyone imagines.

Viewers are provided a visit to Ken Maynard's private circus; Bette Davis poses for her portrait; Frank McHugh plays with his children; a visit to the West Side Tennis Club affords glimpses of many stars.

This short shows the entrances of the various Hollywood studios, then specifically visits Warner Bros. / First National Studios. We start at the casting office, then see Busby Berkeley and choreographer Bobby Connolly working with chorus girls on production numbers. Then come some candid shots of several contract stars. Finally we see comedian Hugh Herbert filming a scene for an upcoming release, then the various behind the scenes steps that transition the raw film in the camera into the finished product.

After being run out of town after town for trying to sell worthless stock, two con artists breeze into the small town of Chesterville, where they find themselves accused of kidnapping a young boy to whom they offered a ride. When that misunderstanding is cleared up, the two conmen hatch a plot to unload all their worthless paper on the gullible citizens of Chesterville.

A successful songwriter and a struggling singer become involved professionally and romantically on the road to stardom.

A tour of Hollywood, featuring such star frequented spots as the Vendome, the Lakeside Golf Club, the West Side Tennis Club, the Santa Anita Racetrack, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove, the Biltmore Bowl, and the American Legion Stadium.

New York City cop Phil Donlon leaves the force to join the U.S. Olympic team. When he falls for a Marine colonel's daughter he gets kicked off the team. Joining the Marines to win the Colonel's approval many adventures follow.

Cappy Ricks, a crusty old sea captain, returns home from a long voyage to discover that his family and his business are in chaos--his daughter is set to marry a nitwit that he can't stand, and his future mother-in-law has taken over everything and is set to merge his business with that of a rival company. Worst of all, though, is that she--in the interests of "progress"--has completely automated his beloved ship, "Electra"!. He sets out to put an end to all this foolishness and comes up with what he thinks is a foolproof plan.

When the plane owned by the "Yukon and Columbia Mail Service" crashes, RCMP Sergeant Renfrew (James Newill) and Constable Kelly (Dave O'Brien) suspect murder. Their suspicions are confirmed when Renfrew finds the control stick has been jammed, forcing the plane to fly in one direction until the gas ran out. Mine owner Louise Howard (Louise Stanley) reports that her superintendent is missing. The Mounties find him murdered and that too has been made to look like an accident. A new mail service pilot, Bill Shipley (Warren Hull), arrives. He had gone to training school with Renfrew but had been cashiered for misconduct. The Mounties discover that Raymond (Karl Hackett), who had been working for Louise, really owns the flying line managed by Yuke Cardoe (William Pawley.) They find proof that all the gold from the mine isn't being turned over to Louise, and suspect that Raymond and Yuke are stealing the gold and shipping it to Seattle by plane.