Whirlpool
Original Title
The Forgotten Man- Director: Roy William Neill
- Writer: Howard Emmett Rogers; Dorothy Howell
CGiii Comment
Carnie owner Buck Rankin marries local girl Helen and plans to go straight, but after a brawl ends up with a twenty-year sentence for manslaughter. When a pregnant Helen vows to wait for him Rankin forges a letter from the warden's office informing Helen that Rankin drowned while attempting to escape. Twenty years later Rankin is released from prison, changes his name to "Duke Sheldon", and eventually becomes a nightclub owner with ties to the mob. Helen has remarried - to a local judge - and daughter Sandra has become a reporter. When it's learned that notoriously camera-shy "Duke Sheldon" will be providing a mobster's alibi at a high-profile trial Sandra is sent to write an exposé. She immediately recognizes Rankin from a photo her mother kept, and father and daughter have a tearful reunion. Now Rankin must decide what to do: testify at the trial, revealing his identity and exposing Helen as an unintentional bigamist.
Trailer...
Cast & Characters
Jack Holt as Buck Rankin;
Jean Arthur as Sandra Rankin Morrison;
Donald Cook as Bob Andrews;
Allen Jenkins as Mac;
Lila Lee as Helen Rankin Morrison;
John Miljan as Barney Gaige;
Rita La Roy as Thelma;
Oscar Apfel as Newspaper Editor;
Willard Robertson as Judge Jim Morrison;
Ward Bond as Farley;
Ernie Adams as Ben - Informant on Telephone;
Lowden Adams as Davis;
Maidena Armstrong as Fat Woman;
Max Barwyn as Head Waiter;
Jack Baxley as Carnival Barker