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Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.
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Hollywood Blue (1970)
Character: (archive footage)
A collection of vintage erotica from Hollywood movies is intercut with street interviews and newsreel footage.
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Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 (1933)
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Comedian Lloyd Hamilton escorts a group of beauty contest winners to various Hollywood night spots.
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
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Anthony Quinn: An Original (1990)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Born in Mexico, Anthony Quinn became the family's main provider when his father died in an accident. Thus began the story of a man who had a thousand jobs before acting in a Cecil B. DeMille film…
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Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her (1994)
Character: Self (archive footage)
As the first "blonde bombshell," Mae West reigned supreme and changed the nation's view of women, sex and race — on stage, in films, on radio and television.
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The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful (1996)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary reflecting on women in film and the entertainment industry through the ages led and hosted by some of its most beloved female icons.
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Hollywood Uncensored (1987)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Peter Fonda host an examination of the history of decency standards for movies from the early 1920s onwards.
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The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957)
Character: Miss Ultraviolet (voice, archive footage)
Part of acclaimed filmmaker Frank Capra's "Wonders of Life" series of science-based films (which won an Emmy Award for Best Editing) teaches kids about the power of gamma rays and radiation.
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
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Complicated Women (2003)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
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Mae West: Dirty Blonde (2020)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Mae West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the 20th century. A full-time actress at seven, a vaudevillian at 14, a dancing sensation at 25, a playwright at 33, a silver screen ingénue at 40, a Vegas nightclub act at 62, a recording artist at 73, a camp icon at 85 - West left no format unconquered. She possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s and still rare today. Though a comedian, West grappled with some of the more complex social issues of the 20th century, including race and class tensions, and imbued even her most salacious plotlines with commentary about gender conformity, societal restrictions and what she perceived as moral hypocrisy. Mae West: Dirty Blonde is the first major documentary film to explore West's life and career, as she "climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong" to become a writer, performer and subversive agitator for social change.
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I'm No Angel (1933)
Character: Tira
The bold Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she agrees to a risky new number: she'll put her head into the lion's mouth! With this attraction, the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation— flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents.
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Sextette (1978)
Character: Marlo Manners
On the day of her wedding to her sixth husband, a glamorous silver screen sex symbol is sought to intervene in a political dispute between nations, which leads to chaos.
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Goin' to Town (1935)
Character: Cleo Borden
Cleo Borden grew up in a saloon, loves the men—and the men love her—but her aspirations lead her to enter into a contract to marry a wealthy man. When he dies and leaves her all of his fortune, she soon learns that although she has money, she is not yet a lady, so she embarks on a journey to become one. She has no desire to change herself, but the man she sets her sights on does—so she obliges.
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My Little Chickadee (1940)
Character: Flower Belle Lee
While on her way by stagecoach to visit relatives out west, Flower Belle Lee is held up by a masked bandit who also takes the coach's shipment of gold. When he abducts Flower Belle and they arrive in town, Flower Belle is suspected of being in collusion with the bandit.
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Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Character: Leticia Van Allen
Myron Breckinridge flies to Europe to get a sex-change operation and is transformed into the beautiful Myra. She travels to Hollywood, meets up with her rich Uncle Buck and, claiming to be Myron's widow, demands money. Instead, Buck gives Myra a job in his acting school. There, Myra meets aspiring actor Rusty and his girlfriend, Mary Ann. With Myra as catalyst, the trio begin to outrageously expand their sexual horizons.
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She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Character: Lady Lou
New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more men friends than you can imagine. One of them is a vicious criminal who’s escaped and is on the way to see “his” girl, not realising she hasn’t exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.
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Go West Young Man (1936)
Character: Mavis Arden
Mavis Arden is a sensational movie star. Her following spans the world and her personal appearance tours prove her popularity. On her way home from one such appearance, Arden's car breaks down. She orders her publicity man to find her a place to stay, suspicious that he planned the break down to keep her away from a man. However, she soon finds herself mooning over an attractive repairman in town and listening to his ideas about inventing equipment for film.
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The Heat's On (1943)
Character: Fay Lawrence
Broadway star Fay Lawrence (West) is a temperamental diva who is reluctantly persuaded by a Broadway producer (Gaxton) to star in his latest production.
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Becoming Cary Grant (2017)
Character: Self (archive footage)
For the first time one of Hollywood's greatest stars tells his own story, in his own words. From a childhood of poverty to global fame, Cary Grant, the ultimate self-made star, explores his own screen image and what it took to create it.
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Belle of the Nineties (1934)
Character: Ruby Carter
Cabaret entertainer Ruby Carter shifts her operations to New Orleans and becomes exceedingly popular with the local men.
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Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons (1995)
Character: Self (archive footage)
From the A&E "Biography" series, a review of the birth, development and cinematic history of Betty Boop, the flapper cartoon character who has been a popular icon since the 1930s.
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Et la femme créa Hollywood (2016)
Character: Self (archive footage)
The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who directed more than 300 films over 10 years. Frances Marion wrote screenplays for the Hollywood Star Mary Pickford and won two Oscars, Dorothy Arzner was the most powerful film director in Hollywood. And what do all of them have in common? They are all women and they have all been forgotten. Incredibly, it also took until 2010 for the first woman, Kathryn Bigelow, to win the Oscar for Best Director. Even if underrepresented women have always played a big part in Hollywood and it is this part of the film history left untold that this documentary sets out to uncover.
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Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
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Every Day's a Holiday (1937)
Character: Peaches O'Day
When a turn-of-century confidence trickster poses as a famous French chanteuse to avoid arrest, she manages to expose the crooked police chief and smooth the path for the reform mayoral candidate.
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Klondike Annie (1936)
Character: Rose Carlton / Annie Alden
A San Francisco singer flees Chinatown on murder charges and poses as a missionary in Alaska.
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Night After Night (1932)
Character: Maudie Triplett
A former boxer purchases a classy speakeasy and falls in love with a wealthy society girl.
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