Cecil Cunningham

A look at actresses who starred in films with thought-provoking subjects made between 1930 and July 1934, before the Hollywood Production Code —the infamous Hays Code— was enforced.

Twin Beds (1942) is a film distributed by United Artists, directed by Tim Whelan, and starring by George Brent and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Kenneth Earl, Curtis Kenyon and Eddie Moran, based on play by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mayo.

Christopher Reynolds, an American flying with the R.A.F, is shot down over German-occupied Holland and is given shelter by a Dutch family. Posing as the insane husband of the daughter of the house, Anita Wolverman, Reynolds convinces the German officer quartered there, Major Zellfritz, with the necessity for her divorce decree to be granted. After the court-hearing, Anita, goes to manage a home for retired ladies and, persuaded by Reynolds, tries to gain military information from the German Officer. When her former husband escapes from the insane-asylum his exploits are blamed on Reynolds. With the help of the old ladies and Anita, who "remarries" him, Reynolds escapes to England in a stolen German airplane.

Gene Autry heads a cattlemen's association and calls on the inexperienced Jim Agnew to negotiate the sale of five hundred heads of cattle. Jim ends up losing the cattle in a crooked poker game, however, and Gene and his sidekick Frog set out to find the cheating gamblers. It soon becomes clear that the leader of the gamblers is none other than Asa Lock, the dastardly father of Gene's romantic interest Stephanie.

A distinguished professor finds his well-ordered life tospy-turvy after he is forced to take in a pregnant widow.

Members of a well-to-do small community become worried when it is revealed that one of their maids is writing a telling exposé.

Peter Thorne is a young attorney who works for an eccentric old woman, Lorinda Channing, who uses her insane brother, John Channing, to frighten her other relatives because they are after her money. Further complications arise when another murderer arrives on the scene and plants the blame on John Channing.

Everyone in a large department store knows that a rising star is married to the owner's daughter, except her husband.

In this comedy, the marital conflicts between a meek banker and his nagging wife are chronicled.

A professor and his wife move to New York and confuse a publisher's romance with his assistant.

Previously filmed in 1932, and remade a third time in 1961, this second film version of Fannie Hurst's novel stars Margaret Sullavan as a fashion designer in love with a married banker (Charles Boyer). Directed by Robert Stevenson, the film also stars Richard Carlson, Tim Holt, Frank McHugh, Esther Dale and Cecil Cunningham.

Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only single women are allowed, the Captain has to make other arrangements. However, after witnessing their tearful goodbye, the home's residents vote to allow the couple to move in together. The Captain is a reluctant lodger, uncomfortable at being surrounded by so much femininity, and bristles when his pals start referring to him as "Old Lady". The time has come for Captain Peabody to reassert his manhood!

Rose Pierce is discontent with her life as the wife of a small town plumber and has visions of becoming a wealthy socialite. Consequently, when her smart aleck son Sammy hears that an electric railroad line is to be built through town, she decides that the family can become rich by purchasing the lots along the right of way. Patriarch George Pierce laughs at the idea, but when Rose and Sammy learn that Cora Stewart, the wealthy town widow, has withdrawn her savings from the bank, they jump to the conclusion that she is interested in buying the lots, and mother and son secretly invest the family bank roll in the land.

This romance is set during the Dartmouth College Winter Carnival and follows the exploits of a woman recently divorced from a count who has returned to her alma mater for the annual carnival. A former carnival queen, she watches as her lovely little sister vies for the title. She also flirts with her stodgy old boy friend, a professor. Romance blooms amid the din and colorful activities.

Four former actresses decide to restart their careers by opening up a nightclub.

Playboy Bill Carey woos a half-caste beauty in French Indochina, but her second-class legal status makes a formidable barrier.

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

Wealthy high school girls are sent to a boarding school to learn proper etiquette. Linda Simpson stays out all night. She tells her roommate, Betty Fleet, that it was because she's planning to elope. Linda gets in trouble when the faculty finds out from a monitor's report submitted by reluctant Natalie Freeman, a poor girl attending on scholarship.

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

Gracie Alden tries to graduate from college to get an inheritance.

The sons of a disgraced British officer try to clear his name.

Joe McKnight temporarily leaves his fiancée, Nora Langdon, for an expedition in a South American jungle. Nora gets a position as librarian in the small town of Midberg, where she boards with the Smith family. Nora is befriended by her next-door neighbor Austin Brown, who, unknown to his wife, is engaged in a moneymaking scheme with James Wilson.

Socially prominent Michael Ashburn, chief assistant for a London loan broker makes a large loan at closing time to a man for a pair of earrings. He is unaware that the collateral can not be removed from the ears in which they reside, so then Julie becomes part of the collateral.

A fast moving and low budget crime drama seasoned with mystery & comedy.

When Dr. Ernest Tindal's wife is murdered, evidence mounts to convict her lover, Frank Marian. But Frank knows he didn't do it.....

A famous singer and matinée idol helps a pretty young theater usher in her dreams of becoming a singer, but when her career begins to take off and she becomes engaged to a wealthy young man, he realizes he's fallen for her and plots to break up her impending marriage.

A Chinese-American woman tries to expose an illegal alien smuggling ring.

An ad man gets his model girlfriend to pose as a debutante for a new campaign.

Henry and Clarice Wilkins have been married twenty-three years and are a model suburban couple who have never had a quarrel. But when their daughter,Peggy, and her husband, Bill Trask, have a squabble, Clarice has a plan to show the daughter just how distasteful domestic bickering appears; She enters into an agreement with Henry that they will fake a fuss to serve as an object lesson. Clarice's will to play the game and her sense of humor play out at about the same time when Henry's remarks become more pointed as the charade goes on. Their fake fight is soon a real barn-burner.

A small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues the relationship with his true love.

Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough star as a couple of wacky soda jerks. They do a high wire act while delivering a much needed pair of pants to their boss.

The various residents and occupants of a resort hotel await the outcome of a horse race at a nearby track, as it will affect each of their lives in different ways.

A gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue who's beholden to a penthouse gangster.

Harry Sweet stars as a hick Olympic hero who is housed in a high society mansion and causes havoc to the high brow party in progress.

A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.

The evils of alcohol before and during prohibition become evident as we see its effects on the rich Chilcote family and the hard working Tarleton family.

American chemist Ned Faraday marries a German entertainer and starts a family. However, he becomes poisoned with Radium and needs an expensive treatment in Germany to have any chance at being cured. Wife Helen returns to night club work to attempt to raise the money and becomes popular as the Blonde Venus. In an effort to get enough money sooner, she prostitutes herself to millionaire Nick Townsend.

A maid's dream comes true but are not quite what she expected.

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

A young woman runs away from an abusive home and pre-arranged marriage only to be frustrated in her attempts to find happiness with a handsome engineer.

To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.

A comedy-drama about marriage and divorce.

A lawyer, left by his wife gets drunk and marries a chorus girl, or so he learns the morning after.

Yvonne, daughter of Philibert, a Paris cafe owner, is in love with dreamy, blundering Albert, a waiter, though he pays little attention to her. Philibert plans to marry his daughter to a wealthy Parisian, but upon learning that Albert is to come into a large inheritance, he conspires to place him under a longterm contract, confident that he willingly will pay a forfeit to break it.

Lally is a rich girl whose father writes books and plays polo. After 23 years of marriage her father decides to divorce Lally's mother and remarry to soon-to-be-divorced Beth Cheever. This sours Lally on all men. While on vacation with her mother she meets Jack, who succeeds in stealing her heart. Then Lally discovers that Jack is the son of Beth Cheever, the woman who is to marry her father.