STELLAR FILMSClassic Film Library
A WALK IN THE SUN Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland, Richard Tyne, Richard Conte, Sterling Holloway. In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount. Unusually realistic picture of war as long quiet stretches of talk, punctuated by sharp, random bursts of violent action whose relevance to the big picture is often unknown to the soldiers. The narration is by Burgess Meredith and there is a folk ballad score sung by Earl Robinson. One of the best war films ever produced. It is the proud achievement of Lewis Milestone a veteran of films since the twenties, his credits included "All Quiet On The Western Front", "The Front Page", and "Of Mice and Men". 1947 B&W 117 minutes (From our stunning 35mm print) ABILENE
TOWN (1946) Starring:
Randolph Scott, Ann Dvorak, Edgar Buchanan, Rhonda Fleming, Lloyd Bridges. A tolerant sheriff in a remote,
post-Civil war Kansas town tries
to straighten out a deadly conflict between cattlemen and homesteaders.
Written by Ernest Hay B&W. Running
Time: 90 mins. AMAZING ADVENTURE Cary Grant . Ernest Bliss is a rich young man with too little to do. Not realizing the depression he's in is due to boredom, Ernest consults a doctor. Sir James Aldroyd gives Ernest a prescription that he doesn't think Ernest can fill: Ernest must earn his own living for one year using none of his current wealth. Ernest bets him 50,000 English pounds that he can. AKA The Amazing Quest. 1936 B&W 61 minutes ANGEL AND THE BADMAN John Wayne, Gail Russell, Bruce Cabot, Harry Carey, Irene Rich, directed by James E. Grant. The Duke plays a notorious gunman, who after being seriously wounded, is nursed back to health by a Quaker woman. He then must choose between love and gun fighting. 1947 B&W 100 Minutes ANGEL
ON MY SHOULDER Paul
Muni, Claude Rains. Directed by Archie Moore. Murdered gangster comes
back to earth after making a deal with the devil. Morality play. 1946
B&W 101 minutes. AMAZING MR.
X, THE (1948, BW, 78 MIN) Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnel, Richard
Carlson, directed by Bernard Vorhaus. A fraudulent spiritualist involves
an unsuspecting widow in blackmail, and then a murder. BEACHCOMBER,
THE (1938, BW, 87 MIN) Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, directed by
Erich Pommer. Disheveled bum, Laughton, living on an island paradise, is
reformed by missionary Lanchester. The two stars (married in real life)
are delightful in this film version of a Somerset Maugham story. GB BEAT THE DEVIL Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lolabrigida, Jennifer Jones and Robert Morley. John Huston and Truman Capote created this off beat satire of the fabled Bogart films like the "Maltese Falcon" Huston Directed this low key comedy which was shot in Italy. The New Yorker Magazine hailed this film as hugely entertaining. 1954 B&W 92 Minutes. BEYOND TOMORROW Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, C. Aubry Smith, Charles Winninger, Harry Carey Maria Ouspensakaya. An RKO Film. Directed by Eric Southrland. Three elderly wealthy men introduce a couple on Christmas eve (Carlson and Parker) which spawns a romance. The three men are later killed in a plane crash but guide the lovers from beyond. This film is known for very effective scenes with the men superimposed in the stars. When the couple has a difficult time one of the ghosts risks his chance at heaven to help in this touching yuletide story. 1940 B&W 84 MIN BIG LIFT,
THE Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers, O.E. Hasse, directed by George Seaton. Clift portrays an air crewman and
Douglas is an air traffic controller during the Berlin airlift. They
each become involved with German women, but in a different manner and
with different results. This was filmed on location in 1950 Berlin, and
the utter destruction of the city is evident. Seaton uses real soldiers
and Berlin citizens in the film adding to the realism. Charles
Clarke’s cinematography sets the mood of the film much as it did in
Suddenly (1954 with Frank Sinatra and Guadalcanal Diary in 1943. BIG TOWN AFTER DARK Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, Based on the radio show with Steve Wilson the crusading news paper editor of a paper known as The Illustrated Press. When Lorelei Kilbourne (Hillary Brooke) leaves her job as the police reporter for the Illustrated Press, Managing Editor Steve Wilson (Philip Reed) employs the publisher's niece, Susan Peabody (Ann Gillis), to replace her. Susan becomes involved with gangsters in plotting a $50,000 swindle against her uncle, which Steve and the returned Lorelei uncover. 1947 B&W 69 minutes BIG
TREES, THE, Kirk Douglas,
Edgar Buchanan, Alan Hale Jr., Ellen Cory.
In the early 1900's an unscrupulous timber baron plans to make
millions off California redwood. Much
of the land he hopes to grab has been homesteaded by a Quaker colony,
who try to get him to spare the giant sequoias.
Digital Master. 1952
Color 79 Minutes. BIG WHEEL,
THE (1949, BW, 92 MIN) Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Michael O'Shea,
Spring Byington, directed by Edward Ludwig. Rooney, a daredevil race car
driver, with a none too good reputation, races at Indy and comes in
third. But character is built. BLACK BOOK, THE Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Arlene Dahl, Beulah Bondi. True film noir, that densely urban, disillusioned body of work characterized by the deep shadows that separate the characters from each other and isolate them from society, was almost always set in contemporary cities... in France before WWII and in America after it. Anthony Mann's The Black Book (aka Reign of Terror) is one of its finest examples, a costume thriller set in the French Revolution, and somehow managing to create the visual style and emotional mood of true film noir in a completely atypical setting. This is a film to watch for its cinematic, visual brilliance. Anthony Mann's taut and claustrophobic work (rather at odds with the usual French Revolution epic, and with Mann's later work in other genuinely epic-scale costume dramas) draws a compelling parallel between the atmosphere of fear in post-revolutionary France and in mid-20th century McCarthyite America. 1949 B&W THE BLACK RAVEN George Zucco, Charles Middelton, Wanda McKay, Glen Strange. A menagerie of persons converge at the Black Raven hotel, run by a man who makes a second living helping criminals escape over the US/Canadian border. When one of the guests is killed, and $50,000 is stolen from him, who did it? 1943 B&W 65 minutes BLACKMAIL,
Director Alfred Hitchcock, Army Ondra, John Longdon. Hitchcock's
first sound production was this taut murder. B&W GB BLONDE IN BONDAGE Mark Miller, Anita Thallaug American reporter doing a story on Swedish nightlife gets involved with a drug-addicted nightclub singer. Swedish 1957 BW 87 Minutes BLONDE SAVAGE Leif Erickson, Gale Borg, Frank Jenks, Douglass Dumbrille. Diamond mine owner Mark Harper (Dumbrille) hires pilot Steve Blake (Erickson) and his pal Hoppy Owens (Jenks) to search for a hidden jungle village from which the natives have made trouble for his mine operations. They crash near the village and discover that Meelah (Gale Sherwood), a white girl brought up by the natives after her parents had been killed for their property by Harper, is the head of the village. Returning to the mine, Harper, already suspicious of what they may have learned and jealous of the attention his wife, Connie Harper (Veda Ann Borg), is paying to Steve, has them jailed, while he leads an expedition against the village and Meelah. 1947 B&W 62 minutes. BONNIE
PRINCE CHARLIE David Niven, Jack Hawking, Margaret Leighton. Story of
Prince Charles of 16th Century Scotland. Well staged battle scenes.
Color Digital Remaster 1948 Color 136 minutes. GB BORDERLINE
(1950, BW, 90 MIN) Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, Raymond Burr, Roy
Roberts, Jose Torvay, Morris Ankrum, directed by William A. Seiter. A
determined policewoman goes undercover to investigate a narcotics ring
operating between Mexico and Los Angeles. BOY WITH
GREEN HAIR Pat O'brien, Dean Stockwell. A lesson in
tolerance in this classic MGM film. Peter Frye, typical American
boy, is orphaned when his parents are caught in the London Blitz. He is
not told of their fate, but shuttled from one selfish relative to the
next, ending with "Gramp," a kindly ex-vaudevillean. Peter and
Gramp, both fond of "Irish bulls," get along fine; but the
morning after Peter finally learns he's an orphan, his hair
spontaneously turns green! The absurd over-reactions of stupid people
overturn his life as the story becomes a parable and a powerful anti war
and anti hate film. Brilliant color print from 35
mm. 1948 82 minutes Bulldog Drummond's Bride BULLDOG DRUMMOND COMES BACK John Howard, John Barrymore, J. Carrol Naish, Heather Angel. The girlfriend of Captain Drummond is being kidnapped by an enemy of Drummond who seeks revenge. But Drummond and his friend Colonel Nielsen at once follow his trail. 1937 B&W 74 minutes BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES Ray Milland, Reginald Denny, E.E. Clive,Guy Standing, Heather Angle. Captain Drummond becomes a prisoner when he intends to protect a beautiful heiress of an espionage organization.The first of a series of Bulldog Drummond films released by Paramount Pictures, starring first Ray Milland, then John Howard as Captain Hugh C. Drummond. The series captures the spirit of the classic mystery/adventure novels by H. C. "Sapper" McNeiles. Ray Milland is Drummond, and is excellent in the role, but Miland was too big a star to remain tied to one character for more than one movie, so John Howard (later to play Sherlock Holmes) took over for the subsequent seven films. E.E. Clive is Drummond's indispensable and imperturbable valet Tenny (inexplicably changed from Denny in the books). Clive also kept his role throughout the entire series. So, anyone who is a fan of the Drummond books, should, if they want to see the best screen treatment of their hero should see this installment.. 1937 B&W 67 minutes BULLDOG DRUMMOND IN AFRICA John Howard, Heather Angel, Anthony Quinn, H. B. Warner, J. Carrol Naish. As his wedding to Phyllis Clavering approaches, 'Bulldog' Drummond has taken extreme precautions to avoid getting caught up in another adventure that would delay the wedding. But even as they make their final preparations, their friend Colonel Neilson is being kidnapped by a gang headed by the traitorous Richard Lane. Phyllis witnesses the abduction, and quickly finds Drummond to tell him. They track the gang to Morocco, where they will face many obstacles to their goal of rescuing Neilson. John Howard plays "Bulldog," which is something of a misnomer as played here because he's rather quiet, handsome & shy, not what one would expect from a "bulldog." Heather Angel matches well with Howard as his Fiancée in Perpetuity. The movies have charm, wit, a bit of mystery, & solid acting. 1938 B&W 60 minutes THE BUSHWACKERS (1952) Director: Rodney Amateau John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Wayne Morris, Lon Chaney, Lawrence Tierney, Jack Elam, Myrna Dell, Frank Marlowe. Civil War veteran turns his back on his violent past, but is forced to reconsider when he comes to a small town run by bad guys Tierney, Chaney and Morris. Written by Rodney Amateau. B&W. Running Time: 70 minutes CATHERINE
THE GREAT Douglas Fairbanks, Flora Robson. Shy young girl is treated
poorly by the Royal family but goes on the be the greatest Russian
Tsarinas. In 1745 a German princess, renamed Catherine, arrives to marry
Grand Duke Peter of Russia, whom she initially likes. But his
suspicious, unstable nature gradually estranges them, and Peter finds
solace with pretty courtiers. Catherine invents her own (fictitious)
lovers, temporarily improving matters. Alas, accession to the throne
brings out the worst in Peter, and loyal Catherine is urged to assume
power. Remaster 1932 B&W 92 minutes GB CHECK AND
DOUBLE CHECK (1931, BW, 77 MIN) Freedman Gosden, Charles Correll (as
Amos and Andy), Sue Carol, Irene Rich, Charles Norton, Ralf Harolde,
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, directed by Melville Brown. The
well meaning pair get concerned over a deed to some property, and
the love affair that begins because of it. CITY WITHOUT MEN Linda Darnell, Margaret Hamilton, Edgar Buchanan. A young woman's husband has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. In order to be near him to try to help him get his sentence overturned, she moves into a boardinghouse near the prison whose residents are the wives of inmates. 1943 B&W 75 min. D.O.A.
(1949, BW, 88 MIN) Edmund O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler, Neville
Brand, Henry Hart, Virginia Lee, directed by Rudolp DARK HOUR, THE Hedda Hopper, Ray Walker, Irene Ware, Berton Churchill. A pair of detectives investigates the murder of an elderly millionaire who was the target of blackmail and death threats and find that there is no shortage of suspects, many of them in the victim's own family. Chesterfield Studio does it again--a tidy whodunit that, surprisingly, holds up pretty well despite its age. The race between the two detectives is quite droll and interesting; it shows, once again, that the fundamental lesson of integration between the old and the new still applies--regardless of decade and/or century. 1936 B&W 63 minutes DARK JOURNEY
(1937, BW, 75 MIN) Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner, Conrad Veidt, Anthony
Bushell, Ursla Jeans, directed by Victor Saville. A sophisticated drama
of espionage and romance. Leigh plays the role of a double agent whose
front is an upscale shop in Stockholm. The head of the German SS
suspects her loyalties but falls in love with her. Clever plot. GB DEADLY
COMPANIONS, THE,
Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith. Sam Peckinpah made his directing debut in
this excellent western adventure concerning an
ex‑soldier/gunslinger who makes amends to a family of a man he
killed. 1961 Color USA DEATH FROM A DISTANCE Russell Lane, Lola Lane. While a distinguished astronomer is giving a lecture in a planetarium, a shot rings out and one of the audience members is found dead. A tough detective and a brassy female reporter lock horns as they both try to break the case. Every stereotype from that era is present: smart detective and dumb as dishwater detective, hardboiled city room editor and ambitious female reporter, gentle Viennese scientist and the "Hindu," a man with a past. And there's more. Good effort from a small studio. This film used props which were also used in "The Invisible Ray". 1935 B&W 68 minutes DETOUR
(1945, BW, 69 MIN) Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund
MacDonald, Tim Ryan, Ester Howard, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Tag line
for this film was ... He went searching for love... but Fate
forced a DETOUR to Revelry... Violence... Mystery! A
down and out Greenwich Village piano player becomes involved
with a seductive mystery woman and two murders as he hitchhikes to the
west coast. DIVORCE
OF LADY X, Merle Oberon,
Laurence Olivier A sophisticated romantic comedy which concerns a young
divorce lawyer defending himself. We own the best copy of this film
known to exist. Laurence Olivier plays Logan, a barrister who falls in
love with Leslie (played by Merle Oberon), the woman he thinks his
client will soon be divorcing. Fogbound in a hotel, Leslie Steele tricks
handsome, cynical divorce lawyer Everard Logan into sharing his suite.
She lets him think she's married; next day Lord Mere, whose thrice-
divorced wife spent the night with a man in the same hotel, comes to
Logan for a divorce! Leslie delightedly teases Logan with her imaginary
scandalous past, while fascinating him irresistibly. Then she joins
forces with the real Lady Mere...1938 Color 92 minutes GB DR. KILDARE'S STRANGE CASE Lionel Barrymore, Lew Ayers, :LAurane Day. Young Dr. Kildare is still being trained at General Hospital by old, crusty Dr. Gillespie. This time, he tries to rehabilitate Gregory Lane, a brain surgeon depressed over losing too many patients (and incidentally Kildare's romantic rival for nurse Mary Lamont). Lane's losing streak takes a new turn when one of his patients survives...but seems to be insane. Or is the man's strange obsession with Friday the clue to a mystery? To find out, Kildare must take a terrible risk. Perhaps one of the finest cast series ever produced. 1940 B&W 77 minutes DRUMS OF AFRICA Buster Crabbe and Charles Middleton meet again. 1941 B&W DRUMS OF JEOPARDY Warner Oland, June Collier, Mischa Auer. Oland stars as Dr. Boris Karloff, a man out to avenge his daughter's suicide by killing off a Russian noble family that he holds responsible for her death. Warner Oland soon after this movie became famous in his portrayal of Charlie Chan in a series of movies about a famous Chinese detective and the mysteries he solves. Clara Blandick, the future Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz plays a great character in a supporting role and is excellent in bringing comic relief to this little known drama from Tiffany Studios. AKA The Mark of Terror. 1931 B&W 71 minutes. DRUMS IN THE
DEEP SOUTH Barbara Payton, James Craig, Guy
Madison, Craig Stevens, directed by William Cameron Menzies. The deep
friendship of three West Point graduates is torn apart by the Civil War.
They come together during Sherman's drive through Georgia when the
northern officer, Madison, must blow up a mountain killing his former
buddies, Stevens and Craig. ELLIS ISLAND ENTERTAINER,
THE (1960, BW, 97 MIN) Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Alan Bates,
Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, directed by Tony Richardson. Olivier
plays the role of Archie Rice, a has-been that never was, a
third rate vaudevillian who plays the music halls when they were
in their decline. His character has no redeeming qualities; he's rotten
to everyone ... his children, his alcoholic wife, his dying father,
and the parents of a beauty contestant he's dallying with. Olivier is
brilliant. The shabby surroundings of the music hall, the seedy sea side
resort town, the dismal house the family lives in, all work well in
telling the story. GB ETERNALLY
YOURS (1939, BW, 91 MIN) David Niven, Loretta Young, Hugh Herbert,
Billie Burke, Broderick Crawford, Zasu Pitts, directed by Tay Garnett. A
magician can't make lipstick stains vanish before they break up
his marriage...but intends winning his wife back at any cost, before she
carries out plans for a second husband. Zany characters,
hair raising escape acts, romantic mix-ups, and stinging
dialogue delivered by a great cast. EVIL MIND
(1934, BW, 68 MIN) Claude Rains, Fay Wray, directed by Maurice Elvey. A
phony psychic develops frightening powers to make predictions which get
him into a great deal of trouble. Bizarre courtroom scenes with odd
legal maneuvers being employed to set him free. AKA "The
Clairvoyant" FABULOUS DORSEYS Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Paul Whitman, Charlie Barnet, Ray Eberly, Helen O'Connell and a score of jazz greats play themselves. Also in the cast Janet Blair, William Lundigan , Arthur Shields. This is story of the rise of the Fabulous Dorsey brothers is charted in this whimsical step down memory lane, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey play themselves in this vehicle for their excellent music. From being raised by their father who insists on them learning music, to the split that just saw their careers rise even further. 1947 B&W 88 minutes FATHER'S
LITTLE DIVIDEND Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan
Bennett, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, directed by Vincente Minnelli. A
sequel to "Father of the Bride" and one of the rare times the
sequel stands up to the original. Father Spencer Tracy has finally
achieved peace and quiet, having married off Elizabeth Taylor. But the
madhouse resumes when a grandchild is expected and Tracy becomes a
devoted grandfather, much to his own surprise. 1951, BW, 81minutes FIGHTING CARAVANS (1930) Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Fred Kohler, Frank Campeau. Young frontiersman joins a wagon train to California to keep from going to jail, talking a French lass into posing as his wife. Eventually he must take responsibility as the sole scout when the natives attack. From the novel by Zane Grey. B&W. Running Time: 80 minutes. FLAME OVER
INDIA (1960, COLOR, 130 MIN) Lauren Bacall, Kenneth More, Herbert
Lom,
Wilfrid Hyde-White, directed by J. Lee Thompson. During a Moslem
uprising in India, a professional soldier spirits a Hindu prince and his
American governess to safety aboard a rusty old train. Loaded with
action and suspense. (AKA Northwest Frontier). GB FRECKLES COMES HOME GHOST AND THE GUEST James Dunn, Mable Todd. This comedy was written by Morey Ansterdam who played a comedy writer on the Dick Van Dyke TV series decades later. A newlywed couple winds up spending their honeymoon night in an old, dark, spooky mansion. This movie does manage to keep your interest though and the comedy still comes through. The acting wasn't bad at all, and the strange assortment of characters was interesting. The plot is not believable but this is forgiven in the interest of comedy. It's a short, fast moving comedy that should be taken lightly and enjoyed for what it is. (Funny) 1943 B&W 61 minutes GREEN EYES Shirley Grey, Charles Starrett. British mystery thriller. The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However, the party turns sour when he is found stabbed to death in a closet. The police and a guest try to discover who committed the murder. 1934 B&W 68 minutes. GREEN GLOVE, THE (Glenn Ford, Geraldine Brooks, Cedric Hardwicke. In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn. 1952 B&W 88 Minutes GUNG HO Robert Mitchem, Randolph Scott, J. Carol Nash, Rod Cameron, Noah Berry, Jr, Alan Curtis, Grace McDonald, Sam Levene. Seven weeks after Pearl Harbor, volunteers form the new 2nd Marine Raider Battalion whose purpose is to raid Japanese-held islands. The men selected come from different walks of life but have toughness in common. Under command of Colonel 'Thorwald', they're trained in all imaginable forms of combat. Then, after a perilous submarine journey, they face a daunting first mission: to annihilate the much larger Japanese garrison on Makin Island, in a lengthy battle sequence. 1943 B&W 88 mins HAND, THE, Derek Bond, During World War II, a group of British soldiers are captured by the Japanese, tortured and their hands are cut off. Years later, a mad killer terrorizes London by cutting off the hands of his victims. 1960 B&W 61 minutes HE WALKED BY NIGHT Richard Basehart, Jack Webb, Scott Brady. When a police officer is gunned down by a man whom he had stopped to question, a city-wide dragnet fails to catch the shooter, leaving the police with only minor clues to go on. Later they discover that the same man has been selling stolen equipment through an electronics dealer, and they set a trap for him. But he shoots his way out of the trap and escapes. The police must piece together a description of the man's appearance and habits from witnesses and a few small clues, as they search untiringly for a dangerous and very resourceful criminal. The realistic technique of this movie was so innovative, that Jack Webb (who has his first good-sized role in this movie) used this technique in making his 1940s radio show "Dragnet." When he brought "Dragnet" to television in 1951, the style of the show influenced countless other shows, launching realistic police drama in television. This realistic style is very noticeable in TV shows today, such as "Law and Order," and "NYPD Blue." 1948 B&W 79 minutes HEARTS IN BONDAGE James Dunn, David Manners, Fritz Leiber, Mae Clark. First-time director Lew Ayres performs miracles on a minuscule budget in this romanticized version of the events leading up to the battle between the "ironclads" Monitor and Merrimac. Northern naval officer Kenneth (James Dunn), the nephew of Monitor designer John Ericsson is dishonorably discharged when he sinks the Merrimac instead of burning it, as ordered. He is restored to duty as a crew member on the Monitor, and in the ensuing sea battle with the again commissioned Merrimac he kills Confederate officer Raymond (David Manners), the brother of Kenneth's fiancée Constance (Mae Clarke). The estranged sweethearts are ultimately reunited with the direct intervention of Abe Lincoln himself! The special effects of scale models in the climactic Monitor-Merrimac confrontation is both exciting and convincing. 1936 BW 72 Minutes. HIS
GIRL FRIDAY Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy. A remake of
Front Page. Fast paced screwball comedy. Grant as conniving editor,
Russell as star reporter (and his ex-wife), Bellamy as mama's boy she's
trying to marry with a murder story
to be covered going on. Great character
actors make this a must see
film, scripted by Ben Hecht. HITCH-HIKER,
THE, (1953 b/w) Edmond
O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy and William Tallman star in this directed by Ida
Lupino film noir classic concerning two men on a fishing trip who make
the deadly mistake of picking up a psychotic killer.
1953 B&W Approx. 71 minutes HITLER
DEAD OR ALIVE Ward
Bond, Paul Fix, and Warren Hymer. A
team of ex-con bounty hunters go to Germany in search of Hitler. If they
can find him, a million dollar reward is to be paid to them. Ward Bond has the distinction of
being in seven of the hundred greatest films voted on by the American
Film Institute, most of any thespian. This film was not among his finest
accomplishments, but was a popular bit of war propaganda. 1942 B&W
70 minutes HOLD THAT WOMAN James Dunn, Frances Gilford. A skip tracer--someone who collects late payments from people who've purchased appliances, etc., or takes them back them when they don't pay--repossesses a small radio from a deadbeat who's skipped payments. What he doesn't know is that a gang that has stolen diamonds from a Hollywood movie star has stashed them inside the radio, and they start hunting for him. 1940 B&W 67 minutes HOLLOW
TRIUMPH, THE, Paul
Henreid,
Joan Bennett, Edward Franz. Killer assumes identity of a doctor. Tense
melodrama. Paul Henreid is in every single scene of this movie, and it's
hard not to think of him in his most famous role, and to impose that
image onto this picture. Henreid's thick accent is a distraction that
really robs this movie of some of its charm. But, the plot twists make
up for everything. One takes place in a photo shop, and its significance
is immediately apparent. The other is the ending which catches viewers by surprise. Joan Bennett
is terrific here, as a cynical, vulnerable, rather sarcastic secretary
who shows herself to be an astute judge of character, though not as
hard-hearted as she'd have us believe. The moments when Henreid and
Bennett are together on screen are magical. The ending is one of the
best ever crafted see. 1948 B&W 83 minutes. USA HOME
TOWN STORY, Marilyn Monroe, Jeffrey Lynn, Marjorie Reynolds.
Directed by
Arthur Pierson. A politician has to change his mind about the evils of big business when
his sister is caught in a cave-in. Blake Washburn blames manufacturer
MacFarland for his defeat in the race for re-election to the state
legislature. He takes over his uncle's newspaper to take on big business
as an enemy of the people. Miss Martin (Marilyn Monroe) works in the
"Herald" newspaper office. When tragedy strikes, Blake must
re-examine his views.1951 B&W 61 minutes HOUSE OF MYSTERY Ed Lowrey, George Hayes, Verna Hilie. Out of the Mystic Temples of Old India crept this terrible Monster ... to wreak vengeance of the Hindu Gods ... One by one its victims fell with not a trace of the bloody assassin. The movie begins in Asia (India) in 1913, where the main character (a Mr. Prendergast) kills a monkey, & then moves ahead to 1932-33 in the US, where the Curse of Kahli follows him. This is a solid old dark house kind of movie that has comic elements & a séance. It's a treat for fans of the Hopalong Cassidy B western series to see a 47 year young beardless George Hayes in a small role. There are lots of murders, several surprises, & the mandatory man in the gorilla suit. Chanda (played by Laya Joy, AKA Joyzelle Joyner), after an early stint in the movie as an exotic dancer (she's does a good job at that) walks around the rest of the movie zombie-like, almost speechless. Fans of the old dark house genre will certainly enjoy this one. 1934 B&W 62 minutes. IDENTITY UNKNOWN Richard Arlen, Bobby Driscoll, Cheryl Walker, Roger Pryor. A soldier survives a bombing in which his three fellow soldiers were killed. When he recovers he discovers he has amnesia, and since his companions' bodies were burned beyond recognition, the army doesn't know which one of the four he is. He goes AWOL and searches out the families of the three dead soldiers, hoping to find out his own identity. 1947 B&W 71 minutes. IMPACT
(1949, BW, 111 MIN) Brian Donlevy, Charles Coburn, Ella Raines, Helen
Walker, Anna May Wong, Mae Marsh, directed by Arthur Lubin. Donlevy's
wife and her lover try to bump him off but the lover gets it instead
while Donlevy is injured in a car crash and suffers from amnesia. While
recovering he falls in love with nice lady Raines. Then Donlevy regains
his memory as his wife finds him, and life really becomes complex. Many
twists and turns and some real surprises in this above average drama. INNER SANCTUM Charles Russell, Mary Beth Hughes, Billy House, Roscoe Yates, Fritz Leiber. A man fleeing the police after having committed a murder hides out in a boarding house in a small town. That sums up a tidy little mystery from the late 40's with a good cast, directed by Lew Landers. A Seer (fortune-teller) brilliantly played by Fritz Leiber predicts that a young girl (Mary Beth Hughes) will encounter tragedy on a train. It all comes together when a man (Charles Russell) fleeing from the law for a murder hides out in a boarding house. Other than the gorgeous Miss Hughes and handsome Mr. Russell the boarders include the delightful Nana Bryant, feisty Lee Patrick, freckled faced kid Dale Belding and Billy House. Above-par B film fare especially for Noir fans. 1948 B&W 62 minutes Invisible Avenger GAMBLING WITH SOULS Martha Chapman, Wheeler Oaklman, Edward Keene. The highly-publicized success in 1936 of Thomas E. Dewey in disassembling the vice-focused operations of "Lucky" Luciano spawned a raft of exploitative films such as this one (also titled VICE RACKET), an advertisement for which states "Soiled souls in the marts of a great city......sensational events as recently seen in the nation's headlines", a popular item for many years in those side street theatres that presented movies showcasing flesh and decadence while ostensibly offering an "educational" service to alert audiences of the wages of sin and lust. Although in love with her financially straitened surgeon husband, Mae Miller (Martha Chapin) becomes frustrated because with only a budding practice, he cannot provide for her those luxuries that her friends enjoy, and she is easily lured by an acquaintance to an illegal gambling establishment where she soon becomes addicted to the feckless thrill of wagering, that leads to more dire events after she falls into a state of substantial indebtedness to the club's crafty owner. This is Lucky Wilder (Wheeler Oakman) who places extreme pressure through a threat of blackmail upon Mrs. Miller since her debt to him has exceeded $10000, an enormous amount during the Great Depression, and Mae is compelled to become a call girl for Wilder in order to pay the vice master what she owes him, but events still worsen for the doctor's wife when her younger sister Carolyn (Gay Sheridan) is entrapped in the same manner. The scenario is related in flashbacks, with a District Attorney's office as setting of the present where Mae is being grilled as an accused murder suspect, characterized by the D.A. as "You who thrive on the slime of life", and yet the case has not been decided for Mae Miller in this quite sleazily-toned but competently constructed low-budget potboiler that is well-edited and ably directed by Elmer Clifton, who in his palmy days had been a favoured director for the Gish sisters, with perky Sheridan and well-practiced villain Oakman both convincing in their roles. 1935 B&W 70 minutes. JAMAICA INN
Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, Leslie Banks,
Mervyn Johns, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the novel by Daphne
du Maurier. Laughton is a Victorian nobleman who heads a cutthroat band.
O'Hara is beautiful and spirited, as usual. GB Jane Eyre Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive. Jane Eyre is an orphan who was raised by her aunt until she came to Thornfield Hall as governess to the young ward of Edward Rochester. But Jane is attracted by the intelligent and energetic Sir Rochester, a man of almost twice her age. But just when Sir Rochester seems to pay attention to her, he invites the beautiful and wealthy Blanche Ingram to stay at his house. Colin Clive is best known for the film line "It's Alive! It's Alive!" as Dr. Frankenstein. 1934 B&W 62 minutes. Jig Saw Franchot Tone, Jean Wallce. When the owner of a printing shop is found dead, the District Attorney assumes that it was a suicide. But the Assistant D.A., Howard Malloy, suspects that there is a connection with an extremist political group called the 'Crusaders'. When a journalist whose articles had attacked the Crusaders is also killed, Malloy is convinced. With help from the widow of a prominent judge, he conducts an investigation. As he does so, he meets a peculiar political boss and also an attractive night club singer, each of whom could become either a source of help or a source of danger. 1949 B&W 70 minutes. JUNGLE MAN Buster Crabbe, Charles Middleton, Harry L. Fraser. An expedition sets out to darkest Africa to find the fabled City of the Dead, and must battle thick jungle, hostile natives, wild animals and a deadly epidemic. From PRC one of the Poverty Row Studios. 1941 B&W 63 minutes. KENNEL MURDER CASE William Powell, Mary Astor, Paul Cavanauh. Powell brings detective Philo Vance--the dashing and witty protagonist of a series of popular mystery novels by S.S. Van Dine--to full and vibrant life onscreen in Michael Curtiz's THE KENNEL MURDER CASE. Vance senses foul play at a Long Island kennel club, where two brothers with membership in the club have been killed. The worldly detective's partner in the quest to solve the mystery is the humorously zealous Sergeant Ernest Health (Eugene Pallette). The ever-adaptable Vance manages to indulge his love for canines while trying to deduce who the killer is before he or she strikes again. Mary Astor and Paul Cavanaugh give enjoyable performances as young lovers who are blissfully oblivious to their potential involvement in the crimes. Powell's Philo Vance is as smooth as vintage cognac, and Curtiz (THE SEA HAWK) flawlessly weaves sophisticated comedy into the thrilling tale of murder and intrigue. 1933 B&W 73 minutes KENTUCKY
RIFLE (1956)
Chill Wills, Lance Fuller, Cathy Downs, Jeanne Cagney, Sterling
Holloway, Jess Barker. Stranded pioneers become the targets of a hostile
Indian group, who will let them through their territory only if they
give them their wagonload of Kentucky Rifles. Color.
Running Time: 82 mins. KING MURDER CASE, THE Richard Thorpe, Conway Tearle, Natalie Moorhead. The murder weapon is a poison phonograph needles. (OK class ... how many remember when phonographs has needles?) A beautiful blonde makes a career out of seducing and then blackmailing wealthy married men. She is found murdered after demanding a $5000 payoff from her latest victim, and the detective investigating the case finds out that she was involved in a lot more than just blackmail. 1932 B&W 67 minutes LAW OF THE LASH (1947) Director: Ray Taylor Lash LaRue, Al St. John, Lee Roberts, Mary Scott, Charles King, Jack O'Shea. Whip-wielding Cheyenne Kid and pal Fuzzy come to the aid of a lady shopkeeper with outlaw problems. B&W. Running Time: 54 mins. LADY IN SCARLETT, THE Reginald Denny, Patricia Farr. When a wealthy art dealer is murdered, the private investigator hired for the case discovers a web of blackmail, corruption and stolen bonds. 1935 B&W 65 minutes. Lady says No, The LADY
VANISHES, THE, Director
Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Redgrave. One of Hitchcock's finest British
productions involving an unsolved murder mystery. GB LAST TIME I
SAW PARIS, Directed by
Richard Brooks. Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pigeon, Eva Gabor,
Roger Moore.
World War II G.I. relives his romantic memories. Charles returns to
Paris to reminisce about the life he led in Paris after it was
liberated. He worked on "Stars and Stripes" when he met Marion
and Helen. He would marry and be happy staying in Paris after his
discharge and working for a news organization. He would try to write his
great novel and that would come between Charlie, his wife and his
daughter.1954 Color 116 minutes. Letter of Introduction Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy Life With Father
William Powell, Irene Dunn, Elizabeth Taylor, Edmund Gwenn, Zazu
Pitts. In late nineteenth century New York a Wall Street
broker likes to think his house runs his way, but finds himself
constantly bemused at how much of what happens is down to his wife. His
children are also stretching their wings, discovering girls and making
money out of patent medicine selling. When it comes to light he has
never been baptized and everyone starts insisting he must do so, it all
starts to get a bit too much. The original play, "Life With
Father", became the longest-running non-musical play of its time.
It played on Broadway for nearly eight years, from 1939 to 1947, and the
film version was released the year that the Broadway run ended. 1947
Color 118 minutes LIANE, JUNGLE GODDESS, Marion Michaels, Hardy Kruger, Ed Tracy. An expedition discovers blonde 16 year-old Liane venerated by the native tribe in the African jungle and returns her to Hamburg where she is welcomed by her grandfather, ship tycoon Von Amelongen. His nephew Schoening, present head of the firm and prospective heir, tries all to stop his uncle from acknowledging her, including perjury, destruction of evidence, and finally resorting to murder. He dies in an accident driving his car into the river in his flight from the police. There is a subplot around a love quadrangle centered around Thoren, who is secretly loved by biologist Jacqueline who is in turn courted by Hungarian Tibor. Thoren plays paternal protector to Liane before succumbing to her youthful charm and returning with her to the jungle. German Production. 1956 Color 88 Minutes LITTLE PRINCESS, Shirley Temple, Cesar Romero. Arthur Treacher, Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter. In Victorian England little Sara Crewe's widowed father is sent to the Boer War. When he is reported killed the evil head mistress at her boarding school turns Sara into a servant. She suffers with dignity until her shell-shocked father returns. One of Shirley's best performances with a wonderful cast of supporting players. This is the only Shirley Temple film made in Technicolor. 1939 91 Minutes. Stunning 35mm master print Love From a Stranger MADE FOR
EACH OTHER (1939, BW, 93 MIN) James Stewart, Carole Lombard, Charles
Coburn, Lucille Watson, Ward Bond, Louise Beavers, directed by John
Cromwell. First rate three hankie special with comic elements to help
dry the tears. Stewart and Lombard are newlyweds with interfering
in laws and a difficult boss (Coburn). Their baby gets deathly ill
on New Year's eve and Stewart must beg Coburn for a loan to buy
medicine. Thanks to some fine performances, this movie works. MAN
WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THE, Director
Alfred Hitchcock with Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre. 1932 B&W 76
minutes GB MAN
WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker Darren McGavin. One
of Sinatra’s best film performances as a drummer trying to get off
drugs who is implicated in a murder. One of the most dramatic endings
ever on the screen. Music by Elmer Bernstein. 1955 B&W 119 Digital
Remaster USA MEET
JOHN DOE Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward Arnold. Directed
by Frank Capra Cooper threatens to jump off the top of City Hall on
Christmas eve. This film offers a standing rebuke to critics who use the
term "Capracorn". None of Capra's films are as blindly
optimistic as is often argued, but this one is a pitch-black jeremiad
against manipulation by the media. The mob scene at the "John
Doe" convention is one of the powerful scenes ever filmed. Stanwyck
is incredible as reporter Anne Mitchell. She is one of the great
actresses of the century, and she always did her best work Capra, whose
female characters are generally more compelling to the women we get in
the movies of our "liberated" era. Cooper is fantastic as a
truly "average" guy who is "awakened" by his
experience with the John Doe movement, and Edward Arnold is absolutely
terrifying in the role of Fascist D.B. Norton. This film is even more
relevant today than when it was made, and I would argue that it should
be viewed in high schools across the continent. Capra is asking his
viewers to think critically of EVERYTHING they hear on the radio or see
in papers or hear from elites. 1941 B&W
135 minutes MIDNIGHT PHANTOM, THE Reginald Denny An Unseen Hand Spreading Terror. A newly hired police chief vows to clean up a notoriously corrupt police department. When he is murdered, investigators find that there is no shortage of suspects, most of them being fellow cops. 1935 B&W 63 minutes MILKY WAY,
THE (1936, BW, 87 MIN) Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Helen Mack, Verree
Teasdale, Lionel Stander, directed by Leo McCarey. A timid milkman
accidently knocks out a champion fighter, and is "discovered"
by a fast talking promoter. Before he knows what hit him, the poor thing
is in the ring fighting to stay alive. MOON AND SIXPENCE, THE George Saunders, Herbert Marshall, Boris Dudley Loosely inspired from Gauguin's life, the story of Charles Strickland, a middle-aged stock brocker who abandons his middle-classed life, his family, his duties to start painting, what he has always wanted to do. He is from now on a awful human being, wholly devoted to his ideal: beauty. "The Moon and Sixpence" is George Sanders first starring movie and it hits a home run. Some scenes in color and some in black and white. The films music was nominated for an Academy Award. 1943 B&W and Color 89 minutes. MR. ROBINSON
CRUSOE (1932, BW, 69 MIN) Douglas Fairbanks, William Farnum, Earle
Browne, Maria Alba directed by Edward Sutherland. Fairbanks plays a
wealthy bored playboy who bets his friends that he can survive on a
south seas island as the fictional Robinson Crusoe did. He builds a tree
house looking like a Park Avenue penthouse, and finds a girl Saturday to
look after some of his needs. Filmed on Tahiti. MURDER BY INVITATION Wallace Ford, Marian Marsch. This film is one of those Old Dark House murder mystery films that Hollywood was so fond on in the 1940s. This B movie stars Wallace Ford as a popular newspaper columnist and Marian Marsh as his secretary/girlfriend. The relatives of a rich old woman unsuccessfully try to have her declared insane, so they can divide up her money. To show them that there are no hard feelings, she invites them to her estate for the weekend so she can decide to whom she actually will leave her money when she dies. Soon, however, family members begin disappearing. 1941 B&W 67 minutes.Murder in Soho Murder in Soho Jack La Rue, Googie Withers, Francis Lister, Sandra Storme. The rapid-fire story of an underworld mobster with a social bee in his bonnet and a rod on his hip! The Cotton Club in London's Soho district is operated by American gangster Steve Marco (Jack La Rue) who, when Joe Lane (Francis Lister) threatens to tell the police of his past, has no qualms about killing him as he figures if he could outwit America's G-Men, he has little to fear from Scotland Yard. Joe's body is found in Greek Street, and Inspector Hammond (Martin Walker) questions everybody employed at Steve's club where Joe was last seen. The investigation yields nothing until dance hostess Ruby Lane (Sandra Storme), wife of the murdered man gives away a vital clue - a priceless string of pearls he had been teasing her with that Hammond decides is now in possession of the killer. Ruby, acting on orders and with Steve watching her, breaks a string of imitation pearls which Steve promptly offers to replace, much to the chagrin of newspaper reporter Roy Barnes (Bernard Lee) who is in love with her. Steve takes Ruby to dinner at his flat where he gives her the promised pearls. Later, at the club, she gives them to Barnes to give to Inspector Hammond but is seen by two of Steve's henchmen. They follow Roy, take the pearls away from him and leave him unconscious in a taxi. Steve refuses to believe that Ruby is double-crossing him, but agrees to put her to a test. 1939 B&W 70 minutes. MURDER IN THE NIGHT Jack Larue. Sandra Storme. The Cotton Club in London's Soho district is operated by American gangster Steve Marco (Jack La Rue) who, when Joe Lane (Francis Lister) threatens to tell the police of his past, has no qualms about killing him as he figures if he could outwit America's G-Men, he has little to fear from Scotland Yard. Joe's body is found in Greek Street, and Inspector Hammond (Martin Walker) questions everybody employed at Steve's club where Joe was last seen. The investigation yields nothing until dance hostess Ruby Lane (Sandra Storme), wife of the murdered man gives away a vital clue - a priceless string of pearls he had been teasing her with that Hammond decides is now in possession of the killer. Ruby, acting on orders and with Steve watching her, breaks a string of imitation pearls which Steve promptly offers to replace, much to the chagrin of newspaper reporter Roy Barnes (Bernard Lee) who is in love with her. Steve takes Ruby to dinner at his flat where he gives her the promised pearls. Later, at the club, she gives them to Barnes to give to Inspector Hammond but is seen by two of Steve's henchmen. They follow Roy, take the pearls away from him and leave him unconscious in a taxi. Steve refuses to believe that Ruby is double-crossing him, but agrees to put her to a test. 1939 B&W 70 minutes MURDER AT
THE BASKERVILLES (1941, BW, 66 MIN) Ian Fleming, Arthur Wontner, Lyn
Harding, directed by Ian Fleming. Sherlock Holmes is summoned by his old
friend Baskerville when a prized race horse, Silverblaze, has been
stolen and his groom murdered. Fleming went on to write the James Bond
books. aka "Silverblaze" (GB) MUTINY IN THE BIG HOUSE Charles Bickford, William Nigh, Barton MacLane. A young man forges a check in order to help his mother, but is caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison chaplain, seeing that the new arrival is a good man who's had some bad luck, sets out to help keep him out of trouble so he can serve his sentence and get out. However, his cellmate, a hardened con, sees the chaplain's interest in the young convict as something he can use in his planned jailbreak. 1939 B&W 83 minutes MY LOVE FOR
YOURS (1939, BW, 99 MIN) Fred MacMurray, Madeline Carroll, Allan Jones,
directed by Edward H. Griffith. Fred is so sure of his prowess as a
suitor that he takes on the challenge of pursuing a cool sophisticated
businesswoman. AKA "Honeymoon in Bali" MY MAN
GODFREY (1936, BW, 93 MIN) William Powell, Carole Lombard, Gail Patrick,
Alan Mowbray, Mischa Auer, Alice Brady, directed by Gregory La Cava. One
of the best of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930's. Powell
is found by Lombard and Patrick in a vacant lot on the lower east side,
and is presumed by them to be one of the depression era's
"forgotten men". He returns with Lombard to a society party
and is presented as such. Lombard then hires him as her families' butler
and he proceeds to teach them all a lesson or two in humility with great
style and high humor. NOTHING SACRED, Carole Lombard, Frederic March, Charles Winninger, Margret Hamilton, Fay Ray, Maxie Rosenbloom. Screwball comedy great. To redeem himself after a hoax, reporter Wallace Cook proposes a series of stories on doomed Hazel Flagg. Hazel discovers she really doesn't have radium poisoning, but still accepts the big fling in New York that Cook offers her. At first, she has a great time, but complications arise when she and Wally fall in love, and a German specialist discovers that Hazel is faking. (1937 COLOR 75 min) Stunning 35mm print. OF HUMAN BONDAGE Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Alan Hale, directed by John Cromwell. This is far and away the best screen version of Somerset Maugham's semiautobiographical novel of a club footed doctor's infatuation with a tawdry scheming waitress. She manipulates him cruelly, humiliates him, and rejects him. Only her eventual death from syphilis releases him from her bondage. This role made a star of Bette Davis. 1934, BW, 83 minutes OFFICER 13 Mickey Rooney, George Melford, Monte Blue, Lila Lee. A motorcycle policeman's partner is deliberately run off the road and killed by a member of a syndicate that controls the gambling--and much of the justice system--in his town. When the killer is freed because of perjured testimony and the corrupt legal system, the dead officer's partner quits the force and vows to bring the killer to justice. 1932 B&W 62 minutes OPEN SECRET OUR DAILY
BREAD (1934, BW, 75 MIN) Karen Morly, Tom Keene, Barbara Pepper,
directed by King Vidor. Story of a group of homeless people who form a
commune on a farm owned by Mary and John Sims during the depression. A
new face on the farm tempts John who leaves it all behind but
wait, he finds a new source of water that can save the farm. Will he to
back to his family, will he keep running with Sally? OUR TOWN William Holden, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell. Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize Winning play put to the screen. Their love was the talk of the town. A laid back look at the lives, trials and tribulations of the citizens of a small New England town. Of course, the point is that each life tells a story. Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married, live, and die. Milk and the newspaper get delivered every morning, and nobody locks their front doors.1940 B&W 90 minutes. OUTLAW, THE Jane Russel, Jack Buetel, Thomas Mitchell, Walter Husten. Newly appointed sheriff Pat Garrett is glad to see his old friend Doc Holliday arrive on the stage. Doc is trailing his stolen horse, and it is discovered in the possession of Billy the Kid. In a surprising turnaround, Billy and Doc become good friends. This causes the relationship between Doc and Pat to sour. The friendship between Doc and Billy the Kid grows stranger when Doc hides Billy at his girlfriend's place after Billy is shot. Rio falls for Billy, although her treats her poorly. Interaction between these four is played out against an Indian attack before a final showdown reduces the group's number. Digtial Master. 1943 B&W OUT
OF THE BLUE, Virginia Mayo,
George Brent. George Brent Brent
is in trouble when far from innocent young woman is discovered
unconscious in his apartment. First rate comedy. From our own stunning
35mm print. 1947 B&W 84 minutes PASSPORT
TO PIMLICO, Margaret
Rutherford, Stanley Holloway. The citizens of Burgundy withdraw from the
British Isles in this madcap comedy.
B&W 81 minutes GB Phantom Broadcast PENNY
SERENADE Cary Grant, Irene Dunn, Beulah Bonid, Edgar Buchanan A couple adopts after they
lose their own child. Very tender film. As Julie prepares to
leave her husband Roger, she begins to play through a stack of
recordings, each of which reminds her of events in their lives together.
One of them is the song that was playing when she and Roger first met in
a music store. Other songs remind her of their courtship, their
marriage, their desire for a child, and the joys and sorrows that they
have shared. A flood of memories comes back to her as she ponders their
present problems and how they arose. Irene Dunn often said that this was
her favorite film because it reminded her of her own adopted daughter.
1941 B&W 119 minutes. PORT
OF MISSING GIRLS Harry Carey, Milburn Stone, Judith
Allen. A woman framed for a murder she didn't commit
stows away on a freighter headed for an island in the South Seas known
as a hideout for people on the run from the law. The ship's radio
operator finds her and falls in love with her, promising to help her get
to the island. However, things take a turn for the worse when another
couple recognize the woman, and as she is about to escape the ship she
learns of a plot to rob the freighter and its crew. 1938 B&W 65
minutes
PRIVATE
BUCKAROO (1942, BW, 68 MIN) Joe E. Lewis, The Andrew Sisters, Dick
Foran,
Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, Jennifer Holt with the Harry James Band,
directed by Edward Cline. An army camp show is the focus of this fun
musical. PRISON TRAIN Fred Keating, Alexander Leftwich, Clarence Muse, Dorothy Comingore. Frankie Terris (Fred Keating) and Mannie Robbins (Alexander Leftwich) are the two most powerful gangsters in their city. Frankie has a young sister, Louise (Dorothy Comingore as Linda Winters), whom he has kept at a boarding school away from the stench of his racketeering. Mannie's young son, Joe (James Blakely), is also ignorant of his father's profession. Louise and Joe meet, and Joe tries to make love to her. Frankie interrupts and, in a fight that follows, kills Joe. Mannie vows to get Frankie. The latter, sentenced to Alcatraz, fears for Louise's safety and makes her promise to take a trip abroad. Louise learns that Mannie plans to shoot Frankie on the train taking him to prison, and she stows away in hopes of warning her brother. On the train, she falls into the protective arms of Federal Agent Bill Adams (Peter Potter as William Moore.) Before she has a chance to warn Frankie, Mannie's henchmen go to work and a gangland shootout ensues. Very unusual for a pre-war movie, a black actor has a serious role, not a Steppin Fetchit-class harmless display of buffoonery to insure no bigot will be discomfited. Clarence Muse, a veteran actor eventually inducted into the Black Film-makers Hall of Fame, is a sinister dining car steward in league with the vengeful father. His role is important to the murder plot and he's not subordinated to the other criminals. Muse, who isn't too well known to most moviegoers, made very many films almost up to his 1979 death and he was a staunch advocate for equal opportunity for blacks. AKA Public Enemy. 1938 b&w 64 minutes. PRIVATE
LIFE OF DON JUAN, THE, Douglas
Fairbanks, Merle Oberon. A swashbuckling action - adventure casts
Fairbanks as the legendary lover. 1934 B&W 92 minutes. PRIVATE
LIFE OF HENRY THE VIII, THE, Charles
Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon. Highlight of this lavish
production is Laughton's great performance which captured the 1933 best
actor Oscar. 1933 B&W 97 minutes
GB RAW DEAL Dennis O'Keefe, Raymond Burr, Claire Trevor, John Ireland. Anthony Mann stylishly directs this jailbreak, film noir thriller. Dennis O'Keefe is the escapee who is taking the rap for his crime boss, Raymond Burr. Burr is responsible for springing him, but only with the hope that he gets killed in the attempt and is thus silenced. O'Keefe's dame is assuredly played by Claire Trevor, who helps him through the road blocks and dragnets, but is severely jealous once another woman enters the picture. John Alton's cinematography perfectly captures the noir-like atmosphere of San Francisco as does Trevor's voice-over narration accompanied by the haunting sound of a theremin playing. Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He's taken the rap for Rick, who owes him $50 Grand. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, knowing that Joe will be caught escaping and be shot or locked away forever. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than he's supposed to, and we are posed with two very important questions: Is Joe really the cold and heartless criminal he appears to be, or is there a heart of gold under that gritty exterior? And does Joe belong with the tough, street-wise Pat, or with the prim, moralizing Ann?19478, B&W 79 minutes. ROYAL
WEDDING
Fred
Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Kennan Wynn, Sarah Churchill. A dance act goes to London during the
time of Queen Elizabeth. Tom Bowen (Fred Astaire) and Ellen Bowen
(Jane Powell) are singing and dancing siblings whose agent Irving
Klinger (Keenan Wynn) sends them to do their musical act in Great
Britain.Keenan Wynn plays also Irving's British twin brother Edgar.Ellen
falls in love with a man she meets during the ship trip.This man is
called Lord John Brindale (Peter Lawford).Tom finds his sweetheart from
Britain. That lucky gal is Anne Ashmond (Sarah Churchill) who is dancing
at Tom's musical Royal Wedding from 1951 is a delightful romantic
musical comedy.It is great entertainment from the beginning to the
end.It has many memorable scenes. Astaire performs the most famous dance
routine ever filmed dancing on the walls and ceiling in the classic MGM
film. Brilliant Color (Digital Remaster) 1951 Color 93 minutes USA RUPERT THE GREAT, Jimmy Durante This is a heartwarming holiday classic about a New York family (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel, not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever. The film is enlivened with the warmth and sweetness of an unforgettable love story between Terry Moore (of Mighty Joe Young) and Tom Drake (of Meet Me in St. Louis). Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal's Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and other well-loved Christmas carols in the evocative voice that made him one of America's recording legends. 1950 B&W 87 minutes SABOTAGE, Dir. Alfred
Hitchcock, Oscar Horriolka, Sylvia Sidney, John Lodger. Hitchcock's tale
of a saboteur who masquerades as a theatre manager. Suspense classic.
1936 B&W 76 minutes GB SHADOW ON THE STAIRS Turhan Bey, Frieda Inescort Paul Cavanagh, Miles Mander. Occupants of a London boarding house become suspects as a string of murders are discovered. With a cast like this, a B-movie mystery just can't miss. But first you must skip over the juvenile leads, both male and female, and look beyond them to the talented, polished and very-experienced supporting cast. Frieda Inescort, past her girlish good-looks stage, gives an outstanding performance as the duplicitous, cheating landlady of the boarding house where the murder takes place. Turhan Bey, then a young actor of considerable skill with an already notable acting history, plays another ethnic role-- the sort in which he was most typecast- that of the mysterious "easterner" --turban and all. Veteran actors Paul Cavanagh and Miles Mander (both of whom you may recognize in solid supporting roles in more than one of Universal's 'Sherlock Holmes' films) round out this superb cast. This is a fun low budget effort, with an able cast, a crazy plot-line (why not?), and a few hysterical scenes (like the boarder who won't talk to the police because she's lost her false teeth). 1941 B&W 64 minutes
SANTA FE
TRAIL (1940, BW, 110 MIN) Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan,
Olivia de Haviland, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Van Heflin,
directed by Michael Curtiz. Wonderful action as Jeb Stuart, Flynn, and
cohorts go after John Brown, Massey. Ronald Reagan plays Flynn's West
Point classmate and romantic rival, George Armstrong Custer, a role
Flynn himself later played. SHERLOCK
HOLMES AND TERROR BY NIGHT (1946, B&W, 51 minutes) Basil
Rathbone,
Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Mary Forbes. Holmes and Watson are hired to
protect the Star of Rodesia a gigantic diamond on it’s journey via a
high speed train to it’s vault in Edinburgh. The train becomes the
setting for a jewel theft, poison darts and a murderous killer dwarf. SHERLOCK
HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON (1942,
B&W, 90 minutes.) Sherlock Homles and Watson (played by Basil
Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, the actors who performed the role on radio)
solve the crime of a Swiss Scientist captured by the Nazi’s and their collaborator
Professor Moriaty before the Germans can steal bombsite on
which the outcome of World War II hangs. SHERLOCK
HOLMES AND THE WOMAN IN GREEN (1945, B&W, 68 minutes) Basil Rathbone,
Nigel Bruce, Henry Daniel, Hillary Brook. Murder victims are found with
their index finger’s missing. The trail leads to Professor Moriarty. SHERLOCK
HOLMES DRESSED TO KILL (1946, B&W, 72 minutes) Basil Rathbone, Nigel
Bruce. Music boxes made in prison by inmates are where stolen engraving
plates from the Bank Of England and hidden. SHERLOCK
HOLMES IN THE HOUSE OF FEAR (B&W) BasIL Rathbone, Nigel Bruce. Seven
rich men retire to a Scottish castle and promptly begin to die in
violent fashion. This is one of the better films of the series and is
seldom seen. 1945 B&W 69 minutes SHOOT TO KILL SLIGHTLY
HONORABLE SON OF MONTE
CRISTO, THE (1940, BW, 102 MIN) Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George
Sanders, Florence Bates, Lionel Royce, Montagu Love. The son of Edmond
Dantes comes to the aid of a duchess whose throne is threatened by a
scheming general. SOUTHERNER,
THE (1945, BW, 91 MIN) Zachary Scott, Betty Field, J. Carrol Nash,
Beulah Bondi, Bunny Sunshine, Estelle Taylor, Percy Kilbride, directed
by Jean Renoir. An inherited beat up farm is the setting of this
wonderful story of a family's struggle to make the best of their
situation against overwhelming odds. The interaction among the
characters and the way they meet every challenge is a
heart warming experience. STAGE DOOR CANTEEN Dozens of stars appear as themselves in this fun musical, including Judith Anderson, Kenny Baker, Tallulah Bankhead, Ralph Bellamy, Edgar Bergen, Ray Bolger, William Demarest, Gracie Fields, Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn, Jean Hersholt, Sam Jaffe, Allen Jenkins, George Jessell, Roscoe Karns, Tom Kennedy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harpo Marx, Ethel Merman, Paul Muni, Merele Oberon, George Raft, Ethel Waters, Johnny Weissmuller, Ed Wynn. Plus Xavier Cugat, Peggy Lee, Benny Goodman, Kay Kyser and Guy Lombardo. "Dakota," a young soldier on a pass in New York City, visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theatre and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. Dakota meets a pretty young hostess, Eileen, and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.1943 B&W 132 minutes. STAR IS
BORN, A (1937, COLOR, 111 MIN) Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Ursula Kent,
Adolphe Menjou, Andy Devine, May Robson, directed by William Wellman. A
matinee idol turns to the bottle in response to his wife's heightened
popularity in this classic script by Dorothy Parker. This is one of the
very early films made in STATE DEPARTMENT FILE 649 William Lundigan, Virginia Bruce, Johnathan Hale. Lundigan (later a TV host) plays in this indie docudrama about a state department attaché in China who gets mixed up in the Chinese Civil War. Fresh-faced Ken Seeley (Lundigan) arrives ready to work with Consul-General Reither (skeletal Frank Ferguson) at a remote American embassy, but finds all is not well when a Mongolian warlord (a sneering Richard Loo, clearly enjoying himself) occupies the grounds in an effort to evade the central government. Seeley attempts to outsmart the warlord, but in a surprisingly bittersweet and ominous finale, ends up his hostage instead. State Department File 649 is a fascinating glimpse at American attitudes toward China circa 1949. Though the Asian characters are depicted by Asian actors, they are laden with racist baggage. A rare example of the Cine color process. 1949 Cine Color 87 minutes STRANGE
LOVES OF MARTHA IVERS Barbara Stanwick, Kirk Douglas. Story of greed and
murder. A childhood secret
resurfaces 18 years later with chilling effect. STRANGER,
THE Orson Welles, Loretta Young, Edward G. Robinson. The head of the War Crimes Commission is seeking Welles,
mastermind of the Holocaust, who has effectively erased his identity. A
former comrade is released so he can be followed, but is killed berfore
he can identify the Welles. Great suspense film with a first rate cast.
Directed by Welles. 1948 B&W 94 minutes SUDDENLY
(1954, BW, 77 MIN) Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Gates, James
Gleason, Kim Charney, Paul Frees, directed by Lewis Allen. Sinatra gives
a chilling performance as a psychopathic killer leading a group of
assassins in a plot to kill the President of the United States. Hayden
is the sheriff of the small town of "Suddenly" where the
assassination is to take place. One of Frank's best performances
dominates this taut fast moving action drama. SWAMP FIRE Johnny Weissmuller ,Buster Crabbe, Virginia Grey Two screen Tarzans and Olympic Gold Medalists in swimming, are featured in this movie filmed on the Mississippi River. Trouble erupts between a river-boat captain (Johnny Weissmuller) and an evil trapper (Buster Crabbe) over the affections o a pretty young woman (Virginia Grey). There is a realistic underwater fight scene when a younger and more fit Crabbe laid heavily into Weissmuller. The two battle it out in an alligator hole. Look for a young David Janssen among the alligators.1946 B&W 69 minutes THAT
UNCERTAIN FEELING (1941, BW, 84 MIN) Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas,
Burgess Meredith, Alan Mowbray, Eve Arden, directed by Ernst Leviticus.
Douglas is happily married to Oberon. She is bored to tears and feeling
neglected. Meredith, a flaky piano player, moves into their house,
flirts with Oberon and they all wind up in the office of a divorce
attorney. THE BLACK RAVEN George Zucco, Robert Livingston, Glenn Strange. Zucco is the proprietor of a creaky little inn (both he and the Inn are called THE BLACK RAVEN) and during the course of an hour's viewing time he plays host to an assorted group of unusual guests. It's a stormy night in town with thunder crashing and rain flooding the roads, and on top of that the bridge is out. Among the waterlogged patrons seeking shelter are: a formerly wronged business partner of Zucco's who'd like to kill him, an embezzler looking to get away with $50,000 stolen loot, a gangster who's also interested in said loot, a young couple looking to get married behind the back of the girl's objecting old father, and dad himself - who's also hot on their trail. 1943 B&W 65 minutes. THE NAKED KISS Constance Towers Filmmaker Sam Fuller's creative writing, directing strength, and (indie) producing savvy continued to shine in "The Naked Kiss" 1964. It is the ultimate pulp fiction: high drama soap, touch of camp and tints of film noir. Beautifully shot in Black and White. Terrific cast with Constance Towers as Kelly, the central power of energy and charm, and undeterred determination; Anthony Eisley as Griff, the gruff, tough cop with a tender heart underneath; and the townsfolk of varying characters, nice and not-so-nice to downright sleazy, crooked ones, male or female, and a number of child performances for that matter. Yet with all this, there is a blossoming healthy, full of goodwill story about handicapped youngsters, being encouraged to stand up and be happy in spite of their weaknesses. The opening segment (before the title/credits roll) is in itself an emphatic revelation. Kelly truly wants to turn over a new leaf, and she readily shares and helps others without guile. She is no loser. She's our heroine of the story. Tearjerker? Certainly can be. Thriller suspense, too? Definitely. Will she be innocently proclaimed? Will the witness precious be found? We would root for her, our Kelly. She is so 'gung ho' and downright nice to everyone (but she can also stand up tough against the 'bad' ones). Fuller's script runs its own natural course with surprises and satisfying plot twists never lacking. AKA "The Iron Kiss". 1964 B&W 90 minutes THE
SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward.
As writer Harry Street (Gregory Peck) lays gravely wounded from an
African hunting accident he feverishly reflects on what he perceives as
his failures at love and writing. Through his delirium he recalls his
one true love Cynthia Green (Ava Gardner) who he lost by his obsession
for roaming the world in search of stories for his novels. Though she is
dead Cynthia continues to haunt Street's thoughts. In spite of one
successful novel after another, Street feels he has compromised his
talent to ensure the success of his books, making him a failure in his
eyes. His neglected wife Helen (Susan Hayward) tends to his wounds,
listens to his ranting, endures his talk of lost loves, and tries to
restore in him the will to fight his illness until help arrives. Her
devotion to him makes him finally realize that he is not a failure. With
his realization of a chance for love and happiness with Helen, he
regains his will to live. One of the most famous films of the era. 1952 Color 117
minutes. USA THE TERROR Alastair Sim, Bernard LeeArthur Wontner. From the pen of Edgar Wallace comes a fantastical little murder mystery that's very witty and breezy and a great deal of fun. This is the story of a spectacular gold coin robbery carried off by three men. Once its over, the mastermind, a man named O'Shea, turns his pals in and they go to prison vowing to get revenge when they get out. Ten years later they get out and go looking for O'Shea, and the gold, which has never turned up. At this point the film shifts gears to the happenings in and around an old monastery, now turned into a semi-boarding house. Strange people begin showing up, ghostly happenings begin occurring and finally people begin dying. 1938 B&W 70 minutes. THEY MADE ME
A CRIMINAL (1939, BW, 92 MIN) John Garfield, Gloria Dickson, Claude
Rains, Ann Sheridan, Huntz Hall, Billy Halop, directed by Busby
Berkeley. A champion prizefighter takes it on the lam after he's led to
believe he murdered a man in a drunken brawl. THIS IS THE ARMY Ronald Regan, Kate Smith, George Murphy, Irving Berlin. In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank. Wounded in the War, he becomes a producer. In WW II his son Johnny Jones, who was before his fathers assistant, gets the order to stage a knew all-soldier show, called "This Is The Army". But in his peronal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over. Kate Smith Sings God Bless America in one of the most spectacular productions of the era. A Patriotic stand out! 1943 COLOR 121 Minutes TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne. MGM musical on the life of Kern. Elaborate production numbers. Filling the screen are such stars such as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Katherine Grayson, Cyd Charisse, Ray McDonald amongst others singing and performing on stage, there's magic in the air. Robert Walker as Kern does prove likable enough in the lead role and there's an innocent charm at work in these proceedings. One of the finest musicals ever made. (Our Digital Remaster from 35mm print.) 1974 Color 132 minutes TIGER FANGS Frank Buck, Duncan Renaldo. Frank Buck stars as himself in this 1943 PRC classic. Frank is summoned to a remote area of India which is plagued by tiger attacks. Dozens of men have been killed. Many workers fear the spirits of dead Japanese soldiers have possessed the tigers and are continuing to fight. The immediate effect is to inhibit the movement of Allied war materiel through the region. Frank Buck teams with Peter Jeremy (Renaldo) to determine the cause of the unusual spate of attacks. They immediately suspect a human intelligence is responsible. It is soon evident that Nazi agents have infiltrated the area. They have a means of aggravating the tigers and then release them into areas they want to disrupt Entertaining jungle adventure. Viewers who enjoy low budget 1940s films will not be disappointed. 1943 B&W 9 minutes T-MEN,
Dennis O'Kieff, United States Treasury agents O'Brien and Genaro infiltrate a counterfeiting ring which has some dangerously good paper. This is supposedly based on several actual Treasury cases.
Directed by Anthony Mann Film Noir great. B&W 1947 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall, Brock Peters, Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest lawyer Atticus Finch, played by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent a black man accused of rape. This film won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay. and Best Art Direction. 1962 B&W 129 Minutes. TOPPER
RETURNS Roland Young, Joan Blonde. Topper is haunted by beautiful girl
who was murdered. He helps solve the mystery. B&R |