Ruth Donnelly
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 Marshal must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.
In 1899 Alaska, miners have to protect themselves from a phony legal team trying to steal their gold claims.
A minister from the Deep South is assigned a new parish and moves with his wife to a town in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where he tends to the spiritual and emotional needs of his small flock.
Wendell Corey and Forrest Tucker star as a pair of World War II Army Air Corps officers. In between their battles over the affections of a beautiful nurse, Corey and Tucker prepare to fly a bombing mission in the South Pacific. Before boarding their B29 Superfortress, Tucker appears to be chickening out, but he's steadfastly at his cockpit post at takeoff time.
After a group of convicts escapes from prison, they take refuge in the wilderness. While most of the crew are ruthless sociopaths, Jim Canfield is an innocent man who was jailed under false pretenses. When Canfield and his fellow fugitives reach an isolated farming settlement where the men are all away, it creates tension with the local women. Things get more dire when rumors of hidden money arise, and Canfield discovers that the man who framed him is part of the community.
A police detective's violent nature keeps him from being a good cop.
Virginia Cunningham is confused upon finding herself in a mental hospital, with no memory of her arrival at the institution. Tormented by delusions and unable to even recognize her husband, Robert, she is treated by Dr. Mark Kik, who is determined to get to the root of her mental illness. As her treatment progresses, flashbacks depict events in Virginia's life that may have contributed to her instability.
A dedicated priest tries to reform a group of homeless boys in turn-of-the-century St. Louis.
Upon leaving finishing school, Judy Gibson goes to meet her presumed wealthy and socially prominent relatives. However they are penniless Broadway characters and take possession of a Long Island mansion owned by an incarcerated thief so Judy doesn't find out the truth. Judy arrives with her fiancé and his father, who tries to sell worthless stock to Judy's family. They give him $200,000, part of the stashed loot they found belonging to the home-owner thief.
A couple of Confederate soldiers, returning home from the Civil War, find Texas transformed into an armed camp with a quasi-dictator gathering up land and power as fast as he can. The two former Rebels take on this despot each in his own way.
Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disguises himself as a mystic, only to conjure up a genuine ghost during a seance. Things come to a head during his trial, where the invisible ghost takes the witness stand on Our Hero's behalf.
A compulsive liar admits to a killing she didn't commit so her husband, a lawyer, can clear her and build a reputation for himself.
Dashing Johnny Barrett has a secret identity: Spanish Jack, the masked bandit. Always one step ahead of the law, Barrett effortlessly balances his double life--robbing by night, romancing by day and always with a smile. But when the woman he loves begins to suspect him and the young man he befriends is arrested for being him, it's time for Johnny to rethink his priorities.
Father O'Malley, the unconventional priest from 'Going My Way', continues his work for the Catholic Church. This time he is sent to St. Mary's, a run-down parochial school on the verge of condemnation. He and Sister Benedict work together in an attempt to save the school, though their differing methods often lead to good-natured disagreements.
With a war on and most men being drafted, Howard Oil Supply Company has no salesmen left. So daughter Jean hits the road and does not make one sale. She finally gets one tentative sale with the Black Hills Oil Co., but Earl wants dinner with her. With the shortage of housing due to the war, Jean needs a military husband to get a place to stay in Clayfield, which is next to Camp Clay. She gets Lt. Mallory to act as her husband just to register. Then things go wrong as his commanding officer is there and believes them to be married. It gets worse as Don's mother shows up and then Jean's father.
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 pesonal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over.
Young radio personality Judy Joyner becomes mayor of the moribund town, Sleepy Lagoon, after running on an all women ticket and promptly sets out to turn the town around.
A grown-up Jane Withers is joined by a whole slew of former child stars in the lightweight Republic musical Johnny Doughboy. Withers capably essays the part of a teenaged movie star who tires of the spotlight and runs away from Hollywood. Adopting an alias, she joins "The Junior Victory Caravan", a group of youthful USO performers. She also pursues a romance with much-older playwright Henry Wilcoxon, only to be (deliberately) disillusioned by the man. Among the juvenile favorites making cameo appearances in Johnny Doughboy are Bobby Breen, Baby Sandy, Butch & Buddy, Cora Sue Collins, Robert Coogan (Jackie's brother) and ex-"Little Rascals" George "Spanky" McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.
The college president, the head cheerleader and a gambling gangster try to keep a flunking football star in the game
Originally written as a stage vehicle for corpulent character actor Macklyn Arbuckle, Ernest Day's The Roundup was first filmed in 1920 with Fatty Arbuckle (no relation) in the lead. By the time the film was remade in 1941, Arbuckle's character, a roly-poly frontier sheriff named Slim (!), was refashioned as a supporting role, with Jack Benny's radio announcer Don Wilson essaying the part. The plot, however, remained fairly intact: Upon hearing that her fiance Greg (Preston Foster) has been killed, Janet (Patricia Morison) agrees to marry rancher Steve (Richard Dix) on the rebound. On the day of the wedding, who should show up but Greg, determined to raise as much Hell as humanly possible
If a shy sailor marries before his next birthday, he will inherit a fortune.
A playboy marries a woman doctor then grows jealous of her male patients.
A Hollywood studio goofs and signs the wrong girl--a hillbilly from the Ozarks--to a movie contract. Comedy.
Set in the American Old West of the 1880s, Miss Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is on her way to visit relatives out west. While she is traveling on a stagecoach a masked bandit on horseback holds up the stage for its shipment of gold. As he makes his getaway with the gold, he takes Flower Belle with him. Flower Belle then walks into town under suspicion of being in collusion with the bandit.
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.
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.
Kenny Williams, a lieutenant on the homicide squad, is engaged to Maxine Carroll, the Mayor's secretary. Or isn't he rather married with his job? For each time he has a date with his longtime fiancée, he is prevented from keeping it by his devotion to duty. Maxine, in desperation, decides to take action and bring Kenny to the altar. Who will win, Maxine's curves or the glorious fight against crime?
Annabel Allison, star of Wonder Pictures, is irked at her poor publicity, especially when a rival gets engaged to a Marquis; so she makes studio head Webb re-hire disgraced publicity agent Morgan for her personal appearance tour. The trip proceeds with a flurry of Morgan's crazy, slapstick publicity stunts. Then Annabel has her chance to "bag" a real Viscount.
Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve main star Annabel in ever outrageous stunts for publicity.
Entertainers (Lang and Bari) lose their jobs and their fares from Honolulu back to San Francisco so they must become stowaways.
Two rival newspaper columnists battle over whether or not a woman murdered her playboy husband.
Former bootlegger Remy Marco has a slight problem with forclosing bankers, a prospective son-in-law, and four hard-to-explain corpses.
Jim Sherwood , toughest logging boss in the timber country, takes on his toughest assignment when he agrees to cut an enormous volume of timber for Andrew MacKinley, who has to deliver the timber within sixty days.
Lady lawyer Portia Merryman (Frieda Inescourt) defends woebegone Elizabeth Manners (Heather Angel), who is on trial for shooting her lover Earle Condon (Neil Hamilton). Ironically, Portia herself had once had an affair with Earle's father, powerful publisher John Condon (Clarence Kolb). She has a pretty good idea of what is going on in Elizabeth's head, since she herself was on the verge of killing Condon when he ruthlessly took custody of her illegitimate son (not Earle, though that certainly would have brought things full circle). As Portia toils and strains to free her client, she carries on a romance with Dan Foster (Walter Abel) -- the attorney for the prosecution. LA Law and The Practice have nothing on this one!
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Womanizer and airline pilot Jack Gordon must fly the world's fastest airliner from New York to California while dealing with dangerous jewel thieves on the run from the law.
On her debut as an opera star, Marion Stuart is interrogated and possibly implicated in the death of a male acquaintance. Released, although thoroughly shaken-up, Marion attempts to perform but loses her voice onstage. Humiliated, but driven to sing, she travels to South America under the assumed name of Maria Delasano, and works in an opera company under the tutelage of Feodor Glinka, who wants her to shun men and save herself for her art. Mary resists the persistent attentions of wealthy young Phil Roberts, who follows the company in hopes of marrying her. ...
When the co-owner of a secretarial school visits a magazine editor to find out why he runs through secretaries, she's mistaken for an applicant. Drawn to him, she accepts the position.
Julia and Hap are a dance team. He drinks and gambles, she succeeds for a while with the help of producer Alan.
A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt.
A longtime maid for New York socialites watches from afar as the daughter she once gave up is raised by others. Director Arthur Greville Collins' 1935 film stars Ruth Donnelly, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay, Warren Hull, Frank Albertson, Arthur Treacher, Ronnie Crosby, Henry O'Neill, Lillian Kemble Cooper and Gordon Elliott.
A manicurist and an engaged loafer, both planning to marry money, meet and fall in love.
The rebellious daughter of an army general gets involved with a Communist agitator, mainly to annoy her father. He arranges to have her kidnapped and taken to Mexico--hoping that she will forget her "Red" boyfriend--by a young, handsome soldier named Jeff who, while somewhat of a goof-up, the general believes is still better for her.
A toothpaste magnate's mischievous daughter, tired of her father's traditional ways of conducting business, joins forces with her father's rival and a crazy inventor. Together they create "Cocktail Toothpaste". The new concoction tastes like whiskey in the morning, a martini at suppertime, and champagne at night.
Director William C. McGann's 1935 film stars Gloria Stuart and Ross Alexander as a young couple in love who face economic woes once they're wed.
In a spooky hotel on the wind-swept coast of France, two bands of crooks are working independently of the other in an attempt to steal the inherited fortune of an American girl, Sue Tally. Along the way the heiress is kidnapped, three murders are committed, a girl appears in two places at once, mysterious persons roam about the old hotel at night and mysteriously disappear, and there is a hidden room without any doors.
Society heiress Joan Bradford rebels against her mother's choice of a future husband by masquerading as a working class girl and dating a window washer.
Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, the wife of a wealthy business man. Al Wonder and the conductor/singer Tommy are in love with Inez. When Inez finds out that Harry wants to leave Paris and is going to the USA with Liane, she kills him.
This 1934 Warner Bros. screwball comedy-- featuring three Manhattan couples, two lost overcoats, and one sheep named Eloise--all converging in a hotel in Reno. With Glenda Farrell, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, Hugh Herbert, Frank McHugh, Louise Beavers and Hobart Cavanaugh.
The publisher of a tabloid-type romance magazine decides to get some publicity by sponsoring a "Cinderella and Prince Charming" contest.
Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful commercial for the client and neats up their old romance. Wife and girlfriend struggle over Bill.
One woman faces many trials on the road to romance after unwittingly marrying a bigamist, then a carnival's barker and then falling for a young engineer.
A moll, imprisoned after participating in a bank robbery, helps with a breakout plot.
A former government agent in France, who has failed at an assignment and been disavowed, is deported back to the USA, where he can only find work at a low-rent detective agency. He soon gets involved with a woman with ties to a crooked gambling club owner, who is a client of his agency.
A fledgling producer finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences. This film has been inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Flirtatious mix-ups abound when a celebrated novelist tangles with an old flame and her suspicious husband. Will the author's savvy secretary, who's secretly in love with him, save his neck?
Promotional short produced by General Electric for release through Warner Bros. to advertise GE's home appliances.
The ultimate Bobby Jones golf series reaches its climactic conclusion on board a speeding train to oblivion.
A singer on a gambling ship is married to a wealthy playboy. When he is found murdered, all evidence points to her as the culprit, and she is put on trial for the crime.
Kurt Anderson is the tyrannical manager of a New York department store in financial straits. He thinks nothing of firing an employee of more than 20 years or of toying with the affections of every woman he meets. One such victim is Madeline, a beautiful young woman in need of a job. Anderson hires her as a salesgirl, but not before the two spend the night together. Madeline is ashamed, especially after she falls for Martin West, a rising young star at the store. Her biggest fear is that Martin finds out the truth about her "career move."
Butch Saunders has been transferred to Missing Persons because he was too brutal in other police work...
World War I brings tribulations to an American woman married to a German.
Extra-marital fun and games at a convention of the Honeywell Rubber Company in Atlantic City.
A New York gossip columnist feuds with a singer and enjoys the power of the press.
The wall to Surprise Valley has broken, and Jane Withersteen is forced to choose between Lassiter's life and Fay Larkin's marriage to a Mormon.
A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.
Lowe plays Chatrand the Great, a magician with great hypnotic and magical powers. During his evening performance at an upscale theater, a murder occurs. A hand wearing a sinister spider ring raises a revolver, the lights go out, and a shot rings out! When the lights come on, the body of a patron is lying on the floor, dying. Who is the mysterious killer? What is the strange secret of Lowe’s clairvoyant, amnesia-plagued assistant? After the police restrain the audience from leaving, Lowe uses his magical powers to help expose the killer. Watch for the terrific séance scene where weird ghost-like creatures float above the stage.
