William PowellFilmography

Mister Roberts

Actors: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer

Synopsis: Henry Fonda returned to films after an eight-year absence in this masterful adaptation of the actor's Broadway hit Mister Roberts. Written and partially directed by Joshua Logan, the film stars Fonda as Lt. Doug Roberts, chief cargo officer of the supply ship "Reluctant." WW2 is in its last few Read More

The Girl Who Had Everything

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Fernando Lamas, William Powell, Gig Young, James Whitmore

Synopsis: A good man tries to warn his daughter away from a bad man who has stolen her heart in this melodrama. Steve Latimer (William Powell) is a successful defense attorney who has gone out of his way to give his daughter Jean (Elizabeth Taylor) every advantage in life. However, Steve's generosity and Read More

How to Marry a Millionaire

Actors: Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun

Synopsis: A remake of 1933's The Greeks Had a Word for Them, as well as a retread of 20th Century-Fox's favorite plotline, How to Marry a Millionaire was the first Hollywood comedy to be lensed in Cinemascope. Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe play three models of modest means who rent an Read More

The Treasure of Lost Canyon

Actors: William Powell, Julie Adams, Charles Drake, Henry Hull, Rosemary de Camp

Synopsis: Gentlemanly William Powell is cast spectacularly but effectively against type in Treasure of the Lost Canyon. Powell plays Doc Brown, a somewhat seedy frontier sawbones who takes orphaned David (Tommy Ivo) under his wing. Doc knows that David is being victimized financially by crooked-attorney Read More

It's a Big Country

Actors: Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston Read More

Dancing in the Dark

Actors: William Powell, Mark Stevens, Betsy Drake, Adolphe Menjou, Randy Stuart

Synopsis: This musical comedy stars William Powell as Emery Slade, who was once a major film star but lately isn't getting much work. Arrogantly determined to climb back to the top, Slade convinces studio chief Melville Crossman (Adolphe Menjou) to give him the male lead in the film version of a Broadway Read More

Take One False Step

Actors: William Powell, Shelley Winters, Marsha Hunt, Dorothy Hart, James Gleason

Synopsis: William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his Read More

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid

Actors: William Powell, Ann Blyth, Irene Hervey, Andrea King, Clinton Sundberg

Synopsis: Something seems fishy when a married man finds new adventure and romance in this comic fantasy. Arthur Peabody (William Powell) is a slightly stuffy businessman from Boston who after turning fifty finds himself suffering from a full-fledged midlife crisis. On the advice of his doctor, Peabody and Read More

Life With Father

Actors: William Powell, Irene Dunne, Monte Blue, ZaSu Pitts, Clara Blandick, Johnny Calkins, Emma Dunn, Edmund Gwenn, Elizabeth Taylor

Synopsis: The longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history, Life With Father was faithfully filmed by Warner Bros. in 1947. William Powell is a tower of comic strength as Clarence Day, the benevolent despot of his 1880s New York City household. Irene Dunne co-stars as Day's wife Vinnie, who Read More

The Senator Was Indiscreet

Actors: Rodney Bell, William Powell, Ella Raines, Whit Bissell, Oliver Blake, Arleen Whelan, Charles D. Brown, Claire Carleton, Peter Lind Hayes

Synopsis: Acclaimed playwright George S. Kaufman made his directorial debut with this broad political satire. Senator Melvin G. Ashton (William Powell) is a long-time congressman for whom the phrase "dumb as a log" would be fitting if one were not afraid of insulting the trees. After more than twenty years Read More

Song of the Thin Man

Actors: Leon Ames, Warner Anderson, William Bishop, Bruce Cowling, Bess Flowers

Synopsis: In the sixth and final Thin Man whodunit, Nick (William Powell) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) look into the mysterious killing of bandleader Tommy Drake (Phillip Reed). The police quickly hone in on the owner of a gambling ship, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), who was about to lose Drake's band to a Read More

Ziegfeld Follies

Actors: Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly

Synopsis: The presence of William Powell as legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld at the beginning of Ziegfeld Follies might lead an impressionable viewer from thinking that this 1946 film is a Technicolor sequel to the 1936 Oscar-winning The Great Ziegfeld. Not so: this is more in the line of an all-star revue Read More

The Hoodlum Saint

Actors: William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: William Powell plays a cynical con man who graduates from penny-ante operations to a big-time charity racket. The scam involves collecting money on behalf of St. Dismas, bringing Powell in close contact with several men of the cloth. As the racket rolls on, Powell is touched by the sincerity of Read More

The Thin Man Goes Home

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Gloria de Haven, Anne Revere, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: This fifth entry in MGM's off-and-on "Thin Man" series maintains the high production and story values of the first four. Per the title, retired private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) pays a visit to his home town of Sycamore Springs, with wife Nora (Myrna Loy) in tow. Poor Nick is Read More

The Heavenly Body

Actors: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, James Craig, Fay Bainter, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this light romantic comedy, William B. Whitley (William Powell) is an astronomer who is very excited about his latest discovery, a comet that has been named after him. However, Whitley has been so busy tracking the course of his comet as its path leads straight into the moon that he's been Read More

The Youngest Profession

Actors: Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, John Carroll, Ann Ayars, Marta Linden

Synopsis: In this charming episodic comedy, a giddy group of adolescent girls form a movie-star fan club. Their favorite pastime is collecting the autographs of major stars. Led by their determined president, the gals stalk the streets and train stations of New York in search of big-name stars. Their Read More

Crossroads

Actors: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Claire Trevor, Basil Rathbone, Felix Bressart, Margaret Wycherly

Synopsis: An innocent man is put on trial, but is he really as innocent as he claims? Diplomat David Talbot (William Powell) and his bride Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr) are enjoying a honeymoon in Paris when David is confronted by extortionists who demand money in exchange for not turning him in to the police. Read More

Love Crazy

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gail Patrick, Jack Carson, Florence Bates

Synopsis: William Powell and Myrna Loy re-team for this (literally) crazy screwball comedy about a happily married couple who, thanks to a visit from mother, find their marriage on the rocks and the husband committed to a mental institution. Poised to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary, Steven (William Powell Read More

Shadow of the Thin Man

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson, Donna Reed, Sam Levene

Synopsis: This fourth entry in MGM's Thin Man series could just as well have been titled "Nick and Nora Charles Go to the Races". Officially retired from sleuthing, Nick Charles (William Powell) does his best to be a dutiful husband to his lovely wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and a good father to his young son Nick Read More

I Love You Again

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh, Edmund Lowe, Donald Douglas

Synopsis: Those popular MGM co-stars William Powell and Myrna Loy take a break from their usual Thin Man duties to star in the zany comedy I Love You Again. The film opens with Loy prepared to divorce her dull businessman husband Powell. A blow on the head causes Powell to remember his former life as a Read More

Another Thin Man

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey, C. Aubrey Smith, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: Three years after the second Thin Man entry, MGM brought back the property by popular demand with Another Thin Man. As ever, William Powell and Myrna Loy star as sophisticated sleuths Nick and Nora Charles, with the added filip of 8-month-old Nick Charles Jr. At the invitation of munitions Read More

The Baroness and the Butler

Actors: William Powell, Annabella, Helen Westley, Henry Stephenson, Joseph Schildkraut

Synopsis: The Baroness, daughter of the Hungarian prime minister, is played by Annabella. The Butler, last of a long line of family retainers, is played by William Powell. The butler works for the baroness' father, and the relationship between baroness and butler is outwardly chilly but subliminally Read More

Double Wedding

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Florence Rice, John Beal, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: Richard Thorpe's comedy Double Wedding (1937) marked the seventh screen pairing of William Powell and Myrna Loy, known for their popular appearances together in the Thin Man series. Powell is Charlie Lodge, a bohemian artist who lives in a trailer, camped in an auto parking space in a busy city. Read More

The Emperor's Candlesticks

Actors: William Powell, Luise Rainer, Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Morgan

Synopsis: Baroness Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, came up with the story upon which The Emperor's Candlesticks was based. As in Pimpernel, the theme is international intrigue, but this time the setting is pre-World War One Europe and Russia rather than Revolutionary France. William Powell and Luise Rainer Read More

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

Actors: Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: Based on a popular drawing-room drama by Frederick Lonsdale, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney stars Joan Crawford as a jewel thief who poses as an aristocrat. It is Crawford's intention to pilfer a valuable pearl necklace while attending a society party in the company of partner-in-crime William Powell. Read More

After the Thin Man

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia

Synopsis: This second of MGM's Thin Man films reteams William Powell and Myrna Loy as, respectively, bibulous private detective Nick Charles and his socialite wife Nora. The Charleses are sucked into another murder case via Nick's lovely cousin Elissa Landi, whose husband Alan Marshall has vanished. Hubby Read More

The Great Ziegfeld

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice

Synopsis: In MGM's three-hour-plus The Great Ziegfeld, William Powell stars as the titular theatrical impresario, whose show business empire begins when he stage-manages a tour for legendary strongman Sandow (Nat Pendleton). With nary a penny in the bank, he charms European stage star Anna Held (Luise Rainer Read More

Libeled Lady

Actors: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Walter Connolly

Synopsis: Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, and William Powell star in this crackling screwball comedy about a cut-throat newspaper editor's scheme to prevent a libel suit that ends up exploding in everybody's face. Tracy plays Warren Haggerty, the managing editor of a newspaper that mistakenly prints a story Read More

My Man Godfrey

Actors: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Jean Dixon, Eugene Pallette

Synopsis: One of the landmark "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, My Man Godfrey offers the radiant Carole Lombard in her definitive performance as flighty young heiress Irene Bullock, who on a society scavenger hunt stumbles on Godfrey (William Powell), an erudite hobo residing in the city dump. Godfrey Read More

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

Actors: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason, Eric Blore, Robert Armstrong

Synopsis: The "ex" of the title is daffy mystery-writer Jean Arthur, former wife of urbane doctor William Powell. When Powell becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, Arthur endeavors to solve the case herself -- and to reclaim her ex-hubby in the process. After a well-directed semiclimax at a race Read More

Escapade

Actors: William Powell, Luise Rainer, Virginia Bruce, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Set in the Washington of World War I, Escapade stars William Powell as a newspaper editor eager to sign up for an overseas assignment. Instead, he's ordered to stay in Washington to decode enemy messages. This assignment has been arranged by the dizzy niece (Rosalind Russell) of the Undersecretary Read More

Star of Midnight

Actors: William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Paul Kelly, Gene Lockhart, Ralph Morgan

Synopsis: This barely-disguised but effective riff on The Thin Man (1934) stars that film's lead, William Powell, opposite Ginger Rogers instead of Myrna Loy. Clay Dalzell (Powell) is a suave attorney fonder of solving crimes than trying cases. His elegant girlfriend, Donna (Rogers) hopes that Clay will Read More

Rendezvous

Actors: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: This espionage thriller with romantic comedy touches was loosely based on the book American Black Chamber by the real-life head of the U.S. Secret Service during World War I, Herbert O. Yardley. Bill Gordon (William Powell) is a newspaper puzzle editor who becomes a lieutenant in 1917 when he Read More

Reckless

Actors: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Rosalind Russell, Ted Healy, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Reckless is a delightfully breezy screwball comedy from the same director (Victor Fleming) and star (Jean Harlow) responsible for the celebratedBombshell (itself a film à clef loosely based on Clara Bow) -- with the added appeal of William Powell. One can readily see the chemistry between the two Read More

Manhattan Melodrama

Actors: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: Notorious as the movie that gangster John Dillinger attended on the night he was killed, Manhattan Melodrama has weathered the years as one of MGM's finest examples of pure storytelling. The pageant-like story begins in 1904, when the excursion steamer "General Slocum" blows up and burns in the Read More

Fashions of 1934

Actors: Bette Davis, William Powell, Veree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Hugh Herbert, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: Now known simply as Fashions, the lavish Warner Bros. musical Fashions of 1934 stars the unlikely but copacetic team of William Powell and Bette Davis. It all begins when genial con artist Sherwood Nash (Powell) transfers his base of operations from New York to Paris. Sensing that the fashion Read More

The Key

Actors: William Powell, Edna Best, Colin Clive, Hobart Cavanaugh, Halliwell Hobbes

Synopsis: The Key is a story of the Irish "troubles" which avoids taking sides, but spends most of its screen time with the British occupation troops. William Powell stars as a soldier for hire who works on behalf of the British in the Dublin of the early 1920s. Powell is as celebrated for his boudoir Read More

Evelyn Prentice

Actors: Myrna Loy, William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Una Merkel, Harvey Stephens

Synopsis: Filmed between the original Thin Man and the first of its sequels, Evelyn Prentice re-teamed William Powell and Myrna Loy as another husband-and-wife team knee deep in a murder mystery. In this one, Powell is John Prentice, a prominent lawyer with an eye for women other than his own wife. His Read More

High Peril

The Thin Man

Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell

Synopsis: Filmed on what MGM considered a B-picture budget and schedule (14 days, which at Universal or Columbia would have been considered extravagant), The Thin Man proved to be "sleeper," spawning a popular film, radio, and television series. Contrary to popular belief, the title does not refer to star William Powell Read More

The Kennel Murder Case

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

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

Lawyer Man

Actors: William Powell, Joan Blondell, Helen Vinson, Alan Dinehart, Allen Jenkins

Synopsis: William Powell is a poor East Side lawyer who works his way up the ladder to assistant prosecutor. He isn't too particular how he uses and misuses the law, much to the dismay of his faithful secretary (Joan Blondell). Powell's downfall comes when he falls for a shady lady (Claire Dodd) who Read More

Man Killer

Actors: William Powell, Margaret Lindsay, Ruth Donnelly, Gordon Westcott, James Bell

Synopsis: Romance throws a spanner into the works of a con game in this light drama. Donald Free (William Powell) is a private detective whose career in on the skids. Dan Hogan (Arthur Holh) is another, less scrupulous shamus who persuades Free to help him frame Janet Reynolds (Margaret Lindsay), a wealthy Read More

Double Harness

Actors: Ann Harding, William Powell, Henry Stephenson, Lillian Bond, George Meeker

Synopsis: Joan Colby (Ann Harding) is the unmarried older daughter in a once-wealthy family. She's always been the mature, level-headed one among the two sisters, but she is feeling the pressure to find a husband especially strongly these days, as her much more flighty and impetuous younger sister Valerie Read More

One Way Passage

Actors: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: William Powell plays a condemned murderer who is being transported from Hong Kong to San Quentin by way of a luxury liner. Also on board is the lovely Kay Francis, who is suffering from a fatal heart condition. The sympathetic detective (Warren Hymer) escorting Powell allows the prisoner to roam Read More

High Pressure

Actors: William Powell, Evelyn Brent, George Sidney, Guy Kibbee, Evelyn Knapp

Synopsis: Based on Abel Kandel's 1931 play Hot Money, this delightfully daffy comedy from Warner Bros. is a typical example of that studio's turbo-charged dialogue and irreverent attitude. William Powell, at the top of his game here, plays Gar Evans, the "world's foremost promoter," hired by Jewish Read More

Jewel Robbery

Actors: William Powell, Kay Francis, Helen Vinson, Hardie Albright, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: This imitation-Lubitsch romantic comedy stars William Powell as an elegant jewel thief plying his trade in Vienna. Powell's latest victim is bored baroness Kay Francis, who is much taken by the gentleman crook's handsomeness and poise. Since Francis is casting about for a new lover and newer Read More

The Road to Singapore

Actors: William Powell, Doris Kenyon, Marian Marsh, Louis Calhern, Alison Skipworth

Synopsis: In this drama, a doctor and his wife are stationed in Singapore where the lonely wife, tired of constantly trying to get his attention, begins soliciting another man into having an affair with her. The man is reticent though. When the doctor finds out and assumes they are involved, the woman Read More

Dishonored

Actors: Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Lew Cody, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Warner Oland

Synopsis: Contemporary viewers who go into Dishonored expecting a musty, dated espionage melodrama will be in for a surprise. Marlene Dietrich delivers a subtle and witty performance as a Viennese prostitute who offers her services as a spy during WWI. As "Agent X-27" our heroine proves invaluable to her Read More

Ladies' Man

Actors: William Powell, Kay Francis, Carole Lombard, Gilbert Emery, Olive Tell

Synopsis: A Rupert Hughes novel was the source for this soulless but sophisticated comedy-drama. William Powell is a charming roue who lives off the gifts given to him by lonely married women. In exchange, he escorts them around town (among other services) when their husbands aren't looking. The only woman Powell Read More

Man of the World

Actors: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Wynne Gibson, Guy Kibbee, Lawrence Gray

Synopsis: Still in his "sophisticated cad" period, William Powell essays the title role in Man of the World. Powell plays a smooth extortionist who preys upon wayfaring Americans in Paris. He woos lonely wives and wives-to-be, then threatens them with blackmail unless they sustain his lifestyle. One of his Read More

Street of Chance

Actors: William Powell, Jean Arthur, Kay Francis, Regis Toomey, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: This fact-based drama chronicles the events that led to the murder of a notorious gambler. The story begins when a young cardsharp goes to see his brother, whom he believes is a stockbroker. In reality, the brother is a famed gambler who is trying to quit and try to rebuild his marriage. When the Read More

Behind the Makeup

Actors: Hal Skelly, William Powell, Fay Wray, Kay Francis

Synopsis: In this convoluted drama, the jolly painted face of a circus clown is but a mask for an avaricious, ruthlessly ambitious, and deceitful man. Hap is performing in small New Orleans clubs when he saves the life of the starving Gardino, a member of a distinguished family of European clowns. Though Read More

The Benson Murder Case

Actors: William Powell, Natalie Moorhead, Eugene Pallette, Paul Lukas

Synopsis: After briefly relinquishing the role to Basil Rathbone, William Powell was back as S. S. Van Dine's amateur detective Philo Vance in The Benson Murder Case. Keeping abreast of the times, the film uses the 1929 Stock Market Crash as a plot motivator. Crooked stockbroker Anthony Benson (Richard Tucker Read More

Paramount on Parade

Actors: Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper, William Austin, Clara Bow, Jack Oakie, George Bancroft

Synopsis: Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner Read More

Shadow of the Law

Actors: William Powell, Marion Shilling, Regis Toomey

Synopsis: In this suspenseful crime drama a woman is threatened by an angry husband and a man comes to her aid. Unfortunately, after he accidentally kills the husband, the woman flees the crime scene and he ends up imprisoned. While doing his time, he and his cell mate, a con artist, become friends. The con Read More

For the Defense

Actors: William Powell, Kay Francis, Scott Kolk, William B. Davidson

Synopsis: William Powell stars in this drama as William Foster, a gifted defense attorney with a gift for making cases go his way. Foster's winning record in the courtroom has earned him a colorful clientele, including several notorious criminals, but he doubts his abilities when his girlfriend Irene Read More

Pointed Heels

Actors: William Powell, Fay Wray, Helen Kane, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Phillips Holmes

Synopsis: William Powell was still in his tux-and-top-hat period when he starred in Pointed Heels. The scene is Broadway, where millionaire Robert Courtland (Powell) promises to back a new musical production on the proviso that bit player Lora Nixon (Fay Wray) be given a major role. Lora is appreciative but Read More

Charming Sinners

Actors: Ruth Chatterton, Clive Brook, Mary Nolan, William Powell, Florence Eldridge

Synopsis: Charming Sinners was a stilted adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife. Robert Miles (Clive Brook) starts the ball rolling when he falls in love with Anne-Marie Whitley (Mary Nolan), the best friend of his own wife Kathryn (Ruth Chatterton). In retaliation, Kathryn begins a Read More

The Canary Murder Case

Actors: William Powell, James Hall, Louise Brooks, Jean Arthur, Gustav von Seyffertitz

Synopsis: This early talkie is the film that destroyed the career of popular silent leading lady Louise Brooks. A detective story, it centers upon a conniving "canary" (a nightclub singer) who takes on wealthy lovers and then blackmails them into giving her money. If they don't cooperate, she will tell Read More

The Greene Murder Case

Actors: William Powell, Florence Eldridge, Ullrich Haupt, Sr., Jean Arthur, Eugene Pallette

Synopsis: In this early "talkie," William Powell stars as sophisticated detective Philo Vance, who is brought in to investigate the killing of multi-millionaire Tobias Greene. Vance brings together a handful of likely suspects, but it soon becomes apparent he hasn't found the guilty party when all nine of Read More

The Four Feathers

Actors: Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Clive Brook, William Powell, Theodore Von Eltz

Synopsis: This was the third screen version of A.E.W. Mason's oft-filmed novel about one soldier's triumph over cowardice and was the last rendering during the silent era. Here, Richard Arlen stars as Harry Faversham, the British officer who resigns rather than fight against rebels in Egypt. When four of Read More

Partners in Crime

Actors: Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton, Mary Brian, William Powell, Jack Luden

Synopsis: Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton team up again in this silent comedy, in which they (respectively) play Mike Doolan, a half-bright gumshoe, and Scoop McGee, his equally dim-witted journalist pal. While on the trail of a group of gangsters, Doolan and McGee unwittingly fall in with a group of Read More

The Last Command

Actors: Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Nicholas Soussanin, Michael Visaroff

Synopsis: Josef vonSternberg's The Last Command was inspired by the true story of General Lodijenski, a Russian aristocrat who arrived penniless in the US after the 1917 Revolution and who supported himself by playing movie bit parts and managing a Russian restaurant. Emil Jannings stars as the Grand Duke Read More

Feel My Pulse

Actors: Bebe Daniels, George Irving, Charles Sellon, William Powell

Synopsis: Bebe Daniels' popular Paramount comedies of the 1920s frequently cast the sprightly heroine as a female Douglas Fairbanks, saving the day with equal parts cleverness and physical dexterity. Feel My Pulse is a typically Fairbanksian romp, with Daniels playing a sheltered rich girl who has been Read More

The Dragnet

Actors: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Fred Kohler

Synopsis: The 1928 Dragnet bears no relation to the 1950s TV series of the same name. This Josef von Sternberg exercise in esoterica stars George Bancroft as tough cop Two-Gun Nolan. When he becomes convinced that he has accidentally killed his partner, Nolan goes on a bender. Actually, the crime was Read More

Vanishing Pioneer

Actors: Jack Holt, Fred Kohler, William Powell

Synopsis: This silent Paramount Zane Grey Western marked the screen debut of the then 7-year-old Tim Holt. Young Tim's father, Jack Holt, starred as John Ballard, a courageous rancher who leads his neighbors in their righteous fight against corrupt politician John Murdock (William Powell) and his even Read More

Forgotten Faces

Actors: Clive Brook, Mary Brian, Olga Baclanova, William Powell, Fred Kohler

Synopsis: A criminal with a conscience will go to any lengths to give his daughter a better life in this silent drama. "Heliotrope Harry" Harlow (Clive Brook) is a stick-up man who, after robbing a gambling den with his partner Froggy (William Powell), returns home to discover his wife Lily (Olga Baclanova) Read More

Interference

Actors: Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Clive Brook, Doris Kenyon, Brandon Hurst

Synopsis: Paramount's first all-talking picture, Interference was dismally directed by Roy Pomeroy, whose lofty status as the studio's "technical wizard" did not necessarily qualify him to be a director. Evelyn Brent heads the cast as scheming Deborah Kane, who sets out to blackmail Faith Marley (Doris Kenyon Read More

Beau Sabreur

Actors: Gary Cooper, Evelyn Brent, Noah Beery, Sr., William Powell, Mitchell Lewis

Synopsis: This silent romantic adventure is set in the Sahara desert, and purports to be a sequel to the successful Beau Geste. Like the first, it is based on a story by Christopher Wren and features members from the original cast. The story begins as three Legionnaires do not return promptly from furlough Read More

Love's Greatest Mistake

Actors: Evelyn Brent, William Powell, James Hall, Josephine Dunn, Frank Morgan

Synopsis: Love's Greatest Mistake was based on the serialized Liberty Magazine story of the same name. It all begins when Honey McNeill (Josephine Dunn) leaves her home town of Bangor, Maine to visit her married sister Jane (Evelyn Brent) in New York. En route, Honey meets and falls in love with banker Read More

Senorita

Actors: Bebe Daniels, James Hall, William Powell, Josef Swickard

Synopsis: One of the most frustrating items in the list of missing Bebe Daniels comedies, Senorita certainly sounds fascinating. When the life and property of Spanish Californian aristocrat Don Hernandez (Josef Swickard) is threatened by land-grabbers, the old man sends for his grandson to help out. What he Read More

Special Delivery

Actors: Eddie Cantor, Jobyna Ralston, William Powell, Donald Keith, Jack Dougherty

Synopsis: The second and last of Eddie Cantor's silent vehicles, Special Delivery casts the wide-eyed comedian as a hapless mailman. While going through his swiftly appointed rounds, Eddie stumbles upon a gang of crooks who are planning a large-scale confidence scam. He exposes the villains and wins the Read More

She's a Sheik

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Richard Arlen, William Powell, Josephine Dunn

Synopsis: She's a Sheik borrows more than a little from the Rudolph Valentino vehicle, Son of the Sheik, but refreshingly, the Valentino character here is a woman, played by the dashing comedienne Bebe Daniels. She is Zaida, half-Spanish and half-Arab, and determined to marry a Christian man. The Arabian Read More

New York

Actors: Ricardo Cortez, Lois Wilson, Estelle Taylor, William Powell, Norman Trevor

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Manhattan, the 1927 silent New York explores themes later developed more fully in such films as Manhattan Melodrama and Once Upon a Time in America. A product of the Bowery, Trent Regan (William Powell) grows up to become a powerful gangster. Regan's girlfriend Angie Miller (Esther Ralston Read More

Paid to Love

Actors: George O'Brien, Virginia Valli, John Farrell MacDonald, Thomas Jefferson, William Powell

Synopsis: It has often been reported that Howard Hawks tried and failed to create an "art" film with Paid to Love, only to return to his traditional no-nonsense cinematic approach when the film failed at the box-office. While it is true that Hawks adopted a "Germanic" approach, replete with languid tracking Read More

Nevada

Actors: Gary Cooper, William Powell, Thelma Todd

Synopsis: Young Paramount stars Gary Cooper and Thelma Todd, the latter a recent graduate of the studio's acting school, starred in this otherwise average Zane Grey Western directed by studio hack John Waters. It was Waters who, having spotted young Cooper in a screen test, recommended the lanky newcomer Read More

Time to Love

Actors: Raymond Griffith, William Powell, Josef Swickard

Synopsis: Dapper "polite" comedian Raymond Griffith starred in this so-so vehicle. Griffith is cast as French Alfred Sava-Goiu, who, after being dumped by his sweetheart, philosophically decides to end it all by jumping into the Seine. Instead, he lands in a passing boat owned by the Countess Elvire (Vera Voronina 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

Tin Gods

Actors: Thomas Meighan, Renée Adorée, Aileen Pringle, William Powell, Hale Hamilton

Synopsis: With a star-director combination like Tommy Meighan and Allan Dwan, how could Tin Gods not succeed at the box office? After the death of his child in an accident, engineer Roger Drake (Meighan) parts company with his politically ambitious wife Janet (Aileen Pringle). Unable to hold onto a job in Read More

The Runaway

Actors: Clara Bow, Warner Baxter, William Powell, George Bancroft, Edythe Chapman

Synopsis: In one of her first Paramount vehicles, Clara Bow stars as Cynthia Meade, a movie actress on location in the hills of Tennessee. Convinced that she's accidentally killed her fiance Jack Harrison (William Powell), Cynthia escapes across the state border where she is given aid and shelter by Read More

White Mice

Synopsis: William Powell, who spent much of his early silent career playing villains, got to play a hero in this romantic adventure, based on the novel by Richard Harding Davis. The picturesque exterior locations were shot in Cuba, but poor editing undermines the film as a whole. Roddy Forrester (Powell) Read More

Desert Gold

Actors: Neil Hamilton, Shirley Mason, Robert W. Frazer, William Powell, Josef Swickard

Synopsis: Based on a story by Zane Grey, Desert Gold is a remake of the 1919 film of the same name. Neil Hamilton stars as George Thorne, a U.S. cavalry lieutenant in love with fair senorita Mercedes Castaneda (Shirley Mason). When Mercedes is kidnapped by scurrilous outlaw Snake Landree (William Powell in Read More

Aloma of the South Seas

Actors: Gilda Gray, Percy Marmont, Warner Baxter, William Powell

Synopsis: Gilda Gray, best-known for inventing the shimmy, shows off her talents as a Hawaiian dancer in this South Seas drama, based on the play by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemens. Percy Marmont plays his usual role -- a man, who, after having his heart broken, degenerates into a drunken mess. Bob Holden Read More

Sea Horses

Actors: Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, William Powell, George Bancroft, Mack Swain

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Francis Brett Young, Sea Horses stars Florence Vidor as Helen Salvia, who is deserted early on by her no-good husband Lorenzo (William Powell). With her 4-year-old daughter Cina (Mary Dow) in tow, Helen heads to a sinister African port town in search of her husband. During the Read More

The Great Gatsby

Actors: Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson, Neil Hamilton, Georgia Hale, William Powell, Hale Hamilton

Synopsis: Accurately described as "a beautiful job" by novelist John O'Hara, this 1926 silent version of F. Scott's Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby stars Warner Baxter in the title role. Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby lacks only one thing in life: the love of the beautiful, impulsive Daisy Buchanan (Lois Wilson Read More

Faint Perfume

Synopsis: A cuckolded husband discovers that he is in love with his ex-wife's cousin in this domestic melodrama from independent producer B. P. Schulberg. Although agreeing at first to give up custody of their child, the ex-wife changes her mind when she discovers the truth. But the child is almost killed Read More

My Lady's Lips

Actors: Frank Keenan, Clara Bow, William Powell, Matthew Betz

Synopsis: Few leading ladies appeared in as many films in 1926 as the vivacious Clara Bow. In My Lady's Lips, Bow plays the feisty daughter of newspaper magnate Frank Keenan. And that's about all she does, since the bulk of the film concerns the trials and tribulations of female crook Alyce Mills. For the 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

Beautiful City

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, William Powell, Frank Puglia, Florence Auer

Synopsis: The presence of Richard Barthelmess adds a poetic quality to this romantic melodrama. Tony Gillardi (Barthelmess) is a flower vendor on New York's East Side. His brother, Carlo (Frank Puglia), is the favorite of their mother (Florence Auer), but in reality, he is a weak-willed youth who is under Read More

Too Many Kisses

Actors: Richard Dix, Frances Howard, William Powell, Frank Currier

Synopsis: The Paramount backlot doubled as Basque country for this romantic comedy which proved to be a nice showcase for Richard Dix. Richard Gaylord Jr. (Dix) is a pleasure-loving playboy who is constantly getting in trouble with the ladies, much to the chagrin of his father, Richard Gaylord Sr. (Frank Currier Read More

Dangerous Money

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Tom Moore, William Powell, Dolores Cassinelli, Mary Foy

Synopsis: There is a dispute over the ownership of some valuable Long Island farmland -- the Clarks and the Sullivans both claim it. It is ultimately awarded to Adele (Bebe Daniels), the last of the Clarks. Although Adele is in love with Tim (Tom Moore), the son of Sheamus Sullivan (Edward O'Connor), their Read More

Under the Red Robe

Synopsis: An epic, 13-reel costume drama produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan productions -- and it doesn't star his mistress, Marion Davies! Based on the novel by Stanley Weyman, this film was said to be the first to cost 1.5 million dollars to produce (a real fortune in those days). Read More

Bright Shawl

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, Margaret Seddon, Mary Astor

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

Outcast

Actors: Elsie Ferguson, Dave Powell, Mary MacLaren, Charles Wellesley

Synopsis: This picture was based on the stage play by Hubert Henry Davies and starred Elsie Ferguson, who reprised her role for the screen. When her husband deserts her, Miriam Moore (Ferguson) gets work as a model, but then she loses her job and is evicted from her apartment when she can't pay the rent. Read More

When Knighthood Was in Flower

Actors: Lyn Harding, William Norris, Forrest Stanley, Pedro de Cordoba, Ernest Glendenning

Synopsis: Film critics (at least those who weren't employed by the Hearst Corporation) frequently complained about the amount of money newspaper magnate and motion picture producer William Randolph Hearst spent on the pictures starring his companion Marion Davies. When it came to this historical adventure Read More

Sherlock Holmes

Actors: John Barrymore, Roland Young, Carol Dempster, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Louis Wolheim

Synopsis: John Barrymore's impressive performance in this picture is a testament to the strength of his talent, because it had a lot to overcome -- according to director Albert Parker, the famed thespian was on a bender for much of the shoot. This version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (adapted from Read More

William Powell: A True Gentleman