Adventures of Marco Polo 1938  N/R, 100 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: Gary Cooper, Sigrid Gurie, Basil Rathbone, George Barbier, Ernest Truex, Alan Hale, Binnie Barnes, Ward Bond, Lana Turner, Robert Greig, H.B. Warner, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Henry Kolker, Stanley Fields
When 13th-century Venetian explorer Marco Polo (Gary Cooper) arrives in China on a trade mission, he falls in love with Princess Kukachen (Sigrid Gurie). But, the conniving Prime Minister Ahmed (Basil Rathbone) wants the princess for himself and schemes to have Marco Polo temporarily banished by sending him to the outlands, which are controlled by the bandit Kaidu (Alan Hale). When Marco Polo meets Kaidu, the two join forces to save Princess Kukachen's father, Kublai Kahn (George Barbier). To achieve their goal, they use gunpowder, and by story's end, Marco Polo and Princess Kukachen are on their way to Persia.
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Always Together 1948  N/R, 78 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Frederick De Cordova
Cast: Robert Hutton, Joyce Reynolds, Cecil Kellaway, Ernest Truex, Humphrey Bogart, Jack Carson, Alexis Smith, Errol Flynn, Janis Paige, Dennis Morgan
Jame Barker (Joyce Reynolds) inherits $1,000,000, and just when she and her husband (Robert Hutton) begin plans to enjoy their newfound wealth, the benefactor recovers–and wants his $1,000,000 back!
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Bachelor Mother 1939  N/R, 82 min.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Director: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson, E.E. Clive, Ernest Truex, Paul Stanton, Ferike Boros, Leonard Penn, Dennie Moore, Elbert Coplen Jr., Frank M. Thomas, Edna Holland, June Wilkins, Donald Duck
Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) is a clerk at Merlin's Department Store who discovers an abandoned baby on her doorstep. She falls in love with the little bundle of joy and decides to adopt the baby. Rumors fly that Polly is really the birth mother, and the store owner, J.B. Merlin (Charles Coburn), sends his son David (David Niven) to get Polly back on the straight-and-narrow path. Now, Polly discovers more than love for the charming infant, she discovers other forms of love, too.
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Christmas in July 1940  N/R, 66 min.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr, William Demarest, Ernest Truex, Franklin Pangborn, Harry Hayden, Rod Cameron, Harry Rosenthal, Adrian Morris, Georgia Caine, Julius Tannen, Torben Meyer, Ferike Boros
Believing he has won $10,000 in a slogan contest, a young clerk, Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell), tears off on a spending spree and proposes to his girlfriend, Betty Casey (Ellen Drew). When he finds out that the prize is not really his, Jimmy is faced with the consequences of his rash actions.
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The Crystal Ball 1943 N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Elliott Nugent
Cast: Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Virginia Field, Gladys George, William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway, Frank Conlan, Ernest Truex, Tom Dugan
When she loses a beauty contest, Toni Gerard (Paulette Goddard) turns to fortune telling and real estate swindles to make money. Her immoral business enterprises take their toll on her.
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Dance, Girl, Dance 1940  N/R, 88 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Musical
Director: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field, Ralph Bellamy, Maria Ouspenskaya, Mary Carlisle, Katharine Alexander, Edward Brophy, Walter Abel, Harold Huber, Ernest Truex, Chester Clute, Emma Dunn, Sidney Blackmer
Judy O'Brien (Maureen O'Hara) arrives in New York City planning to gain fame as a ballerina. As luck would have it, she gets a job working as a stooge for strip-tease dancer Bubbles (Lucille Ball) who dances a ballet as a lead-in to her strip show. The two women encounter problems when they both fall for playboy Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward), and physical fighting is used to determine who should have Jimmy. But that issue is settled after Jimmy's ex-wife (Virginia Field) decides to take him back.
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 His Girl Friday 1940   N/R, 92 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns, Regis Toomey, Ernest Truex, Frank Jenks, Abner Biberman, Frank Orth, John Qualen
Newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) pulls out all stops to prevent the marriage of his star reporter–and ex-wife–Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) to insurance agent Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Walter convinces Hildy to cover one last story about the execution of anarchist Earl Williams (John Qualen). When Williams escapes, with help from Walter and Hildy he hides in the prison press room. Hildy is set to write her big story, while Walter uses their time together to woo her back. A Grant classic, along with great cast and script. 1 User Review
| User Review |
| | Verbal Comedy Doesn't Get Better Than This | 1fatts 07/23/2007 | Menjou and O'Brian did it in '31. Mathau and Lemmon in '74. Robert Ryan and George Grizzard did it on TV in 1970. And somebody even did it once somewhere as a musical. But this is the one. This one: 1940 with Cary Grant and Roz Russell.
A fast-paced play by McArthur and Hecht called "The Front Page" got kicked up several notches when someone decided to turn Hildy Johnson, the bitter, frustrated reporter looking for an escape from the newspaper game into a normal life, into a woman, ex-wife of fast-talking, vicious-but-lovable editor Walter Burns. Cary Grant as burns was never faster or funnier, but his pairing with Roz Russell as Hildy is nothing short of magic. The dialogue zings along, and every second line is a zinger.
But there is more to this than the very real verbal jousting. There is a glimpse into the world of newspapers which is illuminating and more than a little frightening. Anything for the story; it is never about fact, but about the lead, the scoop. Russell's scene with John Qualen's Earl Williams is sharp and tough and cold. The scenes with the veterans in the jailhouse newsroom captures an earlier time and speech pattern, but, one suspects, it has more to say about what media news is really about than All the President's Men could every have hoped to show.
There is an edge to the script that raises it about great comedy into something more important than that.
One of the best things Howard Hawks ever did. Not to be missed. |
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It's a Wonderful World 1939 N/R, 86 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Cast: Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Guy Kibbee, Nat Pendleton, Frances Drake, Edgar Kennedy, Ernest Truex, Sidney Blackmer, Hans Conried, Richard Carle
A writer (Claudette Colbert) joins up with a fugitive (James Stewart), and together they outwit the police (Nat Pendleton and Edgar Kennedy).
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Life with Blondie 1946 N/R, 64 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Abby Berlin
Cast: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Marjorie Kent, Jonathan Hale, Marc Lawrence, Jack Rice, Douglas Fowley, Eddie Acuff, Ernest Truex
Daisy the dog wins a pin-up contest and gets dognapped by the bad guys. The Bumsteads go into "action."
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Lillian Russell 1940  N/R, 127 min.
Genre: Musical
Director: Irving Cummings
Cast: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Edward Arnold, Warren William, Leo Carrillo, Nigel Bruce, Helen Westley, Dorothy Peterson, Ernest Truex
Alice Faye portrays 1890s' Broadway star Lillian Russell and sings such classics as "After the Ball" and "The Band Played On" in this musical presentation.
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Private Buckaroo 1942 N/R, 68 min.
Genre: Musical / Comedy
Director: Edward F. Cline
Cast: The Andrews Sisters, Dick Foran, Joe E. Lewis, Jennifer Holt, Shemp Howard, Ernest Truex, Harry James, Mary Wickes, Donald O'Connor, Richard Davies, Peggy Ryan, Huntz Hall
During basic training, Army recruits visit the USO where they are entertained by the Andrews Sisters and bandleader Harry James.
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Slightly Honorable 1940 N/R, 83 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Broderick Crawford, Edward Arnold, Ruth Terry, Alan Dinehart, Claire Dodd, Bernard Nedell, Eve Arden, Douglass Dumbrille, Phyllis Brooks, Douglas Fowley, Ernest Truex
Corrupt politician Russ Sampson (Edward Arnold) frames lawyer John Webb (Pat O'Brien) for the murder of a woman involved in a scandal. Webb and law partner Russ (Broderick Crawford) set out to find the real murderer.
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These Glamour Girls 1939 N/R, 78 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Lew Ayres, Lana Turner, Tom Brown, Richard Carlson, Jane Bryan, Anita Louise, Marsha Hunt, Ann Rutherford, Mary Beth Hughes, Ernest Truex
Ivy Leaguer Philip (Lew Ayres) has a big night on the town and asks dancehall girl Jane (Lana Turner, in her first starring role) to the big, annual weekend party. When she arrives, he had forgotten that he invited her, but she refuses to leave. Rather, Jane shows up the snobbish girls of the school.
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| 1. Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
2. Always Together (1948)
3. Bachelor Mother (1939)
4. Christmas in July (1940)
5. The Crystal Ball (1943)
6. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
7. His Girl Friday (1940)
8. Island of Lost Men (1939)
9. It's a Wonderful World (1939)
10. Life with Blondie (1946)
11. Lillian Russell (1940)
12. Private Buckaroo (1942)
13. Slightly Honorable (1940)
14. These Glamour Girls (1939)
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