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Broadway Bill
''Broadway Bill'' is a 1934 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy. Screenplay by Robert Riskin and based on the short story "Strictly Confidential" by Mark Hellinger, the film is about a man's love for his thoroughbred race horse and the woman who helps him achieve his dreams. Capra disliked the final product, and in an effort to make it more to his liking, he remade the film in 1950 as '' Riding High''. In later years, the distributor of ''Riding High'', Paramount Pictures, acquired the rights to ''Broadway Bill''. The film was released in the United Kingdom as ''Strictly Confidential''. ''Broadway Bill'' was filmed between June 18 and August 16, 1934 at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, and on location at Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, Warner Bros. Ranch, and the Pacific Coast Steel Mills. After an initial preview on October 24, Capra re-edited some scenes based upon audience reaction. The film premiered on November 30, 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the " American Dream personified".Freer 2009, pp. 40–41. Capra became one of America's most influential directors during the 1930s, winning three Academy Awards for Best Director from six nominations, along with three other Oscar wins from nine nominations in other categories. Among his leading films were '' It Happened One Night'' (1934), '' Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936), '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938), and ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939). During World War II, Capra served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the '' Why We Fight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Hamilton (actress)
Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985) was an American actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West, and her Kansas counterpart Almira Gulch, in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's film ''The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. She also gained recognition for her work as an advocate of causes designed to benefit children and animals and retained a lifelong commitment to public education. Early life Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio and practiced her craft doing children's theater while she was a Junior League of Cleveland member. Hamilton made her debut as a "professional entertainer" on December 9, 1929, in a "program of 'heart rending songs'" in the Charles S. Brooks Theater at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Buchman
Sidney Robert Buchman (March 27, 1902 – August 23, 1975) was an American screenwriter and film producer who worked on about 40 films from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. He received four Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay for fantasy romantic comedy film ''Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' (1941) along with Seton I. Miller. Biography Born to a Jewish family, in Duluth, Minnesota, and educated at Columbia University, where he was a member of the Philolexian Society, he served as President of the Screen Writers Guild of America in 1941–1942. Buchman was one of the most successful Hollywood screenwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. His scripts from this period include '' The Right to Romance'' (1933), '' She Married Her Boss'' (1935), ''The King Steps Out'' (1936), '' Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936) and ''Holiday'' (1938). He would go on to receive Academy Award nominations for his writing on ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939), '' The Talk of the Town'' (1942), an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It Happened One Night
''It Happened One Night'' is a 1934 pre-Code American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite ( Claudette Colbert) tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter ( Clark Gable). The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the August 1933 short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, which provided the shooting title. Classified as a "pre-Code" production, the film is among the last romantic comedies created before the MPPDA began rigidly enforcing the 1930 Motion Picture Production Code in July 1934. ''It Happened One Night'' was released just four months prior to that enforcement.Brown 1995, p. 118. It has garnered critical acclaim and is widely hailed one of the greatest films ever made''. It Happened One Night'' is the first of only three films (along with ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' and '' The S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady For A Day
''Lady for a Day'' is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the 1929 short story "Madame La Gimp" by Damon Runyon. It was the first film for which Capra received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and the first Columbia Pictures release to be nominated for Best Picture. Capra also directed its 1961 remake, ''Pocketful of Miracles''. Plot The story focuses on Apple Annie (May Robson), an aging and wretched fruit seller in New York City, whose daughter Louise (Jean Parker) has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. Louise has been led to believe her mother is a society matron named Mrs. E. Worthington Manville who lives at the Hotel Marberry. Annie discovers her charade is in danger of being uncovered when she learns Louise is sailing to New York with her fiancé Carlos (Barry Norton) and his father, Count Romero (Walter Connolly). Among Annie's patrons are Dave the Dude ( Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Madness
''American Madness'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Frank Capra and starring Walter Huston as a New York banker embroiled in scandal. Plot At the Union National Bank, the directors are concerned because they think that bank president Tom Dickson has loaned too much money to people who are bad risks during the Great Depression era, and they threaten to replace him. Dickson refuses to resign, arguing that he loans to people whom he knows are good risks, that none of them has defaulted and that loaning the money keeps it circulating preventing an even worse economic depression. Dickson's wife Phyllis is planning a special celebration for their anniversary, but he has forgotten it and made business plans. He promises to take her out the next night but then arranges another business meeting for the same time. Three gangsters led by Dude Finlay enter the office of chief cashier Cyril Cluett to intimidate him. He owes them $50,000 in gambling debts, and they promise no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platinum Blonde (film)
''Platinum Blonde'' is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy motion picture directed by Frank Capra, written by Jo Swerling and starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow. ''Platinum Blonde'' was Robert Williams' last screen appearance; he died of peritonitis three days after the film's October 31 release. Though not as well known as Capra's later 1930s movies, the film's reputation has grown over the years. It is occasionally aired in the United States on Turner Classic Movies. Plot Stewart "Stew" Smith (Robert Williams), ace reporter for the ''Post'', is assigned to get the story about the latest escapade of playboy Michael Schuyler ( Donald Dillaway), a breach of promise suit by chorus girl Gloria Golden, who has been paid to drop it. Unlike rival ''Daily Tribune'' reporter Bingy Baker (Walter Catlett), he turns down a $50 bribe from Dexter Grayson (Reginald Owen), the Schuylers' lawyer, to not write anything. He does pretend to be swayed by the pleas of Anne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Miracle Woman
''The Miracle Woman'' is a 1931 American pre-Code romance film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, and Sam Hardy. Based on the play ''Bless You Sister'' by John Meehan and Robert Riskin, the film is about a preacher's daughter who becomes disillusioned by the mistreatment of her dying father by his church. Having grown cynical about religion, she teams up with a con man and performs fake miracles for profit. The love and trust of a blind man, however, restores her faith in God and her fellow man. ''The Miracle Woman'' was the second of five film collaborations between Capra and Stanwyck. Produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures, the film was reportedly inspired by the life of Aimee Semple McPherson. Plot Florence Fallon is outraged when church elders, in order to make way for a younger preacher, fire her minister father after his many years of selfless service. Following her father's death, she tells the congregation what she thinks of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, she gradually shifted to working as an actress free of the studio system. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for '' It Happened One Night'' (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations during her career. Colbert's other notable films include ''Cleopatra'' (1934) and ''The Palm Beach Story'' (1942). With her round face, big eyes, aristocratic manner, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert's versatility led to her becoming one of the best-paid stars of the 1930s and 1940s and, in 1938 and 1942, the highest-paid. In all, Colbert starred in more than 60 movies. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray, in seven films (1935–1949), and Fredric March, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clara Blandick
Clara Blandick (born Clara Blanchard Dickey; June 4, 1876 – April 15, 1962) was an American character, film, stage and theater actress. She played Aunt Em in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs. Early life She was born Clara Blanchard Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. and Hattie (née Mudgett) Dickey, aboard the ''Willard Mudgett'' – an American ship captained by her father (named after one of her maternal relatives), and docked in Victoria Harbour, British Hong Kong. She was delivered by Captain William H. Blanchard, whose ship, ''Wealthy Pendleton'', was anchored nearby. His wife, Clara Pendleton Blanchard, was also present. To thank the Blanchards, Captain and Mrs. Dickey named their daughter Clara Blanchard Dickey. When she became successful as an actress, she took the first syllable of "Blanchard" and the first syllable of "Dickey" to create her stage name, "Clara Blandick". W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Breese
Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby. The Opera House in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was the site of Breese's stage debut in the summer of 1895. He portrayed Adonis Evergreen in ''My Awful Dad''. Long on the stage with a varied Broadway career before entering films, Breese appeared with James O'Neill in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (1893), ''The Lion and the Mouse'' (1906) with Richard Bennett, ''The Third Degree'' (1909) with Helen Ware, ''The Master Mind'' (1913) with Elliott Dexter, the popular World War I era play ''Why Marry?'' (1917) with Estelle Winwood & Nat C. Goodwin and ''So This Is London'' (1922) with Donald Gallaher. He also acted in a stock company at the Castle Square Theatre in Boston. Breese's film career began in 1914 with the Edison Studios. He appeared in more than 120 films between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Robards, Sr
Jason Nelson Robards (December 31, 1892 – April 4, 1963) was an American stage and screen actor, and the father of Oscar-winning actor Jason Robards Jr. Robards appeared in many films, initially as a leading man, then in character roles and occasional bit parts. Most of his final roles were in television. Life and career Robards was born on a farm in Hillsdale, Michigan, the son of Elizabeth (née Loomis), a schoolteacher, and Frank P. Robards Sr., a farmer and post office inspector who managed Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 Presidential campaign in Michigan. He was raised in Chicago, Illinois. He trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was billed simply as "Jason Robards" through most of his career, but in his latter years, after his namesake son took up acting, he was generally listed in credits as Jason Robards Sr. He died in 1963 (after which his son switched from "Jason Robards Jr." to "Jason Robards"). Contemporary actors Jason Robards III and Sam Robards are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
