Author: womo

The Animal Kingdom (1932) [Drama] [Comedy]

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“The Animal Kingdom” (also known as The Woman in His House in the UK) is a 1932 American comedy-drama film directed by Edward H. Griffith based upon a comedy of manners of the same name by Philip Barry. The film starred Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, William Gargan, Ilka Chase, and Neil Hamilton. Howard, Gargan, and Chase also starred in the play when it opened on Broadway on 12 January 1932.

The film is based on a play, of the same name, set in 1930’s New York and Connecticut. Tom Collier, Leslie Howard, is a book publisher, who has been living in the city with his best friend, Daisy Sage, Ann Harding, without being married. His wealthy Father, Rufus Collier, Henry Stephenson, wants him to live a respectable life. While Daisy is away, with her work, Cecilia, Myrna Loy, convinces Tom to marry her. Although, their lawyer and friend, Owen, Neil Hamilton, is in love with her; he doesn’t have enough financial resources to maintain her interest. Cecilia tries to get Tom to “sell out”, without his realizing it. She talks him into publishing books that will make money, get rid of his old friends, including “Red”, his prize-fighter friend and butler. She wants Tom to sell his publishing company, live in the city, with his Father, as a “proper gentleman”, and take their place in society, which Tom has been fighting all his life; but, is all “Cee” cares about.

Daisy tries to stay away; but, she and Tom’s Bohemian friends can’t believe he’s happy. She loves him deeply, and wants to have children with him; but, cares most about his well-being. Tom complains that he’s losing his soul and integrity. Finally, when Cee offers Tom champagne, to toast selling his publishing company and moving in with his Father, Tom realizes that Cee’s bedroom suite reminds him of a brothel he used to go, as he says, “in vino veritas”. When Red tells Tom he is going back to the city, that he can’t stomach anymore, Tom agrees, saying, he’s “going back to his wife,” Daisy.
As he leaves, he put a little something on the mantle for Cee, just as he used to, with the girls, in the bordello.

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Directed by Edward H. Griffith and George Cukor, produced by David O. Selznick, written by Philip Barry (play), Horace Jackson (screenplay), Edward H. Griffith, Adela Rogers St. Johns, starring Leslie Howard, Ann Harding and Myrna Loy.

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Source: “The Animal Kingdom” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 26 July 2012. Web. 30 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animal_Kingdom.

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As You Like It (1936) [Drama] [Comedy]

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“As You Like It” is a 1936 film, directed by Paul Czinner and starring Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elisabeth Bergner as Rosalind. It is based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name. It was Laurence Olivier’s first performance of Shakespeare on screen.

It was the final film of stage actors Leon Quartermaine and Henry Ainley, and featured an early screen role for Ainley’s son Richard as Sylvius, as well as for John Laurie, who played Orlando’s brother Oliver. (Laurie would go on to co-star with Olivier in the three Shakespeare films that Olivier directed.) Bergner had previously played the role of Rosalind in her native Germany and her German accent is apparent in most of her scenes.

Duke Frederick (Felix Aylmer) has usurped and deposed his older brother, Duke Senior (Henry Ainley). Frederick allows the exiled Duke’s daughter, Rosalind (Elisabeth Bergner), however, to stay, as she is the closest friend of his daughter, Celia (Sophie Stewart). Orlando (Laurence Olivier), who has been forced to flee his home due to the oppression from his brother, Oliver (John Laurie), comes to the Frederick’s Duchy, and enters a wrestling tournament. On leaving the Duchy, Orlando encounters Rosalind, and it is love at first sight. Frederick then becomes angry, and banishes Rosalind. Celia decides to accompany her, along with a jester, Touchstone (Mackenzie Ward).

Rosalind and Celia disguise themselves as “Ganymede”, a boy, and “Aliena”, respectively, and venture into the Forest of Arden, where they eventually encounter the exiled Duke. Orlando, who discovers that Rosalind is now living with the Duke, posts love poems on the trees for her. Orlando manages to come across Ganymede, who proceeds to teach Orlando how to cure love. At the same time, Phoebe (Joan White), a shepherdess, falls in love with Ganymede, though he (she) continually rejects her. Sylvius (Richard Ainley), a shepherd, is in love with Phoebe, which complicates the matter. Meanwhile, Touchstone attempts to marry the simple farmgirl, Audrey (Dorice Fordred), before he can be stopped by Jaques (Leon Quartermaine), a Lord who lives with the exiled Duke.

Eventually, Ganymede, Orlando, Phoebe, and Silvius are brought together to sort out who marries whom. Ganymede proposes that Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phoebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede. The next day, Rosalind reveals herself, and Phoebe is married to Silvius. Orlando then rescues Oliver from a lioness in the forest, causing Oliver to repent and re-embrace his brother. Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phoebe, and Touchstone and Audrey are all then married, and they learn that Frederick has also repented and decided to reinstate his brother as the Duke.

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Directed and produced by Paul Czinner, written by William Shakespeare, J. M. Barrie (treatment) and R. J. Cullen (scenario), starring Laurence Olivier, Elisabeth Bergner, Felix Aylmer, Henry Ainley and Sophie Stewart.

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Source: “As You Like It (1936 film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 24 July 2012. Web. 30 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_Like_It_(1936_film).

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Indiscreet (1931) [Comedy]

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“Indiscreet” is an American comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Gloria Swanson and Ben Lyon. The screenplay by Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson, based on their story Obey That Impulse, originally was written as a full-fledged musical, but only two songs – “If You Haven’t Got Love” and “Come to Me” – remained when the film was released.

The plot of the United Artists release centers on fashion designer Geraldine Trent (Swanson), who takes up with novelist Tony Blake (Lyon) after leaving her former beau Jim Woodward because of his many indiscretions with other women. Tony has indicated he has no interest in dating a woman with a past, so Geraldine remains mum about her affair with Jim, until her younger sister Joan arrives and announces she’s engaged—to Jim. Madcap complications ensue as Geraldine tries to keep her secret from Tony while convincing her sister to rid herself of her womanizing fiancé in favor of simple country boy Buster Collins.

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Directed by Leo McCarey, produced by Lew Brown, Buddy G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson, written by Buddy G. DeSylva (story & scenario), Lew Brown (story & scenario), Ray Henderson (story & scenario) and Leo McCarey, starring Gloria Swanson
and Ben Lyon.

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Source: “Indiscreet (1931 film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 21 June 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiscreet_(1931_film).

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The Red House (1947) [Thriller]

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“The Red House” is a 1947 psychological thriller starring Edward G. Robinson. It is adapted from the novel “The Red House” by George Agnew Chamberlain, published in 1943 by Popular Library. The novel was serialized in five consecutive issues of Saturday Evening Post, 10 March 1945 through 7 April 1945.

Handicapped farmer Pete (Robinson) and sister Ellen (Anderson) have raised ward Meg as their own on a reclusive farm. Now a teen, Meg (Roberts) convinces her friend Nath to come help with chores on the farm. When Nath insists on using a shortcut home through the woods, Pete warns the young man of screams in the night and the terrors associated with the abandoned red house. Curious, Meg and Nath ignore his warnings and begin exploring and troubling secrets are revealed.

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Directed by Delmer Daves, produced by Sol Lesser, written by George Agnew, Chamberlain (novel) and Delmer Daves, starring Edward G. Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson and Rory Calhoun.

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Source: “The Red House (film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 6 July 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_House_(film).

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Sherlock Holmes | A Study In Scarlet (1933) [Thriller]

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“A Study in Scarlet” (1933) is a drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Reginald Owen as Sherlock Holmes and Anna May Wong as Mrs. Pyke. The title comes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel of the same name, the first in the Holmes series, but the screenplay by Robert Florey was original.

Despite her billing, Anna May Wong only appears on screen for less than ten minutes. Reginald Owen had played Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes the previous year; Owen was one of only four actors to play both Holmes and Watson (Jeremy Brett played Watson on stage in the United States prior to adopting the mantle of Holmes on British television, Carleton Hobbs played both roles in British radio adaptations while Patrick Macnee played both roles in US television movies).

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Directed by Edwin L. Marin, written by Robert Florey (screenplay) and Arthur Conan Doyle (novel’s title), starring Reginald Owen, June Clyde and Anna May Wong.

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Source: “A Study in Scarlet (1933 film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 22 April 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_in_Scarlet_(1933_film).

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The Thirteenth Guest (1932) [Mystery]

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“The Thirteenth Guest” (1932) is an American mystery film, released on August 9, 1932. The film is also known as “Lady Beware” in the United Kingdom. It was based on the 1929 novel by crime fiction writer Armitage Trail best known for writing “Scarface”.

The films opens on an old abandoned house and our leading character, Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers). As she sits down at the banquet table inside, she thinks back to the banquet that was held there 13 years before. A banquet set for 13 guests. However the 13th guest to this banquet never arrived. Now, 13 years later, the 12 attending guests are being murdered and set once again at the banquet table.

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Directed by Albert Ray, produced by M.H. Hoffman, written by Arthur Hoerl (Screenplay)
Frances Hyland (Screenplay) and Armitage Trail (Additional Dialogue), starring Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, J. Farrell MacDonald, Paul Hurst, Erville Alderson, Ethel Wales, James Eagles, Crauford Kent, Eddie Phillips and Frances Rich.

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Source: “The Thirteenth Guest (film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 29 June 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteenth_Guest_(Film).

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Isn’t Life Wonderful? (1924) [Silent Movie] [Drama]

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“Isn’t Life Wonderful?” (1924) is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the novel by Geoffrey Moss and it went under the alternative title “Dawn”. Most of the scenes were filmed in Germany and Austria. Only one was filmed in New York at the studio. The film stars Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton. The film was a failure at the box office, and led to Griffith leaving United Artists shortly after its run in theaters.

The film did receive some positive critical notices at the time, but its stock has risen considerably since; it has for some decades been considered one of Griffith’s greatest films. The title of the film was spoofed in the Charley Chase comedy “Isn’t Life Terrible” (1925).

A family from Poland has been left homeless in the wake of World War I. They move to Germany and struggle to survive the conditions there, during the Great Inflation. Inga (Carol Dempster) is a Polish war orphan who has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to marry Paul (Neil Hamilton). Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga’s future and he serves as their symbol of optimism.

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Directed and produced by D.W. Griffith, written by D.W. Griffith and Geoffrey Moss (novel), starring Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton.

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Source: “Isn’t Life Wonderful” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 22 July 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isn%27t_Life_Wonderful.

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Meet John Doe (1941) [Comedy]

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“Meet John Doe” is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a “grassroots” political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story. Though the film is less well known than other Frank Capra classics, it remains highly regarded today. It was ranked #49 in AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Cheers.

Infuriated at being told to write one final column after being laid off from her newspaper job, Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) prints a letter from a fictional unemployed “John Doe” threatening suicide on Christmas Eve in protest of society’s ills. When the note causes a sensation and the paper’s competition suspects a fraud and starts to investigate, the newspaper editor rehires Mitchell who comes up with a scheme of hiding the fictional nature of “John Doe” while exploiting the sensation caused by the fake letter to boost the newspaper’s sales, for which she demands a bonus equal to 8 months’ pay. After reviewing a number of derelicts who have shown up at the paper claiming to have penned the original suicide letter, Mitchell and editor Henry Connell (James Gleason) hire John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player and tramp who is in need of money to repair his injured arm, to play John Doe. Mitchell now starts to pen an article series in Doe’s name, elaborating on the letter’s ideas of society’s disregard of people in need.

Willoughby gets $50, a new suit of clothes, and a plush hotel suite with his tramp friend (Walter Brennan), who launches into an extended diatribe against “the heelots”, lots of heels who incessantly focus on getting money from others. Willoughby is hired to give radio speeches, guided by Mitchell who is promised $100 a week to write his speeches, paid by the newspaper’s publisher, D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold). Willoughby turns down a $5,000 bribe to admit the whole thing was a publicity stunt, gives Mitchell’s speech, and dashes off to the countryside with “The Colonel”. They ride the rails, playing the harmonica and ocarina until they show up in Millsville, where John Doe is recognized at a diner. He’s brought to City Hall, where he’s met by Hanson, who gives a five-minute monologue about how he was inspired to start a local John Doe club.

The John Doe philosophy spreads across the country, developing into a broad grassroots movement whose simple slogan is, “Be a better neighbor”. Far from being an altruistic philanthropist, however, Norton plans to channel the support for Doe into support for his own national political ambitions. As a culmination of this plan, Norton has instructed Mitchell to write a speech for Willoughby in which he announces the foundation of a new political party and endorses Norton as its presidential candidate.

When Willoughby, who has come to believe in the John Doe philosophy himself, realizes that he is being used, he tries to expose the plot, but is first stymied in his attempts to talk his own mind to a nationwide radio audience at the rally instead of reading the prepared speech, and then exposed as a fake by Norton, who claims to have been deceived, like everyone else, by the staff of the newspaper. Frustrated by his failure, Willoughby intends to commit suicide by jumping from the roof of the City Hall on Christmas Eve, as indicated in the original John Doe letter. Only the intervention of Mitchell and followers of the John Doe clubs persuades him to renege on his threat to kill himself. At this point in the movie, a reference to Jesus Christ is made, that a historical “John Doe” has already died for the sake of humanity. The film ends with Connell turning to Norton and saying, “There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!”

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Produced and directed by Frank Capra, written by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell, Sr., starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.

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Source: “Meet John Doe” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 18 July 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_John_Doe.

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Seven Sinners (1936) [Thriller]

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“Seven Sinners” is a 1936 British thriller film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings and Felix Aylmer. An American detective and his sidekick are called to Britain to take on a gang of international criminals.

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Directed by Albert de Courville, written by Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder, Austin Melford (additional dialogue), Bernard Merivale (story), L. du Garde Peach (adaptation as DuGarde Peach) and Arnold Ridley (story), starring Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings and Thomy Bourdelle.

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Source: “Seven Sinners (1936 film)” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 5 January 2012. Web. 26 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sinners_(1936_film).

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