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Top Speed (film)
''Top Speed'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical comedy film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. It was based on a 1929 stage musical of the same name by Harry Ruby, Guy Bolton and Bert Kalmar. The film stars Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting, Laura Lee, and Frank McHugh. Synopsis Elmer Peters and Gerald Brooks, bond clerks on a weekend vacation, are on the run from a local sheriff after Elmer attempts to fish in a "no fishing" area. The two men arrive at an expensive hotel where they rescue Virginia Rollins and Babs Green, who have just been involved in a car accident. Gerald falls in love with Virginia, and Elmer falls for Babs, and the two fugitives decide to remain at the hotel for the rest of the weekend. Elmer begins boasting to hotel guests and personnel; soon, everyone believes that he and Gerald are millionaires, and that Gerald is an expert boat racer. Virginia's father owns a speedboat that he plans to enter in a big ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other his cohort Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include '' Little Caesar'' (1931), ''I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang'' (1932), ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' (1933) and ''They Won't Forget'' (1937). LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. Perhaps his most notable achievement as a producer is the 1939 classic '' The Wizard of Oz'', of which he was also uncredited as a director. Early life LeRoy was born on October 15, 1900, in San Francisco, California, the only child of Jewish parents Edna (née Armer) and Harry LeRoy, a well-to-do department store owner. Both hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded in 1923 by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Studios. Among its other assets, stands the television production company Warner Bros. Television Studios. Bugs Bunny, a cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Ben Hardaway, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack was not printed on the film itself, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at rpm (a speed first used for this system) and typically in diameter, would be played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film was being projected. It had a frequency response of 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound". The "Vitaphone" trademark was later associated with cartoons and other short subjects that had optical soundtracks and did not use discs. Early history In the early 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UCLA Film And Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archive screens over 400 films and videos a year, primarily at the Billy Wilder Theater, located inside the Hammer Museum in Westwood, California. (Formerly, it screened films at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus). The archive is funded by UCLA, public and private interests, and the entertainment industry. It is a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. The Archive is a division of the UCLA Library. As of January 2021, its collection hosted more than 500,000 items, including approximately 159,000 motion picture titles and 132,000 television titles, more than 27 million feet of newsreels, more than 222,000 broadcast recordings and more than 9,000 radio transcription discs. History The Archive hosted virtual screenin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Sound Version
''International Sound Version'' is a term for a film in which all dialogue is replaced with music and foreign inter-titles. It was a method used by movie studios during the early talkie period (1928-1931) to make sound films for foreign markets. This method was much cheaper than the alternative, the "Foreign Language Version", in which the entire film was re-shot with a cast that was fluent in the appropriate language (e.g. Spanish version of Drácula 1931, Laurel & Hardy shorts in Spanish, French and German). To make an international version, the studio would simply insert (on the soundtrack) music over any dialogue in the film and splice in intertitles (which would be replaced with the appropriate language of the country). Singing sequences were left intact as well as any sound sequences that did not involve speaking. International versions were sound versions of films which the producing company did not feel were worth the expense of re-shooting in a foreign language. They wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyril Ring
Cyril Ring (December 5, 1892July 17, 1967) was an American film actor. He began his career in silent films in 1921. By the time of his final performance in 1951, he had appeared in over 350 films, nearly all of them in small and/or uncredited bit parts. Ring is probably best known today for his role as Harvey Yates, a con artist and accomplice to fellow con artist Penelope, played by Kay Francis in the Marx Brothers first film ''The Cocoanuts'' (1929). He also appeared in uncredited small parts in two other Marx films, '' Monkey Business'' (1931) and '' A Day at the Races'' (1937). Biography Born in Massachusetts, he was the brother of actress Blanche Ring and the first husband of actress/dancer Charlotte Greenwood (from 1915 to 1922; divorced). He died on July 17, 1967 in Hollywood, California, aged 74. Reviews ''The Cocoanuts'' was Ring's most prominent role. In the ''New York Times'' review on May 25, 1929, Mordaunt Hall singled Ring out for criticism: "Cyril Ring, in an am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Maxwell (actor)
Edwin Maxwell (9 February 1886 – 13 August 1948) was an Irish character actor on in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, frequently cast as shady businessmen and shysters, though often ones with a pompous or dignified bearing. Prior to that, he was an actor on the Broadway stage and a director of plays. Early life Maxwell was a native of Dublin. Career In the late 1920s, Maxwell directed and acted in plays with the New York Theater Guild Repertory Company. From 1939 to 1942, Maxwell served as the dialogue director for the films of epic director Cecil B. DeMille. Maxwell appeared in four Academy Award-winning Best Pictures: '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930), ''Grand Hotel'' (1932), ''The Great Ziegfeld'' (1936) and '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938). Filmography * ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1929, film debut) as Baptista * '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) as Mr. Bäumer (uncredited) * '' Top Speed'' (1930) as J.W. Rollins (uncredited) * ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Hill (actor)
Al Hill (July 14, 1892 – July 14, 1954) was an American film character actor who appeared in over 320 films between 1927 in film, 1927 and 1954 in film, 1954, including the 1951 film ''The Girl on the Bridge (1951 film), The Girl on the Bridge''. Hill died in 1954 on his 62nd birthday. threestooges.net; accessed July 3, 2015. Partial filmography * ''Me, Gangster'' (1928) * ''Stool Pigeon (1928 film), Stool Pigeon'' (1928) * ''Alibi (1929 film), Alibi'' (1929) * ''The Racketeer'' (1929) * ''Little Caesar (film), Little Caesar'' (1931) (uncredited) * ''Ten Cents a Dance (1931 film), Ten Cents a Dance'' (1931) * ''Corsair (film), Corsair'' (1931) * ''A Fool's Advice'' (1932) * ''The Last Mile (1932 film), The Last Mile'' (1932) * ''Night After Night (film), Night After Night'' (1932) * ''The D ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George 'Gabby' Hayes
George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States * George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States * George V, King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 1910-1936 * George VI, King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 1936-1952 * Prince George of Wales * George Papagheorghe also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorgio Moroder * George Harrison, an English musician and singer-songwriter Places South Africa * George, Western Cape ** George Airport United States * George, Iowa * George, Missouri * George, Washington * George County, Mississippi * George Air Force Base, a former U.S. Air Force base located in California Characters * George (Peppa Pig), a 2-year-old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bletcher
William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disney's ''Three Little Pigs''. Early life William Bletcher was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on on September 24, 1894, to Huber and Dora Bletcher. Career Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several ''Our Gang'' and ''The Three Stooges'' comedies. He was most active as a voice actor. His voice was a deep, strong and booming baritone. Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios ( Black Pete, Short Ghost and the Big Bad Wolf in ''Three Little Pigs''). He auditioned to play one of the dwarfs in Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937). However, Walt Disney disapproved for fear that people would recognize Bletcher from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wade Boteler
Wade Boteler (October 3, 1888 – May 7, 1943) was an American film actor and writer. He appeared in more than 430 films between 1919 and 1943. Biography He was born in Santa Ana, California, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart attack. Boteler graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After he graduated, he stayed there as a director until he joined the Army in World War I. For three years in the mid-1920s, he worked for Douglas MacLean's film company as both actor and writer. On Broadway, Boteler appeared in the play '' The Silent Voice'' (1914). Partial filmography * ''The False Road'' (1920) * '' Lahoma'' (1920) * ''An Old Fashioned Boy'' (1920) * '' She Couldn't Help It'' (1920) * '' Ducks and Drakes'' (1921) * ''The Home Stretch'' (1921) * ''Fifty Candles'' (1921) * '' One Man in a Million'' (1921) * '' Blind Hearts'' (1921) * ''At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern'' (1922) * ''Deserted at the Altar'' (1922) * ''Don't Shoot'' (1922) * ''The Lying ... [...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 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
