China Seas 1935  N/R, 87 min.
Genre: Adventure
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Rosalind Russell, C. Aubrey Smith, Robert Benchley, Akim Tamiroff, Hattie McDaniel, Dudley Digges
Chinese riverboat Captain Al Gaskell (Clark Gable) has his hands full with pirates as well as China Doll (Jean Harlow) and Sybil (Rosalind Russell).
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The Emperor Jones 1933 N/R, 76 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Dudley Murphy
Cast: Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank C. Wilson, Fredi Washington, Ruby Elzy, George Haymid Stamper, Moms Mabley, Blueboy O'Connor, Brandon Evans, Taylor Gordon, Rex Ingram, Harold Nicholas
Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson) bids farewell to his town, wife, and Baptist faith and enters a life of violence and sin in his quest for weath and power.
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The General Died at Dawn 1936  N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Adventure / Drama / Thriller
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Akim Tamiroff, Dudley Digges, Porter Hall, William Frawley, J.M. Kerrigan, Philip Ahn, Leonid Kinskey, Paul Harvey, Lee Tung Foo, Val Durand, Willie Fung, Russell Hicks, John O'Hara
An American adventurer, O'Hara (Gary Cooper), travels across China with money to buy weapons needed to fight warlord General Yang (Akim Tamiroff). While on his mission, O'Hara falls in love with a beautiful spy, Judy (Madeleine Carroll), who is the daughter of Peter Perrie (Porter Hall). Peter happens to be one of Yang's agents. Judy and O'Hara are captured, and Yang orders that they be executed. When Judy and O"Hara manage to escape, Yang orders his guards to commit suicide, and then he dies.
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The Hatchet Man 1932 N/R, 74 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Dudley Digges, Leslie Fenton, J. Carrol Naish, Edmund Breese, Tully Marshall, Charles Middleton, Noel Madison, Blanche Friderici
Life during an earlier era in San Francisco's Chinatown is depicted in this story about love and ethnic conventions involving ritual executioner Wong Low Get (Edward G. Robinson) and his bride, Toya (Loretta Young).
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 The Invisible Man 1933  N/R, 71 min.
Genre: Sci-Fi / Horror / Drama / Thriller
Director: James Whale
Cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Una O'Connor, Henry Travers, William Harrigan, Holmes Herbert, E.E. Clive, Dudley Digges, Walter Brennan, John Carradine, Forrester Harvey, Harry Stubbs, Donald Stuart, Dwight Frye, Jameson Thomas
H.G. Wells wrote the story, which was then adapted to film in this excellent, early-era movie that marks the film debut of Claude Rains. The plot involves a scientist (Rains) who invents an invisibility serum with one bad side effect: using it causes the person to go insane, and he does.
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The Light That Failed 1939 N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: Ronald Colman, Walter Huston, Muriel Angelus, Ida Lupino, Dudley Digges, Ernest Cossart, Pedro de Cordoba, Halliwell Hobbes, Francis McDonald, George Chandler
Based on the Rudyard Kipling story, this film is about a painter, Dick Heldor (Ronald Colman), who races to finish his masterpiece–a portrait of Bessie Broke (Ida Lupino)–before blindness overtakes him.
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Love Is News 1937 N/R, 72 min.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Don Ameche, Slim Summerville, Dudley Digges, Walter Catlett, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, Stepin Fetchit, Elisha Cook Jr., Pauline Moore, Edwin Maxwell, Charles Williams, Julius Tannen, Frank Conroy
Steve Layton (Tyrone Power) is a tenacious reporter who writes a story about an heiress, Tony Gateson (Loretta Young), after tricking her into an interview. Tony is upset when she reads his article and sets out to get even. First, she announces their engagement to put Steve in the spotlight and see how it feels. And more misadventures ensue in their love/hate relationship. This film was remade as "That Wonderful Urge," also starring Tyrone Power.
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 The Maltese Falcon 1931 N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Mystery
aka: Dangerous Female
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel, Robert Elliott, J. Farrell MacDonald, Oscar Apfel, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Dwight Frye
Although not as popular as the Humphrey Bogart version 10 years later, this first (of three) filming of Dashiell Hammett's story, is good. Private Eye Sam Spade (Ricardo Cortez) takes a case for Ruth (Bebe Daniels), whose sister is missing. Ultimately, it becomes a case of looking for a valuable statuette (with others also in pursuit) and pursuing the murderer of his partner. The 1936 version is titled "Satan Met a Lady."
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The Mayor of Hell 1933 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Allen Jenkins, Dudley Digges, Frankie Darro, Dorothy Peterson, Charles C. Wilson, Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Barrat, Harold Huber, Sheila Terry, William V. Mong, G. Pat Collins, Edwin Maxwell, John Marston
This unusual story involves ex-gangster Richard 'Patsy' Gargan (James Cagney) who is appointed Deputy Commissioner of a reform school. He takes the position after the nurse (Madge Evans) at the school confides in him about the inhumane treatment being inflicted on the boys. He works to improve conditions at the reform school and the way the kids are being treated. But, Gargan leaves the reform school to kill a rival gangster, and then he goes into hiding. Meanwhile the poor conditions return at the reform school, and when the boys learn that Gargan is really a ruthless mobster they lose faith in him. But, Gargan returns, gets the warden Mr. Thompson (Dudley Digges) kicked out, and regains the boys' respect.
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Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 N/R, 135 min.
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Director: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Dudley Digges, Donald Crisp, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan, Henry Stephenson, Spring Byington, Ian Wolfe, Mamo Clark, Francis Lister, David Torrence, Percy Waram, DeWitt Jennings
This depiction of the 1787 mutiny aboard H.M.S. Bounty is a classic. The cruel Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) sails his ship, H.M.S. Bounty, from England to Tahiti where the crew, including Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) and his friend midshipman Byam (Franchot Tone), enjoy the island paradise. While Tahiti was a paradise, life on the Bounty proves anything but, and the overly strict discipline of Bligh becomes so intense that First Mate Fletcher Christian leads the crew in a mutiny and sends Bligh and a few crew members adrift at sea in an open boat. The film received an Academy Award for Best Picture. It also was nominated for seven others–including three for Best Actor (Laughton, Gable, and Tone) and Best Director (Frank Lloyd).
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Raffles 1940 N/R, 70 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Sam Wood
Cast: David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, Dame May Whitty, Dudley Digges, Douglas Walton, Lionel Pape, E.E. Clive, Peter Godfrey, Margaret Seddon, Gilbert Emery
An ex-Scotland Yard detective, Raffles (David Niven), relieves his boredom by becoming a jewel thief. This is a remake of a 1930 film by the same name.
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Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake 1942 N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Adventure
Director: John Cromwell
Cast: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, George Sanders, Frances Farmer, Roddy McDowall, Kay Johnson, John Carradine, Elsa Lanchester, Harry Davenport, Dudley Digges, Halliwell Hobbes, Marten Lamont, Arthur Hohl, Pedro de Cordoba, Heather Thatcher
In England during the reign of George III, an orphaned heir to a dukedom, Benjamin (Roddy McDowall), is being raised by his abusive uncle, Arthur Blake (George Sanders), who uses Benjamin as a bonded servant. Ten years later, Ben (now played by Tyrone Power) rebels and eventually sets sail for South America. Aboard ship, Ben meets a sailor, Caleb Green (John Carradine), and, together, they amass a fortune diving for pearls off a Polynesian island. During this period, Ben falls in love with an island girl he calls Eve (Gene Tierney). With his new wealth, will Ben have the courage to say farewell to Eve and return to London to claim his inheritance?
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The World Moves On 1934 N/R, 104 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: John Ford
Cast: Madeleine Carroll, Franchot Tone, Reginald Denny, Raul Roulien, Stepin Fetchit, Sig Ruman, Lumsden Hare, Louise Dresser, Dudley Digges, Frank Melton, Brenda Fowler, Russell Simpson, Marcelle Corday
This is the saga of two wealthy Louisiana families enduring grim changes in Europe and America during a 100-year period. The Girards of French heritage and the Warburtons from England intermarry and form a successful business alliance. They corner the cotton business in the South, but, personally, they fight each other. Nevertheless, their fortunes grow–until the stock market plunge in the 1920s destroys the empire. Mrs. Warburton (Madeleine Carroll) and Richard Girard (Franchot Tone) survive and begin anew only to find World War II now closing in on them. A strong anti-war film.
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| 1. China Seas (1935)
2. Condemned (1929)
3. The Emperor Jones (1933)
4. The General Died at Dawn (1936)
5. The Hatchet Man (1932)
6. The Invisible Man (1933)
7. Kind Lady (1936)
8. The Light That Failed (1939)
9. Love Is News (1937)
10. The Maltese Falcon (1931)
aka: Dangerous Female
11. The Mayor of Hell (1933)
12. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
13. Raffles (1940)
14. Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
15. The World Moves On (1934)
In The News
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