Richard Carle

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl.

The romantic story of Franz Schubert 's fight for recognition of his music. The 1941 Reinhold Schunzel biographical musical composer melodrama.

Detectives Dick Williams and Andy McAllister find themselves trying to solve several crimes at an isolated mentally-ill hospital, where the patients range from slightly daffy to criminally insane, and they don't know which is which. A gang is out to steal a fortune inherited by one of the patients and, before Dick and Andy solve the case, several patients are transferred to the cemetery. And 'tiddlie-winks" are indeed involved.

A man thinks his high-spirited wife is cheating on him.

A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.

A happily married woman sees a psychoanalyst and develops doubts about her husband.

The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.

Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve: a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million if Steve does not marry his fiancée, Cynthia. The upcoming marriage is jeopardized by Steve's ex-girlfriend, Mickey, and Cynthia's disapproving Aunt Kitty. The policy is underwritten by a nightclub owner, Roscoe, who sends two enforcers - Abbott and Costello - to ensure that the wedding occurs as planned.

Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale charms to woo politicians, navy personnel, gangsters, riff-raff, judges and a ship's doctor in order to achieve her aims.

A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.

Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. His in-name-only marriage to honest Catherine proves the beginning of the end for dishonest Dan...

Alice Faye plays the title role in this 1940 film biography of the early-20th-century stage star.

In this musical, a sharp witted press agent teams up with an unemployed chorine and dubs her "Miss Manhattan" to promote a cheap line of clothing. To escort her about town, the agent invents a "Mr. Manhattan." He then has them fake a marriage. When he realizes that he is in love with his creation, the agent promptly fires "Mr. M" and takes her to the altar personally. Songs include: "Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me," "Unfair To Love," and "A Lemon In The Garden Of Love."

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.

This expose of the U.S. parole system, as seen through the eyes of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, takes dead aim on lawyers who manipulate the justice system in order to get undeserving convicts parole from prisons. The point is made when FBI agents are assigned to track down "Big Boy" Bradmore, who after getting an undeserved parole, via the efforts of a shyster lawyer, promptly murders an FBI agent.

Sky and Linda meet on vacation and become engaged. When Sky introduces Linda to his best friend, Jeff, Linda and Jeff fall in love and marry. But Jeff's work puts a strain on the marriage and a divorce is planned. Sky uses an experimental memory loss drug to make Linda and Jeff forget their rough times (and the fact that they were married) and they fall in love all over again.

A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

Wisecracking showgirl Maisie Ravier finds herself trapped in a Wyoming town when her new employer closes the show prematurely. She meets ranch foreman Charles "Slim" Martin when he accuses her of lifting his wallet and ends up being hired as a maid for ranch owners Cliff and Sybil, who are attempting to mend their rocky marriage after Sybil's infidelity with a cowboy.

Dr. Bartley Morgan covers up his profitable illegalities with the respectable veneer of a posh, highly profitable private practice, he runs with his nurse Margaret Hopkins. The FBI agent Robert Anders has to catch on to Morgan's illicit activities.

Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.

During a stick-up, a woman is excited by the criminal and joins him on his crime spree.

A writer takes a job as a secretary because her scrupulous husband isn't bringing in the dough as an attorney. When her new employer is murdered, she can't seem to make up her mind as to whether she "dunnit" or not.

An orphan girl becomes adopted by a group of old men and is placed in the home of one of them. She sings and dances and helps out where she can.

Theater manager James Guthrie's (Melvyn Douglas) career depends on famed soprano Elsa Terry (Grace Moore) singing in his Buenos Aires opera house, however, Elsa breaks the contract in favor of a more lucrative deal in Paris. Desperate, James begins showering her with flowers and candy in an attempt to woo her to the Argentinian opera house. When Elsa overhears James confess to his friend Pancho that he'd be willing to resort to kidnapping to get Elsa to Argentina, she mistakenly believes his motives to be solely romantic.

Two screwy characters travel to Hollywood and cause mischief.

Dwight Stanford and his wife, Penny, are a pair of spendthrifts who can't hold on to money, dependent for support on Dwight's rich uncle, who sends them a monthly allowance. Conrad Norris, Dwight's cousin, disapproves of Dwight and Penny, and resents his uncle's generosity. The uncle is the victim of a hit-and-run accident and, there being no will, Conrad, as next of kin, inherits. Switch, the uncle's lawyer, tells Dwight he is shutout with no hope of appeal. Dwight starts writing mystery novels about a fictional detective named Steven Knight, which become instant hits and the money pours in.

Jimmy Barnes arrives from Europe to be educated by his multi-millionaire uncle, Edward J. Barnes and in five years the extravagant escapes of Jimmy, now a lawyer, are the talk of San Francisco. Linda Gray is a mouse-like secretary to the elder Barnes who has fallen in love with Jimmy, but he favors actress Constance "Connie" Marlowe. Mr. Barnes dies and leaves everything to Linda but he has urged his partner, Alexander Duncan, to plan things so that Jimmy and Linda will get married. Coached by Duncan, Linda accepts the inheritance and announces that she is departing for New York on a wild spending spree. He tells Jimmy that the will can be broken but only after many months and he suggests that Jimmy follow Linda and curb her spending or there won't be any money left. In New York, Linda hires Jimmy as her private secretary. Connie also arrives in New York, as does the ingenious Baron Rene de Montigny with the intention of marrying the wealthy Miss Gray.

Judy Walker is a poor songwriter who, through mistaken identity, gets her songs played on the radio.

In this gangster movie, a criminal king-pin and his gang hide out in his hometown where they witness a religious revival that inspires the man to begin billing himself as a "born-again" evangelist so he can cash in on the guilty consciences of local businessmen.

n Vienna, a new jazz club featuring American trumpeter Buzzy Bellew threatens the existence of its neighbor, the Waltz Palace, run by Franz Strauss and featuring his granddaughter, singer Elsa. Smitten by Elsa, Buzzy hides his identity and association with the club -- whose owner intends to buy out the Palace property. When Elsa accidentally learns who Buzzy really is, it appears he may have to return to America alone.

A beautiful woman suspected of being a jewel thief is actually a detective tracking down a ring of bond thieves.

College students rally to save a struggling hotel from closing. Comedy.

To boost the ratings of a kiddie show, the host agrees to take guardianship of of a bratty boy who has a lovely older sister.

Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.

A profligate, polo-playing playboy (Henry Fonda) is married to a beautiful but superficial heiress (Mary Brian). They divorce, and the wife gets all the money. But the humbled (and impoverished) Fonda finds true love in the arms of Pat Paterson, who cares nothing for material things.

After saving himself from hanging, Laramie Nelson saves Tracks Williams from the same fate. They then travel to Lindsay's ranch where they get jobs. There they run into Adams who they learn is planning to rustle Lindsay's horses.

A truck driver and a gold-digger meet at a swank hotel and both think the other is wealthy. A drama of greed and society.

Suave French actor Philippe Martin provokes a scandal when, in a darkened theater, he mistakes young Monique for his mistress, Yvonne, and tries to kiss her. Charged with assault, the quick-thinking Philippe claims it's French tradition to do as he did, and is let go. To his surprise, Philippe learns that Monique has paid his fine. As the tabloids exploit the situation, Monique dates Philippe, until a photo appears of him kissing Yvonne.

An attorney falls for the woman he's representing on a murder charge.

An orphan (Eight-year-old boy soprano Bobby Breen) gets a chance to sing opera in New York.

Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.

A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans.

Scott is a very rich businessman who hangs out with a snooty, silly Countess, but has the hots for Kay who is already engaged to Bill. Scott pursues Kay like crazy, going so far as to buy Bill's oil company so that he can banish him to Japan, leaving Kay unmoored.

Upset by discipline at school, a 17-year-old runs away to New York City and learns there are worse problems than going to his little red school house.

Although Larry "Buster" Crabbe earns top billing, the hero of Drift Fence is former Western star Tom Keene as Jim Travis, who, at a rodeo, meets city dweller Jim Traft (Benny Baker), who has come west to erect a fence that will prevent Clay Jackson (Stanley Andrews) from continuing his cattle rustling business. A tough Western type, Travis suggests that he impersonate Traft and the building of the fence soon begins. But Travis is opposed by Slinger Dunn (Crabbe) and his family, whose small ranch will suffer from the division of the land. A romance between Travis and Slinger's sister, Paula (Katherine DeMille), paves the way for a meeting of the minds, however, and Slinger switches sides completely upon learning that Travis is a Texas Ranger in disguise. An in-house production (as opposed to Harry Sherman's Hopalong Cassidy Westerns), Drift Fence was the closest Paramount came to a B-Western in the mid-'30s. Zane Grey's original novel was published in 1932.

A young man falls in love with a beautiful blonde. When he sees her being forced onto a luxury liner, he decides to follow and rescue her. However, he discovers that she is an English heiress who ran away from home and is now being returned to England. He also discovers that his boss is on the ship. To avoid discovery, he disguises himself as the gangster accomplice of a minister, who is actually a gangster on the run from the law.

Dan Bellows finds former stage star Joyce Heath a penniless drunk and takes her to his Connecticut home for rehabilitation. Unaware that she is married to Gordon, he asks his fiancée Gail to free him and offers to sponsor Joyce in a play. When Gordon refuses to give Joyce a divorce, she runs the car into a tree crippling him for life. Joyce urges Dan return to Gail, opens her play, and begs Gordon for forgiveness.

A penniless socialite is hired by two young men as a front in their plan to start a magazine. Soon, however, they find themselves more interested in her than in their publishing venture.

Opera student Annette Monard meets composer Jonathan Street, and in a buoyant, alcohol-fueled evening, the couple marries. Sincerely falling in love, Jonathan encourages the talented Annette to sing — yet when his own attempt at an opera fails, Jonathan lashes out at Annette's success. Despite her husband's jealousy, Annette embarks on a successful career that allows her to secretly fund Jonathan's opera, bringing their marriage to a crisis.

A gambler (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) wins a ranch in a round of poker, then joins his neighbors on a rustler-ridden cattle drive to Texas.

A wide-eyed working girl wins a $5,000 sweepstakes and plunges into the lush life of New York City, where she meets a bellboy who is more than he seems.

A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in America.

A young girl runs away from her carnival family to make it in New York and becomes involved with a young songwriter.

Thanks to a series of comic mishaps, a timid, small-town office clerk finds himself wanted by the police and labeled by the media as "Public Enemy No. 2." Comedy.

A scientist named Hunter Hawk invents a device that can turn flesh to stone. While celebrating his discovery he becomes involved with a half naked leprechaun. On a trip to New York, Hunter and Meg (the leprechaun) decide to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and turn all of the Statues of Greek Gods into people. What follows in a drunken romp around New York with Medusa's severed head still in Perseus' hand.

A doctor who has spent his career working on ways to revive the dead sees his chance to prove his theory by performing his procedures on a recently deceased dog.

A countess marries a Gypsy fiddler instead of a baron's son at harvest time in Tokay wine country, Hungary.

A ghostly and deadly dinner party, which at first turns out to be an elaborate staging of a new play for the benefit of a Broadway producer, becomes a true mystery when the players start to go missing.

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country.

The story of a small-time vaudeville trio and their rise to the big time.

The Great McGonigle and his troupe of third-rate vaudevillians manage to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors and the sheriff.

An aspiring young writer becomes infatuated with a successful romance novelist, who realizes his life as a philandering Lothario is suddenly threatened.

Jimmy Durante is jungle movie star Schnarzan the Conqueror, but the public is tiring of his fake lions. When Baron Munchausen comes to town with real man-eating lions, Durante throws him a big Hollywood star-studded party so that he might use the lions in his next movie. But, his film rival sneaks into the party to buy the lions before Durante.

When a novelist is murdered, suspicion falls on all the women he had affairs with--and then wrote about in his books.

Randolph Scott plays Jim Cleve, one of several volunteers keeping the US-Mexican border safe on behalf of American settlers. Ostensibly the hero, Cleve is actually out-heroed by the film's nominal villain, outlaw leader Jack Kells (Monte Blue). It is Kells who brings about the story's happy ending, sacrificing his own life to ensure the blissful future of young lovers Cleve and Joan Randall (Barbara Fritchie).

Jack Brookfield, a gambler with clairvoyant and hypnotic powers, is able to win at cards through his unique gift. But when he inadvertently hypnotizes young Clay Thorne, Thorne kills an enemy of Brookfield's while under a trance. No one believes Brookfield's protestations that Thorne is innocent of any murderous intent, so Brookfield teams up with retired lawyer Martin Prentice in hopes of saving the young man from the gallows.

While breaking into a bank safe, a gangster overhears a bank employee singing and decides to put her in a Broadway revue

Reporter Miss Lee is looking for a story and approaches George White as he's assembling the latest edition of his famous revue. As it turns out, she has lots of backstage gossip to choose from

Story about four generations in a family of musicians.

A play by Nina Wilcox Putnam was the source for the empire-building drama Golden Harvest. Ambitious grain trader Chris Martin corners the wheat market and becomes a millionaire. Outgrowing his humble farm beginnings, Chris makes a bid for respectability by marrying Chicago socialite Cynthia Flint.

Wildly optimistic chatterbox Eva Lovelace is a would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage. She attracts the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom, or will she fade like a morning glory after its brief blooming?

An unemployed reporter, fired because of his drinking, takes a job at an advertising agency. Drama.

A teen detective tries to help a jewel thief's daughter.

Barbers Willy Nilly and Hercules Glub have opened a barbershop in an Indian reservation, where they have no customers. When suddenly a white man asks for a shave, several Indians of the Oopadoop nation also enter, hearing the usual barbershop banter about foreign debts, they force them to be ambassadors of their nation at the Peace conference in Geneva. Ammunition industry executive Winkelreid is scheming to prevent their mission becoming an success, but the vamp Dolores aboard the ship fails, falling in love with Nilly, and so does Fifi, the toughest person of the world in Paris, falling for Glub. Although Winkelreid is able to steal their secret papers, Nilly and Glub don't give up after being reminded by constant observation of their Indians and enter the Peace conference, which turns out to be a battlefield...

After America enters World War I, young William "Bill" Jones tries to avoid military service by telling the draft board that he is the sole supporter of his family and is employed by businessman Roger Winthrop, his sister Helen's boss.

Frank Albertson's parents are worried about his seeing a showgirl instead of an "upstanding" young lady of class. But then Frank's father learns that the showgirl in question is the same one he himself has been flirting with. Eventually the whole family ends up at the nightclub, where the showgirl has a number of surprises in store for them.

A Broadway actress with a problematic past falls hard for the author of her new play.

Elna Curry, once a concert pianist, develops an unfounded jealousy of neighbor, Trudie Morrow. Elna who suffers from neurasthenia, believes that Trudie is having an affair with her husband, John, and vows revenge on Trudie. John explains to Trudie Elna's condition and plan. Trudie, being good-hearted tells John that she'll move. One evening, John returns late from work to discover Elna dead. John burns Elna's suicide note to protect Trudie. This results in John being charged for murder and put on trial.

Calvin Jones is a cowboy who wants to invest in a Broadway play. Joe Lehman's secretary Ruth learns that her boss is attempting to swindle Jones and pulls a successful coup d'etat producing a play that she stars in.

Andre and Colette Bertier are happily married. When Colette introduces her husband to her flirtatious best friend, Mitzi, he does his best to resist her advances. But she is persistent, and very cute, and he succumbs. Mitzi's husband wants to divorce her, and has been having her tailed. Andre gets caught, and must confess to his wife. But Colette has had problems resisting the attentions of another man herself, and they forgive each other.

Joe Grant is an inventor, fireman and baseball player in his small hometown. He gets an offer to play in a big team and hopes to get more money for his inventions. But Joe's invited to present his invention to a fire extinguisher company at the same time when he is supposed to play. Will he be able to show the effectiveness of his invention and win the game?

An inventor and his lanky girlfriend set an altitude record in his winged contraption.

Young orphaned brothers Tom and Bob are separated when Bob is taken to an orphan asylum by the authorities and Tom escapes. As time goes by Tom takes to a life of crime, but uses the proceeds to contribute to Bob's education. Years later the brothers meet again when Tom tries to involve Bob in a con game--and neither one knows that the other is his brother. Complications ensue.

Dowdy Sylvia accepts her boss' marriage proposal, even though he only asked her to avoid marriage to another woman. As a wealthy wife, Sylvia changes from ugly duckling to uninhibited swan and even contemplates having an affair with a man she meets during a trip to Paris.

short subject comedy

A matinée idol and a bumbling manager fight for the love of a would-be starlet. Estrellados is the Spanish version of Free and Easy (1930) with Hispanic/Spanish-speaking actors.

When the rich uncle finds the bride in the company of one of her former suitors, he mistakes him for the bridegroom.

Middle-aged Napa Valley grape-grower Tony posts a marriage proposal to San Francisco waitress Lena enclosing a photo of his handsome younger brother Buck. When she gets there she overlooks his duplicity and marries him. Then she falls in love with Buck.

No one suffered more magnificently in the early-talkie era than the inimitable Helen Twelvetrees. In Grand Parade, the actress is cast as Molly, the sweetheart of minstrel-show performer Jack Kelly. Rising to the top of his profession, Kelly plummets to the bottom thanks to his fondness for intoxicating beverages. Molly nurses and coddles Kelly back to health, giving nary a thought for her own comfort or happiness.

Scheming coed Babs comes between college buddies Eddie and Biff.

Being engaged against her will with a wealthy man, Princess Orsolini (Catherine Dale Owen) is in love with Captain Kovacs (John Gilbert), a cavalry officer she is secretly meeting. Her mother Eugenie (Nance O'Neil), who has found out about the affair forces her to dump Kovacs and take part in the arranged marriage. Though not believing her own words, Orsolini reluctantly tells Kovacs she cannot ever fall in love with a man with his social position. Feeling deeply hurt, Kovacs decides to take revenge by indulging in blackmail, spreading a rumor that he is an imposter and a swindler.

A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.

Loony scientist hires Laurel and Hardy to raid the cemetery to keep him supplied with dead bodies for his experiments.

A girl who works in a dance hall falls in love with a sailor, but he has the wrong idea of what it is she does and doesn't want anything to do with her.

A tough New York cop is determined to bring down a crook who has always managed to provide an alibi for the crimes he's been accused of, even though the detective knows he's guilty of committing them.

Douglas MacLean stars as The Young Thief, who falls in love with The Girl, played by Sue Carol. Alas, the Girl has been sold into the harem of The Wazir (Albert Prisco), forcing the Thief to sneak into the palace to rescue her.

Two men in love with the same girl are trapped with her in a forest fire.

After forming his own studio in 1925, Cecil B. DeMille produced this exuberant blend of orientalist melodrama and gender-bending comedy featuring his THE TEN COMMANDMENTS leading lady Leatrice Joy. An over-protective sea captain forces his daughter Eve to pass as a boy. But she craves romance and sets her sights on a handsome American tourist (Boyd) who still thinks she's a boy when she shanghais him aboard her father's ship; then a lustful Chinese pirate (Walter Long) takes them prisoner. Joy, an appealing comedienne whose career nosedived when talkies came in, sparkles in both her tomboy and love-hungry phases. -Martin Rubin, Gene Siskel Film Center

Mamie, an orphan girl who was abused in the orphanage, is taken in by Mrs. Caldwell, a kindly woman with a young son named Alexander. Mamie hits it off with the lad, and nicknames him "Zander". When Mrs. Caldwell dies, the authorities decree that the boy must be placed in the same orphanage where Mamie was mistreated. Horrified, Mamie determines to see to it that the boy will be spared the same treatment that she had to suffer.

Mary Jane is a girl born out of wedlock whose mother, Alice, attempts to offer her respectability by marrying a wealthy old colonel. As a young adult, Mary Jane meets and falls in love with reclusive writer Walter Butler. They are about to marry when he is revealed to be her natural father.