Ralph Spence

Film about the early days of the Pony Express and the crooked businessman who opposed it.

A valet to a bankrupt millionaire plans to rebuild his boss's fortune by passing a scullery maid off as a high-society debutante.

Bandleader Kay Kyser takes his troupe of nutty musicians, goofball comics and pretty girl singers on a tour around the world to entertain the troops during World War II.

Soldier Johnny Grey is engaged to marry singer Mapy Cortes, but his plans go awry when he learns that he is the heir to $100,000 from his great-grandfather -- a bequest that comes with a catch: before claiming the money, Johnny must marry a descendant of his great-grandfather's Civil War enemy, General Havelock-Allen. Not wanting to disrupt his planned marriage to Mapy, Johnny must figure out how to concoct a temporary marriage-of-convenience with the descendant -- who turns out to be the beautiful Terry Havelock-Allen.

Shy sailor Casey Kirby suddenly becomes known as a sea wolf when his picture is taken with a famous actress. Things get complicated when bets are placed on his prowess with the ladies.

The story—in which an American heiress on holiday in South America falls in love with an Argentine horse breeder against the wishes of their families—takes a backseat to the spectacular location shooting and parade of extravagant musical numbers, which include the larger-than-life Carmen Miranda singing the hit “South American Way” and a showstopping dance routine by the always amazing Nicholas Brothers.

Ollie is in love with a woman. When he discovers that she is already married, he tries to kill himself. Of course, the suicide is avoided and the boys join the Foreign Legion to get away from their troubles. Finally, they are arrested for trying to desert the Legion and to escape the firing squad by stealing a plane.

When an escaped circus gorilla appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, a threatened attorney calls on the detective trio of Garrity, Harrigan and Mullivan to act as bodyguards. In short order, we discover that there is more to the attorney than meets the eye, and the ape may be innocent after all. When a pretty young heiress faces peril, it's up to our heroic trio to save the day.

John Forrest is anticipating a quiet retirement spent penning detective fiction when he learns that a priceless collection of jewels belonging to a foreign potentate, Prince Homouska, has just vanished from the safekeeping of the Stamford Assurance Company. Aided by his butler, his Cockney assistant and his (initially) unwilling wife, Forrest sets out on the trail of the thieves.

Comedy-mystery finds Detectives Kelly and Dempsey trapped in a deserted lighthouse with a group of strangers who are being terrorized by a killer octopus AND a mysterious crime figure named after the title sea creature.

John Forrest, an insurance investigator with a weakness for model railways, is on the trail of a gang of smash-and-grab thieves targeting Europe's most prestigious jewellers. As the chase leads him to Ireland, Forrest finds he needs help and who better to call upon than his impossibly elegant, highly capable wife, Alice?

The wisp of a storyline involves two-bit radio station owner Spud Miller, who doubles as the station's sole announcer while his comic partner Smiley serves as the house crooner. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George and Gracie, who've just invented a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere.

In this musical, a songwriter goes to court to claim the rights to his song that was stolen by an unscrupulous music publisher. He brings his girlfriend with him. Also going to court are the Jubilee singers, hillbillies, and some cowboys and Indians who demonstrate that the composer wrote his song by rearranging four folk tunes. He wins his song back and $50,000 in damages. Songs include: "Heading Home," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," "Tender Is the Night," "You're My Thrill," "I'm Bound for Heaven," and "The Army Band."

A ditzy wife yearns to join "high society" when she and her husband become suddenly wealthy. Comedy.

A barber tries to find the winning lottery ticket he hid from his moralistic wife.

A judge hands four wayward boys to a college football coach who turns them into backfield stars.

A philosophy professor accompanies his school's rowing team on a worldwide tour.

Pop Clark is about to lose his baseball team, unless they can win the pennant so he can pay off debts. He hires ace player Larry Kelly to ensure the victory. As well as rival teams, mobsters are trying to prevent the wins, and as the pennant race nears the end, Pop's star players begin to be killed, on and off the field. Can Larry romance Pop's daughter, win enough games, and still have time to stop a murderer before he strikes more than three times?

Ruth Raymond works on the switchboard and her boyfriend is John Blake. It has taken 14 years, but a detective named Murray has found her and confirmed.

A young man from a small town hits New York City, bound and determined to become a radio star. Amazingly, he achieves his ambition, but in the process alienates everyone around him with his arrogance and egomania.

A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian.

President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.

Lee Tracy once again plays a Winchellesque newspaper reporter in Universal's I'll Tell the World. More interested in his sex life than his career, news hawk Brown nonetheless agrees to cover the activities of a European archduke on behalf of his wire service.

After losing their Missouri home during the Great Depression, the Skitch family pulls up stakes and heads west to California to begin life anew. Comedy, released in 1933.

The "sugar daddy" of a Broadway star hires a bodyguard to protect her from thieves out to steal the jewels he's given her and also from the attentions of other men, most notably the producer of the show in which she's starring. However, soon the bodyguard and the star begin to become attracted to each other.

People in an old, dark mansion are menaced by a maniac called "The Black Ace.

The Warrior's Husband is a satire of the male and female roles in society set in 800 B.C.. Queen Hippolyta (Marjorie Rambeau) rules Pontus with masculine authority; in fact, it is the women of Pontus who do all the laboring, fighting, and governing. Hippolyta's husband Sapiens (Ernest Truex) is truly a sissy of the first order, and is not unlike most of Pontus' male inhabitants.

A Navy boxer (Jack Oakie) meets a dance-hall hostess (Vivienne Osborne) who tries to sober him up for a fight.

Two sailors (William Haines and Cliff Edwards) are leaving the US Navy after 10 years. In their spare time, one of them (Haines) invents a carburetor that should increase the speed that powered boats will run, but all they succeed in doing is sinking the Admiral's barge. After discharge, broke and out of work, they find work with a boat builder who wants the fastest race boat in the world. They design the boat, carburetor and the engine but lack of money and the foreclosure of the business hinders their efforts to prove the new design.

A group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occultists.

Paris plumber Elmer Tuttle is enlisted by socialite Patricia Alden to help make her lover Tony Lagorce jealous. With the help of his friend Julius J. McCracken and through the high society contacts he has made through Patricia, Elmer hopes to find financing for his latest invention, a pistol with a range-finding light. Comic complications ensue when Elmer's effort to interest a military leader is misconstrued as an assassination attempt.

After a quarrel at their 25th wedding anniversary, Joe and Aggie Bruno decide to divorce each other, and both leave for Reno. So do their daughters Prudence and Pansy, but they want to get their parents back together. Joe and Aggie, accidentally, are becoming clients at the same law-firm, Wattles and Swift, which is the biggest and most successful in town.

Set in a drugstore the boys take on to save a nice old lady from the clutches of the local charming crook.

A little orphan girl walks into the life of a hand-to-mouth carnival huckster. He teaches her the ropes and raises her as his own.

Two fast-talking insurance salesmen meet Mary, who is running away from her wealthy mother, and they agree to help her run a hotel that she owns. When they find out that the hotel is run down and nearly abandoned, they launch a phony PR campaign that presents the hotel as a resort favored by the rich. Their advertising succeeds too well, and many complications soon arise.

A series of murders that take place in an old, dark mansion are suspected of being committed by an ape. (lost film)

A series of murders that take place in an old, dark mansion are suspected of being committed by an ape. (lost film)

Two soldiers go absent without leave in Paris during World War I.

Wise-guy carnival barker Windy bilks a group of cowboys out of their money, gets caught and is forced into working off the debt on their ranch. He falls in love with Molly, the pretty owner of the ranch, but runs afoul of foreman Steve, who also loves Molly.

A chorus girl gets bad advice from her fellow chorines in handling a rich suitor who assumes she is a gold digger.

A drunkard climbs a ladder into a bedroom in the wrong house and gets romantically involved with the woman who lives there.

Peggy Pepper arrives in Hollywood, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things do not go entirely according to plan.

Working as a pageboy on an ocean liner, a street orphan and his friend Slugger end up on the wrong side of the ship's captain when they try to tell him that his wife is cheating on him with other members of the crew. The boys end up in deeper trouble, after they are thrown in the brig and the ship starts sinking...

An ape is suspected of committing a series of murders.

A wealthy society wife discovers her husband's long-hidden secret--he has a brother, who is not only his twin but his "evil" twin. The long-lost brother shows up at the couple's doorstep one day and proceeds to turn their life upside down, especially when he begins to impersonate his newfound wealthy brother.

Film was released in 1927

Tillie is a secretary always dressed in the height of fashion who tries to capture a millionaire named Pennington Fish. Once she gets a stenographic position at Mr. Simpkins's company she sets her cap for the general manager, Benjamin Franklin Whipple. Eventually Tillie announces that she is going to "catch the rich Mr. Fish by using Whipple as the worm."

A southern girl tries her luck as a dancer in New York City.

Richard Castleman, master of Winnecrest Hall in Louisiana, goes on a sea voyage recommended by his cousin and physician, Harry Chilton, who thereupon begins romancing Castleman's fiancée, Jeanne Lamont. When word arrives of Castleman's death, Chilton prepares to usurp the fortune and property of the dead man. Danny Rowland, who is found wounded by two wandering crooks, Dominie and The Squirrel, opportunely arrives at the estate seeking food and rest; and because of his resemblance to Castleman, he is welcomed as the master. Dominie is introduced as an English cleric and The Squirrel as an Italian count, while Danny falls in love with Jeanne, who believes him to be her fiancé. Chilton, however, suspects the trio and finally unmasks them. It then develops that Danny actually is Castleman, who had decided to reform the two men who befriended him and to expose the dishonesty of his cousin.

An irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.

Robert Z. Leonard directed Griffith in a story based on a popular 1905 Victor Herbert operetta on Broadway, Mlle. Modiste, with a libretto by Henry Martyn Blossom, which was similar to the MGM film The Merry Widow. The film is now considered a lost film. The story was refilmed in 1930 as the talkie Kiss Me Again.

During World War I a young man joins the army and winds up befriending another young recruit, not knowing that it's the same pickpocket who stole his watch. After finishing basic training, the two are sent to the front lines in France, where they wind up in trouble with the MPs, getting involved with some cute French girls and "volunteering" for a dangerous front-line mission, and their antics result in their endangering the armistice.

Millionaire Robert Broadley, in order to curb his wive's enthusiasm for spending money foolishly, inform her that he is now broke and penniless, which might have been a good plan if a friend of his, with some crooked ways, hadn't gotten involved.

Blaze Derringer is a Texas cattle baron's son. He goes to a cabaret on his birthday, helps a pretty young woman and her guardian avoid a raid, but gets tossed from college for bad behavior. His disgusted father dispatches him to seek his fortune. Blaze jumps a freight, befriends a fake British duke and a sporting African-American, and is offered a prize fight in Galveston. He wins, but may have killed his opponent, so he takes the offer of the woman from the cabaret to accompany her to Begonia, where she's a princess about to be crowned. A court minister, the dastardly Count Verensky, has plans to share the throne and her affections. Can the plucky American help the Europeans sort things out?

An auto racer driving through a small town finds himself tangled up in a local political controversy, an election and a mystery that surrounds a supposedly "haunted" car that speeds through town with no driver and disappears before anyone can catch it.

A silent comedy Sink or Swim edited from the 1917 film The Yankee Way (1917)

When their father is reported missing at the front during World War I, Jane and Katherine are stamped and sent by parcel post across the country to their Aunt Lucille Forrest in New Jersey. The two girls manage to smuggle their dog into the mail bag as well. Aunt Lucille is in love with Lt. Tom Hayes, but she is angry with him after he resigns his commission at the start of the war. She does not know that Tom is in the Secret Service, and she becomes jealous of a female spy whom Tom is trailing. Jane and Katherine's mischievous pranks finally assist in capturing the spy and the secret plans, and getting Aunt Lucille back together with Tom.

Hearing that the United States has just declared war on Germany, Bill Durham hurries to a recruiting station to enlist, but because he has flat feet, he is rejected. He falls in love with Barbara Knowles, whose guardian, August Myers, unknown to Barbara, is a German agent. When Bill learns that Myers plans to stir up trouble on the border of the United States and Mexico, he catches the train to New Mexico and routs out Myers' gang of bandits.

In this propaganda film, athletic silent star George Walsh plays reporter Jack Bartlett, who interviews President Wilson regarding the Fourth Liberty Loan. The story never appears in the paper, however, because its new owner, Otto Crumley, is pro-German. So Jack quits his job and begins canvassing for the Liberty Loans. In the midst of his vigorous campaigning he also halts Crumley's plans to inspire a strike at a munitions plant.

After her lover, Kale Loomis, has had her husband sent to prison on a false charge, Fay Gonard leaves her little daughter, Dolores May, on the steps of a convent. Reared in an atmosphere of strictness and seclusion, Dolores is possessed with a desire to see the world, and after meeting Lawrence Grant, a politician's son, her curiosity is aroused even more and she escapes from the convent. Found on the road by Kale's friends, Dolores lives in his home for a time, but later, Lawrence takes her under his wing with the intention of marrying her. Although she loves Lawrence, Dolores misses Kale's parties and returns to him, whereupon Kale threatens to publicize her activities unless Lawrence's father agrees to his demands. Lawrence takes a repentant Dolores away from one of Kale's riotous parties, but after Kale is found dead, Lawrence is arrested for murder.

George Walsh plays the "prodigal" hero in this fast-moving star vehicle from the Fox factory. An incurable cut-up, Jack Spurlock throws a college campus in an uproar when he shows up the first day of classes with his pet bear. Needless to say, Jack is immediately booted out of college, infuriating his big-businessman father (Dan Mason).

Dick Mason is arrested for defending a girl's honor in a Chicago restaurant brawl, and his father sends him to Lithuania where his family owns a share in a cattle concession. By chance, the girl from the restaurant is also bound for the Balkans. While on board, Dick undertakes to renew his acquaintance with this attractive foreigner, but encounters considerable resistance. In Lithuania, Dick meets with Count Vortsky, the Minister of Finance, who presses him to sell his cattle concession, hoping to clinch a coup attempt he is planning with the Bulgarian Ambassador. Somewhat suspicious, Dick agrees to announce his decision only in the presence of Princess Alexia, who turns out to be the girl from the restaurant.