Mary AstorFilmography

Youngblood Hawke

Actors: James Franciscus, Suzanne Pleshette, Geneviève Page, Eva Gabor, Mary Astor, Edward Andrews, Werner Klemperer

Synopsis: Youngblood Hawke (James Franciscus) is a Kentucky truck driver who comes to New York City to make it as a writer. He meets editor Jeanne Green (Suzanne Pleshette), who sees talent in Hawke's work. Jeanne falls for the handsome Kentuckian and helps him put together a book deal. His first book is Read More

Return to Peyton Place

Actors: Carol Lynley, Jeff Chandler, Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor, Tuesday Weld, Robert Sterling

Synopsis: If anything, this star-studded sequel is even sillier than the original, adding to its problems by completely recasting all the roles, combining several of them into existing characters. Carol Lynley is the heroine this time, and she leaves Peyton Place for New York to write a book about the Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Impossible Dream

Synopsis: Washed-up actor Oliver Mathews (Franchot Tone) would rather dally with a pretty wardrobe girl than spend time with his adoring spinsterish secretary, Miss Hall (Carmen Mathews). But there's a more pressing problem in Oliver's life: namely, a middle-aged woman named Grace Dolan (Mary Astor), who Read More

A Stranger in My Arms

Actors: June Allyson, Jeff Chandler, Sandra Dee, Charles Coburn, Mary Astor

Synopsis: Though billed fifth, Mary Astor is the one to watch in the Ross Hunter-produced soapera Stranger in My Arms. Astor portrays a neurotically possessive mother who'll stop at nothing to win a posthumous medal of honor for her son. But air force major Jeff Chandler knows that the dead boy was a coward Read More

Best of Broadway: "The Philadelphia Story"

Synopsis: A dramatization of the Philip Barry play about a rich society divorcee who is looking for a real romance and meets a fast-talking reporter who falls in love with her. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

This Happy Feeling

Actors: Debbie Reynolds, Curd Jürgens, John Saxon, Alexis Smith, Mary Astor

Synopsis: This Happy Feeling is based on the F. Hugh Herbert play For Love or Money. Debbie Reynolds plays impulsive Janet Blake, who develops a crush on retired stage star Preston Mitchell (Curt Jurgens). Rejuvenated by Janet's ardor, Mitchell decides to return to the stage, where he must contend with Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Fenimore

Synopsis: Mrs. Herman (Doro Merande) is the landlady of actress Mrs. Fenimore (Mary Astor). Both ladies are in dire need of quick money -- and thus, when Mrs. Herman hatches a scheme to murder her wealthy uncle Bill (Russell Collins), Mrs. Fenimore agrees to help her for a share of the inheritance. As Read More

The Devil's Hairpin

Actors: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Arthur Franz, Mary Astor, Paul Fix

Synopsis: Actor Cornel Wilde branched out into directing with The Devil's Hairpin--reserving the starring role for himself. Wilde plays a motor racing champion who ruins his career through his reprehensible behavior on and off the track. Thrown off the racing circuit in disgrace after crippling his brother Read More

Wild Stallion

A Kiss Before Dying

Actors: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Joanne Woodward, Virginia Leith, Robert Quarry, Howard Petrie, Mary Astor, George Macready

Synopsis: Budd Corliss (Robert Wagner) is an ambitious, poor boy from the wrong-side-of-the-tracks who murders his girlfriend Dorothy (Joanne Woodward) -- making the death look like a suicide -- when her pregnancy eliminates his chances of being accepted by her wealthy family. Her sister Ellen (Virginia Leith Read More

The Power and the Prize

Actors: Robert Taylor, Elisabeth Müller, Burl Ives, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Howard Swiggert, The Power and the Prize sets up a premise that had far more relevance in 1956 than it does today. Robert Taylor stars as a American business executive working in England. Taylor wants to marry European refugee Elizabeth Mueller, but is warned by his boss (Burl Ives Read More

The Women

Actors: Shelley Winters, Paulette Goddard, Ruth Hussey, Mary Astor, Nancy Olson

Synopsis: Irregularly scheduled on NBC from 1954-1957, Producers' Showcase was a series of lavish, full-color, 90-minute specials, bringing the best of Broadway to the 21-inch screen. One of the more memorable presentations in this anthology was director Vincent Donahue's live staging of Clare Boothe Luce's 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

Any Number Can Play

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

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

Act of Violence

Actors: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Phyllis Thaxter, Mary Astor, Berry Kroeger

Synopsis: An unusually disturbing noir from a director better known for more mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was close to the director's heart, he said that it represented "the first time that I felt Read More

Desert Fury

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Mary Astor, John Hodiak, Wendell Corey

Synopsis: Desert Fury is a rarety for the 1940s, a Technicolor "film noir." Set in a Nevada gambling town, the story concerns the various misadventures, romantic and otherwise, of Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott), the rebellious daughter of gambling-house proprietress Fritzie Haller (Mary Astor, who steals the Read More

Cynthia

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

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

Fiesta

Actors: Esther Williams, Akim Tamiroff, Ricardo Montalban, John Carroll, Mary Astor

Synopsis: Esther Williams moves from the swimming pool to the bull ring in this musical drama. Antonio Morales (Fortunio Bonanova) was once a champion bullfighter; now in retirement, Antonio and his wife (Mary Astor) have high hopes that their son Mario (Ricardo Montalban) will follow in his father's Read More

Cass Timberlane

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Zachary Scott, Tom Drake, Mary Astor

Synopsis: A visibly uneasy Spencer Tracy plays the title role in this lavish MGM screen version of Sinclair Lewis' 1945 magazine serial. A small-town bachelor judge, Cass Timberlane, takes a personal interest in beautiful stenographer Jinny Marshland (Lana Turner), who appears one day as a witness in his Read More

Claudia and David

Actors: Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Mary Astor, John Sutton, Harry Davenport, Gail Patrick

Synopsis: Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young reprise their roles from the film Claudia, which followed the titular young couple as they dealt with the trials of parenthood. Claudia, a bit wiser than she was in the first film but still charmingly naive and a bit nervous, is struggling with the responsibilities Read More

Blonde Fever

Actors: Philip Dorn, Mary Astor, Felix Bressart, Gloria Grahame, Marshall Thompson

Synopsis: MGM's notion of a "B" picture would be an "A" production at any other studio, and Blonde Fever is no exception. Philip Dorn heads the cast as restauranteur Peter Donay, happily married to the pleasant but plain Delilah (Mary Astor). Approaching "that certain age", Donay's head is turned by 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

Thousands Cheer

Actors: Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Mary Astor, John Boles, Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, José Iturbi

Synopsis: Storywise, Thousands Cheer is thin stuff indeed. Insouciant PFC Eddy Marsh (Gene Kelly) wants to put on a Big Show for his fellow serviceman. Along the way, Eddy falls in love with Kathryn Jones (Kathryn Grayson), the daughter of Colonel William Jones (John Boles). End of story. The principal Read More

Best of Bogart

Synopsis: This is a two-video set which contains the Humphrey Bogart classics The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Young Ideas

Actors: Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor, Elliott Reid, Richard Carlson

Synopsis: Young Ideas is a deliberately "small" MGM feature designed as a trial balloon for up-and-coming director Jules Dassin. Hardly in the league of Dassin's later Naked City, Rififi or Never on Sunday, the film nonetheless satisfies within its own modest limits. Susan Peters and Elliot Reid play Susan 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

In This Our Life

Actors: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan, Charles Coburn

Synopsis: In This Our Life is not a "for the ages" classic of the Golden Age of Cinema, but as a highly effective and entertaining melodrama, it more than fits the bill. Howard Koch's screenplay is a trifle predictable, but it's well structured and provides the requisite juicy roles for its pair of female Read More

The Palm Beach Story

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, William Demarest

Synopsis: As for the opening reels, the principal motivating factor is money. After a deliberately confusing pre-credit sequence (not explained until the film's punch line), Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) and Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) are married. "And so they lived happily ever after," exults a title Read More

The Great Lie

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

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

The Maltese Falcon

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane, Gladys George

Synopsis: After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941--or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Read More

Turnabout

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

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

Brigham Young

Actors: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Dean Jagger, Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell

Synopsis: Inspired by the true story of the leader of the Mormon Church, this film features Dean Jagger in the title role. The members of the Church of Latter Day Saints are subjected to religious persecution by the people of Nauvoo, Illinois, where they've settled; so under the leadership of Brigham Young Read More

Midnight

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor

Synopsis: Paramount's screwball comedy Midnight is the first collaboration between director Mitchell Leisen and screenwriting duo Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The film merges Brackett and Wilder's early emphasis on repartee and masquerade with ex-costume designer Leisen's flair for high style and Read More

Listen, Darling

Actors: Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Two of MGM's top juvenile stars, Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew, team up for the otherwise unremarkable Listen, Darling. The story gets rolling when widowed Dotty Wingate (Mary Astor) decides to remarry for the sake of her children Pinkie (Garland) and Billie (Scotty Beckett). To prevent her Read More

Woman Against Woman

Actors: Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce, Mary Astor, Janet Beecher, Marjorie Rambeau

Synopsis: Herbert Marshall finds himself torn between two women: ex-wife Mary Astor and bride-to-be Virginia Bruce. After a while, Marshall's own opinions in the matter mean nothing. The ladies are so involved in their personal battle that they've lost sight of their common goal. Only when Marshall tells Read More

There's Always a Woman

Actors: Joan Blondell, Melvyn Douglas, Mary Astor, Frances Drake, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: Capitalizing on the success of MGM's Thin Man series, virtually every major studio of the 1930s came up with its own husband-and-wife detective team. Columbia's entry was There's Always a Woman, starring Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell. Douglas and Blondell are the married proprietors of an Read More

Paradise for Three

Actors: Frank Morgan, Robert Young, Mary Astor, Edna May Oliver, Florence Rice

Synopsis: MGM's Paradise for Three is based on Erich Kaestner's novel Three Men in the Snow. Frank Morgan stars as American businessman Rudolph Tobler, who wants to get closer to his German roots. Travelling incognito, Tobler shows up at a German alpine village, hoping to find out what the local population Read More

No Time to Marry

Actors: Richard Arlen, Mary Astor, Lionel Stander, Virginia Dale, Marjorie Gateson

Synopsis: A female reporter is faced with a tough decision in this romantic comedy. She is engaged to another reporter. Though they want to marry soon, they are constantly kept apart by widely differing assignments. At last they settle on a wedding date, but then the woman finds a missing person that her Read More

The Hurricane

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell

Synopsis: Framed in a flashback related by doctor Thomas Mitchell, The Hurricane is in essence the story of a struggle between individual freedom and colonial oppression. Jon Hall plays Terangi, a tempestuous native of the French-controlled island of Manakoora. After marrying childhood sweetheart Marama (Dorothy Lamour Read More

The Prisoner of Zenda

Actors: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Mary Astor, David Niven, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: Ronald Colman stars in David O. Selznick's classic production of Anthony Hope's swashbuckling adventure. The film takes place in a mythical Central European kingdom with Colman in a dual role as King Rudolf V and Rudolph Rassendyl, a visitor from England who's a distant cousin to the prince. Read More

Trapped by Television

Actors: Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, Nat Pendleton, Joyce Compton, Thurston Hall

Synopsis: Back in 1936 it was assumed that, once perfected, television would be a two-way device, enabling viewers to transmit as well as receive. In Trapped by Television, such a device is developed by inventor Fred Dennis (Lyle Talbot), who needs financial backing to complete his experiments. He is Read More

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

Actors: Kay Linaker, Ricardo Cortez, Mary Astor, John Eldredge, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: The Murder of Dr. Harrigan is based on a "Nurse Sarah Keats" mystery novel by Mignon Eberhardt. The middle-aged protagonist of the novel has been transformed into pretty, young nurse Sally Keating (Kay Linaker), in love with handsome doctor George Lambert (Ricardo Cortez). The founder of the Read More

And So They Were Married

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Mary Astor, Edith Fellows, Jackie Moran, Donald Meek

Synopsis: When widower Stephen Blake (Melvyn Douglas) and divorcee Edith Farnham (Mary Astor) are the only guests at a snowed-in mountain resort, sports director Snirley (Romaine Callender) and hostess Alma Peabody (Dorothy Stickney) try to promote a romance between Stephen and Edith. However, Stephen's son Read More

Dodsworth

Actors: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, David Niven

Synopsis: In this highly acclaimed adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel, Walter Huston plays Sam Dodsworth, a good-hearted, middle-aged man who runs an auto manufacturing firm. His wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton) is obsessed with the notion that she's growing old, and she eventually persuades Sam to sell his Read More

Red Hot Tires

Actors: Lyle Talbot, Mary Astor, Roscoe Karns, Frankie Darro, Gavin Gordon

Synopsis: In this action film, Wallace Storm, ace race car driver, gets into real trouble when he is accused of killing his partner over the love of a pretty girl. In court he is found guilty of tampering with his partner's car, causing it to crash during a race, and is sent to prison. While there, his good Read More

Straight from the Heart

Actors: Mary Astor, Roger Pryor, Carol Coombe, Andy Devine

Synopsis: In this romance, a slightly crooked and highly ambitious mayoral candidate convinces a woman to help him blackmail the incumbent by using a little baby as evidence in a paternity suit. The girl goes along with it until she learns that the mayor is innocent. Suddenly she begins working for him. In Read More

Dinky

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Mary Astor, Roger Pryor, Henry Armetta

Synopsis: Cast in the title role Dinky is Jackie Cooper, who wasn't all that dinky by 1935. Mary Astor co-stars as Mrs. Daniels, Dinky's mother, who has been framed on a fraud charge and sent to prison. By bundling her son off to military school, Mrs. Daniels is able to keep her shame a secret from Dinky. Read More

Man of Iron

Actors: Barton MacLane, Mary Astor, John Eldredge, Dorothy Peterson, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: Though usually a supporting player in Warner Bros' A pictures, Barton MacLane was permitted an occasional leading role in the studio's B-picture product. Man of Iron casts MacLane as a blue-collar factory worker who, through hard work and initiative, is promoted to vice president. Unfortunately Read More

I Am a Thief

Actors: Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, Robert H. Barrat, Irving Pichel

Synopsis: The Istanbul Express provides the setting for this crime drama that centers around a courier carrying the priceless Karenina diamonds to Paris. While aboard the speeding train, the courier finds himself beleagured by different jewel thieves attempting to steal his gems. A murder occurs and one of Read More

Page Miss Glory

Actors: Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Mary Astor, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions moved from MGM to Warners with Page Miss Glory--along with Cosmopolitan's biggest commodity, actress Marion Davies. The plotline has something to do with a composite photo prepared for a magazine contest: The combined facial attributes of Garbo, Dietrich Read More

Upper World

Actors: Warren William, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, Andy Devine, Dickie Moore

Synopsis: Written by the prolific Ben Hecht, Upper World is a clash-of-class melodrama set in New York City. Railroad tycoon Alexander Stream (Warren William) is neglected by his social-climbing wife Mary Astor. Quite unintentionally, through a chance encounter, he strikes up a reasonably chaste friendship 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

Easy to Love

Actors: Genevieve Tobin, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Astor, Guy Kibbee

Synopsis: In this family drama, a happy marriage is threatened by suspicion and jealousy, and illicit affairs. The trouble begins when the wife catches her husband in the arms of a family friend. The wife exacts her revenge claiming that she had an affair with the other woman's husband. This is a lie. They Read More

Return of the Terror

Actors: Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, John Halliday, Frank McHugh, J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis: An Edgar Wallace yarn was the basis for the uncharacteristic Warner Bros. melodrama Return of the Terror. Hoping to escape prosecution for a series of poison murders, Dr. Redmayne (John Halliday) feigns insanity at his trial. The audience knows that Redmayne is innocent, so when he escapes from Read More

The Case of the Howling Dog

Actors: Warren William, Mary Astor, Helen Trenholme, Allen Jenkins, Grant Mitchell

Synopsis: Two wealthy neighbors, who make no secret of despising one another, both claim that they're married to Bessie Foley (Mary Astor). When one of the claimants is murdered, Bessie is the prime suspect. Brilliant defense counsel Perry Mason (Warren William), whose spacious offices look like something Read More

The Little Giant

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Helen Vinson, Ken Thomson, Shirley Grey

Synopsis: The end of prohibition spells the end of business as usual for Chicago gangster Bugs Ahearn (Edward G. Robinson in this delightful spoof of mob melodramas from Warner Bros. Paying off their latest moll, Edith (Shirley Grey, Bugs and chief lieutenant Al Daniels (Russell Hopton) grab their Read More

The Kennel Murder Case

Actors: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan, Helen Vinson

Synopsis: Often (and accurately) described as a model of the whodunit genre, The Kennel Murder Case stars William Powell, making his fourth screen appearance as S. S. Van Dine's dilettante detective Philo Vance. This time the story involves intrigue at the Long Island kennel club. The murder victim is Robert H. Barrat Read More

The Lady from Nowhere

Actors: Mary Astor, Charles Quigley, Thurston Hall, Victor Kilian, Spencer Charters

Synopsis: The Lady from Nowhere is manicurist Polly (Mary Astor) who is the wrong girl at the wrong place when a gangland murder occurs. Taking it on the lam, Polly is pursued by both the gangsters and the police. The cops could have taken a little time to put a tail on the suspected murderer, but why let Read More

The World Changes

Actors: Paul Muni, Mary Astor, Aline MacMahon, Donald Cook, Alan Dinehart

Synopsis: This well-wrought drama chronicles the rise and fall of a midwestern family dynasty from the mid 1800s through the Great Depression. Most of the tale centers on a young Dakota farm boy whose grand schemes and ambition lead him on a cattle drive to Texas. From there he hooks up with the owner of a Read More

Jennie Gerhardt

Actors: Sylvia Sidney, Donald Cook, Mary Astor, Edward Arnold, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: This turn-of-the-century tragedy chronicles the sorrowful travails of a woman who endures a series of devastating losses. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Convention City

Actors: Joan Blondell, Adolphe Menjou, Dick Powell, Mary Astor, Guy Kibbee

Synopsis: Practically every member of the Warner Bros. stock company except Glenda Farrell shows up in the rowdy, raunchy pre-Code comedy Convention City. Joan Blondell plays Nancy Lorraine, an enterprising lass who is employed by a big-city hotel as a "hostess" for out-of-town conventioneers. She spends a Read More

Men of Chance

Actors: Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, John Halliday, Ralph Ince, Kitty Kelly

Synopsis: Men of Chance refers to those well-dressed gentlemen who stake their fortunes upon the outcome of horse races. Ricardo Cortez plays Diamond Johnny Silk, a big-time gambler whose rough exterior hides the fact that he's scrupulously honest. Johnny's enemies, led by smooth but disreputable Dorval (John Halliday Read More

Those We Love

Actors: Mary Astor, Kenneth MacKenna, Lilyan Tashman, Hale Hamilton, Tommy Conlon

Synopsis: A remarkably ambitious endeavor from low-budget World Wide Studios, Those We Love was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert from a play by S.K. Lauren and George Abbott. Mary Astor stars as May, the doggedly devoted wife of struggling writer Fred (Kenneth McKenna). When Fred strays from his wedding vows to 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

The Lost Squadron

Actors: Richard Dix, Mary Astor, Erich Von Stroheim, Dorothy Jordan, Joel McCrea, Robert Armstrong

Synopsis: Unable to find steady work after WWI, three former flying aces -- Gibson (Richard Dix), Woody (Robert Armstrong) and Red (Joel McCrea) -- hire themselves out as stunt flyers for the movies. They find themselves employed by tyrannical director Von Furst (Erich Von Stroheim, playing what amounts to Read More

Red Dust

Actors: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond, Mary Astor, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: Red Dust was lensed almost entirely on MGM's back lot; even so, we are utterly convinced that the film takes place in Indochina (never mind that everyone pronounces "Saigon" as Say-gone). Even more importantly, the audience never doubts for one moment that the relationship between "hero" Clark Gable Read More

The Sin Ship

Actors: Louis Wolheim, Mary Astor, Ian Keith, Hugh Herbert, Russell Powell

Synopsis: Talking pictures made a star out of veteran movie villain Louis Wolheim, perhaps because his voice revealed a heart and soul otherwise obscured by his ugly countenance. In Sin Ship, Wolheim plays a schooner captain who is forced to protect reluctant passenger Mary Astor from his sex-starved crew. Read More

Smart Woman

Actors: Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Edward Everett Horton, Noel Francis, Ruth Weston

Synopsis: In this comedy drama, a young wife returns from a vacation abroad and learns that her sleazy husband is playing around with another woman. In order to win him back, the wife decides to make him jealous. She enlists the aide of a willing cohort. Unfortunately, she finds herself genuinely interested Read More

Behind Office Doors

Actors: Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Ricardo Cortez, Kitty Kelly, Edna Murphy

Synopsis: A pompous executive has a hard time admitting that his hard-working, devoted secretary is really the one pulling the strings in his office and is behind his promotion to company president. As a result, he takes her for granted until she falls in love with another up-and-coming executive. Romantic Read More

White Shoulders

Actors: Mary Astor, Jack Holt, Ricardo Cortez, Sidney Toler, Kitty Kelly

Synopsis: In this drama, an impoverished young woman meets a millionaire who marries her on the spot and then begins pampering her with jewels and furs. When not attending to her every need, the business magnate works his mines so he can buy her some more. While he is gone, a gigolo makes advances upon her. Read More

The Royal Bed

Actors: Lowell Sherman, Nance O'Neil, Mary Astor, Anthony Bushell, Robert Warwick

Synopsis: A wimpy king is forced to take responsibility for his little North Sea island kingdom after his iron-fisted wife goes on a vacation to the US in this comedy. Soon after she leaves, his subjects launch a revolt and the flighty fellow must quickly figure out what to do. Things get worse when his Read More

Other Men's Women

Actors: Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney, Fred Kohler, Joan Blondell

Synopsis: William A. Wellman's triangle melodrama "The Steel Highway" -- a title referring to the film's railroad setting -- was changed to the more suggestive Other Men's Women shortly before it's April 19, 1931 New York premiere. Grant Withers and Regis Toomey played lifelong friends and co-workers in Read More

Holiday

Actors: Ann Harding, Robert Ames, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Hedda Hopper

Synopsis: The first of the filmizations of Philip Barry's play, Holiday centers around a society wedding. Julia Seton (Mary Astor) intends to marry John Case (Robert Ames), a young Wall Street lion with "radical" ideas that go against the grain of Julia's conservative family. Julia's freewheeling younger Read More

The Runaway Bride

Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, David Newell, Maurice Black

Synopsis: Based on a play by Lolita Ann Westman and H.H. Van Loan, The Runaway Bride casts Mary Astor in the title role. Newly wed to Blaine (Lloyd Hughes), Mary (Astor) is all set to enjoy her honeymoon in Atlantic City. But the consummation of her marriage will have to wait, thanks to a jewel robbery, a Read More

The Lash

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, James Rennie, Mary Astor, Marian Nixon, Fred Kohler

Synopsis: In this western adventure, set in California just after the Spanish-American War, a Mexican rancher becomes a populist avenger battling injustice and corruption. Among his targets is the wicked gringo land commissioner. He also preserves the honor of a beautiful senorita. In addition to fighting Read More

Ladies Love Brutes

Actors: George Bancroft, Mary Astor, Fredric March, Margaret Quimby, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: Though he plays an Italian-American character in Ladies Love Brutes, George Bancroft refreshingly avoids the ethnic stereotype so prevalent in films of the early 1930s. Bancroft is cast as Joe Forziati, a rough-and-tumble building contractor who is suddenly thrust into great wealth. He tries to Read More

Romance of the Underworld

Actors: Mary Astor, Ben Bard, Robert Elliott, John Boles, Oscar Apfel

Synopsis: Romance of the Underworld was adapted from a barnstorming stage piece by Paul Armstrong. Forced by circumstance into a life of sin and deprivation, Judith Andrews (Mary Astor) ends up as a "hostess" in a seedy dance hall. She is rescued by her kind-hearted employer Stephen Ransome (John Boles) Read More

New Year's Eve

Actors: Mary Astor, Charles Morton, Earl Foxe

Synopsis: In this drama, an unemployed young woman who must support her younger brother pays a visit to a gambler who wants her body. However, he is murdered during her visit, and she is charged with the crime. But, the real killer is unmasked and dies in an accident, and her old flame shows up to romance Read More

Show of Shows

Synopsis: Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 Read More

Woman from Hell

Actors: Mary Astor, Robert Armstrong, Dean Jagger, Roy D'Arcy, May Boley

Synopsis: Filmed silent, but outfitted with a Movietone musical score and sound effects, Woman From Hell was inspired by From Hell Came a Lady, a play by Jaime Del Rio, George Scarborough and Lois Leeson. The title character, played by Mary Astor is Dee Renaud, the principal attraction of a cheap sideshow. Read More

Dressed to Kill

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Mary Astor, Ben Bard, R.O. Pennell, Robert Perry

Synopsis: Most of Dressed to Kill takes place at a swank nightclub which serves as an Underworld rendezvous. Heroine Jean (Mary Astor) hopes to recover the bonds that her imprisoned sweetheart is accused of stealing. To do this, Jean sidles up to mob boss Mile-Away Barry (Edmund Lowe), figuring that he was Read More

Heart to Heart

Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, Louise Fazenda, Lucien Littlefield, Aileen Manning

Three-Ring Marriage

Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, Alice White

Dry Martini

Actors: Mary Astor, Matt Moore, Jocelyn Lee, Sally Eilers

Synopsis: Dry Martini was wittily adapted from the droll novel by John Thomas. Wealthy American Willoughby Quimby (Albert Gran) divorces his wife, then spends the next decade in Paris. His girth notwithstanding, Quimby keeps himself amply supplied with wine and women, and sometimes women and wine. Upon Read More

Sailors' Wives

Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes

Synopsis: Informed by her doctor that she is going blind, Mary Astor tearfully breaks off her engagement with Lloyd Hughes, hoping to spare him the stigma of a sightless bride. When Hughes catches up with her and demands an explanation, Astor pretends to have fallen out of love with him and further Read More

No Place to Go

Actors: Lloyd Hughes, Mary Astor, Hallam Cooley, Virginia Lee Corbin, Myrtle Stedman

Synopsis: The all-purpose title No Place to Go was affixed to this adaptation of the Richard Connell story Isles of Romance. The film opens on what seems to be a perilous moment from a jungle epic -- but which turns out to be part of a floor show at a ritzy nightclub. After this promising opening, the story Read More

Rose of the Golden West

Actors: Mary Astor, Gilbert Roland, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Montagu Love, Flora Finch

Synopsis: This tale of California's Spanish days is gorgeous fiction, from the sumptuous settings to the stars -- the leads are lovely, doe-eyed Mary Astor and the impossibly handsome Gilbert Roland. Juan (Roland) is about to elope with the convent-bred Elena (Astor), when he is chosen to assassinate the Read More

Two Arabian Knights

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, Mary Astor, Louis Wolheim

Synopsis: Produced by young aviation mogul Howard Hughes, Two Arabian Nights details the exploits of eternally squabbling sergeant Louis Wolheim and private William Boyd. Captured by the Germans during WWI, our heroes escape by disguising themselves as Arabs. This clever masquerade wins Wolheim and Boyd Read More

The Sunset Derby

Actors: Ralph Lewis

Synopsis: Racehorse movies were a dime a dozen in 1927, meaning that the few good ones tended to be lumped together with the bad. One of the more tolerable entries in this genre was First National's Sunset Derby, starring Hollywood's favorite cocky jockey, William Collier Jr. After suffering a fall during a Read More

The Rough Riders

Actors: Frank Hopper, Charles Farrell, Charles Emmett Mack, Mary Astor, Noah Beery, Sr.

Synopsis: Designed as a western "special" in the tradition of Covered Wagon and The Pony Express, The Rough Riders unfortunately proved a box office disappointment, causing Paramount Pictures to rethink its policy regarding epic films. Storywise, the film is a respectable if highly romanticized account of Read More

The Sea Tiger

Actors: Milton Sills, Mary Astor, Alice White, Larry Kent

Synopsis: Milton Sills once again thrilled his legions of female fans in The Sea Tiger. This time, Sills is cast as Julian Ramos, a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles (Larry Kent), Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice Read More

Wise Guy

Actors: James Kirkwood, Betty Compson, Mary Astor, Mary Carr, George F. Marion

Synopsis: George Marion Sr. plays a carnival huckster who decides to turn pennies into dollars by passing himself off as a hellfire-and-brimstone evangelist. He is assisted in this enterprise by jaded Betty Compson, a hard-boiled egg who believes in nothing except money. Inevitably, however, Compson is Read More

Forever After

Actors: Lloyd Hughes, Mary Astor, Hallam Cooley, David Torrence, Eulalie Jensen

Synopsis: This sentimental romance was based on the stage play by Owen Davis. Ted Wayne (Lloyd Hughes) and Jennie Clayton (Mary Astor) are childhood sweethearts who automatically assume they will always be together. But Ted is poor and Jennie is wealthy, and her mother (Eulalie Jensen) wants her to marry Read More

High Steppers

Synopsis: This drama was a hint that perhaps the Jazz Age was beginning to wind down; its characters overcome their wild, wicked ways early in the film. Of course, there is still enough revelry to titillate 1926 audiences. As Julian Perryam, the likable but bland Lloyd Hughes is outclassed by his co-stars. Read More

Don Juan

Actors: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis, Estelle Taylor, Warner Oland, Montagu Love

Synopsis: Historically important as the first film to carry a Vitaphone sound track (consisting of music and sound effects, but no dialogue) Don Juan is a first-rate production by any standards, and would have been just as good with or without musical accompaniment. John Barrymore plays the legendary lover Read More

The Pace That Thrills

Actors: Ben Lyon, Mary Astor, Charles Beyer, Tully Marshall, Warner P. Richmond

Synopsis: Paula (Fritzi Brunette), a chorus girl, marries into an aristocratic family. Unfortunately, her husband is a drunk. When he tries to give some liquor to their infant son, she brandishes a pair of scissors at him. He wrestles them away from her, then falls down the stairs and stabs himself. Due to Read More

Playing With Souls

Actors: Jacqueline Logan, Mary Astor, Belle Bennett, Clive Brook

Synopsis: This silent drama, based on the novel by the Countess de Chambrun, had quite a few unusual twists. Amy and Matthew Dale (Belle Bennett and Clive Brook) separate and they place their young son, Matthew Jr., in a London boarding school. The boy grows up without knowing his parents, and is taunted by Read More

Don Q, Son of Zorro

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Astor, Jack McDonald, Stella de Lanti, Donald Crisp, Warner Oland

Synopsis: Douglas Fairbanks returns as the great Spanish swashbuckler in this sequel to The Mark of Zorro. Don Cesar de Vega (Douglas Fairbanks) is the son of the famous masked avanger, Zorro; he's been sent to Spain to continue his education and learn the ways of his homeland. He soon becomes a favorite of Read More

Enticement

Actors: Mary Astor, Ian Keith, Clive Brook, Louise Dresser

Synopsis: While it seems extremely tame now, Clive Arden's novel was considered quite racy in its day. While doing relief work in Belgium, Leonore Bewlay, a little American girl (Mary Astor), meets Richard Valyran, an opera singer (Ian Keith). After the war's end, they meet again in Switzerland. Leonore, or Read More

Scarlet Saint

Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, Frank Morgan, Jed Prouty

Synopsis: The Scarlet Sinner was based on The Mand Who Played Fidele by Gerald Beaumont. Heroine Fidele Tridon (Mary Astor) has grown up with the knowledge that her father has promised her in marriage to Baron Kurt Badeau (Frank Morgan). When Fidele comes of age, the Baron shows up expecting to claim his Read More

Beau Brummell

Actors: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis, Irene Rich, Alec B. Francis

Synopsis: John Barrymore is virtually the entire show as 18th-century British fashion plate Beau Brummel. Thanks to his sartorial splendor and quick wit, Brummel is a favorite of the Prince of Wales (Willard Louis)--and with several ladies, though his heart belongs to the beautiful, unobtainable Lady Read More

Inez from Hollywood

Actors: Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor, Rose Dione

Synopsis: Inez Laranotta (Anna Q. Nilsson) is an actress who is notorious for her vamp roles and for the wild parties she attends. But images are deceiving -- the parties (and police raids) are staged by Inez's press agent (Harry Depp), and she is actually very devoted to her innocent younger sister, Fay Read More

The Price of a Party

Actors: Hope Hampton, Harrison Ford, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Mary Astor, Dagmar Godowsky

Synopsis: Grace Barrow (Hope Hampton) has become a cabaret dancer in New York, and when she hears her ailing mother needs money, she accepts an offer from Kenneth Bellwood (Arthur Edmund Carew). The crooked Bellwood wants to keep Robert Casson (Harrison Ford) in New York so that he'll miss out on a valuable Read More

The Fighting Coward

Actors: Ernest Torrence, Mary Astor, Noah Beery, Sr., Cullen Landis

Synopsis: This comedy--based on Booth Tarkington's play, Magnolia--sports a wonderful cast. Southerner Tom Rumford (Cullen Landis) was sent up north to be raised by relatives who happen to be Quakers. As a result, he returns home a passive, peace-loving young man, completely out of place in an area where Read More

The Fighting American

Actors: Pat O'Malley, Mary Astor, Raymond Hatton, Warner Oland

Synopsis: The story to this romantic satire was penned by William Elwell Oliver, the winner of a writing contest that Universal Studios held for college students. Not surprisingly, it opens up on campus, where Bill Pendleton (Pat O'Malley) has made a bet with his fraternity brothers -- he will propose to Read More

Oh, Doctor

Actors: Reginald Denny, Mary Astor, Otis Harlan, William V. Mong, Tom Ricketts

Synopsis: Reginald Denny seems to be doing a Harold Lloyd impersonation in this comedy, right down to the glasses, and maybe he was -- the plot concerns a hypochondriac, like Lloyd's 1923 hit Why Worry?. Although Rufus Billop (Denny) is convinced he will die at any minute, he has outlived his whole family Read More

Unguarded Women

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Richard Dix, Mary Astor, Walter McGrail, Frank Losee

Synopsis: This Paramount drama was based on the novel Face, by Lucy Stone Terrill. It was a change of pace for light comedienne Bebe Daniels. In a battle during the World War, Douglas Albright (Richard Dix) has a moment of cowardice which causes the death of his friend, Captain Banning (Joe King). When Read More

Second Fiddle

Actors: Glenn Hunter, Mary Astor

Synopsis: Glenn Hunter, who, with his shy, bashful persona would take off where Charles Ray left off, was the perfect starring choice for this thriller. Jim Bradley (Hunter) has always played second fiddle in his family -- while his older brother, Herbert (Townsend Martin), goes off to college, Jim becomes Read More

Puritan Passions.

Synopsis: This fantasy tale uses the Salem witch hunts as its backdrop and was based on the play The Scarecrow by Percy Mackaye. Goody Rickby (Maude Hill) has a child out of wedlock, but it dies when the father, Gillead Wingate (Frank Tweed), refuses to acknowledge the child or help the mother get medical Read More

Marriage Maker

Actors: Agnes Ayres, Jack Holt, Charles de Roche, Robert Agnew, Mary Astor

Synopsis: This fantasy tale was based on the stage play The Faun by Edward Knoblock, which starred William Faversham on Broadway. Without its lively dialogue, however, it didn't translate very well, even though William C. DeMille directed it with his usual warmth and humor. Lord Stonebury (Jack Holt) is Read More

To the Ladies

Actors: Edward Everett Horton, Theodore Roberts, Helen Jerome Eddy, Louise Dresser

Synopsis: This well-cast light comedy was based on the stage play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Three clerks for the Kincaid Piano Company -- Leonard Beebe (Edward Everett Horton), Chester Mullin Z. Wall Covington), and Tom Baker (Arthur Hoyt) are in competition for a promotion to factory manager. Read More

Hollywood

Actors: Luke Cosgrave, George K. Arthur, Ruby Lafayette, Eleanor Lawson

Synopsis: The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or Read More

Woman-Proof

Actors: Thomas Meighan, Lila Lee, John St. Polis, Louise Dresser, Robert Agnew

Synopsis: When wealthy Rockwood dies, he wills his fortune to his four grown children, providing they're all married by a certain date. Failing that, the money will go to charity. Three of the Rockwood siblings are quick to find matches but Tom Rockwood (Thomas Meighan) is determined to wait for true love. Read More

Success

Actors: Brandon Tynan, Naomi Childers, Mary Astor, Dore Davidson, Lionel Adams

Synopsis: Moving Picture World sung the praises of this drama, adapted from the stage play by Adeline Leitzbach and Theodore Leibler Jr. "This picture has a soul," it raved, "a soul that will spell big money for the wise exhibitors." What it was, in reality, was the same old story of a drunken actor hitting Read More

Bright Shawl

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, Margaret Seddon, Mary Astor

Synopsis: This drama about Cuba's unsuccessful 1850 revolution was based on the novel by Joseph Hergesheimer. Andres Escobar (André Beranger) convinces his wealthy American friend, Charles Abbott (Richard Barthelmess) to join him in Cuba. When Abbott sees how poorly the Spaniards are treating the Cubans, he Read More

Hope

Actors: Mary Astor, Fred Gamble

Synopsis: Harold, Lord Ingestre (Jack Mulhall) goes to India with his regiment. He is engaged to Lady Brenda Carlyon (Marguertie de la Motte), but Colonel Hector Grant (Frank Elliot) decides that he wants her -- no matter that he has already promised to marry Olive Whitburn (Ruth Stonehouse). He merely Read More

The Man Who Played God

Actors: George Arliss, Ann Forrest, Ivan Simpson, Edward Earle, Effie Shannon

Synopsis: Esteemed stage actor George Arliss became the screen's unlikeliest star at the ripe age of 53 in 1921. But the odd-looking, very mature Arliss had a rare talent and charisma, and younger, more attractive stars had to work extra hard to make their presence known next to him. In this drama, which Read More

The Young Painter

John Smith

Synopsis: Eugene O'Brien -- who was a better co-star for the likes of Norma Talmadge than he was a star in his own right -- has the lead in this comedy-drama. Upon being released from prison, where he was serving an unjust sentence, Lawrence Hilliard (O'Brien) takes the name of John Smith and looks for Read More

Rapids

Synopsis: This tale of the Canadian logging industry is compromised by a confusing plot, a lack of action -- and a scene that shows a Long Island billboard in the background. Harry T. Morey plays Robert Fisher Clarke, a promoter who comes to a small Canadian town. He harnesses the power of the rapids and Read More

The Beggar Maid

The Bashful Suitor