Kay Francis

A short documentary about William Powell.

A look at actresses who starred in films with thought-provoking subjects made between 1930 and July 1934, before the Hollywood Production Code —the infamous Hays Code— was enforced.

Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

Warner Brothers bloopers of 1947

Career-slipping movie star Carole Raymond buys in as a real estate partner of Jeff Caldwell. Actually, through his secretary, Nola Reed, Caldwell runs a matrimonial bureau and, with the aid of his associate, Lee Kirby, they defraud and blackmail a large group of lonely people. Carole, unknowingly, is used as bait for one of their victims, Walter Desmond, who "commits suicide." Reporter William Tyler thinks otherwise.

Unscrupulous women marry servicemen for their pay.

Unscrupulous women marry servicemen for their pay.

A woman who has been married and divorced five times comes back to her small hometown, where she proceeds to complicate, and potentially destroy, the marriage of her childhood boyfriend.

A woman who has been married and divorced five times comes back to her small hometown, where she proceeds to complicate, and potentially destroy, the marriage of her childhood boyfriend.

Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas.

A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.

A 20-year-old stage actress takes on her most challenging role when she pretends to be her own mother's 12-year-old daughter. Comedy.

A man is pardoned from prison and returns to Santa Rita, CA to be with his family, but discovers his children have been told he's dead and his wife is in love with another man.

A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Russell), to New York where he plans to publish a book on the subject. Meeting with publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin), who falls head over heels for Julie, John is assigned to his assistant Nellie (Kay Francis), who only has eyes for her boss. Working closely with Nellie, who Julie thinks is after her husband, John continues his high-minded ways while his angry spouse schemes to make him so jealous he'll knock Elliott's block clean off.

In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.

John Evans encounters his lookalike, Malcolm Scott. When Scott is killed in an accident, Evans finds himself mistaken for Scott and decides to do some good in his new role.

When a gold digger starts to get a little old to ply her trade, she teaches a younger woman all her tricks.

Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys. When Dan, a tough street kid, comes to the school, he wins Jo's heart despite his hard edge, and she defends him when he is falsely accused. Dan's foster father, Major Burdle, is a swindler in cahoots with another crook called Willie the Fox. When the Plumfield School becomes in danger of foreclosure, the two con men cook up a scheme to save the home.

Young lawyer Tod Jackson arrives in pioneer Kansas to visit his prosperous rancher friends the Daltons, just as the latter are in danger of losing their land to a crooked development company. When Tod tries to help them, a faked murder charge turns the Daltons into outlaws, but more victims than villains in this fictionalized version. Will Tod stay loyal to his friends despite falling in love with Bob Dalton's former fiancée Julie?

An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.

Flubs and bloopers that occurred ont the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1939.

A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.

A famous aviator helps an amateur enter a cross-country air race for women.

Physician Carole Nelson, suspected of having ties to notorious gangster Joe Gurney, must prove her innocence or the Medical Board will revoke her license. When Gurney seeks her out for treatment after being shot, it could be the break Nelson needs. Now she has a chance to use her medical know-how to outwit Gurney and his goons and reestablish her professional reputation.

Story of a rising stage star and the trouble she causes by her ambition.

Two architects lose their heads over a glamorous actress.

An impoverished widow fights scandal for the sake of her four children.

Businesswoman Claire King is the daughter of a powerful advertising executive. When Claire marries humble copywriter Bill Landin, she wants to use her influence to help her husband get ahead, but he will have none of it.

This was one of the annual "blooper" reels screened by the Warners Club, an organization of Warners actors, crew and executives. It was meant to poke fun at the flubs and bloopers that occurred ont the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.

A politician's wife plots for her husband to become the next U.S. President.

Vera Kowalska is put on trial for murdering concert pianist Michael Michailow. In court it is revealed that some years earlier Michael ruined Vera's life.

Colonel John Wister, on duty with the British army in the desert region of Dubik, returns to England on leave. There he falls in love with Julia Ashton, who cares deeply for him but believes herself incapable of love following the death of her fiancé; some time before. Wister convinces her that he loves her enough to live without her romantic love and that she should marry him. She does so and returns to Dubik with him. There she meets his adjutant, Captain Denny Roark. Roark is a dashing young man who reminds Julia thoroughly of her lost love. Soon she finds she is indeed capable of love, but it is Roark with whom she falls in love, not her husband. As warfare with the local tribes heats up and as Wister gains awareness of the unconsummated romance growing between his wife and best friend, tragedy lurks.

A young model is set up with her own fashion business by a crooked financier, who sells worthless bonds.

Warner Brothers bloopers of 1937.

Time marches on.

An American lawyer's wife is reunited with her child and his father, an English nobleman.

In mid-nineteenth century England the medical establishment does not recognize the value of skilled nurses, cleanliness, nutrition and kindness. Florence Nightingale's heroic measures slowly changes all of this.

Collection of Warner's stars blundering through missed takes.

A blackmailer preys on an actress who is trying to protect her daughter from her past.

When Georgiana Summers learns that the woman who stole and married her husband is planning a romantic tryst with a new love, she hatches a giddy plot to expose the rendezvous and pay her back.

A Traveler's Aid worker who delights in solving people's problems gets mixed up with gangsters.

A lay-about falls for his best friend's fiancee. The two of them run away from a life of privilege to one of middle-class normalcy. When an influx of money enters their life, their differences come to light.

A short, introduced in Pennsylvania when the state had laws disallowing the screening of films on Sunday, to sway voters on a referendum to allow such screenings.

An Englishman falls in love with a Russian spy.

A prominent New York doctor, unable to have a child, discovers her philandering husband has impregnated her best friend.

Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, the wife of a wealthy business man. Al Wonder and the conductor/singer Tommy are in love with Inez. When Inez finds out that Harry wants to leave Paris and is going to the USA with Liane, she kills him.

Abandoned by her lover, a woman becomes the main "hostess" in a decadent nightclub, but tries to put her past behind her on a steamer to Mandalay.

A beautiful chorine marries a handsome rich socialite, but her idyllic life ends when she visits a dying old beau and is charged when he commits suicide.

The son of a ruthless meatpacking king goes through a number of changes in ideals and motivations as he reluctantly inherits the mantle and falls in love.

A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage.

Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of Archduke Ferdinand. While there he runs into Geza, an old friend in the Hungarian Army and invites him to come to his house and visit him and his new wife.

A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he's been hired to frame.

A London barrister's marriage is under strain after his affair with a shopgirl who is out to have him. The story is told in flashback.

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.

A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.

A gentleman thief charms a Viennese baron's wife and also conducts a daring daylight robbery of a jeweller's shop.

An architect has an affair with a woman who inspires him. Her brother is in love with the architect's daughter. The complicated entanglement leads to misunderstanding and dissolution, but ultimately love.

A female editor of a magazine falls in love with her male secretary.

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

A woman who is a member of a gang of con artists impersonates the mother of a wealthy blind man.

A dynamic duo in silk and ermine entertain hick businessmen looking for a good time while in Manhattan.

A nightclub singer is carrying on an affair with a married man. When she is found murdered, her lover is suspected of the crime.

A district attorney commits the perfect murder when he kills his daughter's womanizing fiancé and then tries framing the fiancé's lover.

When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.

A diplomat is blackmailed by crooked vice cops into helping them frame prostitutes.

A society gigolo goes after a rich mother and her daughter, but tries to find true happiness with his girlfriend, who is neither rich nor in "society."

Confirming his principle that no one escapes the news, a tabloid editor prints a scathing story about his wife.

Dutch-language version of Paramount on Parade (1930) produced and released by Paramount Pictures.

A bored society woman invites scandal and heartache when she falls in love with her low-born chauffeur.

Marya gets friendly with General Platoff in order to save her husband Victor from being executed.

The company of a musical comedy gets shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by a "king" from Brooklyn and his coterie of wild native girls.

William Foster is a slick attorney who stays within the law, but specializes in representing crooks and shady characters. He's adept at keeping them out of jail, winning acquittals, and having decisions reversed, thus springing criminals out of prison. He is romantically involved with dancer Irene Manners, who is two-timing him, although she wants to marry him. She kills a man driving while out with her other man, Jack Defoe, who takes the blame. Unfortunately, a ring Foster had just given Irene is found at the crime scene. Foster ends up defending Jack, but when the ring is found, he thinks he is protecting Irene, so pleads guilty to jury tampering.

A distinguished English gentleman has a secret life--he is the notorious jewel thief the press has dubbed "The Amateur Cracksman". When he meets a woman and falls in love he decides to "retire" from that life, but an old friend comes to him with a predicament that entails him committing one last job.

A scheming musician seduces a wealthy woman for love and money.

This 1930 film, a collection of songs and sketches showcasing Paramount Studios' contract stars, credits 11 directors

'Natural' Davis (William Powell) is a respected gambler who follows a ruthless code of honor with those who cheat against him. His wife, Alma (Kay Francis), wants to divorce him because of his addiction and lifestyle, but they agree on a reconciliation and second honeymoon together and 'Natural' promises to give up gambling. However, his plans change when his brother, 'Babe' (Regis Toomey), arrives in town looking to score big, and 'Natural' has to devise a plan quickly to put him off gambling forever.

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries.

A delightful pre-code cocktail recipe. Take three couples (add gin and tonic), their several divorces and the seven children/stepchildren of their intermarriages and blend thoroughly, and you have a mixture a too-young-to-believe Frederic March will try to straighten out.

A vaudeville magician team is broken up when Carlee, an ex--circus performer, becomes infatuated with socialite Hilda Schmittlap. Meanwhile his vaudeville partner, Claire, has chosen a new partner, but her "heart isn't in it" because she is disconsolate over Carlee. Curious about her new act, Carlee attends a performance and sees Claire nearly killed when she fails to substitute fake bullets for real ones. Rushing to her aid, Carlee realizes how much Claire means to him.

A young bareback rider in a circus is in love with a trapeze artist, but he has two problems: he drinks too much and he's fallen under the spell of a "vamp" who's nothing but trouble for him.

During the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewel robbery.

A newsman is drawn away from family life by the needs of his paper until a new woman enters his life.