Ben Taggart

After a rare gem is stolen from an exhibition at a posh hotel, Inspector Farraday decides to recruit former thief Boston Blackie to find the stone. Along with his assistant, "The Runt", Blackie focuses his investigation on the hotel manager, George Daley, and his sister, Eileen. Through disguises and ruses, Blackie and the Runt try to trick their way to discovering the thieves.

In this comedy, three merchant marines get into all kinds of trouble. Two of the salts have just broken off their engagements after meeting other, more desirable women.

Song and comedy revue, featuring Western talents, along with a theatrical troupe taking their vacation on the Lazy B Ranch run by Steve Bradley. Steve is about to enter the army and he and Tex Coulter compete for the love of Connie Grey.

Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight.

Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism.

A press agent, a composer and a landlord of a theatrical boardinghouse revive vaudeville on Broadway.

Two investigators for a stagecoach company are assigned to find out why the company's stages keep being ambushed. They discover that the culprits are white men disguised as Indians, and they set out to discover who is behind the plot.

An ex-con becomes a daredevil photojournalist.

When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.

It is the Christmas Holidays and reformed thief, Boston Blackie goes to Castle Theater to pick up players who will perform for prisoners that are still in prison. He takes a girl with him who has a brother already in prison. She has visited the prison twice in the month, so is not suppose to visit again. However when the group is completed the girl is included as well as Inspector Farrady. One of the clowns in the show is kidnapped and replaced by a con who wants to get even with two ex-partners. Boston Blackie figures out that a con has replaced one of his clowns but is unable to stop him. Blackie's clothes are stolen and a murder is committed. Of course, the Inspector immediately suspects Blackie of being involved. Now it is Blackie's job to find the killer, exonerate himself and help the girl free her brother.

When Andrew Long, hyper-efficient small town accountant, finds a $1240 discrepancy in the city budget, his superiors try to explain it away. When he insists on pursuing the matter, he's in danger of being blamed himself. In his trouble, the spirit of Andrew Jackson, whom he idolizes, visits him, and in turn, summons much high-powered talent from American history...which only Andrew can see.

An accused killer is granted a reprieve when his victim returns to town in the flesh after an eight-year absence.

A movie serial in 12 Chapters: US naval officer Don Winslow is given command of Tangita Island, near Pearl Harbor, where a ring of saboteurs is trying to destroy ships carrying supplies to the troops stationed in the islands and sabotage the war effort under orders from an unknown leader.

A young boxer finds his life turned upside down when he meets with sudden success in the ring.

Faith and Hope Banner, sisters, are "convention hostesses" in a hotel. A body is discovered next door as the magician's convention is leaving and the mortician's convention is arriving, and the sisters, with help from manager Wilburforce Puddle, try to hide it. Complicating matters, Hope's boyfriend, Tommy, is a newspaper reporter in the hotel covering some labor negotiations.

Investigators crack down on a gang of nightclub con artists that has been victimizing wealthy bachelors.

A former University of Michigan football star (Tom Harmon) rejects an opportunity to play professional football. Instead, he marries his college sweetheart (Anita Louise) and begins a career as a college football coach.

Medico of Painted Springs was the first of western hero Charles Starrett's appearances as frontier doctor Steven Monroe. Riding into a small town, Dr. Monroe finds himself smack-dab in the middle of a range war between cattlemen and sheepmen.

Mad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.

A reformed jewel thief fights to clear his name when he's framed for murder.

When his brother Dave is put in jail, Bill Hickok returns to help him. Dave has been charged with attempted murder when the other man drew first. Judge Barlow put him there and Bill gets the Judge to confess. Bill learns that Rance McKee is behind all the trouble and he forces the Judge into the decisions he wants. So Bill heads out by himself to face McKee in the showdown.

A radio host broadcasts a show about children living in an orphanage.

A gang of urban street kids and a club of suburban would-be federal agents, at first rivals, join forces to rescue the father of one of the kids, the inventor of a super-explosive and its remote detonator, from the clutches of a band of foreign subversives call the "Flaming Torch Gang". A 12-episode movie serial with the chapters: •1. Enemies Within •2. The Blast of Doom •3. Human Dynamite •4. Blazing Danger •5. Trapped By Traitors •6. Traitors' Treachery •7. Flaming Death •8. Hurled Through Space •9. The Plunge of Peril •10.The Toll of Treason •11.Descending Doom •12.The Power of Patriotism

June McCarthy has unwittingly aided an undercover Nazi naval officer with acquiring a "mother ship" for German submarines in the Atlantic.

The Dead End Kids smash a spy ring in this feature-length version of the Universal serial Junior G-Men. Billy, the leader of the Dead End Kids, learns that his scientist father has been captured by the "Order of the Flaming Torch." This group of fifth columnists plans to use America's biggest brains to destroy the country from within. When the saboteurs outwit the gang's street smarts, the kids have no choice but to ask the FBI for help. The feds send in their own teenage contingent -- The Junior G-Men! Now the two groups must form an uneasy alliance, before the Order of the Flaming Torch can turn the U.S.A. into Amerika, the Evil Empire!

A physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&-Hyde.

The Durango Kid is a sort of Robin Hood of the West who helps the lovely Walters (who replaced Starrett's usual love-interest, Iris Meredith), the daughter of a homesteader, defeat the evil MacDonald who has been terrorizing the decent citizens with his gang of rustlers.

A determined newsman pursues his hunch that a charitable maternity hospital is running a ruthless adoption racket.

A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov, this time with ready-made allies waiting: Prince Barin of Arboria and Queen Fria of the frozen northern land of Frigia; where, it so happens, is found polarite, antidote to the plague. But Ming will use all his forces to keep our heroes from thwarting his plans of conquest.

Comic mayhem results when a small town pet store owner, mistakenly believed killed during a sea voyage, turns up very much alive. Director William Thiele's 1940 film stars Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, Ann Rutherford, John Shelton, Harold Huber, Donald Meek, Nat Pendleton, Renie Riano, Frank Albertson, Reginald Owen, Ann Morriss and Richard Carle.

A man's ex-wife is found murdered, and he finds himself to be the prime suspect.

A newspaper publisher and his Korean servant fight crime as vigilantes who pose as a notorious masked gangster and his aide.

Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.

A mobster's moll leads a newsman, cub reporter and photographer to a scoop.

Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss.

A cabbie and petty thief dreams of the big heist that will end his thieving ways.

Charley buys a wreck of an automobile that's been made to appear new by a disreputable used car dealer, but he soon realizes it's literally falling apart. He stops payment, and then must dodge repossesors as well.

A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could save his publication.

Escaped Prisoner 39013 impersonates the rich and influential Horace Granville, allowing him to create a variety of disasters. Fortunately, he is thwarted repeatedly by three daring circus daredevils.

A news reporter-commentator at a combined radio-television broadcasting station gives up his stand against the election of a corrupt mayoral candidate after a gangster threatens his family. Features tidal wave stock footage from RKO's "Deluge" (1933), q.v.

The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder.

A dedicated police officer is torn between family and duty when his son turns to a life of crime.

Suave private detective Simon "The Saint" Templar arrives in San Francisco and meets Val, a woman whose police inspector father killed himself after being accused of corruption and dismissed from the force. Convinced of the man's innocence, Templar takes it upon himself to vindicate the memory of Val's father. To do so he must take on the city's most dangerous criminal gang, while also battling hostile members of the police department.

Mrs Topper's friend Mrs Parkhurst has convinced Mrs topper, to file for a divorce from Cosmo, due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs Parkhurst takes Mrs Topper on a trip to France, where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce, with help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel, to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.

A sleazy lawyer gains clients by showing up at terrible accidents. His boss, determined to stop him, hires a pretty girl to cozy up and coerce the truth out of the ambulance-chaser. Unfortunately, the boss doesn't count on the romance factor and sure enough, love blossoms between the girl and the shyster.

An entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series, this short tells the true story of how a young man, ignored by his parents, gets into a gang and starts a crime spree which leads to murder.

A merciless district attorney prosecutes a case that mirrors his own life.

Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.

It's 1861 and Buck gets the business men of Sacramento to establish the Pony express. Hawley runs the stage line over the same route and has the U. S. mail contract. When it looks like the Pony Express will be awarded the mail contract, he gives guns to the Indians and has them attack both the riders and the stations.

A reporter covering a murder trial guesses that the murderer of a ruthless businessman is her ex-fiancé and persuades him to confess and clear the innocent man on trial.

Michael 'Nuggin' Taylor and Powdah save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about the slave trade on the high seas during 1842.

In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a protection racket preying on milk distribution is broken through the persistence of law enforcement and the courage of a local businessman.

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

In the 1840's Mexico has ceded California to the United States, making life nearly impossible for the Mexican population due to the influx of land and gold-crazy Americans. Farmer Joaquin Murrieta revenges the death of his wife against the four Americans who killed her and is branded an outlaw. The reward for his capture is increased as he subsequently kills the men who brutally murder his brother. Joining with bandit Three Fingered Jack, Murrieta raises an army of disaffected Mexicans and goes on a rampage against the Americans, finally forcing his erstwhile friend, Bill Warren, to lead a posse against him.

Charley, his wife Rosina and their daughter Darla attend "Bank night" at their local movie theater, more eager to win the cash prize than see the picture. When little Darla is selected to choose the winning ticket, she draws her father's number. The crowd reacts angrily, thinking that the drawing is a fraud, forcing the child to choose another number. This one turns out to be her own ticket, after which a third drawing yields her mother's ticket. While pandemonium erupts in the audience, some gangsters arrive and raid the theater. A chase follows, resulting in the eventual capture of the crooks.

In this MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series short, a radio and television engineer falls into a life of crime by dismantling alarms for robberies.

Thelma and Patsy get jobs at a radio station.

A G-man woos a newswoman and corners bank robbers with a hostage in a factory.

Band leader Jack Conrad is impressed by prison inmate Ray Ferrera on saxophone. Conrad hires Ray to join his band and tour upon his release. Ray hooks up with Jean, a dancer in the show, and the two become a successful dance act. However, when an ex-inmate buddy of Ray's robs the tour bus, Ray is suspected of wrongdoing by Jack and the others in the group. After a gang of thugs hijacks the tour bus, Ray tries to use his street smarts to redeem his reputation.

"Chick" Thompson is a puppet-master in a traveling carnival whose wife dies in childbirth and leaves him with an infant son he names "Poochy." His father-in-law and the baby's grandfather sues him for custody of the baby and Chick takes his son and hides out for a couple of years. He joins his former assistants, Daisy and "Fingers", in a circus act only to find that the persistent grandfather is still on his trail.

Seeking to avoid arrest while fleeing through a city park at night, two jewel thieves, Gordon and young Tommy, stash some just-stolen jewels on elderly, unknowing Martha Abbott. They then invite Martha to come live with them as their housekeeper, duping her into helping fence their goods. When Martha eventually becomes aware of the criminal activities, she strives to help Tommy reform.

After an extended stay in England, Sophie Lang returns to America. She is beautiful, sophisticated--and a notorious jewel thief. A New York police detective who's been trying to nail her finally comes up with what seems a foolproof scheme--to catch her off guard by having her fall for a handsome and suave jewel thief who happens to be in the U.S. traveling under an assumed name.

Jack Oakie stars as seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even above exploiting his singing sweetheart Lily (Dorothy Dell) to suit his purposes, but this time it is he who ends up the loser -- at least until he gets wise to himself.

A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.

When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.

Ruby falls in love with small-time con man Eddie. During a botched blackmail scheme, Eddie accidentally kills the man they were setting up. Eddie takes off and Ruby is sent to a reformatory for two years.

Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

A political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptible statesman after a near-fatal accident.

Gunner and Bucker are friends who work as riveters. Whenever Bucker gets the urge to marry, which is often, Gunner will hit on his girl to see if she is true or not. So far, Gunner hasn't failed. But one night, while Gunner is in jail, Bucker meets Mary, a tough dame with a line. He falls for her, and she falls for his money. But Mary is already a gal pal of Gunner, and no two know about the third one. The trouble starts when the triangle is revealed too late.

Two destitute New Yorkers meet cute in Central Park and then separate and independently get tangled up with some gangsters only to be reunited again in the end.

Corrupt politicians resort to murder and blackmail when a young boy accidentally witnesses them taking payoffs.

Socialite Carol Morgan romps through the Depression and her wealth while breaking up with Bill Wade and getting back together with him.

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.

A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a means of raising money.

Jim Gladden, a construction site foreman, is partially responsible for the accidental death of one of his workers, Fred Smith, and makes good on Fred's deathbed request to go to Scotch Valley and take care of his surviving wife and children. When Jim arrives in the small town, he is told that there are two Fred Smith families in Scotch Valley, the rich Smiths and the poor Smiths. Jim assumes that the Smiths he is looking for are the poor ones, and is directed to a house where four children live in poverty.

Fredric March essays a dual role in this story of a ne'er-do-well who impersonates his brother when the latter dies.

In the office of Mr. Lee, a talent agent, Zeppo bursts through the door, proclaiming to be a great musical actor. He gives a terrible impression of Maurice Chevallier. Chico arrives, also proclaiming to be a great musical talent, and gives an even worse impression of the same musical act. This is followed by Groucho and finally Harpo, all adding to the growing confusion in the office.

Working girl Margie Evans has decided there are two kinds of opportunities for a slum kid during the Depression: Those you make and those you take. Determined to help her family out of its financial bind, she is ready to do both after she shows up at the penthouse pool bash of a wealthy playboy.

Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.

The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.

Two small town widows bring their children to Hollywood, where their children become competing film stars. The girl is sweet, the boy is a killjoy sissy. For publicity, the rival families go to London to meet a middle European boy King. The three kids decide they need to escape their stifling lives and run away to the docks and join a gang.

Oh Boy! 1919 film

A centuries-lasting relationship between Ayesha and her oft-reincarnated true love. She, H. Rider Haggard's fanciful novel about the immortal queen of a lost tribe, has been filmed at least 10 times, with seven versions emerging between the years 1910 and 1930.

When Bill Fowler decided to wed the wealthy widow, Isabel Dare, of Rye, N.Y., he gave a bachelor dinner. And the dinner degenerated into a quiet game with sugar for dice until constable Zack arrived with sleuths galore and landed them everyone safe and sound in the local calaboose. This was an early five-reeler that featured the famous George Bickel and Harry Watson duo.