Patricia EllisFilmography

Back Door to Heaven

Actors: Wallace Ford, Aline MacMahon, Stuart Erwin, Patricia Ellis

Synopsis: William K. Howard, a once-prestigious director fallen on hard times in 1939, proved that he still had the "right stuff" with the modest tearjerker Back Door to Heaven. Wallace Ford stars as Frankie, a pugnacious drifter stigmatized by his reform-school upbringing. Frankie and his former Read More

Romance on the Run

Actors: Donald Woods, Patricia Ellis, Grace Bradley, Edward S. Brophy, William Demarest

Synopsis: Though its title suggests yet another rip-off of It Happened One Night, Republic's Romance on the Run is more accurately classifed as a crime caper comedy. Private detective Barry Drake (Donald Woods) gives chase when jewel thieves Lily (Grace Bradley) and Cooper (Craig Reynolds) skip town and Read More

The Lady in the Morgue

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks, Barbara Pepper

Synopsis: Preston S. Foster and Frank Jenks play Bill Crane and Doc Williams, the pulp-novel detectives created by mystery writer Jonathan Latimer. Crane and Williams tackle the case of a morgue robbery; the missing body is that of a young woman who died mysteriously. As the detectives follow the clues Read More

Block-Heads

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Patricia Ellis, Billy Gilbert

Synopsis: Twenty years after the Armistice, doughboy Stan Laurel continues guarding a trench in France--simply because no one told him the war was over. His rescue coincides with the first wedding anniversary of his old pal Oliver Hardy. Heading to town to pick up a gift for his wife (Minna Gombell), Ollie Read More

Step Lively, Jeeves!

Actors: Arthur Treacher, Patricia Ellis, Robert Kent, Alan Dinehart, George Givot

Synopsis: Step Lively, Jeeves was the second 20th Century-Fox programmer to star Arthur Treacher as P.G. Wodehouse's resourceful butler Jeeves. In the first film, Thank You, Jeeves (36), the faithful family retainer extricated his boss Bertie Wooster (David Niven) from a jam. In the second film, Jeeves is Read More

Rhythm in the Clouds

Actors: Patricia Ellis, Warren Hull, Richard Carle, Zeffie Tilbury

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, a struggling songwriter fakes a letter of admittance into the apartment of a rich composer. It is most convenient as the successful fellow is out of town. The girl is hungry and unable to pay her own rent, so she takes full advantage until he returns and finds his Read More

Melody for Two

Actors: James Melton, Patricia Ellis, Marie Wilson, Fred Keating, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: Operatic tenor James Melton stars as on-the-skids bandleader Tod Weaver, who finds himself in charge of an all-girl orchestra. Though he tries to remain oblivious to his musicians' charms, he can't help but fall in love with assistant conductor Gale Starr (Patricia Ellis). Things look bad for hero Read More

The Gaiety Girls

Actors: Jack Hulbert, Patricia Ellis, Arthur Riscoe, Googie Withers, Sydney Fairbrother

Synopsis: British musical-comedy star Jack Hulbert and Hollywood ingenue Patricia Ellis share top billing in Gaiety Girls (aka Paradise for Two). Hulbert plays Martin, a straight-laced Parisian millionaire who falls in love with saucy chorus girl Jeannette (Ellis). The plot requires that Martin pose as a Read More

Venus Makes Trouble

Actors: James Dunn, Patricia Ellis, Gene Morgan, Thurston Hall, Beatrice Curtis

Synopsis: James Dunn stars as Buzz Martin, a hot-air balloon ascensionist who's plenty full of hot air himself. Hired by the owners of the bank and movie theater in a tiny Pennsylvania town, Buzz stages an aerial stunt to draw customers, succeeding primarily in making a mess of things. Undaunted, our hero Read More

Love Begins at Twenty

Actors: Warren Hull, Patricia Ellis, Hugh Herbert, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dorothy Vaughan

Synopsis: In 1929, Bette Davis made her Broadway debut in the now-forgotten stage play Broken Dishes. But Davis did not appear in the 1931 film version Too Young to Marry, nor was she in the 1935 remake Love Begins at 20, even though it was filmed by her home studio of Warner Bros. Patricia Ellis essays the Read More

Freshman Love

Actors: Frank McHugh, Patricia Ellis, Warren Hull, Joseph Cawthorn, George E. Stone

Synopsis: In this lively campus comedy, a stern rowing coach sets up a rigorous practice schedule for his team and insists they lead strictly disciplined lives (meaning no girls and no fun) so that they will become winners and thereby save his endangered job. Unfortunately, a seductive coed keeps leading Read More

Postal Inspector

Actors: Ricardo Cortez, Patricia Ellis, Bela Lugosi, Michael Loring, David Oliver

Synopsis: A postal inspector finds himself caught in a sticky situation as he tries to pin a rap for mail theft upon the owner of a prominent nightclub owner. The owner is guilty and only stole the mail so he could get the money he needs to pay off a murderous and impatient loan shark. Unfortunately, upon Read More

Down the Stretch

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Patricia Ellis, Dennis Moore, Willie Best, Gordon Hart

Synopsis: In this drama, a teen is adopted from a reform school by a wealthy couple. They own horses and the boy becomes a jockey. His father was also a rider, but he got involved with crime. The young rider soon finds himself being framed by gamblers who are using his father's reputation against him. Read More

Snowed Under

Actors: George Brent, Genevieve Tobin, Glenda Farrell, Patricia Ellis, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: In this comedy, a blocked writer decides he needs a little peace and quiet to spark his creativity so that he can write the final act of his play. Unfortunately, he no sooner settles down in his remote cabin when his first wife comes to call. She is followed by his second wife. A real ruckus Read More

Boulder Dam

Actors: Ross Alexander, Patricia Ellis, Lyle Talbot, Eddie Acuff, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this romantic crime drama a young Detroit criminal flees into the West after killing his boss. It was accidental, but he fears retaliation. He finds work in Colorado building the great dam, proves to be a hard-working honest young man and is promoted to foreman. When not working, he woos a Read More

Sing Me a Love Song

Actors: James Melton, ZaSu Pitts, Patricia Ellis, Ann Sheridan, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins

Synopsis: For a change of pace, Warner Bros. contract tenor James Melton sings no opera in Sing Me A Love Song -- nor does he sing anything particularly memorable, either. Melton stars as Jerry Haines, a young man-about-town who takes an entry-level job in his dad's department store. Jerry wants no special Read More

Hold 'em Yale

Actors: Patricia Ellis, Cesar Romero, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, William Frawley, Andy Devine

Synopsis: Based on a story by Damon Runyon, Hold 'Em Yale is also more than a little beholden to O. Henry's Ransom of Red Chief. Spoiled-rotten heiress Clarice Van Cleve (Patricia Ellis) is enticed to New York by fortune-hunter Gigolo Georgie (Cesar Romero), who dumps her in the apartment owned by Read More

A Night at the Ritz

Actors: William Gargan, Patricia Ellis, Allen Jenkins, Dorothy Tree, Erik Rhodes

Synopsis: There's nary a serious moment in the loopy Warner Bros. programmer A Night at the Ritz. William Gargan stars as Duke Regan, a hot-shot hotel publicity agent. Fired from several jobs, Duke is given one last chance by the Ritz-Carlton. Improvising quickly, he promotes his future brother-in-law Read More

While the Patient Slept

Actors: Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Lyle Talbot, Patricia Ellis, Allen Jenkins

Synopsis: Based on a mystery novel by Mignon Eberhardt, While the Patient Slept stars Aline MacMahon as Eberhardt's middle-aged amateur sleuth, Nurse Sarah Keate. Our heroine is summoned to the home of millionaire Adolphe Federie (Robert H. Barrat), who has suffered a stroke. Federie sleeps through an Read More

The Pay-Off

Actors: James Dunn, Claire Dodd, Patricia Ellis, Alan Dinehart, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: The hero of The Pay-Off is somewhat denser than usual, making his ultimate victory all the more amazing. James Dunn plays newspaper columnist Joe McCoy, who is inveigled by his no-good wife Maxine (Claire Dodd) to become the dupe of crooked sports promoter Marty Bleuler (Alan Dinehart). So devoted Read More

Stranded

Actors: Kay Francis, George Brent, Patricia Ellis, Donald Woods, Robert H. Barrat

Synopsis: In this romance, a social worker employed by Traveler's Aid finally is able to show her love to a construction foreman responsible for building the Golden Gate Bridge. She has loved him for nine years and is delighted that they can finally be together. Unfortunately, both of them are so busy that Read More

Bright Lights

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Ann Dvorak, Patricia Ellis, William Gargan, Joseph Cawthorn

Synopsis: Joe E. Brown's extensive circus and burlesque training serve him well in this familiar but likeable yarn. Brown and Ann Dvorak stars as small-time vaudevillians Joe and Fay Wilson, presently employed by a seedy burlesque troupe. Also on tour with the Wilsons is society girl Peggy (Patricia Ellis) Read More

The Case of the Lucky Legs

Actors: Warren William, Genevieve Tobin, Patricia Ellis, Lyle Talbot, Allen Jenkins

Synopsis: The legs in question in this the second of Warner Bros. Perry Mason whodunits belong to Margy Clune (Patricia Ellis), the first-prize winner in a Lucky Legs contest and the fiancée of Dr. Bob Doray (Lyle Talbot). But when Margy goes to collect her winnings, she finds that the contest's promoter 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

The Circus Clown

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Patricia Ellis, Dorothy Burgess, William Demarest, Donald Dilloway, Gordon Westcott

Synopsis: Joe E. Brown plays a dual role in Circus Clown, as would-be circus entertainer Happy Howard and his rustic old father. When dad, a former circus man himself, disapproves of Happy hitting the sawdust trail, the boy does so anyway, smitten by a beautiful female bareback rider. So naïve is our hero Read More

The St. Louis Kid

Actors: James Cagney, Patricia Ellis, Allen Jenkins, Robert H. Barrat, Hobart Cavanaugh

Synopsis: James Cagney manages to retain his pre-Code cockiness within post-Code limitations in the likeable St. Louis Kid. Cagney and Allen Jenkins, Eddie Kennedy, and Buck Willetts play long-distance truck drivers who get entangled in a battle between a crooked trucking firm and striking milk farmers (a Read More

Affairs of A Gentleman

Actors: Paul Lukas, Leila Hyams, Patricia Ellis, Phillip Reed, Onslow Stevens

Synopsis: The mysterious death of a notoriously candid author provides the basis of this mystery. Investigators do not believe the suicide note found with his corpse. It seems the author had written a scandalous autobiography detailing his many affairs, with no regard to the feelings of the women involved. Read More

Big Hearted Herbert

Actors: Guy Kibbee, Patricia Ellis, Helen Lowell, Phillip Reed

Synopsis: Guy Kibbee trots out his small-town blowhard routine in the title role of Big Hearted Herbert. He plays a former plumber who strikes it rich in the bathroom-fixture manufacturing business (guess which fixture we don't see in this Post-Code film). A stingy soul, Kibbee prefers the company of Read More

Harold Teen

Actors: Hal Le Roy, Rochelle Hudson, Patricia Ellis, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert

Synopsis: First adapted for the screen in 1928, Carl Ed's popular comic strip Harold Teen was cinematized a second time in 1934. This time it's musical-comedy star Hal LeRoy as the titular high-schooler, with Rochelle Hudson as his sweetheart Lillums Lovell and Hobart Cavanaugh as sweet-shop owner Pop Read More

Here Comes the Groom

Actors: Jack Haley, Mary Boland, Patricia Ellis, Neil Hamilton, Isabel Jewell

Synopsis: No relation to the 1952 Frank Capra comedy of the same name, 1934's Here Comes the Groom stars Jack Haley as an unobtrusive little guy who wants to succeed as a criminal. In order to win the heart of hard-boiled Isabel Jewell, Haley must prove he has what it takes to become a gangster. Enter Patricia Ellis Read More

Let's Be Ritzy

Actors: Lew Ayres, Patricia Ellis, Isabel Jewell, Frank McHugh, Berton Churchill

Synopsis: Lew Ayres and Patricia Ellis are the "official" stars of Let's Be Ritzy, but the film is dominated by Frank McHugh as brash radio performer Bill Damroy. In his efforts to appease his social-climbing girlfriend Betty (Isabel Jewell), Damroy gets young hero Jimmie (Lew Ayres) mixed up in all sorts Read More

42nd Street

Actors: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Una Merkel, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers, Dick Powell

Synopsis: The quintessential "backstage" musical, 42nd Street traces the history of a Broadway musical comedy, from casting call to opening night. Warner Baxter plays famed director Julian Marsh, who despite failing health is determined to stage one last great production, "Pretty Lady." Others involved 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

The King's Vacation

Actors: George Arliss, Florence Arliss, Marjorie Gateson, Dudley Digges, Dick Powell

Synopsis: One of George Arliss' "smaller" vehicles, The King's Vacation casts the eminent British stage star (always billed as "Mr. George Arliss") as an abdicating monarch. Seeking the simple life, he comes to America in search of the wife (Marjorie Gateson) he'd been forced to divorce years earlier in 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

Elmer the Great

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Patricia Ellis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Preston S. Foster

Synopsis: Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in pulling practical jokes on him. Still, he is so valuable a player that the Cubs management hides the Read More

Picture Snatcher

Actors: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis, Alice White, Ralf Harolde, Robert E. O'Connor

Synopsis: An admirably tough B-picture enlivened by an energetic James Cagney performance, Picture Snatcher stars Cagney as Danny Kean, a former gangster who has decided to go straight after a stretch in the big house. Danny has fallen for Patricia (Patricia Ellis), the daughter of the cop who put him away (Robert Emmett O'Connor Read More

The Narrow Corner

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Patricia Ellis, Dudley Digges, Ralph Bellamy

Synopsis: A Somerset Maugham story was adapted for The Narrow Corner, a film about Man's inability to escape his destiny. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a fugitive from Australian justice, wanted for accidentally killing a man. He escapes to the East Indies in a ship rented by his father. Among the people Read More

Three on a Match

Actors: Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Buster Phelps

Synopsis: Three on a Match covers approximately 13 years in the lives of girlhood chums Mary Keaton (Joan Blondell), Ruth Wescott (Bette Davis) and Vivian Deverse (Ann Dvorak). Having graduated from grammar school together in 1919, the girls stage a reunion ten years later. Hard-boiled Mary is now a chorus Read More

Central Park

Synopsis: Two small-town youths head for the Big Apple and somehow get mixed up with mobsters during a visit to the title park in this episodic comedy drama filmed on location. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More