The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949  G, 68 min.
Genre: Animation / Family / Fantasy
Director: James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney
Cast: Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore, J. Pat O'Malley, Colin(2) Campbell, Claud Allister, John McLeish, Leslie Denison, Campbell Grant, Edmond Stevens, Alec Harford, The Rhythmaires
Two classic tales, Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" and Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" are retold in this animated Disney film. Basil Rathbone narrates "The Wind in the Willows" in which Mr. Toad (voice of Eric Blore) loves motorcars, and Mole (voice of Colin Campbell) and Rat (voice of Claud Allister) try unsuccessfully to lock him up so he cannot steal a car. Bing Crosby narrates "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which involves the story of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who tries to win the love of Katrina and keep her away from Brom Bones.
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Arrest Bulldog Drummond 1938  N/R, 60 min.
Genre: Action
Director: James P. Hogan
Cast: John Howard, H.B. Warner, Heather Angel, Reginald Denny, E.E. Clive, George Zucco, Claud Allister, Zeffie Tilbury, Leonard Mudie, John Davidson
Once again Bulldog Drummond (John Howard) puts off his marriage to Phyllis Clavering (Heather Angel) when he goes off on the trail of a murderer. In this entry in the Bulldog Drummond series, Drummond and his cohort, Scotland Yard's Col. Nielson (H.B. Warner), must recapture an ammunition-detonating machine that was stolen by an espionage ring.
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The Black Shield of Falworth 1954  N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Adventure
Director: Rudolph Mate
Cast: Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, David Farrar, Barbara Rush, Dan O'Herlihy, Patrick O'Neal, Rhys Williams, Herbert Marshall, Ian Keith, Claud Allister
Based on Howard Pyle's novel, "Men of Iron," this is the story of young Knight Myles (Tony Curtis) who fights for his King, Henry IV (Ian Keith)–and for the love of Lady Anne.
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The Dark Angel 1935  N/R, 110 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Sidney Franklin
Cast: Fredric March, Merle Oberon, Herbert Marshall, Janet Beecher, John Halliday, Frieda Inescort, Claud Allister, David Torrence, Holmes Herbert, Henrietta Crosman
This film received the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and Merle Oberon was nominated for Best Actress. It is a remake of the 1925 movie about Alan Trent's (Fredric March) attempts to conceal his blindness from his lover, Kitty Vane (Merle Oberon).
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 Dracula's Daughter 1936 N/R, 69 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Cast: Otto Kruger, Marguerite Churchill, Gloria Holden, Irving Pichel, Hedda Hopper, E.E. Clive, Edward Van Sloan, Gilbert Emery, Halliwell Hobbes, Billy Bevan, Nan Grey, Claud Allister, Edgar Norton
Count Dracula's daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), has inherited her father's thirst for blood, but she seeks psychiatric help from Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger) to curtail her murderous excursions.
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I Like Your Nerve 1931  N/R, 69 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: William C. McGann
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Henry Kolker, Edmund Breon, Boris Karloff, Luis Alberni, Claud Allister, Paul Porcasi, Ivan F. Simpson, Herbert Bunston
A bon vivant (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) changes to a more serious and directed persona when he spends time in Central America and falls in love with a young woman (Loretta Young).
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 Kiss Me Kate 1953 N/R, 109 min.
Genre: Musical / Comedy / Romance
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Keenan Wynn, Bobby Van, Tommy Rall, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Bob Fosse, Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Dave O'Brien, Ann Codee, Claud Allister, Carol Haney
Based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," this adaptation of the Broadway musical is delightful. Fred Graham "Petruchio" (Howard Keel) and Lilli Vanessi "Katherine" (Kathryn Grayson) are a divorced couple who star in a musical and resemble Shakespeare's characters–both on and off stage. Cole Porter songs add to the enjoyment.
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Monte Carlo 1930 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Comedy / Musical / Romance
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Jack Buchanan, Jeanette MacDonald, Zasu Pitts, Claud Allister, Lionel Belmore, Tyler Brooke, John Roche, Albert Conti, Helen Garden, Donald Novis, Billy Bevan, Sidney Bracey, Frances Dee, Rolfe Sedan
Countess Vera von Conti (Jeanette MacDonald) is engaged to Prince Otto von Seibenheim (Claud Allister), but she does not love him. So, just before the scheduled wedding, Vera heads for Monte Carlo where she loses, time after time, at the casinos. She meets a mysterious man (Jack Buchanan) who asks if he may touch her hair for luck. He strokes her hair, but it is Vera's luck that changes, and she asks him to stay by her side. What Vera does not know is that he is actually the very wealthy Count Rudolph Falliere who is posing as a commoner in order to be near Vera. The Count plays his game until he ends up winning her heart, and they live happily ever after. Among the songs MacDonald sings is, "Beyond the Blue Horizon."
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Never Give a Sucker an Even Break 1941 N/R, 70 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Edward F. Cline
Cast: W.C. Fields, Gloria Jean, Franklin Pangborn, Margaret Dumont, Leon Errol, Leon Belasco, Anne Nagel, Mona Barrie, Irving Bacon, Claud Allister, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth Brown, Susan Miller, Charles Lang, Minerva Urecal
W.C. Fields plays himself going through a day trying to sell a story to Esoteric Studios' producer Franklin Pangborn. The script reading becomes the story of Uncle Bill (Fields) and his niece (Gloria Jean) flying to Mexico to sell wooden nutmegs. Along the way, Uncle Bill dives out of an airplane to retrieve a whiskey bottle–and survives! He lands on a mountain where he meets and woos Mrs. Hemogloben (Margaret Dumont) who eats men. Many funny gags and moments.
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Platinum Blonde 1931 N/R, 82 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Loretta Young, Robert Williams, Jean Harlow, Louise Closser Hale, Donald Dilloway, Reginald Owen, Walter Catlett, Edmund Breese, Halliwell Hobbes, Claud Allister
When a newsman, Stew Smith (Robert Williams), marries the very wealthy Ann Schuyler (Jean Harlow), he finds that society life is not always to his liking and seeks solace from a female reporter, Gallagher (Loretta Young).
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The Private Life of Don Juan 1934 N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Alexander Korda
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Merle Oberon, Binnie Barnes, Joan Gardner, Benita Hume, Clifford Heatherley, Barry MacKay, Melville Cooper, Bruce Winston, Gina Malo, Claud Allister, Heather Thatcher, Diana Napier, Owen Nares, Athene Seyler
Returning to Seville following his exile, the aging Don Juan (Douglas Fairbanks) is now married to Dolores (Benita Hume). When he learns that Rodrigo (Barry MacKay) has been impersonating him, Don Juan seeks to reclaim his old reputation as the great lover by having an affair with Antonia (Merle Oberon). Adventures ensue, but when Dolores is finally able to make her point about his infidelities, a relieved Don Juan climbs the ladder to her balcony, and they are reunited forever.
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The Private Life of Henry VIII 1933  N/R, 97 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Alexander Korda
Cast: Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Wendy Barrie, Elsa Lanchester, Robert Donat, Miles Mander, Binnie Barnes, Everley Gregg, Franklin Dyall, Claud Allister, Laurence Hanray, William Austin, John Loder, Gibb McLaughlin, Sam Livesey
Charles Laughton won the Oscar for his portrayal of Henry VIII in this historical film. It is the story of Henry's relationships with five of his six wives and starts with the his marriage to his second wife, Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon), which ends in her execution. Henry's third wife is his mistress Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie) who dies in childbirth. Henry then agrees to an arranged marriage to Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester) that ends when she pushes him into the arms of Lady Catherine Howard (Binnie Barnes). He marries Catherine, but her affair with Henry's friend Thomas Culpepper (Robert Donat) ends in her beheading. Finally, Henry marries widowed Catherine Parr (Everley Gregg) who is determined to take care of him. An Academy Award nomination was received for Best Picture.
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Reaching for the Moon 1931 N/R, 74 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Bebe Daniels, Edward Everett Horton, Jack Mulhall, Claud Allister, Walter Walker, June MacCloy, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bing Crosby
Millionaire Larry Day (Douglas Fairbanks) takes lessons from his valet, Roger (Edward Everett Horton), on how to appeal to women and then follows beautiful Vivien (Bebe Daniels) on an ocean cruise where he woos and then marries her. Just when Larry believes he has found true happiness, the stock market crashes. Larry loses his fortune, but will he also lose Vivien? Watch for Bing Crosby who croons "Low Down" while entertaining in the ballroom aboard ship.
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The Reluctant Dragon 1941 N/R, 73 min.
Genre: Animation / Family / Comedy
Director: Alfred L. Werker, Hamilton Luske
Cast: Robert Benchley, Nana Bryant, Buddy Pepper, Frances Gifford, Alan Ladd, Barnett Parker, Claud Allister, Billy Lee, John Dehner, Jeff Corey, Gerald Mohr, Florence Gill, Walt Disney, Clarence Nash
Humorist Robert Benchley tours the Walt Disney studios and provides a glimpse into the inner-workings of animated films.
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Yellowstone 1936 N/R, 63 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Henry Hunter, Judith Barrett, Ralph Morgan, Alan Hale, Andy Devine, Monroe Owsley, Michael Loring, Paul Fix, Rollo Harvey, Raymond Hatton, House Peters Jr., Mary Gordon, Claud Allister, Diana Gibson
Yellowstone National Park ranger Dick Sherwood (Henry Hunter) falls in love with Ruth Foster (Judith Barrett) while she is visiting from Chicago. Judith's father James (Ralph Morgan) was involved in a robbery many years earlier, and the $90,000 of stolen money is hidden in a cave at Yellowstone. The gang of robbers–including James–is released from prison and comes searching for the money. James is murdered–his body spurts out of a geyser! Ranger Dick is suspected as the murderer and begins his own investigation, but it is his pal, Pay Day (Andy Devine), who gets to the bottom of what is really happening.
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| 1. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
2. Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938)
3. The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
4. Bulldog Drummond (1929)
5. Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1937)
6. The Dark Angel (1935)
7. Dracula's Daughter (1936)
8. I Like Your Nerve (1931)
9. Kiss Me Kate (1953)
10. Monte Carlo (1930)
11. Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
12. Platinum Blonde (1931)
13. The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
14. The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
15. Reaching for the Moon (1931)
16. The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
17. The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934)
18. Yellowstone (1936)
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