William BakewellFilmography

The Strongest Man in the World

Actors: Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Eve Arden, Cesar Romero, Phil Silvers

Synopsis: Kurt Russell returns as Dexter Riley, the dedicated student of Medfield College who just can't stay out of trouble, in this follow-up to The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Now You See Him, Now You Don't. In this story, Dexter is trying to devise a formula for a chemistry project that will increase Read More

Green Acres: Enterprising Eb

Actors: Judith McConnell, Robert Foulk, Mona Bruns, Edwin Max, Al Molinaro

Synopsis: Having decided to marry his sweetie Darlene (Judith McConnell), handyman Eb (Tom Lester) decides to buy a house as well. Unfortunately, his "collateral" consists of a turtle, a pocket knife, a bag of marbles, and an autographed picture of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. In his efforts to scare up more Read More

Bonanza: Trouble Town

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: Candy makes good his long-standing promise to quit the Ponderosa to join his longtime sweetheart Lila Holden (Elizabeth MacRae) in the town of River Bend. His dreams of starting life anew are shattered when he is arrested on a trumped-up charge and held without bail. Hoping to help Candy out, the Read More

I Dream of Jeannie: Greatest Invention in the World

Synopsis: Jeannie (Barbara Eden) creates a "miracle" spot remover to clean a stain on Tony's jacket. The result: the jacket proves to be indestructible, leading Gen. Peterson (Barton MacLane) to demand that Tony (Larry Hagman) give another demonstration of the remarkable remover--a demonstration so Read More

Bonanza: The Greedy Ones

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Robert Middleton, George Chandler

Synopsis: Bonanza's final eighth-season offering, "The Greedy Ones" first aired on May 14, 1967. Rumors are flying that old prospector Gus Schultz has struck it rich on the Ponderosa. As a result, Ben Cartwright must contend with a veritable batallion of greedy gold hunters. The worst of the lot is Read More

Petticoat Junction: Young Love

Synopsis: Meredith MacRae joins the cast as the third (and final) actress to assume the role of Billie Jo Bradley as Petticoat Junction launches its fourth season. Ever on the lookout for a fast buck, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) tries to drum up business at the Shady Rest Hotel with a "Free Wedding and Read More

Petticoat Junction: A Borderline Story

Synopsis: A team of surveyors determines that the Shady Rest Hotel has been built right in the middle of the border between two counties. Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) hopes to exploit this phenomenon by building up the hotel as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, Joe hadn't reckoned with such exigencies as Read More

Petticoat Junction: Bedloe's Successor

Synopsis: Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane) once again shows up at the Shady Rest, a battered and tattered shell of his former self. Claiming to be broke and ruined because of his failure to put the Hooterville Cannonball out of business, Homer begs his longtime nemesis Kate (Bea Benaderet) for a place to stay Read More

The Beverly Hillbillies: A Real Nice Neighbor

Synopsis: Having temporarily given up their efforts to find a husband for Elly May, Granny and Mr. Drysdale concentrate their energies on locating a wife for Jed. The woman chosen is a friendly lady named Agnes (Kathleen Freeman), whom Granny and Drysdale assume is a millionaire. Alas, while it is true that Read More

Leave It to Beaver: Beaver and Kenneth

Actors: Jean Vander Pyl, Sue Randall, Gil Rogers, William Bakewell

Synopsis: Beaver (Jerry Mathers) makes the acquaintance of Kenneth Purcell (Gil Rogers), a new kid in school who seems desperate for friendship. Not long afterward, things start disappearing from Beaver's classroom. June (Barbara Billingsley) finds the missing items under Beaver's bed, and jumps to the Read More

Maverick: Maverick Springs

Synopsis: Kate Dawson (Doris Packer) hires Bret (James Garner) to bring back her prodigal brother Mark (King Donovan), who is being systematically fleeced by the beautiful Melanie Blake (Kathleen Crowley) in the town of Saratoga. To do this, Bret and Bart show up impersonating men of great wealth. The plan Read More

Disneyland: Davy Crockett Goes to Congress

Synopsis: The jewel in the crown of the TV anthology Disneyland's first season was the phenominally successful three-part miniseries Davy Crockett, an entertaining mixture of fact and legend surrounding fabled frontiersman Davy Crockett (Fess Parker). All three episodes were originally introduced with Read More

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

Actors: Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, Basil Ruysdael, Hans Conried

Synopsis: Cashing in on the surprise success of his 1954 Davy Crockett TV miniseries (first presented on the weekly anthology Disneyland), Walt Disney assembled the three hour-long "Crockett" episodes into a 93 minute theatrical feature. While the re-editing process has created a few noticeable Read More

Lucky Me

Actors: Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy, Jr., Nancy Walker

Synopsis: Lucky Me is a mixed-bag musical from Warner Bros., adhering to a tried-and-true formula that was wearing just a bit thin in 1954. Candy (Doris Day), Hap (Phil Silvers), Duke (Eddie Foy Jr.) and Flo (Nancy Walker) are four small-time performers who find themselves stranded in Miami. Forced to take Read More

Disneyland: Davy Crockett - Indian Fighter

Synopsis: The jewel in the crown of the TV anthology Disneyland's first season was the phenominally successful three-part miniseries Davy Crockett, an entertaining mixture of fact and legend surrounding fabled frontiersman Davy Crockett (Fess Parker). All three episodes were originally introduced with Read More

Retik, the Moon Menace

Synopsis: Retik, the Moon Menace is a feature-length abdridgement of the 12-part Republic Serial Radar Men From the Moon. George Wallace stars as Commando Cody, "sky marshal of the universe". Donning his neato helmet and stepping into his wonderful flying suit (complete with knobs on the chest reading "Up" Read More

Radar Men from the Moon [Serial]

Actors: George Wallace, Aline Towne, Roy Barcroft, William Bakewell, Clayton Moore

Synopsis: In the second of Republic Pictures' three "Rocket Man" serials, the government assigns Commando Cody (George Wallace) to look into a series of strange atomic explosions threatening the United States' defense systems. As Cody discovers, the threat comes from the Moon, whose ruler, Retik (Roy Read More

Room for One More

Actors: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, George Winslow, Iris Mann, Randy Stuart, Clifford Tatum, Jr., John Ridgely, Lurene Tuttle

Synopsis: Based on the autobiography by George and Anna Rose, Room for One More is a warm-hearted vehicle for husband-and-wife actors Cary Grant and Betsy Drake. Though she already has three children of her own, New Jersey housewife Anna Rose (Drake) adopts several kids born into less fortunate Read More

Wells Fargo Gunmaster

Actors: Allan Lane, Chubby Johnson, Mary Ellen Kay, Michael Chapin

Synopsis: Allan "Rocky" Lane plays the title role in the Republic oater Wells Fargo Gunmaster. Lane is sent westward by his employers to stem a series of stagecoach holdups. To bring the crooks out into the open, Lane pretends to turn bandit himself. One by one, the minor crooks are bumped off as they try Read More

When the Redskins Rode

Actors: Jon Hall, Mary Castle, James Seay, John Ridgely, Sherry Moreland

Synopsis: When the Redskins Rode is set during the French and Indian Wars of the mid-18th century. Jon Hall stars as Prince Lennoc, the son of Delaware-chief Shingiss (Pedro de Cordoba). The English are on the verge of signing an alliance with Shingiss, but their efforts are stymied by alluring French spy Read More

Come Fill the Cup

Actors: James Cagney, Phyllis Thaxter, Raymond Massey, James Gleason, Gig Young

Synopsis: James Cagney plays a once great newspaper reporter ruined by liquor. Thanks to the help of reformed alcoholic James Gleason, Cagney pulls himself out of the gutter and restores his journalistic reputation. Because of his own redemption, Cagney is asked by his editor to straighten out the editor's Read More

Messenger of Peace

Actors: John Beal, Peggy Stewart, William Bakewell, Paul Guilfoyle, Fred Essler

Synopsis: Originally designed for church showings, Messenger of Peace was blown up from 16mm to 35mm and given a brief theatrical distribution early in 1950. Told in flashback, this is the inspirational story of Pastor Armin Ritter (John Beal), whose faith remains unshakable despite the most extreme forms Read More

The Capture

Actors: Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, Victor Jory, Jacqueline White, Jimmy Hunt

Synopsis: Virtually ignored at the time of its release, Capture has built up a small but enthusiastic following since its lapse into public domain. American oil man Lew Ayres kills a coworker whom he suspects of robbery. Thinking it over, Ayres wonders whether or not the man was innocent. He seeks out his Read More

You Gotta Stay Happy

Actors: Joan Fontaine, James Stewart, Eddie Albert, Roland Young, Willard Parker

Synopsis: In this romantic comedy, a wealthy heiress marries hastily and realizes her mistake on her honeymoon in New York. Though it is her wedding night, she decides not to consummate the union and so ends up hiding in the room of a fellow whose airplane cargo company is facing financial ruin. He assumes Read More

King of the Bandits

Actors: Gilbert Roland, Angela Greene, Chris-Pin Martin, Anthony Warde

Synopsis: In this entry in the long-running western series, Cisco and Pancho must clear the Kid's name after he is blamed for recent stagecoach robberies. In reality the robber is another disguised as the Kid. Meanwhile Cisco is captured by U.S. Marshals. Fortunately, he escapes them, captures the real Read More

So This Is New York

Actors: Henry Morgan, Rudy Vallee, Bill Goodwin, Leo Gorcey, Virginia Grey

Synopsis: Radio humorist Henry Morgan made his film debut in So This is New York. Based on The Big Town, a collection of stories by Ring Lardner, the film traces country bumpkin Morgan's progress as he uses an inheritance to take a trip with his wife (Virginia Grey) and sister-in-law (Dona Drake) to the New Read More

Romance on the High Seas

Actors: Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Oscar Levant

Synopsis: This cute film is Doris Day's film debut and in it she plays Georgia Garrett, a substitute traveller on an ocean cruise. Her friend Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) had scheduled the cruise but at the last minute cancels when she suspects that her husband is cheating on her and she decides to stay at Read More

Arthur Takes Over

Actors: Lois Collier, Richard Crane, Ann E. Todd, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: Pity poor James Clark (Richard Crane). Wed to the lovely Margaret (Lois Collier), Arthur is forced to keep the marriage a secret from Margaret's social-climbing mother (Barbara Brown)-which, of course, results in separate sleeping quarters. Coming to the rescue is Margaret's kid brother Arthur (Skip Homeier Read More

The Farmer's Daughter

Actors: Keith Andes, Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, James Arness, Art Baker, Ethel Barrymore, Charles Bickford, Harry Davenport, Lex Barker

Synopsis: When Loretta Young stepped up to accept her Academy Award for The Farmer's Daughter, the ever-youthful leading lady, who'd been in films since 1928, sighed "At long last!" Young is cast as Katie Holstrum, an independently-minded Swedish girl who leaves her family's Minnesota farm to take a Read More

The Fabulous Dorseys

Actors: Sara Allgood, William Bakewell, Charlie Barnet, Janet Blair

Synopsis: Based on the lives of big-band stars Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, this biographical chronicle begins with their childhood in an industrial Pennsylvania town. Encouraged in their musical talents by their father, the Dorsey brothers' sibling rivalry proves to be a stumbling block until the their father's Read More

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Actors: Irving Bacon, Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, William Bakewell, Shirley Temple, Ian Bernard, Rudy Vallee, Veda Ann Borg, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Judge Myrna Loy decides that the best way to curb the excesses of playboyish art teacher Cary Grant is to force him to do what he does best--romance a willing young lady. In this instance, the girl is Loy's own sister, played by a blossoming Shirley Temple. Aware that Temple has a serious crush on Grant Read More

The Trespasser

Actors: Betty Alexander, William Bakewell, Joy Barlowe, Vince Barnett, Joseph Crehan

Synopsis: Though already established as Roy Rogers' favorite leading lady (offscreen and on), Dale Evans was permitted a rare non-western appearance minus Rogers in the 1947 Republic mystery thriller The Trespasser. Evans is cast as nightclub singer Linda Coleman, the sister of newspaper-book reviewer Bruce Read More

Yanks Ahoy

Actors: William Tracy, Joe Sawyer, Marjorie Woodworth, Minor Watson, Walter Woolf King

Synopsis: Yanks Ahoy was the last of a series of Hal Roach "streamliners" teaming William Tracy as Sgt. Doubleday, he of the photographic memory, and Joe Sawyer as long-suffering Sgt. Ames. This time, our heroes are at sea, messing up the Navy with the same efficiency with which they screwed up the army. Read More

Submarine Alert

Actors: Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor, Abner Biberman

Synopsis: The plot of the Pine-Thomas adventure quickie Submarine Alert is more than a little beholden to Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. Richard Arlen plays FBI radio engineer Lee Deerhold, who turns bitter and vindictive when he is abruptly fired. Actually, his termination was engineered by his FBI superiors Read More

I Live on Danger

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Elizabeth Risdon, Edward Norris, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: I Live on Danger is a fast-moving thriller with strong performances and top-notch direction -- by former screenwriter Sam White -- which overcomes some weaknesses in the plot. Jeff Morrell (Chester Morris) is a newscaster who gets involved in saving wrongly accused Eddie Nelson (Edward Norris) Read More

The Dawn Express

Synopsis: Originally titled Dawn Express, this PRC spy melodrama was hastily rechristened Nazi Spy Ring to keep abreast of current events. Michael Whalen stars as Robert Norton, a scientist who has developed a formula for synthetic gasoline. A group of Nazi spies try to intimidate Norton into parting with Read More

Nazi Spy Ring

Actors: Michael Whalen, Anne Nagel, William Bakewell, Constance Worth, Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski

The Postman Didn't Ring

Actors: Richard Travis, Brenda Joyce, Spencer Charters, Stanley Andrews, William Bakewell

Synopsis: Stolen way back in 1880, a sack of United States mail is discovered in an old attic in 1942. The letters are finally delivered, profoundly affecting the lives of the recipients. The most affected is young farmer Dan Carter (Richard Travis), who falls heir to huge sum of money intended for his 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

Beyond Tomorrow

Actors: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger, Alex Melesh, Maria Ouspenskaya

Synopsis: Harry Carey Sr., C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Winninger play three wealthy bachelors who have spent their lives wrapped up in themselves. Left all alone on Christmas eve, the elderly trio invite a couple of strangers to dinner: misplaced cowpoke Richard Carlson and pretty, but aimless, Jean Parker. Read More

Seven Sinners

Actors: Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Broderick Crawford, Mischa Auer, Albert Dekker

Synopsis: Set in the South Seas, Seven Sinners stars Marlene Dietrich as a cabaret singer whose reputation as a troublemaker has gotten her kicked out of one port of call after another. Once more causing a riot, Dietrich takes refuge on the first ship out, together with her underhanded cohorts Broderick Crawford Read More

King of the Turf

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Roger Daniel, Dolores Costello, Walter Abel, William Demarest, Alan Dinehart

Synopsis: A remake of Racetrack, King of the Turf stars Adolphe Menjou as a seedy, alcoholic bookie with a long-dormant streak of decency. Roger Daniel is a young stable boy whom Menjou befriends and offers advice. The bookie and the stable boy purchase a racehorse, with Daniel training to be a top jockey Read More

Hotel Imperial

Actors: Isa Miranda, Ray Milland, Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis: In this drama, a vengeful woman searches for the man she blames for her sister's suicide. To get at him, the woman masquerades as a mousy maid in the tiny hotel where he stays. The story is set in Gallacia during WW I and while she enacts her plan, the Russians and Austrians take over the town. Read More

The Higgins Family

Actors: James Gleason, Lucille Gleason, Russell Gleason, Lynne Roberts, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: With The Higgins Family, Republic Pictures launched its own economical variation on MGM's popular "Andy Hardy" series. The gimmick here was that three of the members of the Higgins clan-dad Joe, mom Lillian, grown son Sidney-were played by real-life husband and wife James and Lucile Gleason and Read More

The Duke of West Point

Actors: Louis Hayward, Joan Fontaine, Tom Brown, Richard Carlson, Alan Curtis

Synopsis: Louis Hayward plays an arrogant Cambridge student who emigrates to America and enrolls at the West Point. Hayward's superior attitude earns him the enmity of his fellow students and the derisive nickname "the Duke". Those viewers familiar with college pictures will know as early as the opening Read More

Exiled to Shanghai

Actors: Wallace Ford, June Travis, Dean Jagger, William Bakewell, Arthur Lake

Synopsis: Exiled to Shanghai uses the then-waging wars in Spain and China as backdrops for a familiar "rival reporters" yarn. Wallace Ford plays Ted Young, a brash newsreel cameraman who is fired by his dyspeptic editor Fred Sears (Dean Jagger) for photographing the wrong general during the Spanish Civil Read More

Crime Afloat

Actors: William Bakewell, Arletta Duncan, Duncan Renaldo, Vivien Oakland, Wilfred Lucas

Synopsis: This poverty-row epic stars William Bakewell as Bob, inventor of a futuristic motorboat engine. Bob's new device may be the salvation for the failing shipping business run by Drexel (Wilfred Lucas), the father of Bob's sweetheart Wynne (Arletta Duncan). But villainous Count Ribalto (Duncan Read More

Quality Street

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Franchot Tone, Eric Blore, Fay Bainter, Cora Witherspoon

Synopsis: Previously filmed with Marion Davies in 1927, the lightweight James M. Barrie play Quality Street proved an ideal vehicle for Katharine Hepburn ten years later. The setting of the Barrie original was switched from 1805 Scotland to 1815 Regency England, to avoid a preponderance of brogues and to Read More

Roaring Speedboats

Synopsis: Roaring Speedboats is the TV title for the inexpensive 1937 indie Mile a Minute Love. William Bakewell stars as an inventor who develops a high-powered boat engine. Bakewell, of course, created this wonder machine to benefit mankind-and, incidentally, to win an upcoming motorboat race. But a group Read More

Dangerous Holiday

Actors: Ra Hould, Hedda Hopper, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Jack LaRue, Jed Prouty

Synopsis: Hoping to ape the success of Sol Lesser's Bobby Breen musicals, Republic Pictures fashioned Dangerous Holiday as a movie vehicle for pint-sized violin prodigy Ra Hould. The star is appropriately cast as preteen violin virtuoso Ronnie Campbell who is so coddled and protected by his family and Read More

Lady Luck

Actors: Patricia Farr, William Bakewell, Duncan Renaldo, Iris Adrian

Synopsis: In this drama, a manicurist is mistaken for the winner of a large sweepstakes and finds herself pursued by fortune hunters. One of them wants to marry her for the publicity and a stage contract. The trouble really begins when the real winner shows up. She is more than happy to let the manicurist Read More

The Sea Spoilers

Actors: John Wayne, Nan Grey, William Bakewell, Fuzzy Knight, Russell Hicks

Synopsis: John Wayne steered clear of westerns for the most part during his year-long contract with Universal Pictures. In The Sea Spoilers, Wayne is cast as Bob Randall, temporary skipper of a Coast Guard cutter. Randall knows that a gang of seal poachers are operating within his jurisdiction but can do Read More

Together We Live

Actors: Willard Mack, Ben Lyon, Esther Ralston, Hobart Bosworth

Synopsis: Writer-director-star Willard Mack had been dead and gone for several years by the time Together We Live managed to attain a theatrical release. A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in Read More

Strangers All

Actors: May Robson, Preston S. Foster, Florine McKinney, William Bakewell, James Bush

Synopsis: This drama chronicles the emotionally distant relationship between a mother and her four grown children. Though they live in the same house they could not be more different. One of her sons is a conscientious provider who keeps them afloat. A different brother believes himself the greatest Read More

The Curtain Falls

Actors: Henrietta Crosman, Dorothy Lee, Holmes Herbert, Natalie Moorhead, John Darrow

Synopsis: In this drama an older actress plays her last role. The aging thespian is terribly depressed and ready to kill herself when she finds out that an older more successful friend has vanished. The missing actress's family is in a real quandry. To help them, the other impersonates the older actress. Read More

Laddie

Actors: John Beal, Gloria Stuart, Virginia Weidler, Charlotte Henry, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: Director George Stevens' fourth feature-film effort was a 1935 adaptation of the oft-filmed Gene Stratton Porter yarn Laddie. Set in rural Indiana, the story revolves around the romance between a local farm boy (John Beal) and English-born girl (Gloria Stuart). The lovers are separated during most Read More

Happiness C.O.D.

Actors: Maude Eburne, Donald Meek, Irene Ware, William Bakewell, Polly Ann Young

Synopsis: Happiness C.O.D was one of the last productions from flagging Chesterfield. Perennial supporting player Maude Eburne assumes the leading role as Aunt Addie, philosophical matriarch of a large, rambunctious brood. Dipping deep into her own pockets, Addie must constantly bail out her less-practical Read More

Sons of Steel

Actors: Charles Starrett, Polly Ann Young, William Bakewell, Walter Walker, Aileen Pringle

Synopsis: In this drama, two disparate brothers use radically different methods to raise their sons. The brothers co-own a successful steel mill, but that is about all they have in common. One of them is a social climber while the other is a hard worker. The trouble begins because the fathers insist on Read More

On Probation

Synopsis: Fearing that her unsavory past will be revealed, a young girl is prepared to kill her erstwhile benefactor in this hectic low-budget thriller directed by former serial star Charles Hutchison. A young child, Jane (Betty Jane Graham), is caught pick-pocketing and custody is awarded to crooked Read More

The Party's Over

Actors: Stuart Erwin, Ann Sothern, Arline Judge, Chick Chandler, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: The party's barely begun for mild-mannered CPA Bruce (Stuart Erwin); browbeaten by his lazy family and his domineering boss, our hero despairs of ever having a good time. Even Bruce's budding romance with Ruth (Ann Sothern) is threatened by his sponging relatives, who demand that he pump extra Read More

Manhattan Butterfly

Speed Wings

Actors: Tim McCoy, Evelyn Knapp, William Bakewell, Vincent Sherman, Hooper Atchley

Synopsis: Speed Wings is another 1934 "eastern" from western star Tim McCoy. This time, the star is cast as Tim, a devil-may-care stunt pilot. The various subplots include the emotional travails of young Jerry (Billy Bakewell), who vows to give up flying when he sees his best pal "crack up" before his very Read More

Straightaway

Actors: Tim McCoy, Sue Carol

Synopsis: Taking a break from westerns during the 1933-34 season, Colonel Tim McCoy was starred in such Columbia "easterners" as Straightaway. McCoy is cast as a daring racecar driver, hell-bound for the Indy 500. The villains contrive to frame our hero from murder, going so far as to fix the "guilty" Read More

Green Eyes

Actors: Shirley Grey, Charles Starrett, John Wray, William Bakewell

Synopsis: Based on H. Ashbrook's novel The Murder of Stephen Kester, Green Eyes gets off to a powerful start when host Stephen Kester (Claude Gillingwater) is found stabbed in a closet during a weekend masquerade party. The principal suspects are Kester's daughter Jean (Shirley Grey) and her fiancé Cliff (William Bakewell Read More

Crimson Romance

Actors: Ben Lyon, Sara Maritza, Erich Von Stroheim, Hardie Albright, James Bush

Synopsis: Often written off as just another Poverty Row effort featuring a fallen-from-grace Erich Von Stroheim, Mascot Pictures' Crimson Romance is actually a slick, entertaining little drama about broken dreams and dashed ideals. When World War I breaks out, a pair of German/American lads (Ben Lyon and Hardie Albright Read More

You Can't Buy Everything

Actors: May Robson, Jean Parker, Mary Forbes, Reginald Mason

Synopsis: In this drama, a woman goes mad with grief after her lover dumps her. Many years pass and the woman remains embittered and vengeful against the cad. When she learns that he has become an officer at her local bank, she withdraws her fortune from it. She really goes over the edge when her son falls Read More

Straight is the Way

Actors: Franchot Tone, May Robson, Karen Morley, Gladys George, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: Based on John Golden's stage play Four Walls, MGM's Straight is the Way offers the monumentally miscast Franchot Tone as tough ex-convict Benny Horowitz, who announces his plans to go straight. This warms the heart of Benny's Jewish mama (May Robson), but his ex-moll Shirley (Gladys George) is Read More

The Quitters

Actors: Charles Grapewin, Emma Dunn, William Bakewell, Glen Boles, Barbara Weeks

Synopsis: The Quitters was typical of the curiously uninviting titles frequently bestowed upon the Chesterfield-Invincible productions of the mid-1930s (other examples include Cross Streets, Stolen Sweets and Fugitive Road). The grand old trouper Charles Grapewin heads the cast as vagabond journalist Ed Read More

Three-Cornered Moon

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Richard Arlen, Mary Boland, Wallace Ford, Tom Brown

Synopsis: Three-Cornered Moon is regarded by many film buffs as the first of the genuine "screwball comedies." Claudette Colbert stars as the only level-headed member of a wacky Brooklyn family. Her mother (Mary Boland) loses the family fortune in the stock market, forcing Colbert's knuckleheaded brothers Read More

A Man of Sentiment

Actors: Marian Marsh, Owen Moore, Christian Rub, William Bakewell, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: In this romance, an ambitious young career woman is slated to marry a wealth man until she gets into a fender-bender and meets a poor fellow with whom she falls instantly in love. She soon jilts her fiance in favor of him. She later discovers that her new love is the errant son of a wealthy family Read More

Lucky Devils

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, William Gargan, Bruce Cabot, William Bakewell, Creighton Chaney, Dorothy Wilson

Synopsis: Though the story isn't much, this actioner does offer a neat behind-the-scenes look at the travails of Hollywood stuntmen as it chronicles the romance between a stunt man and an extra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Back Street

Actors: Irene Dunne, John Boles, June Clyde, George Meeker, ZaSu Pitts

Synopsis: Based on a best-selling novel by Fannie Hurst, Back Street concerns an ill-starred couple, Rae (Irene Dunne) and Walter (John Boles). Rae meets Walter and falls hopelessly in love with him; Walter is also drawn to Rae, but he has already pledged to marry another woman and can't find a way out. Read More

Cheaters at Play

Actors: Thomas Meighan, Charlotte Greenwood, William Bakewell, Ralph Morgan, Barbara Weeks

Synopsis: This crime drama chronicles the relationship between a jewel thief who has gone straight and his estranged son who is determined to be a criminal. The story is set aboard a ship. The ex-thief is hunting for $375,000 worth of stolen pearls. He also tries vainly to prevent his son from becoming a Read More

While Paris Sleeps

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Helen Mack, William Bakewell, Jack LaRue, Rita La Roy

Synopsis: While Paris Sleeps is a grim expose of the European white slave trade. To save his daughter Manon (Helen Mack) from falling into the hands of a vicious gang of pimps, convict Jacques Costard (Victor McLaglen) escapes from jail. Jacques' problems are twofold: he must keep Manon from being abducted Read More

Reducing

Actors: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Anita Page, Lucien Littlefield

Synopsis: In this slapstick comedy set in a posh beauty salon, the owner asks her matronly sister, a postman's wife, to come and visit. She does, and brings her lovely daughter along with her. This creates problems when the fiancé of the owner's daughter falls in love with the daughter of her sister. Read More

A Woman of Experience

Actors: Helen Twelvetrees, William Bakewell, Lew Cody, ZaSu Pitts, H.B. Warner

Synopsis: In this dramatic adventure a shady lady becomes a spy for the Austrian intelligence agency and ends up involved with a man suspected of being a German spy. She only pretends to love him to discover the truth. The man she really loves is a young naval officer, but in order to serve her country, she Read More

The Spirit of Notre Dame

Actors: Lew Ayres, William Bakewell, Andy Devine, Harry Barris, Sally Blane

Synopsis: This drama is set at Notre Dame and follows the exploits of a great football coach (patterned after Knute Rockne) who is conflicting with a promising but arrogant freshman running back. The story centers on the coach's struggle to help Bucky O'Brien understand that his glory hog ways will not help Read More

Guilty Hands

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans, William Bakewell, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: The titular hands belong to Lionel Barrymore, who plays a prominent defense attorney. To save his daughter (Madge Evans) from a cad (Alan Mobray), Barrymore murders the man and arranges to make the deed look like suicide. The victim's mistress (Kay Francis) suspects foul play, but the lawyer has Read More

Politics

Actors: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Roscoe Ates, Karen Morley, William Bakewell

Synopsis: In this comedy, a female mayoral candidate promises to rid the town of gangsters. She joined the race in the first place when her daughter got involved with a young mobster who has been framed for a murder. With her manager's assistance, the candidate rallies all the women in town and gets them to Read More

Dance Fools Dance

Actors: Joan Crawford, Cliff Edwards, William Bakewell, William Holden

Synopsis: Joan Crawford and William Bakewell play the spoiled-rotten grown children of stockbroker William Holden. When Wall Street lays its famous egg in 1929, Crawford and Bakewell find that they can no longer pursue their flamboyant lifestyle (for example, they'll have to put a moratorium on the sort of Read More

Daybreak

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Helen Chandler, Jean Hersholt, C. Aubrey Smith, William Bakewell

Synopsis: A man who unthinkingly sullied the honor of a virtuous girl now must deal with his own ethical downfall in this drama. Willi Kasder (Ramon Novarro) is a lieutenant in the Austrian Army who one night picks up an innocent young woman named Laura Taub (Helen Chandler). Willi shares several drinks Read More

The Bat Whispers

Actors: Spencer Charters, Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Chance Ward, William Bakewell, Richard Tucker, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Wilson Benge

Synopsis: Magnificently restored by UCLA to its original "Grandeur" wide-screen format The Bat Whispers may not be a cinematic masterpiece but is certainly worth a second look. Opening with a series of flamboyant tracking shots, director Roland West soon enough settles down to the usual "Old House" Read More

All Quiet on the Western Front

Actors: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Raymond Griffith, George "Slim" Summerville

Synopsis: One of the most powerful anti-war statements ever put on film, this gut-wrenching story concerns a group of friends who join the Army during World War I and are assigned to the Western Front, where their fiery patriotism is quickly turned to horror and misery by the harsh realities of combat. Read More

Only the Brave

Actors: Gary Cooper, Mary Brian, Phillips Holmes, James Neill, Morgan Farley

Synopsis: Amidst the furor of the Civil War a courageous Union captain, nursing a broken heart, volunteers for spy duty. Masquerading as a Confederate sympathizer who has obtained important Union plans, he eventually lands at the plantation of home of a southern belle with whom he falls in love. Her love Read More

Paid

Actors: Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, Marie Prevost, Kent Douglass, John Miljan

Synopsis: Paid was the third film version of the Bayard Veiller stage play Within the Law. Joan Crawford is cast as a shopgirl falsely arrested for stealing and sent to jail for three years. She swears vengeance on the store owner (Purnell Pratt), and to that end sets up a shady but legal racket wherein she Read More

Lummox

Actors: Winifred Westover, Ben Lyon, William Collier, Jr., Edna Murphy

Synopsis: Based on a 1923 novel by Fannie Hurst, this dreary and primitive early talkie was unleashed on a derisive audience in January of 1930. Winifred Westover played the title-role, a downtrodden Swedish kitchen slavey seduced by the son (Ben Lyon) of her wealthy employer (Ida Darling). When she Read More

Playing Around

Actors: Alice White, Chester Morris, William Bakewell, Richard Carlyle, Marion Byron

Synopsis: Adapted from Vina Delmar's Sheba, Playing Around stars saucer-eyed blonde Alice White as Bronx stenographer Sheba Miller. Though she's sweet on 30-buck-per-week soda jerk Jack (William Bakewell), Sheba craves excitement and finds it in the arms of two-bit hoodlum Nick Solomon (Chester Morris). Read More

The Iron Mask

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Belle Bennett, Nigel de Brulier, Marguerite de la Motte, Dorothy Revier, Rolfe Sedan, Vera Lewis

Synopsis: The Iron Mask was Douglas Fairbanks' sequel to his popular 1921 vehicle The Three Musketeers. Fairbanks returns to his original role of D'Artagnan, while Marguerite de La Motte and Nigel De Brulier briefly reprise their Musketeers roles as, respectively, Constance and Cardinal Richelieu. After Read More

On with the Show

Actors: Betty Compson, Louise Fazenda, Sally O'Neil, Joe E. Brown, Purnell Pratt

Synopsis: This early talkie antique is a backstage musical from Warner Bros. The plot involves the out-of-town tryout of a new musical comedy, and the people who perform therein: a bitchy leading lady (Betty Compson), an arrogant comedy lead (Joe E. Brown), and a starstruck chorus kid (Sally O'Neil). At the Read More

Gold Diggers of Broadway

Actors: Nancy Welford, Conway Tearle, Winnie Lightner, Ann Pennington, Lilyan Tashman

Synopsis: Previously filmed in 1923, Avery Hopwood's 1920 comedy The Gold Diggers was resurrected in 1929 as the Technicolor musical Gold Diggers of Broadway. Nancy Welford, Winnie Lightner and Ann Pennington stars as Jerry, Mable and Ann, three chorus girls who try to entice a wealthy backer to put his Read More

Lady of the Pavements

Actors: Lupe Velez, Jetta Goudal, Albert Conti, George Fawcett

Synopsis: D.W. Griffith's last silent film, The Lady of the Pavements was based on La Paiva, a story by Karl Gustav Vollmoeller. Set in 19th-century Paris, the story concerns the romantic travails of Prussian aristocrat Count Karl von Arnim (played by future "Hopalong Cassidy" star William Boyd). Feeling Read More

Hot Stuff

Actors: Alice White, Louise Fazenda, William Bakewell, Doris Dawson, Ben Hall

Synopsis: In this college romp, a free-spirited aunt decides to use a $10,000 insurance settlement to send her niece to college. She then accompanies her as a chaperone. The niece is quite pretty and immediately becomes the "hottest thing on campus." This causes riotous trouble for the protective aunt. Read More

The Latest from Paris

Actors: Norma Shearer, George Sidney, Ralph Forbes, Tenen Holtz, William Bakewell

Synopsis: The Latest from Paris takes place in New York's garment district, where business rivals Blogg (George Sidney) and Littauer (Tenen Holz) have been carrying on a feud for years. In the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, heroine Ann Dolan (Norma Shearer) works for Blogg, while her sweetheart Joe Adams (Ralph Forbes Read More

The Battle of the Sexes

Actors: Jean Hersholt, Phyllis Haver, Belle Bennett, Don Alvarado, Sally O'Neil

Synopsis: A remake of a 1914 D.W. Griffith potboiler, The Battle of the Sexes is a highly entertaining, if cautionary, tale of a middle-aged family man, J.C. Judson (Jean Hersholt), who despite his devotion to wife and offspring falls for what is obviously a gold digger, Marie Skinner (Phyllis Haver). When Read More

Harold Teen

Actors: Mary Brian, Arthur Lake, Lucien Littlefield, Jack Duffy

Synopsis: Based on the comic strip by Carl Ed, Harold Teen stars future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake in the title role. Upon arriving in the big city to attend high school, the bumptious Harold soon becomes the most popular boy in class. This gives our hero carte blanche to indulge in all sorts of comic Read More

West Point

Actors: William Haines, Joan Crawford, William Bakewell, Ralph Emerson

Synopsis: Reteamed with his favorite director Edward Sedgwick, William Haines once again plays the braggart-who-makes-good in West Point. Upon his arrival at the fabled military academy, Brice Wayne (Haines) alienates everyone with his wise-guy attitude and disregard for the rules. Only heroine Betty Read More

Annapolis

Actors: Hobart Bosworth, William Bakewell, Charlotte Walker

Synopsis: Directed by Cabanne, himself a graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, this is a schmaltzy propaganda film aggrandizing the male bonding and "code of honor" adherent to the Academy plebes. Ostensibly the story of a love triangle, it is really a stereotyped tale of two friends who follow the "code" no Read More

Devil's Trademark

Actors: Belle Bennett, William V. Mong, Marian Douglas, William Bakewell, William Desmond

Synopsis: Belle Bennett and William V. Mong play a pair of veteran crooks who decide to "go straight" when their daughter is born. When the girl reaches maturity, however, Mong tries to indoctrinate his daughter (played as an adult by Marion Douglas) into a life of crime. Bennett reluctantly goes along with Read More

The Shield of Honor

Actors: Neil Hamilton, Dorothy Gulliver, Ralph Lewis, Nigel Barrie

Synopsis: Shield of Honor is predicated on the fact that, in 1927, several big-city police departments were contemplating formation of their own "airborne" units. Neil Hamilton stars as Jack MacDowell, the L.A. Police Department's very first "fly cop." He gets a golden opportunity to display his aviation Read More

Mother

Actors: Belle Bennett, Mabel Julienne Scott, Crauford Kent, William Bakewell, Joyce Coad

Synopsis: Based on a story by Kathleen Norris, Mother stars Belle Bennett in the title role. In the tradition of her previous screen assignment in Stella Dallas, Bennett dedicates herself to improving the lot of her two rambunctious children. Using a $10,000 inheritance, she sets up her ne'er-do-well Read More

Old Ironsides

Actors: Esther Ralston, Charles Farrell, Wallace Beery, George Bancroft, George Godfrey

Synopsis: Long derided by film historians as a talented but visually unimaginative director, James Cruze made up for any and all past artistic sins with his rousing Old Ironsides. Per its title, this 11-reel silent film is set at the time of Stephen Decatur's defeat of the Barbary pirates in Tripoli. Read More

The Last Edition

Actors: Ralph Lewis, Lila Leslie, Ray Hallor, Rex Lease

Synopsis: Emory Johnson directed a series of dramas that focused on different, primarily blue-collar professions. He made films about firemen, mailmen, railroad workers, and here he focuses on the newspaper industry, especially on the printing factory, as opposed to the usual editorial offices. Because he Read More