1.
Nancy Drew... Reporter
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Reporter is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Clemens and written by Kenneth Gamet. The film stars Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew, John Litel, Frankie Thomas, Mary Lee, Dickie Jones, the film was released by Warner Bros. on February 18,1939. Nancy Drew, competing in the local newspapers amateur reporter contest, jackson as City Editor Bostwick Olin Howland as Sergeant Entwhistle Sheila Bromley as Bonnie Lucas Art Smith as news editor Jimmy Conlin as newspaper morgue librarian Nancy Drew. Reporter at the Internet Movie Database Nancy Drew, reporter is available for free download at the Internet Archive
2.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
3.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
4.
Frank Capra
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Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, during World War II, Capra served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the Why We Fight series. After World War II, Capras career declined as his films such as Its a Wonderful Life. In succeeding decades, however, these films have been favorably reassessed, outside of directing, Capra was active in the film industry, engaging in various political and social issues. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, worked alongside the Screenwriters Guild, Capra was born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino, Sicily, a village near Palermo. He was the youngest of seven children of Salvatore Capra, a grower. The name Capra, notes Capras biographer Joseph McBride, represents his familys closeness to the land, and means goat. For Capra, the journey, which took 13 days, remained in his mind for the rest of his life as one of his worst experiences, very few people have trunks or anything that takes up space. They have just what they can carry in their hands or in a bag, theres no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. Its the most degrading place you could ever be, Capra remembers the ships arrival in New York Harbor, where he saw a statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple, holding a torch above the land we were about to enter. He recalls his fathers exclamation at the sight, Ciccio, look, thats the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem. The family settled in Los Angeless East Side which Capra described in his autobiography as an Italian ghetto, Capras father worked as a fruit picker and young Capra sold newspapers after school for 10 years, until he graduated from high school. Instead of working after graduating, as his parents wanted, he enrolled in college and he studied chemical engineering and graduated in the spring of 1918. Capra later wrote that his education had changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person. Soon after graduating college, Capra was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant, in the Army, he taught mathematics to artillerymen at Fort Point, San Francisco. His father died during the war in an accident, in the Army, Capra contracted Spanish flu and was medically discharged to return home to live with his mother. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1920, living at home with his siblings and mother, Capra was the only family member with a college education, yet he was the only one who remained chronically unemployed. After recovering at home, Capra moved out and spent the few years living in flophouses in San Francisco and hopping freight trains
5.
It's a Wonderful Life
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The film is now among the most popular in American cinema and because of numerous television showings in the 1980s has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season. Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born. Despite initially performing poorly financially because of production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release. Theatrically, the films break-even point was $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, an appraisal in 2006 reported, Although it was not the complete box office failure that today everyone believes. Its a Wonderful Life is one of the most acclaimed films ever made, Capra revealed that the film was his personal favorite among those he directed, adding that he screened it for his family every Christmas season. On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, prayers for him reach Heaven, where Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George in order to earn his angel wings. To prepare, Clarence is shown flashbacks of Georges life, the first is in 1919, when 12-year-old George saves his younger brother Harry, who falls through the ice on a frozen pond, from drowning, George loses his hearing in one ear as a result. On Harrys graduation night in 1928, George talks to Mary Hatch and they are interrupted by news of his fathers death. George postpones his plans in order to sort out the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, a longtime competitor to Henry F. Potter, the local banker. Potter wishes to dissolve the Building and Loan to take over its business, George convinces the board of directors to vote against Potter. They agree, on condition that George runs the business, along with his absent-minded uncle Billy, on their way to their honeymoon, they witness a run on the bank and use their honeymoon savings to lend financial support at the Building and Loan until the bank reopens. Potter, frustrated at losing control of the market, attempts to lure George into becoming his assistant, George is momentarily tempted. During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his bad ear, Harry becomes a Navy pilot and shoots down a kamikaze plane that would have bombed an amphibious transport, he is awarded the Medal of Honor. On Christmas Eve morning 1945, the town prepares a welcome for Harry. Uncle Billy goes to Potters bank to deposit $8,000 for the Building, upon seeing the money, Potter realizes the potential scandal could lead to the Building and Loans downfall. Potter hides the money, knowing its loss will cause severe problems for the Building. When Uncle Billy cannot find the money, he and George frantically search for it, when the bank examiner arrives to review their records, George berates his uncle for endangering the Building and Loan, goes home and takes out his frustration on his family. He apologizes to his wife and children, then leaves, George desperately appeals to Potter for a loan
6.
Ernst Lubitsch
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Ernst Lubitsch was a German American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywoods most elegant and sophisticated director, as his prestige grew, in 1946, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. Ernst Lubitsch was born on January 29,1892 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Anna and Simon Lubitsch and his family was Ashkenazi Jewish, his father born in Grodno in the Russian Empire and his mother from Wriezen, outside Berlin. He turned his back on his fathers tailoring business to enter the theater, in 1913, Lubitsch made his film debut as an actor in The Ideal Wife. He gradually abandoned acting to concentrate on directing and he appeared in approximately thirty films as an actor between 1912 and 1920. His last film appearance as an actor was in the 1920 drama Sumurun, opposite Pola Negri and Paul Wegener, in 1918, he made his mark as a serious director with Die Augen der Mumie Ma, starring Pola Negri. Lubitsch alternated between escapist comedies and large-scale historical dramas, enjoying international success with both. His reputation as a master of world cinema reached a new peak after the release of his spectacles Madame Du Barry. Both of these films found American distributorship by early 1921 and they, along with Lubitschs Carmen were selected by The New York Times on its list of the 15 most important movies of 1921. With glowing reviews under his belt, and American money flowing his way, Lubitsch formed his own production company, however, with World War I still fresh, and with a slew of German New Wave releases encroaching on American movie workers livelihoods, Lubitsch was not gladly received. He cut his trip short after little more than three weeks and returned to Germany, but he had already seen enough of the American film industry to know that its resources far outstripped the spartan German companies. Lubitsch finally left Germany for Hollywood in 1922, contracted as a director by Mary Pickford, settling in America, Lubitsch established his reputation for sophisticated comedy with such stylish films as The Marriage Circle, Lady Windermeres Fan, and So This Is Paris. But his films were only marginally profitable for Warner Brothers, and Lubitschs contract was dissolved by mutual consent, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His first film for MGM, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, was well regarded, the Patriot, produced by Paramount, earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Directing. Lubitsch seized upon the advent of talkies to direct musicals, with his first sound film, The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, Lubitsch hit his stride as a maker of worldly musical comedies. The Love Parade, Monte Carlo, and The Smiling Lieutenant were hailed by critics as masterpieces of the emerging musical genre. Lubitsch served on the faculty of the University of Southern California for a time and his next film was a romantic comedy, written with Samson Raphaelson, Trouble in Paradise. Later described as amoral by critic David Thomson, the cynical comedy was popular both with critics and with audiences
7.
To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)
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To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel, the film stars Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. The film was released two months after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash, the title is a reference to the famous To be, or not to be soliloquy in William Shakespeares Hamlet. Before the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the stars of a company in Warsaw are the ham actor Josef Tura and his beautiful wife. As part of the rehearsal of Gestapo, a play satirizing the Nazis, one of the actors, Bronski, takes to the street to prove that he looks like Hitler in his costume. People gawk at the appearance of the Nazi dictator in Warsaw, Greenberg, who is implicitly Jewish, reveals that it has always been his dream to perform Shylock in Merchant of Venice, especially the famous Hath not a Jew eyes. Speech, which he proceeds to recite, meanwhile, Maria has received a bouquet of flowers from the handsome young pilot Lt. Stanislav Sobinski. She arranges to meet him, telling Sobinski to come to her room when Tura begins his To be or not to be. Speech, so they can be sure of privacy, the young man walks out, very obviously, when Tura begins his monologue, causing the highly-strung actor great distress. Shortly thereafter, the company is ordered by a government representative to cancel their production of Gestapo out of fear it would offend the Germans, the next night, after a brief assignation, Sobinski again walks out during To be or not to be, freshly infuriating Tura. Sobinski returns backstage to confess his love to Maria, assuming that she leave her husband. Before she can correct his assumption, news breaks out that Germany has invaded Poland, Sobinski leaves to join the fight, and the actors huddle in the basement of the theater as Warsaw is bombed. Hitler conquers Poland and the Polish division of the British Royal Air Force is fighting to free its mother country, Lt. Sobinski and other young pilots of the division sing together, with the Polish resistance leader Professor Siletsky as their guest. Sobinski is sent to Warsaw to warn the resistance but Siletsky gets there first, the flier manages to reach Maria, who passes on the message to the underground. Immediately after, she is stopped by two soldiers who have ordered by Siletsky to bring her to him so he can deliver Sobinskis message. Siletsky invites Maria to dinner, hoping to recruit her as a spy and she pretends to be interested and goes home to dress up. Just before she arrives at her apartment, Tura returns and finds Sobinski in his bed, Maria and Sobinski try to figure out what to do about Siletsky, while Tura tries to figure out what is going on with his wife and the pilot. In the end, Tura proclaims that he will kill Siletsky, later that evening, Maria returns to Siletskys room and pretends to be attracted to him
8.
Alfred Hitchcock
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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
9.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941 film)
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Norman Krasna, and starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It also features Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale, while Hitchcock later claimed he directed the film—the only pure comedy he made in America—as a favor to Lombard, the files at RKO Radio Pictures show that Hitchcock himself pursued the project. Ann and David Smith are a couple living in New York City who. One morning, Ann asks David if he would marry her if he had it to do over. Although he says he is happy with her now and wouldnt marry anyone else. Later that day, Harry Deever, an Idaho county official, informs David at work due to a jurisdictional mishap. Since Deever is an acquaintance of Anns from Idaho, he stops by their apartment to tell Ann. Ann does not mention this to David and she believes he will remarry her that very night when he invites her to a romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant they frequented before they were married. When they arrive at the restaurant, it has declined in quality and become rundown, Ann grows impatient and confronts David, accusing him of not wanting to marry her again. David protests and claims he was going to ask her shortly, David spends the night at his club, but when he goes home after work the next day Anns maid refuses him entry. David waits in the lobby and sees Ann return with an older gentleman, believing the man is her suitor, David becomes angry and disheartened. He follows Ann and threatens to withhold support and he gets her fired from her new job. Ann tells David she has no intention of marrying him again. Davids friend and law partner, Jefferson Jeff Custer, tells David he will talk to Ann, however, when David arrives that evening, he finds that Jeff has instead agreed to legally represent Ann. Jeff asks Ann to dinner the night in Davids presence. David tells Ann that if she agrees to the date their marriage is over, after dinner, Ann and Jeff go to the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, but they become stuck on the parachute ride and are exposed to hours of rain many feet up in the air. When they get back to Jeffs apartment, he plans to put on dry clothes and return to the fair, but Ann feeds the teetotaler medicinal liquor ostensibly to prevent a cold, Ann and Jeff begin to date seriously, and Ann meets Jeffs parents. They decide to take a vacation with Jeffs parents at a Lake Placid skiing resort — the same resort where Ann, upon arriving at the resort, they find that David has rented a cabin next to theirs
10.
Joseph Goebbels
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Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust, Goebbels, who aspired to be an author, obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1921. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, and worked with Gregor Strasser in their northern branch and he was appointed as Gauleiter for Berlin in 1926, where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933, Goebbels Propaganda Ministry quickly gained and exerted controlling supervision over the media, arts. He was particularly adept at using the new media of radio. Topics for party propaganda included antisemitism, attacks on the Christian churches, as the war drew to a close and Nazi Germany faced defeat, Magda Goebbels and the Goebbels children joined him in Berlin. They moved into the underground Vorbunker, part of Hitlers underground bunker complex, Hitler committed suicide on 30 April. In accordance with Hitlers will, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany, the following day, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide, after poisoning their six children with cyanide. Paul Joseph Goebbels was born on 29 October 1897 in Rheydt, both of his parents were Catholics with modest family backgrounds. His father Fritz was a clerk, his mother Katharina was ethnically Dutch. Goebbels had five siblings, Konrad, Hans, Maria, Elisabeth, and Maria, in 1932, Goebbels published a pamphlet of his family tree to refute the rumors that his grandmother was of Jewish ancestry. During childhood, Goebbels suffered from ill health, which included a bout of inflammation of the lungs. He had a right foot that turned inwards, due to a congenital deformity. It was thicker and shorter than his left foot and he underwent a failed operation to correct it just prior to starting grammar school. Goebbels wore a metal brace and special shoe because of his shortened leg and he was rejected for military service in World War I due to his deformity. Goebbels was educated at a Christian Gymnasium, where he completed his Abitur in 1917 and he was the top student of his class and was given the traditional honor to speak at the awards ceremony. His parents initially hoped that he would become a Catholic priest and he studied literature and history at the universities of Bonn, Würzburg, Freiburg, and Munich, aided by a scholarship from the Albertus Magnus Society. By this time Goebbels had begun to distance himself from the church, historians, including Richard J. Evans and Roger Manvell, speculate that Goebbels lifelong pursuit of women may have been in compensation for his physical disabilities
11.
High School Confidential (film)
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High School Confidential is a 1958 crime drama film directed by Jack Arnold, starring Mamie Van Doren, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew, Jackie Coogan, and Michael Landon. The film also features a cameo by Jerry Lee Lewis who opens the movie singing a song of the same name, Lewis released the title track as a Sun Records 45 single which became a Top 40 hit, reaching #21 in the Billboard charts. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilsons book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made, Russ Tamblyn as Tony Baker/Mike Wilson Jan Sterling as Arlene Williams John Drew as J. I. This film is sampled on White Zombies album La Sexorcisto, Devil Music, the Do you want to start a rumble. Line, the tomorrows a drag poem, and the Columbus speech, in the 1980 song High School Confidential by the Canadian new wave band Rough Trade, singer Carole Pope refers to the star of this film, Mamie Van Doren
12.
The Adventurer (1917 film)
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The Adventurer is an American short comedy film made in 1917 written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, and is the last of the twelve films made under contract for the Mutual Film Corporation. Chaplin plays a convict on the run from prison guards. He falls into favor with a family after he saves a young lady from drowning. The film also stars Henry Bergman and Albert Austin, and marked the film of his co-star Eric Campbell who died on December 20,1917 in a drunk driving accident. Note that this was written during a period in which Chaplins film output was practically nonexistent, on the Rivoli program, and also at the Rialto, is a Chaplin revival. The Adventurer, which makes one wish, between laughs, that the screens best comedian would get to work and do what everyone knows he is capable of, there is a slap-stick coarse humor in The Adventurer, but also some of Chaplins most irresistible pantomime. Chaplin had no recourse to stop the RKO release. List of American films of 1917 Charlie Chaplin filmography The short film The Adventurer is available for download at the Internet Archive The Adventurer at the Internet Movie Database
13.
Laughter (film)
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Laughter is a 1930 film directed by Harry dAbbadie dArrast and starring Nancy Carroll, Fredric March and Frank Morgan. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story, a copy has been preserved at the Library of Congress. In 1931, a German-language version called Die Männer um Lucie was released starring Liane Haid, Peggy is a Follies dancer who forsakes her life of carefree attachments in order to meet her goal of marrying a millionaire. Alas, her husband, broker C. Morton Gibson, is a well-meaning bore. A year after their marriage, three significant events occur almost simultaneously, peggys former boyfriend, Paul Lockridge, a composer and pianist who is in love with her and seems to have a funny quip for every occasion, returns from Paris. She reunites with him as he offers her his companionship as a diversion from her stuffy life. Also, Ralph Le Saint, a young sculptor who is still in love with Peggy, plans his suicide in a mood of bitterness. Marjorie is soon paired with Ralph, and the romance develops between them is paralleled by the adult affair between Peggy and Paul. Ralph and Marjories escapades result in trouble for Morton, while Paul implores Peggy to go to Paris with him. You need laughter to make you clean, but she refuses, when Marjorie plans to elope with Ralph, Peggy exposes the sculptor as a fortune hunter, and dejected, he commits suicide. As a result, Peggy confesses her unhappiness to Gibson, then joins Paul, laughter at the Internet Movie Database
14.
Honor Among Lovers
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Honor Among Lovers is a 1931 American Pre-Code drama film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Dorothy Arzner. The film stars Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Monroe Owsley, Charles Ruggles, Wall Street trader Jerry Stafford is a lucky man to have a very efficient and whitty secretary, Julia Traynor, who manages nearly all spheres of her Boss life. Her fiancé Philip Craig works too in the Wall Street broker milieu, friend Monty Dunn hangs around in the different locations with a girl, Doris Brown, defining her a little dumb, like the office of Stafford, the Wall Street location. When Stafford tries to kiss Traynor during their lunch in the office, but Julia wants a husband, young and full of hope. So Stafford leaves charging her to call Miss Maybelle Worthington to let her know he will pick her up in half an hour, the same woman, for which Stafford asked Traynor to choose a bracelet, short before lunch. He leaves and the frost between boss and secretary is huge, Monty Dunn appears with Doris Brown at the restaurant, where Traynor and Craig are meeting after the flop of Stafford. After a while Stafford arrives with Miss Worthington, and they realizes that some of them knew each other, Julia and Philip decide to marry monday. Jerrys persistent demands at the back of her mind. Arriving at the office late she has to tell Stafford that she has married, Stafford fires her, he couldt work with her knowing she is married to another man, while he wants her so much. After a year, the first anniversary of the wedding Julia invites also Stafford, but he who had forgotten how lovely she its, falls again for her kissing her in the garden. Meantime Monty has told Philip that their investment in silk has lost, Philip tries to make a public scene, but Julia prevents it. Julia flies to Washington by train, Philip searches for her at Staffords place. When he doesnt find her he thinks Stafford lies, and shoots him, Julia is picked by the police in the train and brought back to New York. At Police Headquarters when Julia and Philip are left alone, Philip confesses all to Julia, for the Police recording devices its enough prove. material. But Stafford tries to do everything in his power during the trial not to incriminate him, but Julia has decided to leave Philip. When he comes home she has packed her things. And then Stafford rings the bell, and while Philip thinks all was organized from him, they tell him, but they leave together, while Stafford talks about the south of France, where they wanted to go
15.
His Double Life
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It starred Roland Young and Lillian Gish. It had been filmed before in 1921 in the silent era as The Great Adventure with Lionel Barrymore and it is preserved at the Library of Congress, Washington D. C. and available on DVD. Priam Farrel is Englands most famous living painter, a recluse who hates fame, he has not been seen by anyone for years, not even his agent or cousin. He is glad to be mistaken for his valet by everyone, including his cousin and he is happy to live a quiet country life with his manservants mail order bride. Until he gets hauled into court for bigamy and fraud, Roland Young as Priam Farrel Lillian Gish as Alice Chalice Montagu Love as Duncan Farrel Lumsden Hare as Oxford Lucy Beaumont as Mrs
16.
Twenty Million Sweethearts
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Twenty Million Sweethearts is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright. The film stars Pat OBrien, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers and it also featured The Mills Brothers. The film was remade in 1949, starring Doris Day and Jack Carson, agent Russell Edward Rush Blake is able to promote the singing tenor waiter Buddy Clayton as a major radio star whilst Buddys wife Peggy Cornell loses out. In the end, Peggy does not lose Buddy to his twenty million sweethearts - his female fans
17.
Come and Get It (film)
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Come and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the title by Edna Ferber. The story focuses on ruthless Barney Glasgow, who stop at nothing to achieve his goal as he rises in rank from lowly lumberjack to the head of the logging industry in 19th century Wisconsin. Two decades later, Barney and Emma Louises son Richard strongly objects to his fathers practice of destroying forests without planting new trees, Barney visits his old friend Swan Bostrom, who married Lotta when Barney rejected her. Swan is now a widower raising a daughter, also named Lotta, Barney finds himself attracted to the girl and, foolishly hoping to recapture the love he abandoned as a young man, offers to finance her education. Complications arise when Richard meets Lotta and takes a strong interest in her, which is reciprocated, much to Barneys displeasure and jealousy. Samuel Goldwyn paid $150,000 for the rights to the Edna Ferber novel. By the wholesale robber barons of that day, Goldwyn was attracted to the melodramatic Barbary Coast-like aspects of the story, which prompted him to hire that films director, Howard Hawks, to bring Come and Get It to the screen. He also was intrigued by the fact Hawks grandfather had served as the basis for the character of Barney Glasgow. Ferber had approved Jane Murfins script, which Hawks found wanting, Goldwyn announced Miriam Hopkins would play the dual roles of Lotta Morgan and Lotta Bostrom, but Hawks was not happy with his choice. He looked at numerous screen tests of aspiring starlets and finally settled on Andrea Leeds, eventually he replaced her with the even less experienced Frances Farmer and cast Leeds in the supporting role of Ewie Glasgow, Richards younger sister, instead. Soon after filming began, Goldwyn underwent two major surgeries that incapacitated him for a period of time, keeping him away from the studio. The character of Richard Glasgow, intended to be the lead, barely was in the film. When the director refused to comply with Goldwyns demands for major changes, William Wyler had begun post-production work on Dodsworth when he was summoned to Goldwyns home and told he would be completing Come and Get It. Wyler was loath to take over a film started by someone else and he did so reluctantly, and in later years he recalled, I was talked into doing it, and Ive been sorry about that ever since. Wyler spent two weeks filming what amounted to about the third of the completed film. He strongly objected to Goldwyns desire to give him sole directing credit and he finally relented but only when Goldwyn agreed to give Hawks top billing. Exterior scenes were filmed along the North Fork Clearwater River in Idaho, the soundtrack includes Aura Lea by George R. Poulton and W. W. Fosdick and The Bird on Nellies Hat by Alfred Solman and Arthur J. Lamb
18.
More Than a Secretary
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More Than a Secretary is a 1936 American romantic comedy film made by Columbia Pictures, directed by Alfred E. Green, and written by Dale Van Every and Lynn Starling. The story was adapted by Ethel Hill and Aben Kandel, based on the magazine story Safari in Manhattan by Matt Taylor and it tells the story of a health magazine secretary who is in love with her boss. Ms. Baldwin and Ms. Davis are owners and instructors of the Supreme Secretarial School, Ms. Baldwin is fighting Spring Fever and daydreams while teaching her class. They take pride in turning out well trained secretaries and they are having problems teaching a secretarial student, named Maizie who cannot spell, take dictation or type. When the instructors ask her what she is doing at the school, she replies with, “I‘m here for the reason that every other smart girl’s here - to, uh, get a chance to meet nice men. ”Ms. Davis tells her, “This doesn’t happen to be a matrimonial agency. ”Next. This leads Ms. Baldwin to wonder if these young ladies are onto something, meanwhile, a client, Mr. Gilbert who is the editor of Body and Brain magazine continues to fire secretarial graduates from the Supreme Secretarial School. He calls the school and over the phone, Mr. Gilbert complains to Ms. Baldwin about inept secretaries, Ms. Baldwin covers the phone receiver and repeats what he is saying to Ms. Davis. Ms. Baldwin says to Ms. Davis, “He wants to know what’s wrong with the modern woman. ”Ms. Baldwin decides to go to Mr. Gilbert’s office to see what he expects of a secretary. When they meet, he thinks she is a secretary rather than the owner of the school. She is immediately smitten with Mr. Gilbert and decides to work as his secretary
19.
Gold Diggers of 1937
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Gold Diggers of 1937 is a Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, who were married at the time, with Glenda Farrell, the film features songs by the teams of Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg, Harry Warren and Al Dubin and it was based on the play Sweet Mystery of Life by Richard Maibaum, Michael Wallach and George Haight, which ran briefly on Broadway in 1935. Warren Duff wrote the screenplay with the assistance of Tom Warren and this is the fifth movie in Warner Bros. series of Gold Digger films, following the now Lost film The Gold Diggers and Gold Diggers of Broadway. And a remake of the earlier film Gold Diggers of 1933, the film was followed by Gold Diggers in Paris. Meek, aging, hypochondriac stage producer J. J, hobart, who always thinks he is about to die, is going to mount a new show, but his partners Morty Wethered and Tom Hugo lost the money for the show in the stock market. On the advice of chorus girl Genevieve Larkin, they insure J. J. for a million dollars, so that when he dies, genevieves friend, ex-chorus girl Norma Perry is sweet on insurance salesman Rosmer Peek, and he writes the policy. On the other hand, Morty and Hugo have everything to gain if J. J. dies, when that fails, they talk Genevieve into seducing J. J. but she ends up falling in love with him instead. When the show is a success Genevieve and J. J. get married, davidson as Andy Callahan Olin Howland as Dr. MacDuffy Charles Halton as Dr. Bell The production numbers were created, designed, staged and directed by Busby Berkeley. Originally, all the songs for the film were to have been written by Harold Arlen, yip Harburg, but Berkeley was dissatisfied and brought in Harry Warren and Al Dubin, who had contributed songs to his previous Warner Bros. films. Their song With Plenty of Money and You became a hit, Alls Fair in Love and War - by Harry Warren and Al Dubin – The staging for this number utilized 104 women in white military uniforms tapping in military formations and geometric patterns. Gold Diggers of 1937 marked Victor Moores return to the screen after a two-year absence following Gift of Gab, the film was in production at Warner Bros. Burbank studio beginning in mid-July 1936, and premiered on 26 December 1936 and it went into general release two days later. In 1937, Busby Berkeley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Dance Direction for the Alls Fair in Love and War production number
20.
Black Legion (film)
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Black Legion is a 1937 American crime drama film, directed by Archie Mayo, with a script by Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines based on an original story by producer Robert Lord. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin OBrien-Moore and it is a fictionalized treatment of the historic Black Legion of the 1930s in Michigan, a white vigilante group. A third of its members lived in Detroit, which had also been a center of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, the plot is based on the May 1935 kidnapping and murder in Detroit of Charles A. Poole, a Works Progress Administration organizer. Twelve men were tried and 11 convicted of his murder, all were sentenced to life, authorities prosecuted another 37 men for related crimes, they were also convicted and sentenced to prison, breaking up the Legion. Columbia Pictures had made Legion of Terror based on the same case, Black Legion was praised by critics for its dramatization of a dark social phenomenon. It was one of films of this period relating anti-fascism to opposition to fascist and racist organizations. A number of reviewers commented that Bogarts performance should lead to his becoming a major star, warners did not give the film any special treatment, promoting it and Bogart in their standard fashion. Bogarts breakthrough would come in High Sierra in 1941, dressed in black robes and hoods, Taylor and the Legion mount a torchlight raid and burn down the friends chicken farm, driving him out of town, so that Taylor can gain the job he believed was his. Soon, however, Taylors recruiting activities with the Legion get in the way of his work, the Legion takes action again, attacking Grogan. Under the continued influence of the Legion, Taylor becomes a brutal racist and he starts drinking heavily and takes up with a loose woman. When his friend Ed Jackson tries to him, a drunken Taylor tells about his Legion activities. Taylor reports the conversation to Cliff, a co-worker and fellow member of the Legion, on the pretext of punishing him for that offense, the Legion kidnaps Jackson, planning to flog him. As he is running away, Taylor shoots and kills him, breaking down afterward with guilt and remorse, he exclaims, Taylor is arrested for the murder, and the Legion threatens his wife and son to prevent him from implicating the secret group in the crime. Taylor finally tells the truth, resulting in all the members of the Black Legion being convicted of murder, cast notes Before he turned to acting, Clifford Soubier was a broadcaster for NBC in Chicago. Black Legion was his debut, and he went on to appear in five others. Black Legion went into production in late August 1936, many of the details about the Legion portrayed in the film, such as the initiation oath and the confessions in the trial scenes, were based on known facts about the historic organization. Because United States libel laws had recently been broadened in scope by court rulings, the Ku Klux Klan sued Warner Bros. for patent infringement for the films use of a patented Klan insignia, a white cross on a red background with a black square. A judge threw out the case, location shooting took place in private homes in the Hollywood area, the Providencia Ranch in the Hollywood Hills and the Warner Ranch in Calabasas
21.
Stolen Holiday
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Stolen Holiday is a 1937 film loosely based on the Stavisky Affair, a French political scandal. A Russian con artist worms his way into the reaches of French society. In 1931 Paris, Nicole Picot, a model for a dress shop, is hired by nearly-penniless Stefan Orloff to help persuade a financier to fund his ambitious plans. By 1934, Stefan has established an investment bank, in gratitude, he provides the capital that Nicole needs to set up her own business, british diplomat Anthony Wayne romances Nicole and wins her heart. She agrees, out of friendship alone, much to the distress of her friend and assistant, at their wedding, Stefans closest confederate, Francis Chalon, is taken away by the police for questioning, and the other guests hastily depart. Knowing that Chalon can incriminate him, Stefan goes into hiding at a remote chateau, however, he makes a mistake, sending a letter to Nicole asking her to join him. She does so, despite Anthonys protests, Nicole gets Stefan to admit the truth, though he insists he does love her. When he sees that the police have followed Nicole and have surrounded the chateau, to spare her from being dragged down with him, he goes outside. As he expected, he is shot and killed, though it is staged to look like a suicide to avoid causing embarrassment to the government. Afterward, Anthony persists and finally gets Nicole to agree to marry him, in addition to being held by Warner Bros. the film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection. Borel Stolen Holiday at the TCM Movie Database Stolen Holiday at the Internet Movie Database Stolen Holiday at AllMovie Stolen Holiday at the American Film Institute Catalog
22.
Penrod and Sam (1937 film)
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Penrod and Sam is a 1937 drama film directed by William C. McGann and written by Lillie Hayward and Hugh Cummings and it was the third screen version of American writer Booth Tarkingtons novel Penrod and Sam. The film stars Billy Mauch, Frank Craven, Spring Byington, Craig Reynolds, Harry Watson, the film was released by Warner Bros. on February 28,1937. Penrod Schofield and his gang are the Jr, G Men, a secret club where all members are sworn to uphold the law and turn in crooks. When the mother of the youngest member is killed by bank robbers, the boys go into action
23.
Woman Chases Man
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Woman Chases Man is a romantic comedy film starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea. This was the fifth and final film that Hopkins and McCrea made together, B. J. Nolan tries to get his millionaire son Kenneth to invest $100,000 in a housing development called Nolan Heights. However, B. J. has a history of backing crazy projects. Architect Virginia Travis, unaware that B. J. has no money and is besieged by process servers, after B. J. breaks the news to her, she faints, having not eaten in 49 hours. He takes her back to his mansion, when she learns that B. J. s son is wealthy, she decides to use her wiles to extract the money they need from him, aided by B. J. and her married friends Judy and Hunk. The latter two masquerade as B. J. s servants when Kenneth returns from a cruise with his girlfriend Nina, Nina is in fact a golddigger after Kenneths money, while Henri is her secret lover. Virginia first concocts a scheme to have Kenneth sign five checks for household expenses at once using a mechanical device, one of B. J. s many failures. Kenneth signs without noticing that one check is for $100,000, meanwhile, Nina plots to get Kenneth drunk, so he will propose to her. Virginia has the general idea. After a few drinks, she and Kenneth discover they like the same things and she then passes out from drinking too much. Kenneth carries her off to deposit her in her bed, past a fuming Nina, shortly afterward, B. J. wakes her up and cajoles her into trying again for the money while his son is still somewhat drunk. She goes to Kenneths room, but when Nina makes an appearance and her dressing gown gets caught in a branch. Kenneth comes out to free her and he finds the contract B. J. had drawn up and is eager to sign it. Virginia tries to him by dousing him with a bucket of water that B. J. had brought. Even in his now sober state and with Virginia confessing all, he still wants to finance the project
24.
The Road Back (film)
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The Road Back is a 1937 American drama war film directed by James Whale starring John King, Richard Cromwell and Slim Summerville. The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and R. C, sherriff from the eponymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque. The novel on which the film is based was banned during Nazi rule, when the film was made, Universal Pictures was threatened with a boycott of all their films by the German government unless the anti-Nazi sentiments in the script were watered down. Carl Laemmle and his son, Carl Laemmle, Jr. the former heads of Universal, had recently been ousted by a corporate takeover. To the directors further displeasure, writer Charles Kenyon was ordered to interject the script with comedy scenes between Andy Devine and Slim Summerville, which Whale found unsuitable. Disgusted with the studios cowardice under its new management, Whale left Universal after completing Wives Under Suspicion and he returned two years later to direct Green Hell, but never made another film for Universal after that. In the film Gods and Monsters, Whale speaks of his hatred of making The Road Back, the despair and disillusionment of four men who return to civilian life in Germany after the First World War. But most of the time it goes its own Hollywooden-head way, playing up the comedy and it is distressing to watch the mutilation of a great theme. Variety called Whales direction excellent but found the story an emasculated scenario without a strong finish, harrisons Reports wrote that given the material, the producers should have turned out a stirring dramatic account of the difficulties for men, just back from war, in readjusting themselves. Instead of dwelling on these difficulties and arousing the audiences sympathy, the producers saw fit to stress the comedy angle, also it is definitely not German, and, along with the very American boys of the cast, the essential atmosphere is often bewildering. Its neither German nor anything else - just studio nether world and its a shame the film hasnt been restored to its former glory as it would be as much a classic as its illustrious predecessor. Leonard Maltin has called it a heavy-handed sequel. interesting to watch, despite the films negative reviews and production problems, it was one of the top-grossing films of 1936-37. The Road Back at the Internet Movie Database
25.
Dead End (1937 film)
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Dead End is a 1937 crime drama film directed by William Wyler. It is an adaptation of the Sidney Kingsley 1935 Broadway play of the same name and it stars Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, and Sylvia Sidney. It is notable as being the first film appearance of the Dead End Kids, in the filthy slums of New York, wealthy people have built luxury apartments there because of the view of the picturesque East River. While they live in opulence, the destitute and dirt poor live nearby in crowded, at the end of the street is a dock on the East River, to the left are the luxury apartments and to the right are the slums. The Dead End Kids, led by Tommy Gordon, are a petty gang of street urchins who are already well onto a path to a life of crime. Members of the gang besides Tommy include, Dippy, Angel, Spit, T. B. and Milty, Spit is a bit malicious with a cruel streak and initially bullies the newcomer and takes his pocket change. However, Tommy eventually lets Milty join the gang, and he turns out to be both a loyal and generous friend, Dave Connell, raised on the same street as Martin, recognizes him and warns him to stay away, but Martin contemptuously ignores him. Dave, an architect who currently works odd jobs, is Drinas childhood friend. He is having an affair with a mans mistress, Kay Burton. Although Dave and Kay love each other, they know they cant be together because Dave cannot provide Kay with the kind of lifestyle she desires, meanwhile, the kids lure Philip, a rich kid from the apartments, into a cellar where they beat and rob him. When the boys father tries to intervene, Tommy winds up stabbing him in the arm and he escapes the police and goes into hiding. Martin is subsequently rejected by his mother, who denounces him as a murderer, and repulsed by his ex-girlfriend, Francie, despondent over the failed visit, he decides to kidnap the rich child for ransom to make the trip back worthwhile. Dave sees Martin and his accomplices planning the kidnapping and again warns him to leave, Martin knifes him and Hunk pushes him into the river. Managing to pull out of the river, Dave pursues the hoodlums, knocking out Hank. Among a hail of bullets, he manages to kill Martin who falls onto the street below. As the police and a crowd of people gather around Martins body, Spit exonerates himself by informing the police that the man was cut by Tommy, who has returned to say goodbye to Drina before running away. Meanwhile, Kay approaches Dave asking him to go away with her, Dave refuses, and Kay returns to the man whom she doesnt love, but can provide her with financial security. Tommy hears of Spits betrayal and tries to him the mark of the squealer
26.
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)
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The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 American black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. The film starred Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll and Douglas Fairbanks, aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor and David Niven. It was directed by John Cromwell, produced by David O. Selznick for Selznick International Pictures, and distributed by United Artists. The screenplay was written by John L. Alfred Newman received the first of his 45 Academy Award nominations, for Original Music Score, while Lyle R. Wheeler was nominated for Best Art Direction. In 1991, the film was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the United States Library of Congress, in June 1897, English gentleman Rudolf Rassendyll takes a fishing vacation in a small country in the Balkans. While there, he is puzzled by the odd reactions of the natives to him, Rassendyll discovers why when he meets Colonel Zapt and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim. Zapt introduces him to the king, Rudolf V, who turns out to be not only his distant relative. The king, astounded at first, takes a liking to the Englishman. They celebrate their acquaintance by drinking late into the night, Rudolf is particularly delighted with the bottle of wine sent to him by his half-brother, Duke Michael, so much so that he drinks it all himself. The next morning brings a disastrous discovery, the wine was drugged, Rudolf cannot be awakened, and if he cannot attend his coronation that day, Michael will try to usurp the throne. It is revealed that Michael is bitter that, because his mother was not of royal blood, Zapt convinces a reluctant Rassendyll to impersonate Rudolf for the ceremony. Rassendyll meets Rudolfs betrothed, Princess Flavia and she had always detested her cousin Rudolf, but now finds him greatly changed – very much for the better, in her opinion. As they spend together, they fall in love. With the coronation accomplished, Rassendyll returns to resume his real identity, only to find the king has been kidnapped by Rupert of Hentzau, Rassendyll is forced to continue the impersonation while Zapt searches for Rudolf. Fortunately, Michael cannot denounce the masquerade without incriminating himself, help comes from an unexpected quarter. To be king, Michael must marry his cousin Flavia, Antoinette de Mauban, Michaels jealous French mistress, reveals that the king is being held in Michaels castle near Zenda and promises to help rescue him. Since Rudolf would be executed at the first sign of an attempt, she proposes that one man swim the moat. Rassendyll decides that he is man, over Zapts strenuous objections
27.
Gold Is Where You Find It
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Gold is Where You Find It is a 1938 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, and Claude Rains. The feud between the two factions is complicated when a man from one side and a woman from the fall in love. This Technicolor feature film was released on February 12,1938 by Warner Bros, a new gold strike in California ten years after the American Civil War triggers a bitter feud between farmers and miners using hydraulic mining methods that flood the farmlands. During the early spring of 1937, producer Hal B, wallis was looking for a project to film in Technicolor, as a dry run for The Adventures of Robin Hood, which was not ready for release. So he chose this screenplay, making it probably the first Western shot in the new process, the film was shot near Weaverville, California. Gold Is Where You Find It at the Internet Movie Database Gold Is Where You Find It at AllMovie Gold Is Where You Find It at the TCM Movie Database
28.
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
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Bluebeards Eighth Wife is a 1938 American romantic comedy film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. The film is based on the French play, La huitième femme de Barbe-Bleue, by Alfred Savoir, the screenplay was written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The story is a farce about a millionaire banker and his wife and she teaches him a beneficial lesson. The 1938 film was the years 15th box-office success and it is a remake of the 1923 silent version directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson
29.
The Saint in New York (film)
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The Saint in New York is an American 1938 crime film, directed by Ben Holmes and adapted from Leslie Charteriss novel of the same name by Charles Kaufman and Mortimer Offner. After a police lieutenant is killed, the New York Police Department enlists gentleman criminal Simon Templar to fight criminal elements in the city, released by RKO Pictures, The Saint in New York marks the first screen appearance of Templar, also known as The Saint. Louis Hayward stars as the character, with Kay Sutton as his love interest. Alfred Hitchcock was initially discussed as a director for the film. This was the first of eight films in RKOs film series about The Saint, after being replaced in the series by George Sanders, Hayward would not play The Saint again until 1953. Police Lieutenant Martin, an officer leading the fight against New York gangsters, is killed, jake Irbell is arrested and charged with his murder, but has to be released when prosecution witnesses are either coerced into changing their testimony or simply disappear. A civilian crime commission demands action of the commissioner. The commissioner reluctantly agrees to give the Saint free rein to do what he must, Valcross spends months tracking the Saint down, following a trail of dead bodies across Europe and South America. Templar is intrigued by the challenge and is given a list of six gangsters whose removal would hopefully bring peace to the city, disguised as a nun, the Saint kills Irbell just as he is about to shoot his most determined enemy, Inspector Henry Fernack. As he works his way through the list, Templar learns that the mysterious Big Fellow is the mastermind who hides his identity by communicating with his underlings solely through Fay Edwards, Templar meets Fay, and they are attracted to each other. She saves his life twice when his recklessness gets him in trouble, the Saint disposes of the last of the six original targets, Hutch Rellin, leaving only their leader. Fay has given her word not to divulge the Big Fellows name, when Valcross happens by, Templar tells him why he is waiting there. Valcross starts to leave, but when Fay shows up, she recognizes him and he fatally shoots her before Templar guns down the Big Fellow. Valcross wanted Templar to kill his men so he would not have to share the loot, thomas as Prosecutor George Irving as Judge Hayward is generally praised for his portrayal of the Saint, his performance has been described as a poor man’s. Orson Welles, considered rakish while staying faithful to Charteris vision, however he was unable to repeat the role because he was signed to a multi-picture deal by Edward Small who wanted to make Hayward a star. After being replaced in the series by George Sanders, Hayward would return to the role 15 years later in 1953s The Saints Return, in 1937, Alfred Hitchcock met with Lillie Messinger of RKO. Hitchcock showed interest in coming to America and making The Saint in New York, ultimately, the film was made a year later with Ben Holmes directing. The film was popular, making a profit of $195,000
30.
Room Service (1938 film)
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Room Service is a 1938 RKO film comedy starring the Marx Brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by Allen Boretz and John Murray. It also features Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Alexander Asro and this is the only Marx Bros. film that was not written especially for the team. Both Chico and Harpo did not play the piano or the harp in the film at all, Groucho plays producer Gordon Miller, whose staff includes Harry Binelli and Faker Englund. They have assembled the cast and crew of the play in the hotel ballroom, Miller is planning on skipping out on the hotel without paying the bill when he receives word that one of his actresses, Christine Marlowe, has arranged for a backer. Miller must keep his room and hide the cast and crew until the meeting with the backer can take place, at the same time, a troubleshooter for the hotel chain, Gregory Wagner discovers the debt. When Wagner threatens to evict Miller before the backer can arrive, Miller, to obtain food, Miller promises waiter Sasha Smirnoff a part in the play. When Davis leaves to meet with girlfriend Hilda Manney, Englund takes over as the sick patient examined by a doctor brought in by Mr. Wagner, Wagner leaves to confront the crowd in the ballroom, while the doctor examines the patient. To delay the doctor giving his report to Wagner, Binelli and Miller tie him up, gag him, the agent just wants to escape the madness, but reluctantly signs over the cheque, and leaves. Davis returns and says he heard the agent saying hell cancel the cheque, Wagner is fooled into believing all is okay, and upgrades the boys to a fancier room. Later, as the play is about to open, the cheque from Fisk bounces, Miller, Binelli and they pretend to give Davis large quantities of Ipecac, and he eventually pretends to die. Wagner is bluffed into believing its all his fault and helps take the body down to the alley, as Miller and Wagner prop Englund on a crate, a passing policeman asks whats going on. Miller bluffs their way out of the situation, so he and Wagner make an escape and they go to watch the end of the play, which is a scene where the miners are bringing a body from out of the mine. The body on the stretcher is Englunds, Wagner realizes hes been duped as the play is greeted with thunderous applause and a revived Davis appears next to Wagner at the back of the theatre. *Indicates the actor created the role on Broadway, the play was adapted for the screen by Morrie Ryskind. This was the only Marx Brothers film in which the characters were not created especially for Groucho, Chico. This was the second Marx Brothers film in which neither Chico played the piano nor Harpo played the harp, Ann Miller was only 15 years old when she made this film. She had lied about her age and obtained a fake birth certificate when she was about 14 years old and she had been discovered by her co-star in Room Service, Lucille Ball, who later bought the RKO Pictures production facilities with her husband Desi Arnaz and renamed it Desilu. While there may be some question about the plays being a perfect Marx vehicle, variety wrote that it would do plenty of business and satisfy on the laugh score
31.
The Mad Miss Manton
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Melsa and her debutante friends hunt for a murderer while eating bonbons, flirting with Ames, and otherwise behaving like silly young women. Ames is also after the murderer, as well as Melsas hand in marriage and this was the first of three screen pairings for Stanwyck and Fonda, the others being The Lady Eve and You Belong to Me. At 3,00 am, Melsa takes her little dogs for a walk, near a subway construction site, she sees Ronnie Belden run out of a house and drive away. The house is for sale by Sheila Lane, the wife of George Lane, inside, Melsa finds a diamond brooch and Mr. Lanes dead body. As she runs for help, her cloak falls off with the brooch inside it, when the police arrive, the body, cloak, and brooch are gone. Melsa and her friends are pranksters, so the detective, Lieutenant Mike Brent. Ames writes an editorial decrying Melsas prank, and she him for libel. Melsa and her friends decide they must find the murderer in order to defend their reputation, during this time, the women twice attack Ames and tie him up, Melsas friend Myra enthusiastically flirts with Ames, and their friend Pat eats incessantly. In the course of events, the following facts emerge, George Lane has been out of town for a week. Sheila Lane hasnt been seen since the day of the murder, Sheila and Belden may be having an affair. Beldens apartment contains the brooch, a knife just like one used to intimidate Melsa, Lanes body is found in Beldens car. George Lane left an insurance policy with his business partner Mr. Thomas as beneficiary, someone may have been blackmailing Lane. Sheila was once married to a convict named Edward Norris, Norris was at a hockey game at the time of the murders, but left the game for ten minutes. Norris has a job working for the subway, traveling from the hockey rink to the Lane house and back requires more than ten minutes using all standard forms of transportation. George Lane recently lost money gambling, Sheila Lane was hiding from the killer. Sheila and Belden met at the Lane house after Lane was killed and they couldnt call the police without exposing their affair, and Belden was killed while moving Mr. Lanes body. While Brent repeatedly accuses innocent people based on theories, Melsa deduces that Belden removed the body. Near the end of the film, an escaping would-be killer leaves behind a piece of tar paper, returning to the site, she finds a fast electric cart on the track
32.
A Man to Remember
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A Man to Remember is a 1938 American drama film directed by Garson Kanin, his first film credit as a director. The picture was based on the novel The Failure, written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor, the story tells of a saintly small town doctor working under difficult circumstances somewhere in the United States after World War I. The movie is a remake of One Mans Journey starring Lionel Barrymore, under the grieving eyes of most of a town, the funeral procession of Doctor John Abbott passes a lawyers office. The lawyer opens Abbotts strongbox for the deceased mans impatient creditors, local banker George Sykes, newspaper editor Jode Harkness, flashbacks begin as they peruse Dr. Abbotts papers. Widowed, Dr. Abbott arrives in Westport with his son Dick after World War I and he borrows money in order to set up his medical practice. He delivers a baby, Jean, but the mother dies. When her father does not want her, the doctor adopts the child, later, Ramsey tries to collect what he is owed from Abbott, only to find that Abbott has a hefty $100 bill for him for a life-saving operation. When Ramsey complains about the amount, the doctor settles for a mere $2. As time goes on, Dr. Abbott seeks to convince the leaders of the need for a hospital. Sykes, Harkness, and Ramsey refuse to consider it, however, when Sykess son Howard accidentally shoots Jean in the arm, the doctor informs Sykes that he is required by law to report all gunshot wounds. Sykes is blackmailed into building the hospital and donating it to the town to avoid the legal problems, however, Dr. Abbott finds that Sykes has spitefully stipulated that only doctors who have had graduate studies within the last twenty years can register, and he is turned away. Meanwhile, Dick goes to Paris to train to become a doctor, when he graduates and returns to Westport, he tells his father that he is going into partnership with Dr. Robinson because he is more interested in making money than in helping people. This hurts the father deeply, but he never shares this with his son, when Abbott fears that an outbreak of infantile paralysis among the children is imminent, he tries to get an upcoming county fair canceled. However, Sykes and Ramsey refuse his request and they phone Jode Harkness to get him to refuse to publish Abbotts urgent warning. Undaunted, the doctor has handbills printed and distributed by some young boys and he and Jean then visit all the children in Westport. This is brought to the attention of the county medical association, Dick defends his father and resigns in protest. The association reverses itself and elects him its president, Abbott is finally recognized for his humanitarian work by the community. His son sees the light and agrees to join Abbotts small medical practice, however, after Dick and Jean leave, he dies peacefully in his sleep
