Herself (archive footage)
This short documentary includes interviews with Florenz Ziegfeld's daughter Patricia and actress Luise Rainer. Ziegfeld's life and the making of the film The Great Ziegfeld (1936) are discussed.
(archive footage)
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
Self (archive footage)
Documentary about the making of the 1939 MGM classic film The Wizard of Oz. Includes interviews of cast and crew members, their families and fans of the film.
Millicent Jordan (archive footage) (uncredited)
Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.
Billie Burke
Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno is a hired hand, Pepe, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. Pepe, determined to get the horse back (as he considers it his family), decides to take off to Hollywood. There he meets film stars including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, Maurice Chevalier and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from Some Like It Hot. He is also surprised by things that were new in America at the time, such as automatic swinging doors. When he finally reaches the man who bought the horse, he is led to believe there is no hope of getting it back. However, the last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several foals.
Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate
Respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.
Mrs. J. Arthur Allen
Up and coming young lawyer Anthony Lawrence faces several ethical and emotional dilemmas as he climbs the Philadelphia social ladder. His personal and professional skills are tested as he tries to balance the needs of his fiance Joan, the expectations of his colleagues and his own obligation to defend his friend Chester on a murder count.
Mrs. Livingston
Rick Belrow Livingston, in love with Broadway star Lisa, is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. He persuades the judge's daughter Cindy to let him leave for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on her birthday. After that he goes on the town with Cindy and she falls in love with him. But Dr. Schemmer wants his son to become her husband.
Doris Dunstan
In this sequel to Father of the Bride, newly married Kay Dunstan announces that she and her husband are going to have a baby, leaving her father having to come to grips with the fact that he will soon be a granddad.
Mrs. Jenny Bard Whittaker
When a recently deceased playboy gets to heaven and is granted one wish--granted to all newcomers--he requests that he be able to see the reactions of three husbands, with whom he regularly played poker, to a letter he left each of them claiming to have had an affair with each's wife.
Doris Dunstan
Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.
Herself (archive footage)
Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.
Zelda Bagley
Happy-go-lucky aspiring sportswriter Lon Decker from Indiana who has aspirations of becoming a sportswriter meets the shrewd and larcenous old man, "Mac" Dougal during his wandering. Mac likes to ensure his bets on Quarter-Horse races by doping a horse or two here and there. When Lon finds out Mac intends to fleece wealthy rancher Zelda Bagley he sets out to stop him.
Mrs. Marvin Fletcher
A recently divorced couple see things differently after learning they are going to be parents.
Mme Livingston Belney
Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful musical-comedy team, known for their stormy but passionate relationship. Dinah feels overshadowed by Josh and limited by the lighthearted musical roles he directs her in. So she decides to stretch her skills by taking a role in a serious drama, directed by another man.
Billie Baxter
Billie has the mistaken impression that her only daughter is pregnant and must rush to the hospital. At the same time, her old boyfriend, now wealthy, returns to make amends with her.
Molly Burns
A department store floor walker is persuaded by four husband-seeking salesgirls to pose as their father in a Long Island mansion which they have rented by pooling resources and pretending to be wealthy themselves.
Mrs. Frances Cartwright
The goings on of a few members of a radio show's audience is the premise for this feature film derived from the popular ABC radio show of the 1940's. This film features Tom Breneman, the radio show's host, as well as Bonita Granville, Beulah Bondi, Zasu Pitts, Billie Burke and Hedda Hopper. Musical performances are provided by Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio, along with Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
Clara Pidgeon
An eccentric wealthy family facing bankruptcy schemes to steal an inheritance, but an alcoholic ex-actor they take in for Christmas charity complicates their plan.
Jessica Mariman
Universal cowboy star Rod Cameron plays Geoffrey, conductor of a high-toned symphony orchestra. Secretly harboring the desire to become a swingin' jazz trumpeter, Geoffrey takes a job at a "hot" Broadway nightclub. Here he meets and falls in love with café songstress Donna (Frances Raeburn), who has led her family to believe that she's studying for a classical-music career. Meanwhile, a comedy-relief romance develops between Geoffrey's snooty valet Chumley (Arthur Treacher) and Donna's best pal Pat (Jacqueline De Wit). For those not interested in the plot (what there is of it), Swing Out, Sister includes specialty numbers by organist Selika Pettiford and the Lou Diamond Quintet.
Mrs. Laura Chandler
On a trip to New York, a small-town blowhard gets caught between a wealthy widow and a gold digger.
Aunt Harriet Crandall
A young woman marries a soldier to fulfill the conditions of a will. However, when she gets ready to divorce him, she realizes that she actually loves him, and determines to find a way to keep him.
Aunt Minerva
Circumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds himself pursued by his girlfriend's aunt, who does not approve of their relationship.
Mrs. Prescott
When the bride's mother is supposedly swindled out of her money by a spurned suitor, the groom's father orchestrates a scheme of his own to set things right. He is aided by a cabaret singer, while placating a jealous wife.
Celeste Rowland
A South American in New York rents the apartment of a socialite who pretends to be his maid.
Mrs. Drew
Margaret Drew runs her trucking company single-mindedly, if not ruthlessly. The only thorn in her side is writer Michael Holmes who is writing a book on some of her tough ways. With no time for men, the effect an attractive stranger has on her at her sister's wedding is unnerving. When it turns out this is the hated writer, she starts seriously to lose her bearings. Surely it can't become Maggie and Mike?
Lavinia Timberlake
An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.
Agatha Courtney
J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.
Daisy Stanley
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in indefinitely with a Midwestern family.
Catherine Enfilden
Saucy screwball comedy wherein lovely Madeleine falls in love with flier Fred despite interference from her fiancee and his ex.
Mrs. Clara Topper
Topper is once again tormented by a fun-loving spirit. This time, it's Gail Richards, who was accidentally murdered while vacationing at the home of her wealthy friend, Ann Carrington (Landis), the intended victim. With Topper's help, Gail sets out to find her killer with the expected zany results.
Bernice Marshall, Boardinghouse Keeper
A medicine show man tries to con people into believing he's a legitimate stage actor.
Penny Merriweather
A radio actor faces trouble when a science-fiction story causes the audience to panic.
Eleanor Forbes
A dizzy young woman aranges to turn her inventor-boyfriend's vacation into a chance meeting with a possible investor who happens to be her brother's future father-in-law. And Wacky stuff happens.
Blossy Stort
Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only single women are allowed, the Captain has to make other arrangements. However, after witnessing their tearful goodbye, the home's residents vote to allow the couple to move in together. The Captain is a reluctant lodger, uncomfortable at being surrounded by so much femininity, and bristles when his pals start referring to him as "Old Lady". The time has come for Captain Peabody to reassert his manhood!
Mrs. Herman Vincent
Upholsterer's assistant Irene O'Dare meets wealthy Don Marshall while she is measuring chairs for Mrs. Herman Vincent at her Long Island estate. Charmed by her, Don anonymously purchases Madame Lucy's, an exclusive Manhattan boutique, and instructs newly hired manager Mr. Smith to offer Irene a job as a model. She soon catches the eye of socialite Bob Vincent, whose mother is hosting a ball at the family mansion. To promote Madame Lucy's dress line, Mr. Smith arranges for his models to be invited to the ball.
Julia Lattimer
A teenager falls hard for an irresponsible playboy.
Cora Adams
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.
Mrs. Bronson
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.
Aunt Abby
Anita, engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo. Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a lengthy world tour. But Anita is annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, and his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. And forget her plan to retire to a farmhouse. Eventually, she has had enough and disappears.
Glinda the Good Witch of the North
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.
Mrs. Lillian McGill
A carefree playboy with an aversion to marriage falls for a lass he meets in the French Alps.
Mrs. Tibbett
A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.
Mrs. Clara Topper
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.
Marmy Carleton
The Carletons make a living as card sharks and finding new suckers to mooch off of. When their latest scam backfires, they are asked to leave Monte Carlo. At the train station, they meet Miss Fortune, a very wealthy but lonely elderly lady. As a reward for saving her life after the train derails, Miss Fortune invites the Carletons to come live with her. The family hopes that by winning her affection, they can eventually be named sole beneficiaries in her will. But will a change of heart soften their mercenary feelings before that time comes?
Mrs. Emily Kilbourne
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Diana Bellaire
When boisterous Judy Bellaire (Judy Garland) encourages her fellow school chorus members to sing a classical piece with a modern swing beat, her scandalized teacher uses the musical mutiny as an excuse to expel her from the Colvin School for Girls. With the encouragement of Ricky Saboni (Allan Jones), her family's cook, Judy decides to follow her dream and audition for a stage musical. Meanwhile, Ricky struggles to gain the affection of Judy's sister, the lovely Sylvia (Lynne Carver).
Mrs. Alyce Gates
Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.
Contessa di Meina
A poor singer in a bar masquerades as a rich society woman thanks to a rich benefactor.
Mrs. Topper
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
Clara Wood
Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.
Mrs. Frazier
Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material possessions and social status whose behavior makes difficult her relationship with domestic service and family members.
Eugenia Willis, Nesta's Sister
Jim's father wants to marry Eugenia, but her sister Netta refuses to allow it. When Jim sees Ann at a club, he falls for her even though she is with Lord Priory. He meets her the next day at the riding path, but she quickly loses him. He searches all over for her, not knowing that his father's hopeful fiancée is her Aunt. As his caricature work suffers as he searches, he is fired from his paper. But he makes a comeback with the comics 'Rags to Riches' which is based upon the Pett's. But this upsets the Pett's so much that they go back to New York, and he follows, being careful not to let them know that he is the one who draws the strip that parodies them.
Mrs. Robert Cantillon
Ann Sothern essays the title role in My American Wife. The story opens in Smelter City, Arizona, where the richest man in town is grizzled old Indian fighter Lafe Cantillon (Fred Stone). Lafe's social-climbing sister-in-law (Billie Burke) insists that her daughter Mary wed a titled European, Count Ferdinand (Francis Lederer). Much to Lafe's delight, Mary isn't assimilated into Continental high society; instead, she instructs Count Ferdinand in the virtues of good, old-fashioned American democracy. And, of, course, the Count and Lafe become great chums when the "furriner" proves that he can ride a bucking bronco with the best of 'em.
Clarissa
When Brighton Lorrimore returns home with his new bride, Phyllis, his family makes their disappointment in his choice obvious. Facing bankruptcy and the loss of their mansion and social position, they had hoped that Brighton would marry wealthy heiress and family friend, Edith Gilbert.
Julia Trent Anders
After the woman who raised him claims he's not her son, Richard searches for clues about his identity. Urged on by his mentor, Capt. Randolph Courtney, Richard focuses on Julia Trent Anders, a middle-aged actress who just might be his real mother. But soon, Richard begins to fall for Julia's stepdaughter. Amidst the upheaval, Richard schemes to return Julia to the stage -- but he's in for another big surprise.
Mrs. Daniel Van Dyke
The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustration of the patriarch, Dan Van Dyke. His self-centered wife has a fondness for foreign imports, including "pet projects" like dancers and such and his spoiled children Tony and Carol have constant run-ins with the law. When Dan himself ends up in the clink for five years for tax evasion, he becomes bunk-mates with ex-bootlegger Joe "Spots" Ricardi. Ricardi lectures him on being such a push-over for an out-of-control family, so a dying Dan makes Ricardi his estate trustee once he is released from prison. Ricardi is then thrust into high society and must do everything he once nagged Dan to do.
Paula Brown
A husband makes fun of his wife's theatrical aspirations when she agrees to appear in a local production. When she begins to neglect him, he decides to retaliate by also going on stage.
Lady Bareacres
The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor film. Adapted from a play that was adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's book "Vanity Fair", the film looks at the English class system during the Napoleonic Wars era.
Mrs. Norwood
A managing editor sends a socialite reporter to spy on her boyfriend, mixed up in murder.
Mrs. Crane
Two surgeons (Chester Morris, Robert Taylor) in love with a nurse (Virginia Bruce) end their rivalry in the operating room.
Aunt Paula
A socialite only realises that her friend is in love with her when she falls for the wrong man.
Mrs. Linda Page
A polo-playing grandmother and her broke brood get back in the money with a Wall Street bet.
Eustasia
A pair of lovers are secreting away to Paris for a quick divorce and marriage when they find themselves trapped in a "hotel" where they are forced to get to know each other better and reconsider their plans. They learn a lot about each other, and themselves.
Helen Radcliffe
Virginia, who studies at a boarding school for upper-class girls, falls in love with a medical intern who works as a waiter for a living. Both the director of the school and her mother oppose such a relationship.
Millicent Jordan
An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
Julia Warren
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young business man is about to commit suicide. With the note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices a thick envelope addressed to him at the desk. As he begin to read, we're taken back to the days of WW1 and his meeting with a young woman named Mary Lane.
Lady Elaine Strong
A romance develops between a happily married middle-aged British politician and an adventurous young aviatrix.
Meg Fairfield
Hilary Fairfield returns home after fifteen years in an asylum with his sanity restored. But he is disturbed to find that everything has changed: his daughter grown and about to marry; his wife divorced and also about to marry.
Self (uncredited)
A young woman, who wants to be in the Follies, is making ends meet by working at a department store's sheet music department, where she sings the latest hits. She is accompanied on piano by her childhood boyfriend, who is in love with her, despite her single-minded interest in her career. When a vaudeville performer asks her to join him as his new partner, she sees it as an opportunity to make her dream come true. Upon arriving in New York City, our heroine finds out that her new partner is only interested in sleeping with her and makes this a condition of making her a star. Soon, however, she is discovered by a representative of Ziegfeld.
Elizabeth Banks
Billie Burke, the real-life wife of Flo Ziegfeld, plays Ziegfeld Follies dancer Elizabeth Banks who falls for a wealthy young man. His parents are shocked--and so is Elizabeth when she decides she'd rather have her beau's nerdish brother. She turns the mouse into a lion so that he'll be a worthy husband.
Belle Johnson
The Frisky Mrs. Johnson is a 1920 silent film comedy starring Billie Burke. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a 1903 Broadway stage play by Clyde Fitch. On the stage Burke's part was played by Amelia Bingham. Burke's next to last silent film. It is a lost film.
Prudence Thorne
Prudence, a young society woman and aviatrix, is forbidden to continue flying by her fiancé Hewitt and her father. In defiance, she stages her own kidnapping, but Hewitt discovers the ruse and arranges a real abduction to teach her a lesson. His plan backfires, and the kidnappers rob him and capture Prudence. In order to save herself, Prudence pretends to join the gang.
Sadie Love
Society miss Sadie Love has just wed Prince Luigi Pallavincini when she gets a phone call from Jimmie Wakely, a suitor she has not seen in a year. She allows him to come by and declare his love but doesn't bother telling him she has just gotten married. Without giving it much thought, she decides she likes Wakely better and runs off with him.
Betty Taradine
The Misleading Widow is a 1919 silent film comedy starring Billie Burke as Betty Taradine. It was based on the 1917 stage play Billeted by F. Tennyson Jesse and H.M. Harwood. The film was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It appears to be a lost film.
Annabelle Leigh
When the father of sixteen-year-old Annabelle Leigh (Billie Burke) is killed in a fight, miner John Rawson (Herbert Rawlinson) snatches her away from the scene and takes her to his cabin for the night. In the morning, she insists she was "compromised" by the situation, so he marries her. But after a spat, he tells her to leave and she goes to another city. Annabelle doesn't even know the name of the man she married; however, he strikes it rich and sends her money, which she spends on frivolous entertainment.
Phyllis Ashbrook
Several young couples have gathered at a vacation home in the mountains. The group of friends go climbing, but Phyllis Ashbrook and John Manning leave the others behind. They get lost and have to spend the night in a cabin. When they are brought back the next day, appearances compel them to marry, even though they are already engaged to others.
Polly Marsden
Pretty Polly Marsden is ardently pursued by three different Romeos, but she coyly refuses to choose between them. When they insist that she give them her answer, she arranges an impromptu automobile race: whichever one of the three can overtake her speeding roadster will be the man whom she will marry.
Mme. Cyprienne Marcey
A bit too immature for marriage, Cyprienne allows her pretty head to be turned by an egotistical fop. The girl demands that her husband Prunelles grant her a divorce, but he devises a scheme to bring her back into the matrimonial fold.
Irene Simpson-Bates
Eve's Daughter was the fourth and final screen teaming of Billie Burke and Thomas Meighan. This time out, Burke is cast as Irene Simpson-Bates, who is disheartened to learn that her millionaire father has left her with a mere $15,000. She is subsequently courted by two men: Poor but respectable John Norton (Thomas Meighan), and rich but disreputable Courtenay Urquahrt (Lionel Atwill, in his American screen debut).
Nora Marsh
Based on the 1913 play The Land of Promise by W. Somerset Maugham about Nora Marsh and her life which ends in a farm.
Ruth Sherwood
Ziegfeld Follies headliner Billie Burke starred in a handful of silent films, of which Arms and the Girl was the second. Burke plays an American lass who journeys to Europe to be reunited with her fiance. Not only has her sweetheart been unfaithful, but she arrives on the continent just as World War I breaks out.
Mavis Terry
In her first Paramount film, Billie Burke plays Helen Wentworth, an heiress who's bored with the high life and decides to enjoy a bit of the low life.
Gloria Stafford (as Miss Billie Burke)
An adventurous young girl in Florida gets herself lost in the Everglades and finds terror and excitement, as well as the rivalry of two men in love with her.
Peggy Cameron
The heroine, Peggy Cameron, is a high-society debutante with a mind of her own. After making a public spectacle of herself once too often, Peggy is bundled off to Scotland, where she is to be looked after by her no-nonsense uncle Andrew Cameron (William H. Thompson). If Peggy's family had hoped that she would straighten up and behave herself in Scotland, they were sorely mistaken. Restored in 2018 by the Academy Film Archive with restoration funding provided by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.
