James Stewart
With his naïve air, his rangy and reassuring silhouette, James Stewart symbolizes success, someone who everybody wants to look like. Behind his legendary nonchalance, Robert Mitchum is the figure of the bad boy, the kind-hearted hooligan who anyone would like to have for accomplice. What is the legacy left by these two big myths of the Hollywood cinema and in which way they fed the American dream?
During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films.
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart discuss working with John Ford
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year is a once-over-lightly evocation of a slate of classic films unmatched before or since. In a year permitting 10 Best Picture nominees, the final cut included Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Love Affair. Shut out: The Roaring '20s, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Intermezzo, Destry Rides Again, Idiot's Delight, Young Mr. Lincoln, Gunga Din. This hour-long film finds room to acknowledge a few of these non-starters, but its brevity means a lot gets left out. This includes the absence of anything that doesn't celebrate the studio system, including the practices of the shrewd tyrants who ran them, seen in brief archival footage.
Warner Bros. uses the movies to prepare the US for war and keep up morale on the home front during World War II.
This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.
The making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'.
Paying homage to two of Hollywood's central icons, the film creates an unparalleled portrait of two very different personalities amidst the demise of the studio system.
Biography of Marlene Dietrich using interviews, film clips and rare footage of the actress, including her own home movies.
George Abitbol, the classiest man in the world, dies tragically during a cruise. With his last breath, he whispers: “Shitty world.” The director of an American newspaper, wondering about the meaning of these intriguing final words, asks his three best investigators, Dave, Peter and Steven, to solve the mystery… (16 French actors dub scenes from various Warner Bros. films to create a parody of “Citizen Kane,” 1941.)
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes control-obsessed director add information and insight to the story.
Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan. Unaware of this, the Mousekewitz's begin their journey west, while their true cat friend, Tiger, follows intent on following his girlfriend gone in the same direction.
This making-of/interview segment is featured on the Republic Pictures DVD release for It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan.
Tom Bosley hosts a documentary the looks into the story behind how one of cinema's greatest films It's A Wonderful Life was made.
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
A TV special on the 100th anniversary of the birth of film.
Documentary - She came from a wealthy and competitive Philadelphia family, but the life of well-brought up society held little appeal for this acclaimed beauty. She left for New York City and worked hard as a model, stage actor and TV player. And then she was discovered by Hollywood. In less than four years she was acknowledged as one of movie's most sought after stars and an Academy-Award winner, playing opposite some of the greatest leading men of her time. Suddenly, like a modern-day fairy tale, Grace Kelly turned her back on it all - to become Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco.
Legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder becomes the 14th recipient of The American Film Institute Life Achievement Award as clips from a number of his classic films are unreeled: "The Major and the Minor," "Double Indemnity," "The Lost Weekend," "Sunset Blvd.," "Ace in the Hole," "Stalag 17," "Sabrina," "Love in the Afternoon," "Some Like it Hot," "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," "The Fortune Cookie," and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes."
The 13th Life Achievement Award is presented to Gene Kelly.
Burt Reynolds is honored by more than 100 of his fellow celebrities and co-workers.
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
A Celebration of the great life of Frank Sinatra with song, dance, and many famous guests.
Miniature Dwyer is named after her mother, who was making miniature doll houses when Minnie was born. Minnie, too, has built doll houses for years, and when she learns that she is terminally ill, she and her husband Teddy begin planning their joint suicide. She makes sure that her dolls are placed with people who will appreciate and cherish them. The couple refuse to allow their grief-stricken daughter or the solicitous social worker or anyone else to forestall the death they are determined is right for them
In 1982, the American Film Institute presented its 10th Lifetime Achievement Award to director Frank Capra, at an event hosted by actor James Stewart and attended by the Capra family as well as actors Claudette Colbert, Betty Davis, and Peter Falk and cinematographer Joseph Walker.
A collection of bloopers and outtakes from an enormous selection of Hollywood classic productions spanning from the 1930s through the 1980s.
Willy Krueger, a lonely and aging widower, lives in a basement apartment with only his cat George for company. Finishing his work for the day as the custodian for the building, he ventures out on Christmas Eve to buy a tree and on the way, he imagines he is a well-dressed gentleman while peering at some fine tailoring in a shop window along the snowy street. Returning home, he falls asleep listening to an LP by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, dreaming that he is conducting them in carols of the season. Awakening to find some carollers outside his window, he beckons them to visit him offering hot chocolate, but they leave after only one song. In trimming the tree, he places upon it the mittens left behind by Clarissa, the youngest of the carolling group. Handling figures of the small nativity beneath his tree, Willy finds himself in the manger for the very first Christmas.
A pilot crash-lands in the African wilds, and loses his memory. He finds an old man living in the jungle with his grand-daughter. He falls in love with the young girl and settles down happily with them; their idyllic life broken only by a visit from his long forgotten fiancee.
The American Film Institute gives its eighth Lifetime Achievment Award to James (Jimmy) Stewart in a ceremony hosted by his long-time friend Henry Fonda.
Lassie is claimed from his family by a "former owner" and then braves a cross country trip to rejoin the ones that love her.
Private eye Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general, a pornographer and a gangster. This neo-noir remake of the iconic 1946 Bogart film transfers the setting of Raymond Chandler's novel from 1940s California to 1970s London.
Henry Fonda is honored for his career in theater, television and film by friends, family, and co-workers.
Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle while taking VIPs and valuable art to Philip Stevens new museum. But when hijackers take off the plane and knock everyone out with sleeping gas the plane crashes in the sea. The passengers survive but a small hole at the front is flooding the plane and 2 daring rescues must be put into action because everyone is trapped 200 feet underwater.
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Brooks, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son.However, it is not Brooks' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.
In 1976, William Wyler became the fourth recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, following John Ford, James Cagney and Orson Welles.
After landing his airline flight, a veteran DC-10 captain decides to take a stroll across the airport tarmac. He comes across an old DC-3 now serving night freight duty. The captain is lost in reverie recalling his early WW2-era career as a DC-3 pilot flying passengers from New York to Los Angeles.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
A man is charged with murder after his public vow to get even with the victim.
Shortly before his death in 1973, John Ford was given the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award by the AFI while friends and co-workers shared reminiscences.
Billy Jim Hawkins comes to Hollywood to defend a star's husband in a murder case. The man claims that he killed a playboy when he caught him trying to rape his daughter. But Hawkins doubts that he is telling him the full truth.
James Stewart stars as Billy Jim Hawkins, a crime-solving attorney, in this first of 8 television films. Teamed with Strother Martin as his cousin, RJ, he defends a young woman accused of familicide, with three dead bodies.
Hawkins is a television series which aired for one season on CBS between 1973 and 1974. The mystery, created by Robert Hamner and David Karp, starred James Stewart as rural-bred lawyer Billy Jim Hawkins, who investigated the cases he was involved in, similarly to Stewart's earlier smash hit movie Anatomy of a Murder. Despite being critically well received and winning a Golden Globe Award, the series was cancelled after one season consisting of seven 90-minute episodes. Stewart requested the cancellation since he believed that the quality of scripts and directors in television could not continuously measure up to the level to which he was accustomed with theatrical films. Seen as part of The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies, it alternated with the TV movie adaptations of Shaft. Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership.
A documentary encapsulating the career and Western films of director 'John Ford' , including clips from his work and interviews with his colleagues.
The Jimmy Stewart Show is an American sitcom starring James Stewart. Twenty-four episodes of the show were broadcast in the 1971–1972 season on the NBC network's Sunday night schedule, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble.
Homer Grindstaff is a big named banker in Glory and Doc Council is a prison official and they team up to plot to kill Appleyard and his ex-convict friends who were attempting to open up a general store in Stone Coal, West Virginia and then to take the money.
Two cowboys inherit a "social club" specializing in satisfying men.
Posing as a hangman, Mace Bishop arrives in town with the intention of freeing a gang of outlaws, including his brother, from the gallows. Mace urges his younger brother to give up crime. The sheriff chases the brothers to Mexico. They join forces, however, against a group of Mexican bandits.
When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West. They enlist Sam "Bulldog" Burnett in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford named Vindicator, to a breeder in Texas, but the trail is fraught with danger and even Burnett doubts the survival potential of this "rare breed" of cattle.
Professor Leaf, an absent-minded poet with a prejudice against the sciences, is forced to face the fact that his son is a math prodigy with little artistic talent of his own.
Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood.
A cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for a replacement aircraft they will build to escape before their food and water run out.
Charlie Anderson, a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia, finds himself and his family in the middle of the Civil War he wants nothing to do with. When his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North the Civil War is forced upon him.
A reluctant cavalry Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyennes.
Structured as a complementary social and historical companion piece to John Ford's final western, Cheyenne Autumn, it intersperses clips from the big-screen epic with background information about the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79 and contrasts it with life on the Cheyenne reservation in 1964, as a tribal chief, a tribal beauty queen and a tribal adolescent take a drive along the route of the 19th-century trek.
Frank Michaelson, well respected President of the Pacific Pallisades Board of Education, is appearing in front of a Board hearing addressing the issue of the widespread public outcry asking for either his dismissal or resignation because of a series of salacious front page newspaper stories, complete with photographs, on his recent goings-on. In addressing these unsubstantiated charges, Frank attributes all the incidents on his eldest daughter, Mollie Michaelson, now just shy of her twentieth birthday, no longer being the sweet child he had always pictured her as, but now rather a desirable young woman.
A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells the truth about his deed.
An old ballplayer, thrown out of baseball due to a bribery scandal, becomes friends with a young phenom. The younger player is at first tainted by his association with the oldtimer, but eventually the truth about the scandal is revealed.
The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.
Banker Roger Hobbs wants to spend his vacation alone with his wife, Peggy, but she insists on a family vacation at a California beach house that turns out to be ugly and broken down. Daughter Katey, embarrassed by her braces, refuses to go to the beach, as does TV-addicted son Danny. When the family is joined by Hobbs' two unhappily married daughters and their husbands, he must help everyone with their problems to get some peace.
Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
In 1944, in eastern part of China, U.S.Army Major Baldwin and his volunteer team of demolition engineers are left behind the retreating Chinese forces. Their task is to slow down the Japanese advance into eastern China by blowing up bridges, roads, airfields and munitions dumps. They start by blowing up an American airfield and ammo dump. They receive the order to destroy a vital bridge over a mountain pass.The team uses a few army trucks to move around. At the bridge, they encounter a Nationalist Chinese Army unit in charge of guarding the bridge. Thanks to an American soldier who speaks some Chinese, Major Baldwin requests the permission, from the Chinese commander, to blow up the bridge.The Chinese colonel agrees but asks the American Major to do him a favor by also destroying a munitions dump located at some distance away.He also requests that Madame Sue-Mei Hung, the widow of a Chinese colonel, be transported by the American demolition team to the nearest major town.
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
A modern-day witch likes her neighbor but despises his fiancee, so she enchants him to love her instead... only to fall in love with him for real.
Grant MacLaine, a former railroad troubleshooter, lost his job after letting his outlaw brother, the Utica Kid, escape. After spending five years wandering the west and earning his living playing the accordion, he is given a second chance by his former boss.
Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
A widescreen, Technicolor remake by Hitchcock of his 1934 film of the same title. A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.
Air Force reservist Lt. Col. Robert (Dutch) Holland is recalled into active duty at the peak of his baseball career.
Will Lockhart becomes entangled in the happenings of Coronado, an isolated western town, after delivering supplies there. He is especially involved with the Waggomans, an influential ranching family, and begins his search for someone selling rifles to the local Apaches, only to find out it is the son of the most powerful man in the area. It is at this point that his troubles begin.
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
In 1896, Jeff Webster sees the start of the Klondike gold rush as a golden opportunity to make a fortune in beef...and woe betide anyone standing in his way! He drives a cattle herd from Wyoming to Seattle, by ship to Skagway, and (after a delay caused by larcenous town boss Gannon) through the mountains to Dawson. There, he and his partner Ben Tatum get into the gold business themselves. Two lovely women fall for misanthropic Jeff, but he believes in every-man-for-himself, turning his back on growing lawlessness...until it finally strikes home.
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
A look at an American town's efforts to help their children become better drivers.
Shrimpers and oilmen clash when an ambitious wildcatter begins constructing an off-shore oilrig.
Howard Kemp has been tracking killer Ben Vandergroat for a long time. In the Colorado Rockies, he teams up with prospector Jesse Tate and former Union soldier Roy Anderson. Thinking Kemp is a sheriff, they agree to help for a small fee. When they catch Vandergroat, he tells them Kemp is pursuing a $5,000 bounty. After demanding equal shares, the uneasy alliance heads for Kansas as Vandergroat tries to turn them against each other.
David Marshall Williams is sent to a prison farm where he works in the tool shop and eventually develops the precursor of the famous M-1 Carbine automatic rifle used in World War II.
To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.
Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory...
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline.
Lin McAdam rides into town on the trail of Dutch Henry Brown, only to find himself in a shooting competition against him. McAdam wins the prize, a one-in-a-thousand Winchester rifle, but Dutch steals it and leaves town. McAdam follows, intent on settling his old quarrel, while the rifle keeps changing hands and touching a number of lives.
Driving safety film sponsored as a public service by oil companies. Of five drivers who leave home in the morning, only four return, and we wait to learn who the victim is. The film gives considerable discussion to careless driving habits and depicts Angelenos from different walks of life as well as their homes, neighborhoods, streets, and freeways.
Indian scout Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) is sent out to stem the war between the Whites and Apaches in the late 1870s. He learns (through an uncomfortably close encounter) that the Indians kill only to protect themselves, or out of retaliation for white atrocities.
Jimmy Stewart's Bill Lawrence wins a bevy or prizes from a radio program, but ends up having to sell them all in order to pay the taxes he's incurred.
The story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
After living abroad for several years, journalist John Royer returns to the United States just after the U.S. enters World War II. His boast that he could easily smuggle rubber, a key wartime natural resource, out of Malaya has him tasked with doing just that. He manages to get someone from his past, Carnaghan, sprung from Alactraz and together they head off to South East Asia posing as Irishmen. Once there, Carnaghan lines up some of his old cronies and with Royer and a few plantation owners plans to smuggle the rubber out from under the Japanese army's watchful eye.
Indecisive heiress Dee Dee Dillwood is pushed into marrying her sixth fiancée, but unable to face the wedding night, she flees into the adjacent hotel room of commercial pilot Marvin Payne, who just wants to sleep. She then persuades him to take her to California.
In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. O'Neal to look into the case. For some time, O'Neal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.
Oliver Pease gets a dose of courage from his wife Martha and tricks the editor of the paper (where he writes lost pet notices) into assigning him the day's roving question. Martha suggests, "Has a little child ever changed your life?" Oliver gets answers from two slow-talking musicians, an actress whose roles usually feature a sarong, and an itinerant cardsharp. In each case the "little child" is hardly innocent: in the first, a local auto mechanic's "baby" turns out to be fully developed as a woman and a musician; in the second, a spoiled child star learns kindness; in the third, the family of a lost brat doesn't want him returned. And Oliver, what becomes of him?
A documentary showing the constructive approach taken by the Lou Costello, Jr. Youth Foundation in Los Angeles toward prevention of juvenile delinquency. William Bendix, as a neighborhood policeman, visits the Foundation and discovers the juveniles who used to give him trouble now engaged in sports and activities, furnished them gratis, under self-supervision. Abbott and Costello furnish a couple of bits to liven it up some.
Documentary about the U.S. Air Force's P-47 Thunderbolt bomber's role in the Italian Campaign.
A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
Rip Smith's opinion-poll business is a failure...until he discovers that the small town of Grandview is statistically identical to the entire country. He and his assistants go there to run polls cheaply and easily, in total secrecy (it would be fatal to let the townsfolk get self-conscious). And of course, civic crusader Mary Peterman must be kept from changing things too much. But romantic involvement with Mary complicates life for Rip; then suddenly everything changes.
A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
After Pearl Harbor Lt. James Stewart narrated this film to rouse American support for the war.
Winning Your Wings is a 1942 short American World War II recruitment film produced by Warner Bros. Studios for the US Army Air Forces, starring Jimmy Stewart. It was aimed at young men who were thinking about joining the Air Force.
Seeking US citizenship, a Viennese refugee arranges a marriage of convenience with a struggling writer.
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. Before he gets there, he befriends an Irish family who happens to be his uncle's worst enemy because of their love for music and in-house band who constantly practices. Soon, Jimmy finds himself trying to help the band by getting them gigs and trying to reconcile the family with his uncle.
Blooper out-takes from Torrid Zone, Four Mothers, The Wagons Roll at Night, The Sea Wolf, No Time for Comedy, The Bride Came C.O.D., and Affectionately Yours, among other Warner Brother productions of 1940 and 1941.
Director William Keighley's 1940 film adaptation of S. N. Behrman's stage hit, about an aspiring playwright who finds himself an overnight Broadway success, stars James Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Genevieve Tobin, Louise Beavers, Charles Ruggles and Allyn Joslyn.
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Brietner, a family friend is caught up in the turmoil.
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
In this short film, two starstruck movie fans hire a tour guide and see a plethora of Hollywood stars.
Mary and Larry are are a modestly successful skating team. Shortly after their marriage, Mary gets a picture contract, while Larry is sitting at home, out of work.
Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.
Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss.
When a tough western town needs taming, the mild-mannered son of a hard-nosed sheriff gets the job.
This short shows how Hollywood gets ready for the world premiere of an "important" movie. The film celebrated here is Marie Antoinette (1938), which had its premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre. We see the street leading to the theatre transformed to suggest a garden that might be seen in a French palace. This includes the placement of trees and other foliage, as well as large statues along the route. Grandstands are set up so fans can see their favorite stars as they arrive for the premiere. Finally, the proverbial "galaxy of stars" arrives in their limousines. Fanny Brice and Pete Smith make remarks at the microphone set up on the carpet outside the theatre.
A visit to Buck Jones's new ranch and his horse, Silver, to James Gleason and his dog, to Charles Ruggles and his kennels; on the set of 'You Can't Take it With You', director Frank Capra and stars James Stewart and Jean Arthur celebrate Lionel Barrymore's sixtieth birthday; a ski meet is held at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm. It is a rich story about striving for excellence, the tension of father-son rebellion, and the love of a mother that can never die.
During WWI Bill Pettigrew, a naive young Texan soldier is sent to New York for basic training. He meets worldly wise actress Daisy Heath when her car nearly runs him over.
College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzling night-club singer.
Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.
A crime boss goes searching for his ex-wife and son after a ten-year prison stint. His old gang has other plans though, and use the child to try and make him disclose the location of the loot he hid before going to the slammer.
A Parisian sewer worker longs for a rise in status and a beautiful wife. He rescues a girl from the police, lives with her in a barren flat on the seventh floor, and then marches away to war.
Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of celluloid aka film stock, the materials used in the production of which include cotton and silver; construction crews who build sets including those to look like cities, towns and villages around the world; a visit with Jack Dawn who demonstrates the process of creating a makeup design; the screen testing process, where many an acting hopeful gets his/her start; the work of the candid camera man, the prying eyes behind the movie camera; a visit with Adrian, who designs the clothes worn by many of the stars on screen; and a visit with Herbert Stothart as he conducts his musical score for Conquest (1937). These behind the scenes looks provide the opportunity to get acquainted with the cavalcade of MGM stars and their productions that will grace the silver screen in the 1937/38 movie season.
Sailor Ted meets and falls in love with Nora Paige, an aspiring Broadway dancer who tries out for a show starring Lucy James. After Ted rescues Lucy's pet dog during a public relations campaign on his submarine, Lucy falls for him. Ted is ordered to meet Lucy for a date at a night club, breaking a date with Nora, who later sees their picture in the newspaper and no longer wants anything to do with him.
Opera singer, Marie de Flor, seeks out fugitive brother in the Canadian wilderness. During her trek, she meets a Canadian mountie, Sgt. Bruce, who is also searching for her brother. Romance ensues, resulting in several love duets between the two.
Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests.
Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.
Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora's cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady owners of a popular nightclub, a singer and her dark brother, the cousin's forsaken true love, and Nora's bombastic and controlling aunt.
A young married couple's relationship becomes strained when he is assigned overseas as a foreign correspondent and she becomes a major stage star.
Magazine publisher Van Stanhope is a hard-working, dynamic executive very happily married to his beautiful wife Linda. Although their relationship is built on unconditional trust, friends, and even Van's mother, caution Linda about the dangers of allowing Whitey, her husband's extremely sexy secretary, to continue to have access to him. Although Whitey has a faithful boyfriend, she secretly harbors unrequited feelings for her boss. When they take a business trip to Havana, circumstantial evidence convinces Linda that the rumors she's heard may have a basis in fact.
It's the early nineteenth century Washington. Young adult Margaret O'Neal, Peggy to most that know her, is the daughter of Major William O'Neal, who is the innkeeper of the establishment where most out-of-town politicians and military men stay when they're in Washington. Peggy is pretty and politically aware. She is courted by several of those politicians and military men who all want to marry her, except for the one with who she is truly in love.
In this short film, a small-town newspaper editor struggles with what to publish on his paper's front page.
Viewers are provided a visit to Ken Maynard's private circus; Bette Davis poses for her portrait; Frank McHugh plays with his children; a visit to the West Side Tennis Club affords glimpses of many stars.
Steve Grey, reporter for the Daily Star, has a habit of scooping all the other papers in town. When Henry Mander is investigated for the murder of his shady business partner, Grey is one step ahead of the police to the extent that he often dictates his story in advance of its actual occurrence. He leads the police through an 'open and shut' case resulting in Mander being tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Columnist Mary Shannon is in love with Steve but she sees him struggle greatly with his last story before Mander's execution. When she starts typing out the story from his recorded dictation, she realizes why.
An adaption of H.P. Lovecraft's short story. Told in the style of a 1920s silent film. A sculptor known as Michael comes across a stranger while on his way home from work. This mysterious man and him become dangerously intertwined as they explore the inner workings of the subconscious. This causes Michael to find himself slowly detaching from any form of reality. When him and his newfound friend have a frightening experience while visiting an incomprehensible realm, they both vow to sleep as little as possible. Michael's wife, Kim, grows deeply concerned for the safety of her husband as insanity begins to set in, taking him on a horrifying journey that's far beyond human understanding.
