Esther Howard
Joe Besser needs money to pay back a loan of $2500 and travels to ask his aunt for the money. She boards the train, along with a man who looks like a wanted bank-robber, and tells Joe she needs $2500 herself and can not help him. Between them they capture the bank robber and split the $5,000 reward.
Dr. Charles Greyson is a famous and wealthy former surgeon. His nephews have taken him to court to challenge his competency, due to his recent inexplicable gifts of large amounts of cash to the church, and, apparently, to some nefarious scam artists. The film is portrayed as a courtroom drama first painting "Dr. Charlie" as incompetent and easily swindled, then telling his side of events and putting them into context. In the courtroom, and by use of flashback, we hear of Dr. Charlies' move away from impersonal contribution on an institutional level, and preferring to express Christian stewardship directly to people who need it, and by helping spread the word of God by donating to Mission fronts who fight fear, anxiety and destitution around the world. We even find the scam artists having turned a new leaf, and creating new lives for themselves. Message being that all that we are we owe to God, and the profits gained from our God-given abilities require care and thought before sharing.
Zeb Smith is a gambler with a larcenous streak, but when an itinerant preacher takes a bullet meant for him, Zeb vows to fulfill the preacher's mission of building a church. Frustrated in his attempts to get donations, Zeb attempts to capture fugitive Doll Brown in order to obtain the reward. But he finds that there's more to Doll than meets the eye. When his old friend Bucky McLean shows up gunning for Doll, Zeb sees a chance to redeem them all... one way or another.
When Joan Boothe accompanies husband-reporter David to Las Vegas, she begins gambling to pass the time while he is doing a story. Encouraged by the casino manager, she gets hooked on gambling, to the point where she "borrows" David's expense money to pursue her addiction. This finally breaks up their marriage, but David continues trying to help her.
A magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which goes slightly wrong...
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
Helen Brent has just received a Reno divorce. That night, she discovers her neighbor Laury Palmer and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer's home. The killer is her neighbor's other boyfriend Sam Wilde, an insanely jealous man who won't abide anyone "cutting in" on him.
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
The third of four Columbia shorts starring Joe DeRita, made across a period of 15 months from late 1946 to early-1948, has newlyweds Eddie (Joe DeRita) and Betty (Christine McIntyre) barely moved into their new house before Betty's mother (Esther Howard), aunt (Patsy Moran) and brother (Charles Williams) show up and give every indication of becoming permanent free-loading guests. Dick (William Newell) gives Eddie a plan that will cause his unwanted guests to vacate the premises, by having Dick and his wife, Ruby (Dorothy Granger), move in as Eddie's relatives, and even bigger pests, thereby causing Betty's relatives to move out. The plan works and Eddie and Betty are pleased until Dick announces that he and Ruby have intentions of staying on. A Spanish-language subtitled version was released as "La Suegra Intrusia."
A police detective uses his girlfriend to track down a homicidal maniac.
Evie's co-workers at the uniform shirt factory, and her almost-fiancée's inability to kiss, inspire her to slip a letter into a size sixteen-and-a-half shirt for some anonymous soldier. It's received by "Wolf" Larson, who immediately throws it away, but his sensitive, dreaming--and short--buddy John McPherson snags it, and begins a correspondence with Evie, pretending to be Wolf. But things get complicated when Evie wants to meet her tall, handsome soldier. And even more complicated when Wolf sees Evie and likes what he sees.
A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron's lost jewels.
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.
Al Roberts, a New York nightclub pianist, hitch-hikes to Hollywood to meet his girlfriend Sue. The gambler he's riding with, Charles, unexpectedly dies. Afraid the police wouldn't believe the truth, Al takes the man's identity. In a gas station, he gives a lift to Vera, a woman that knew Charles and blackmails Al with tragic consequences.
Gumshoe Philip Marlowe is hired by the oafish Moose Malloy to track down his former girlfriend. He's also hired to accompany an effeminate playboy buy back some jewels. When the exchange results in the playboy's murder, Marlowe can't leave the case alone, and soon discovers it's related to Malloy's. As he gets drawn deeper into a complex web of intrigue by a mysterious blonde, the detective finds his own life in increasing jeopardy.
A small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember.
A writer for a radio program needs some fresh ideas to juice up his show. For inspiration, he rents a room with a typical American family and begins to secretly write about their true life antics. The show becomes a big hit, but he begins to feel guilty about his charade when he falls in love with the family's pretty older daughter.
Gerry and Tom Jeffers are finding married life hard. Tom is an inventor/ architect and there is little money for them to live on. They are about to be thrown out of their apartment when Gerry meets rich businessman being shown around as a prospective tenant. He gives Gerry $700 to start life afresh but Tom refuses to believe her story and they quarrel. Gerry decides the marriage is over and heads to Palm Beach for a quick divorce but Tom has plans to stop her.
Larry Haines, a mediocre vaudeville entertainer, boards a train bound for Los Angeles. Is Hollywood waiting for him with open arms? Not really as the one he signed a contract for is Percy, his roller-skating penguin partner! But, as the proverb says, the shadow of glory is better than no glory at all! Anyway, doesn't Larry meet a woman on the train? And a blonde one! And a British agent into the bargain! The delicious creature who is carrying a coded message hidden in a brooch and is being pursued by Nazi agents. She will need Larry (and Percy)'s help to elude her pursuers and to get the secret information to destination.
An unknowing orphan idolizes the horse thief/mail robber who has shot his father.
Fictionalized story of the 1869 adoption of women's suffrage in Wyoming Territory. In the new-founded railroad town of Laraville, Boss Jim Cork hopes to manipulate the sale of town lots to give him control, but Quaker schoolmarm Annie Morgan bags one of the key lots. Cork's lawyer Steve Lewis tries romancing Annie to get the lot back, finding her so overpoweringly liberated she leaves him dizzy. Still, Steve attains his nefarious object...almost...then has cause to deeply regret having aroused the sleeping giant of feminism!
Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.
Andy's annoying brother-in-law Gus gets him fired from his job, and then tag-a-longs on a vacation with Andy and his wife.
Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. His in-name-only marriage to honest Catherine proves the beginning of the end for dishonest Dan...
In this Warner Bros. short film, Alex visits his sister Belinda and her husband Fred. It looks like Alex is going to be around for a while, much to Fred's displeasure. Alex in is New York to look for a job and he sees an ad for a champagne salesman. He decides to crash a swank party given by railroad tycoon J.D. Swinnerton and his wife. Alex has his own zany way of getting an introduction to the man. Mayhem ensues when several of the guests come as Robin Hood and one of them is a jewel thief.
A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.
The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder.
Dinny and his cowhand friends rescue Laura from a runaway stagecoach after it is robbed by outlaw Pancho Dominguez and his gang. Dinny is attracted to Laura, who isn't interested in him at all. The climax arises when Pancho's gang raids the town and robs the bank.
In this musical comedy, two star-struck small town kids head for the Big Apple and become famous for their jitterbug act. Their fame doesn't last long, but they had fun anyway. Songs include: "Baltimore Bubble," "Gingham Gown," "Just a Bore," "Wasn't It You," "Kaneski Waltz" (Frank Skinner, Charles Henderson).
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.
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.
Mobster "Baby Face" Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his gangster lifestyle, and his old girlfriend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin also crosses paths with Dave, a childhood friend struggling to make it as an architect, and the Dead End Kids, a gang of young boys roaming the streets of the city's East Side slums.
Detective Hank Hyer investigates a blackmail case involving a candidate for mayor.
Judy Walker is a poor songwriter who, through mistaken identity, gets her songs played on the radio.
Rose Carlton, a kept woman, kills her benefactor and hops on a boat from San Francisco to the frozen north. She assumes the identity of Annie Alden, a missionary who dies on board on the way to Alaska. Rose/Annie preaches and saves sinners in an unorthodox manner. Meanwhile, Insp Jack Forrest, a Mountie, arrives seeking the murderer of Rose's benefactor....
A diver saves his best friend's life but loses his own arm in doing so. Later, unable to find work because of his missing arm, he is forced to go to work for a criminal searching for lost treasures. Meanwhile his friend, who has since become a policeman, finds himself assigned to break up the crook's operation and bring in his gang--including the man who saved his life.
While on a business trip, Andy accidentially gets into a compromising position with the wife of a client.
In this fluffy romance, a young woman fights against the narrow-minded residents of her small town. The trouble begins when a young woman flees her boarding school to stay with her retired aunt, a former actress, who try as she might, has never been welcomed into the snobbish community in which she resides. The young woman too, is shunned and ends up being victimized in witchcraft trial and ducked into a pool of water.
A Russian waiter in New York City becomes a national celebrity after he develops a "system" for winning at contract bridge.
The wealthy owner of an iron foundry dies, and his greedy heirs are outraged when they find out that he left his entire estate not to them but to the foreman of his foundry.
A wealthy woman funds an underwater expedition to explore for marine life, but what she doesn't know is that her "colleagues" have other intentions.
A drunken newspaperman, Jerry Corbett, is rescued from his alcoholic haze by an heiress, Joan Prentice, whose love sobers him up and encourages him to write a play, but he lapses back into dipsomania.
A musical revue in which a golfer is knocked unconscious by a golf ball and dreams that the Country Club is loaded with beautiful girls.
An elevator operator invents a machine that he believes can help to defeat a corrupt politician in the city's upcoming mayoral election.
Overworked boxer Jim goes to a health ranch in New Mexico to recover where he falls in love with Peggy and her sickly son. Once recovered, Jim leaves to return to the ring. Can their romance survive the distance?
Gambler/racketeer "Knucks" McGloin takes note of just how much money and action (aside from the game itself) takes place around and about the annual Rose Bowl football game, and decides this is one sweet proposition and could be even sweeter if one had his own college and football game and had a large say beforehand as to the outcome of any game this team had. So he ups and creates his own college---Carnasie after his own neighborhood. His gangster rival. Gilatti, thinks this give McGloin a definite inside advantage and, if there is one thing a gambler can't abide, it is that someone has an inside advantage and they are not that someone. Gilatti gets himself a college football team. Education marches on.
A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the social crimes rampant in her country.
A woman (Sylvia Sidney) tries to save her husband (Gene Raymond) from the electric chair after both are sent to prison for a murder they didn't commit.
A diplomat is blackmailed by crooked vice cops into helping them frame prostitutes.
