Thomas Mitchell

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.

8/10

This documentary is featured on the 4-disc Collector's Edition DVD for Gone with the Wind (1939), released in 2004.

7.8/10

Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.

6.8/10

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.

7.9/10

Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood.

7.9/10

Damon Runyon's fairytale, sweet and funny, is told by director Frank Capra. Boozy, brassy Apple Annie, a beggar with a basket of apples, is as much as part of downtown New York as old Broadway itself. Bootlegger Dave the Dude is a sucker for her apples --- he thinks they bring him luck. But Dave and girlfriend Queenie Martin need a lot more than luck when it turns out that Annie is in a jam and only they can help: Annie's daughter Louise, who has lived all her life in a Spanish convent, is coming to America with a Count and his son. The count's son wants to marry Louise, who thinks her mother is part of New York society. It's up to Dave and Queenie and their Runyonesque cronies to turn Annie into a lady and convince the Count and his son that they are hobnobbing with New York's elite.

7.2/10
5%

An unhappily married woman has an affair with her husband's law partner. Director John Sturges' lush 1961 melodrama stars Lana Turner, Jason Robards Jr., Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Thomas Mitchell, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton, Barbara Bel Geddes, Carroll O'Connor, Everett Sloane, Yvonne Craig and Jean Willes.

5.5/10

Based on the American play, Pickup Girl by Elsa Shelley. A story of a young girl's lapse into sex delinquency.

5.9/10

Film on presidential campaigns and the right to vote. Used as educational material in American classrooms.

A law student working on a class project discovers a real-life crime.

7/10

A Civil War veteran returns home to find his father has become a social pariah.

The O. Henry Playhouse was an early American anthology television series which featured television adaptations of short stories written by 19th-century author O. Henry and primarily set in New York City. The series was both hosted and narrated by Thomas Mitchell, who portrayed the title character, and featured several television and film stars during its run such as DeForest Kelley, Lisa Montell, Otto Kruger, Max Showalter and Ernest Borgnine. The series was syndicated and initially ran from January 23 to May 25, 1957, and its final episode aired on November 19 of that year.

5.9/10

Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer"

7/10
8.9%

One Kris Kringle, a department-store Santa Claus, causes quite a commotion by suggesting customers go to a rival store for their purchases. But this is nothing to the stir he causes by announcing that he is not merely a make-believe St. Nick, but the real thing.

5.9/10

This made-for-TV production originally aired on the "Climax!" show and opened up its second season. Huck and his buddy Tom Sawyer become blood brothers right before Huck takes off down the Mississippi River to try and get away from his abusive father. Along his journey Huck comes across a wide range of characters including The Duke.

5.3/10

Western remake of "Destry Rides Again", starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Thomas Mitchell, Lori Nelson and Lyle Bettger.

6.7/10

A daring adventurer searches Peruvian jungles for ancient treasure. Before Indiana Jones there was Harry Steele (Charlton Heston), an idealistic archaeologist determined to return an ancient Incan mask to the society from which it came. A greedy con-artist (Robert Young) has other ideas, though, and the two men race to fund an expedition to find the treasure, which has reportedly been buried by Spanish conquistadores somewhere in Machu Picchu. The con-artist (Young) seduces a beautiful tourist in order to reach his goal, leaving Steele (Heston) to locate the site through more honorable means. Twenty-seven years before directors George Lucas and Steven Spielburg collaborated to create Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jerry Hopper directed Secret of the Incas.

6.1/10

An account executive tried to find the perfect American family to use in a forthcoming advertising campaign.

Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he gathers a posse from among the local townspeople.

7.9/10
9.6%

John Burrows, an ordained minister from a small village in the East, envisions himself with a larger congregation. He is mortified when his wife drunkenly interrupts a sermon, then despondent after her suicide. Burrows travels to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but takes to the bottle himself and ends up arrested for public intoxication. A skid-row con man, Gandy, finds him a bed at a flop house, while a street preacher, Doc Thorssen, and daughter Christine take him to a local mission. Christine is blind. She falls in love with Burrows, enjoying his discussions of the spirit and the soul but knowing little of his past. One day she is struck by a streetcar and knocked unconscious, causing Burrows to once again question his faith. He ultimately accepts the Lord's will and is offered a better place to live and preach. Burrows decides he is better suited to the mission, with Christine by his side.

6.8/10

The ambitious son of an accomplished race driver struggles to outrun his father's legacy and achieve his own successes.

5.7/10

After straight-arrow district attorney Joseph Foster says in frustration that he would sell his soul to bring down a local mob boss, a smooth-talking stranger named Nick Beal shows up with enough evidence to seal a conviction. When that success leads Foster to run for governor, Beal's unearthly hold on him turns the previously honest man corrupt, much to the displeasure of his wife and his steadfast minister.

7.1/10

Unjustly booted out of the cavalry, Mike McComb strikes out for Nevada, and deciding never to be used again, ruthlessly works his way up to becoming one of the most powerful silver magnates in the west. His empire begins to fall apart as the other mining combines rise against him and his stubbornness loses him the support of his wife and old friends.

6.6/10

A mysterious Civil War veteran courts a Missouri farmer's daughter amid postwar unrest.

6.8/10

After his plane is downed in the South Pacific, a Navy flier recounts his life to a co-pilot while awaiting rescue.

6.4/10

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.

8.6/10
9.4%

An orphan girl melts the hearts of three crusty old men.

6.7/10

Newly appointed sheriff Pat Garrett is pleased when his old friend Doc Holliday arrives in Lincoln, New Mexico 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 friends. This causes the friendship between Doc and Pat to cool. The odd relationship between Doc and Billy grows stranger when Doc hides Billy at his girl Rio's place after Billy is shot.

5.5/10

A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.

7.1/10
7.1%

Warner Brothers bloopers of 1946

Michael Howland, a stern hanging judge, is assigned to take over a chaotic prison. There Michael imposes a strict regime of discipline on the inmates. He is similarly rigid and harsh with his own two children Tommie and Anne. However, his son Tommie Howland eventually ends up incarcerated in his father's prison.

6.2/10

WWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver and pilot in WWI, to an important person in the early years of civil airline service, after his plane crashed in the South Pacific in late 1942.

6/10

A rough and tumble man of the sea falls for a meek librarian.

6.2/10

Leslie Calvin, the sole survivor of a submarine accident, goes to her relatives in order to recover emotionally. Unfortunately she encounters various scam artists led by Mr. Sydney who intend to kill her and steal the family assets. Dr. George Grover helps Leslie to defeat Sydney.

6.5/10

A young priest, Father Chisholm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christian Chinese. While his boyhood friend, also a priest, flourishes in his calling as a priest in a more Christian area of the world, Father Chisholm struggles. He encounters hostility, isolation, disease, poverty and a variety of set backs which humble him, but make him more determined than ever to succeed.

7.2/10

Scout William F. Cody (Joel McCrea) marries a U.S. senator's daughter (Maureen O'Hara), fights the Cheyenne and leads a Wild West show.

6.4/10

Cass Brown is about to marry for the second time; his first marriage, to Isabel was annulled. But when he discovers that Isabel just had their baby, Cass kidnaps the infant to keep her from being adopted. Isabel's parents hunt for the child and discover that Cass and Isabel are still hopelessly in love.

6.3/10

The lives of a close-knit group of brothers growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression and of World War II and their eventual deaths in action in the Pacific theater are chronicled in this film based on a true story.

7.5/10
10%

The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post at Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey, and his subsequent ascent to the Presidency of the United States. During his terms in office, Wilson must deal with the death of his first wife, the onslaught of German hostilities leading to American involvement in the Great War, and his own country's reticence to join the League of Nations.

6.4/10
8.9%

During WWII, a corporal in the desert reminisces about the love he left behind and faces uncertainty about his strength as a leader.

6.7/10

During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way.

6.9/10

Anthology film of three tales of the supernatural. The first story is set at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The second involves a psychic who predicts murder. The third is about a man who literally meets the girl of his dreams.

6.9/10

An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers get to Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest, Baby, is injured. He must be hidden and his wounds cared for. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.

6.8/10

With his sidekick Rusty, Jeff Harper sails to paradisiacal tropical isle Ahmi-Oni to bargain on behalf of his cattle baron father for land owned by transplanted Irishman Dennis O'Brien. But Jeff falls in love with O'Brien's daughter, Eileen, and even his father can't break them up after he arrives and himself falls under the spell of island splendor.

6.3/10

When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of Buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.

6.8/10
8.3%

Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by its tailor has on those who wear it. The video release features a W.C. Fields segment not included in the original theatrical release.

7.4/10

After a drunken night out a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.

6.9/10

In 1940 England, aristocratic Prudence Cathaway alarms her snobbish parents by joining the WAF service branch. She soon meets and falls in love with the brooding Clive Briggs, despite his prejudice against the upper classes, and agrees to spend a week with him at a Dover hotel. When Clive's soldier friend, Monty, arrives to retrieve him, Prudence learns that Clive went AWOL after Dunkirk, and urges him to recall why England must fight the war.

6.8/10

This is a collection of bloopers and film manipulation by The Warner Studio Club for an annual dinner for the staff at Warner Brothers.

8.5/10

A racketeer terrorizes a small fishing community until he falls in love with a fisherman's daughter.

6.9/10

After his doctor informs him he will die in six months, Professor Henry Todhunter decides to spend his last days killing someone who contributes nothing but harm to society. When Henry learns that his friend Betty's husband, Michael, has been painting forgeries of ancient paintings for gallery owner Ketti Moret, he investigates the fraudulent dealer's life. Judging that Ketti is truly evil, Henry prepares to murder her.

6.5/10

Small-time businessman Charles Engle is threatened with exposure for embezzling $3,000 for his free-spending wife. Deciding on suicide, he scribbles a note, stuffs it in his pocket and goes for one last night on the town. He is pulled into a poker game by conman Bill O'Brien and singer Nina Barone, but when they discover the dropped note, they resolve to turn the tables, get Engle his $3,000 and save his life.

6.6/10
6.7%

Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. We see birth, life and death in this small community.

6.6/10
8.6%

A family setting out for a new life across the sea is shipwrecked on a deserted island. The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the jungle environment.

6.4/10

Peter Casey has been with the New York City police department for 25 years. He's totally surprised when he's asked to retire on his 25th anniversary with the force. He's even more unprepared for the romance that develops between his favorite daughter, Maureen, and the Scottish cop who takes over his beat.

6.4/10

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.

8.7/10

The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II. Adapted from four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays.

7/10
10%

Geoff Carter is the head of a crumbling air freight service in desperate need of a replacement pilot. He is forced to hire a descredited aviator who arrives with his wife, Carter's ex-lover. Meanwhile, traveler Bonnie Lee tries to get close to the emotionally closed-off Carter.

7.7/10
10%

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

7.8/10
10%

A baby is passed from hand to hand after her father abandons her.

6.4/10

Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a gypsy young girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.

7.8/10
9.3%

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.

8.1/10
9.6%

The spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner is forced to use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty, following Maj. Gen. William Sherman's destructive "March to the Sea,” during the American Civil War.

8.1/10
9.1%

Comedy about a weak husband, afraid to say "no" to his new wife, who realizes he must assert himself to save his marriage.

5/10

Kay Kerrigan commits a murder and then changes her hair color, assumes a new identity and flees the country by ship. She's unaware that she's being followed by Sam Wye, a skirt chasing detective. The two soon develop a shipboard romance. Will Sam be able to bring Kay back to the States and likely imprisonment?

6.4/10

In the colonial era, island native Terangi (Jon Hall) spends a blissful honeymoon with his bride, Marama (Dorothy Lamour). Soon after, however, their relationship is torn asunder when Terangi is sent to prison for punching a prejudiced white man. Prominent members of the community -- including the governor's wife, Mme. De Laage (Mary Astor), petition the governor for clemency, but he refuses to budge. However, all pretense of law and order are soon shattered by an incoming tropical storm.

7.2/10

When You're in Love is a 1937 musical film starring Grace Moore, Cary Grant, and Thomas Mitchell. Moore sings "Minnie the Moocher" in one scene. She also sings the wonderful Ernesto Lecuono classic "Siboney" (though her Spanish is not perfection) drooled over by Cary Grant

6.2/10

A man goes to a loan shark to finance his family's vacation.

7.3/10

At a family reunion, the Cooper clan find that their parents' home is being foreclosed. "Temporarily," Ma moves in with son George's family, Pa with daughter Cora. But the parents are like sand in the gears of their middle-aged children's well regulated households. Can the old folks take matters into their own hands?

8.2/10
10%

British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la. Protected by the mountains from the world outside, where the clouds of World War II are gathering, Shangri-la provides a seductive escape for the world-weary Conway.

7.7/10
9.3%

An Italian immigrant studying the law gets mixed up with crooks.

6.2/10

Fun little film about an egotistical crime writer who gets involved with the case of a notorious art thief (who is believed to be dead) while at the same time romancing a lovely young actress who's in a play that also happens to be the cover for massive jewel job. Art connoisseur and criminologist George Melville (Joel McCrea) is hired to track down art thieves, assisted by perky Claire Peyton (Jean Arthur) and goaded by Phil Bane (Thomas Mitchell), the roaring newspaper editor who has employed him. The mastermind poses as a theatrical impresario and stages a war drama, replete with loud explosions, to divert attention from his band of thieves, who are cracking safes in a bank adjacent to the theater.

6.5/10

Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material possessions and social status whose behavior makes difficult her relationship with domestic service and family members.

7.2/10
10%

The small-town prudes of Lynnfield are up in arms over 'The Sinner,' a sexy best-seller. They little suspect that author 'Caroline Adams' is really Theodora Lynn, scion of the town's leading family. Michael Grant, devil-may-care book jacket illustrator, penetrates Theodora's incognito and sets out to 'free her' from Lynnfield against her will. But Michael has a secret too, and gets a taste of his own medicine.

7.2/10

A professor tires of the direction his life is going and wants to move west, but his girlfriend doesn't understand why he is so dissatisfied.

6/10

On the day before his second wedding, a man finds out that his bride-to-be has had a baby.

5.6/10

After buying a car, Richard Burton finds that his wife and daughter have become unreasonably extravagant, and is surrounded by sponging friends.