Ronald Colman Filmography

Around the World in 80 Days

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

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

Champagne for Caesar

Actors: Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Barbara Britton, Art Linkletter

Synopsis: This comedy stars Ronald Colman as Beauregard Bottomley, a self-styled genius in need of a job. He applies for a position with a large soap company, but Burnbridge Walters (Vincent Price), the firm's willfully eccentric president, falls into a "trance" while interviewing Beauregard and decides not Read More

The Late George Apley

Actors: Ronald Colman, Edna Best, David Bond, Clifford Brooke, Vanessa Brown, Peggy Cummins

Synopsis: Based on John P. Marquand's Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novel of the same title, this film stars Ronald Colman as George Apley, a Beantown blueblood passionately in love with his hometown. In his mind, Boston is the world's center of modern civilization and gentility and he has made it very Read More

A Double Life

Actors: Whit Bissell, Ronald Colman, Signe Hasso, Betsy Blair, David Bond, Edmond O'Brien, Shelley Winters, Harlan Briggs, Georgia Caine, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens Read More

Kismet

Actors: Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, James Craig, Edward Arnold, Florence Bates, Hugh Herbert

Synopsis: Oriental Dream is the TV title for the 1944 Technicolor version of Kismet. Ronald Colman plays Hadji, "king of beggars" in the days of the Arabian Nights. Posing as a prince, Colman woos Marlene Dietrich, the favorite wife of the evil Wazir (Edward Arnold). Meanwhile, Colman's daughter Joy Ann Page Read More

The Talk of the Town

Actors: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan, Glenda Farrell, Charles Dingle

Synopsis: George Stevens' Talk of the Town is a quick-witted comedy driven by wonderful performances by Cary Grant, Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur. Michael Lightcap (Colman) is a stuffy law professor in line to a Supreme Court appointment, who is spending the summer at the house of schoolteacher Nora Read More

Random Harvest

Actors: Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters, Henry Travers

Synopsis: At the close of World War I, shell-shocked amnesia victim Ronald Colman is sequestered in a London sanitarium; with no identity and no next of kin, he has nowhere else to go. Unable to stand the loneliness, Colman wanders into the streets, then stumbles into a music hall, where he is befriended by Read More

My Life with Caroline

Actors: Ronald Colman, Anna Lee, Charles Winninger, Reginald Gardiner, Gilbert Roland

Synopsis: My Life with Caroline is a dizzy boy-chases-girl affair with a twist: the girl being chased is the boy's own wife. Wealthy publisher Anthony (Ronald Colman) weds dizzy socialite Caroline (Anna Lee, in her first Hollywood film), who sees nothing wrong with seeking out new boyfriends even after her Read More

Lucky Partners

Actors: Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson, Spring Byington, Cecilia Loftus

Synopsis: Lewis Milestone directs the lightweight romantic comedy Lucky Partners, based on a story by Sacha Guitry. David Grant (Ronald Colman) is an artist in New York's Greenwich Village. After he wishes good luck to passing ingenue Jean Newton (Ginger Rogers), she is immediately offered a beautiful Read More

The Light That Failed

Actors: Ronald Colman, Walter Huston, Muriel Angelus, Ida Lupino, Dudley Digges

Synopsis: Based on a classic tale from Rudyard Kipling, this melodrama chronicles the desperate attempt of a painter to finish his greatest painting before he goes blind. His affliction is due to a war wound and his final project is to paint a portrait of London's most notorious prostitute. Trouble begins Read More

If I Were King

Actors: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew, C.V. France

Synopsis: If I Were King is a delightful costume adventure tale set in 14th century France, during the reign of Louis XI, and inspired by the legend of the rebel poet François Villon, whose exploits were filmed earlier as The Beloved Rogue (1927) with John Barrymore, and later transformed into the musical Read More

Lost Horizon

Actors: Ronald Colman, Edward Everett Horton, H.B. Warner, Jane Wyatt, Sam Jaffe, John Howard, Margo

Synopsis: It took British author James Hilton six weeks to write his visionary novel Lost Horizon. It took director Frank Capra two years-and half of his home studio Columbia's annual budget-to bring it to the screen. After a lengthy preamble, inviting audiences to imagine their own ideas of Utopia, the 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

Under Two Flags

Actors: Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, Rosalind Russell, Gregory Ratoff

Synopsis: Two silent film versions preceded this 1936 Hollywood adaptation of the 19th century novel by the writer Ouida Bergere. It is set in Saharan Africa but was filmed in the Arizona desert. Ronald Colman is Corporal Victor, a man who has taken the rap for a crime committed by his younger brother. Read More

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

Actors: Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, Colin Clive, Nigel Bruce, Montagu Love

Synopsis: The old British musical-hall ditty "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" provides the title for this lightweight Ronald Colman vehicle. Colman, playing a refugee Russian prince, is the "man" in question, and the owners of the "broken bank"--that is, the proprietors of the Monte Carlo casino Read More

Clive of India

Actors: Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Colin Clive, Francis Lister, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: Ronald Colman plays Robert Clive, a true-life 18th century Britisher who works up the ranks to become leader of Britain's military forces in India. Though produced on a superficially lavish scale, the film inexpensively sidesteps several of Clive's more famous battles with Indian insurrectionists Read More

A Tale of Two Cities

Actors: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: It is a tale known well, filmed many times over the years, but never better than this early black and white version from the MGM Studios, David O. Selznick producing. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"-- Charles Dickens juxtaposes England and France, George and Louis, tradition Read More

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

Actors: Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Warner Oland, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel

Synopsis: This second and final "Bulldog Drummond" film to star Ronald Colman, finds the famed sleuth in the midst of a sinister plan orchestrated by Warner Oland. Damsel in distress Loretta Young reports that her wealthy and influential uncle is missing, but all those concerned insist that the uncle never Read More

The Masquerader

Actors: Ronald Colman, Elissa Landi, Julie Compton, Halliwell Hobbes, David Torrence

Synopsis: In an interesting precursor to his later vehicle The Prisoner of Zenda, Ronald Colman essays a dual role in Goldwyn's The Masquerader. Colman is cast as Member of Parliament Sir John Chilcote and his identical cousin, a newspaper journalist also named John. A mean-spirited alcoholic and drug Read More

Cynara

Actors: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, Phyllis Barry, Henry Stephenson, Viva Tattersall

Synopsis: King Vidor directed this screen adaptation of the novel An Imperfect Lover by Robert Gore-Brown, which had also made the transition to the stage. Jim Warlock (Ronald Colman) is a successful British lawyer who has always displayed a solid and conservative nature in his business associations, his Read More

The Unholy Garden

Actors: Ronald Colman, Fay Wray, Estelle Taylor, Tully Marshall, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: A clever, slyly self-satirical screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur helps to make The Unholy Garden seem better than it is. The title refers to a Saharan oasis where a group of international crooks have converged, free from prosecution. Ronald Colman stars as gentleman thief Barrington Read More

Arrowsmith

Actors: Ronald Colman, Helen Hayes, Richard Bennett, A.E. Anson, Clarence Brooks, DeWitt Jennings

Synopsis: One of the more prestigious films of its time, John Ford's film adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has a sleek Art Deco look strangely out of tune with its tale of moral struggle. Ronald Colman stars as Martin Arrowsmith, an idealistic young doctor, who, after graduating Read More

Raffles

Actors: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, David Torrence, Frances Dade, Alison Skipworth, Bramwell Fletcher

Synopsis: The third in a succession of film adaptations of author E.W. Hornung's novel Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, this version was the first to also be produced in sound. Ronald Colman stars as A.J. Raffles, an utterly unflappable British gentleman cricket player who by night is secretly a thief known Read More

The Devil to Pay

Actors: Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Florence Britton, Frederick Kerr, David Torrence

Synopsis: Ronald Colman plays the "black sheep" of a wealthy British family, sent to South Africa so that he'll be as far away from home as possible. Broke again, Colman auctions off his belongings and heads for London to the less-than-open arms of his father (Frederick Kerr). He begins to dally with a Read More

The Rescue

Actors: Alfred Hickman, Theodore Von Eltz, John Davidson

Synopsis: This drama, based on a Joseph Conrad novel, follows the exploits of a British adventurer who helps hide an island prince and his sister after they are chased out of their village by rebellious natives. The adventurer then tries to help the prince reclaim his home, but he is waylaid by a wealthy Read More

Bulldog Drummond

Actors: Ronald Colman, Claud Allister, Joan Bennett, Lilyan Tashman, Lawrence Grant, Montagu Love

Synopsis: Tired of his sedentary postwar existence, Col. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Ronald Colman) offers his services as adventurer for hire. This gets him mixed up with lovely Joan Bennett, whose wealthy father is being held against his will in a gloomy sanitarium. Armed with little more than bravado Read More

Condemned

Actors: Ronald Colman, Ann Harding, Louis Wolheim, Billy Elmer

Synopsis: Ronald Colman's second talking picture, Condemned is a snail's-pace melodrama set on a Devil's Island. The evils of the notorious French penal colony are treated head-on, though the awkwardness of early-talkie techniques lessen the impact of several scenes. The plot has Colman, a condemned bank Read More

Two Lovers

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Noah Beery, Sr., Nigel de Brulier, Virginia Bradford

Synopsis: Another of Goldwyn's successful pairings of Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, Two Lovers was the last of their co-starring assignments. Set during the 16th-century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the story concentrates on the fiercely patriotic Mark Van Ryke (Colman). Donning the guise of Read More

The Night of Love

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Montagu Love, Natalie Kingston, Laska Winter

Synopsis: Based on a story by 17th-century Spanish playwright Calderon de la Barca, A Night of Love is based on the ancient (and historically suspect) tradition of droit du seigneur. Ronald Colman stars as gypsy prince Montero, whose wedding night is rudely interrupted by the despotic Duke de la Garda (Montague Love Read More

Magic Flame

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Agostino Borgato, Gustav von Seyffertitz

Synopsis: The Magic Flame is little more than a showcase for Samuel Goldwyn's "hottest" screen team, Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky. Based on King Harlequin, a novel and play by Rudolph Lothar, the film casts Colman as a travelling circus clown who happens to bear a startling resemblance to the no-good King Read More

The Winning of Barbara Worth

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Charles Lane, Gary Cooper, Paul McAllister, E.J. Ratcliffe

Synopsis: A very popular silent western, this film features two engineers vying for the affections of the adoptive daughter of a landowner. Barbara Worth (Vilma Banky) wants to help her father, Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane), build a dam on the Colorado River to help irrigate the desert land he owns. The Read More

Beau Geste

Actors: Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, Ralph Forbes, Alice Joyce, Mary Brian

Synopsis: Ronald Colman plays the title role in the first of several screen adaptations of Christopher Wren's tale of adventure in the foreign legion. Beau is the youngest of three brothers who fall into an ethical dilemma when their aunt resorts to stealing valuable jewelry from the family's collection to Read More

Kiki

Actors: Norma Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Gertrude Astor, Marc MacDermott, George K. Arthur

Synopsis: This first film version of Andre Picard's stage success Kiki stars Norma Talmadge in the title role. A saucy Parisian dancer, Kiki begins keeping time with theatrical manager Victor Renal (Ronald Colman). Her rival for Renal's affections is icy "legitimate" actress Paulette (Gertrude Astor), but Read More

Thief in Paradise

Actors: Doris Kenyon, Aileen Pringle, Alec B. Francis

Synopsis: Maurice Blake (Ronald Colman) and Philip Jardine (Charles Youree) are pearl fishers on a tropical island. The two of them are fighting underwater for a pearl, when Jardine is killed by a shark. His mistress, Carmina (Aileen Pringle), has a letter from Jardine's wealthy father (Claude Read More

Stella Dallas

Actors: Jean Hersholt, Belle Bennett, Ronald Colman, Alice Joyce, Lois Moran

Synopsis: One of the silent era's most popular tearjerkers, this soapy melodrama was adapted by legendary screenwriter Frances Marion from the 1923 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. Belle Bennett stars as Stella Dallas, a small town girl who is devastated by her father's death and quickly marries the upper Read More

The Dark Angel

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Helen Jerome Eddy, Frank Elliott, Wyndham Standing, Florence Turner, Charles Lane, George Bunny

Synopsis: This sentimental drama, based on the stage play by H.B. Trevelyan (actually a pseudonym for Guy Bolton), was the American film debut of Vilma Banky, and it made her a star overnight. The setting is World War I, and Captain Alan Trent (Ronald Coleman) and Kitty Vane (Banky) are making their wedding Read More

Sporting Venus

Actors: Blanche Sweet, Ronald Colman, Lew Cody, Josephine Crowell, George Fawcett

Synopsis: Lady Gwendolyn (Blanche Sweet, who, at the time, was married to Marshall Neilan) is the daughter of Sir Alfred Grayle, a wealthy Scotsman (Edward Martindel). Because her mother is dead and Sir Alfred wanted a boy, Gwendolyn grows up sharing his passion for sports. When she meets commoner Donald Read More

Romola

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Italy, where director Henry King ruled over a huge set that covered 17 acres, Romola stars Lillian Gish in the title role. The daughter of a 15th-century Florentine aesthete, Romola becomes the bride of the caddish Tito Melema (William Powell). Using all the underhanded Read More

Her Sister from Paris

Synopsis: Constance Talmadge was at the peak of her career when she made this comedy; she was also near the end of her career. The star would only make a handful of films after this one before retiring in lieu of switching over to talkies. Helen Weyringer (Talmadge), a nice but slightly dowdy housewife, has Read More

Lady Windermere's Fan

Actors: Ronald Colman, Irene Rich, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell, Edward Martindel

Synopsis: Unable to rely upon Oscar Wilde's epigrammatic dialogue to carry the day (this was, after all, the silent-film era), director Ernst Lubitsch substitutes verbal wit for the visual variety in his 1925 filmization of Lady Windermere's Fan. Ronald Colman has one of his first important screen roles as Read More

His Supreme Moment

Actors: Blanche Sweet, Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Cyril Chadwick

Synopsis: John Douglas, a down-on-his-luck engineer (Ronald Coleman), takes his sweetheart, Sara Deeping (Kathleen Myers), to a play starring Carla King (Blanche Sweet), and he falls in love with the actress. Douglas proposes to Carla but, wary of marriage, she hesitates. Instead she proposes that she Read More

Tarnish

Actors: May McAvoy, Ronald Colman, Marie Prevost, Albert Gran, Mrs. Russ Whytall

Synopsis: Producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the stage play by Gilbert Emery as a vehicle for his new star, Ronald Colman. All his life, Adolf Tevis (Albert Gran, reprising his stage role) has been a ladies' man. He went through his wife's fortune, spending much of it on other women, and, as a result, his Read More

Her Night of Romance

Actors: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Gran, Robert Rendel

Synopsis: This silly farce was typical Constance Talmadge material. She has great support here, with the suave Ronald Colman as her co-star (the two of them, along with director Sidney Franklin, would team up a year later for another film, Her Sister From Paris). Samuel C. Adams, an American millionaire (Albert Gran Read More

20 Dollars a Week

The White Sister

Actors: Lillian Gish, Ronald Colman, Gail Kane, J. Barney Sherry, Charles Lane

Synopsis: Lillian Gish plays the girl whose travails begin when her father dies and her conniving sister cheats her out of her inheritance. Gish is deeply in love with handsome army officer Ronald Colman, but when war erupts, he is sent to the front. Soon after he is listed among the dead. In her despair Read More

Eternal City

Actors: Barbara La Marr, Lionel Barrymore, Bert Lytell, Richard Bennett, Montagu Love

Synopsis: Bruno, a tramp (Richard Bennett), takes in a waif, David, who is later adopted by a man whose daughter, Roma, wants a playmate. The children grow up (to be played by Bert Lytell and Barbara LaMarr), and when World War I breaks out, David and Bruno enlist. David is reported dead and Roma, who is a Read More

Handcuffs or Kisses?

Actors: Elaine Hammerstein, Julia Swayne Gordon, Dorothy Chappell, Robert Ellis, Alison Skipworth

Synopsis: aka Handcuffs and Kisses The producers of this picture apparently got their inspiration from a magazine story about the mistreatment of girl inmates at New York's Bedford Reformatory. Elaine Hammerstein got stuck with the starring role, Lois Walton. Poor Lois is sent to the reformatory by her Read More

A Son of David

Actors: Poppy Wyndham, Ronald Colman, Arthur Walcott, Constance Backner, Robert Vallis

Anna the Adventuress

Synopsis: Alma Taylor plays Anna, a cabaret dancer whose husband betrays her. With blood in her eye, Anna decides to get even with hubby in the most drastic manner possible. To do this, she assumes the identity of a nonexistent twin sister named Annabel. The ruse works, but as is often the case in screen Read More

Black Spider

Sheba

The Toilers

Actors: Eric Barker, Ronald Colman, John Corrie, George Dewhurst, Gwynne Herbert

A Daughter of Eve

Actors: Edward Banfield, Cameron Carr, Ronald Colman, Ralph Forster, Violet Hopson

Snow in the Desert

The Live Wire

Actors: Ronald Colman