''Murder in the Library'' or ''Playthings of Desire'' (U.S. alternate title) is a 1933 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

and starring

Linda Watkins Linda Mathews Watkins (May 23, 1908 – October 31, 1976) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Watkins was the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R. (née Mathews) Watkins. Her fat ...

James Kirkwood, Sr. James Cornelius Kirkwood Sr. (February 22, 1876 – August 24, 1963) was an American actor and director. Biography Kirkwood debuted on screen in 1909 and was soon playing leads for D. W. Griffith. He started directing in 1912, and became a fa ...

, and

Reed Howes Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * R ...

. It was made by the

Poverty Row Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did n ...

company Pinnacle Productions. It is a remake of the 1924 silent film ''

Playthings of Desire ''Playthings of Desire'' is a 1924 American silent melodrama film produced and directed by Burton L. King and starring Estelle Taylor. Cast Preservation A print listed as being complete of ''Playthings of Desire'' is located in the Library o ...

''.

Partial cast

as Gloria Dawn *

as Jim Malvern *

as Jack Halliday *

Josephine Dunn Mary Josephine Dunn (May 1, 1906 – February 3, 1983) was an American stage and film actress of the 1920s and 1930s. Early years Dunn was born in New York City and educated at Holy Cross convent school. Career At age 14 and a 5'5" tall bl ...

as Anne Cabot Ford *

Molly O'Day Molly O'Day (born Suzanne Dobson Noonan; October 16, 1909 – October 22, 1998) was an American film actress and the younger sister of Sally O'Neil. Biography Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of 11 children of Judge Tho ...

as Renee Grant * Jack Chapin as Wheeler Johnson

DVD release

The 1933 film was released on

Region 0 DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD-Video, DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all acc ...

DVD-R DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('burne ...

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alpha Video releases approximately 30 ne ...

on July 7, 2015.

References

Bibliography

* Liebman, Roy. ''The Wampas Baby Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1922-1934''. McFarland, 2000.

External links

* 1933 films American drama films 1933 drama films 1930s English-language films Films directed by George Melford American black-and-white films 1930s American films English-language drama films {{1930s-drama-film-stub