Charles D. BrownFilmography

Follow Me Quietly

Actors: William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Lieutenant Harry Grant (William Lundigan) and Sgt. Art Collins (Jeff Corey) have been handed the unenviable assignment of tracking down "The Judge," a mysterious serial murderer responsible for seven deaths over the past few months. The police have plenty of clues and forensic evidence, but no Read More

In This Corner

Actors: Scott Brady, Anabel Shaw, Charles D. Brown, Mary Meade

Synopsis: This boxing drama focuses on the manager rather than the fighter. The story begins as a corrupt manager fakes the death of his fighter's sparring partner after he refuses to take a dive knowing that it will push him over the edge and destroy his career as he accidently killed a man while boxing in Read More

Let's Live Again

Synopsis: This comedy focuses on a nuclear scientist who believes that his dead brother has been reincarnated as a dog. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

On Our Merry Way

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Fred MacMurray, James Stewart, Hugh Herbert, Dorothy Lamour

Synopsis: Also known as A Miracle Can Happen, On Our Merry Way is a multipart comedy linked by inquiring reporter Burgess Meredith. It is Meredith's job to interview several people, asking them what effect children have had on their lives. First he checks with two itinerant musicians (James Stewart and Henry Fonda Read More

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

Actors: Jimmy Aubrey, Stanley Blystone, Walden Boyle, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: A Cornell Woolrich novel was the source for the variable Monogram melodrama I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes. The plot refers to the dancing shoes of young terpsichorean Tom (Don Castle). A print from one of those shoes is found at the scene of a murder, and the police don't buy Tom's story that his Read More

I Walk Alone

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller

Synopsis: On the run from the cops, bootleggers Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) and Noll Turner (Kirk Douglas), find themselves racing up to an enormous roadblock. The two split up, agreeing that if one was caught, the other would operate their nightclub and save half the profits for his partner. The Read More

The Senator Was Indiscreet

Actors: Rodney Bell, William Powell, Ella Raines, Whit Bissell, Oliver Blake, Arleen Whelan, Charles D. Brown, Claire Carleton, Peter Lind Hayes

Synopsis: Acclaimed playwright George S. Kaufman made his directorial debut with this broad political satire. Senator Melvin G. Ashton (William Powell) is a long-time congressman for whom the phrase "dumb as a log" would be fitting if one were not afraid of insulting the trees. After more than twenty years Read More

Railroaded

Actors: John Ireland, Sheila Ryan, Hugh Beaumont, Jane Randolph, Ed Kelly

Synopsis: One of director Anthony Mann's earlier films, Railroaded features John Ireland as Duke Martin, a seedy criminal looking to skim off of his boss' money. Instead of making the extra cash by his usual means--a small gambling operation run by beautician Clara Cahhoun (Jane Randolph)--Duke (Ireland) Read More

Merton of the Movies

Actors: Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brien, Gloria Grahame, Leon Ames, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: The George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly play Merton of the Movies was previously filmed in 1923 with Glenn Hunter, and in 1932 (as Make Me a Star) with Stu Erwin. This time around, Red Skelton plays Merton, the small-town rube who aspires to become a dramatic actor in silent pictures. Bumbling his way Read More

Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

Actors: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Eddie Albert, Marsha Hunt, Carl Esmond

Synopsis: A woman struggles to reassemble her broken life in this drama that features Susan Hayward in her first starring role. The woman started out as a night-club singer, but abandoned her career after marrying a budding radio star. At first she does everything she can to insure his success, but when he Read More

Undercover Maisie

Actors: Ann Sothern, Barry Nelson, Mark Daniels, Leon Ames, Clinton Sundberg

Synopsis: MGM's "Maisie" series came to an end with this undistinguished entry. Eschewing show business for the time being, perennially stranded showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) decides to join the Los Angeles police force. This she does primarily to be near her latest beau, Lt. Paul Scott (Barry Read More

The Hoodlum Saint

Actors: William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: William Powell plays a cynical con man who graduates from penny-ante operations to a big-time charity racket. The scam involves collecting money on behalf of St. Dismas, bringing Powell in close contact with several men of the cloth. As the racket rolls on, Powell is touched by the sincerity of Read More

The Bride Wore Boots

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Cummings, Diana Lynn, Patric Knowles, Robert Benchley, Peggy Wood

Synopsis: Charmless films like The Bride Wore Boots helped to kill the postwar revival of the "screwball comedy" genre almost before it began. Here's the deal: Breeding-farm owner Sally (Barbara Stanwyck) loves horses. Novelist Jeff (Robert Cummings) hates horses, but loves Sally. Jeff and Sally marry, only Read More

Tomorrow Is Forever

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, George Brent, Lucile Watson, Richard Long

Synopsis: Elizabeth MacDonald (Claudette Colbert) is a newly married corporate librarian in 1918 Baltimore working for a chemical company owned by the Hamilton family and managed by Larry Hamilton (George Brent). Just as she is celebrating the armistice and anticipating the return of her husband John (Orson Welles Read More

In Fast Company

Actors: Luis Alberni, William Benedict, Charles D. Brown, Judy Clark, George Eldredge

Synopsis: This second entry in the Bowery Boys series plays more like an extended 2-reeler than a feature film, perhaps because its director was Three Stooges veteran Del Lord. In this one, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the rest of the Bowery Boys find themselves in the middle of a "taxi war". Read More

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Roman Bohnen, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Charles D. Brown, Ann Doran, Kirk Douglas, Judith Anderson

Synopsis: In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, relationships formed in childhood lead to murder and obsessive love. The wealthy Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) is the prime mover of the small Pennsylvania town of Iverston. Martha lives in a huge mansion with her DA husband, Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), an Read More

Danger Woman

Actors: Don Porter, Brenda Joyce, Patricia Morison, Milburn Stone, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: Stalwart Universal contractees Don Porter and Brenda Joyce are afforded rare starring roles in Danger Woman. Porter plays scientist Claude Ruppert, who hopes to harness atomic energy for commercial purposes. Ruppert is in love with secretary June (Brenda Joyce), but is forced to end the Read More

The Searching Wind

Actors: Robert Young, Sylvia Sidney, Ann Richards, Dudley Digges, Douglas Dick, Albert Basserman

Synopsis: The troublesome years "between the wars" provide the backdrop for the romantic drama The Searching Wind. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from her own stage play, the film stars Robert Young as Alex Hazen, an idealistic but incredibly naïve US ambassador who fails to heed the warning signals when Read More

Wake up and Dream

Actors: John Payne, June Haver, John Ireland, Connie Marshall, Clem Bevans, Charlotte Greenwood

Synopsis: In this adventure, a young woman travels across Europe in search of her brother who was listed as missing in action during WW II. He had earlier told her that should he ever disappear, he could be found on a certain tiny island. She and her brother's girl friend head off and meet a strange old Read More

The Big Sleep

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: The definitive Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall vehicle, The Big Sleep casts Bogart as Raymond Chandler's cynical private eye Philip Marlowe. Summoned to the home of the fabulously wealthy General Sternwood (Charles Waldron), Marlowe is hired to deal with a blackmailer shaking down the General's Read More

The Killers

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker, Jeff Corey, Sam Levene, Jack Lambert

Synopsis: The Killers uses Ernest Hemingway's short story as a springboard for a complex film noir. Two mysterious men (William Conrad and Charles McGraw) muscle their way into a small town and kill an aging boxer (Burt Lancaster, making his screen debut), who offers no resistance and seems to be welcoming Read More

The Last Crooked Mile

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Ann Savage, Adele Mara, Tom Powers, Sheldon Leonard

Synopsis: Republic contractee Don Barry plays private eye Tom Dwyer, whose ability to irritate both cops and crooks alike hides his keen deductive skills. Dwyer takes on the case of a missing $300,000, stolen from a bank by three robbers who were subsequently killed in a car accident. Before he can recover Read More

Just Before Dawn

Synopsis: In this entry in the Crime Doctor series, amateur sleuth Dr. Ordway is duped into giving one of his patients a fatal shot. Now he must find the real killers before he is arrested and put away for life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Notorious

Actors: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin

Synopsis: Though Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious was produced by David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films, Selznick himself had little to do with the production, which undoubtedly pleased the highly independent Hitchcock. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, who goes to hell in a handbasket after her father, an Read More

Night Editor

Actors: William Gargan, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell, Coulter Irwin, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Inspired by the radio program of the same name, Night Editor features Charles D. Brown as the editor of the New York Star. In flashback, the editor tells the tale of police lieutenant William Gargan, who forsakes his happy home life for the love of no-good society dame Janis Carter. Both Gargan Read More

The Man Who Dared

Synopsis: The oft-used title The Man Who Dared was applied to an oft-filmed movie plotline in 1946. George Macready, in a respite from his usual villainous roles, plays a crusading newspaperman who questions the efficacy of "circumstantial evidence." He wants to prove that it's quite possible to railroad an Read More

Don Juan Quilligan

Actors: William Bendix, Joan Blondell, Phil Silvers, Anne Revere, B.S. Pully

Synopsis: In this comedy, a barge captain with an Electra complex marries two women. He married the first because she laughed like his late mother. He married the other because she cooks like his mom. He soon finds himself in over his head. A good friend helps extricate him by devising an ingenious plot. Read More

Eve Knew Her Apples

Actors: Ann Miller, William Wright, Ray Walker, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Eve Knew Her Apples is an pinchpenny musical reworking of Frank Capra's Oscar-winning It Happened One Night. Musical star Ann Miller takes over the Claudette Colbert role; this time she's not a runaway heiress but a runaway radio star, escaping her stuffy fiance rather than her autocratic father. William Wright Read More

Having Wonderful Crime

Actors: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Carole Landis, Lenore Aubert, George Zucco

Synopsis: Having Wonderful Crime spotlights Michael J. Malone, the murder-solving attorney created by author Craig Rice. The film is also ostensibly based on a novel by Rice, though precious little of the original actually made it to the screen. The story begins as Malone (Pat O'Brien) brusquely informs his Read More

Sunbonnet Sue

Actors: Gale Storm, Phil Regan, George Cleveland, Minna Gombell, Raymond Hatton

Synopsis: Set in New York's Lower East Side during the Gay '90s, this lively low-budget musical follows the exploits of a feisty and talented saloon owner's daughter who loves nothing more than to perform in her father's tavern. Her late-night shenanigans appall her wealthy and socially conscious aunt who Read More

Apology for Murder

Actors: Ann Savage, Hugh Beaumont, Charles D. Brown, Russell Hicks, Pierre Watkin

Synopsis: PRC's Apology for Murder is aptly named: the production values in this 67-minute quickie are pretty sorry. If you're willing to look past the mildewed sets and murky lighting, however, this well-paced film noir is pretty enjoyable. Hugh Beaumont (yes, that Hugh Beaumont) plays a tough Read More

Here Come the Waves

Actors: Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, Ann Doran, Gwen Crawford

Synopsis: This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. He is helped(?) in this endeavor by Betty Hutton, amusingly cast in a dual role as twin Read More

Follow the Boys

Actors: George Raft, Vera Zorina, Charles Grapewin, George Macready, Charles Butterworth, Regis Toomey, Grace McDonald

Synopsis: Paramount Pictures did their patriotic duty with this World War II era musical, with a number of the studio's biggest stars making cameo appearances. Tony West (George Raft), his sister Kitty (Grace McDonald), and their father Nick (Charles Grapewin) tour together as The Three Wests, a failing act Read More

Ladies of Washington

Actors: Trudy Marshall, Ronald Graham, Anthony Quinn, Sheila Ryan, Robert Bailey

Synopsis: Also known as Ladies in Washington, this 61-minute quickie utilizes the services of several 20th Century-Fox contractees. Set in the nation's capital, the film delves into the living and working conditions of the girls employed in wartime government jobs. Jerry (Sheila Ryan), a Washington Read More

Up in Arms

Actors: Danny Kaye, Dinah Shore, Dana Andrews, Constance Dowling, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: It is said that producer Sam Goldwyn had a habit of addressing his new star of the 1940s, Danny Kaye, as "Eddie", confusing Kaye with Eddie Cantor. If true, it may be because Kaye's first starring film for Goldwyn, Up in Arms, was a remake of Cantor's Whoopee--which in turn was a musical version Read More

Jam Session

Actors: Ann Miller, Jess Barker, Charles D. Brown, Eddie Kane, George Eldredge

Synopsis: Within its brisk 78 minutes, Jam Session manages to accommodate the singing, dancing and acting talents of Ann Miller, a romantic main plot, a comic subplot-and no fewer than six big-name orchestras. The story is the old saw about a small-town girl named Terry Baxter (Miller), who wins a trip to Read More

Secret Command

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Carole Landis, Chester Morris, Ruth Warrick, Barton MacLane

Synopsis: Secret Command features Pat O'Brien as a onetime foreign correspondent in the wartime employ of the FBI. Under an assumed name, O'Brien goes to work at a shipyard, intending to keep both eyes open for potential saboteurs. To maintain the cover, O'Brien is given a "wife" (Carole Landis) and two Read More

The Fighting Seabees

Actors: John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe, William Frawley, Leonid Kinskey

Synopsis: The Fighting Seabees is Republic Pictures' rip-roaring tribute to the US Navy's Construction Batallions (C.B.), without whom no plane would ever have gotten off the ground during WW2. John Wayne stars as Wedge Donovan, head of civilian construction company stationed in a pre-Pearl Harbor South Read More

Minesweeper

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Russell Hayden, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: Adhering to the formula of such previous Pine-Thomas productions as Forced Landing, Flying Blind and Torpedo Boat, Minesweeper is the action-packed story of military men under wartime pressure. Richard Arlen plays Jim Smith, a once-reliable Naval officer who has virtually destroyed his life with Read More

The Iron Major

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Ruth Warrick, Robert Ryan

Synopsis: The Iron Major is the saga of WW1 hero-cum-football coach Frank Cavanaugh, played with his usual no-nonsense professionalism by Pat O'Brien. Leaving home and hearth behind to serve his country in the Great War, Cavanaugh goes on to lead the Dartmouth, Boston College and Fordham football teams to Read More

Bombardier

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley, Eddie Albert, Walter Reed

Synopsis: A major moneymaker for RKO Radio, Bombardier stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott as trainers at a school for bomber pilots. O'Brien and Scott argue over teaching methods, while their students vie for the affections of Anne Shirley. O'Brien's methods prove sound during a bombing raid over Tokyo. Scott Read More

A Lady Takes a Chance

Actors: Jean Arthur, John Wayne, Charles Winninger, Phil Silvers, Mary Field

Synopsis: Manhattan working girl Jean Arthur bids goodbye to her three erstwhile suitors (Grant Withers, Hans Conried and Grady Sutton) to take a bus tour of the west. En route, she meets handsome rodeo-star John Wayne, whose bucking bronco hurls him directly into her lap. Stranded in a tank town with Wayne Read More

Sweater Girl

Actors: Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, Phillip Terry, Nils Asther, Frieda Inescort

Synopsis: Sweater Girl is an okay remake of 1935's College Scandal, and like its predecessor is that rare bird, a "musical mystery". Someone is stalking a midwestern college campus, murdering students left and right. Among the victims is campus radio personality Miles Tucker (Kenneth Howell) and aspiring Read More

Right to the Heart

Actors: Brenda Joyce, Joseph Allen, Jr., Cobina Wright, Jr., Stanley Clements, Don DeFore

Synopsis: In this romance, a spoiled, self-centered rich boy John T. Bromley III, is simultaneously disinherited by his wealthy aunt and kicked out by his social climbing girl friend. The fellow is naturally depressed and while slumping in a bar drinking heavily he meets a former pug who ends up knocking Read More

Fingers at the Window

Actors: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone, Walter Kingsford, Miles Mander

Synopsis: A fun though abortive bid to pair crime-solving duo Lew Ayres and Laraine Day for a series of thrillers, this murder mystery benefits from good performances by the leads. The plot involves a series of axe murders in Chicago being perpetrated by the patients of an insane asylum, all of whom have Read More

Roxie Hart

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Lynne Overman, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Based on the Ben Hecht/Charlie McArthur play Chicago, Roxie Hart is a short-but-sweet satire of highly publicized court trials. Ginger Rogers plays showgirl Roxie Hart, whose no-good husband kills a man and insists that Roxie take the blame, since juries seldom send a woman to the chair. She Read More

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Actors: Cesar Romero, Virginia Gilmore, Charlotte Greenwood, Milton Berle, Sheldon Leonard

Synopsis: Cesar Romero plays an outwardly tough prohibition-era gangster who in reality wouldn't hurt a fly. He maintains his "killer" reputation by planting evidence of his involvement at the scenes of other crooks' crimes. Romero begins aspiring for respectability when he falls in love with Virginia Gilmore Read More

International Lady

Actors: George Brent, Ilona Massey, Basil Rathbone, Gene Lockhart, George Zucco

Synopsis: Hungarian actress Ilona Massey stars as an operative for the Axis in this slightly tongue-in-cheek wartime melodrama. She spends her working hours signalling secret messages to enemy U-boats. George Brent is the U.S. counterspy sent to track down the security leak. Brent's job is made doubly Read More

Ride, Kelly, Ride

Actors: Eugene Pallette, Marvin Stephens, Rita Quigley, Mary Healy, Richard Lane

Synopsis: Corn Cob Kelly (Marvin Stephens) is a young jockey whose ambition is dwarfed only by his ego. All set to ride in his first big race, Kelly is replaced at the last minute by a more experienced jockey. After eating several slices of humble pie, our hero manages to requalify for the contest Read More

Reaching for the Sun

Actors: Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Eddie Bracken, Albert Dekker, Billy Gilbert

Synopsis: Wessel Smitter's semicomic novel FOB Detroit was the source material for Reaching for the Sun. Joel McCrea plays a North Woods clam digger who orders an outboard motor for his business. Figuring he'll save shipping money by picking the motor up himself, he heads for Detroit. Here he decides to Read More

Maisie Was a Lady

Actors: Ann Sothern, Lew Ayres, Maureen O'Sullivan, C. Aubrey Smith, Joan Perry

Synopsis: Out of work as usual, showgirl Maisie Revier (Ann Sothern) takes a job as the maid for a wealthy family. She wins over the young man of the household (Lew Ayres), but the rest of the family is too wrapped up in its own problems to benefit from Maisie's good-natured personality. The daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan Read More

The Devil Pays Off

Synopsis: Republic Pictures borrowed William Wright from Paramount but then reduced him to third billing below ace villains J. Edward Bromberg and Osa Massen in this busy espionage melodrama, in which a former Navy lieutenant is assigned to investigate a shipping magnate whose vessels seem to mysteriously Read More

He Married His Wife

Actors: Joel McCrea, Nancy Kelly, Roland Young, Mary Boland, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: This slick marital farce features Joel McCrea as T. H. Randall, a race horse owner whose devotion to his work causes a strain in his relationship with wife Valerie (Nancy Kelly). Unable to stand any more neglect, Valerie divorces Randall, even though the audience is well aware that she's still in Read More

The Leather-Pushers

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Astrid Allwyn, Douglas Fowley, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: In this boxing drama, the trouble begins when a fight breaks out at a local gym. When a boxing promoter sees that Dick, who is training Andy Grogan to wrestle, really packs a wallop, he suggests that Dick try boxing. Slick, the promoter then fixes Dick's fights to ensure that he wins. When Pat, a Read More

Florian

Actors: Robert Young, Helen Gilbert, Charles Coburn, Lee Bowman, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Winfield Sheehan, former head of Fox studios, owned the only Austrian Lippizan horses in the U.S. In 1940, MGM bought the rights to the Felix Salten novel Florian, all about the Lippanzers. When the film was made, the producer was Winfield Sheehan. Coincidence? We don't think so. At any rate, the Read More

Pier 13

Actors: Lynn Bari, Lloyd Nolan, Joan Valerie, Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: Pier 13 is a remake of the delightful Spencer Tracy-Joan Bennett vehicle Me and My Gal, which itself was a reworking of a 1922 silent picture. Wisecracking cop Danny Dolan (Lloyd Nolan) takes a liking to self-reliant waterfront waitress Sally Kelly (Lynn Bari), and the feeling is definitely Read More

Wolf of New York

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Rose Hobart, James Stephenson, Jerome Cowan, William Demarest

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a brilliant lawyer is renowned for getting guilty-as-sin-but-powerful crime figures acquitted. He has never lost a case until he defends an innocent man. The hapless client ends up imprisoned and executed for killing a policeman. The loss traumatizes the lawyer and compels him Read More

Women in War

Actors: Elsie Janis, Wendy Barrie, Patric Knowles, Mae Clarke

Synopsis: Musical comedy favorite Elsie Janis, who gained renown in WW1 as "The Sweetheart of the AEF", returned to the screen after a long absence in Republic's Women in War. The story is the old chestnut about two volunteer Red Cross nurses, Pamela (Wendy Barrie) and Gail (Mae Clarke), both in love with Read More

Johnny Apollo

Actors: Tyrone Power, Dorothy Lamour, Lloyd Nolan, Edward Arnold, Charles Grapewin

Synopsis: Tyrone Power plays the college-grad son of jailed-embezzler Edward Arnold. Power tries to find work, only to be turned away because of his father's reputation. When he decides to use a phony name, he is still fired, because his ex-convict boss feels that Power is being unfair to his Read More

Forgotten Girls

Synopsis: An innocent young woman is accused of murder by her wicked stepmother. The poor lass ends up in prison. Fortunately, a reporter sets out to prove that she is not guilty and brings the real culprit to justice. Meanwhile the murderous step-mom plots the hapless girl's demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Read More

Santa Fe Trail

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Santa Fe Trail, Errol Flynn's third western, has precisely nothing to do with the titular trail. Instead, the film is a simplistic retelling of the John Brown legend, with Raymond Massey playing the famed abolitionist. The events leading up to the bloody confrontation between Brown and the US Read More

Sailor's Lady

Actors: Nancy Kelly, Jon Hall, Joan Davis, Dana Andrews, Mary Nash

Synopsis: The sailor in this entertaining 20th Century-Fox programmer is Danny Malone (Jon Hall), while the lady is Sally Gilroy (Claire Trevor). Danny's impending marriage to Sally is put on the back burner when she is put in charge of an orphaned baby (Bruce Hampton, playing a girl!) During naval Read More

The Grapes of Wrath

Actors: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charles Grapewin, Doris Bowden

Synopsis: The adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of dirt-poor Dust Bowl migrants by 4-time Oscar-winning director John Ford starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who opens the movie returning to his Oklahoma home after serving jail time for manslaughter. En route, Tom Read More

I Take This Woman

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Veree Teasdale, Kent Taylor, Laraine Day

Synopsis: This soapy drama stars Hedy Lamarr as a would be model who meets a research doctor en route to the US from Europe. They meet when Dr. Spencer Tracy prevents her from taking a suicidal plunge from the upper decks of the ocean liner. It seems that Lamarr had been involved with married man Kent Read More

The Old Swimmin' Hole

Actors: Jackie Moran, Marcia Mae Jones, Leatrice Joy, Charles D. Brown, Theodore Von Eltz

Synopsis: Longtime "Our Gang" director Robert McGowan wielded the megaphone for the laid-back Monogram drama Old Swimming Hole. Jackie Moran and Marcia Mae Jones, whom the studio was hoping to develop into a screen team, star as Chris and Betty, bucolic sweethearts who hope to play matchmaker for Chris' Read More

Brother Orchid

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp, Ralph Bellamy

Synopsis: Edward G. Robinson plays orchid-loving gangster Little John Sarto, who aspires to "real class." During a power struggle with usurping mobster Jack Buck (Humphrey Bogart), Sarto is taken for a one-way ride, but he escapes his would-be assassins and hides out in a monastery overseen by Brother Read More

Smashing the Money Ring

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Margot Stevenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Joe Downing, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Ace Secret Service agent Lt. Brass Bancroft is on the case in this crime drama. This time he is assigned to break up a major counterfeiting ring. To do so, he poses as a convicted counterfeiter who goes to prison to sneak into the inner circle. Eventually he learns that the money is coming from Read More

Tell No Tales

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Louise Platt, Gene Lockhart, Douglas Dumbrille, Florence George

Synopsis: A model of precision and economy, the MGM "B" thriller Tell No Tales represented the feature-film directorial debut of former actor Leslie Fenton. Reportedly an expansion of a "Crime Does Not Pay" 2-reeler, the story follows editor Michael Cassidy (Melvyn Douglas) as he tries to save his newspaper Read More

Kid Nightingale

Actors: John Payne, Jane Wyman, Walter Catlett, Edward S. Brophy, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: A singing waiter with a wonderful operatic voice finds himself in the squared circle facing heavyweight boxers after he gets involved with crooked fight promoters who want him to both win the world heavyweight championship and attract more female fans with his post bout crooning. The promoters Read More

The Ice Follies of 1939

Actors: Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, Lewis Stone, Bess Ehrhardt

Synopsis: Comedy, romance, and song hit the ice in this musical. Larry Hall (James Stewart) is a professional ice skater whose act with his friend Eddie Burgess (Lew Ayres) breaks up when Larry weds Mary McKay (Joan Crawford). Mary is also a skater, and she teams up with Larry to perform, but their on-stage Read More

Inside Story

Actors: Michael Whalen, Jean Rogers, Chick Chandler, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this heartwarming drama, a good-hearted reporter attempts to find the loneliest woman in New York so he can give her an old-fashioned Christmas on a farm. He meets a woman whom he thinks is a stenographer. In reality she is a hard-bitten nightclub owner with no Christmas spirit at all. By Read More

Charlie Chan in Reno

Actors: Sidney Toler, Ricardo Cortez, Phyllis Brooks, George "Slim" Summerville, Kane Richmond

Synopsis: Sidney Toler made his second appearance as oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in the above-average Charlie Chan in Reno. It all begins when nervous young Mary Whitman (Pauline Moore) shows up in Reno to seek a divorce from husband Curtis Whitman (Kane Richmond). Before long, Jeanne Bentley (Louise Read More

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

Actors: Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt, Amanda Duff, Warren Hymer, Richard Lane

Synopsis: Peter Lorre stars as the famous Asian detective Mr. Moto in this remake of Murder in Trinidad, in which Moto is asked to help the United States government crack a smuggling ring bringing in stolen diamonds from Puerto Rico. Moto's deductive powers quickly prove impressive as he matches wits with Read More

Disbarred

Actors: Gail Patrick, Robert Preston, Otto Kruger, Sidney Toler, Helen MacKellar

Synopsis: Gail Patrick plays a brilliant but naive country lawyer brought to the city to defend gangster Sidney Toler. She is subsidized by pillar of society Otto Kruger, who is actually the "big boy" behind the city's rackets. Ms. Patrick must prove that Toler didn't own a weapon that he is accused of Read More

Little Accident

Actors: Hugh Herbert, Florence Rice, Richard Carlson, Ernest Truex, Joy Hodges

Synopsis: A remake of a 1930 Universal film, Little Accident was the third starring vehicle for androgynous juvenile star Baby Sandy. Hugh Herbert stars as Herbert Pearson, self-styled infant specialist on a big-city newspaper. When father Tabby Morgan (Ernest Truex) abandons his bundle of joy (Baby Sandy) Read More

Speed to Burn

Actors: Michael Whalen, Lynn Bari, Marvin Stephens, Henry Armetta, Chick Chandler

Synopsis: Horse racing provides the framework of this crime drama that centers on an orphan who has been raising a promising horse. The trouble begins when the trainer who employs him sells the beast to the police department and ends its racing career forever. The angry boy begins investigating and with the Read More

Algiers

Actors: Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie, Joseph Calleia, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: This Hollywood remake of the French Pepe le Moko adheres so slavishly to its source that it utilizes stock footage from the original film, and even picked its actors on the basis of their resemblance to the French cast. Contrary to legend, star Charles Boyer never says "Come wizz me to zee Read More

The Duke of West Point

Actors: Louis Hayward, Joan Fontaine, Tom Brown, Richard Carlson, Alan Curtis

Synopsis: Louis Hayward plays an arrogant Cambridge student who emigrates to America and enrolls at the West Point. Hayward's superior attitude earns him the enmity of his fellow students and the derisive nickname "the Duke". Those viewers familiar with college pictures will know as early as the opening Read More

Up the River

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Tony Martin, Phyllis Brooks, George "Slim" Summerville, Arthur Treacher

Synopsis: Two imprisoned con men become ace football players on the prison team in this comedy. They get into real trouble when the duo decides to bust out to keep the mother of a fellow inmate from getting conned by a gang of crooks. When the warden finds out, he is steaming mad because he has bet his Read More

Exposed

Actors: Glenda Farrell, Otto Kruger, Herbert Mundin, David Oliver, Lorraine Krueger

Synopsis: Glenda Farrell plays still another fast-talking girl reporter in Universal's Exposed. Willing to sell her soul for a story, newspaper sob sister Click Stewart (Farrell) is presently on the trail of DA William Reardon (Otto Kruger), a "Judge Crater" type who disappeared without a trace several Read More

Flight to Fame

Actors: Charles Farrell, Hugh Sothern, Alex D'Arcy, Jason Robards, Sr.

Synopsis: Once one of Hollywood's "top ten" screen attractions, Charles Farrell had slipped somewhat by the end of the 1930s, and obliging to accept roles in such B productions as Columbia's Flight to Fame. Farrell plays air force captain Lawrence, a Billy Mitchell type who finds himself constantly at odds Read More

Five of a Kind

Synopsis: The financial exploitation of Canada's Dionne Quintuplets rolled ever forward with 20th Century-Fox's Five of a Kind, the third Dionne feature-length vehicle. Under the watchful eye of kindly obstetrican Dr. Dafoe (Jean Hersholt), the lovable quints, now 4 1/2 years old, play with their pets and Read More

Mr. Moto's Gamble

Actors: Peter Lorre, Keye Luke, Dick Baldwin, Lynn Bari, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In this mystery programmer, a prizefighter dies in the midst of a match, but evidence suggests that it was a dose of poison that killed him rather than the violence of the bout. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), a detective who also teaches sleuthing to others, is called in to find out who killed the boxer Read More

Island in the Sky

Actors: Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Paul Kelly, Robert Kellard, June Storey

Synopsis: In this drama, a woman is betrothed to a district attorney. When a man is falsely convicted of murder and condemned to death, the woman postpones her wedding to prove him innocent. She enlists the help of a former gangster and eventually succeeds in saving the innocent man's life. ~ Sandra Read More

Barefoot Boy

Actors: Jackie Moran, Marcia Mae Jones, Claire Windsor, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Barefoot Boy is a throwback to the sort of bucolic family fare in which Monogram Pictures specialized in the early 1930s. Loosely inspired by the John Greenleaf Whittier poem of the same name, the film stars Jackie Moran as Billy Whittaker, a country lad whose idyllic lifestyle is thrown into Read More

The Shopworn Angel

Actors: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Walter Pidgeon, Hattie McDaniel, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: The second motion picture version of a Saturday Evening Post story by Dana Burnet, this romantic melodrama was also the second pairing of actors James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Stewart plays Private Bill Pettigrew, a naïve young Texan in New York for basic training prior to being shipped Read More

The Crowd Roars

Actors: Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Maureen O'Sullivan, William Gargan

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1932 James Cagney vehicle of the same name, The Crowd Roars is set in the sweat-stained world of professional boxing. Handy with his fists, young Tommy McCoy (Robert Taylor) is virtually pushed into the ring by his alcoholic father Brian (Frank Morgan). During his climb to the Read More

Thoroughbreds Don't Cry

Actors: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Sophie Tucker, C. Aubrey Smith, Ronald Sinclair

Synopsis: Young Roger Calverton (Ronald Sinclair) and his uncle Sir Peter Calverton (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bring their prize race-horse The Pookah to America, hoping to win a major purse and save their impoverished family estate. They cross paths with Tim Donahue (Mickey Rooney), one of the top young jockeys Read More

Gold Diggers of 1937

Actors: Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Victor Moore, Glenda Farrell, Lee Dixon

Synopsis: Those beautiful Busby Berkeley babes are back at work, seeking financial backing for a Broadway show. Salvation comes from a meek hypochondriac (Victor Moore) who'd rather the girls get his insurance money than his murderous business partners. Dick Powell isn't the male star of the show, but does Read More

It Happened One Night

Actors: Claire McDowell, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Jameson Thomas

Synopsis: Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), despite her father (Walter Connolly)'s Read More

The False Madonna

Actors: Kay Francis, William "Stage" Boyd, Conway Tearle, John Breeden, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: A pair of grifters, one of whom is impersonating a doctor, assist a sick woman while riding a train. After the woman dies, the female con-artist assumes her identity so that she can collect a large amount of money. Trouble ensues when the woman begins to bond with the dead lady's blind son. She Read More

Touchdown

Actors: Richard Arlen, Peggy Shannon, Jack Oakie, Regis Toomey, George Barbier

Synopsis: In this gridiron drama, a college football coach and ex-All American will stop at nothing to have a winning team. The trouble begins as Dastardly Dan Curtis sends an injured player into a big game. The ploy works and the team wins; unfortunately, the player ends up hospitalized. Later he changes Read More

The Secret Call

Actors: Richard Arlen, Peggy Shannon, William B. Davidson, Charles Trowbridge, Jane Keith

Synopsis: The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city Read More

Murder by the Clock

Actors: William "Stage" Boyd, Lilyan Tashman, Irving Pichel, Regis Toomey, Sally O'Neil

Synopsis: An eerie early-talkie mystery, Murder by the Clock spends most of its time in a cemetery. The matriarch (Blanche Frederici) of a wealthy family is haunted by the notion that she'll be buried alive. To avoid this contingency, she has a horn installed in the family mausoleum, to be activated in case Read More

The Dance of Life

Actors: Nancy Carroll, Hal Skelly, Dorothy Revier

Synopsis: A vaudevillian working in a third-rate burlesque show suffers marital turmoil when success swells his head in this silent back-stage melodrama. He celebrates his stardom with a few drinks. Unfortunately, this leads to alcoholism and carousing with other women causing his wife to eventually leave Read More

Dangerous Curves

Actors: Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Kay Francis, David Newell

Synopsis: Circus life provides the framework of this drama that chronicles the love, life, and aspiration of a young circus waif. The aspiring star is learning to walk the high-wire with the young wire-walker she adores. He loves another, his partner, but she is untrue to him. As a result he is almost on Read More

The Way of a Maid

Actors: Elaine Hammerstein, Niles Welch, Diana Allen, Arthur Houseman, George Fawcett

Synopsis: This comedy drama finds Naida (Elaine Hammerstein) as a wealthy society girl who wins a prize when she appears at a costume party dressed as a maid. Millionaire Thomas Lawlor (Niles Welch) later mistakes her for the real thing at her friends apartment and asks her for some towels as well as her Read More