Chester Morris

The rise and fall...and rise of Schlitzie, the lovable man-child performer from Tod Browning's cult film "Freaks." He lived to perform, until he was put in an institution and left to die. His persona earned him a place in Punk history when the Ramones recorded "Pinhead," dolls and jewelry were created in his image, and "American Horror Story: Freakshow" paid homage to him. According to sideshow lore, Schlitzie was one of the most beloved performers.

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.

A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.

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

An ordinary girl's life is radically changed by the mistaken receipt of a $60,000 strand of pearls.

A mysterious hypnotist reverts his beautiful assistant back into the form of a prehistoric sea monster that she was in a past life.

Arriving in Washington, a freshman senator gets an experienced advisor who warns him not to continue a heated feud with his state's senior salon, held over from his father. But later in a drunken jag, he blurts out secret evidence that can end the career of the older man.

This fact-based prison drama tells the tale of a band of prisoners living in the innovative 2,600-acre prison at Chino, California. The place takes a humanistic approach to reform and there are no armed guards, no lockups and no uniforms. The underlying philosophy is that if these things are not there, the prisoners will not want to escape, and will instead accept their punishment. A new inmate arrives and soon accustoms himself to the new idea. The story includes the Oscar nominated song Unchained Melody.

Blackie is seen leaving a Chinese laundry where the proprietor has been murdered, and must track down the real killer in Chinatown.

Blackie is the natural suspect when an expensive pearl necklace is stolen while he is supposed to be guarding it.

A mystery writer becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation when a publisher he last saw is found dead.

Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.

Boston Blackie, in the 11th film of the Columbia series, indulges in some wit-trading with a squirmy spiritualist who deals in blackmail, murder and the occult. "Blackie" out to help his pal, "Runt," recover some jewels, finds himself involved in the homicides, and also finds himself as the prime suspect, and now has to find the real culprit in order to clear himself. So "Blackie,", a man of many talents and already a proved magician from cases past, shows he knows a little bit about dancing skeletons, walking phantoms and spiritualism himself, and holds a séance to unmask the murderer.

Blackie runs into a woman he formally loved who now is married with a kid. When her husband gets out of prison he's killed in Blackie's apartment and of course the police thing Blackie pulled the trigger. Blackie must set out to prove his innocence as well as capture the real killers.

A Chicago team of radio scriptwriters must split up when he takes a job with his bride-to-be's father, and the other must write commercial jingles.

Blackie helps the police rescue hostage from an escaped maniac on a killing spree.

Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.

The story is the old bromide about two brawling buddies, duking it out over the same girl, in this case pert Jo Matheson (Jean Rogers). Owen and Brad own a salvage company, but split up over Jo. Both separately sign up for the army, and both are reunited in the Pacific.

In New York City, a newly hired photographer becomes embroiled in a scandal when her photo is mistaken for evidence of a murder and she must try to prove her own innocence.

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.

Secret Command features Pat O'Brien as a onetime foreign correspondent in the wartime employ of the FBI. Under an assumed name, O'BRIEN goes to work at a shipyard, intending to keep both eyes open for potential saboteurs. To maintain the cover, O'BRIEN is given a "wife" (Carole Landis) and two children. When O'BRIEN's brother Chester Morris shows up, he can't comprehend the charade and nearly spills the beans to the Nazi spies O'BRIEN hopes to trap. Based on the short story The Saboteurs by John and Ward Hawkins, Secret Command offers a graying but still feisty Pat O'Brien doing what he does best.

The professional gambler Ross Hadley is the owner of a posh gaming establishment in the heart of New York...

A mad scramble for stolen loot ensues after Boston Blackie has prisoners released for work in a wartime defence plant.

The owner of an Illinois coal mine struggles to keep his business in operation, all the while unaware that among his employees is a saboteur planning destruction and chaos.

Mike Douglas (Barry Sullivan), owner of a nitroglycerin concern hires his old friend "Buzz" Mitchell (Chester Morris), a race-driver of midget-auto cars who has been banned from racing, to go to work hauling nitro. "Buzz" makes a play for Connie Baker (Jean Parker), Mike's secretary and girlfriend, and also for Doris Lynch (Barbara Lynn), fiancée of Connie's younger brother, Jimmy ('Rand Brooks'), and gets Jimmy to replace him on a dangerous nitro haul and Jimmy, of course, has an accident and gets killed. But "Buzz" finds a way to redeem himself. The hard way.

Old rivals are pitted against each other in basic training and fight for the same woman.

Blackie is arrested when retrieving stolen gems from a safety deposit box for a friend.

Follows a crew as they work under a deadline set by their boss to complete the demolition of a building. Touches on the lives of several of the crew in their lives away from the job and shows rhe comraderie of the crew in their work and even away from work.

Blackie receives a call from a friend who asks him to retrieve some money from his apartment and deliver it to him in California. Performing this good deed, he is accused of theft, but is allowed to proceed to Hollywood to help the police find a lost diamond.

A cocky radio reporter sets out to prove an ex-convict is innocent in the murder of a mob boss.

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.

A murder is committed during the auction of a valuable statue. The prime suspect is Boston Blackie, whose reputation for living on the edge of the law makes him an easy target for the police. When the body disappears, Blackie must find it to prove his innocence.

A wise-cracking private detective's honeymoon is interrupted by a kidnapping case.

When a murder occurs on an ocean liner docked in New York, the trail leads to Coney Island and a spy ring.

Jim Holden, a young doctor practicing in Alaska, eagerly awaits the arrival of his new nurse, Anne Webster. All of his previous left within a few weeks by the rigors of the Alaskan winter....

David Cook and twin brother Tom are poles apart in disposition and traits. When their father dies, Tom goes to New Mexico to live with his Uncle Hardtack while David remains behind to care for their mother. The grown Tom becomes an outlaw while brother David becomes a government lawman. David is charged with apprehending Tom...

Marine lieutenants Dan and Jim fight bandits in the South American jungle, while competing for the attention of beautiful Joan Grant.

A tugboat captain serves under his rival as a U-boat chaser in World War I.

Two starstruck visitors to Hollywood sneak into the famous nightclub and end up in a Conga contest and get more than they expected.

Twelve people are aboard Coast Air Line's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.

An MGM short showing how materials are shipped by boat 'From the Ends of the Earth' to Hollywood. Featuring footage from the MGM films being made at the time. Such as The Women, Thunder Afloat, Siren of the Tropics, Ninotchka, Northwest Passage, and At the Circus.

A gangster takes a doctor and his family hostage.

An outbreak of cholera threatens a luxury liner in this surprisingly low-budget melodrama from RKO. En route from Shanghai to San Francisco, chief engineer Crusher McKay (Victor McLaglen) and shipboard doctor Tony Craig (Chester Morris) become rivals for the attention of nurse Ann Grayson (Wendy Barrie). A Chinese stowaway, meanwhile, infects the stokehold with cholera and it is left to Crusher to keep the engines at full throttle until reaching harbor. But morale sinks to an all-time low when Crusher himself is stricken and the overworked men threaten with mutiny. Tony attempts to keep the stokers in check but the situation is growing more dangerous by the minute when a heroic Crusher rises from his sickbed. Leaving their previous petty squabbles behind, Tony and Crusher manage to guide the ship safely to harbor, where the doc and Ann rekindle their romance.

Jim 'Socker' Conway, former boxer and FBI hero, is maneuvered for political reasons into a do-nothing job in the district attorney's office. Meanwhile, he meets wild debutante Letty Lane, girlfriend of mob mouthpiece Steve Lawrence; and Letty's much nicer sister Susan. Now the slot machine gang brutally beats Jim's friends Franz and Otto. And Jim finds a way to use his nominal position to go into the racket- busting business. But his success puts Letty in deadly peril...

Given the job of training young pilots for important post-war cargo flights, hard-boiled Col. Stockton forces ex-officer Stag Cahill back into the military to be his aide at the academy. Complications arise when Stockton's son Kenneth arrives for training and Stockton, believing his son to be a slackard, looks for an excuse to drop him from the program. Rivalry develops between Stag and Ken as well, as they fall for the same girl.

A respected citizen with secret ties to the local mob is faced with revealing his criminal connections to save two innocent people from execution

A series of vignettes with a loose plot. Featured are Frank Morgan, Groucho Marx, Frank McHugh, Robert Benchley and The Brian Sisters. Not bad, more interesting for the historical significance than for entertainment.

Director Lew Landers' 1937 B-film, about a crew of misfit pilots working for an Argentinian air service, stars Chester Morris, Van Heflin, Whitney Bourne, Onslow Stevens, Richard Lane, Douglas Walton, Paul Guilfoyle, Solly Ward, Walter Miller and Rita LaRoy.

A man goes to a loan shark to finance his family's vacation.

A remake of Frank Capra's Submarine (1928), Devil's Playground is a snappy Columbia "B plus" picture starring Richard Dix and Chester Morris. Submarine officers Dorgan (Dix) and Mason (Morris) battle on land for the affections of dance-hall girl Carmen (Dolores del Rio). She marries Dorgan but makes a play for Mason when her husband is on duty. The romantic rivalry is forgotten when Dorgan must rescue Mason and his crew from a sunken sub.

A cab driver takes in a young woman who claims to be a reluctant bride, and becomes involved in the search for a stolen necklace.

A cop goes undercover to infiltrate and break up a counterfeiting ring.

The story of a woman, Frankie, and the man who has done her wrong, Johnnie.

An escaped lunatic, a mysterious swami, and various lovers all have designs on a famous opera singer.

In a town called New Jerusalem, three bandits hold up a bank. After a gun battle with the townspeople, the three robbers retreat into the scorching Arizona desert. There, they happen upon an ill woman stranded with her child. As the mother dies, she begs the men to take care of her infant. The fugitives want to save the baby -- but to do so, they'll have to travel back to New Jerusalem, where they are wanted men.

Various Hollywood performers put on a pirate-themed variety show on Catalina Island, with a number of amiable stars in the audience.

"Mitch" Mitchell is an aviator who has been hired to take a child in a guardianship suit out of California into Mexico. He is accompanied by Maxine Rush, the secretary of the head of a private-detective agency who has been hired to care for the kid until the suit is over. (Overview written by Les Adams )

G-Man Jeff Crane poses as a crook to infiltrate the notorious Purple Gang, a band of hoodlums which preys upon other hoodlums. Orchestrating the jailbreak of the gang's leader, Crane joins him in a Dillinger-like flight across the country.

When King's beloved horse dies, Princess tries to purchase a new nag, and that's how she inadvertently gets her hands on a "stolen" race horse. Our heroine nearly ends up with a lengthy prison term before the story is resolved during the climactic Big Race.

Romantic problems of a society girl and an engineer.

Two surgeons (Chester Morris, Robert Taylor) in love with a nurse (Virginia Bruce) end their rivalry in the operating room.

Mary wants to marry a gangster because that is where the money is. Unfortunately, the life expectancy and finances of a gangster are unstable.

A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.

Jerry Randolph is an inveterate and obnoxious practical joker. Things take a serious turn when it looks as though Jerry's latest prank has resulted in the death of his best friend.

Conceited radio announcer irritates everyone else at the station.

A young sailor saves a woman from drowning. The woman turns out to be a rich heiress; unfortunately for the sailor, she was only pretending to be drowning so that another young man she had her eye on would save her.

A prizefighter is convicted of a murder that was actually committed by his sister.

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.

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

This pre-Code comedy-thriller centers on Robert Holden, a broke and discouraged veteran, who meets fellow American Elinor Green at a cafe in Paris. After their first encounter, Holden's attempt to return Green's thought-to-be stolen purse ends up rendering him a stowaway on board a ship bound for America. Also aboard is a collection of characters, including Green's banker fiancé, a famed scientist, and an opera singer. Romance begins to blossom between Holden and Green, just as a radiogram claims that an “infernal machine,” or bomb, is aboard the ship. Quickly each passenger accuses the others of planting the bomb until eventually Holden, jealous of Green's attention to her undeserving fiancé, falsely admits to being the culprit. In his role as assumed perpetrator, Holden tests the group further.

A Depression-downtrodden waif uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.

Lil works for the Legendre Company and causes Bill to divorce Irene and marry her. She has an affair with businessman Gaerste and uses him to force society to pay attention to her.

A New York fashion model finds herself being pursued by a poor but honest garage mechanic and a rich philanderer.

A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.

An opera diva sets her sights on a womanizing army officer.

A stock market broker plans to liven up his boring life by taking up piracy on the high seas.

Infamous burglar "The Bat" commits a daring jewelry theft despite heavy police presence. Soon after, a bank theft occurs, which may be the work of the criminal as well. Meanwhile, Cornelia Van Gorder has various people arrive at her old mansion, including her niece, Dale, a bank employee, and police detective Anderson. When guests start turning up dead, Cornelia begins to suspect that The Bat may be lurking around the estate.

Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.

When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.

This film earned an Oscar nomination for Sound Recording. It is the only film nominated in this category that is among the lost. No negative or print material is known to have survived. Contemporary reviews were scathing, describing the film as a vastly overlong and boring talk-fest.

A night club singer falls for a gangster.

New York girl has a dull boyfriend and seems destined for a dull marriage when she meets a rich playboy who has money to burn and places to go.

Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.

It's 1929. The studio gave the cinema its voice gave offered the audiences a chance to see their favorite actors and actresses from the silent screen era to see and for the first time can be heard in a gaudy, grandiose music comedy revue. But also appear actors and actresses from the first 'talkies', stars from Broadway and of course the German shepherd Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay is the host of the more than 70 well-known stars who show various acts.

In Woman Trap, Hal Skelly is hard-bitten police sergeant Dan Malone, whose mission in life is to rid his community of gangsters. The revelation that Dan's own brother Ray (Chester Morris) is the secret head of all local criminal activities does not weaken Dan's resolve in the least. The barely relevant title is a reference to "heroine" Kitty Evans (Evelyn Brent), the wife of a minor gang functionary. Screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, presumably on a dare, makes a brief appearance as a crime reporter.

A man is tried and convicted for the murder of a man who flirted with his wife., and sentenced to death However, it turns out that he is innocent of the murder and that the real killer has close ties to a powerful politician.

Chick Williams, a prohibition gangster, rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion. The gangster took Joan, a policeman's daughter, to the theater, sneaked out during the intermission to commit the crime, then used her to support his alibi. The detective squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques, including planting an undercover agent in the gang, to bring him to justice.