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Corsair (film)
''Corsair'' is a 1931 American pre-Code crime drama written, produced and directed by Roland West. The film is based on the 1931 novel ''Corsair, a Pirate in White Flannels'' by Walton Green and takes place in and was shot during the era of Prohibition in the United States. The film stars Chester Morris and Thelma Todd (credited as Alison Loyd). Plot College football hero John Hawks lets himself be goaded by wealthy socialite Alison Corning into forgoing a job coaching the college team to be "a real man, and make real money" in the big city with her father, Stephen Corning, on Wall Street. He soon has more than he can stomach, making money by bilking the poor out of their meager savings with junk bonds. Mr. Corning tells John he doesn't have what it takes to succeed in the brutal world of share trading. John replies he will seek a new line of work where he will not go after elderly widows' savings. John decides to go after those who deserve to lose their money: bootleggers. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland West
Roland West (February 20, 1885 – March 31, 1952) was an American film director, known for his innovative proto-film noir movies of the 1920s and early 1930s. He is however best known for his possible involvement in the death of Hollywood actress Thelma Todd in 1935. Biography Born Roland Van Zimmer to a theatrical family in Cleveland, Ohio, he began acting in vaudeville productions as a teenager. By his early 20s, he was writing and directing vaudeville productions. Shortly afterward, he began directing films such as ''The Monster (1925 film), The Monster'' (1925) with Lon Chaney; ''The Bat (1926 film), The Bat'' (1926), based on the novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart (dramatized on stage by Rinehart and Avery Hopwood); ''Alibi (1929 film), Alibi'' (1929), for which he nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture; ''The Bat Whispers'' (1930) (also based on the Rinehart novel and play); and ''Corsair (film), Corsair'' (1931). So established was West by 1930 that ''The Bat Whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morse Code
Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the early developers of the system adopted for electrical telegraphy. International Morse code encodes the 26 ISO basic Latin alphabet, basic Latin letters to , one Diacritic, accented Latin letter (), the Arabic numerals, and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (Prosigns for Morse code, prosigns). There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters. Each Morse code symbol is formed by a sequence of ''dits'' and ''dahs''. The ''dit'' duration can vary for signal clarity and operator skill, but for any one message, once the rhythm is established, a beat (music), half-beat is the basic unit of time measurement in Morse code. The duration of a ''dah'' is three times the duration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1931 Crime Drama Films
Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. * January 25 – Mohandas Gandhi is again released from imprisonment in India. * January 27 – Pierre Laval forms a government in France. * January 30 – Charlie Chaplin comedy drama film ''City Lights'' receives its public premiere at the Los Angeles Theater with Albert Einstein as guest of honor. Contrary to the current trend in cinema, it is a silent film, but with a score by Chaplin. Critically and commercially successful from the start, it will place consistently in lists of films considered the best of all time. February * February 4 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin gives a speech calling for rapid industrialization, arguing that only strong indus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Addie McPhail
Addie McPhail (July 15, 1905 – April 14, 2003) was an American film actress. Early years McPhail was born Addie Dukes in White Plains, Kentucky, on July 15, 1905. Her parents were Van and Cordelia Dukes, and she attended schools in Madisonville, Kentucky, Madisonville and Providence, Kentucky. Her father worked in insurance, and the family often moved. They went to Chicago in 1911 and "settled for a long period". While there, she won several contests on stage. They went to Hollywood in 1925, a move that McPhail considered to be fate because she wanted to be an actress. Career McPhail began her work in films with Stern Brothers, a studio that produced short comedies that Universal distributed. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1927 and 1941. The physical demands of comedy gradually diminished McPhail's interest in acting, and she later said, "May I was never the actress I wanted to be." Her film career ended with ''Northwest Passage (film), Northwest Passage'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gay Seabrook
Gay Seabrook (born Gladys Johnson; April 1, 1901 – April 18, 1970) was an American film, Broadway and radio actress. Early years Seabrook was the daughter of Rufus Johnson, a newspaper circulation manager. She married screenwriter Edward Evans Seabrook in 1920. Career In the mid 1920s, Seabrook portrayed Mary Margaret in the play ''The Fool'', which toured the United States for 62 weeks after having been presented "for some time in New York." She appeared in the Broadway productions of ''Crime Marches On'' (1935) and '' Three Men on a Horse'' (1942). Seabrook was teamed with comedian Emerson Treacy to form the double-act Treacy and Seabrook. The team was very successful on radio and in theater during the early 1930s, with routines similar to those of real husband-and-wife team Burns and Allen. The two had worked together in 1928, teamed as young lovers in a production of the play ''Tommy''. A newspaper article about the upcoming production described Treacy and Seabrook as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayo Methot
Mayo Jane Methot (March 3, 1904 – June 9, 1951) was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 films, as well as in various Broadway theatre, Broadway productions, and attracted significant media attention for her tempestuous marriage to actor Humphrey Bogart. Methot appeared in numerous Broadway musicals and plays, including the Vincent Youmans musical ''Great Day'' (1929). She then appeared in various supporting roles for Warner Brothers, often portraying hard-edged women. Her film credits include the mystery film ''The Night Club Lady'' (1932), the comedy ''Jimmy the Gent (film), Jimmy the Gent'' (1934), and the crime drama ''Marked Woman'' (1937). Methot met Bogart on the set of ''Marked Woman'' and the two became romantically involved, marrying in 1938. Methot struggled with severe alcoholism, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following a suicide attempt in 1943. She divorced Bogart in 1945 after numerous reconciliations. Unable to gain tract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Rice (actor)
Frank Rice (May 13, 1892 – January 9, 1936) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1912 and 1936. He was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and died in Los Angeles, California of hepatitis. Rice was educated in Portland, Oregon. Selected filmography * '' Richelieu'' (1914) - Huget * ''A Man from Nowhere'' (1920) - Toby Jones * '' Riders of the Law'' (1922) - Toby Jones * '' The Forbidden Trail'' (1923) - Toby Jones * ''Blood Test'' (1923) * '' Desert Rider'' (1923) - Toby Jones * '' The Ghost City'' (1923) - Sagebrush Hilton * '' The Red Warning'' (1923) - Toby Jones * '' Wanted by the Law'' (1924) - Jerry Hawkins * '' The Galloping Ace'' (1924) - Knack Williams * '' Wolves of the North'' (1924) - Dan Martin * '' Dynamite Dan'' (1924) - Boss * ''The Ridin' Kid from Powder River'' (1924) - Cal Huxley * '' The Air Hawk'' (1924) - Hank * '' The Cloud Rider'' (1925) - Hank Higgins * ''Ridin' Pretty'' (1925) - Barb Wire * ''Just Plain Folks'' (1925) * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank McHugh
Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor. Early years Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A. "Cutie" McHugh and Katherine Curry "Katie" McHugh, ran the McHugh stock theater company in Braddock, Pennsylvania. As a young child he performed on stage. His brother Matt and sister Kitty performed in an act with him by the time he was 10 years old, but the family quit the stage around 1930. Another brother, Ed, became a stage manager and agent in New York. Career Leaving the family stage company at age 17, McHugh went to Pittsburgh as leading man and stage manager at the Empire Theater there. He spent nine years in stock companies and road troupes before appearing on Broadway. McHugh debuted on Broadway in ''The Fall Guy'', written by George Abbott and James Gleason in 1925. He also appeared in ''Show Girl'' (1929), a musical. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Austin (actor)
William Crosby Percy Austin (12 June 1884 – 15 June 1975) was an English character actor. He was the first actor to play Alfred in a Batman adaptation. Early years William Austin was born in Georgetown in British Guiana. His parents were Charles Percy Austin and Rosalie Ann Sarah Austin. On the death of his father, he was brought to the United Kingdom to complete his education. He was the brother of actor Albert Austin. Austin attended Reading College in England and gained theatrical experience via Little Theatre and Drama Shop plays. Career Austin filled a business post in Shanghai and on being sent to San Francisco by the company he worked for, he decided to stay in America and take up acting on the stage and later in films. Beginning in 1919, Austin acted at the Morosco Theatre in Los Angeles for three years. He began working in films in 1922. He appeared in many American films and serials between the 1920s and the 1940s, though the vast majority of his roles were sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emmett Corrigan
Emmett Corrigan (born Antoine Zilles; June 5, 1867 – October 29, 1932) was a Dutch-born American stage and screen actor. Various sources give his birth year as 1867, 1868 and 1871. Corrigon was born as Antoine Zilles in Amsterdam, Holland, and his career extended from the silent era to the early sound years. He originally studied for the priesthood and also debuted on stage at Baltimore at age fourteen. He later attended Ilchester College. Much stage work appearing as Sheik Ilderim on Broadway in Ben-Hur in 1899 and as Simonides in a 1900 revival of ''Ben-Hur''.Parker,...Who Was Who He did much touring in stock companies up until he started appearing in silent films. One of his last stage appearances was as Captain Flagg in 1925 in a San Francisco stage version of '' What Price Glory?''. On October 29, 1932, Corrigan died of a heart attack while he was watching a card game at the Maskers Club in Hollywood. He was 65. Selected Stage Appearances *'' The Deep Purple'' (1910-1911) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ned Sparks
Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian character actor of the American stage and screen. He was known for his deadpan expression and comically nasal, monotone delivery. Life and career Sparks was born in Guelph, Ontario, but moved to St. Thomas, Ontario, where he grew up. He left home at 16 and attempted prospecting in the Klondike Gold Rush. After running out of money, he began performing. Billed as a "Singer of Sweet Southern Songs" and costumed in a straw hat, short pants and bare feet, he won a spot as a singer on a travelling musical company's tour. At 19, he returned to Canada and briefly attended a Toronto seminary. He then worked for the railway and in theatre in Toronto. In 1907, he moved to New York City to try his hand in the Broadway theatre, where he appeared in his first show in 1912. On Broadway, Sparks developed his trademark deadpan expression while portraying a hotel clerk in the play ''Little Miss Brown''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
