Edwin H. KnopfFilmography

The Vintage

Crew: Producer

Actors: Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Mel Ferrer, John Kerr, Michèle Morgan, Theodore Bikel

Synopsis: There's a curious, unsettling "feel" to MGM's The Vintage, perhaps because of its curiously selected cast. Mel Ferrer and John Kerr play a couple of Italian brothers, Giancarlo and Ernesto Barandero, who escape to France after Ernesto kills a man. Attaining jobs in a vineyard run by Louis Morel Read More

Gaby

Crew: Producer

Actors: Leslie Caron, John Kerr, Cedric Hardwicke, Taina Elg, Margalo Gillmore

Synopsis: The third film version of Robert E. Sherwood's play Waterloo Bridge, Gaby is also the most antiseptic of the three. In the original 1931 film, Mae Clarke is cast as a British streetwalker who falls despearately and tragically in love with aristocratic military officer Douglass Montgomery. In the Read More

The King's Thief

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven, George Sanders, Roger Moore

Synopsis: Director Robert Z. Leonard brought his 31-year association with MGM to a rousing close with The King's Thief. Set in England during the reign of Charles II (drolly portrayed by George Sanders), the film stars Edmund Purdom as Michael Dermott, who sets about to steal the crown jewels on behalf of Read More

Diane

Crew: Producer

Actors: Lana Turner, Pedro Armendáriz, Roger Moore, Marisa Pavan, Cedric Hardwicke

Synopsis: Lana Turner stars as Diane in this opulent costume drama. Set in 16th century France, the film finds the gorgeous Diane de Pottiers rising to a position of absolute power through her manipulation of the men in her life. Those men include King Francis I (Pedro Armendariz), Prince Henri (Roger Read More

The Glass Slipper

Crew: Producer

Actors: Leslie Caron, Michael Wilding, Sr., Keenan Wynn, Estelle Winwood, Elsa Lanchester

Synopsis: The Glass Slipper is a charming retelling of the Cinderella story, eminently suitable for both kids and adults. Leslie Caron plays Ella, the plain-Jane stepsister of beautiful but mean-spirited Birdena (Amanda Blake) and Serafina (Lisa Daniels). While stepmother Widow Sonder (Elsa Lanchester) Read More

Lili

Crew: Producer

Actors: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kurt Kasznar

Synopsis: Based on the story by Paul Gallico, Lili stars Leslie Caron as the title character, a 16-year-old waif who runs off to join a carnival. Embittered, crippled puppeteer Mel Ferrer treats Lili with contempt; only by speaking through his puppets is Ferrer able to express his genuine love for the girl. Read More

The Great Diamond Robbery

Crew: Producer

Actors: Red Skelton, Cara Williams, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Dorothy Stickney

Synopsis: MGM was never quite sure what to do with their resident funster Red Skelton, and The Great Diamond Robbery betrays this uncertainty. Skelton plays Ambrose C. Park, a diamond cutter who is led to believe that he's the long-lost heir to a fortune. Actually, Ambrose has been duped by shyster lawyer Read More

Scandal at Scourie

Crew: Producer

Actors: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Corcoran, Agnes Moorehead, Arthur Shields

Synopsis: Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were together again for the last time in Scandal at Scourie. Filmed on location in Canada, the plot concerns a childless Protestant couple, the McChesneys (Garson and Pidgeon), whose lives are profoundly altered by an orphaned Catholic girl named Patsy (Donna Corcoran Read More

Fearless Fagan

Crew: Producer

Actors: Janet Leigh, Carleton Carpenter, Keenan Wynn, Richard Anderson, Ellen Corby

Synopsis: The unbreakable bond between a young man and his pet lion provides the action in this comedy. The trouble begins when the young man becomes a private in the army. Because he cannot bear to sell his lion Fagan to a mean-spirited circus trainer, the private asks his sergeant to help him find a good Read More

Night into Morning

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ray Milland, John Hodiak, Nancy Davis, Lewis Stone, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Ray Milland plays a happily married college professor whose wife and child perish in a fire. Despondent, Milland loses himself in drink, despite the efforts of his friends and fellow faculty members. He is on the verge of suicide before he is salvaged the love of Nancy Davis (who off-screen was Read More

The Law and the Lady

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Greer Garson, Michael Wilding, Sr., Fernando Lamas, Marjorie Main, Hayden Rorke

Synopsis: The Law and the Lady is the third film version of the venerable Frederick Lonsdale stage play The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Greer Garson follows in the footsteps of Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford as a beautiful confidence trickster, working in concert with a suave jewel thief (Michael Wilding). Jane Read More

Mr. Imperium

Crew: Play Author, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Lana Turner, Ezio Pinza, Marjorie Main, Barry Sullivan, Cedric Hardwicke

Synopsis: Ezio Pinza stars as the title character, a prince who falls for nightclub singer Fredda Barlo (Lana Turner) when the two meet on vacation in Italy. After more than a decade, they reunite, only now Barlo is a Hollywood superstar and Imperium has ascended to the throne of king. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Read More

Edward, My Son

Crew: Producer

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr, Ian Hunter, James Donald, Mervyn Johns, Leucen MacGrath

Synopsis: Businessman Spencer Tracy is devoted beyond all reason to his son Edward. Tracy lies, cheats, steals, commits arson, and drives two people to suicide in order to smooth Edward's path in life. The boy repays this loyalty by becoming an ungrateful wastrel, who fathers a child out of wedlock and ends Read More

Malaya

Crew: Producer

Actors: Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Valentina Cortese, Sydney Greenstreet, John Hodiak

Synopsis: Spencer Tracy and James Stewart team up for this World War II adventure, based on an supposedly true incident from World War II. Stewart plays John Royer, an ex-newspaper reporter with a backhand knowledge of Malaya, and Tracy plays a criminal named Carnaghan, doing time in Alcatraz for smuggling. Read More

B.F.'s Daughter

Crew: Producer

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Charles Coburn, Keenan Wynn, Richard Hart

Synopsis: Barbara Stanwyck plays Polly Fulton, rebellious daughter of a wealthy industrialist (Charles Coburn). Polly marries a conservative economist professor (Richard Hart), but she chafes at his values and leaves him for socialist professor Van Heflin. Polly nearly ruins both her father's reputation and Read More

Cynthia

Crew: Producer

Actors: Morris Ankrum, Elizabeth Taylor, George Murphy, S.Z. Sakall, Scotty Beckett, Carol Brannan, Mary Astor, Harlan Briggs, Spring Byington

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Taylor receives her first screen kiss in the innocuous MGM confection Cynthia. Taylor plays the title character, a sickly, sheltered young lady who is never permitted the companionship of other teenagers. Frustrated though Cynthia may be, she has nothing on her parents Read More

The Secret Heart

Crew: Producer

Actors: Claudette Colbert, June Allyson, Walter Pidgeon, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Sterling

Synopsis: The Secret Heart is a psychological drama starring June Allyson as a disturbed teenager obsessed with the memory of her dead father and unable to embrace her stepmother. Following the suicide of her father, Penny Addams (Allyson) begins to behave strangely, even locking herself in her room and Read More

The Sailor Takes a Wife

Crew: Producer

Actors: Robert Walker, June Allyson, Hume Cronyn, Audrey Totter, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

Synopsis: A quickie post-WWII marriage becomes complicated in this romantic comedy, the second film pairing of Robert Walker and June Allyson. Swept off her feet in one whirlwind night by dashing U.S. Navy man John (Walker), the young, attractive Mary (Allyson) agrees to a fast, ill-considered wedding. John Read More

The Valley of Decision

Crew: Producer

Actors: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp, Lionel Barrymore, Preston S. Foster

Synopsis: Based on Marcia Davenport's novel and set in 1870, Valley of Decision details the romance between a housemaid named Mary Rafferty (Greer Garson) and her employer's son, Paul Scott (Gregory Peck). Paul's father, William (Donald Crisp), owns a Pittsburgh steel mill where Mary's father, Pat (Lionel Barrymore Read More

The Cross of Lorraine

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jean-Pierre Aumont, Gene Kelly, Cedric Hardwicke, Richard Whorf, Joseph Calleia

Synopsis: The time is World War II. A group of disillusioned French soldiers are approached by Nazi troops and promised safe passage to their homeland. The Frenchmen willingly surrender, only to discover that their next destination is a German concentration camp located near a Gallic village. The Read More

Cry Havoc

Crew: Producer

Actors: Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell, Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt

Synopsis: Allen R. Kerward's flagwaving stage play Proof thro' the Night was vastly improved in its screen adaptation, which was retitled Cry Havoc. Margaret Sullavan (making her first screen appearance in two years), Joan Blondell and Ann Southern are among the appropriately deglamorized actresses playing Read More

Crossroads

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Claire Trevor, Basil Rathbone, Margaret Wycherly, Felix Bressart

Synopsis: An innocent man is put on trial, but is he really as innocent as he claims? Diplomat David Talbot (William Powell) and his bride Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr) are enjoying a honeymoon in Paris when David is confronted by extortionists who demand money in exchange for not turning him in to the police. Read More

The Trial of Mary Dugan

Crew: Producer

Actors: Laraine Day, Robert Young, Tom Conway, Frieda Inescort, John Litel

Synopsis: MGM's The Trial of Mary Dugan was based on the popular stage play by Bayard Vellier, previously filmed as a Norma Shearer vehicle in 1929. This time, Laraine Day is cast as Mary Dugan, a young stenographer who is falsely accused of murdering her philandering employer Edgar Wayne (Tom Conway). In Read More

I'll Wait for You

Crew: Producer

Actors: Robert Sterling, Marsha Hunt, Virginia Weidler, Paul Kelly, Fay Holden

Synopsis: The title I'll Wait for You effectively gives away the ending of this MGM second feature. Robert Sterling plays a gangster on the lam who heads for the safety of the country. He accepts the hospitality of a farm family, who has no knowledge of his true identity. Reformed by the family's daughter Marsha Hunt Read More

The Vanishing Virginian

Crew: Producer

Actors: Frank Morgan, Kathryn Grayson, Spring Byington, Natalie Thompson, Douglass Newland

Synopsis: The Vanishing Virginian was adapted from the autobiographical bestseller by Rebecca Yancey Williams. Newcomer Kathryn Grayson stars as Ms. Williams, a headstrong Southern girl growing up in the early 20th century. Rebecca sets her conservative household on its ear when she joins the woman's Read More

Piccadilly Jim

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Madge Evans, Eric Blore, Billie Burke

Synopsis: British humorist P. G. Wodehouse wrote the story upon which Piccadilly Jim was based. Frank Morgan and Robert Montgomery play a well-to-do father and son, who find themselves rivals in love. The object of their affection is Madge Evans, who likes them both but favors the son. Everything could have Read More

The Wedding Night

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Gary Cooper, Anna Sten, Helen Vinson, Ralph Bellamy, Sig Rumann

Synopsis: In this Samuel Goldwyn production directed by King Vidor, the studio's intent was to make Russian-born Anna Sten a star, but it didn't succeed. Sten plays Manya Nowak, a Polish farm girl attracted to Tony Barrett (Gary Cooper), a novelist with writer's block who has retreated to a Connecticut Read More

The Rebel

Crew: Director, Screen Story

Actors: Luis Trenker, Vilma Banky, Victor Varconi, Paul Bildt, Olga Engl

S.O.S. Iceberg

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Rod La Rocque, Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, Gibson Gowland

Synopsis: In the same year that she directed Victory of the Faith (1933), her first of several famous cinematic projects for the Nazi Party, German actress and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl played a supporting role in this epic adventure, co-written and co-directed by her frequent "mountain film" collaborator Dr. Arnold Fanck Read More

Der Rebell

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this costume drama, a courageous Tyrolean fights to keep Napoleon from conquering his German homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Nice Women

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Frances Dee, Alan Mowbray, Lucille Gleason, Russell Gleason

Synopsis: A 1930 stage play by William A. Grew was the source for the 1932 Universal film Nice Women. Sidney Fox stars as Bess Girard, one of the contrariest heroines in movie history. At first the long-suffering naif daughter of a mercenary social-climber (Lucille Webster Gleason), Bess is smart enough to Read More

Bad Sister

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Conrad Nagel, Bette Davis, ZaSu Pitts, George "Slim" Summerville

Synopsis: A naive, wealthy small-town girl, bored with her routine life, falls for a dashing con artist who has come looking for fresh marks to swindle. He soon charms her into faking her prominent father's name on a letter of endorsement, which he presents to the other local merchants. They willingly give Read More

East of Borneo

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Rose Hobart, Charles Bickford, Georges Renavent, Lupita Tovar, Noble Johnson

Synopsis: One of the most frequently telecast films of the 1950s and 1960s, East of Borneo stars Rose Hobart as Linda, the wife of African missionary Dr. Clark (Charles Bickford). Feeling stifled by her unfamiliar surroundings, Linda is further isolated from civilization when her husband runs off into the Read More

Free Love

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Genevieve Tobin, Conrad Nagel, Monroe Owsley, Bertha Mann, Ilka Chase

Synopsis: Sometimes all it takes to save a marriage is a good pop, right in the kisser or so this family drama seems to imply. The story focuses on a troubled married couple. At first the wife turns to a therapist, but she finds herself paying a lot of money for nothing. In desperation, she decides to pack Read More

Paramount on Parade

Crew: Director

Actors: Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper, William Austin, Clara Bow, Jack Oakie, George Bancroft

Synopsis: Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner Read More

Slightly Scarlet

Crew: Director

Actors: Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, Paul Lukas, Helen Ware

Synopsis: Passing herself off as a countess, glamorous Lucy Stavrin (Evelyn Brent) hobnobs with the rich and famous along the French Riviera. Aware that Lucy is a phony, jewel-thief Malatroff (Paul Lukas) blackmails Lucy into helping him steal the valuable necklace owned by the young wife (Helen Ware) of Read More

The Santa Fe Trail

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Arlen, Rosita Moreno, Mitzi Green, Junior Durkin

Synopsis: Paramount star Richard Arlen heads a strong cast in this early talkie western about a sheepherder falsely accused of killing an Indian. Luckily for the hero, two little children (Mitzi Green and Junior Durkin) witnessed the murder and can point the sheriff in the direction of the true culprit. The Read More

The Light of Western Stars

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Fred Kohler, Harry Green, Regis Toomey

Synopsis: The Light of Western Stars goes a long way towards using Paramount's fledgling sound system creatively; some scenes are filmed in complete darkness, allowing voices and sound effects to carry the day. Otherwise, this is a pleasantly familiar western concerning the relationship between Read More

The Border Legion

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jack Holt, Fay Wray, Eugene Pallette, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: The Border Legion (1930) is one of several cinemadaptations of the Zane Grey story of the same name. Jack Holt plays Jack Kells, a ruthless but essentially decent outlaw. Kells befriends straight-arrow border patrolman Jim Cleve (Richard Arlen), who is in love with heroine Joan Randall (Fay Wray). Read More

Only Saps Work

Crew: Director

Actors: Leon Errol, Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Stuart Erwin, Anderson Lawler

Synopsis: Rubber-legged comedian Leon Errol made his talkie starring bow in Paramount's Only Saps Work. Based on a play by Owen Davis Sr., the film casts Errol as James Wilson, a kleptomaniac who starts with picking pockets and ends up robbing a bank. Wilson's friend Lawrence Payne (Richard Arlen) Read More