Alias Jesse James 1959 N/R, 92 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Gene Autry, Gary Cooper, Will Wright, Bing Crosby, Ward Bond, James Arness, Roy Rogers
After insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth (Bob Hope) sells a life insurance policy to Jesse James (Wendell Corey), he must follow him into the West to guard his life. There are lots of stars playing the role that they are most famous for–James Garner plays Brett Maverick, Fess Parker Plays Davy Crockett, and even Jay Silverheels is there as Tonto.
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Alice in Wonderland 1933 N/R, 70 min. Genre: Family / Fantasy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Charlotte Henry, Richard Arlen, Roscoe Ates, Charles Ruggles, Roscoe Karns, Gary Cooper, W.C. Fields, Cary Grant, Sterling Holloway, Edward Everett Horton, Leon Errol, Ned Sparks
This is the Lewis Carroll story brought to the screen with Alice (Charlotte Henry) dealing with the offbeat characters in Wonderland. This is the first full-length film of the story.
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Casanova's Big Night 1954 N/R, 85 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bob Hope, Joan Fontaine, Audrey Dalton, Basil Rathbone, Hugh Marlowe, Vincent Price, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Raymond Burr, Frank Puglia
Pippo (Bob Hope) is a mere tailor's apprentice who is mistaken for the notorious lover, Casanova, and is called on to test the fidelity of a young lady of the court.
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Horse Feathers 1932 N/R, 69 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, David Landau, Florine McKinney, Nat Pendleton, James Pierce, Robert Greig
The Marx Brothers are at their very funniest in this film about a college dean (Groucho) who is determined to have a winning football season after years of being on the losing end.
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It's a Gift 1934 N/R, 73 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: W.C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol, Julian Madison, Tammany Young, Tommy Bupp, Spencer Charters, Guy Usher, Baby LeRoy, Morgan Wallace, Charles Sellon, Josephine Whittell, Diana Lewis, Dell Henderson
In this classic W.C. Fields comedy, Harold Bissonette (Fields), despite objections from his nagging wife (Kathleen Howard), uses a mail-order service to buy a California orange grove that, of course, turns out to be worthless. Comedy reigns as Bissonette finds a way out of his financial mess.
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The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 N/R, 114 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden, Walter Abel, Lionel Stander, Fay Bainter, Clarence Kolb, Jerome Cowan
In this remake of "The Milky Way," Danny Kaye takes on Harold Lloyd's role of the milkman who rises in the rankings to become a champion boxer–mostly due to his manager's wheeling and dealing.
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Lady Be Good 1941 N/R, 111 min. Genre: Comedy / Musical
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Dan Dailey, Virginia O'Brien, Tom Conway, Reginald Owen, Rose Hobart, Doris(2) Day, Phil Silvers, Edward Gargan, Connie Russell
Songwriters Dixie and Eddie (Ann Sothern and Robert Young) are in love with each other but have more than a few problems in their personal relationship. Despite their difficulties, they still manage to compose numbers for a new Broadway show–and, in the process, manage to reconcile their differences. Highlights are "Lady Be Good," "Fascinating Rhythm," and the Academy Award winner "The Last Time I Saw Paris."
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Little Men 1940 N/R, 84 min. Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Kay Francis, Jack Oakie, George Bancroft, Jimmy Lydon, Ann Gillis, Carl Esmond, Richard Nichols, William Demarest, Sterling Holloway, Isabel Jewell, Casey Johnson, Francesca Santoro, Johnny Burke, Lillian Randolph, Sammy McKim
Louisa May Alcott's tale is again adapted to the screen as grown-up Jo (Kay Francis) opens a boarding school and attempts to tame a ruffian, Dan (Jimmy Lydon). Dan finally learns gentlemanly behavior–despite the influence of his crooked father, Major Burdle (George Bancroft). When Jo's school faces a bank foreclosure, the Major's cohort, Willie the Fox (Jack Oakie), turns himself in for the $5,000 reward and presents the money to Jo in order to save the school. Good comic relief from Jack Oakie.
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Many Happy Returns 1934 N/R, 62 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: George Burns, Gracie Allen, George Barbier, Joan Marsh, Franklin Pangborn, Ray Milland, William Demarest, Guy Lombardo, Stanley Fields, John Kelly, Johnny Arthur
Gracie's (Gracie Allen) father, Horatio Allen (George Barbier), makes a deal with Burns (George Burns) to marry his weird daughter to take her off his hands.
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Monkey Business 1931 N/R, 77 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, Tom Kennedy, Harry Woods, Ruth Hall, Ben Taggart, Rockliffe Fellowes
The Marx Brothers stow away on an ocean liner. In this, one of their best films, they do great impersonations of Maurice Chevalier.
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My Favorite Spy 1951 N/R, 93 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, Francis L. Sullivan, Arnold Moss, John Archer, Morris Ankrum, Iris Adrian, Frank Faylen, Mike Mazurki, Marc Lawrence
When an espionage agent is killed in the line of duty, his look-alike, Peanuts (Bob Hope), is sent to Tangiers to finish the job.
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Never Wave at a WAC 1952 N/R, 87 min. Genre: Comedy aka: The Private Wore Skirts
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Rosalind Russell, Paul Douglas, Marie Wilson, William Ching, Arleen Whelan, Leif Erickson, Charles Dingle, Lurene Tuttle, Hillary Brooke, Regis Toomey, Frieda Inescort, Louise Beavers
Socialite Jo McBain (Rosalind Russell) joins the WACs and encounters more than a few problems dealing with life in the Army.
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The Paleface 1948 N/R, 91 min. Genre: Comedy / Western
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Charles Trowbridge, Jeff York, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian, Bobby Watson, Jackie Searl, Joseph Vitale, Clem Bevans, Stanley Andrews, Wade Crosby, Chief Yowlachie, Iron Eyes Cody, John Maxwell
The song "Buttons and Bows" won the Academy Award for Best Song in this very entertaining comedy about the romance and marriage of Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) and frontier dentist "Painless" Peter Potter (Bob Hope) who she meets while investigating the selling of rifles to Indians.
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Pennies from Heaven 1936 N/R, 80 min. Genre: Musical
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bing Crosby, Madge Evans, Edith Fellows, Donald Meek, Louis Armstrong, John Gallaudet, Tom Dugan, Nana Bryant, Charles C. Wilson, Harry Tyler
The title song, "Pennies from Heaven," was nominated for an Academy Award in this film in which Bing Crosby plays a poor minstrel who befriends an orphan and her grandfather.
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Road to Rio 1947 N/R, 100 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Faylen, Frank Puglia, Jerry Colonna, The Andrews Sisters, Nestor Paiva, Joseph Vitale
Scat Sweeney (Bing Crosby) and Hot Lips Barton (Bob Hope) hop a ship bound for Rio de Janeiro and help a hypnotized young woman (Dorothy Lamour) who is being forced into an arranged marriage.
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1947 N/R, 110 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Danny Kaye, Boris Karloff, Virginia Mayo, Fay Bainter, Ann Rutherford, Reginald Denny, Thurston Hall, Konstantin Shayne, Florence Bates, Gordon Jones
This is good entertainment with Danny Kaye at his best as Walter Mitty, the shy book editor, whose fantasies bring excitement into his otherwise dreary existence.
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Topper 1937 N/R, 97 min. Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Cary Grant, Roland Young, Constance Bennett, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Eugene Pallette, Arthur Lake, Hedda Hopper, Virginia Sale, J. Farrell MacDonald, Theodore von Eltz, Elaine Shepard, Doodles Weaver, Si Jenks, Irving Bacon
George and Marion Kerby (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) die in a car crash, but they must perform a good deed before they can go to Heaven. Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) is the stuffy president of the bank in which George and Marion are stockholders, and they decide that he should be the one who will receive their services. The good deed is to show Topper how to loosen up and enjoy life–but the deed will not come without problems from Topper's wife Clara (Billie Burke) and his butler (Alan Mowbray). Young received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
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Topper Takes a Trip 1938 N/R, 85 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod Cast: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Verree Teasdale, Franklin Pangborn, Alexander D'Arcy, Paul Hurst, Spencer Charters, Irving Pichel, Armand Kaliz, Eddie Conrad, Leon Belasco, Georges Revanent, Wade Boteler
This film picks up where the original "Topper" left off (without Cary Grant, except in a flashback). Cosmo Topper's (Roland Young) wife Clara (Billie Burke) heads to France, intending to divorce Cosmo, thinking that he had an affair with Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett), who was, in reality, a ghost trying to do a good deed. Cosmo chases after Clara, hoping to change her mind, and Marion shows up with her ghost dog to help him out. Excellent special effects, especially for the 1930s.
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| 1. Alias Jesse James (1959)
2. Alice in Wonderland (1933)
3. Casanova's Big Night (1954)
4. Horse Feathers (1932)
5. It's a Gift (1934)
6. The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
7. Lady Be Good (1941)
8. Little Men (1940)
9. Many Happy Returns (1934)
10. Monkey Business (1931)
11. My Favorite Spy (1951)
12. Never Wave at a WAC (1952) aka: The Private Wore Skirts
13. The Paleface (1948)
14. Pennies from Heaven (1936)
15. Road to Rio (1947)
16. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
17. Topper (1937)
18. Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
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