Leon AmesFilmography

Jake Speed

Actors: Wayne Crawford, Dennis Christopher, Karen Kopins, John Hurt, Leon Ames, Donna Pescow

Synopsis: An adventure tale for movie buffs, Jake Speed deftly lifts scenes from detective films of the '40s through the '70s to bring an added dimension to its spoof of the detective and adventure genres. When a family gets word that their daughter has been kidnapped in Paris, her father comments that they Read More

Testament

Actors: Jane Alexander, William Devane, Rossie Harris, Roxana Zal, Lukas Haas

Synopsis: Director Lynne Littman has created an effective, understated portrayal of the cost of a nuclear war in human terms, in a film as far removed from the fake hyperbole of action and disaster movies as the natural world is from cartoons. Set in the small California town of Hamlin, the Wetherly family 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

Claws

Synopsis: When a grizzly begins killing the people of a small Alaskan town, a woodsman, a game warden, and an Indian join forces to hunt him down. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Emergency!: Upward and Onward

Synopsis: An upcoming Chief's examination has Captain Stanley (Michael Norell) more uptight than usual, due to the "bad blood" between himself and his former commander (William Boyett). Meanwhile, an actor (Leon Ames) who plays a doctor on a popular soap opera checks into Rampart as a patient, driving Read More

Sherlock Holmes in New York

Actors: Patrick Macnee, Roger Moore, Charlotte Rampling

Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes in New York is a topnotch TV movie starring Roger Moore (surprisingly effective as Holmes) and Patrick MacNee (an intelligent, compassionate Watson). The Great Detective travels to the Big Apple of the 1890s to thwart arch-villain Moriarty, who plans to devalue the world's gold Read More

The Meal

Actors: Dina Merrill, Carl Betz

Synopsis: In this drama, a wealthy socialite hosts a dinner party for the rich and powerful. During the course of the dinner, they begin dishing up each other's juiciest secrets. On video the film is called Deadly Encounter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Big Push

Synopsis: When a couple of ruthless businessmen threaten her logging camp, a defenseless widow is aided by a group of Alaskan lumberjacks. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

The Jeffersons: Jenny's Grandparents

Actors: Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover, Damon Evans

Synopsis: This episode focuses on the Jeffersons' interracial neighbors, Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker). It seems that Tom's prejudiced white father (Leon Ames) refuses to have anything to do with Helen's prejudiced black father (Fred Pinkard), and vice versa. The Willises join forces Read More

Hammersmith Is Out

Actors: Carl Donn, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov, Beau Bridges, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Loosely based on the Faust legend, Hammersmith is Out stars Richard Burton as the title character, a mental patient confined to the sanitarium owned by a loony doctor (Peter Ustinov, who also directed). Befriending a lackadaisical orderly named Billy Breedlove (Beau Bridges), the satanic Read More

Cool Breeze

Synopsis: This is a remake of The Asphalt Jungle with an all black cast. In it a paroled convict plans to steal $3 million work of jewels, sell them, and use the bread to start a bank to back black businesses. He is assisted by two pals, his half-brother, and a preacher who also works as a thief. The Read More

Toklat

Synopsis: A grizzly bear cub makes friends with a lonely old shepherd in the wild mountains of Utah in this family wilderness adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

A Capitol Affair

Synopsis: The regular stars of the TV series Name of the Game (Gene Barry, Robert Stack, Tony Franciosa) keep a low profile in this episode, titled A Capitol Affair. The emphasis is on Howard Publications journalist Suzanne Pleshette, who labors long and hard to win her politician boyfriend Monte Markham a Read More

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Actors: Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Joseph Cotten, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall

Synopsis: This 25-million dollar epic collaboration accurately recreates the events that led to the Japanese attack on the American naval base during World War II. With Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the wheels are set in motion by Japan to plan the attack. After internal differences in Read More

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Actors: Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Bob Newhart, Larry Blyden, Simon Oakland

Synopsis: Vincente Minnelli directed, and Alan Jay Lerner adapted the stage musical he had written with Burton Lane, for this this feature film version. Barbra Streisand stars as Daisy Gamble, a chain smoker who, at the urging of her uptight fiance Warren (Larry Blyden), seeks help in kicking the habit from Read More

Bewitched: What Makes Darrin Run?

Actors: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, Agnes Moorehead, Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy

Synopsis: Hoping to increase Darrin's bank account and make life easier for Samantha, Endora casts an "ambition" spell on her son-in-law. As a result, Darrin becomes a greedy, power-mad backstabber -- and his boss, Larry Tate, suffers accordingly. Leon Ames makes a guest appearance as Larry's seldom-seen Read More

The Beverly Hillbillies: The Badgers Return

Synopsis: In the conclusion of a two-part story arc, the police have arrested Colonel Foxhall (Leon Ames) for attempting to blackmail Jed. Undaunted, Foxhall's beautiful accomplice Emaline (Gayle Hunnicutt) is still intent upon getting her hands on the Clampett millions. To that end, the girl dons Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: The Senior Play

Actors: Leon Ames, Aneta Corsaut, Howard McNear, Jack Dodson

Synopsis: Chosen to direct the senior high school play, Helen allows the kids to dance the Watusi during one of the production numbers. As a result, the show is closed down by ultra-conservative Principal Hampton (Leon Ames), who considers the production too "revolutionary". Helen retaliates with a new play Read More

The Beverly Hillbillies: The Badger Game

Synopsis: Long before establishing herself as a top-rank actress of the British stage and screen, American-born Gayle Hunnicutt did starlet duty on The Beverly Hillbillies. In "The Badger Game," Hunnicutt and Leon Ames are cast as Emaline Foxhall and her "father" the Colonel , a pair of con artists posing Read More

The Monkey's Uncle

Actors: Annette Funicello, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, Arthur O'Connell, Frank Faylen

Synopsis: The sequel to 1963's Misadventures of Merlin Jones finds young Mr. Jones (Tommy Kirk) still in college and still going out with Jennifer (Annette Funicello). In this movie, he must help football players pass their tests and invent a flying machine win a contest for the school. Funicello and the Read More

The Misadventures of Merlin Jones

Actors: Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Leon Ames, Stuart Erwin, Alan Hewitt

Synopsis: In this Disney family film, brainy college student Merlin Jones (Tommy Kirk) invents a mind-reading machine, but the consequences of its use prove to be a lot of trouble. With help from his girlfriend (Annette Funicello), he must set to right all that has gone wrong. The movie spawned the sequel Monkey's Uncle Read More

Son of Flubber

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk

Synopsis: Son of Flubber represented the first time that Walt Disney ever attempted a theatrical feature sequel: in this case, the earlier film was the 1961 moneyspinner The Absent-Minded Professor. While Flubber is more formula-bound than Professor, it proved an instant audience-pleaser, and a hit to the Read More

The Lucy Show: Lucy and the Military Academy

Actors: Leon Ames, Jackie Coogan, Lee Aaker, Stephen Talbot

Synopsis: Lucy's son Jerry (Jimmy Garrett) has begun his first year at military school, where the parents of the students are not permitted to pay any visits during the first two weeks. Of course, it takes lonely Lucy (Lucille Ball) only three days to make an effort to sneak on to the campus--disguised Read More

The Absent-Minded Professor

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames

Synopsis: One of Disney's most entertaining forays into live-action, this hit family comedy stars Fred MacMurray as a college professor so forgetful that he missed his own wedding twice. He creates an extremely resilient flying rubber, dubbed "Flubber," and manages to make his old Model-T bounce all the way Read More

Father of the Bride [TV Series]

Actors: Leon Ames, Ruth Warrick, Myrna Fahey, Ricky Sorensen, Burt Metcalfe, Ransom Sherman

From the Terrace

Actors: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Myrna Loy, Ina Balin, Leon Ames

Synopsis: This cinemadaptation of John O'Hara's From the Terrace stars Paul Newman as Alfred Eaton, an unhappily married financial adviser, while his real-life wife Joanne Woodward portrays Mary St. John, his promiscuous screen spouse. Mary's libertine behavior is a by-product of her husband's inability to Read More

Peyton Place

Actors: Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Arthur Kennedy, Diane Varsi

Synopsis: Grace Metalious' once-notorious bestseller Peyton Place is given a lavish -- and necessarily toned-down -- film treatment in this deluxe 20th Century-Fox production. Set during WWII, the film concentrates on several denizens of the outwardly respectable New England community of Peyton Place. Read More

Let's Do It Again

Actors: Jane Wyman, Ray Milland, Aldo Ray, Leon Ames, Valerie Bettis

Synopsis: This tuneful remake of 1937's The Awful Truth centers on the rocky marriage of a philandering composer and the wife who has her fill and decides to get even by having an "affair" of her own. Actually, hers is quite innocent. Unfortunately, her husband doesn't known this and the couple get a Read More

Sabre Jet

Actors: Robert Stack, Coleen Gray, Richard Arlen, Julie Bishop, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Filmed in Cinecolor, Sabre Jet concentrates as much on a group of jet pilots' wives as on the pilots themselves. As their husbands fly combat missions over Korea, the wives remain behind in Tokyo, waiting, hoping and dreading. The most prominent of the female contingent is Jane Carter (Coleen Read More

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Actors: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary de Camp

Synopsis: By the Light of the Silvery Moon was a sequel to Warner Bros' On Moonlight Bay (1951); both films were loosely based on the "Penrod" stories by Booth Tarkington. Penrod himself (played by Billy Gray) takes a back seat to the main plot, concerning the hot-and-cold romance between Doris Day and Gordon MacRae Read More

Angel Face

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall, Leon Ames

Synopsis:
Jean Simmons' fascinating interpretation of an uncharacteristic role is the main drawing card of Otto Preminger's Angel Face. The daughter of Charles Treymayne (Herbert Marshall), who remarried a wealthy woman (Barbara O'Neil), Diane Treymayne's (Simmons) angelic countenance masks an unbridled Read More

On Moonlight Bay

Actors: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, "Smiling" Jack Smith, Leon Ames, Rosemary de Camp

Synopsis: Booth Tarkington's Alice Adams, coupled with his Penrod stories, were incorporated in the script of the 1951 Warner Bros. musical On Moonlight Bay. The role of the incorrigible Penrod is played by future Father Knows Best regular Billy Gray, but his is a strictly secondary part herein. The Read More

Cattle Drive

Actors: Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell, Chill Wills, Leon Ames, Henry Brandon

Synopsis: Cattle Drive stars Joel McCrea as boss drover Dana Mathews. It is Mathews' task to make a man out of Chester Graham Jr. (Dean Stockwell), the spoiled-rotten son of railroad executive Chester Graham Sr. (Leon Ames). Accidentally left behind when his dad's train pulls out of a small cow town Read More

Watch the Birdie

Actors: Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl, Ann Miller

Synopsis: Watch the Birdie is a remake of Buster Keaton's The Cameraman; in fact, Keaton served as technical advisor, though it seems that most of his advice went unheeded. Red Skelton stars as photo-shop proprietor Rusty Cameron, who dreams of becoming an ace cinematographer. This gets him mixed up with a Read More

It's a Big Country

Actors: Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston Read More

Crisis

Actors: Cary Grant, José Ferrer, Paula Raymond, Signe Hasso, Ramon Novarro

Synopsis: Cary Grant's utter credibility in the role of a brilliant, world-famous brain surgeon Dr. Eugene Norland Ferguson is the single element that keeps Crisis afloat. While vacationing in a politically unstable Latin American country, Ferguson and his wife, Helen (Paula Raymond), find themselves the Read More

Dial 1119

Actors: Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, Sam Levene, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Louis B. Mayer's nephew Gerald proved himself an able director with the MGM "B" thriller Dial 1119. Marshall Thompson stars as an emotionally disturbed young man who pulls out a gun at a bar and holds the patrons hostage. As the police gather outside, the film concentrates on the various bar Read More

Ambush

Actors: Robert Taylor, John Hodiak, Arlene Dahl, Don Taylor, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Ambush is a tight, well-paced western, expertly assembled by veteran director Sam Wood, whose last film this was. Robert Taylor stars as an Indian scout, sent to rescue a woman who is somewhere deep in Apache territory. The woman's sister, naturally, goes along for the ride: she is played by Arlene Dahl Read More

The Happy Years

Actors: Dean Stockwell, Darryl Hickman, Scotty Beckett, Leon Ames, Margalo Gillmore

Synopsis: Owen Johnson's novel The Lawrenceville School Stories (compiled from short stories originally published in The Saturday Evening Post) was the basis for The Happy Years. The film is set at an early 20th-century boy's prep school; Dean Stockwell plays an habitual troublemaker sent to this school as Read More

The Skipper Surprised His Wife

Actors: Robert Walker, Joan Leslie, Edward Arnold, Spring Byington, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Vincente Minnelli was slated to direct The Skipper Surprised His Wife, but Elliot Nugent stepped in when Minnelli was transferred to another MGM comedy, Father of the Bride. The titular skipper, Cmdr. William Lattimer, is played by Robert Walker, while his wife Daphne is portrayed by Joan Leslie. Read More

The Big Hangover

Actors: Van Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor, Percy Waram, Fay Holden, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Nobody sits on the fence so far as The Big Hangover is concerned. Leonard Maltin considers it "predictable, as well as silly and boring," while the late William K. Everson regarded it as one of Hollywood's best and most underappreciated screwball comedies. Examine the premise and judge for Read More

Battleground

Actors: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, James Whitmore

Synopsis: Incoming MGM production head Dore Schary ramrodded Battleground into the studio's schedule over the virulent protests of MGM boss Louis Mayer. The result was an award-winning box-office hit, as well as the beginning of the end of Mayer's power. This dramatization of the battles of Bastogne and the Read More

Any Number Can Play

Actors: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey, Audrey Totter, Frank Morgan, Mary Astor

Synopsis: In this light drama, Clark Gable once again played his stock-in-trade role of a rogue with a heart of gold. Charlie King (Gable) runs a casino, but, in a business that thrives among the unscrupulous, Charlie takes pride in running an honest game and treating his customers with fairness and Read More

Little Women

Actors: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: Of the many film versions of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, this 1949 MGM adaptation is by far the prettiest. Set in New England during the Civil War, the film relates the various adventures of the March sisters: Jo (June Allyson), Beth (Margaret O'Brien), Amy (Elizabeth Taylor) and Meg (Janet Leigh Read More

Scene of the Crime

Actors: Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria de Haven, Norman Lloyd, Tom Drake, Leon Ames

Synopsis: The Dore Schary regime at MGM brought a much-needed dose of stark realism to the venerable studio. Van Johnson sheds his boy-next-door image to play L.A. plainclothes lieutenant Mike Conovan. Determined to bring a cop killer to justice, Conovan will let no man stand in his way -- not even his Read More

The Velvet Touch

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor, Sydney Greenstreet, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Based upon a story by William Mercer, The Velvet Touch stars Rosalind Russell as Valerie Stanton, a celebrated Broadway actress whose latest smash comedy is coming to the end of its successful run. The play's producer, Gordon Dunning, has produced all of Stanton's hits for the last decade, and Read More

A Date with Judy

Actors: Leon Ames, Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, George Cleveland, Carmen Miranda, Lloyd Corrigan, Robert Stack, Scotty Beckett

Synopsis: In this lightweight musical comedy, Judy Foster (Jane Powell) and Carol Pringle (Elizabeth Taylor) are teenagers and best friends who find their loyalties tested when they both fall for the same good-looking older man, Stephen Andrews (Robert Stack). This situation is particularly troublesome for Read More

On an Island with You

Actors: Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban, Jimmy Durante, Cyd Charisse

Synopsis: The title of this MGM musical alone should tip you to the fact that Esther Williams is the star. In this one, she plays a movie star (what an innovation!), Rosalind Reynolds, who is on location in Hawaii to shoot a picture. Peter Lawford plays the film's naval technical advisor, Lt. Lawrence Y. Read More

Alias a Gentleman

Actors: Wallace Beery, Tom Drake, Dorothy Patrick, Gladys George, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Alias a Gentleman is impeccably tailored to the slovenly talents of MGM star Wallace Beery. He's cast as Jim Breeden, an ex-convict who finds himself wealthy overnight when oil is discovered on his property. His first order of business as a man of means is to locate his long-lost daughter. Hoping Read More

Song of the Thin Man

Actors: Leon Ames, Warner Anderson, William Bishop, Bruce Cowling, Bess Flowers

Synopsis: In the sixth and final Thin Man whodunit, Nick (William Powell) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) look into the mysterious killing of bandleader Tommy Drake (Phillip Reed). The police quickly hone in on the owner of a gambling ship, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), who was about to lose Drake's band to a Read More

Undercover Maisie

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

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

Merton of the Movies

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

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

No Leave, No Love

Actors: Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Patricia Kirkwood, Marie Wilson, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: In this WWII musical, a young hero and his buddy decide to celebrate his receiving the Medal of Honor by partying. He is terribly excited about seeing his fiancée again. Unfortunately, she has fallen for another in his absence. He is later consoled by a lovely radio singer. Songs include "All the Read More

The Cockeyed Miracle

Actors: Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway, Audrey Totter, Richard Quine

Synopsis: Frank Morgan plays a turn-of-the-century shipbuilder who dies of a sudden heart attack. Morgan is summoned to Heaven by the ghost of the father (Keenan Wynn), who'd been killed in a barroom brawl at an early age and thus is now younger than his own son! After a few amusing efforts at testing his Read More

The Show-Off

Actors: Leon Ames, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, George Cleveland, Lila Leeds, Marjorie Main

Synopsis: Previously filmed in 1926 and 1934, George Kelly's venerable stage comedy The Show-Off was dusted off as a Red Skelton vehicle in 1946. Skelton is well cast as Aubrey Piper, an inveterate braggart who sorely annoys the family of his wife Amy (Marilyn Maxwell). All talk but no action, Piper gets Read More

Lady in the Lake

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Robert Montgomery is the director and star of the film noir mystery Lady in the Lake, adapted for the screen by source novelist Raymond Chandler. Montgomery plays detective Philip Marlowe, a private eye who just wants to publish his own crime stories. Kingsby Publications editor Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter Read More

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Actors: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Audrey Totter

Synopsis: James M. Cain's novel received its first authorized screen treatment in this MGM production. Drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) takes a job at a roadhouse run by slovenly but likeable Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway). Nick's sexy young wife Cora (Lana Turner) takes an immediate liking to Frank, but Read More

They Were Expendable

Actors: Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Cameron Mitchell, Ward Bond

Synopsis: John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) believes in PT boats, and as a lowly U.S. Navy lieutenant stationed in the Philippines, that makes him a radical thinker. "Your boats maneuver beautifully," an admiral (Charles Trowbridge) tells him, "but if I'm going into combat, I prefer something a little more Read More

Yolanda and the Thief

Actors: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, Mildred Natwick, Mary Nash

Synopsis: Yolanda and the Thief has long been considered the nadir of Arthur Freed's years as an MGM musical producer. Unappreciated at the time of its release, the film was a huge financial and critical failure. It has since become a cult film and cinematic cause celebre, revered by its adherents and Read More

Weekend at the Waldorf

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays Read More

Son of Lassie

Actors: Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart, Nigel Bruce, William Severn, Nils Asther

Synopsis: Son of Lassie is about a courageous collie named Laddie, played by a dog named "Pal". A sequel to Lassie Come Home, the film stars Peter Lawford and June Lockhart as the grown-up counterparts of the characters played in the earlier film by Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. When WW2 breaks out Read More

Anchors Aweigh

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, José Iturbi, Dean Stockwell

Synopsis: This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only Read More

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

Actors: Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Phyllis Thaxter, Tim Murdock, Scott McKay, Robert Mitchum

Synopsis: Billed third, Spencer Tracy plays Lt. Col. James P. Doolittle, who led the bombing raid over Tokyo. Most of the footage concerns pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson), who loses a leg while escaping from China after the attack; other subplots concern the meticulous preparations for the raid, and the Read More

The Thin Man Goes Home

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria de Haven, Lucile Watson, Anne Revere, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: This fifth entry in MGM's off-and-on "Thin Man" series maintains the high production and story values of the first four. Per the title, retired private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) pays a visit to his home town of Sycamore Springs, with wife Nora (Myrna Loy) in tow. Poor Nick is Read More

Meet Me in St. Louis

Actors: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Marjorie Main

Synopsis: Sally Benson's short stories about the turn-of-the-century Smith family of St. Louis were tackled by a battalion of MGM screenwriters, who hoped to find a throughline to connect the anecdotal tales. After several false starts (one of which proposed that the eldest Smith daughter be kidnapped and Read More

The Iron Major

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

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

Crime Doctor

Actors: Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel, Ray Collins, Harold Huber

Synopsis: In this drama, based on a popular radio program, the leader of a ring of burglars suffers a blow to the head and loses his memory. Unable to remember anything about his past, he starts anew and becomes a psychiatrist. He never does stop trying to remember his past life, even while his present life Read More

No Greater Sin

Actors: Leon Ames, Luana Walters, John Gallaudet, Adele Pearce [Pamela Blake]

Synopsis: The dangers of the dread venereal disease syphilis are depicted in this earnest drama from the 1940s. The story centers upon an intrepid health commissioner who is out to get rid of the tawdry hookers responsible for spreading the disease. He is assisted by a reporter. In a different subplot a Read More

Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring

Actors: Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, Mona Barrie, Paul Hurst

Synopsis: Ralph Bellamy made his fourth and final appearance as literary sleuth Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring. On this occasion, Ellery and his police-inspector father (Charley Grapewin) are summoned to a private hospital by its owner, philanthropist Mrs. Stack (Blanche Yurka). Read More

East Side Kids

Actors: Leon Ames, Dennis Moore, Joyce Bryant, Vince Barnett, Dave "Tex" O'Brien

Synopsis: Police detective Pat O'Day (Leon Ames) involves himself with a gang of slum kids led by Dutch Kuhn (Hally Chester) and Danny Dolan (Harris Berger). He tries to keep them from getting into trouble and to help out Danny, whose brother, Knuckles Dolan (Dave "Tex" O'Brien), is about to be executed for 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

Risky Business

Actors: George Murphy, Dorothea Kent, Eduardo Ciannelli, Leon Ames, El Brendel

Synopsis: This remake of 1932's Okay America is in many ways superior to the original. George Murphy scores in a rare unsympathetic role as Winchellesque radio columnist Dan Clifford, who doesn't care how many lives he has to destroy in pursuit of a good story. When a young debutante is kidnapped by Read More

Man of Conquest

Actors: Richard Dix, Gail Patrick, Edward Ellis, Joan Fontaine, Victor Jory

Synopsis: Man of Conquest was the first "super production" from Republic Pictures, a studio not known for its lavish budgets. This time, however, no expense was spared in recreating the career of Texas empire-builder Sam Houston. Richard Dix portrayed Houston, heading a gigantic cast of character players Read More

The Marshal of Mesa City

Actors: George O'Brien, Virginia Vale, Leon Ames, Henry Brandon, Lloyd Ingraham

Synopsis: A remake of sorts of the 1935 western The Arizonian, this fine George O'Brien oater features Leon Ames as Sheriff Judd Cronan, a slick lawman running Mesa City as if he owns the place. When schoolmarm Virginia King (Virginia Vale) has had enough of both Cronan's capriciousness and his advances and Read More

Legion of Lost Flyers

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Anne Nagel, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Synopsis: Legion of Lost Flyers is a typically action-packed entry in Universal's Richard Arlen-Andy Devine series (if one can call a group of thematically unconnected B-pictures a "series"). This time, heroes Loop Gillian (Arlen) and Beff Brumley (Devine) are, respectively, a pilot and mechanic for an Read More

Panama Patrol

Actors: Leon Ames, Charlotte Wynters, Weldon Heyburn, Adrienne Ames, Abner Biberman

Synopsis: This sequel to Grand National's 1938 actioner Cipher Bureau once again stars Leon Ames as bureau head Major Philip Waring. In case you're wondering, the Cipher Bureau is a government agency in charge of decoding enemy messages. Teamed with agent Helen Lane (Charlotte Wynters), Major Waring is Read More

Fugitive at Large

Actors: Jack Holt, Patricia Ellis, Stanley Fields, Arthur Hohl, Weldon Heyburn

Synopsis: Granite-jawed Jack Holt plays a dual role in Columbia's Fugitives at Large. Civil engineer George Storm (Holt) finds himself in dutch with the Law thanks to the activities of his lookalike, outlaw Tom Farrow (also Holt). Arrested by the authorities after being framed by Farrow, Storm escapes to Read More

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

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

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

Blackwell's Island

Actors: John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell, Victor Jory, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: This gangster film is based upon fact as it tells the tale of a determined reporter who has decided to make sure a certain notorious gangster gets his just desserts. It takes a long time, but eventually the reporter succeeds and the gangster is sent up river. Unfortunately, once there, he becomes Read More

Calling All Marines

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Helen Mack, Warren Hymer, Robert Kent, Cy Kendall

Synopsis: In this patriotic spy adventure, a young gangster joins an enemy espionage agency and agrees to enlist in the Marine Corps so he can pilfer the plans for a newly developed aerial torpedo. To get in, the crook steals an innocent young man's papers and forges them for himself. Later, he gets his Read More

Code of the Streets

Actors: Harry Carey, Frankie Thomas, James McCallion, Leon Ames, Juanita Quigley

Synopsis: Universal's Code of the Streets stars the Little Tough Guys, an offshoot of Warner Bros.' Dead End Kids. This time Frankie Thomas plays Bob Lewis, leader of a gang consisting of Sailor (Harris Berger), Murph (Hally Chester), Monk (Charles Duncan), Trouble (Billy Benedict) and Yap (David Gorcey). Read More

I Was a Convict

Actors: Barton MacLane, Beverly Roberts, Clarence Kolb, Janet Beecher

Synopsis: In this crime drama a wealthy business tycoon serves a sentence for tax fraud. While there he becomes good friends with his cellmates and after they are all released, the magnate appoints them both as executives in his company. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Thunder Afloat

Actors: Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Virginia Grey, Douglas Dumbrille, Carl Esmond

Synopsis: Thunder Afloat is set during the first world war. Wallace Beery plays an veteran tugboat captain who harbors a grudge against younger ex-pal Chester Morris. When Morris joins the navy as an officer, he runs across Beery, who resparks the feud. Both men bury the hatchet and work shoulder to Read More

Walking Down Broadway

Actors: Claire Trevor, Phyllis Brooks, Leah Ray, Dixie Dunbar, Lynn Bari

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1932 Erich Von Stroheim film of the same name (which was ultimately released as Hello Sister), Walking Down Broadway owes more to the old Warner Bros. melodrama Three on a Match. The story concerns six Broadway chorus girls, who, when their latest show folds on New Years' Eve Read More

The Spy Ring

Actors: William Hall, Jane Wyman, Esther Ralston, Leon Ames, Ben Alexander

Synopsis: Spy Ring (aka International Spy) was designed as a trial balloon for new Universal contractee William Hall. He is cast as Captain Todd Hayden, star player of an army-camp polo team. What Hayden doesn't know is that some of his polo cronies are enemy spies, anxious to steal the plans for a Read More

Suez

Actors: Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Annabella, J. Edward Bromberg, Joseph Schildkraut

Synopsis: This is an epic Darryl F. Zanuck production that plays fast and loose with historical facts regarding early 19th century French politics and the building of the Suez Canal. Tyrone Power stars as Ferdinand de Lesseps, an engineer and son of a French nobleman (Harry Stephenson). At the start of the Read More

Strange Faces

Actors: Frank Jenks, Dorothea Kent, Andy Devine, Leon Ames, Mary Treen

Synopsis: After several years' faithful service in supporting parts, Frank Jenks and Dorothea Kent were promoted to leading roles in Universal's Strange Faces. Even so, it is fourth-billed Leon Ames who dominates the film, in the dual role of a notorious gangster and a respectable small-town citizen. Taking Read More

Secrets of a Nurse

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Helen Mack, Dick Foran, Samuel S. Hinds, Paul Hurst

Synopsis: The slick Universal programmer Secrets of a Nurse was based on a Collier's Magazine story by distinguished journalist Quentin Reynolds. This story in turn was based on a true incident, in which a gangster "returned from the dead" to save an innocent young man from the electric chair. The nurse of Read More

Mysterious Mr. Moto

Actors: Peter Lorre, Mary Maguire, Henry Wilcoxon, Erik Rhodes, Harold Huber

Synopsis: Peter Lorre makes his fifth appearance as J. P. Marquand's polite but deadly Japanese sleuth Mr. Moto. This time Moto is called in by Scotland Yard to thwart a vicious gang of international assassins. To infiltrate the gang, Moto poses as a Devil's Island inmate and escapes with one of the Read More

Island in the Sky

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

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

Come On, Leathernecks!

Actors: Richard Cromwell, Marsha Hunt, Edward S. Brophy, Bruce MacFarlane, Robert Warwick

Synopsis: In this drama, a young man must choose between a military career or a career in professional football. The story opens as the young man has just graduated from Annapolis. There he had been a football star and a second lieutenant. His father the colonel wants him to stay in the Marines, but he has Read More

Cipher Bureau

Actors: Leon Ames, Charlotte Wynters, Joan Woodbury, Donald Dillaway, Tenen Holtz

Synopsis: This spy thriller is centered upon the actions of the Cipher Bureau, a part of a government agency devoted to intercepting and decoding secret messages. The protagonist must destroy a ring of thinly disguised German spies. The film contains a lot of interesting information about how codes are Read More

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Edward Everett Horton, David Niven, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: The great Ernst Lubitsch directed this farce (written by Charles M. Brackett and Billy Wilder) about a free-wheeling millionaire, Michael Brandon (Gary Cooper), who enjoys getting married but has a hard time staying married: he's had seven wives and is looking for number eight. He thinks he may 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

45 Fathers

Actors: Jane Withers, Richard Carle

Synopsis: The 45 Fathers of the title are the elderly members of the Gun and Spear Club, all of whom jointly adopt mischievous orphan girl Judith Frazier (Jane Withers) and her pet monkey. Our heroine wastes no time patching up the various family problems of her new "daddies." Of utmost priority are the Read More

Dangerously Yours

Actors: Cesar Romero, Phyllis Brooks, Jane Darwell, Alan Dinehart, John Harrington

Synopsis: In this romance, a detective goes undercover as a jewel thief and boards a trans-atlantic cruise ship. There he joins a ring of jewel thieves looking to steal a famed baseball sized diamond. The gumshoe has been hired by the insurance company to protect the gem. The cruise begins, and he soon Read More

Death in the Sky

Actors: Lona Andre, John Carroll, Henry Hall, Leon Ames, Wheeler Oakman

Synopsis: Puritan Pictures, a poverty-row operation devoted in the main to Tim McCoy westerns, turned out a few diverting murder mysteries during its short life span. In Death in the Sky, Leon Ames plays a World War I ace whose combat experiences have driven him mad. Convinced that every other aviator on Read More

Murder in Greenwich Village

Actors: Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Raymond Walburn, Wyn Cahoon, Scott Colton

Synopsis: In this romantic mystery, a defense attorney attempts to get his lovely client acquitted of murder charges. As he and the heiress look into the case they fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide 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

Death in the Air

Actors: Lona Andre, John Carroll, Leon Ames, Henry Hall

Synopsis: An airborne serial killer terrorizes a group of war veterans in this ultra-cheap but fairly engrossing whodunit produced by one of Hollywood's few women executives, Fanchon Royer. Assigned to investigate a series of flight disasters committed by a phantom aircraft bearing only the legend "X," Read More

Get That Man

Synopsis: In this thriller, a humble cab driver is mistaken for the dead heir to an enormous fortune. Once the resemblance is noticed, his life becomes interesting. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Mutiny Ahead

Synopsis: When a playboy becomes entangled in the affairs of gamblers he eventually locates an underwater treasure. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Strangers All

Actors: May Robson, Preston S. Foster, Florine McKinney, William Bakewell, James Bush

Synopsis: This drama chronicles the emotionally distant relationship between a mother and her four grown children. Though they live in the same house they could not be more different. One of her sons is a conscientious provider who keeps them afloat. A different brother believes himself the greatest Read More

The Count of Monte Cristo

Actors: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Raymond Walburn

Synopsis: Few famous novels have been filmed as often as Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo--and few versions are as enjoyable as this 1934 adaptation starring Robert Donat. Donat plays Edmond Dantes, wrongly accused of a plot against the post-Napoleonic French government. Condemned to a prison Read More

The Crosby Case

Actors: Wynne Gibson, Onslow Stevens, Alan Dinehart, William Collier, Sr., Warren Hymer

Synopsis: Although it is included in TV's "Shock Theater" passage, there's nothing overtly frightening about the heavily plotted Universal melodrama The Crosby Case. Even while the opening credits are rolling, the audience is introduced to the five main suspects in the murder of a certain Mr. Crosby. Police Read More

Now I'll Tell

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Helen Twelvetrees, Alice Faye, Robert Gleckler, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: Though the names have been changed to protect the guilty, this romantic crime drama offers a relatively factual account of the life of Arnold Rothstein, an infamous bookie and is based upon a story by his widow. The story tells how he gambled his way to the top of his profession. Though he Read More

I'll Tell the World

Synopsis: Lee Tracy once again plays a Winchellesque newspaper reporter in Universal's I'll Tell the World. More interested in his sex life than his career, news hawk Brown (Tracy) nonetheless agrees to cover the activities of a European archduke (Onslow Stevens) on behalf of his wire service. To circumvent Read More

The Man Who Dared

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Zita Johann, Joan Marsh

Synopsis: The Man Who Dared was inspired by the career of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, here called "Jan Novak" and played by Preston S. Foster. The first portion of the film dwells upon Novak's early years in Chicago's Bohemian community, then follows him on the political trail. In the face of governmental Read More

Alimony Madness

Actors: Helen Chandler, Edward Earle, Charlotte Merriam

Synopsis: A wife is on trial for murdering her husband's former spouse in this inexpensive melodrama from low-budget Mayfair Pictures Corp. In flashback, it is shown that Joan Armstrong (Helen Chandler), an unemployed stenographer, is hired to act as corespondent for architect John Thurman (Leon Waycoff Read More

Parachute Jumper

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Leo Carrillo, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd

Synopsis: Grounded daredevil pilot Douglas Fairbanks Jr. secures a job protecting shady Leo Carrillo from his many enemies. Carrillo takes a liking to the young man and promotes him to a flying job--smuggling narcotics into the United States. Fairbanks eventually redeems himself with the help of good girl Bette Davis Read More

Forgotten

Actors: Lee Kohlmar, June Clyde, William Collier, Jr., Selmar Jackson

Thirteen Women

Actors: Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Ricardo Cortez, Jill Esmond, Florence Eldridge

Synopsis: In this suspenseful drama, an embittered woman exacts revenge upon the 12 women who wronged her in college. The trouble began when the woman, who was of Japanese and Indian heritage, was ejected from a college sorority because she wasn't white. Still angry, the woman hires an astrologer to create Read More

The Famous Ferguson Case

Actors: Joan Blondell, Tom Brown, Adrienne Dore, Walter Miller, Leslie Fenton

Synopsis: Inspired in part by the sensational Snyder-Gray murder case (which was also the source of The Postman Always Rings Twice), The Famous Ferguson Case casts an unflattering light on the journalist "feeding frenzy" attending such crimes. A wealthy banker named Ferguson is found murdered, and his Read More

Silver Dollar

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Bebe Daniels, Aline MacMahon, Jobyna Howland, DeWitt Jennings

Synopsis: The factual story of H.A.W. Tabor and "Baby Doe" was the inspiration of Silver Dollar. Edward G. Robinson plays the Tabor counterpart, a prospector who strikes it rich with a silver mine. Robinson establishes the city of Denver, strongarms his way into political power, buys every creature comfort Read More

That's My Boy

Actors: Richard Cromwell, Dorothy Jordan, Arthur Stone, Douglas Dumbrille

Synopsis: A young football hero learns valuable life lessons on the way to becoming a pro in this sports drama. Tommy is a promising player who is working his way through college. He quickly becomes a star on the campus grid-iron, but when he gets entangled in a stock swindle, he nearly destroys his budding Read More

A Successful Calamity

Actors: George Arliss, Mary Astor, Evelyn Knapp, Grant Mitchell, David Torrence

Synopsis: Veteran stage and screen star George Arliss forsakes his biographical roles for domestic comedy in A Successful Calamity. Arliss plays an elderly millionaire saddled with a selfish young second wife (Mary Astor) and a pair of spoiled grown children (William Janney and Evelyn Knapp). To test his Read More

Stowaway

Synopsis: A depressed dance hall girl causes all kinds of problems when she stows away on a freighter and is discovered by the second mate in this drama. He agrees to keep her hidden, but unfortunately the first mate finds out about her and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Quick Millions

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Marguerite Churchill, Sally Eilers, Bob Burns, John Wray

Synopsis: Truck driver Spencer Tracy claims he's "too lazy to work and too nervous to steal", but he gets mixed up in racketeering all the same. Organizing a trucking association, he lines his pockets by demanding protection money from the other drivers. Naturally, Tracy's underhanded business practices Read More