Keye LukeFilmography

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Actors: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo

Synopsis: Where the original Gremlins was a horror film spiked with comedy, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is essentially a black comedy, with a couple of horrifying touches. As the film starts, the fantastical trinket shop in Chinatown, which sold the Mogwai in the first film, is demolished by a crazed Read More

The Mighty Quinn

Actors: Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend, James Fox, Mimi Rogers, M. Emmet Walsh

Synopsis: Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a Read More

Dead Heat

Actors: Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost, Darren McGavin, Vincent Price

Synopsis: Although many genre filmmakers have managed to blend horror and humor with great success, movies employing this formula often run the risk of both elements canceling each other out, resulting in a horror comedy that is neither scary nor funny. Alas, Dead Heat is a textbook example of this kind of Read More

Night Court: Mac's Dilemma

Synopsis: Mac (Charlie Robinson) finds himself on the horns of an ethical dilemma when his old Vietnam buddy Hondo (David Graf) is hauled into court after a nightclub brawl. Facing a long prison term, Hondo begs Mac to hack the court computer and delete his prior criminal record. Meanwhile, an elderly Read More

A Fine Mess

Actors: Ted Danson, Howie Mandel, Richard Mulligan, Stuart Margolin, Maria Conchita Alonso

Synopsis: Blake Edwards comes a cropper in this lunk-headed slapstick homage to Laurel and Hardy, Mack Sennett, and Jerry Lewis. Ted Danson and Howie Mandell play Spence Holden and Dennis Powell, a couple of idiots who find themselves involved with a pack of gangsters. Spence is a two-bit actor who is at a Read More

Jonny Quest [TV Series]

Actors: Scott Menville, Granville van Dusen, Rob Paulsen, Don Messick

Synopsis: Twenty-one years after ending its original ABC prime-time run in 1965, the Hanna Barbera animated adventure series Jonny Quest was revived with 13 brand-new episodes as a component of the weekend syndicated package "Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera." All of the original characters were revived Read More

Kung Fu: The Movie

Actors: David Carradine, Brandon Lee, Kerrie Keane, Mako, Martin Landau

Synopsis: This 2-hour revival of the old David Carradine TV series was originally titled simply Kung Fu. Set in the west of the late 19th century, the film stars Carradine as Caine, the mystical Chinese-American priest who wanders the countryside seeking spiritual fulfillment-and occasionally busting a few Read More

Blood Sport

Actors: William Shatner, Heather Locklear, James Darren, Don Murray, Kim Miyori

Synopsis: Not to be confused with the 1975 TV movie Bloodsport, this 1986 production was a spin-off of the recently cancelled police drama series T.J. Hooker. William Shatner is back as the aforementioned Hooker, a cop on special assignment to Hawaii (where the film was lensed). Accompanied by longtime Read More

Night Court: The Apartment

Synopsis: Dan (John Larroquette) is more put out than pleased when Harry (Harry Anderson) throws a surprise birthday party in his honor; it seems that the libidinous prosecutor has arranged a hot date in his own pad for midnight. Alas, it looks as though Dan will miss his romantic rendezvous, thanks to a Read More

Blade in Hong Kong

Actors: Terry Lester, Keye Luke, Jean-Marie Hon, Ken Fagan

Synopsis: Terry Lester stars as Joe Blade in this unclaimed TV pilot film. An American, Blade works in Hong Kong, the home of his adoptive father Keye Luke. When Luke is killed and a wealthy man is kidnapped, Blade springs into action (Maybe he's a switch-Blade. Forget we said that.) Ellen Regan, Leslie Nielsen Read More

Gremlins

Actors: Zach Galligan, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain, Phoebe Cates, Polly Holliday

Synopsis: "Don't expose him to bright light. Don't ever get him wet. And don't ever, ever feed him after midnight." This sage advice is ignored midway through Gremlins, with devastating results. This comic Joe Dante effort is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town at Christmastime. Seeking a unique gift Read More

The A-Team: The Maltese Cow

Synopsis: The Golden Pagoda, a Chinese restaurant owned by Wan Chu (James Hong) and sponsored by the A-Team, has been targeted for harassment by a local criminal gang. Things take a sinister turn when it is revealed that Tommy Chen (Peter Kwong), the boyfriend of Wan Chu's daughter Sun (Lydia Lei), is Read More

Magnum, P.I.: Forty Years From Sand Island

Synopsis: Magnum (Tom Selleck) embarks upon a personal vendetta against the unknown culprit who nearly killed Higgins (John Hillerman) by tampering with the brakes of his car. It turns out that this murder attempt is linked with Higgins' current efforts to research an incident which occurred in 1942 at an Read More

Cocaine and Blue Eyes

Actors: O.J. Simpson, Candy Clark, Cindy Pickett

Synopsis: Cocaine and Blue Eyes was the pilot film for a TV detective series starring former footballer O.J. Simpson (who also produced the film). Playing a private eye in San Francisco, Simpson is hired by a man who ends up seriously dead. The deceased client had wanted Simpson to locate a former girl Read More

Fly Away Home

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Fly Away Home was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. Bruce Boxleitner stars as Carl Danton, a combat photographer assigned to Vietnam. This time around, Danton is compelled to cover the Tet Offensive--and to battle with bureaucratic red tape in order to maintain his Read More

M*A*S*H: Death Takes a Holiday

Synopsis: It looks like the 4077th won't get the Christmas turkey dinner they'd been promised. The only staffer not feeling sorry for himself is Father Mulcahy (William Christopher), who is more concerned that a group of local youngsters will not be properly fed. Mulcahy takes up a collection for the kids Read More

M*A*S*H: A Night at Rosie's

Synopsis: Hawkeye (Alan Alda) seeks out refuge from the unending parade of casualties by holing up in Rosie's Bar. While downing a convivial "breakfast" of cereal and beer, Hawkeye sees no pressing need to return to the 4077th--and before long, all the other doctors have joined our hero at Rosie's. Read More

Just You and Me, Kid

Actors: George Burns, Brooke Shields, Burl Ives, Lorraine Gary, Nicolas Coster

Synopsis: In this comedy, an elderly ex-vaudevillian is surprised to find a naked young woman in the trunk of his car. He soon discovers that she is a runaway fleeing from both the police and an enraged drug dealer she cheated out of $20,000. Meanwhile, the codger's daughter continually attempts to get him Read More

M*A*S*H: Patient 4077

Synopsis: The busiest person on this M*A*S*H episode is an adroit Korean jeweler, Mr. Shin (Keye Luke). His knowhow comes in quite handy when an emergency replacement is needed for Margaret's (Loretta Swit) wedding ring, which Klinger (Jamie Farr) unwittingly threw in the trash. But Mr. Shin's biggest Read More

Quincy, M.E.: Touch of Death

Synopsis: In an episode obviously inspired by the death of Bruce Lee, Quincy's assistant Sam (Robert Ito) takes it personally when his cousin Tad Kimura, a martial-arts movie star, dies mysteriously while filming his latest picture. As Quincy (Jack Klugman) prepares to perform an autopsy, Sam begs him not Read More

The Amsterdam Kill

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Bradford Dillman, Richard Egan, Leslie Nielsen, Keye Luke

Synopsis: Robert Mitchum seems more aloof and detached than usual in the Hong Kong-produced crime caper Amsterdam Kill. Mitchum plays a washed-up police officer, hired by DEA agent Bradford Dillman to help plug up a security leak. Someone is blabbing the name of the department's contacts in Hong Kong, and Read More

Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood

Actors: Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, Phil Silvers, Ron Leibman

Synopsis: This spoof makes fun of a certain famous German shepherd movie star from the 1920s. The mayhem begins when the head honcho of a financially struggling studio turns a lost dog into a legend. The story features a number of old stars making cameo appearances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kung Fu: Season 03

Synopsis: Season three of Kung Fu occasionally relieves the loneliness of Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine), the ex-Shaolin priest who, escaping from his native China after the justifiable killing of a nobleman, has found his way to the American West of the 1860s in search of his long-lost American brother Read More

Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders

Synopsis: In this interesting murder mystery a Chinese detective from the 7th century must solve a strange case involving a trio of wives, an amputee, and a deceased monk. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kung Fu: Season 02

Synopsis: As Kung Fu enters its second season, the mystical, mysterious Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine), a half-Chinese, half-American who had once studied for a Shaolin priesthood in his native China, continues wandering through the American West of the 1860s, still in search of his long-lost brother Read More

The Cat Creature

Actors: John Carradine, Gale Sondergaard

Synopsis: Cat Creature is a heady Curtis Harrington combination of high-gloss production values and spinechilling terror. A curse imposed thousands of years ago by a cat goddess wreaks havoc in the 20th century--all for the purpose of retrieving a long-lost golden amulet. Gale Sondergaard, whose association Read More

Kung Fu: Season 01

Synopsis: Season one of Kung Fu finds Chinese-American drifter Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) solemnly making his way across the Old West, escaping a murder charge (albeit justified murder) hanging over him from his native China. Having once studied for a Shaolin priesthood, Caine is a man of peace and Read More

Adam-12: Mary Hong Loves Tommy Chen

Synopsis: A crime wave sweeps through Los Angeles' Chinatown district, and an undercover police officer is shot. Investigating, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) find that virtually the entire community has been intimidated into silence by a rampaging youth gang. And in a Read More

Kung Fu

Actors: David Carradine, Barry Sullivan, Keith Carradine

Synopsis: David Carradine first stepped into the sandals of taciturn martial-arts expert Caine in the made-for-TV pilot film Kung Fu. A Chinese/American priest, Caine must flee to the United States after he is forced to kill a royal nephew. He wanders the American West of the 1860s, keeping his cool until Read More

Adam-12: Log 56: Vice Versa

Synopsis: It's an unhappy birthday for Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) when he forgets to renew his driver's license. As a result, Malloy's partner is forced to take the wheel of Adam-12 for the first time--and both men are nervous over the prospect. This episode's case log includes a fatalistic bank Read More

Noon Sunday

Synopsis: The scene a remote South Sea island. A minor skirmish between rival soldiers snowballs into a potential catastrophe. A standoff between "us" and "them" threatens to heat up the cold war to the boiling point. There's plenty of preliminary bloodletting before the final high-noon showdown. Mark Read More

The Hawaiians

Actors: Charlton Heston, Geraldine Chaplin, John Phillip Law, Tina Chen, Alec McCowen

Synopsis: The Hawaiians is the sequel to 1969's Hawaii; both films were adapted from the same sprawling novel by James A. Michener. Charlton Heston is top-billed as a sailor who returns to his Hawaiian homestead, only to learn that his grandfather's fortune has been bestowed upon his hated cousin Alec McCowan Read More

The Chairman

Actors: Gregory Peck, Anne Heywood, Arthur Hill, Alan Dobie, Conrad Yama

Synopsis: J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) directed this Cold War action thriller. Gregory Peck is the American Dr. John Hathaway, a Noble Prize-winning scientist, teaching at a university in London. Lieutenant General Shelby (Arthur Hill), from the American Embassy, asks Hathaway to go on a mission Read More

Project X

Actors: Christopher George, Greta Baldwin, Henry Jones, Monte Markham, Harold Gould

Synopsis: Project X boasts better special effects than usual for tight-fisted producer/director William Castle, but it crumbles in the story department. Christopher George is a secret agent living in the year 2118, who through a complex scientific charade is convinced that he's living in 1968. The plan is Read More

Nobody's Perfect

Actors: Bea Bradley, Steve Carlson, Marian Collier, Jill Donahue

Synopsis: This military comedy finds chief petty officer Doc Willoughby (Doug McClure) on board the submarine U.S.S. Bustard. He spends the majority of his off-duty time chasing women, getting in fights and trying to stay one step ahead of the irascible commanding officer. He scatters cockroaches in the Read More

Family Affair: The Great Kow-Tow

Synopsis: Keye Luke guest stars as Grandfather Chang, a venerable Chinese gentleman whose interest in life is renewed by his friendship with twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker). Unofficially "adopted" by Mr. Chang, the kids reciprocate by adopting Chinese behavior and customs--or at least Read More

The F.B.I.: The Courier

Synopsis: World-renowned humanitarian Juliet Sinclair (Ruth Roman) has arrived in America to deliver a cute Chinese orphan girl named Linh (Cherylene Lee) to loving couple named Kenyon (Gene Hackman, Phyllis Love). What the general public doesn't know is that Juliet is also a Communist courier, and that her Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: Aunt Bee's Restaurant

Actors: Keye Luke, Jack Dodson

Synopsis: Pulling $400 out of the bank, Aunt Bee invests in the Canton Palace, Mayberry's new Chinese restaurant. When the establishment takes in a whopping $80 on its opening night, Bee thinks she's got it made. But when she opens a Chinese fortune cookie, the prediction contained therein gives her reason Read More

The F.B.I.: The Spy-Master

Synopsis: In hopes of smashing a Red spy ring, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) poses as Adam Rogers, a foreign service worker. As expected, the undercover Erskine is approached by Chinese agents and asked to spy on his own country. The "maguffin" in this story is a document known as the Forsythe Read More

Jonny Quest: The Sea Haunt

Actors: Tim Mathieson, Mike Road, Danny Bravo, Don Messick

Synopsis: In the Java Sea, the Quest team -- Jonny, Dr. Benton, Race, and Hadji -- come across the "Star of Borneo," a disabled freighter carrying a mysterious cargo. Investigating, the party comes to the conclusion that the crew was killed by some sort of sea monster. The truth, however, turns out to be Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Feather Cloak

Synopsis: Perry (Raymond Burr) and Paul (William Hopper) arrive in beautiful Hawaii to investigate the viability of a land deal between Jarvis Logan (John Van Dreelen) and the Pan-Pacific Hotel chain. Logan wants to purchase Kameamea Point, which cuts into his property straight down the middle, but the deal Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Weary Watchdog

Synopsis: Janet Brent (Mala Powers), a close friend of Perry Mason's secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale), is being blackmailed by Edward Franklin (John Dall), an employee of Janet's husband Alton (Wesley Addy). Franklin has in his possession some faked photos that could ruin the Brents' marriage and Read More

The Yangtse Incident

Actors: Richard Todd, William Hartnell, Akim Tamiroff, Donald Houston, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The Yangtse Incident is the saga of the Amethyst, a British vessel left stranded in China during the Communist takeover. The British government tries to reclaim the Amethyst, only to run up against a Great Wall of Red bureaucracy and propaganda. It is up to Lieutenant Commander Kearns (Richard Todd Read More

Around the World in 80 Days

Actors: David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton, Shirley MacLaine, Charles Boyer

Synopsis: Razzle-dazzle showman Michael Todd hocked everything he had to make this spectacular presentation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in 80 Days, the second film to be lensed in the wide-screen Todd-AO production. Nearly as fascinating as the finished product are the many in-production Read More

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Actors: William Holden, Jennifer Jones, Torin Thatcher, Isobel Elsom, Virginia Gregg, Murray Matheson

Synopsis: Based on the autobiographical novel by Han Suyin, Love is a Many Splendored Thing was evocatively location-filmed in Hong Kong. Jennifer Jones plays Ms. Suyin, a Eurasian doctor and the widow of a Chinese general. She falls in love with American news correspondent Mark Elliot (William Holden), who Read More

Gunsmoke: The Queue

Synopsis: Matt (James Arness) comes to the rescue of Chen (Keye Luke), a inarticulate, impoverished Chinese cook who is being taunted by a pair of lowlifes named Rabb (Robert Gist) and Braden (Devlin McCarthy). The discovery that Chen speaks perfect English when not in public is almost as surprising to Matt Read More

Hell's Half Acre

Actors: Wendell Corey, Evelyn Keyes, Nancy Gates, Elsa Lanchester, Marie Windsor

Synopsis: Hell's Half Acre was written directly for the screen by Steve Fisher, whose I Wake Up Screaming remains one of the definitive "film noirs". The scene is a rundown section of Honolulu, where there dwells a group of wannabes, hasbeens and never-weres. While trying to go straight in this environment Read More

The Bamboo Prison

Actors: Robert Francis, Dianne Foster, Brian Keith, Jerome Courtland, E.G. Marshall

Synopsis: American POWs struggle to escape from a North Korean camp. While this is basically a remake of Stalag 17, it does feature interesting scenes of a North Korean brainwashing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

World for Ransom

Actors: Dan Duryea, Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: World for Ransom is an unofficial extension of the popular 1950s TV series China Smith. Most of the Smith personnel, including star Dan Duryea, director Robert Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph Biroc, are on hand for this inexpensive but well-mounted melodrama. Duryea plays a mercenary adventurer Read More

Fair Wind to Java

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Vera Ralston, Robert Douglas, Victor McLaglen, John Russell

Synopsis: Republic Pictures' notion of an "epic", Fair Wind to Java manages to pack in enough entertainment value to send the adventure fans home happy. Tough South Seas skipper Fred MacMurray goes hunting for pearls on a forbidden Javanese island. Native girl Vera Ralston (never mind her Czech accent) Read More

South Sea Woman

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Chuck Connors, Barry Kelley, Arthur Shields, Hayden Rorke

Synopsis: Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo, the stars of 1950's Flame and the Arrow, are reteamed in the lusty adventure romp South Sea Woman. It all begins at the military trial of Marine sergeant O'Hearn (Burt Lancaster), facing a court-martial for desertion. In flashback, O'Hearn recalls how he was Read More

Terry and the Pirates: Macao Gold

Young Man With a Horn

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, Juano Hernandez

Synopsis: The life of tragic jazz great Bix Beiderbecke is given the "a clef" treatment in Warner Bros. Young Man With a Horn. Kirk Douglas plays the Beiderbecke character, here named Rick Martin. An ace trumpter player, Martin is one of the few white musicians to flourish in the black-dominated jazz scene Read More

The Sky Dragon

Actors: Roland Winters, Keye Luke, Mantan Moreland, Tim Ryan, Milburn Stone

Synopsis: Film historian Leonard Maltin has labelled this final entry in Monogram's "Charlie Chan" series as "embarrassing," but it's not quite as bad as its reputation would indicate. True, star Roland Winters steadfastly refuses to take his characterization of Charlie Chan seriously, but that's part of Read More

Waterfront at Midnight

Actors: William Gargan, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Travis, Richard Crane, Cheryl Walker

Synopsis: The Pine-Thomas action/adventure assembly line put together another winner with Waterfront at Midnight. Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow (Richard Travis), detective Mike Hanrohan (William Gargan) is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny (Richard Crane) has Read More

The Feathered Serpent

Synopsis: In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Chan must find out who has been killing people over rare antiques. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Sleep, My Love

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche, Hazel Brooks, Rita Johnson, George Coulouris

Synopsis: This noir mystery thriller was produced by Mary Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers, and directed by Douglas Sirk. Claudette Colbert stars as Alison Courtland, a wealthy New York socialite who awakens on a Boston-bound train with no memory of how she got there. A kindly older woman, Mrs. Read More

Texaco Star Theater [TV Series]

Actors: Milton Berle

Dark Delusion

Actors: Warner Anderson, Art Baker, Lionel Barrymore, Marie Blake, Lucille Bremer

Synopsis: After 15 entries, MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series came to a quiet end with Dark Delusion. Although Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), crusty chief surgeon at Blair General Hospital, is officially the leading character, most of the footage is devoted to Gillespie's outspoken protégé, Dr. Tommy Read More

How Do You Do?

Actors: Bert Gordon, Harry Von Zell, Cheryl Walker, Frank Albertson, Ella Mae Morse

Synopsis: How Dooo You Do? offers two refugees from radio's Eddie Cantor Show, Bert Gordon and Harry Von Zell, as an erstwhile comedy team. The film's title is a catchphrase of Gordon's, who gained famed in the 1940s as "The Mad Russian". Seeking refuge from their fans, Gordon and Von Zell head to Desert Read More

Lost City of the Jungle

Synopsis: British character actor Lionel Atwill, in his final performance, appeared as a power-mad Englishman attempting to rule the world in this 13 chapter Universal serial. Sir Eric Hazarias (Atwill) is searching the mountains of Himalaya for Metorium 245, the only known antidote to the Bomb. Sir Eric is Read More

Tokyo Rose

Actors: Lotus Long, Byron Barr, Osa Massen, Donald Douglas, Richard Loo

Synopsis: Tokyo Rose is a standard wartime melodrama with the slight advantage of topicality. Lotus Long plays the title role, an American-educated Japanese woman broadcasting enemy propaganda to American troops. Captured GI Pete Sherman (Byron Barr) is one of a group of POWS slated to be interviewed on Read More

First Yank into Tokyo

Actors: Barbara Hale, Richard Loo, Keye Luke, Leonard Strong

Synopsis: This WW II drama is the first to deal with the fateful atomic bomb attack on Japan. Originally, the film centered on the acquisition of a new kind of gun, but as it was in production during the time the Bomb was dropped, the producers were quick to change the story to suit the times. It tells the Read More

Secret Agent X-9 [Serial] [1945]

Synopsis: Based on the '30s comic-strip character, Secret Agent X-9 was a black-and-white adventure serial from Universal. This 1945 version stars a young Lloyd Bridges as the American hero Phil Corrigan, also known as Secret Agent X-9. He joins up with Chinese agent Ah Fong (Keye Luke) and Australian agent Read More

Three Men in White

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Marilyn Maxwell, Keye Luke, Ava Gardner

Synopsis: MGM's popular Dr. Kildare series spanned 1938-47. Lew Ayres played the title character, but parted in 1942. Though crusty and craggly Lionel Barrymore, portrayed Dr. Gillespie (one of {%Kildare's contemporaries at Blair General Hospital)) from the beginning of the series, he initially came second Read More

Between Two Women

Actors: Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, Marilyn Maxwell

Synopsis: The oft-used movie title Between Two Women was resurrected once more for this entry in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series. Though Kildare is nowhere to be found, Lionel Barrymore is very much in evidence as Dr. Leonard Gillespie, crusty chief surgeon of Blair General Hospital. Gillespie's assistant is Dr. Read More

Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden, Sara Haden, Herbert Marshall

Synopsis: College boy Andy continues his studies in this comedy. Well, at least he should be studying. Unfortunately, he seems to be more interested in the pretty co-eds, especially the rambunctious Wilde twins. They cause poor Andy so much trouble that he begins plotting to drop out of school. Fortunately Read More

Dragon Seed

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Aline MacMahon, Akim Tamiroff, Turhan Bey, J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis: This lavish, 145-minute cinemadaptation of the Pearl Buck best-seller Dragon Seed was intended by MGM as a followup to the studio's successful film version of Buck's The Good Earth. In true Hollywood fashion, the Chinese protagonists are all played by Caucasian actors, with fascinating if not Read More

Adventures of Smilin' Jack [Serial]

Synopsis: The 12-episode Universal serial The Adventures of Smilin' Jack is based on the Zack Mosely comic strip of the same name. The title character-minus his trademarked pencil moustache-is played by Tom Brown. Departing radically from the characters and situations of the original funny-paper version Read More

Salute to the Marines

Actors: William Lundigan, Wallace Beery, Reginald Owen, Fay Bainter, Keye Luke, Ray Collins

Synopsis: In this wartime comedy drama an ultra-macho but aging Marine sergeant does all he can to keep his men intimidated and towing the line while they are stationed in the Philippines at the beginning of WW II. The tough-as-nails jarhead does have a terrible secret though--he has never been involved in Read More

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Donna Reed, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The third of MGM's Dr. Kildare series to dispense with the services of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case stars crusty old Lionel Barrymore in the title role. The first half of the film concerns Gillespie's efforts to expedite the romance of Army sergeant Orisin (Michael Duane) Read More

Across the Pacific

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Charles Halton, Victor Sen Yung, Keye Luke

Synopsis: A lively espionage drama that reunited the stars and director of the previous year's The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific was originally envisioned as the story of a Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Real-life events of December of 1941, however, precluded such a scenario and the location was changed Read More

A Tragedy at Midnight

Actors: John Howard, Margaret Lindsay, Roscoe Karns, Mona Barrie, Keye Luke

Synopsis: In this mystery, a married pair of sleuths enjoy solving the cases that stump the cops. The husband uses his popular radio show to solve the crimes; this does not endear him to the police. The pair end up being chased by the cops after they go to a friend's apartment and find the occupant slain. Read More

A Yank on the Burma Road

Actors: Laraine Day, Barry Nelson, Stuart Crawford, Keye Luke

Synopsis: Mercenary taxi driver Joe Tracy (Barry Nelson) is the Yank on the Burma Road in this MGM second feature. For strictly monetary reasons, Joe agrees to shepherd a caravan of medical supplies through Burma and into China. Going along for the ride is Gail Farwood (Laraine Day), who'd been stranded in Read More

Journey for Margaret

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, Robert Young, Laraine Day, Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: This wartime weeper could just as well have been titled Stardom for Margaret, inasmuch as it solidified the popularity of that remarkable child actress Margaret O'Brien. While visiting London, American married couple Robert Young and Laraine Day are caught in the middle of the 1940 blitz. Read More

Somewhere I'll Find You

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling, Patricia Dane, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Unable to convince their isolationist New York editor (Charles Dingle) that America must be alerted to the threat of encroaching Nazism, pugnacious war correspondents Johnny and Kirk Davis (Clark Gable and Robert Sterling) are relieved of their European assignments. Back in the USA, Johnny Read More

The Falcon's Brother

Actors: George Sanders, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Don Barclay, Cliff Clark

Synopsis: When George Sanders announced that he was leaving the "Falcon" series, RKO Radio came up with the perfect replacement: Sanders' own brother, Tom Conway. The transition was handled with style in The Falcon's Brother, with private detective Gay Lawrence (Sanders), aka The Falcon, incapacitated early Read More

Invisible Agent

Actors: Ilona Massey, Jon Hall, Peter Lorre, Cedric Hardwicke, J. Edward Bromberg

Synopsis: Universal's "Invisible Man" series does its bit for the war effort in this slyly tongue-in-cheek action melodrama. Jon Hall stars as Frank Raymond, grandson of the man who invented the invisibility formula several pictures back. When Nazi agents try to coerce the secret formula out of Raymond, he Read More

Spy Ship

Actors: Craig Stevens, Irene Manning, Maris Wrixon, Peter Whitney

Synopsis: It takes a while for the viewer to catch on, but the 1942 quickie Spy Ship is a remake of the 1934 crime melodrama Fog Over Frisco. The main difference is that the film's principal murder victim, the sister of the heroine, is transformed from a dizzy socialite to an out-and-out villainess. The Read More

Mexican Spitfire's Elephant

Actors: Lupe Velez, Walter Reed, Elizabeth Risdon, Lydia Bilbrook

Synopsis: This raucous series entry reunites Lupe Velez as Carmelita (aka "The Mexican Spitfire") and Leon Errol as Uncle Matt, with Walter Reed taking over from Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Carmelita's staid American husband Dennis Lindsay. The titular elephant is a tiny glass figurine, brought back from a Read More

North to the Klondike

Actors: Broderick Crawford, Evelyn Ankers, Andy Devine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Lloyd Corrigan

Synopsis: It was an open secret in Hollywood that bosom buddies (and fellow Universal contractees) Broderick Crawford and Lon Chaney Jr. usually spent their weekend drunkenly punching one another out. Evidently Universal hoped to harness this pugnacity for box-offices purposes, which may be why North to the Read More

Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Susan Peters, Richard Quine, Keye Luke

Synopsis: On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) realizes that it's time to appoint a new assistant to replace young Dr. Kildare. Gillespie is obliged to choose from three highly qualified candidates: Dr. Randall "Red" Adams (Van Johnson), Dr. Lee Wong How (Keye Luke) Read More

Destination Unknown

Actors: William Gargan, Irene Hervey, Sam Levene, Turhan Bey, Keye Luke

Synopsis: No relation to the 1933 film of the same name, the 1942 Universal programmer Destination Unknown stars William Gargan as a pilot for General Chennault's Flying Tigers. As such, Gargan is on hand to witness Japanese skullduggery in China, long before Pearl Harbor. When a cache of jewels, intended Read More

The Green Hornet Strikes Again [Serial]

Actors: Warren Hull, Keye Luke, Pierre Watkin

Synopsis: A sequel to The Green Hornet, The Green Hornet Strikes Again is a 15-chapter serial that was based upon characters from the popular radio and pulp series. The Green Hornet (Warren Hull) is actually Britt Reid, fearless newspaper publisher, who dons the Hornet's guise to battle criminals that have Read More

The Gang's All Here

Actors: Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, Mantan Moreland, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The Monogram publicity machine advertised Gang's All Here as a story of "Young Americans Fighting for Their Rights." Young driver Frankie (Frankie Darro) decides to take on a gang of truck hijackers single-handed, running into opposition from the crooked district manager behind the crime spree. Read More

Mr. and Mrs. North

Actors: Gracie Allen, William Post, Jr., Paul Kelly, Rose Hobart, Virginia Grey

Synopsis: "Mr. and Mrs. North" started as a series of comic articles about a Park Avenue married couple, written by Richard and Frances Lockridge. One of these articles was "The Norths Solve a Murder", which was adapted as a stage play by Owen Davis Sr. and was later spun off into a popular radio and TV Read More

Let's Go Collegiate

Actors: Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, Keye Luke, Mantan Moreland

Synopsis: In this collegiate drama, a team of college oarsmen promise their gals that they will win the big race. Unfortunately, it looks as if their victory will go to another team after their strongest rower is drafted. The sly, enterprising lads end up replacing him with a truck driver on the sly. Songs Read More

Burma Convoy

Actors: Charles Bickford, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Albertson, Cecil Kellaway, Willie Fung

Synopsis: This action film is set in Asia during World War II and follows the exploits of a truck driver who must investigate the mysterious death of his younger brother. The trucker had been driving in convoys along the dangerous Burma Road between Rangoon and Chungking for a long time when he decided it Read More

Bowery Blitzkrieg

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Warren Hull, Charlotte Henry

Synopsis: Former Dead End Kid Huntz Hall made his first appearance with the East Side Kids in 1941's Bowery Blitzkrieg. The plotline concentrates on Danny Breslin (Bobby Jordan), a good kid in danger of going bad thanks to the influence of two-bit crook Monk Martin (Bobby Stone). When Danny is disqualified Read More

No Hands on the Clock

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Rose Hobart, Dick Purcell, Astrid Allwyn

Synopsis: Detective Chester Morris and his nosy wife Jean Parker set up housekeeping in a small Reno hotel room, whence Morris conducts his investigation of a kidnap case. It appears that the abduction has some tenuous connection with a recent bank robbery. As Morris digs deeper, he finds that virtually all Read More

They Met in Bombay

Actors: Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, Peter Lorre, Reginald Owen, Matthew Boulton, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: They Met in Bombay is a typical MGM star vehicle, in which the leading players are called upon to carry a pencil-thin plotline on the force of sheer personality. Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell play Gerald Meldrick and Anya Von Duren, a pair of rival jewel thieves at large in India. Both parties Read More

Phantom of Chinatown

Actors: Keye Luke, Lotus Long, Grant Withers, Paul McVey, Charles Miller

Synopsis: In the last of Monogram's "Mr. Wong" whodunits, Keye Luke takes over from Boris Karloff as the Chinese detective Jimmy Lee Wong, more of an amateur sleuth, really, than his eminent predecessor. The subject for Wong's examination is the poisoning of Dr. Benton (Charles F. Miller), the leader of an Read More

No, No Nanette

Actors: Anna Neagle, Richard Carlson, Victor Mature, Roland Young, Helen Broderick

Synopsis: No, No, Nanette was the second film version of the popular Otto Harbach-Vincent Youmans Broadway musical. Though slightly updated, the basic plot remains the same, with heroine Nanette (Anna Neagle) entering into a financial arrangement whereby she must answer "No" to every question during a Read More

The Green Hornet [Serial]

Actors: Gordon Jones

Synopsis: The 13-episode Universal serial The Green Hornet is based on the radio series of the same name. Gordon Jones stars as Britt Reid, crusading young publisher of the Daily Sentinel, who matches wits with the underworld by disguising himself as the Green Hornet. So far as police are concerned, the Read More

Sued for Libel

Actors: Kent Taylor, Linda Hayes, Lillian Bond, Morgan Conway, Richard Lane

Synopsis: Thanks to a practical joker, hotshot radio newscaster Steve (Kent Taylor) announces that prominent financier Pomeroy (Morgan Conway) has been convicted of murder. When it turns out that Pomeroy has been acquitted, Steve, his radio station and the newspaper that owns it are slapped with libel Read More

Disputed Passage

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Akim Tamiroff, John Howard, Judith Barrett, William Collier, Sr.

Synopsis: Idealism vs. Practicality is the Disputed Passage in this lavishly mounted soap opera. Based on a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (The Robe, Magnificent Obsession) the film stars John Howard as young medical student John Wesley Beaven. In the course of his education, Beaven is torn between two Read More

Barricade

Actors: Alice Faye, Warner Baxter, Charles Winninger, Arthur Treacher, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The gathering war clouds in the late 1930s prompted a number of Hollywood films about recent political upheavals, one of which was 20th Century-Fox's Barricade. While fleeing war-torn China by train, two Americans-singer Emmy Jordan (Alice Faye) and journalist Hank Topping (Warner Baxter)-are Read More

North of Shanghai

Actors: James Craig, Betty Furness, Keye Luke, Morgan Conway

Synopsis: In this newspaper drama, a female reporter and a newsreel cameraman are both assigned to cover the Sino-Japanese war. They meet on the boat ride over and decide to team up. They are further assisted by a Chinese cameraman. The three of them manage to expose of spy ring operating out of the Read More

International Settlement

Actors: Dolores Del Rio, George Sanders, June Lang, Dick Baldwin, Ruth Terry

Synopsis: In this adventure, set in Shanghai, a gunrunner gets entangled with a conspiracy to deliver customs certificates. Unfortunately, his contact has died and the money has disappeared. He being pursued by other smugglers when Japanese bombs are dropped. He is saved from the firestorm by a French 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

Charlie Chan on Broadway

Actors: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Joan Marsh, J. Edward Bromberg, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: In New York to attend a police testimonial in his honor, Honolulu detective Charlie Chan runs smack dab into another murder. The victim is a blackmailing nightclub singer who had listed the names of all known criminals in Manhattan in her diary. The diary disappears, and Charlie joins a glib Read More

Charlie Chan at the Olympics

Actors: Allan Lane, Warner Oland, Katherine de Mille, Pauline Moore, Keye Luke, C. Henry Gordon

Synopsis: Actual footage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics is rabbeted into the action of this superior Charlie Chan entry. Assigned by the U.S. Navy to track down a gang of international spies, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Berlin, where as luck would have it his son Lee (Keye Luke) is representing the Read More

The Good Earth

Actors: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly, Tilly Losch, Charles Grapewin

Synopsis: Based on Donald Davis and Owen Davis' stage-adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's sprawling novel, Sidney Franklin's The Good Earth is the story of a Chinese farming couple whose lives are torn apart by poverty, greed, and nature. Paul Muni stars as Wang Lung a hardworking, but poor, farmer who weds 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

Charlie Chan at the Circus

Actors: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, J. Carrol Naish, Francis Ford, Maxine Reiner

Synopsis: Enjoying a break from crime-solving, oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) takes his 12 children to the circus. It isn't long, however, before he's sucked into yet another murder case, with a more colorful array of suspects than usual. Meanwhile, Number One Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke) tries to Read More

Charlie Chan at the Opera

Actors: Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke, Charlotte Henry, Thomas Beck

Synopsis: "Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff" read the billing on the opening credits of Charlie Chan at the Opera. Karloff plays a once-famous opera star who has long been confined to an insane asylum. He escapes, ostensibly to seek revenge on the diva wife (Nedda Harrigan) who'd betrayed him years earlier. Karloff Read More

Charlie Chan at the Race Track

Actors: Warner Oland

Synopsis: En route from Honolulu to Los Angeles by steamship, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is pressed into action when a fellow passenger is killed. The dead man was a prominent horse breeder, whose favorite stallion has been entered in the Santa Anita handicap. At first glance, it appears as though the Read More

Anything Goes

Actors: Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charlie Ruggles, Ida Lupino, Grace Bradley

Synopsis: Anything Goes is a fun-filled but hardly faithful adaptation of the same-named Cole Porter Broadway musical, with additional songs by Hoagy Carmichael, among many many others. Set on a luxury liner, the story gets under way when Moonface Mullins (Charlie Ruggles), Public Enemy No. 13, slips on Read More

King of Burlesque

Actors: Warner Baxter, Alice Faye, Jack Oakie, Arline Judge, Mona Barrie

Synopsis: Warner Baxter plays the ambitious producer of a burlesque show who rises to the big time on Broadway. Alice Faye is the loyal burleycue singer who helps make Baxter a success. His head turned by sudden fame, Baxter falls under the spell of a society woman (Mona Barrie) who has theatrical Read More

Charlie Chan in Paris

Actors: Warner Oland, Mary Brian, Thomas Beck, Erik Rhodes, John Miljan

Synopsis: The otherwise standard series entry Charlie Chan in Paris is distinguished by the presence of actor Keye Luke, making his first appearance as Charlie Chan's (Warner Oland) "Number One Son" Lee. Summoned to Paris by undercover agent Nardi (Dorothy Appleby), Honolulu detective Chan hopes to get the Read More

Oil for the Lamps of China

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Josephine Hutchinson, Jean Muir, Lyle Talbot, John Eldredge

Synopsis: This drama about corporate treachery was based on the best-selling novel by Alice Tisdale Hobart. Stephen Chase (Pat O'Brien) is a salesman and inventor with an American oil company who is sent to China to reach that nation's untapped market. While Stephen is often told that his company looks Read More

Shanghai

Actors: Loretta Young, Charles Boyer, Warner Oland, Fred Keating, Charles Grapewin

Synopsis: The stigma of miscegenation (horrors!) is at the base of this very dated romantic melodrama. Charles Boyer stars as Dmitri Koslov, an enterprising Eurasian who rises from rickshaw driver to powerful industrialist, all the while concealing his mixed parentage. Koslov falls in love with beautiful Read More

Charlie Chan in Shanghai

Actors: Warner Oland, Irene Hervey, Jon Hall, Charles Locher, Russell Hicks, Keye Luke

Synopsis: After wrapping up his last case in Egypt, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Shanghai for a well-deserved rest. It isn't long, however, before Chan has been summoned by the local constabulary to help smash an international dope ring. He is aided by erudite American intelligence agent James Read More

Mad Love

Actors: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Sara Haden

Synopsis: In his first American film, Peter Lorre portrays egg-bald Dr. Gogol. A brilliant and highly respected surgeon, Gogol would give up everything he has in life for the love of Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), star of the Parisian Horror Theatre. But Yvonne is deeply in love with her husband, concert Read More

The Casino Murder Case

Actors: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell, Arthur Byron

Synopsis: S. S. Van Dine's intelligent, insufferable amateur sleuth Philo Vance is the protagonist of The Casino Murder Case. Paul Lukas plays Vance, who is brought to the mansion of a wealthy, eccentric widow (Alison Skipworth) by a mysterious unsigned letter. Several murders are committed in the elderly Read More

The Painted Veil

Actors: Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, George Brent, Warner Oland, Jean Hersholt

Synopsis: A W. Somerset Maugham novel was the source for the fair-to-middling Greta Garbo vehicle The Painted Veil. In a situation comparable to the plotlines of most of her silent films, Garbo is lovelessly married to Herbert Marshall, but carries a flaming torch for George Brent. (Also harking back to Garbo Read More