|
Grand National Films Inc.
Grand National Films, Inc (or Grand National Pictures, Grand National Productions and Grand National Film Distributing Co.) was an American independent motion picture production-distribution company in operation from 1936 to 1939. The company had no relation to the British Grand National Pictures (although the British firm used the American company's logo). History and releases Edward L. Alperson, a film exchange manager, founded Grand National in 1936 on the basis of First Division Pictures, of which he was on the board of directors. What United Artists was to major independent producers, Harry F. Thomas's First Division was to low-budget producers: a convenient releasing outlet for individual pictures, and successful within its own market. Its feature-length releases, usually produced by Mayfair Pictures, Willis Kent, or Bernard B. Ray, were split between westerns, mysteries, "problem" melodramas, and action fare. First Division was also the original distributor of '' The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city limits , it is the List of United States cities by population, second-most populous in the United States, behind only New York City. Los Angeles has an Ethnic groups in Los Angeles, ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a Metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.5 million residents. The majority of the city proper lies in Los Angeles Basin, a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 11, 1993) was an American filmmaker, known for directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed nine Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films. Biography Lamont was born in San Francisco. Lamont came from a family of actors, being the fourth generation to be an actor. He appeared onstage while a teenager and started appearing in films from 1919. He worked as a Theatrical property, prop man before becoming assistant director. Lamont started directing comedy shorts in 1922, including for Mack Sennett and Al Christie. Some of Lamont's earliest directorial jobs were silent short-subject comedies for Educational Pictures. One of the studio's popular series was ''Juvenile Comedies'', featuring the child actor Malcolm "Big Boy" Sebastian. Lamont directed some of these films, as well as some of the competing "Buster Brown" comedies for Universal Pictures release. Both Educational and Universal figu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angels With Dirty Faces
''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was written by John Wexley and Warren Duff based on the story by Rowland Brown. The film chronicles the relationship of the notorious gangster William "Rocky" Sullivan with his childhood friend and now-priest Father Jerry Connolly. After spending three years in prison for armed robbery, Rocky intends to collect $100,000 from his co-conspirator Jim Frazier, a mob lawyer. All the while, Father Connolly tries to prevent a group of youths from falling under Rocky's influence. Brown wrote the scenario in August 1937. After pitching the film to a number of studios, he made a deal with Grand National Pictures, who wanted Cagney to star in the lead role. However, the film never came to fruition, owing to Grand National's financial troubles that led to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Guy
''Great Guy'' is a 1936 American crime film noir directed by John G. Blystone and starring James Cagney. In the film, an honest inspector for the New York Department of Weights and Measures takes on corrupt merchants and politicians. Plot After the Chief Deputy of the Department of Weights and Measures is nearly killed in a car accident engineered by corrupt politician Marty Cavanaugh, he enlists ex-boxer Johnny Cave to take over his position. Johnny learns from Joe Green, the chief deputy, that there are men who are higher up in the organization than Marty. As the new leader, Johnny reiterates to his team the importance of their department and warns them that corruption is an ongoing hazard. Johnny then goes out into the field with his naive partner, Patrick James "Aloysius" Haley, investigating merchants who are accused of using faulty measures and cheating the public. He ends up fining a market for adding lead weights to stewing chickens and fining a gas station for routinely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry Warner, Harry, Albert Warner, Albert, Sam Warner, Sam and Jack L. Warner, Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games. It is one of the "Major film studios, Big Five" major American film studios and a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division, the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Castle Rock Entertainment and the Warner Bros. Television Group. Bugs Bunny, a character created for the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as ''The Public Enemy'' (1931), ''Taxi!'' (1932), ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), ''The Roaring Twenties'' (1939), ''City for Conquest'' (1940) and ''White Heat'' (1949), finding himself typecast or limited by this reputation earlier in his career. He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in the musical ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942). In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juggernaut (1936 Film)
''Juggernaut'' is a 1936 British mystery film, starring Boris Karloff and Joan Wyndham. Directed by Henry Edwards (actor), Henry Edwards, it was based on the novel by Alice Campbell and was distributed by Julius Hagen Productions. It was also known as ''The Demon Doctor''.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 202 Plot Victor Sartorius (Karloff) is an ailing doctor working in Morocco. He teams up with Lady Yvonne Clifford (Mona Goya) in a plot to poison her husband, Sir Charles Clifford (Morton Selten), so he can collect the £20,000 necessary to save his experiments and his funding. Roger Clifford (Arthur Margetson), the son of Sir Charles has also been marked for death. The only one who can stop the murder plot of Sartorius is Nurse Eve Rowe (Joan Wyndham). Cast * Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein (1931 film), Frankenstein'' (1931), his 82nd film, established him as a horror icon, and he reprised the role for the sequels ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935) and ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep (The Mummy), Imhotep in ''The Mummy (1932 film), The Mummy'' (1932), and voiced the Grinch in, as well as narrating, the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special), How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' (1966), which won him a Grammy Award. Aside from his numerous film roles (174 films), Karloff acted in many live stage plays and appeared on dozens of radio and television programs as well. For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated British Pictures Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943, and in the 1950s and 60s owned a station on the ITV television network. The studio was partly owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969; the American company also owned a stake in ABPC's distribution arm, Warner-Pathé, from 1958. It formed one half of a vertically integrated film industry duopoly in Britain with the Rank Organisation. History From 1927 to 1945 The company was founded during 1927 by Scottish solicitor John Maxwell after he had purchased British National Pictures Studios and its Elstree Studios complex and merged it with his ABC Cinemas circuit, renaming the company British International Pictures. The Wardour Film Company, with Maxwell as chairman, was the distributor of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibson, The Shadow has been adapted into other forms of media, including American comic books, comic strips, Serial (radio and television), serials, video games, and at least five feature films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles. The Shadow First appearance, debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the radio program ''Detective Story Hour'', which was developed to boost sales of Street & Smith's monthly pulp ''Detective Story Magazine''. When listeners of the program began asking at newsstands for copies of "that Shadow detective magazine", Street & Smith launched a magazine based on the character, and hired Gibson to create a concept to fit the name and voice and to write a story featuring him. The first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod LaRocque
Roderick Ross La Rocque (November 29, 1898 – October 15, 1969) was an American actor. Biography La Rocque was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edmund La Rocque and Ann (née Rice) La Rocque. His father was of French-Canadian descent and his mother was of Irish descent. He began appearing in stock theater at the age of seven and eventually ended up at the Essanay Studios as a teenager in Chicago where he found steady work until the studios closed. He then moved to New York City and worked on the stage until he was noticed by Samuel Goldwyn who took him to Hollywood. Over the next two decades, he appeared in films and made the transition to sound films. In 1927, he married Hungarian actress Vilma Bánky in a lavish, highly publicized wedding. They were married until his death in 1969. The couple had no children. He retired from movies in 1941 and became a real estate broker. For his contribution to the film industry, La Rocque was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conrad Nagel
John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1940, and three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life Nagel was born in Keokuk, Iowa. After graduating from Highland Park College, Nagel left for California to pursue a career in the relatively new medium of motion pictures. He began acting in plays at Neely Dickson's Hollywood Community Theater. Film career Nagel was immediately cast in film roles that cemented his ''unspoiled lover'' image. His first film was the 1918 retelling of ''Little Women'', which quickly captured the public's attention and set Nagel on a path to silent film stardom. His breakout role came in the 1920 film, '' The Fighting Chance'', opposite Swedish starlet Anna Q. Nilsson. In 1918, Nagel was elected to The Lambs, the theatrical club. In 1927, Nag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
