The Big Stampede 1932  N/R, 63 min.
Genre: Western
Director: Tenny Wright
Cast: John Wayne, Noah Beery, Mae Madison, Luis Alberni, Berton Churchill, Paul Hurst, Sherwood Bailey, Lafe McKee, Joseph W. Girard, Frank Ellis, Hank Bell
New Mexico Territory Governor Lew Wallace (Berton Churchill) sends Deputy Sheriff John Steele (John Wayne) into the range lands to stop cattle rustling and help colonize the territory. Steele deputizes rustler Sonora Joe (Louis Alberni) along with his gang, and they assist in bringing justice to cattle rustler/land baron Sam Crew (Noah Beery).
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Black Gold 1936 N/R, 58 min.
Genre: Action / Thriller
Director: Russell Hopton
Cast: Frankie Darro, LeRoy Mason, Gloria Shea, Berton Churchill, Stanley Fields, Frank Shannon, George Cleveland, Fred "Snowflake" Toones, Dewey Robinson, Slim Whitaker, Carleton Young, Horace B. Carpenter
J.C. Anderson (Berton Churchill) sabotages Dan O'Reilly's (Frank Shannon) oil well and kills Dan in the process, leaving Dan's young son Clifford, "Fishtail," (Frankie Darro) as owner of the well. Geologist Hank Langford (LeRoy Mason) comes to Fishtail's aid but, because of his offer, is kidnapped by Anderson. All is not lost; Hank escapes and saves the day.
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Cabin in the Cotton 1932 N/R, 76 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Jordan, Bette Davis, Henry B. Walthall, Berton Churchill, Hardie Albright, Tully Marshall, Clarence Muse, Dorothy Peterson, Edmund Breese, David Landau, Russell Simpson
A rich landowner, Marvin Blake (Richard Barthelmess), befriends one of his sharecroppers and teaches her to read. Then he learns of evil deeds performed by BOTH sharecroppers and land owners and is forced to reckon with problems inherent in his economic class-system.
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The Crooked Circle 1932 N/R, 68 min.
Genre: Comedy / Mystery
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone
Cast: Ben Lyon, Zasu Pitts, James Gleason, Irene Purcell, C. Henry Gordon, Raymond Hatton, Roscoe Karns, Berton Churchill, Spencer Charters, Robert Frazer, Frank Reicher, Christian Rub
When amateur detectives track down a secret society of hooded students of the occult and confront them in a haunted house, mayhem ensues.
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Dames 1934  N/R, 92 min.
Genre: Musical / Comedy
Director: Ray Enright
Cast: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts, Hugh Herbert, Guy Kibbee, Arthur Vinton, Sammy Fain, Phil Regan, Arthur Aylesworth, Johnny Arthur, Leila Bennett, Berton Churchill
Multi-millionaire Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert) leads his friends and family in a campagne for "the preservation of America's Morals." Meanwhile, his distant cousin, Jimmy (Dick Powell), is producing a show in what Ezra believes to be "the demon world of the theater" starring Ezra's niece Barbara (Ruby Keeler). Ezra's solution: hire thugs to wreck the show, and mayhem ensues.
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The Dark Hour 1936  N/R, 72 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Charles Lamont
Cast: Ray Walker, Irene Ware, Berton Churchill, Hedda Hopper, Hobart Bosworth, E.E. Clive, William V. Mong, Harold Goodwin, Aggie Herring, Kathryn Sheldon, Harry Strang, Fred Kelsey
Based on a Sinclair Gluck novel, "The Last Trap," this is the story of two able, but very different, detectives (Ray Walker and Berton Churchill) working on a murder case in an old, dark house.
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 Dimples 1936  N/R, 78 min.
Genre: Musical
Director: William A. Seiter
Cast: Shirley Temple, Frank Morgan, Stepin Fetchit, Helen Westley, Robert Kent, Delma Byron, Astrid Allwyn, John Carradine, Paul Stanton, Berton Churchill, Delma Byron, Julius Tannen, Billy McClain, Arthur Aylesworth, Jack Clifford
Sylvia "Dimples" Dolores Appleby (Shirley Temple) gathers the crowd with her dancing in the streets of nineteenth-century New York City while her grandfather Eustace Appleby (Frank Morgan) moves among her admirers picking their pockets. This is the story of Dimples' travels from the street to the stage.
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Doctor Bull 1933 N/R, 75 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
aka: Dr. Bull
Director: John Ford
Cast: Will Rogers, Vera Allen, Marian Nixon, Howard Lally, Louise Dresser, Andy Devine, Berton Churchill, Rochelle Hudson, Elizabeth Patterson, Ralph Morgan
Dr. Bull (Will Rogers) is a small-town physician who dispenses wisdom along with his prescriptions. However, when he falls in love with widow Janet Cardmaker (Vera Allen), gossip abounds among the town's residents.
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Four Men and a Prayer 1938 N/R, 85 min.
Genre: Adventure / Mystery
Director: John Ford
Cast: Loretta Young, Richard Greene, George Sanders, David Niven, C. Aubrey Smith, J. Edward Bromberg, John Carradine, Alan Hale, Reginald Denny, Barry Fitzgerald, William Henry, Berton Churchill, Claude King, Cecil Cunningham, Frank Dawson
Four brothers (Richard Greene, George Sanders, David Niven, and William Henry) suspect foul play in the murder of their father after he was dishonorably discharged from the British military. They begin an investigation to clear his name and discover more than they had bargained for.
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Heroes for Sale 1933 N/R, 73 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon, Gordon Westcott, Robert Barrat, Grant Mitchell, Charley Grapewin, Douglass Dumbrille, Ward Bond, Frank Darien, Berton Churchill, Robert McWade, G. Pat Collins, Margaret Seddon, Arthur Vinton
As the country heads for the Great Depression in 1929, Tom and Ruth Holmes (Richard Barthelmess and Loretta Young) manage to cope with Tom's morphine addiction that he got while recuperating from an injury suffered during World War I. Tom is treated and released from an asylum and finds work at a laundry. He becomes friends with Max Brinker (Robert Barrat) who has invented a washing machine, and they form a partnership. Later, the machines put Tom and his coworkers out of business, which results in a riot during which Ruth is killed. By story's end, Tom has donated his fortune from the washing machine business to Mary (Aline MacMahon) so that she can feed the hungry during the Depression, and Tom is out roaming the streets looking for a job.
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 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 1932  N/R, 93 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Preston Foster, Allen Jenkins, Edward Ellis, Harry Woods, Douglass Dumbrille, Irving Bacon, John Wray, Noel Francis, Berton Churchill, David Landau, Hale Hamilton, Sally Blane
This powerful story, based on the autobiography of Robert E. Burns, concerns an innocent man, James Allen (Paul Muni) who went through Hell-on-Earth at the hands of a Southern justice system. After escaping the chain gang once only to be turned in later by scorned wife Helen (Glenda Farrell), he again escapes. This is not a pleasant story, but it is one that should hold the watcher's attention. The ending is classic.
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In Old Chicago 1937 N/R, 95 min.
Genre: Action
Director: Henry King
Cast: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Alice Brady, Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy, Sidney Blackmer, Phyllis Brooks, Tom Brown, Berton Churchill
Alice Brady won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. O'Leary in this story about the great Chicago fire. The film also received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
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Judge Priest 1934 N/R, 79 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: John Ford
Cast: Will Rogers, Tom Brown, Anita Louise, Henry B. Walthall, Stepin Fetchit, Hattie McDaniel, Rochelle Hudson, David Landau, Berton Churchill, Charley Grapewin
This film adaptation of Irvin S. Cobb's short stories features Will Rogers as the down-home Judge Priest who rules wisely over both his courtroom and his family affairs. Another good John Ford movie.
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The Little Giant 1933 N/R, 74 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Helen Vinson, Mary Astor, Kenneth Thomson, Russell Hopton, Shirley Grey, Don Dillaway, Berton Churchill, Selmer Jackson, Dewey Robinson, Louise Mackintosh, Rolfe Sedan, Joan Barclay, Guy Usher, William Worthington
Prohibition has ended, and Chicago gangster Bugs Ahearn (Edward G. Robinson) and chief lieutenant Al Daniels (Russell Hopton) head west to Santa Barbara where Bugs plans to gain respectability. Bugs rents a mansion from Ruth Wayburn (Mary Astor) and hires her as his personal assistant and social secretary. Meanwhile, Bugs falls in love with socialite Polly Cass (Helen Vinson) and asks her to marry him. But, Polly, without Bugs' knowledge, continues her affair with John Staley (Kenneth Thomson), and her family swindles Bugs out of his ill-gotten fortune. When Ruth, who has fallen in love with Bugs, finally tells Bugs about Polly's family's activities, Bugs calls in the mob to help him out.
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Madame Butterfly 1932 N/R, 85 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Marion Gering
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Sandor Kallay, Irving Pichel, Helen Jerome Eddy, Edmund Breese, Wallis Clark, Sheila Terry, Berton Churchill
In this film, Puccini's opera is the basis for the story, but there is no music. The movie follows the traditional storyline of Lieutenant Pinkerton's (Cary Grant) tragic love affair with Cho-Cho-San (Sylvia Sidney).
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The Mysterious Rider 1933 N/R, 59 min.
Genre: Western
aka: The Fighting Phantom
Director: Fred(2) Allen
Cast: Kent Taylor, Lona Andre, Warren Hymer, Irving Pichel, Gail Patrick, Berton Churchill, Cora Sue Collins, Clarence Wilson, E.H. Calvert, Niles Welch
Based on a Zane Grey story, crooked lawyer Cliff Harkness (Irving Pichel) cheats ranchers out of their money and land. Cliff's life takes a turn for the worse when the "Mysterious Rider" (Kent Taylor) comes to the aid of the homesteaders.
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On Your Toes 1939 N/R, 93 min.
Genre: Musical
Director: Ray Enright
Cast: Vera Zorina, Eddie Albert, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, James Gleason, Donald O'Connor, Leonid Kinskey, Queenie Smith, Berton Churchill, Irving Bacon
Although this film is loosely based on the Rogers and Hart musical, not much of the original Broadway show remains. Phil Dolan Jr. (Eddie Albert) is a composer who endures a long romance with ballerina Vera (Vera Zorina).
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 Stagecoach 1939 N/R, 99 min.
Genre: Western / Action / Drama / Romance
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Thomas Mitchell, Donald Meek, George Bancroft, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt, Tom Tyler, Louise Platt, Yakima Canutt, Si Jenks, Chris-Pin Martin, Merrill McCormick
Westerns just do not get any better than this classic about a stagecoach trip, which includes all the possible problems it could encounter–even an Indian attack. An Oscar was awarded to Thomas Mitchell as Best Supporting Actor for his role of alcoholic Doc Boone. The film had several other nominations, including Best Picture and Director.
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Steamboat Round the Bend 1935 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: John Ford
Cast: Will Rogers, Anne Shirley, Irvin S. Cobb, Eugene Pallette, Raymond Hatton, Stepin Fetchit, John McGuire, Berton Churchill, Francis Ford, Roger Imhof
Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley) falls for Doctor John Pearly (Will Rogers), owner of a steamboat, whose goal is to win a great steamboat race that becomes the exciting climax for this film. Rogers died in a plane crash in Alaska before this film was released.
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Two Seconds 1932 N/R, 68 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Preston Foster, Vivienne Osborne, J. Carrol Naish, Guy Kibbee, Frederick Burton, Dorothea Wolbert, Edward McWade, Berton Churchill, William Janney
John Allen (Edward G. Robinson) contends he is being executed for the wrong murder. The switch is now thrown to send an electrical change into him as he sits in the Electric Chair. In the two seconds that it takes to kill him, his life is told in flashback.
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| 1. The Big Stampede (1932)
2. Black Gold (1936)
3. Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
4. The Crooked Circle (1932)
5. Dames (1934)
6. The Dark Hour (1936)
7. Dimples (1936)
8. Doctor Bull (1933)
aka: Dr. Bull
9. Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
10. Heroes for Sale (1933)
11. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
12. In Old Chicago (1937)
13. Judge Priest (1934)
14. The Little Giant (1933)
15. Madame Butterfly (1932)
16. The Mysterious Rider (1933)
aka: The Fighting Phantom
17. On Your Toes (1939)
18. The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
19. Stagecoach (1939)
20. Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)
21. Two Seconds (1932)
22. The Way of All Flesh (1940)
In The News
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