Walter KingsfordFilmography

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater

Synopsis: This episode is, amazingly enough, based on a story by A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh. Henpecked husband Ernest Findlater (John Williams) dreams of escaping his dreary existence and heading off to the South Seas. During one such dream, a beautiful native girl named Lalage (Barbara Baxley) Read More

The Search for Bridey Murphy

Actors: Teresa Wright, Louis Hayward, Nancy Gates, Kenneth Tobey, Richard Anderson

Synopsis: The Search for Bridey Murphy was inspired by the purportedly true story of a Colorado housewife named Virginia Tighe, who while under hypnosis insisted that she'd lived a previous life as an 18th century Irish housemaid named Bridey Murphy. The hypnosis sessions were conducted under the Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Perfect Murder

Synopsis: The scene is fin-de-siècle France, where the avaricious Tallendier brothers, Paul (Hurd Hatfield) and Henri (Philip Coolidge), have learned to their chagrin that their wealthy Aunt Rosalie (Mildred Natwick) intends to leave all her money to the church. To prevent her from changing her will, the Read More

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

I Love Lucy: The Fox Hunt

Actors: Hillary Brooke, Walter Kingsford, Trevor Ward

Synopsis: In her efforts to make a good impression on British movie producer Sir Clive Richardson (Walter Kingsford) -- and, incidentally, to keep Ricky (Desi Arnaz) far away from British actress Angela Randall (Hillary Brooke) -- Lucy wangles an invitation to Richardson's country manor by claiming to be an Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: John Brown's Body

Synopsis: Furniture designer John Brown (Russell Collins) is unaware that his wife Vera (Leora Dana) is cheating on him with his business partner Harold Skinner (Hugh Marlowe). Convinced that Brown is no longer capable of handling his business, and hoping to grab a larger piece of the pie himself, Vera and Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Jonathan

Synopsis: Corey Allen, who'd played James Dean's ill-fated "chickie run" opponent in the 1955 feature Rebel without a Cause (and who later became a prolific TV director), is the guest star in this episode. Allen plays Gil Dalliford, who deeply resents the fact that his widowed father Jonathan (Douglas Kennedy Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy

Synopsis: Suffering stoically from the realization that her husband is unfaithful, wealthy Irene Cole (Leora Dana) is ardently courted by two different men during her vacation. One of the suitors is a gentleman named Randall Burnside (Ralph Clanton); the other is a royal prince named Burhan (Jacques Bergerac Read More

Walking My Baby Back Home

Actors: Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, Buddy Hackett, Lori Nelson, Scatman Crothers

Synopsis: Walking My Baby Back Home is a bubbly musical of no significance whatsoever, but this doesn't diminish its enjoyability factor. The film wastes no time in showing off the singing and dancing skills of star Donald O'Connor, who is seen cavorting about during the opening credits. O'Connor plays war Read More

Loose in London

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey, Angela Greene, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Though scheduled for production as early as 1950, the Bowery Boys' Loose in London didn't go before the cameras until 1953. In this outing, Sach (Huntz Hall) is told that he's a relative of Sir Percy, the Earl of Walsingham (Walter Kingsford). In short order, Sach, his pals Slip (Leo Gorcey) Read More

The Pathfinder

Actors: George Montgomery, Helena Carter, Jay Silverheels, Walter Kingsford, Rodd Redwing

Synopsis: Flying in the face of Hollywood tradition, this cinemadaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's The Pathfinder features genuine Native Americans in several principal "Indian" roles. Set during the French-Indian wars of the 18th century, the film stars George Montgomery as The Pathfinder, an Indian Read More

Confidence Girl

Actors: Tom Conway, Hillary Brooke, Eddie Marr, Dan Riss, Jack Kruschen

Synopsis: As was his custom, director Andrew L. Stone filmed most of Confidence Girl away from the studio on actual locations. The title character, Mary Webb (Hillary Brooke), is in league with sharpster Roger Kingsley (Tom Conway). The pair's latest scam is to pose as a clairvoyant and a detective while Read More

The Brigand

Actors: Anthony Dexter, Gale Robbins, Anthony Quinn, Carl Benton Reid

Synopsis: After Columbia's 1951 biopic Valentino laid an egg, leading man Anthony Dexter was persona non grata at the studio. Still, Columbia couldn't very well pay Dexter his weekly salary for doing nothing, and that's why The Brigand was born. Dexter does his best in the dual role of King Lorenzo, monarch Read More

Tarzan's Peril

Actors: Lex Barker, Virginia Huston, George Macready, Douglas Fowley, Glenn Anders

Synopsis: Two escaped convicts (George Macready and Glenn Anders) invade the jungle dominion of Tarzan (Lex Barker) to set up a gunrunning operation. One of the criminals has sworn to "get" Tarzan, who was responsible for his arrest, and to that end stirs up unrest between two African tribes. After narrowly Read More

My Forbidden Past

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Lucile Watson, Janis Carter

Synopsis: This period melodrama stars Ava Gardner as Barbara Beaurevel, a woman who inherits a substantial fortune from her grandmother. The source of the Beaurevel estate is a subject much whispered about among polite company, but Barbara hopes to wipe away its stigma by using her money to help others Read More

Soldiers Three

Actors: Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, David Niven, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack

Synopsis: Allegedly based on a Rudyard Kipling novel, this draws most of its inspiration from the 1939 film made of Kipling's narrative poem Gunga Din. Stewart Granger, Robert Newton and Cyril Cusack play three boisterous English soldiers stationed on the Northern India frontier. Walter Pidgeon and David Niven Read More

The Desert Fox

Actors: James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, Jessica Tandy, Luther Adler, Everett Sloane

Synopsis: The Desert Fox is a superb filmed biography of German general Erwin Rommel, concentrating on the period between his retreat from North Africa and his government-decreed death. A brilliant tactician, Rommel earns the respect not only of his own men but of the enemy. Unfortunately, Adolph Hitler (Luther Adler Read More

Two Dollar Bettor

Actors: John Litel, Marie Windsor, Steve Brodie, Barbara Logan, Robert Sherwood

Synopsis: Dependable supporting actor John Litel is top-billed in the independently produced Two Dollar Bettor. Litel plays John Hewitt, a respectable widower who takes the first step on the road to depravation when he makes his first-ever bet at the race track. Consumed by gambling fever, Hewitt is reduced Read More

Experiment Alcatraz

Actors: John Howard, Joan Dixon, Walter Kingsford, Lynne Carter, Robert Shayne

Synopsis: Experiment Alcatraz stars John Howard as a doctor who develops a serum to cure radioactive poisoning. He tests it on several Alcatraz "lifers," who have volunteered for the experiment on the promise of freedom if they survive. A murder within the group casts aspersions on the doctor, but the Read More

Kim

Actors: Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell, Paul Lukas, Robert Douglas, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: Errol Flynn is top-billed in Kim, but the title character is played by Dean Stockwell. The son of an Irish sergeant, young Kim wanders through the streets and hills of Colonial India, disguised as a native boy. Kim's adventures include an episode with a horse trader (Errol Flynn) who is actually a Read More

Slattery's Hurricane

Actors: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Veronica Lake, John Russell, Gary Merrill

Synopsis: Ex-navy pilot Slattery (Richard Widmark) works for a dope-smuggling ring. When he's not in the air, Slattery is making time with Dolores (Veronica Lake), the somewhat put-upon secretary of the ring's leader. Only upon meeting Aggie (Linda Darnell), the wife of his old navy buddy Hobson (John Russell Read More

The Velvet Touch

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

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

The Black Arrow

Actors: Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready, Edgar Buchanan, Rhys Williams

Synopsis: This commendably short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow stars Louis Hayward in the title role. Returning from duty in the 15th-century War of the Roses, young Richard Shelton (Hayward) learns that his estate has been claimed by his usurping uncle Sir Daniel Brackley (George Macready Read More

Secrets of Scotland Yard

Actors: C. Aubrey Smith, Edgar Barrier, Stephanie Bachelor, Lionel Atwill, Henry Stephenson

Synopsis: Secrets of Scotland Yard is Republic's spin on a plotline first elucidated in the old E. Phillips Oppenheim novel The Great Impersonation. After losing WW I, the German high command, with remarkable foresight, prepares for the next war by planting a spy in the British Admiralty. Edgar Barrier Read More

Three Men in White

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Marilyn Maxwell, Keye Luke, Ava Gardner

Synopsis: MGM's popular Dr. Kildare series spanned 1938-47. Lew Ayres played the title character, but parted in 1942. Though crusty and craggly Lionel Barrymore, portrayed Dr. Gillespie (one of {%Kildare's contemporaries at Blair General Hospital)) from the beginning of the series, he initially came second Read More

The Hitler Gang

Actors: Robert "Bobby" Watson, Martin Kosleck, Victor Varconi, Luis Van Rooten

Synopsis: Though it takes several liberties with facts and motivations, The Hitler Gang is a reasonably absorbing chronicle of Hitler's rise to power. An obscure German corporal in WW1, Adolf Hitler (played by Robert Watson, better known for his comic portrayals of Der Fuhrer), embittered by the Versailles Read More

Between Two Women

Actors: Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, Marilyn Maxwell

Synopsis: The oft-used movie title Between Two Women was resurrected once more for this entry in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series. Though Kildare is nowhere to be found, Lionel Barrymore is very much in evidence as Dr. Leonard Gillespie, crusty chief surgeon of Blair General Hospital. Gillespie's assistant is Dr. Read More

Mr. Skeffington

Actors: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, Richard Waring, George Coulouris, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: From a novel of the same name by "Elizabeth", the film begins in 1914, with Bette Davis cast as vain, flighty society woman Fanny Trellis. Informed by Jewish-American financier Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) that her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) has stolen money to pay his gambling debts, Fanny Read More

Ghost Catchers

Actors: Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Gloria Jean, Martha O'Driscoll, Andy Devine, Leo Carrillo

Synopsis: Colonel Breckinridge Marshall (Walter Catlett) of Clearwater, GA -- who puts on a big front but is actually only a step away from the poor house -- rents a luxurious townhouse in Manhattan in anticipation of the Carnegie Hall debut of his two daughters, singer Melinda (Gloria Jean) and Read More

Forever and a Day

Actors: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Gladys Cooper, Ida Lupino, C. Aubrey Smith, Claude Rains, Robert Cummings, Anna Neagle, Roland Young

Synopsis: The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old Read More

Flight for Freedom

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Herbert Marshall, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Flight for Freedom was an "a clef" version of the Amelia Earhart story. Rosalind Russell plays the Earhart-like aviatrix Tonie Carter, who spends the early part of the film fighting against the aviation industry's prejudice against woman pilots. Tonie establishes a reputation as "the Lady Read More

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Donna Reed, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The third of MGM's Dr. Kildare series to dispense with the services of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case stars crusty old Lionel Barrymore in the title role. The first half of the film concerns Gillespie's efforts to expedite the romance of Army sergeant Orisin (Michael Duane) Read More

Bomber's Moon

Actors: George Montgomery, Annabella, Kent Taylor, Walter Kingsford, Martin Kosleck

Synopsis: An American pilot swears to get revenge on the German ace who shot his brother in this war movie set in war-torn Europe. Montgomery is the pilot. After he sees his brother die while trying to parachute to safety, Montgomery's plane is shot down over Germany. He is placed in a POW camp. There he Read More

Mr. Lucky

Actors: Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper, Alan Carney

Synopsis: One of Cary Grant's most financially successful 1940s vehicles, Mr. Lucky finds Grant atypically cast as a shifty, out-for-number-one gambler. Having dodged the draft by adopting the identity of a dead man, Grant sets his sights on purchasing a fancy gambling ship. To raise the necessary funds, he Read More

Hi Diddle Diddle

Actors: Dennis O'Keefe, Martha Scott, Adolphe Menjou, Billie Burke, Pola Negri

Synopsis: In the tradition of Hellzapoppin', Hi Diddle Diddle is an all-stops-out "screwball comedy" populated by certifiable zanies. Billie Burke plays Mrs. Prescott, the featherbrained mother of bride-to-be Janie Prescott (Martha Scott). When Mrs. P is swindled out of her life savings, Colonel Phyffe (Adolphe Menjou Read More

My Favorite Blonde

Actors: Bob Hope, Madeleine Carroll, Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco, Victor Varconi, Lionel Royce

Synopsis: Each of Bob Hope's "My Favorite" films (My Favorite Blonde, My Favorite Brunette, My Favorite Spy) was, by accident or design, a parody of a dead-serious movie genre. 1942's My Favorite Blonde, for example, was a takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock in general and Hitchcock's 39 Steps in particular. Read More

Fly by Night

Actors: Nancy Kelly, Richard Carlson, Albert Basserman, Martin Kosleck, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: The innovative direction of Robert Siodmak lifts the inexpensive imitation-Hitchcock Fly By Night well above the ordinary. Richard Carlson plays young intern Jeff Burton, who impulsively offers a lift to an odd-looking gentlemen (Miles Mander). It soons turns out that Jeff's passenger is an Read More

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

Actors: John Shepperd, Shepperd Strudwick, Linda Darnell, Jane Darwell, Virginia Gilmore, Mary Howard

Synopsis: John Shepperd, later known as Shepperd Strudwick, stars as the tragic Edgar Allan Poe in this low-budget biopic. Adopted as a child, Poe grows into a directionless adult, disgracing himself and his foster family through his inability (or unwillingness) to conform to the status quo of 19th century Read More

Calling Dr. Gillespie

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Philip Dorn, Donna Reed, Phil Brown, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: When Lew Ayres' wartime conscientious-objector status caused MGM to drop the actor like a hot potato, Ayres' "Dr. Kildare" series became the sole responsibility of Lionel Barrymore as the crusty Dr. Leonard Gillespie. In the first Kildare-less entry, Calling Dr. Gillespie, the ageing medico has a Read More

Fingers at the Window

Actors: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone, Walter Kingsford, Miles Mander

Synopsis: A fun though abortive bid to pair crime-solving duo Lew Ayres and Laraine Day for a series of thrillers, this murder mystery benefits from good performances by the leads. The plot involves a series of axe murders in Chicago being perpetrated by the patients of an insane asylum, all of whom have Read More

Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Susan Peters, Richard Quine, Keye Luke

Synopsis: On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) realizes that it's time to appoint a new assistant to replace young Dr. Kildare. Gillespie is obliged to choose from three highly qualified candidates: Dr. Randall "Red" Adams (Van Johnson), Dr. Lee Wong How (Keye Luke) Read More

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

Actors: Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, Spring Byington, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: Ralph Bellamy makes the third of four appearances as "master detective" Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime. The principal villain is crooked stockbroker John Mathews (Douglass Dumbrille), whose Wall Street manipulations render Ray Jarden (H. B. Warner) penniless. Read More

The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance

Actors: June Storey, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, Eric Blore, Thurston Hall

Synopsis: The title of this series entry may strike some as a tad redundant: After all, isn't crook-turned-sleuth Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf, always taking a chance? On this occasion, Lanyard (Warren William) and his trusty valet Jamison (Eric Blore) are framed on a murder charge. The actual Read More

The People vs. Dr. Kildare

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Bonita Granville

Synopsis: Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) plays Good Samaritan with potentially disastrous results in The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Happening upon the scene of a motor accident, Kildare performs an emergency operation on crash victim Frances Marlowe (Bonita Granville), an ice-skating star. While recovering in Read More

Unholy Partners

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Edward Arnold, Laraine Day, Marsha Hunt, William Orr

Synopsis: If Edward G. Robinson thought he'd get away from tough-guy roles by moving from Warners to MGM, he was sorely mistaken. Robinson plays the editor of a 1920s tabloid newspaper, compelled to accept financial aid from a gangster (Edward Arnold). Defying his "unholy partner," Robinson adopts an Read More

H.M. Pulham, Esq.

Actors: Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn, Van Heflin

Synopsis: MGM was doing so well in 1941 that it could afford the occasional "prestige" film with little box-office appeal. Based on the novel by J.P. Marquand, H.M. Pulham, Esq., stars Robert Young as a successful but stuffy Boston businessman. The glimmer of sadness in Young's eyes indicates that his Read More

Hit the Road

Actors: Gladys George, Barton MacLane, Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell

Synopsis: German director Joe May was light-years removed from his glory days at UFA when he helmed the "Little Tough Guys" entry Hit the Road. This time, the youthful protagonists-Tom (Billy Halop), Pig (Huntz Hall), String (Gabe Dell) and Ape (Bernard Punsley)-are all the orphaned sons of gangsters who'd Read More

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Red Skelton, Alma Kruger

Synopsis: When MGM decided to move up-and-coming star Laraine Day out of the "Dr. Kildare" series, the studio did so in a startlingly dramatic fashion. In Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day, Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) and nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) are finally able to exchange their marital vows. Alas, the Read More

The Devil and Miss Jones

Actors: Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, Robert Cummings, Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. Sakall, Spring Byington

Synopsis: The Devil and Miss Jones is a social comedy with left-wing undertones. John P. Merrick (Charles Coburn), the world's richest man, gets word that someone is trying to unionize a department store that he owns. To thwart this blatant act of democracy, Merrick changes his name and takes a menial job Read More

The Corsican Brothers

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Ruth Warrick, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: The Corsican Brothers is based on theDumas novel about "psychic" twins--one feels the pain and experiences the thoughts of the other. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays both Mario and Lucien, siblings separated at birth because of a long-standing feud between various factions of their family. One twin is Read More

Dr. Kildare's Victory

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Ann Ayars, Robert Sterling, Jean Rogers

Synopsis: In this episode of the popular medical series, Kildare finds himself involved in a dispute between to competing hospitals. The trouble begins when an intern rushes a beautiful girl to Kildare's hospital. She has a shard of glass imbedded in her heart. The girl survives the surgery, and the intern 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

Dr. Kildare's Strange Case

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Shepperd Strudwick, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: This fourth entry in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series once again stars Lew Ayres as Kildare, Laraine Day as his sweetheart Mary Lamont, and Lionel Barrymore as crusty Dr. Gillespie. In this outing, surgeon Gregory Lane (Sheppard Strudwick) begins pitching woo at Mary himself, much to Kildare's dismay. Read More

Adventure in Diamonds

Actors: George Brent, Isa Miranda, John Loder, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: British army pilot Stephen (George Brent) falls in love with jewel-thief Felice (Isa Miranda), tricking her out of some stolen diamonds. Stephen and South African Police Commissioner Lansfield (Nigel Bruce) set a trap for her partner Barclay (John Loder), but Felice falls for it instead. She's Read More

Dr. Kildare's Crisis

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Robert Young, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: Dr. Kildare's Crisis is actually one suffered by his fiancee, nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day). Mary's financier brother Douglas Lamont (Robert Young) is subject to unpredictable seizures, and for a while it seems that he is suffering from hereditary epilepsy. This being 1940, Douglas' affliction Read More

Kitty Foyle

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli, Ernest Cossart

Synopsis: Though Ginger Rogers' starring vehicles always turned a profit for RKO Radio, many filmgoers thought of Rogers only in terms of "Fred Astaire's partner." Others considered her a delightful comedienne, but no great shakes as a dramatic actress. Thus it was both a personal and professional triumph Read More

Stardust

Actors: Linda Darnell, John Payne, Roland Young, Charlotte Greenwood, William Gargan

Synopsis: 17-year-old Linda Darnell received her first big break in the appropriately titled 20th Century-Fox production Star Dust. Discovered by talent scout Thomas Brooke (Roland Young), teenager Carolyn Sayre (Darnell) is brought to Hollywood, where she is turned down for a contract because she is Read More

A Dispatch from Reuters

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Edna Best, Eddie Albert, Albert Basserman, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: As part of his new contract with Warner Bros., Edward G. Robinson agreed to appear in the gangster comedy Brother Orchid on the condition that the studio permit him to play the leading role in the lavish biopic A Dispatch from Reuters. Robinson is cast as Baron Paul Julius Reiter, who in 1833 Read More

Dr. Kildare Goes Home

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Gene Lockhart, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: Appointed resident assistant at the Byng State Hospital by his mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), young Doctor James Kildare (Lew Ayres) has every reason to celebrate. His euphoria, however, is short-lived: Kildare is forced to return to his hometown when his general-practitioner Read More

The Man in the Iron Mask

Actors: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Joseph Schildkraut, Alan Hale, Warren William

Synopsis: Man in the Iron Mask is independent producer Edward Small's 1939 edition of the much-filmed Dumas classic. The title character is the rightful King of France, imprisoned by his pretender-to-the-throne twin brother (both roles are played by Louis Hayward, with an uncredited Peter Cushing doubling Read More

Miracles for Sale

Actors: Robert Young, Florence Rice, Frank Craven, Henry Hull, Lee Bowman

Synopsis: Merlini the Magician, Clayton Rawson's crime-solving illusionist, has been singularly ill-used by Hollywood, having appeared in a mere two films, "starring" in only one. Miracles for Sale compounds the oversight by rechristening Merlini as "Michael Morgan", in the person of Robert Young. The Read More

The Secret of Dr. Kildare

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Lionel Atwill, Helen Gilbert, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: In this third installment of MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) comes to the rescue when his supervisor/mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) nearly collapses from overwork. Gillespie is seeking a permanent cure for pneumonia, and must ask Kildare for assistance when the Read More

Smashing the Spy Ring

Actors: Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, Regis Toomey, Walter Kingsford, Ann Doran

Synopsis: In this espionage drama, a G-man keeps an enemy spy from stealing highly classified plans for military equipment. While investigating he falls in love with a lovely woman whose brother, also an FBI agent was killed. Later the agent sneaks into enemy headquarters by feigning amnesia and pretending Read More

The Witness Vanishes

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, Walter Kingsford, Forrester Harvey

Synopsis: In this mystery, a newspaper executive and three of his colleagues conspire to have the owner of the highly-respected London Sun committed to an insane asylum. The hapless publisher manages to escape. Soon after, the four collaborators begin dying one-by-one. Oddly their obituaries appear in a 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

Dancing Co-Ed

Actors: Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, Arlie Shaw & His Band, Ann Rutherford, Lee Bowman

Synopsis: Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of Read More

Calling Dr. Kildare

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Lana Turner, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: The second of MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, Calling Dr. Kildare finds the title character (Lew Ayres) transferred to Blair General's downtown outpatient clinic by his crusty superior Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore). It is Gillespie's hope that Kildare will gain valuable experience by working in Read More

The Young in Heart

Actors: Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, Billie Burke

Synopsis: A comparatively little-known entry in the "screwball comedy" genre, David O. Selznick's The Young in Heart goes for quiet chuckles rather than bellylaughs. Adapted by Paul Osborn and Charles Bennett from a short story by I. R. Wylie, the film concentrates on a family of confidence tricksters. 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

A Yank at Oxford

Actors: Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh, Edmund Gwenn

Synopsis: A Yank at Oxford was filmed in England at MGM's "sister studio", Elstree. Robert Taylor plays Lee Sheridan, an arrogant young American scholar/athlete who intends to show the "Brits" a thing or two while attending Oxford University. His abrasive attitude grates against the Oxonian students, who Read More

Say It in French

Actors: Ray Milland, Olympe Bradna, Irene Hervey, Janet Beecher, Mary Carlisle

Synopsis: In this comedy, an American golf pro falls in love with a woman while visiting France; before long they are married and in the US. Upon their arrival, they are dismayed to discover that the golfer's parents have arranged for him to marry a wealthy socialite so they can use her money to support Read More

The Toy Wife

Actors: Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Young, Barbara O'Neil, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: Directed by Richard Thorpe, this costume drama stars Luise Rainer as 16-year-old southern belle Gilberta, who, upon her return to Louisiana after a brief stay in France, discovers her sister Louise Barbara O'Neil) has recently gotten engaged. Gilberta (Rainer) quickly finds herself attracted to 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

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

The Lone Wolf in Paris

Actors: Francis Lederer, Frances Drake, Walter Kingsford, Leona Maricle, Olaf Hytten

Synopsis: After a three-year absence, Columbia's "Lone Wolf" series resumed with the uneven The Lone Wolf in Paris. Francis Lederer stars as Louis Joseph Vance's thief-turned-detective Michael Lanyard, alias The Lone Wolf. While vacationing in Paris, Lanyard finds the gorgeous Princess Thania (Frances Read More

Young Dr. Kildare

Actors: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Lynne Carver, Nat Pendleton, Jo Ann Sayers

Synopsis: Though not the first Dr. Kildare film ever made, this is the first entry in MGM's long-running series set at Blair General Hospital. With the ink still wet on his diploma, Dr. Kildare is faced with a difficult decision: should he return home to work in his father's quiet country practice, or work Read More

Lord Jeff

Actors: Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Charles Coburn, Herbert Mundin, Gale Sondergaard, Terry Kilburn, Peter Lawford

Synopsis: Director Sam Wood always seemed most comfortable with cozy family-oriented films like Lord Jeff. Freddie Bartholomew plays Geoffrey Braemer, a basically good kid who falls in with bad company. The orphaned Geoffrey is being used as part of jewel-theft scheme masterminded by his so-called aunt Read More

Carefree

Actors: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy, Luella Gear, Jack Carson

Synopsis: It's more Ginger Rogers than Fred Astaire, and more comedy than singing and dancing in this Astaire-Rogers entry into the screwball comedy sweepstakes which features a top-of-the-line Irving Berlin score (Change Partners, I Used to be Color Blind, The Night is Filled with Music). Fred Astaire Read More

Algiers

Actors: Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie, Joseph Calleia, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: This Hollywood remake of the French Pepe le Moko adheres so slavishly to its source that it utilizes stock footage from the original film, and even picked its actors on the basis of their resemblance to the French cast. Contrary to legend, star Charles Boyer never says "Come wizz me to zee Read More

The League of Frightened Men

Actors: Walter Connolly, Lionel Stander, Eduardo Ciannelli, Irene Hervey, Victor Kilian

Synopsis: League of Frightened Men was the second and last entry in Columbia's short-lived mystery series based on the "Nero Wolfe" novels by Rex Stout. Taking over from Edward Arnold as crabby, corpulent consulting detective Nero Wolfe is Walter Connolly, who despite his physical resemblance to the Stout Read More

Captains Courageous

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Grapewin

Synopsis: A boy learns life-changing lessons about the importance of friendship and the dignity of labor in this adventure saga based on a story by Rudyard Kipling. Young Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is the working definition of a spoiled brat; the only child of a wealthy widowed businessman, Harvey Read More

Stolen Holiday

Actors: Kay Francis, Claude Rains, Ian Hunter, Alison Skipworth, Alex D'Arcy

Synopsis: The "Stavisky Affair," a high-level swindling scandal which all but destroyed the French government in the early 1930s, was the unofficial inspiration for Stolen Holiday. Claude Rains plays a suave confidence artist who has wormed his way into top European social and financial circles. When faced Read More

The Devil Is Driving

Actors: Richard Dix, Joan Perry, Nana Bryant, Frank Wilson

Synopsis: In the fine tradition of And Sudden Death, Columbia's The Devil is Driving tabulates the dangers of drunken driving in an exciting, unabashedly melodramatic fashion. In his first true portrayal of a "little creep," Elisha Cook Jr. stars as Tony, the spoiled-rotten son of the wealthy and 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

Bulldog Drummond Escapes

Actors: Guy Standing, Heather Angel, Porter Hall, Reginald Denny

Synopsis: Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" series got off to a start with 1937's Bulldog Drummond Escapes. Up-and-coming Ray Milland stars as soldier-of-fortune Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, who on this occasion comes to the aid of pretty heiress Phyllis Clavering (Heather Angel). The heroine is being held against Read More

Double or Nothing

Actors: Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, Andy Devine, Mary Carlisle, William Frawley

Synopsis: In this lively musical, an eccentric philanthropist's will dictates that four people receive $5,000 with the stipulation that the first one who can double the amount-- without dishonesty-- will win a cool million. Hindering the four are the avaricious relatives of the late millionaire. Songs Read More

I'll Take Romance

Actors: Grace Moore, Melvyn Douglas, Helen Westley, Stuart Erwin, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Opera diva Grace Moore plays (what a stretch!) an opera diva in I'll Take Romance. Moore reneges on an agreement to open the opera season in Buenos Aires, opting instead for a better-paying job in Paris. Melvyn Douglas, acting on behalf of the Buenos Aires company, pretends to fall in love with Moore Read More

It Could Happen to You

Actors: Alan Baxter, Andrea Leeds, Owen Davis, Jr., Astrid Allwyn, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: It Could Happen to You is one of those captivating "little" pictures whose reputation is built up via word of mouth. Alan Baxter and Owen Davis Jr. star as Bob and Fred, the sons of immigrant Pa Barrett (Al Shean). Fred is a dutiful offspring, but Bob, an adoptee, is a no-good, stealing money from Read More

My Dear Miss Aldrich

Actors: Edna May Oliver, Maureen O'Sullivan, Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson, Janet Beecher

Synopsis: When Walter Pidgeon wasn't playing Greer Garson's perfect husband at MGM, he could usually be found portraying a newspaper editor. This is how we find him in My Dear Miss Aldrich, the first MGM flick in which Pidgeon was awarded top billing. Maureen O'Sullivan plays the title character, a Read More

Maytime

Actors: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore, Herman Bing, Tom Brown

Synopsis: The third of MGM's profitable Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy songfests, Maytime opens in the early 20th century, with a young girl arguing with her boyfriend over her wishes to become an opera singer. The girl's neighbor, a lonely old woman whom we gradually recognize as a convincingly "aged" Read More

Frankie and Johnnie

Actors: Helen Morgan, Chester Morris, Florence Reed, Walter Kingsford, William Harrigan

Synopsis: This low-budget musical drama is based on the famous song and tells the story of Frankie, a cat-house singer (famed singer Helen Morgan), and the naive country boy Johnny who comes to St. Louis to seek his fortune. They fall in love and marry. Unfortunately, the country boy learns fast and soon Read More

The Invisible Ray

Actors: Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: The last of Universal's three Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi teamings of the mid-1930s, The Invisible Ray is dominated by Karloff as Dr. Janos Rukh, the inventor of a laser-like heat ray. Despite the scoffing of his colleagues, Rukh intends to use the ray for the benefit of mankind, but first he Read More

Trouble for Two

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Louis Hayward

Synopsis: Though its title and cast suggests a lighthearted romantic comedy, Trouble for Two is actually a fairly faithful adaptation of three of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Suicide Club" stories. Robert Montgomery stars as incognito Prince Florizel, who is lured to a gathering of strange characters devoted Read More

Professional Soldier

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Freddie Bartholomew, Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen

Synopsis: Adventurer-for-hire Victor McLaglen is hired by a political faction in a mythical European kingdom. McLaglen's job is to kidnap the young prince (Freddie Bartholomew) so that his employers can take over the government. The prince enjoys the experience because it releases him from the confines of Read More

Meet Nero Wolfe

Actors: Edward Arnold, Lionel Stander, Joan Perry, Victor Jory, Nana Bryant

Synopsis: Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a tragedy followed by the seemingly Read More

The Music Goes 'round

Actors: Harry Richman, Rochelle Hudson, Walter Connolly, Douglas Dumbrille, Lionel Stander

Synopsis: Harry Richman was a major stage and radio star of the 1930s, but his overbearing personality never clicked in films. After bombing out in 1930's Puttin' on the Ritz, he tried again six years later in The Music Goes 'Round, with marginally better results. Richman plays Harry Wallace, headliner of a Read More

The Story of Louis Pasteur

Actors: Paul Muni, Akim Tamiroff, Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise, Donald Woods, Fritz Leiber

Synopsis: "Every time Paul Muni parts his beard and looks through a microscope, we lose a million dollars." Producer Jack Warner's lament concerning Muni's historical dramas is cute enough, but hardly backed up by facts; the economically produced The Story of Louis Pasteur proved to be a surprise hit for Read More

Mad Holiday

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Elissa Landi, ZaSu Pitts, Ted Healy, Edmund Gwenn

Synopsis: The overlong but absorbing MGM "B" melodrama Mad Holiday stars Edmund Lowe as vacationing movie idol Philip Trent. Tired of starring in murder mysteries, Trent discovers he can't escape typecasting even on an ocean voyage: one of the passengers is murdered in our hero's cabin. The killing is tied Read More

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Actors: C. Aubrey Smith, Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson

Synopsis: David O. Selznick's first independent production upheld the producer's tradition, established at Paramount, RKO and MGM, of bringing the "classics" to the screen. Adapted by Hugh Walpole from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy is set in the late 19th century. After Read More

Speed

Actors: James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Una Merkel, Weldon Heyburn, Ted Healy

Synopsis: The fast-paced world of Indy car racing provides the backdrop for this drama. The story centers on a test driver who works at a major auto plant. He and his cohorts have invented a new kind of carburetor and are feverishly working to perfect and use it in the upcoming Indianapolis 500. As the race Read More

Hearts Divided

Actors: Dick Powell, Marion Davies, Charlie Ruggles, Arthur Treacher, Claude Rains, Edward Everett Horton

Synopsis: A remake of 1928's Glorious Betsy (itself based on a stage play by Rida Johnson Young), Hearts Divided is based, believe it or not, on a true story. Marion Davies stars as 19th-century Baltimore belle Betsy Patterson, who falls in love with Jerome Bonaparte (Dick Powell) -- the younger brother of Read More

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Actors: Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, David Manners, Valerie Hobson

Synopsis: Charles Dickens' unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has been a source of speculation and controversy ever since its posthumous publication. Even so, the ending concocted by scenarists John Balderston and Gladys Unger for the 1935 film version of Edwin Drood met with near-unanimous Read More

The Melody Lingers on

Actors: Josephine Hutchinson, George Houston, John Halliday, Mona Barrie, Helen Westley

Synopsis: American opera baritone George Houston, who later gained a measure of fame as a western hero, made his film debut in The Melody Lingers On. Houston plays Salvini, a dashing Italian army captain who enjoys a brief romantic fling with concert pianist Ann Prescott (Josephine Hutchinson). Their 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

I Found Stella Parish

Actors: Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, Paul Lukas, Sybil Jason, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: Kay Francis stars as Stella Parish, a London stage favorite who suddenly disappears without a trace. British news correspondent Keith Lockridge (Ian Hunter) girdles the globe in search of Stella, who has left her beloved daughter Gloria (Sybil Jason) in the care of an aunt (Jessie Ralph). Finally Read More

The White Cockatoo

Actors: Jean Muir, Ricardo Cortez, Ruth Donnelly, Minna Gombell, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Based on a mystery novel by Mignon Eberhart, The White Cockatoo concerns three mysterious murders at a French chateau. The villain seems determined to bump off all the friends and relatives of Sue Talley (Jean Muir) and Jim Sundean (Ricardo Cortez), hoping thereby to get his (or her) hands on the Read More

Shanghai

Actors: Loretta Young, Charles Boyer, Warner Oland, Fred Keating, Charles Grapewin

Synopsis: The stigma of miscegenation (horrors!) is at the base of this very dated romantic melodrama. Charles Boyer stars as Dmitri Koslov, an enterprising Eurasian who rises from rickshaw driver to powerful industrialist, all the while concealing his mixed parentage. Koslov falls in love with beautiful Read More

Naughty Marietta

Actors: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, Elsa Lanchester, Douglas Dumbrille

Synopsis: The first of MGM's phenomenally profitable Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals, Naughty Marietta takes several beneficial liberties with the libretto of the original Victor Herbert operetta. MacDonald plays an 18th-century French princess who escapes an arranged marriage by posing as a "cake Read More

The Pursuit of Happiness

Actors: Francis Lederer, Joan Bennett, Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, Minor Watson

Synopsis: Pursuit of Happiness was adapted from the risque stage comedy by Lawrence Langner and Armina Marshall. Set during the American revolution, the film centers around the quaint 18th century custom of "bundling"--that is, having unmarried men and women share the same bed during cold weather, albeit Read More

The President Vanishes

Actors: Janet Beecher, Paul Kelly, Peggy Conklin, Rosalind Russell

Synopsis: Based upon a novel anonymously written by Rex Stout, The President Vanishes has as its title character a peace-loving man with distinct anti-interventionist views. As the picture opens, President Stanley Craig (A.S. Byron) finds himself in a bit of a bind: he fervently believes that the United Read More

Outward Bound

Actors: Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Beryl Mercer, Dudley Digges, Helen Chandler, Alec B. Francis

Synopsis: This unusual supernatural drama, based on a 1924 Broadway stage hit, concerns a disparate group of people who find themselves sailing to an unknown destination on a ship constantly shrouded in fog. Tom Prior (Leslie Howard) discovers that he's travelling with his ex-boss Mr. Lingley (Montagu Read More

Star Dust

Synopsis: Lily Becker (Hope Hampton) is the musically talented daughter whose mother forces her into a marriage to the son of a wealthy man. Mistreated by the callous husband, she flees to New York to make it in the music business. She gives birth to a child and attempts suicide when she nearly starves to Read More