The Frankie Darro - Mantan Moreland Films
                                                                                           
There were eight films which starred Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland. I found seven of them up on YouTube and reviewed them. The one I could not find is Laughing at Danger in 1940.


On the Spot (1940) – 4.0




I am a big fan of Mantan Moreland. He makes me laugh. Sure, I understand that his comedy was limited by the racial stereotypes of his day, but within that framework he did some brilliant work. Usually stuck in small insignificant roles as a waiter, porter or extra or in race films, he still managed to break through the public consciousness with two series of films. As Birmingham Brown, he was the chauffer to Charlie Chan in fifteen films - often being the best part of them - and in a series of eight films he was the sidekick to Frankie Darro. Those were very tough times for black actors and you took what you could get, no matter how small the role. He started off in vaudeville and continued doing his old routines in nightclub acts through his life and they made it into a few of his films. He kept acting till his death in 1973. I would like to say that this Monogram production was a low-budget laugh fest but they don't really give Mantan much to do and it is a bit of a snore.

 

Darro is pretty much forgotten these days - a child actor in the silent period who never got above 5 feet 2 inches which limited his adult career. He had small roles in a number of solid films and was big enough to star in a number of low budget films. I don't know exactly why since he doesn't show much charisma or talent in this one. They needed to give Mantan more room to do his shtick and less of Darro. In one scene Mantan is left alone in a dark room with a skeleton. That is usually Mantan gold - his eyes start popping, his arms start shaking and his legs start running but he is stuck in place. They do nothing with it. Here Darro works in a pharmacy/ice cream parlor while Mantan as Jefferson works across the street in the small-town hotel. Darro thinks he is on the verge of inventing something that will change the world. Not that this matters to the plot.



One day a man comes in wielding a gun and makes a phone call to Smilin' Bill and tells him that he is going to give information to Darro and Mantan - and then falls over dead from a gunshot wound before he does. Turns out the dead man is a big gangster and reporters swamp the town for the story. No one believes the two of them that the man died before he said anything. Then the gangsters show up. But someone in town must be a killer and the two nitwits decide to catch him. Not really a lot of laughs or much else to be had but back in 1940 teaming up a white and black actor was very unusual.

Up in the Air (1940) – 6.0

 

Here is another pairing of Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland and it is a good deal better than the last one I just saw - On the Spot. Monogram was willing to put a little bit more money into this one. They have three songs, one of Mantan's classic routines, an ok murder mystery and bring on Marjorie Reynolds as the main co-star. She had been in one of the films in the series the same year as a different character. She is one of my favorite actresses who spent most of her career in B films but managed on occasion to appear in an A film - Holiday Inn, Ministry of Fear and was the wife on the TV show Life with Riley. A warning - there is some blackface in this one.

 

Here is another tidbit about Mantan Moreland that some may not know. When Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges died in 1955, Moe and Larry wanted to replace him with Moreland. How great would that have been. Moe said he had the best timing in show business. Think of the Three Stooges with a black actor and what a breakthrough that would have been. Of course, Columbia said no - they wanted a white man and got Joe Besser. Moe regretted it, saying by then the act had lost its verve and Mantan would have reinvigorated it. Around the same time, Mantan was in an all-black theatrical production of Waiting for Godot.

 

Here he is a janitor with the same name as he had in On the Spot, Jeff Jefferson, and Frankie is a messenger boy. They both work for a radio station. There is a new receptionist (Marjorie) and Frankie makes for her like a guided missile. He lets her think he is a big executive in the station and gives her a singing audition. She is great (dubbed I believe) but the pretense collapses when the boss walks in. The main singer for the radio is Rita Wilson (Lorna Gray) who is demanding more money but during a rehearsal the lights go off and she is shot dead. Everyone in the room is a suspect. Including Ann the receptionist. Frankie decides it is up to him to solve the case and he drags a very reluctant Mantan with him. The blackface comes in when Frankie and Mantan do their audition of a comedy act - Frankie to disguise himself puts on black face. The act is the Mantan specialty - called the Indefinite Talk when he and his partner (Ben Carter and later Nipsy Russell on stage) finish each other's sentences. Frankie is no Ben Carter - he and Mantan did it twice in Charlie Chan films. 62 minutes. Directed by Howard Bretherton.

Irish Luck (1939) – 5.0

 

This was the first film in the Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland series of films. Though Mantan is ranked seventh in the opening credits, he is clearly the second banana in the film. Darro had already made a few films for Monogram as a street kid gone bad who led with his chin in titles like Boy's Reformatory, Tough Kid, Wanted by the Police - all directed by Howard Bretherton, who was to direct most of this series. He was clearly meant to be the star, but I expect the producers saw what they had on their hands and moved Mantan up in the credits in the following films. Like the others it runs about one hour and doesn't waste a minute. It opens with a woman on the roof of a hotel walking back and forth with everyone thinking she will jump. When the cops get up there along with the firemen, they find Mantan - again called Jefferson - walking a mannequin back and forth. He tells them that Frankie - bellhop Buzzy O'Brien - told him to do it so that he could bring the cops to arrest two crooks while he hid under the bed. Afterwards, he swears that his amateur detective days are over. Honest. For about five minutes.

 

Darro checks in a tall glass of water (Sheila Darcy) to her room and is slightly smitten. She asks if a man has checked in - he has and Frankie and Mantan find him dead a short time later. He protects the woman by taking her to his mother (Lillian Elliot - who plays his mother in four of these) who wants nothing to do with the woman - until she hears her name - Kitty Monahan. An Irish girl. You just stay here as long as you want. No Irish girl could be a murderer. Frankie goes back to solve the murder - Mantan doing everything he can to stay out - and it becomes a decent frantic finish. Lillian Elliot was the real-life mother of character actor Lloyd Corrigan.
The Gang’s All Here (1941) – 3.0

 


The last of the seven films starring Frankie Darro and his sidekick Mantan Moreland that I have seen so far. And probably just in time to end it. This is kind of mean-spirited and by the end I was hoping Mantan would knock Frankie out cold. Frankie is a jerk and treats Mantan like a servant - harshly telling him a couple of times to shut up and sit down - which Mantan meekly obeys. Put a craw in my throat. This series was interesting in that though Mantan is always subservient to Frankie, they are still friends and hang out together - and no one ever questions why Mantan is around or make racial intimations. But in this one Frankie needs a good dose of manners. It is also not very interesting with the few attempts at humor falling short.

 

They are tramps sleeping outside when Frankie sees an ad in the paper for truck drivers. Mantan has to be cajoled into working. Good pay though. A dollar an hour. What they don't know is that all the other truck drivers have been forced off the road and murdered. Something to do with insurance. There is also a pointless sub-plot of the daughter of the owner trying to do a Lady MacBeth to the mechanic to make him more ambitious. One small plus is that Keye Luke enters the film as an undercover insurance agent. He and Mantan of course were to pair up in some of the Charlie Chan films.   Not much good to say about this one.

 

Chasing Trouble (1940) – 4.0




I have no idea why I am watching these Frankie Darro-Mantan Moreland films. Sometimes you just find yourself doing things because you do it. No rhyme or reason. Like eating spicy curries even though you always pay for it later. They are not very good - in fact not good at all - but once you go down a road you have to follow it till the end. I could be watching Fellini or Bergman or Godard - all of which I am woefully ignorant of but I find myself watching low-budget Monogram films instead. It says a lot about me. I am sure God will be asking me why when the time comes and I will have no answer. This one like most of the others in the series is more annoying than anything. Thanks mainly to Darro who always plays his characters as a cocky, bossy, loud nitwit. Maybe because of his height, I expect. He was a child actor who just never grew much. In these films everyone towers above him and he never gets the girl. No digging trenches like they did for Alan Ladd for him. By the 1950s he was basically getting small parts as a bellboy or jockey - though one of his biggest roles was in the 1954 Forbidden Planet - as Robbie the Robot.


 
Darro and Mantan are flower delivery men but Darro's main interest is graphology. Ya, I didn't know what it meant either. The study of handwriting to determine someone's personality. I have been told mine is worse than doctor's but no idea what that means. Every day he delivers flowers to Susie (Marjorie Reynolds) but his eagle eye figures she is sending them to herself. She admits to it and he is determined to find her a boyfriend. Another woman refuses delivery and the idiot decides whoever sent her flowers should be a good match for Susie because of his writing style. Except the other fellow who he tracks down is a spy and saboteur intent on blowing up an aircraft plant. This being 1940, it is never said who he is working for. He convinces Frankie that he is actually a G-Man and brings Frankie into his plans. Mantan is basically along for the ride on this one. A little frustrating that they don't take advantage of his comic skills. The other main character is a reporter played by Milburn Stone of Gunsmoke fame.

 

You’re Out of Luck (1940) – 5.0



 
Here is the sixth out of the eight films in the Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland series of Monogram films that I have seen. Thankfully, I can't locate the last one. They all last about an hour and follow the same pattern. Frankie and Mantan are lovers - I mean friends in menial jobs and they get involved in a murder. Neither are particularly bright but Frankie is the aggressive irritating one who wants to dive headfirst into the investigation while Mantan is happy doing nothing but Frankie pushes him to come along. There are bits of comedy from time to time provided by Mantan but no classic moments. The amount of Mantan in the film varies from film to film. He is in most of this one and that raises the rating to a weak 5.0.

 

They work in an apartment building - Frankie as the elevator guy and Mantan as the janitor. One of the tenants is murdered as he leaves the building and Mantan got a good look at the killers. When he looks through the mug book he first comes across a picture of his cousin and then himself.  A gambling syndicate is behind the killing and another killing is on the way. Frankie's brother is a cop and he decides to put the two of them on the case. Probably not a good idea. Not much to recommend here other than a few ok Mantan moments. Like putting $60,000 into a washing machine or getting into a game of dice. Fortunately for him, the Charlie Chan films were on the way.

 

Let’s Go Collegiate (1941) – 3.0

 

Just when I thought I was done with the Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland films, I get dragged back in. Turns out there were eight of these rather than the seven I thought and I found it on YouTube. And I had to go and watch it. It was either that or poking my eyes out with thumb tacks. This was the final one in the series and I guess they ran out of crimes and murders because there isn't one. It sure could have used a murder or two. Or three because this is a stinker. I bet the kids in the audience who came to see Frankie and Mantan solve a crime were throwing popcorn at the screen by the end. The only good thing about the film are the three songs sung by two of the female cast and I imagine that didn't excite the children either. The first six films were directed by Howard Bretherton who did an ok job considering the limitations of his resources - basically lunch money - but the final two were directed by Jean Yarbrough and they are the two worst in the series.

 

He gives us a change of pace - rather than a murder mystery comedy, he just gives us a fraternity row crewing film. Whoopee. By this time most of the actors are familiar from the other films though they do add one actress who became well known later on - Gale Storm who had her own TV series. She sings two of the songs. Three members of the frat - Frankie, Jackie Moran and Keye Luke have promised the college that they got a top rower for the crew but he gets drafted and they decide to substitute him with a fellow they see carrying a safe away. Instead of wondering why he was doing that they ask him to impersonate the draftee since no one knows what he looks like. Played by Frank Sully who portrayed a lug in loads of B films. It was supposed to only be for a party but Sully likes the look of two of the girls - Storm and Marcia Mae Jones and decides to stay. Causing lots and lots of comical hijinks. Sure.

 
Our Mantan meanwhile is making hay with the black maid (Marguerite Whitten - Queenie in Mr. Washington Goes to Town). I kept waiting for someone to be killed. Please, let it be Frankie - but no such luck - instead they killed the audience with a pointless film. At one point, Keye Luke says "it all comes out in the wash" to which the boys reply, "Always the laundry man". Ha, ha, ha.  He also quotes Chinese proverbs, maybe from the Charlie Chan films. Mnatan has a few moments - in one scene the boys are trying to teach Sully how to row and so they have Mantan get on his knees with Sully on his back - going forward and back, forward and back - and I wondered if they had any clue what it looked like.



As I said way back, I have been a fan of Mantan ever since I came across him in the Charlie Chan films and I have always been curious about his teaming up with Frankie Darro. For 1940, it was a surprising thing for a white man to pair off with a black man. For eight films. Clearly, there was an audience for these as B films. True, Mantan is subordinate to the white guy in all of them – but he is also the best thing about the films when they give him the chance. One small step back then.