Georges RenaventFilmography

Secrets of Monte Carlo

Actors: Warren Douglas, Lois Hall, June Vincent, Stephen Bekassy, Robin Hughes

Synopsis: Republic's Secrets of Monte Carlo stars Warren Douglas as vacationing American businessman Bill Whitfield. In a twinkling, Whitfield finds himself in the middle of a search for an Arab potentate's missing jewels. In two twinklings, he is accused of stealing the gems. Susan Reeves (Lois Hall), the Read More

Strangers on a Train

Actors: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock

Synopsis: In one of Alfred Hitchcock's suspense classics, tennis pro Guy Haines (Farley Granger) chances to meet wealthy wastrel Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) on a train. Having read all about Guy, Bruno is aware that the tennis player is trapped in an unhappy marriage to to wife Miriam (Laura Elliott) and Read More

Fortunes of Captain Blood

Actors: Louis Hayward, Patricia Medina, George Macready, Alfonso Bedoya, Dona Drake

Synopsis: Though usually associated with westerns, Columbia producer Harry Joe Brown proved to be up to the challenge of producing a satisfactory swashbuckler with Fortunes of Captain Blood. Based loosely on the same Rafael Sabatini novel which served as the inspiration for the 1935 Errol Flynn vehicle Captain Blood Read More

Rope of Sand

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sam Jaffe

Synopsis: Producer Hal Wallis evidently hoped to recapture the magic of his earlier Casablanca with 1949's Rope of Sand. To that end, he hired three of Casablanca's supporting players: Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre. This time, Henreid is the villain, a sadistic police inspector named Paul Read More

The Foxes of Harrow

Actors: Renee Beard, Rex Harrison, Maureen O'Hara, Richard Haydn, Vanessa Brown, Victor McLaglen, Patricia Medina, Hugo Haas

Synopsis: Frank Yerby's Foxes of Harrow was one of those long historical novels so popular in the 1940s. 20th Century-Fox boiled the novel down into 118 minutes' worth of essentials for this film version. In antebellum New Orleans, roguish Irish gambler Rex Harrison buys his way into society--something he Read More

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman

Actors: Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield, Acquanetta, Edgar Barrier

Synopsis: Johnny Weissmuller's ninth Tarzan film is based on an interesting script by Carroll Young. Tarzan, Jane (Brenda Joyce), their son Boy (Johnny Sheffield), and faithful sidekick Cheta the Chimp stumble upon an entire village in which a peaceful tribe has been wiped out by what looks like murderous Read More

The Perfect Marriage

Actors: Loretta Young, David Niven, Eddie Albert, Charlie Ruggles, Virginia Field

Synopsis: If the Perfect Marriage in this romantic comedy were truly perfect, there wouldn't be any story, would there? Outwardly an ideal couple, Maggie and Dale Williams (Loretta Young, David Niven) have grown tired of one another after 10 years. Petty squabbles lead to major battles, exacerbated by the Read More

The Catman of Paris

Actors: Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert, Adele Mara, Douglas Dumbrille, Gerald Mohr

Synopsis: Horror films were not Republic Pictures' forte, as one can see while watching the stylish but pedestrian Catman of Paris. Carl Esmond stars as Charles Reigner, an amnesia victim who may or may not be fiendish "Catman" who has been cutting a homicial swath throughout Gay Paree. Essentially a Read More

The Return of Monte Cristo

Actors: Louis Hayward, Barbara Britton, George Macready, Una O'Connor, Henry Stephenson

Synopsis: Louis Hayward, star of 1940's Son of Monte Cristo, returns to Alexandre Dumas territory in Columbia's Return of Monte Cristo. This time, Hayward plays the grandson of his namesake Edmond Dantes, who, it will be recalled, was cheated out of his fortune and falsely imprisoned, only to escape and 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

Saratoga Trunk

Actors: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Flora Robson, Jerry Austin, John Warburton

Synopsis: Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper paired off again after For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) with this overwrought melodrama based on the romance novel by Edna Ferber. Bergman plays Clio Dulaine, a beautiful half-Creole woman whose return to 1875 New Orleans from Paris creates a stir. Born out of wedlock Read More

Experiment Perilous

Actors: Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond

Synopsis: Officially based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter, Experiment Perilous would seem to be more inspired by MGM's psychological thriller Gaslight. Set at the turn of the century, the film stars Hedy Lamarr as Allida, the beautiful young wife of an elderly "gentleman" named Nick (Paul Lukas). Treating Read More

Cornered

Actors: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Nina Vale, Micheline Cheirel, Morris Carnovsky

Synopsis: Canadian WW II pilot Gerard (Dick Powell) intends to track down and kill collaborationist Marcel Jarne, the man responsible for the wartime death of Gerard's French wife. The trouble is, Jarne has never been effectively identified by the authorities -- and in fact could be just about anyone whom Read More

Those Endearing Young Charms

Actors: Robert Young, Laraine Day, Ann Harding, Marc Cramer, Anne Jeffreys

Synopsis: Robert Young stars as a WW2 pilot named Hank, who accompanies his pal Jerry (Bill Williams, in his film debut) on a furlough. Jerry introduces his girlfriend Helen (Laraine Day) to Hank, a notorious and unrepentent womanizer. In a twinkling, Hank tries to steal Helen away from Jerry-but succeeds Read More

This Love of Ours

Actors: Merle Oberon, Charles Korvin, Claude Rains, Carl Esmond, Sue England

Synopsis: Doctor Charles Korvin walks out on his musician wife Merle Oberon when he suspects her of infidelity. Twelve years later their paths cross again; Oberon is now saddled with an abusive husband. Possessed of a protective instinct that he hadn't evinced in the first part of the film, Korvin rescues Read More

The Mask of Dimitrios

Actors: Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen

Synopsis: Zachary Scott made his screen debut in this clever bit of film noir that has gained a cult reputation in recent years. Dutch mystery novelist Cornelius Leyden (Peter Lorre) is travelling through Istanbul when he meets Col. Haki (Kurt Katch), head of the secret police and a big fan of Read More

Storm over Lisbon

Actors: Vera Ralston, Richard Arlen, Erich Von Stroheim, Otto Kruger, Eduardo Ciannelli

Synopsis: Leonard Maltin once observed that Storm Over Lisbon is what Casablanca would have looked like had it been produced by Republic instead of Warner Bros. This wartime meller reunites the cast and director of the successful Republic melodrama Lady and the Monster, with less than successful results. Read More

Till We Meet Again

Actors: Ray Milland, Barbara Britton, Walter Slezak, Mona Freeman, Konstantin Shayne, Lucile Watson

Synopsis: One of Hollywood's favorite film titles (next to Never a Dull Moment and The Man Who Dared) is given another go-round with 1944's Till We Meet Again. Ray Milland stars as an American combat pilot forced to crash-land in occupied France. He is sheltered by nun Barbara Britton, who finds herself Read More

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

Actors: Gail Russell, Diana Lynn, James Brown, Bill Edwards, Dorothy Gish

Synopsis: Our Hearts Were Young and Gay was based on the lighthearted joint autobiography of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and humorist Emily Kimbrough. Gail Russell and Diana Lynn star respectively as Cornelia and Emily, two innocent but fun-loving young girls at loose in the Roaring 20s. The story Read More

The Desert Song

Actors: Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning, Bruce Cabot, Victor Francen, Lynne Overman

Synopsis: The popular operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II enjoyed its second screen adaptation with this film, which added four new songs and updated the story to World War II. Paul Hudson (Dennis Morgan), an American veteran of the Spanish Civil War, makes his living playing piano in a Read More

Mission to Moscow

Actors: Walter Huston, Ann Harding, Oscar Homolka, Gene Lockhart, George Tobias, Eleanor Parker

Synopsis: More so than most wartime films, Mission to Moscow must be viewed within the context of its times. Requested by President Roosevelt to make a film supportive of America's Russian allies, Warner Bros. turned to the memoirs of Ambassador Joseph H. Davies, who spent several years prior to WWII in the Read More

Background to Danger

Actors: George Raft, Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Osa Massen

Synopsis: Eric Ambler's intriguing novel Uncommon Danger is brought down to a Republic serial level in Warner Bros.' Background to Danger. George Raft, who always seems miscast, plays an American undercover intelligence agent operating in Turkey. Sultry Osa Massen passes on some valuable secret papers to Raft Read More

Secret Service of Darkest Africa [Serial]

Actors: Rod Cameron, Joan Marsh

Synopsis: Rod Cameron is the virile hero, and Joan Marsh the dauntless heroine; both are Allied secret agents working to outwit the Gestapo in North Africa. The acting honors go to Lionel Royce, who plays the dual role of kindly Sultan Abou Ben Ali and the sadistic German Baron Von Rommler. The baron Read More

Wintertime

Actors: Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, Cornel Wilde, Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, S.Z. Sakall

Synopsis: In her last 20th Century-Fox vehicle, skating star Sonja Henie plays, Nora, a Norwegian expatriate ice champion. Newly arrived in the U.S., Nora and her millionaire uncle Hjallmar (S. Z. Sakall) are sweet-talked into investing in a failing resort hotel, now a hostelry for showbiz folk. Unemployed Read More

Perils of Nyoka

Synopsis: Nyoka Gordon (Kay Aldridge) leads an expedition into the most remote part of the Libyan desert in search of her father, Professor Henry Gordon (Robert Strange), who disappeared while seeking out the long-lost golden tablets of Hippocrates. The tablets, among other attributes, are reputed to Read More

Now, Voyager

Actors: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Bonita Granville, Gladys Cooper, Ilka Chase

Synopsis: Olive Higgins Prouty's popular novel was transformed into nearly two hours of high-grade soap opera by several masters of the trade: Warner Bros., Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, director Irving Rapper, and screenwriter Casey Robinson. Davis plays repressed Charlotte Vale, dying on the vine thanks to Read More

I Married an Angel

Actors: Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Binnie Barnes, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: The final pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, an adaptation of a Rodgers & Hart musical, stars Eddy as a playboy who fantasizes that he is romancing an angel (MacDonald). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Spy Smasher

Synopsis: One of the best serials ever made, Spy Smasher has managed to find favor even among non-serial aficionados. Like his fellow masked avenger, Batman, Spy Smasher possessed no super-human powers but was a mere mortal of flesh and blood. In brief, Spy Smasher, alias Alan Armstrong (Kane Richmond, and Read More

Silver Queen

Actors: George Brent, Priscilla Lane, Bruce Cabot, Lynne Overman, Eugene Pallette

Synopsis: In this Victorian-era adventure, a blue-blooded girl is dismayed to discover that her recently deceased father, a compulsive gambler, has left her destitute and deeply in debt. At one time, he'd had a silver mine but even that was lost at the card table. The man who won the mine learns the Read More

That Hamilton Woman

Actors: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray, Sara Allgood, Gladys Cooper

Synopsis: Acting spouses Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh star in Alexander Korda's tragic tale of the adulterous love affair between Emma Lady Hamilton and Lord Horatio Nelson. The story begins in 1786, as the young and vivacious Emma Hart (Vivien Leigh) marries Sir William Hamilton (Alan Mowbray), the Read More

Paris Calling

Actors: Elisabeth Bergner, Randolph Scott, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Lee J. Cobb

Synopsis: Made just before America's entry into World War II, Paris Calling is one of the earliest French Underground adventures. When the German march into Paris, a polyglot of French patriots organize to undermine the Nazi occupation troops (represented by Lee J. Cobb, who plays his character with a Read More

The Night of January 16th

Actors: Robert Preston, Ellen Drew, Nils Asther, Donald Douglas, Maggie Hayes

Synopsis: Ayn Rand's Broadway stage hit The Night of January 16th was distinguished by a clever gimmick, wherein members of the audience sat in the jury box while a fictional murder trial was conducted: the outcome of the play was thus totally in the hands of the spectators, and accordingly Rand penned two Read More

The Great Lie

Actors: Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor, Hattie McDaniel, Lucile Watson, Grant Mitchell

Synopsis: The Great Lie is Soap Opera Deluxe from Bette Davis' peak period at Warner Bros. Davis plays a socialite who is madly in love with playboy aviator George Brent. Brilliant but bitchy concert pianist Mary Astor (who won a well-deserved Academy Award for her chain-smoking histrionics) is also in love Read More

Road to Zanzibar

Actors: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Una Merkel, Joan Marsh

Synopsis: The second Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" picture casts Crosby as a penny-ante sideshow promoter and Hope as Crosby's only client, "Fearless Frazier." Under Crosby's tutelage, Hope has been shot from a cannon, zapped in an electric chair and nearly strangled by an octopus. Now they're practically Read More

Sullivan's Travels

Actors: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Robert Warwick, Porter Hall

Synopsis: In Preston Sturges' classic comedy of Depression-era America, filmmaker John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), fed up with directing profitable comedies like "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," is consumed with the desire to make a serious social statement in his upcoming film, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" Read More

The Son of Monte Cristo

Actors: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, Florence Bates, Lionel Royce

Synopsis: Though set in 1865, The Son of Monte Cristo is a thinly disguised indictment against 20th century dictatorships. Louis Hayward plays the title character, Edmond Dantes Jr., who while posing as an epicene dandy works tirelessly to topple the regime of fascistic Balkan despot Count Gurko (George Read More

That Night in Rio

Actors: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, J. Carrol Naish, S.Z. Sakall

Synopsis: That Night in Rio is a musical remake of 1934's Folies Bergère. Don Ameche plays a dual role as a middle-aged Brazilian industrialist, and a young Rio de Janeiro cabaret performer who looks just like him. The highlight of the entertainer's act is an imitation of the industrialist, which impresses Read More

Christmas in July

Actors: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr, William Demarest

Synopsis: This modest Preston Sturges comedy stars Dick Powell as an office clerk dreaming of better things and Ellen Drew as his more pragmatic girlfriend. Powell convinces himself that his fortune will be made if he can win a slogan contest sponsored by a coffee company. Powell's contribution: "If you Read More

Turnabout

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, William Gargan, Veree Teasdale

Synopsis: One of several "naughty" screwball comedies based on the works of Thorne Smith (of Topper fame), Hal Roach's Turnabout stars Carole Landis and John Hubbard as unhappily married couple Sally and Tim Willows. Bored with her humdrum existence, Sally spends most of her time figuring out ways of Read More

Comrade X

Actors: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Oscar Homolka, Felix Bressart, Eve Arden

Synopsis: A half-hearted derivation of Ninotchka, Comrade X stars Clark Gable as an American news reporter stationed in Russia. Gable is actually the mysterious Comrade X, who has been smuggling provocative stories about the crumbling Soviet government out of the country. Threatened with exposure by a hotel Read More

Everything Happens at Night

Actors: Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings, Maurice Moscovich, Leonid Kinskey

Synopsis: 20th Century Fox's Christmas gift to moviegoers in 1939, this fanciful comedy-drama features the studio's darling of the ice, Sonja Henie. She plays the daughter of a Nobel Peace Prize-winner feared murdered by the German Gestapo. A couple of rival American newspaper reporters, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings Read More

The Three Musketeers

Actors: Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Binnie Barnes, Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Pauline Moore

Synopsis: Allan Dwan's comedic musical adaptation of the classic Dumas story sticks close to the original tale, yet it augments it with healthy doses of humor and songs. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan and the Ritz Brothers play his two other musketeers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Mr. Moto's Last Warning

Actors: Peter Lorre, Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Field, John Carradine, George Sanders

Synopsis: Japanese detective Mr. Moto finds himself hip-deep in international espionage in this adventure tale. In Port Said, a pair of rogues -- French-born Fabian (Ricardo Cortez) and Englishman Norvel (George Sanders) -- are working for a nameless foreign government and devise a scheme to sabotage French Read More

Indianapolis Speedway

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, John Payne, Gale Page, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: In this drama, a remake of The Crowd Roars, two auto racing brothers become rivals on the racetrack when the older brother tries to keep his younger one from dropping out of school and becoming a driver too. The stubborn younger brother just gets behind the wheel of someone else's car and the race Read More

Pack up Your Troubles

Actors: Jane Withers, The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Lynn Bari, Joseph Schildkraut, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: In this comedy set during WW I, two crazy vaudevillians try their new act out on their agent. He thinks it is a real dud and the boys end up working as mule skinners in France. While there, they meet a French officer's American daughter. Mayhem ensues when they are mistaken German spies Read More

Topper Takes a Trip

Actors: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Veree Teasdale

Synopsis: Except for a few clips from 1937's Topper, Cary Grant is absent from the proceedings of the 1939 sequel Topper Takes a Trip, though his Topper co-stars Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke and Alan Mobray are back in harness and in fine fettle. Picking up where the first film left off, we Read More

Jezebel

Actors: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter

Synopsis: In 1938, Jezebel was widely regarded as Warner Bros.' "compensation" to Bette Davis for her losing the opportunity to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Resemblances between the two properties are inescapable: Jezebel heroine Julie Marsden (Davis) is a headstrong Southern belle not unlike Read More

I'll Give a Million

Actors: Marjorie Weaver, Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt

Synopsis: In this upbeat drama, a disillusioned millionaire, sick to death of the attempts of greedy friends and relatives to sponge off of him, becomes a bum to search for a decent human being. The tale begins as the wealthy man is about to commit suicide by leaping off of his yacht into the sea. He is Read More

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

Actors: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Virginia Field, Sidney Blackmer, Harold Huber

Synopsis: Charlie Chan was the Jessica Fletcher of the 1930s; no matter where he took a vacation, someone got murdered! This time, the wily Chan (Warner Oland) and son Lee (Keye Luke) are on holiday in Monte Carlo when a casino messenger is killed while en route to Paris. The messenger was carrying a Read More

Cafe Metropole

Actors: Loretta Young, Tyrone Power, Adolphe Menjou, Gregory Ratoff, Charles Winninger

Synopsis: Cafe Metropole stars Tyrone Power as an international playboy with a habit of writing rubber checks. Heavily in debt to cafe owner Adolphe Menjou, Power agrees to pose as a Russian nobleman and woo heiress Loretta Young, so that Menjou can get his mitts on the girl's money. Avarice gives way to Read More

Wife, Doctor and Nurse

Actors: Loretta Young, Warner Baxter, Virginia Bruce, Jane Darwell, Sidney Blackmer

Synopsis: Loretta Young is the wife, Warner Baxter the doctor and Virginia Bruce the nurse in this 20th Century-Fox trifle. Society gal Young marries Park Avenue medico Baxter, little guessing that humble nursie Bruce also loves the doc. Young raises vociferous objections, compelling Bruce to leave. Read More

The Seventh Heaven

Actors: Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, Gregory Ratoff, Gale Sondergaard

Synopsis: This romantic tearjerker was the second film based on the popular 1922 stage play. James Stewart stars as Chico, a lowly Paris sewer worker who has abandoned his faith in God and any hope for a brighter future or romance when his prayers go unanswered. Chico meets Diane (Simone Simon), a Read More

That Certain Woman

Actors: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Ian Hunter, Anita Louise, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: Edmund Goulding directed this remake of his own 1929 The Trespasser, which starred Gloria Swanson. Here Bette Davis assumes the lead role of Mary Donnell, a young innocent married to a bootlegger. When her husband is killed, she decides to pursue a better life and gets a job as a secretary to Read More

History is Made at Night

Actors: Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carrillo, Colin Clive, Ivan Lebedeff

Synopsis: History is Made at Night has been described as a romantic tragedy, which it indeed is, up to a point. The film begins deceptively in screwball-comedy fashion with socialite Jean Arthur and handsome head waiter Charles Boyer "meeting cute." But there's nothing cute about Arthur's estranged husband Read More

She's Dangerous

Actors: Tala Birell, Cesar Romero, Walter Pidgeon, Walter Brennan, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: Tala Birell, one of the more talented of the Garbo wannabes of the 1930s, stars in the Universal quickie She's Dangerous. The star is cast as Stephanie, a glamorous private detective who's been hired to track down a gang of bond thieves. She charms her way into the confidence of gang leader Nick Read More

The Sheik Steps Out

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Lola Lane, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Burke, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: In this romantic adventure, a wealthy Arab sheik has a reputation for breeding some of the fastest horses in the world. Meanwhile, the spoiled daughter of a corkscrew magnate bets her British betrothed that she can find a horse that can beat any nag in his stable. She and her father then set out Read More

Fight for Your Lady

Actors: John Boles, Jack Oakie, Ida Lupino, Margot Grahame, Gordon Jones

Synopsis: This musical parody follows the exploits of American performers in Hungary. The story begins as a Yankee wrestling trainer becomes friends with a gringo singer who works in the same Budapest nightclub as a female ventriloquist. When the singer is dumped, the trainer offers to help him with his Read More

Love under Fire

Actors: Loretta Young, Don Ameche, Frances Drake, Walter Catlett

Synopsis: In this detective adventure, a young woman is accused of stealing a valuable necklace from her boss and takes off for Spain just before the Civil War. She is trailed by a detective form Scotland Yard. He finds her and soon falls in love and the two try to flee on a British ship. The story does not Read More

The King and the Chorus Girl

Actors: Fernand Gravey, Joan Blondell, Edward Everett Horton, Alan Mowbray, Jane Wyman

Synopsis: Groucho Marx received co-writer credit (along with his old friend Norman Krasna) for King and the Chorus Girl, though very little Marxian wit is in evidence. What remains is a fun but forgettable comedy about a European monarch (Fernand Gravet) who woos and wins a down-to-earth American chorine (Joan Blondell Read More

Love and Hisses

Actors: Walter Winchell, Ben Bernie, Simone Simon, Bert Lahr, Joan Davis

Synopsis: Before sitting down to watch Love and Hisses, it's important to know that columnist Walter Winchell and bandleader Ben Bernie were engaged in a phony but highly publicized feud in the late 1930s. For the purposes of this film, the source of the Winchell-Bernie contretemps is pretty nightclub Read More

Lloyds of London

Actors: Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, Guy Standing, Tyrone Power, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: Lloyds of London traces the rise to prominence of the venerable British insurance company, as seen through the eyes of fictional 19th-century Londoner Jonathan Blake (Tyrone Power, in his first starring role). A lifelong friend of naval hero Lord Nelson, Blake puts his job (and the future Read More

The Invisible Ray

Actors: Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: The last of Universal's three Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi teamings of the mid-1930s, The Invisible Ray is dominated by Karloff as Dr. Janos Rukh, the inventor of a laser-like heat ray. Despite the scoffing of his colleagues, Rukh intends to use the ray for the benefit of mankind, but first he Read More

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles, Henry Stephenson, Donald Crisp, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Of the many film versions of Alfred Lord Tennyson's narrative poem, 1936's Charge of the Light Brigade has the least relationship to the facts concerning the famous 19th century British military blunder in the Crimea. Reflecting the popularity of 1935's Lives of A Bengal Lancer, the film uses the Read More

Whipsaw

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Harvey Stephens, William Harrigan, Clay Clement

Synopsis: Myrna Loy plays the glamorous member of a trio of jewel thieves. G-Man Spencer Tracy goes undercover to join the gang when it transports its stolen jewels from Paris to New York. Loy falls in love with Tracy, has a change of heart, and quits the gang. But Tracy arrests her all the same when he Read More

Captain Blood

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Lionel Atwill, Ross Alexander

Synopsis: When British actor Robert Donat dropped out of Warner Bros. Captain Blood, the studio took a chance on its new contractee, Tasmania-born Errol Flynn. Adapted from the novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film is set during the oppressive reign of King James II. Irish physician Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) Read More

The White Cockatoo

Actors: Jean Muir, Ricardo Cortez, Ruth Donnelly, Minna Gombell, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Based on a mystery novel by Mignon Eberhart, The White Cockatoo concerns three mysterious murders at a French chateau. The villain seems determined to bump off all the friends and relatives of Sue Talley (Jean Muir) and Jim Sundean (Ricardo Cortez), hoping thereby to get his (or her) hands on the Read More

Folies Bergère

Actors: Maurice Chevalier, Ann Sothern, Merle Oberon, Eric Blore, Ferdinand Munier

Synopsis: This French-language version of the 1935 Hollywood musical Folies Bergere retains the original star (Maurice Chevalier) and director (Roy Del Ruth) and Busby Berkeley's big-scale production numbers. It also follows substantially the same plot: A nightclub entertainer (Chevalier), is hired to pose Read More

The Last Outpost

Actors: Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Gertrude Michael, Kathleen Burke, Colin Tapley

Synopsis: Advertised by Paramount as "Another Lives of the Bengal Lancers," The Last Outpost actually has more in common with two RKO releases, Friends and Lovers and The Lost Patrol. The story takes place during the Kurdistan campaign in WW I. Left to die in the desert, British officer Michael Andrews (Cary Grant Read More

Fashions of 1934

Actors: Bette Davis, William Powell, Veree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Hugh Herbert, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: Now known simply as Fashions, the lavish Warner Bros. musical Fashions of 1934 stars the unlikely but copacetic team of William Powell and Bette Davis. It all begins when genial con artist Sherwood Nash (Powell) transfers his base of operations from New York to Paris. Sensing that the fashion Read More

Stamboul Quest

Actors: Myrna Loy, George Brent, Lionel Atwill

Synopsis: The real-life career of the notorious female spy known as "Fraulein Doktor" inspired several films of the 1930s. Stamboul Quest stars Myrna Loy as a seductive espionage agent, working on behalf of the Kaiser in 1915 Istanbul. American medical student George Brent crosses Loy's path, and the two Read More

The House of Rothschild

Actors: George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: George Arliss plays Nathan Rothschild, the head of a family of celebrated 19th century Jewish bankers. Despite the anti-semitic efforts of a powerful politico (Boris Karloff), Rothschild moves in the best European social circles. He is ultimately knighted for his services to the English crown Read More

Ever in My Heart

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Donnelly, Frank Albertson

Synopsis: An espionage drama set in the early 20th century, Ever in My Heart stars Barbara Stanwyck as a New England naif who marries a German citizen (Otto Kruger). In 1915, Stanwyck and her husband suffer a brace of blows: The death of their son, and the sinking of the Lusitania, the latter Read More

Man Killer

Actors: William Powell, Margaret Lindsay, Ruth Donnelly, Gordon Westcott, James Bell

Synopsis: Romance throws a spanner into the works of a con game in this light drama. Donald Free (William Powell) is a private detective whose career in on the skids. Dan Hogan (Arthur Holh) is another, less scrupulous shamus who persuades Free to help him frame Janet Reynolds (Margaret Lindsay), a wealthy Read More

Queen Christina

Actors: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, Elisabeth Young

Synopsis: If Queen Christina is not the best of Greta Garbo's films (as many Garbo fanatics insist), it is certainly the most luxuriously romantic of her talkie features. The star is cast as 17th-century Swedish queen Christina, who feels that she can best function in a male-dominated world by adopting Read More

The Rich Are Always with Us

Actors: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Adrienne Dore, Bette Davis, John Miljan

Synopsis: A talented cast does its best with a nonsensical script in The Rich are Always With Us. Ruth Chatterton stars as a witty socialite saddled with caddish husband John Miljan. Upon learning that Miljan has been fooling around with Adrienne Dore, Chatterton divorces him, whereupon his brokerage firm Read More

East of Borneo

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

Scotland Yard

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Joan Bennett, Lumsden Hare, Barbara Leonard, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: Dakin Barrolles (played by Edmund Lowe is a criminal who, while escaping from a bank robbery that went wrong, stumbles across a famous banker, Sir John Lasher, and his wife, Xandra. Lasher is deep in his cups, and neither he nor Xandra notice when Barrolles absconds with one of their possessions Read More

Le Spectre Vert

Actors: Jetta Goudal, Pauline Carton, Pauline Garon, André Luguet, Georges Renavent, Jules Raucourt

Synopsis: Le Spectre Vert (The Green Spook) is the French-language version of MGM's The Unholy Night. The original English version was directed by Lionel Barrymore, while the French adaptation was helmed by Jacques Feyder. No changes were made in the plot, which concerned the mysterious methodical murders Read More

Rio Rita

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Sam Nelson, John Boles, Fred Burns, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Don Alvarado, Dorothy Lee

Synopsis: Rio Rita, an expensive filmization of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928, was the first major production for fledgling RKO Radio Studios. Bebe Daniels plays Rita, an Irish-Mexican girl (with thick Hispanic accent) who oversees a large ranch near the Mexican border. Read More

The Light

Synopsis: Theda Bara does her usual vamp turn in this picture, but this time she's a vamp who turns out to have a heart of gold. Her character, Blanchette DuMonde, is known as "the wickedest woman in Paris," and because of this sordid reputation, she is not allowed to serve as a nurse during World War I. So Read More

The Seven Sisters

Synopsis: An old Hungarian story was the basis for the Marguerite Clark vehicle Seven Sisters. The story takes place in a Budapest household, where it is believed that if one of the younger daughters marries first, her older siblings will be doomed to live out their lives as old maids. The youngest Read More