Movie Listings by Genre

Director: Thornton Freeland    More Info
Starring: Fanny Brice, Robert Armstrong, Harry Green, G. Pat Collins, Gertrude Astor, Budd Fine, Marjorie Kane, Rita Flynn, Anderson Lawler

 Down-on-his-luck boxer Jerry Moore (Robert Armstrong) is befriended by nightclub entertainer Fannie Field (Fanny Brice) who, with help from her brother Harry (Harry Green), turns Jerry into a prizefighter. But, in the process, Fannie's rival Lillian (Gertrude Astor) steals Jerry from her. Fannie solves the problem by setting up a rematch in which she tells Jerry's opponent (G. Pat Collins) to attack Jerry's newly straightened nose. The ploy works, Jerry loses the fight but realizes how important it is to win Fannie.

Director: Luther Reed    More Info
Starring: Bebe Daniels, Everett Marshall, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Joseph Cawthorn, Jobyna Howland, Dorothy Lee, Ralf Harolde, Bill Robinson, Eddy Chandler

 The popular comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey star as Peewee and Gaylord bringing comedy relief to this musical starring Bebe Daniels as their sister who is about to marry a wealthy Southern plantation heir (Everett Marshall).

Director: John Murray Anderson    More Info
Starring: John Boles, Laura LaPlante, Glenn Tryon, Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, Slim Summerville, Bing Crosby, Bela Lugosi, Walter Brennan

 This film's use of an early stage in the development of Technicolor employing a two-color process is interesting from an historical perspective. The film itself is an entertaining talkie featuring Paul Whiteman's rendition of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" among other great musical numbers.

Director: Michael Curtiz    More Info
Starring: Al Jolson, Lois Moran, Louise Dresser, Lowell Sherman, Hobart Bosworth, Stanley Fields, Tully Marshall, Mitchell Lewis, Jack Curtis, Noah Beery

 Good musical numbers include "The Call of the South" and "To My Mammy" in this otherwise dated film about a romance among performers in a minstrel show.

Director: Malcolm St. Clair    More Info
Starring: Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Ricardo Cortez, Benny Rubin, Cliff Edwards, Karl Dane, Lloyd Ingraham, George Reed

 An Eastern socialite (Joan Crawford) marries a Montana cowpoke (Johnny Mack Brown) and they manage to make a go of colliding cultures.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch    More Info
Starring: Jack Buchanan, Jeanette MacDonald, Zasu Pitts, Claud Allister, Lionel Belmore, Tyler Brooke, John Roche, Albert Conti, Helen Garden, Donald Novis

 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."

Director: Various Directors    More Info
Starring: Jean Arthur, Maurice Chevalier, Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, Stuart Erwin, Fredric March, William Powell, Jack Oakie, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Leon Errol

 This debut by Paramount into the realm of the "talkies" includes numbers by Clara Bow and Maurice Chevalier as well as other Paramount stars cavorting in skits.

Director: Rene Clair    More Info
Starring: Albert Prejean, Pola Illery, Edmond T. Greville, Paul Ollivier, Gaston Modot, Bill Bocker, Jane Pierson, Raymond Aimos, Thomy Bourdelle

 First made as a silent film, music and dialog were then added in this early musical/drama. Best friends Albert and Louis (Albert Prejean and Edmond T. Greville) are street singers, and both vie for another singer, Pola (Pola Illery). When Albert is wrongfully sent to prison, Louis and Pola become lovers. But when Albert gets out of jail, the three come to an agreement.

Director: Thornton Freeland    More Info
Starring: Eddie Cantor, Eleanor Hunt, Paul Gregory, John Rutherford, Ethel Shutta, Spencer Charters

 This musical comedy marks Eddie Cantor's first talkie; he plays a hypochondriac. Cantor is backed by Busby Berkeley's production numbers and sings "Making Whoopee" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me." Watch for Betty Grable in the opening song.

Director: Rene Clair    More Info
Starring: Henri Marchand, Raymond Cordy, Paul Ollivier, Andre Michaud, Rolla France, Germaine Aussey, Leon Lorin, William Burke, Vincent Hyspa, Alexander D'Arcy

 This famous anti-capitalist statement starts with two prisoners who become friends. Louis (Raymond Cordy) escapes and becomes an executive at a phonograph factory. When his friend, Emile (Henri Marchand), gets out of jail, he ends up as an assembly-line worker at his friend's factory. The de-humanization of the workers is highlighted with comedic interludes. This is the first non-English speaking film to receive an Oscar nomination (Best Art Direction).

Director: Leo McCarey    More Info
Starring: Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Barbara Kent, Monroe Owsley, Arthur Lake, Maude Eburne, Henry Kolker, Nella Walker, Harry Watson

 Wealthy Jerry Trent (Gloria Swanson) tries to keep her past from current beau Tony (Ben Lyon). Enter sister with a former boyfriend of Jerry's, and the "fun" begins. Gloria got big bucks for this one, but even she couldn't bail it out from the weak script and songs.

Director: George Fitzmaurice    More Info
Starring: Evelyn Laye, John Boles, Lilyan Tashman, Hugh Cameron, Marian Lord, Leon Errol

 Flower girl Lilli (Evelyn Laye) substitutes for a famous singer in this old-fashioned romantic story of an earlier era.

Director: A. Edward Sutherland    More Info
Starring: Eddie Cantor, Charlotte Greenwood, Spencer Charters, Barbara Weeks, George Raft, Charles Middleton, Walter Catlett, Betty Grable, Harry Woods, Paul Page

 Eddie Simpson (Eddie Cantor) unwittingly becomes involved in a spiritualism scam and becomes mixed up in numerous offbeat episodes in this elaborate early musical comedy.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch    More Info
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, George Barbier, Charles Ruggles, Hugh O'Connell, Janet Reade, Lon MacSunday, Elizabeth Patterson, Granville Bates

 This story takes place in Vienna where Lt. "Niki" von Preyn (Maurice Chevalier) shares an apartment with his lover Franzi (Claudette Colbert). When King Adolf XV (George Barbier) visits the city, his dowdy daughter Princess Anna (Miriam Hopkins) falls in love with "Niki," and he is forced to marry her. But, "Niki" refuses to consummate the marriage–until good-hearted Franzi performs a makeover on Anna, and "Niki" falls for Anna. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Director: John M. Stahl    More Info
Starring: Paul Lukas, Sidney Fox, Lewis Stone, George Meeker, Sidney Toler, Natalie Moorhead, William Ricciardi, Samuel Bonello, Aldo Franchetti, Carlo Schipa

 Based on Preston Sturges' play this story revolves around an opera star (Paul Lukas) whose actions lead to a public slander campaign that interferes with his courting of the woman he loves (Sidney Fox). Remade in 1951.

Director: Frank Tuttle    More Info
Starring: Stuart Erwin, Bing Crosby, Leila Hyams, Sharon Lynn, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Kate Smith, Mills Brothers, Cab Calloway, George Barbier

 This movie began a series of films projecting radio personalities onto the screen. The story involves Leslie McWhinney's (Stuart Erwin) effort to improve his radio station's financial situation. His solution is to host stars on a special broadcast. Young singer Bing Hornsby (Bing Crosby) croons several tunes, and Kate Smith, Cab Calloway, the Mills Brothers, and others are also featured. Meanwhile, George Burns and Gracie Allen perform comic routines.

Director: Leo McCarey    More Info
Starring: Eddie Cantor, Lyda Roberti, Robert Young, Ruth Hall, John Miljan, Stanley Fields, Paulette Goddard, Betty Grable, J. Carrol Naish, Noah Beery

 In this musical spectacle, Eddie Cantor plays a college dropout who ends up in Mexico where he impersonates a famous matador.

Director: Rouben Mamoulian    More Info
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Ruggles, C. Aubrey Smith, Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth, Elizabeth Patterson, George "Gabby" Hayes, Blanche Friderici, Joseph Cawthorn

 This Rogers and Hart musical is a delight. It is the story of a tailor Maurice Courtelin (Maurice Chevalier) who pretends to be a Baron in order to gain the romantic attentions of the beautiful Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald). Chevalier sings the classics "Mimi," "Lover," and "Isn't it Romantic."

Director: George Cukor    More Info
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin, Charles Ruggles, Roland Young, Josephine Dunn, Richard Carle, George Barbier, Barbara Leonard, Charles Judels

 Andre and Colette (Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald) are happily married. Andre, a doctor, has had chances to be unfaithful due to come-on's by his female patients, but when he meets Colette's best friend, Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin), the matrimonial mix-ups begin. Lots of music in this good remake of 1924's "The Marriage Circle," also directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The film received a Best Picture Oscar nomination.

Director: Norman Taurog    More Info
Starring: George M. Cohan, Claudette Colbert, Jimmy Durante, George Barbier, Sidney Toler, Louise Mackintosh, Jameson Thomas

 George M. Cohan plays both presidential candidate T.K. Blair and his own slick look-alike Peter Varney in this forgettable Rogers and Hart musical.

Director: Lloyd Bacon    More Info
Starring: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Una Merkel, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, George E. Stone, Allen Jenkins

 Busby Berkeley's musical numbers highlight this entertaining film about what goes on behind the scenes of the Broadway musical show, "Pretty Lady." The show's director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) is in poor health but wants to enjoy one more hit before he retires. When the show's temperamental star, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels) breaks her ankle on the night of the show's opening, chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) fills in and takes over the lead. Featured numbers include" "You're getting to Be a Habit with Me," "Shuffle off to Buffalo," and "42nd Street." The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Director: Norman Taurog    More Info
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Helen Twelvetrees, Baby LeRoy, Edward Everett Horton, Adrienne Ames, Earle Foxe, Gertrude Michael, Reginald Mason, Henry Kolker

 When a gigolo must take care of a baby, his livelihood is threatened.

Director: Wesley Ruggles    More Info
Starring: Bing Crosby, Jack Oakie, Richard Arlen, Mary Carlisle, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Joe Sawyer, Mary Kornman

 Professor Danvers (Bing Crosby) falls for popular co-ed, Barbara (Mary Carlisle), in this film providing a humorous look at academia.

Director: Robert Z. Leonard    More Info
Starring: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Fred Astaire, Robert Benchley, Ted Healy, Nelson Eddy, Lynn Bari, Sterling Holloway

 This is Fred Astaire's movie debut, and he shines in this film about an aspiring performer (Joan Crawford) and stage producer Patch Gallagher (Clark Gable) who works toward making her a star. Also featured are the Three Stooges when they were known as "Ted Healy and His Stooges."

Director: Thornton Freeland    More Info
Starring: Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Blanche Friderici, Walter Walker, Eric Blore, Luis Alberni, Paul Porcasi

 This is the first pairing of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; their dancing saves the day for this film featuring novelty numbers, which include dancing on the wings of airplanes.