The Smiling Ghost
''The Smiling Ghost'' is a 1941 American film directed by Lewis Seiler and starring Wayne Morris, Alexis Smith, and Alan Hale. The film is in the horror comedy genre, which was popular in the 1940s. Plot The elderly Mrs. Bentley (Helen Westley) and her lawyer see a newspaper ad from an unemployed and unmarried engineer seeking work doing “anything legal.” The lawyer calls the engineer, Alexander “Lucky” Downing ( Wayne Morris), and sets up a meeting, during which Lucky is offered $1000 to feign an engagement to Mrs. Bentley’s granddaughter Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith) for one month. Lucky considers it a strange offer, but he needs the money so he takes the job. What Downing doesn’t know is that Elinor’s three former fiancés have met horrible fates. The first, Johnny Eggleston, mysteriously drowned. The second, Paul Myron ( David Bruce), was paralyzed when his car rolled over and has been confined to an iron lung ever since. The third, Alan Winters, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lewis Seiler
Lewis Seiler (September 30, 1890 – January 8, 1964) was an American film director. He directed more than 80 films between 1923 and 1958. Seiler was born in New York City and died in Hollywood, California. Partial filmography *''A Bankrupt Honeymoon'' (1926) *''The Great K & A Train Robbery'' (1926) *'' No Man's Gold'' (1926) *'' Wolf Fangs'' (1927) *'' The Ghost Talks'' (1929) *'' Girls Gone Wild'' (1929) *'' Frontier Marshal'' (1934) *'' Charlie Chan in Paris'' (1935) *'' He Couldn't Say No'' (1938) *'' Crime School'' (1938) *'' Heart of the North'' (1938) *'' You Can't Get Away with Murder'' (1939) *'' Hell's Kitchen'' (1939) *''Dust Be My Destiny'' (1939) *'' King of the Underworld'' (1939) *'' Tugboat Annie Sails Again'' (1940) *''Flight Angels'' (1940) *'' It All Came True'' (1940) *'' The Big Shot'' (1942) *'' Beyond the Line of Duty'' (1942) *''Pittsburgh'' (1942) *'' Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943) *''Something for the Boys'' (1944) *'' Whiplash'' (1948) *'' The Winnin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Ainley
Richard Ainley (22 December 1910 – 18 May 1967) was a stage and film actor. He was born in Middlesex, England, the son of Henry Ainley and a half-brother of Anthony Ainley. Ainley made his stage debut in 1928, initially using the stage name Richard Riddle, taking his mother's maiden name. His American debut came in ''Foreigners'' at the Belasco Theater in 1939. His first motion picture appearance was in 1936 as Sylvius in ''As You Like It'', in which his father also appeared. Other roles included Ferdinand in the television movie of '' The Tempest'' (1939), Dr. Hale in '' Shining Victory'' (1941), and a Foreign Office official in the thriller '' Above Suspicion'' (1943). Ainley married three times, firstly to actress Ethel Glendinning. He was divorced from his first two wives; his third wife Rowena Woolf died in 1968. He retired from film work following a disabling wound received while he was serving in the army during World War II to return to the stage. He was briefl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1940s Ghost Films
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1941 Horror Films
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here. * January 1 – Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months). * January 3 – A decree (''Normalschrifterlass'') promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua (typeface class), Antiqua. * January 4 – The short subject ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card. * January 5 – WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1941 Films
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, '' Citizen Kane''. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1941 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January 17 '' Gone with the Wind'' goes into general release after touring in a roadshow version during 1940. Becoming a cultural phenomenon, it sells an estimated 60 million tickets this year alone. Adjusted for inflation with numerous rereleases, it remains the highest grossing domestic film of all time with $1.8 billion. * March 24 - Glenn Miller begins work on his 1st movie '' Sun Valley Serenade'' for Twentieth Century Fox * May 1 – '' Citizen Kane'', consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, is released. * July 2 – ''Sergeant York'', the film biopic of World War I hero Alvin C. York, starring Gary Cooper in the title role, premieres in New York City. It is the h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warner Archive
The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the intention of putting previously unreleased catalog films on DVD for the first time. In November 2012, Warner expanded the Archive Collection to include Blu-ray releases, Some Warner Archive releases, such as '' Wise Guys'', previously had a pressed DVD release but have lapsed out of print and have since been re-released as part of the Warner Archive collection. DVD-R recordable media are manufactured on-demand for the consumer and authorized distributors for online resale, rather than the traditional business model of pressing large batches of discs that ship to "brick and mortar" retailers. This saves on the costs of storing unsold stock in a warehouse and mitigates the risk of a retailer holding unsold merchandise, especially since the major ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published annually from 1969 to 2014. Early life Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge. Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968. Career Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for '' Classic Images'' and editing and publishing his own fanzine, ''Film Fan Monthly'', dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including '' Variety' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were perceived as unnecessarily mean. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. Life and career Crowther was born Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. in Lutherville, Maryland, the son of Eliza Hay (née Leisenring, 1877–1960) and Francis Bosley Crowther (1874–1950). As a child, Crowther moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he published a neighborhood newspaper, ''The Evening Star''. His family moved to Washington, D.C., and Crowther graduated from Western High School in 1922. After two years of prep school at Woodberry Forest School, he entered Princeton University, where he majored i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clem Bevans
Clem Guy Bevans (October 16, 1880 – August 11, 1963) was an American character actor best remembered for playing eccentric, grumpy old men. Early life Bevans was born in Cozzadale, Ohio. Career Bevans had a very long career, starting in vaudeville in 1900 in an act with Grace Emmett. He progressed to burlesque, Broadway, and even light opera, before making his film debut at the age of 55 in '' Way Down East'' (1935). His portrayal was so good, he became stereotyped and played mostly likable old codgers for the rest of his life. Bevans played the neighbour of Gregory Peck in '' The Yearling'' and the gatekeeper in '' Harvey'' (1950). However, he did occasionally play against type, for example as a Nazi spy in Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur .. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |