Louis CalhernFilmography

Forever Darling

Actors: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, James Mason, Louis Calhern, John Emery

Synopsis: When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz beat the odds against TV stars succeeding on the big screen in The Long, Long Trailer (1954), MGM contracted America's favorite couple for a second theatrical feature. Forever Darling casts Desi as Lorenzo Xavier Vega, a brilliant scientist and Lucy as Susan, his Read More

The Teahouse of the August Moon

Actors: Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Machiko Kyo, Eddie Albert, Paul Ford

Synopsis: Marlon Brando went out on yet another creative limb when he insisted upon playing sly, philosophical Okinawan interpreter Sakima in the 1956 filmization of John Patrick's Broadway play Teahouse of the August Moon. While he occasionally lapses into "flied lice" stereotyping, for the most part Read More

Blackboard Jungle

Actors: Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Vic Morrow

Synopsis: In this gritty urban drama, war veteran Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford) wants to begin his career as a teacher and is given an assignment at a boys high school in inner-city New York. However, he soon discovers the school is overrun by delinquents, led by Artie West (Vic Morrow), an insolent hood who Read More

The Prodigal

Actors: Lana Turner, Edmund Purdom, Louis Calhern, Audrey Dalton, James Mitchell, Neville Brand

Synopsis: One critic has noted that The Prodigal was aptly titled, inasmuch as it was all too prodigal with the funds of the then-flagging MGM studios. In its retelling of the 22-verse Biblical story of the Prodigal Son, the film helpfully fills in the story details inconsiderately left out of the Old Read More

Athena

Actors: Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Virginia Gibson, Nancy Kilgas, Dolores Starr

Synopsis: Health faddist Mulvain (Louis Calhern) and his astrology-minded wife Salome (Norma Varden) hold court over their seven musical-prodigy daughters. Each girl is named after a mythical Greek: Athena (Jane Powell), Minerva (Debbie Reynolds), Niobe (Virginia Gibson), Aphrodite (Nancy Kligas), Medea (Jane Fischer Read More

Executive Suite

Actors: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon

Synopsis: Cameron Hawley's novel Executive Suite appeared around the same time as two other tales of big-business intrigue, the 1954 film A Woman's World and the 1955 Rod Serling teleplay Patterns. Elements of all three properties inevitably overlap. In Executive Suite, a furniture-store executive dies Read More

The Student Prince

Actors: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Edmund Gwenn

Synopsis: Edmund Purdom plays Prince Karl, but Mario Lanza sings the bold tunes coming out of Purdom's mouth, in this MGM remake of the 1927 Ernst Lubitsch silent picture based on the renowned 1924 operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly, which itself was based on the novel and play by Wilhelm Read More

Men of the Fighting Lady

Actors: Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern, Dewey Martin, Keenan Wynn

Synopsis: Leave it to MGM to turn the Korean War into a splashy, big-budget, all-star extravaganza. Men of the Fighting Lady is set on the US aircraft career of the same name. Van Johnson stars as Lt. Howard Thayer, while other MGM stalwarts in the cast include Walter Pidgeon, Kennan Wynn and Louis Calhern. Read More

Rhapsody

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman, John Ericson, Louis Calhern, Michael Chekhov

Synopsis: Rhapsody is high-gloss soap opera in the grand MGM manner. Elizabeth Taylor stars as Louise Durant, the beautiful but spoiled daughter of millionaire Nicholas Durant (Louis Calhern). Accustomed to getting whatever she wants, Louise sets her sights on violin student Paul Bronte (Vittorio Gassman). Read More

Betrayed

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature, Louis Calhern, O.E. Hasse

Synopsis: Clark Gable's final effort for his longtime home studio MGM, Betrayed is an exciting espionage thriller set during World War II. Intelligence agent Gable is ordered to keep tabs on suspected Nazi collaborator Lana Turner (a brunette for the occasion). Both Gable and Turner join the Dutch Read More

Remains to Be Seen

Actors: June Allyson, Van Johnson, Louis Calhern, Angela Lansbury, John Beal

Synopsis: June Allyson plays a band singer working in New York City; Van Johnson is the manager of a fancy apartment house where a murder is committed. The victim is Allyson's wealthy uncle, and since she can't account for her actions at the time of the crime, Our Heroine is the principal suspect. The real Read More

Julius Caesar

Actors: Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Greer Garson, Edmond O'Brien, Deborah Kerr

Synopsis: Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed this exquisite version of William Shakespeare's play. Louis Calhern is Julius Caesar, whose conquests have enabled him to rise to the status of Roman dictator. But his ascent to almost God-like status has given pause to influential members of the Roman Senate. Chief Read More

Latin Lovers

Actors: Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Lana Turner stars in this musical/romantic comedy amalgam from director Mervyn Leroy. Turner plays Nora Taylor, a wealthy heiress who finds herself seeing a psychiatrist because she can't decide whether she is loved for herself or her money. When her rich boyfriend (John Lund) takes off for Read More

Confidentially Connie

Actors: Van Johnson, Janet Leigh, Louis Calhern, Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: Confidentially Connie is an MGM factory product starring Janet Leigh and Van Johnson. Upon learning she is pregnant, Leigh tries to convince her husband Johnson, a humble teacher, to find a better-paying job. But Johnson is a proud man, so much so that he refuses to request money from his wealthy Read More

Main Street to Broadway

Actors: Mary Murphy, Agnes Moorehead, Herb Shriner, Rosemary de Camp

Synopsis: A genuine novelty, MGM's Main Street to Broadway offers the modern viewer a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the 1953 theatrical scene. The main plot concerns aspiring playwright Tony Monaco (Tom Burton), who pins his future on the possibility that Tallulah Bankhead will star in his first Read More

Washington Story

Actors: Van Johnson, Patricia Neal, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Philip Ober

Synopsis: Washington Story stars Van Johnson as mildly liberal congressman Joseph T. Gresham. For reasons that he can't fathom, Gresham has been targeted for abuse by powerful columnist Gilbert Nunnaly (Philip Ober). Working in cahoots with Nunnaly is journalist Alice Kingsley (Patricia Neal), who pretends Read More

The Bad and the Beautiful

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan

Synopsis: Kirk Douglas plays the corrupt and amoral head of a major film studio in this Hollywood drama, often regarded as one of the film's industry's most interesting glimpses at itself. Actress Gloria Lorrison (Lana Turner), director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell Read More

Invitation

Actors: Van Johnson, Dorothy McGuire, Ruth Roman, Louis Calhern, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Bronislau Kaper's haunting musical score for A Life of Her Own (1951) was recycled in the romantic melodrama Invitation. Dorothy McGuire stars as Ellen Bowker, a wealthy young woman with a rare heart condition. Knowing that his daughter may have only a year or so to live, Ellen's father Simon Read More

The Prisoner of Zenda

Actors: Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, Louis Calhern, Jane Greer, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: Mistaken identity and underhanded dealings set the stage for this adventure story based on Anthony Hope's classic novel. Rudolph Rassendyll (Stewart Granger) is a British tourist visiting the nation of Ruritania in the Balkans. A number of people comment upon Rassendyll's remarkable resemblance to Read More

We're Not Married

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Victor Moore, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne

Synopsis: Having supped full of success with the multi-storied O. Henry's Full House, 20th Century-Fox assembled another all-star "omnibus" film, We're Not Married. The unifying factor of this enjoyable seriocomedy is provided by justice-of-the-peace Melvin Bush (Victor Moore), who learns to his horror that Read More

The Man with a Cloak

Actors: Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern, Leslie Caron, Joe de Santis

Synopsis: Set in 19th-century New York, this mystery begins when a Frenchwoman shows up at the home of one of Napoleon's former marshals. The alcoholic man is badly crippled and slowly dying, but this doesn't stop the forthright lady from pushing him to change his will to include his estranged grandson so Read More

The Asphalt Jungle

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe

Synopsis: The Asphalt Jungle is a brilliantly conceived and executed anatomy of a crime -- or, as director John Huston and scripter Ben Maddow put it, "a left-handed form of human endeavor." Recently paroled master criminal Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), with funding from crooked attorney Emmerich Read More

Devil's Doorway

Actors: Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, Edgar Buchanan, James Mitchell

Synopsis: Devil's Doorway was the first of many top-rank westerns directed by Anthony Mann. RobertTaylor is cast against type as a Native American named Lance Poole. Returning to his people's land after the Civil War, Poole discovers that the Indians are being victimized and persecuted--and, thanks to Read More

Nancy Goes to Rio

Actors: Jane Powell, Ann Sothern, Barry Sullivan, Carmen Miranda, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Ann Sothern closed out her MGM contract with the Technicolor musical Nancy Goes to Rio. As Frances Elliot, Sothern is billed second to Jane Powell, who plays Nancy Barklay. A popular Broadway star, Frances heads to Rio for R&R before starting her next production. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Frances Read More

Two Weeks With Love

Actors: Jane Powell, Ricardo Montalban, Debbie Reynolds, Louis Calhern, Ann Harding, Phyllis Kirk

Synopsis: Two Weeks With Love is set in a Catskills resort in the early 1900s. Seventeen-year-old vacationer Patti Robinson (Jane Powell) feels that she's a bit too strait-laced to attract the male contingent, and dreams of being a "woman of the world." Naturally, the principal object of her affections Read More

A Life of Her Own

Actors: Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell, Louis Calhern, Ann Dvorak, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Lana Turner stars as an ambitious model who seeks her fortune in New York City. She is befriended by over-the-hill cover-girl Ann Dvorak, whose performance carries the story until she commits suicide twenty minutes into the film. Turner promises herself that she won't end up burned out like Read More

The Magnificent Yankee

Actors: Louis Calhern, Ann Harding, Philip Ober, Ian Wolfe, Eduard Franz

Synopsis: Louis Calhern repeats his Broadway role as Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in this 1950 cinemazation of Emmet Lavery's stage play The Magnificent Yankee. The film is for the most part confined to the Holmes home in Washington, where the good gray judge parries affectionately with his Read More

Annie Get Your Gun

Actors: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Judy Garland was originally slated to star in MGM's film version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, but she was forced to pull out of the production due to illness (recently discovered out-takes reveal a gaunt, dazed Garland, obviously incapable of completing her duties). She was replaced by Betty Hutton Read More

The Red Pony

Actors: Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Louis Calhern, Shepperd Strudwick, Gerald Perreau-Saissine

Synopsis: One of themost acclaimed films to emerge from Republic studios, The Red Pony is an adaptation of the John Steinbeck story of the same name. Top billing goes to Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum, but the film's true star is young Peter Miles as Tom. A lonely farm boy, Tom seeks refuge from his Read More

The Red Danube

Actors: Walter Pidgeon, Ethel Barrymore, Peter Lawford, Angela Lansbury, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: One of the more palatable of Hollywood's anti-communist tracts of the late 1940s-early 1950s was MGM's The Red Danube. Janet Leigh plays Maria Buhlen, an Eastern Bloc ballerina who seeks political asylum in the British-occupied zone of Vienna. Maria's plight turns into a political tug-of-war Read More

Arch of Triumph

Actors: Stephen Bekassy, Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Roman Bohnen, Curt Bois, Charles Laughton, Louis Calhern, Michael Romanoff, J. Edward Bromberg

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph is a complicated war romance directed by Lewis Milestone. Dr. Ravic (Charles Boyer) is a refugee physician practicing medicine illegally in Paris under a false name. He saves Joan Madou (Ingrid Bergman) from committing suicide after the Read More

Notorious

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

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

Up in Arms

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

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

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Actors: Lynn Bari, Akim Tamiroff, Francis Lederer, Alla Nazimova, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: First filmed in 1928, Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey is given a ponderous treatment in this 1944 remake. Like the novel, the film begins at the end, with the collapse of a rope bridge in 18th century Peru. The story then flashes back to the lives of the five Read More

Heaven Can Wait

Actors: Don Ameche, Gene Tierney, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar

Synopsis: On the day of his death in 1943, the spirit of Henry Van Cleave (Don Ameche) obligingly heads for the place where so many people had previously told him to go. The immaculately dressed septuagenarian arrives at the outer offices of Hades, where he is greeted by His Excellency (Laird Cregar), the Read More

Nobody's Darling

Synopsis: In this musical, the teenage daughter of a popular movie star tires of being ignored by her separated parents and decides to make it as a star on her own. She does. Songs include: "It Had to Be You," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Row Read More

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, Donald Crisp, Maria Ouspenskaya

Synopsis: Edward G. Robinson portrays real-life German medical researcher Paul Erlich, the man who discovered and perfected "Formula 606," the cure for syphilis. The world at large would prefer to treat the disease as though it does not exist, so Erlich spends most of his life underfunded and frustrated. A Read More

I Take This Woman

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

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

Fifth Avenue Girl

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Veree Teasdale, James Ellison, Tim Holt

Synopsis: A wealthy older man and a poor young woman each get a chance to see how the other half lives in this comedy. Alfred Borden (Walter Connolly) is a millionaire who feels neglected by his family. His wife Martha (Verree Teasdale), daughter Katherine (Kathryn Adams), and son Tim (Tim Holt) usually Read More

Charlie McCarthy, Detective

Actors: Edgar Bergen, Robert Cummings, Constance Moore, John Sutton, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Having proven their box-office value in such films as A Letter of Introduction, Goldwyn Follies and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wise-lipped dummy Charlie McCarthy were awarded with a starring vehicle of their own. While entertaining at the home of magazine Read More

Juarez

Actors: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, John Garfield

Synopsis: Juarez was originally designed to concentrate almost exclusively on the tragedy of Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, whose attempts to establish a puppet government in Mexico on behalf of Napoleon III ended in disaster and death. But when Paul Muni decided that he wanted to play Read More

Fast Company

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Florence Rice, Claire Dodd, Shepperd Strudwick, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Fast Company was another attempt by MGM to match the success of its "Thin Man" films. Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice star as Joel and Garda Sloane, the funloving rare-book dealers created by Harry Kurnitz. Try as they might, the Sloanes can't help getting involved in crime and murder. This time Read More

Her Husband Lies

Actors: Gail Patrick, Ricardo Cortez, Akim Tamiroff, Tom Brown, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Two brothers exchange lifestyles in this drama. The older brother, a gambler, wants to lead a clean, crime-free life while his wiseacre younger brother wants to become a professional gambler. With great hesitation, the older teaches the younger all he knows. The younger brother is a quick study Read More

The Life of Emile Zola

Actors: Paul Muni, Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Robert Warwick, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the dramatic license taken with the material. When first we meet French novelist and essayist Zola, he is starving in a Parisian garret with his painter Read More

The Gorgeous Hussy

Actors: Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Franchot Tone, Melvyn Douglas

Synopsis: The Gorgeous Hussy purports to be based on the life of Margaret "Peggy" O'Neill, the controversial wife of early 19th-century politician John Eaton, who served as cabinet minister during the Andrew Jackson presidency. Snubbed by the Washington elite because of her questionable background as a Read More

The Last Days of Pompeii

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Basil Rathbone, David Holt, Alan Hale, John Wood, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: RKO Radio's spectacular production The Last Days of Pompeii utilizes the title but precious little else of the famous Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton historical novel (at least the film admits as much in the opening credits). Preston S. Foster stars as Marcus, a happy-go-lucky Ancient Roman blacksmith Read More

Sweet Adeline

Actors: Irene Dunne, Donald Woods, Hugh Herbert, Ned Sparks, Joseph Cawthorn

Synopsis: The 1929 Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Broadway musical Sweet Adeline has generally been credited as the vanguard for the "Gay 90s" nostalgia fad of the early 1930s. By the time the film was adapted to the screen in 1935, that fad had pretty much played itself out, making the property seem more Read More

Woman Wanted

Actors: Maureen O'Sullivan, Joel McCrea, Louis Calhern, Edgar Kennedy

Synopsis: One of four MGM "B"-pictures ground out in quick succession by director George B. Seitz, Woman Wanted is a crime melodrama with occasional bursts of comedy relief. Wrongly convicted of murder, heroine Ann (Maureen O'Sullivan) escapes from the police when the car bearing her to prison is involved Read More

The Arizonian

Actors: Richard Dix, Margot Grahame, Preston S. Foster, Louis Calhern, James Bush

Synopsis: The Arizonian came at a time when Richard Dix's popularity was slipping, providing a welcome shot in the arm for the star and plenty of coin at the box office. Dix plays Clay Tallant, a territorial marshal assigned to Silver City, Arizona. Tallant's chief antagonist is crooked town boss Jake 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 Man with Two Faces

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: The Man with Two Faces is based on The Dark Tower, a stage comedy-mystery by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman. Edward G. Robinson is at his hammy best as flamboyant, temperamental, but withal endearing theatrical actor-manager Dawson Wells. Mary Astor co-stars as Damon's beloved actress Read More

The Affairs of Cellini

Actors: Constance Bennett, Fredric March, Frank Morgan, Fay Wray, Vince Barnett

Synopsis: The Affairs of Cellini is based on Edwin Justus Mayer's popular stage play The Firebrand, which in turn was based on the life and times of Renaissance artist/political reactionary Benvenuto Cellini. Fredric March plays the tempestuous, amorous Cellini, who spends as much time in swordplay with Read More

Strictly Personal

Actors: Marjorie Rambeau, Edward Ellis, Dorothy Jordan, Eddie Quillan, Louis Calhern

20,000 Years in Sing-Sing

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot, Sheila Terry, Warren Hymer, Edward McNamara

Synopsis: Sent to Sing Sing prison, influential crook Spencer Tracy is unregenerate and refuses to adhere to the rules. While in solitary confinement, Tracy reconsiders his attitude. Thanks to the correctional facility's compassionate warden (Arthur Byron), Tracy becomes a model prisoner, even refusing to Read More

The World Gone Mad

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Plodding through the dialogue-heavy script, this is still a timely movie topic. Dealing with white collar crime, this is the story of a reporter who discovers that the District Attorney is going to be murdered by some high-rolling Wall Streeters. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Duck Soup

Actors: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres

Synopsis: In this 1933 Marx Brothers film, the mythical country of Freedonia is broke and on the verge of revolution. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), Freedonia's principal benefactress, will lend the country 20 million dollars if the president withdraws and places the government in the hands of the Read More

Frisco Jenny

Actors: Ruth Chatterton, Donald Cook, Louis Calhern, Hallam Cooley

Synopsis: Jenny (Ruth Chatterton) becomes pregnant by a young man who is killed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Bearing her child in secret, Jenny gives up custody to a wealthy couple. The years pass, and through the auspices of a crooked politician (Louis Calhern), Jenny becomes the number one Read More

Diplomaniacs

Actors: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Marjorie White, Phyllis Barry, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Two barbers from an Indian reservation (Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey) are sent as the delegates of the Adoop tribe to an international peace convention in Geneva. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The Woman Accused

Actors: Nancy Carroll, Cary Grant, John Halliday, Irving Pichel, Norma Mitchell

Synopsis: On the eve of her marriage to Cary Grant, socialite Nancy Carroll is visited by her sadistic ex-lover Louis Calhern, who threatens to have his gangster pal Jack LaRue rub out Grant if Carroll doesn't give up her marriage plans. She responds by killing Calhern with a piece of statuary; a Read More

They Call It Sin

Actors: Loretta Young, George Brent, David Manners, Louis Calhern, Una Merkel

Synopsis: Though only 19, Loretta Young was an established Hollywood star in 1932, appearing in six films in that year alone. In They Call It Sin, Young plays Marion, a church organist in a picturesque Kansas village. She falls in love with visiting city slicker Jimmy (David Manners) -- who, worse luck, is Read More

Okay, America!

Actors: Lew Ayres, Maureen O'Sullivan, Louis Calhern, Walter Catlett, Alan Dinehart

Synopsis: As indicated by its "catchphrase" title, Okay America is one of several early-1930s films based on the exploits of gossip columnist Walter Winchell. The big surprise here is that the Winchell counterpart is played not by W.W. look-alike Lee Tracy, as was usually the case, but by baby-faced Lew Ayres Read More

Night After Night

Actors: George Raft, Constance Cummings, Wynne Gibson, Mae West, Alison Skipworth, Roscoe Karns

Synopsis: In one of his first starring roles, George Raft plays Joe Anton, a tough but basically decent speakeasy owner who falls in love with Park Avenue socialite Miss Healy (Constance Cummings). Hoping to come up to the girl's social level, Joe starts taking lessons in speech and behavior from haughty Read More

Afraid to Talk

Actors: Eric Linden, Sidney Fox, Tully Marshall, Louis Calhern

Synopsis: Eric Linden is a bellhop who has the extreme misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in gangster era of Chicago. After witnessing an assassination staged by gangsters, Linden becomes a pawn, being pushed back and forth by corrupt authorities and the mob. Tension mounts as the Read More

Blonde Crazy

Actors: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Guy Kibbee

Synopsis: Blonde Crazy describes the perpetual mental state of James Cagney. A conniving bellhop, Cagney increases his bank account by using his blonde girlfriend Joan Blondell as a come-on to various "sugar daddies" whom he suckers out of their hard-earned cash. When the pair try their con game in New Read More

Stolen Heaven

Actors: Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, Louis Calhern, Edward Keane

Synopsis: Nancy Carroll's popularity enabled her to survive the melodramatic excesses of Stolen Heaven with little if any damage to her career. Carroll plays Mary, the streetwalker sweetheart of born-loser Joe (Phillips Holmes). Engineering a $20,000 robbery, Mary and Joe draw up a pact to spend all the Read More

The Road to Singapore

Actors: William Powell, Doris Kenyon, Marian Marsh, Louis Calhern, Alison Skipworth

Synopsis: In this drama, a doctor and his wife are stationed in Singapore where the lonely wife, tired of constantly trying to get his attention, begins soliciting another man into having an affair with her. The man is reticent though. When the doctor finds out and assumes they are involved, the woman Read More

Last Moment

Actors: Henry Hull, Doris Kenyon, Louis Wolheim

Synopsis: Horror flicks were few and far between when this melodramatic-thriller was released by Goldwyn. The powerfully named Hercules Napoleon Cameron is, in reality, a whimpering coward. His rival for the hand of Alice Winthrop (Doris Kenyon) is the courageous and dashing Harry Gaines (Louis Calhern). Read More

Woman, Wake Up

Actors: Florence Vidor, Louis Calhern, Charles Meredith

Synopsis: Looking back on her film credits, Florence Vidor had been playing leads in pictures for the likes of Cecil B. DeMille and her own husband King Vidor since 1917. However, trade papers such a Motion Picture News and Moving Picture World claim this romance as Vidor's first starring vehicle -- go Read More

What's Worth While?

Synopsis: This comedy-drama isn't one of director Lois Weber's strongest films, but at least it isn't as preachy as some of her other efforts. Phoebe Morrison (Claire Windsor) has been raised in the heart of Southern gentility, and she's tired of being surrounded by men with impeccable manners. When her Read More

Too Wise Wives

Synopsis: Too Wise Wives was an independent film produced and directed by prominent woman director Lois Weber. It is a pointed soap opera about the state of marriage and women's roles in society in the early 1920s. Two couples are newly married. Marie (Clarie Windsor) and David Graham (Louis Calhern) are Read More

The Blot

Actors: Phillip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, Claire Windsor, Louis Calhern, Marie Walcamp

Synopsis: Lois Weber was generally championing something or someone in her films; this time around it's underpaid white-collar workers. Professor Griggs (Phillip Hubbard) can barely afford to support his wife (Margaret McWade) and daughter, Amelia (Claire Windsor). Amelia works at a library and she has Read More