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Frank Conroy (actor)
Frank Parish Conroy (14 October 1890 – 24 February 1964) was a British film and stage actor who appeared in many films, notably ''Grand Hotel'' (1932), '' The Little Minister'' (1934) and ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943). Career Born in Derby, England, Conroy began acting on stage in 1908. He acted in Shakespearean plays in England from 1910 until he came to the United States in 1915. He was responsible for building the Greenwich Village Theatre which opened in 1917, and he directed productions of the repertory theater there for three years. He appeared in more than 40 Broadway plays, beginning with ''The Passing Show of 1913'' (1913) and ending with ''Calculated Risk'' (1962). He won a Tony Award for best supporting actor for his performance in Graham Greene's ''The Potting Shed'' (1957). Conroy's work on television included appearances on ''Kraft Theater'' and ''The Play of the Week''. Personal life and death Conroy had a wife, Ruth, and a son, Richard. He died of heart di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On Borrowed Time
''On Borrowed Time'' is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run. The story is a retelling of a Greek fable in which Death is tricked into climbing a pear tree which had been blessed by Saint Polycarp to trap anyone who was trying to steal an old woman's pears. The opening credits attribute the tale to Geoffrey Chaucer. "Mr. Chaucer liked the tale and believed it—and so do we. If perchance you don't believe it, we respectfully insist that we and Mr. Chaucer must be right. Because faith still performs miracles and a good deed does find its just reward." According to TCM.com, this probably refers to Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale". Set in small-town America, the film stars Lionel Barrymore, Beulah Bondi and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Barrymore plays crotchety wheelchair-u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bad Company (1931 Film)
''Bad Company'' is a 1931 American pre-Code gangster film directed and co-written by Tay Garnett with Tom Buckingham based on Jack Lait's 1930 novel ''Put on the Spot''. It stars Helen Twelvetrees and Ricardo Cortez. Told from the view of a woman, the working titles of this film were ''The Gangster's Wife'' and ''The Mad Marriage''. Unlike many static early sound films, Garnett includes several scenes using a moving camera climaxing in a gigantic assault on an office building with both sides using heavy machine guns. Plot Rich and beautiful Helen King is about to marry Steve Carlyle, a wealthy young professional. Unknown to Helen and her family, Steve is a legal advisor to a megalomaniac gangster Goldie Gorio. Steve wishes to leave the rackets but Goldie reintroduces him to his future father-in-law, a rival gangster where both parties see the marriage as a symbol of peace and an end of violence in their transactions. Steve remains with Goldie and fills in for him to a visit to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cat And The Fiddle (film)
''The Cat and the Fiddle'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic musical film directed by William K. Howard based on the hit 1931 Broadway musical of the same name by Jerome Kern and Otto A. Harbach, about a romance between a struggling composer and an American singer. The film stars Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald in her MGM debut. Plot The film plot is substantially changed from that of the Broadway musical. Victor Florescu (Ramon Novarro) is a composer desperately trying to get his operetta to opening night. First his leading lady (Vivienne Segal) leaves, taking the bulk of their budget with her. Then the male lead splits, leaving Victor to fill his role. Next he calls upon an old love, songstress Shirley Sheridan (Jeanette MacDonald) to be his ingénue, but she insists that she is leaving the theater to marry her affluent, but unfaithful fiancé (Frank Morgan).Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 29 Cast *R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frontier Marshal (1934 Film)
''Frontier Marshal'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code Western film directed by Lewis Seiler and starring George O'Brien. Produced by Fox Film and Sol M. Wurtzel, the film is the first based on Stuart N. Lake's enormously popular but largely fictitious "biography" of Wyatt Earp, '' Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal''. A second version of the film, also produced by Wurtzel, was made in 1939, and a third interpretation by John Ford entitled ''My Darling Clementine'' was released in 1946. He supposedly wrote the book with Earp's input, and it portrays Earp as a fearless lawman. But before the first movie was released, his widow Josephine Earp sued 20th Century Fox for $50,000 in an attempt to keep them from making the film. She said it was an "unauthorized portrayal" of Wyatt Earp. She succeeded in getting Earp's name completely excised from the movie. His character was renamed "Michael Wyatt," and the movie was released as ''Frontier Marshal''. Plot Wandering lawman Michael Wyatt ride ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kennel Murder Case (film)
''The Kennel Murder Case'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film adapted from the 1933 novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. Directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., it stars William Powell and Mary Astor. Powell's role as Philo Vance is not the actor's first performance as the aristocratic sleuth; he also portrays the character in three films produced by Paramount in 1929 and 1930. In the film, dog show competitor Archer Coe is found murdered within his own bedroom. There is a long list of suspects, since the victim had antagonized members of his own family, his own lover, and his own employees. The corpse of the victim's brother is soon found, hidden in a closet. One of the other suspects survives a knife attack, and the dog of Coe's neighbor is found to be seriously injured. Vance has to deduce the motives behind the attacks in order to figure out who killed Coe. Plot When Philo Vance's dog does not make it into the final of the Long Island Kennel Club's dog sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ace Of Aces (1933 Film)
''Ace of Aces'', also known as ''Bird of Prey'', is a 1933 American pre-Code war film based on the story "The Bird of Prey" by World War I pilot John Monk Saunders that explores how war can turn a man's moral compass from pacifism to warmonger. Starring Richard Dix (actor), Richard Dix, it was similar to many of the period films that appeared to glorify the "knights of the air", but was more complex, examining the motivations of those who choose to go to war. Plot When the United States enters World War I, Rocky Thorne has no interest in joining the military, but just wants to pursue his career as a sculptor. He is cynical about the purpose of the war and the enthusiasm of those who have enlisted, comparing them to lemmings that will lemming#Misconceptions, swim until they drown themselves. But his fiancée, Nancy Adams, becomes a Red Cross nurse; she mocks his pacifism and accuses him of cowardice. To prove his bravery, he enlists and becomes a fighter pilot as part of the Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Flight (1933 Film)
''Night Flight'' (also known as ''Dark to Dawn'') is a 1933 American pre-Code aviation drama film produced by David O. Selznick, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Clarence Brown and starring John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy. The picture is based on the 1931 novel of the same name, which won the Prix Femina the same year, by French writer and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Based on Saint-Exupéry's personal experiences while flying on South American mail routes, ''Night Flight'' recreates a 24-hour period of the operations of a fictional airline based on Aéropostale, Trans-Andean European Air Mail. In 1942, ''Night Flight'' was withdrawn from circulation as a result of a dispute between MGM and Saint Exupéry. Its public re-release had to wait until 2011, when legal obstacles were overcome. Plot In South America, the daunting mountains and dangerous weather have hampered the operations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storm At Daybreak
''Storm at Daybreak'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Richard Boleslawski, written by Bertram Millhauser, and starring Kay Francis, Nils Asther, Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Eugene Pallette and C. Henry Gordon. It was released on July 14, 1933, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Premise The wife of a Serbian mayor engages in a clandestine affair with her husband's best friend, a Hungarian officer. Cast * Kay Francis as Irina Radovic * Nils Asther as Capt. Geza Petery * Walter Huston as Mayor Dushan Radovic * Phillips Holmes as Csaholyi * Eugene Pallette as Janos * C. Henry Gordon as Panto Nikitch * Frank Burk as Jankovitcch (uncredited) * Louise Closser Hale as Militza Brooska * Jean Parker as Danitza * Mischa Auer as Assassin (uncredited) * Frank Conroy as Archduke Franz Ferdinand (uncredited) * Leonid Kinskey as Villager (uncredited) * Akim Tamiroff as Fiddler (uncredited) Critical reception ''The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Dared (1933 Film)
''The Man Who Dared'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and written by Dudley Nichols and Lamar Trotti. The film stars Preston Foster, Zita Johann, Joan Marsh, Phillip Trent, and June Lang. The film was released on June 30, 1933, by Fox Film Corporation. Plot Jan Novak (Preston Foster) as mayor crusades to clean up a big city and fight the underworld. Jan Novak is based on Anton Cermak, the Chicago mayor killed in an assassination attempt on Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Cast *Preston Foster as Jan Novak *Zita Johann as Teena Pavelic Novak *Joan Marsh as Joan Novak *Irén Biller as Tereza Novak *Phillip Trent as Dick *June Lang as Barbara Novak *Leon Ames as Yosef Novak *Douglas Cosgrove as Dan Foley *Douglass Dumbrille as Judge Collier * Frank Sheridan as Sen. 'Honest John' McGuiness *Leonid Snegoff as Posilipo *Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midnight Mary
''Midnight Mary'' is a 1933 American pre-Code crime drama film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, and Franchot Tone. Plot The very scary story begins with an indifferent Mary Martin (Young) sitting in a courtroom full of people, on trial for murder. As the jury leaves to deliberate her fate, the story flashbacks on Mary's hard life as a woman living in a large city of the 1930s, as well as on the two lusty men—a gangster, Leo Darcy (Cortez), and a lawyer, Tom Mannering, Jr. (Tone)—with whom she is involved. plot overview, cast and crew credits, and production details; online catalog of the American Film Institute
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Ann Carver's Profession
''Ann Carver's Profession'' is an American pre-Code 1933 film directed by Edward Buzzell. It focuses on the relationship of a female lawyer and her husband, and on the strain that her financial success places on their marriage. The film stars actress Fay Wray and this film was made during the year she cemented her fame in ''King Kong''. Although the writing credits differ, the film bears a striking resemblance in plot to Columbia's 1938 production ''The Lady Objects'' starring Lanny Ross and Gloria Stuart. Plot Ann Carver (Fay Wray) and Bill Graham (Gene Raymond) are college sweethearts who graduate, marry, and go to work. There are major differences in their career success. Ann has a law degree, and goes to work at the law firm of retired Judge Bingham. On the other hand, Bill, who in college was a campus football star and voted "Most Popular Man on Campus", lands a low-level job in an architectural firm. She scores a sensational success with her first case (see below) and recei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disorderly Conduct (film)
''Disorderly Conduct'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code film directed by John W. Considine Jr. starring Spencer Tracy, Sally Eilers and Ralph Bellamy. It was the seventh picture Tracy made under his contract with Fox Film Corporation, and the first to make a profit since his debut ''Up the River''. Mordaunt Hall, in his review for ''The New York Times'', praised the film's "racy dialogue and highly commendable performances", but bemoaned the "strained and implausible" story. Plot A policeman (Spencer Tracy) becomes involved with a young woman (Sally Eilers) after clashing with her politician father (Ralph Morgan). Cast *Spencer Tracy - Dick Fay *Sally Eilers - Phyllis Crawford *El Brendel - Olsen * Dickie Moore - Jimmy *Ralph Bellamy - Captain Tom Manning *Ralph Morgan - James Crawford *Alan Dinehart - Fletcher * Frank Conroy - Tony Alsotto *Cornelius Keefe - Stallings *Geneva Mitchell - Phoebe Darnton *Sally Blane - Helen Burke *Nora Lane - Gwen Fiske *Charley Grapewin Charles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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