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And Then There Were Four (1950)
Character: Mrs. McCall
Driving safety film sponsored as a public service by oil companies. Of five drivers who leave home in the morning, only four return, and we wait to learn who the victim is. The film gives considerable discussion to careless driving habits and depicts Angelenos from different walks of life as well as their homes, neighborhoods, streets, and freeways.
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My Tomato (1943)
Character: Mrs. Doakes
Joe Doakes is lamenting to his wife the lack of variety in his meals. In particular, he misses eating stewed tomatoes, the fruit which he believes incorrectly is being rationed as a war measure. Mrs. Doakes knows that tomatoes aren't rationed, but she doesn't correct him, especially after he announces that he will grow enough tomatoes to feed the entire block. As he proceeds with his tomato garden, he, unaware of what it actually takes to grow tomato plants successfully, accepts advice from the many people who are willing to give it. The problem ends up being that much of the advice is conflicting. But at the end of the process, Joe is pleased with the fact of having grown a fruit to maturity - regardless of the actual yield of the garden - until someone else, or something else, has a say in what happens to that fruit.
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Crime Control (1941)
Character: Mrs. Doakes (uncredited)
A police officer alerts his audience to the fact that inanimate objects can be as dangerous as human criminals. He then displays several offenders that have recently been brought in. Shoelaces, for example, have an objectionable habit of breaking at crucial moments. The officer proceeds to call attention to window shades, bedroom slippers, and other menaces. He also answers his critics who advocate reasoning with these objects rather than punishing them.
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The Witness (1942)
Character: Mrs. Doakes
As Joe Doakes is reading the newspaper, he begins to talk to himself. Questioned by his wife, he explains that he is disturbed by the paper's account of the ways that a government investigative committee has been interrogating its witnesses. Joe then nods off, and imagines that he is being questioned by the committee. He envisages how satisfying it would be to turn the tables on the investigators.
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The Trouble with Husbands (1940)
Character: Mrs. Doakes
Benchley, in his own unique way, starts to drive his wife crazy. First he waits until just as she is serving dinner before he goes to wash his hands and shave. Then she sends him to the store for some butter, and he comes back with everything - except butter. Finally, he decides to install a small shelf on the wall - and makes a major production out of it.
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Home Early (1939)
Character: Mrs. Doakes
A businessman goes home early to surprise his family and is treated with suspicion, mostly by his wife's bridge club.
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How to Take a Vacation (1941)
Character: Wife
In this Robert Benchley instructional video, he demonstrates the pitfalls of a homebody husband attempting to take a vacation apart from his wife.
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The Forgotten Man (1941)
Character: Mother
Robert Benchley's wry forerunner to "Father of the Bride" detailing his perspective of the upcoming nuptials.
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Idea Girl (1946)
Character: Abigail Hawthorne
Larry Brewster, partner in the music publishing firm of Brewster and Crow, returns from a trip to find that his partner, J.C. Crow has hired Pat O'Rourke as a song plugger.
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The World of Tomorrow (1984)
Character: Mom Middleton (archive footage)
Documentary featuring original materials from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Includes film images of Jason Robards Jr. as a child at the World's Fair and clips from the promotional film "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair" (1939).
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Annie Was a Wonder (1949)
Character: Mrs. Nesbitt
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of Scandinavian immigrant Annie Swenson, who worked as cook and housekeeper in his family's home while he was growing up.
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Not a Ladies' Man (1942)
Character: Jennie Purcell
A recently divorced district attorney falls for his troubled son's schoolteacher.
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Main Street Today (1944)
Character: Helen (uncredited)
This patriotic short film promotes America's war effort at home. The story looks at a fictional small town's main street, seeing where additional workforce, for increased production of materials needed by the military, might come from.
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Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)
Character: Classroom Instructor (uncredited)
A debutante, a serviceman's bride and a girl from a military family join the Women's Army Corps.
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Sued for Libel (1939)
Character: Radio Actress (uncredited)
A New York City newspaper is sued for libel after reporting the wrong verdict in a murder trial.
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Tucson Raiders (1944)
Character: Hannah Rogers
In Elliot's initial appearance as Red Ryder, he finds himself framed for murder. Little Beaver then foils the crooked Sheriff's attempt to have Red killed escaping jail. When Hannah Rogers gives the Sheriff a note, Red sees her give him a signal. Gabby lifts the note and Red decodes it. The Duchess then gets a confession from Hannah enabling Red to set out after the outlaws.
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Hers to Hold (1943)
Character: Miss Crawford
Deanna Durbin is all grown up in Hers to Hold, the unofficial sequel to her "Three Smart Girls" films of the 1930s. Durbin plays Penelope Craig, the starry-eyed daughter of wealthy Judson and Dorothy Craig (Charles Winninger, Nella Walker). Developing a crush on much-older playboy Bill Morley (Joseph Cotton), Penelope stops at nothing to land the elusive Morley as her husband. Highlights include Durbin's renditions of "Begin the Beguine" and the "Seguidilla" from Carmen, and a captivating sequence that includes highlights from Durbin's earlier films, presented as home movies!
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As You Were (1951)
Character: Wife
In a train station, Army recruiting sergeant Ames attempts to enlist a group of young men with blandishments of travel and glamour in the Army.
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Insurance Investigator (1951)
Character: Miss Pringle
When a businessman who has had a double indemnity policy taken out on him dies mysteriously, his insurance company sends an undercover investigator to town to determine exactly what happened.
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The Magnificent Rogue (1946)
Character: Lita Andrews
A serviceman returns home at the end of WWII to discover his wife has become the head of her own very successful advertising agency. Comedy.
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Whirlpool (1950)
Character: Miss Hall (uncredited)
The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
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The Dark Horse (1946)
Character: Mrs. Aldrich
This 1946 film stars Phillip Terry as a war veteran, who is persuaded by machine politico Donald MacBride to run for alderman. Ann Savage plays the "honest government functionary" with whom the hero falls in love. Terry finds that disreputable politicians are using his war record to push through some shady legislation, so he renounces these hacks.
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Cover Up (1949)
Character: Mrs. Abbey
Insurance investigator Sam Donovan is looking into the apparent suicide of a man in a small Midwestern town. All clues leads him into suspecting murder. Unfortunately, no one wants to assist him with the case, including Sheriff Larry Best.
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Character: Mrs. MacCurdy (uncredited)
Just when Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Newton, is feeling especially frustrated by the lack of excitement in her small town in California, she receives wonderful news: Her uncle and namesake, Charlie Oakley, is coming to visit. However, as secrets about him come to the fore, Charlotte’s admiration turns into suspicion.
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Silver Skates (1943)
Character: Mrs. Martin
The management of touring ice show faces mounting debts.
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Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961)
Character: Girl
After being thrown out of medical school for ethical violations, Dr. Peter Blood returns home to a small Cornish village, where he sets up a research laboratory in a secluded cave. There, he attempts to revive the dead, using kidnapped humans -- who he views as unworthy of life -- for their body parts, specifically, their hearts.
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Partners in Time (1946)
Character: Miss Martha Thurston
Squire Skimp has a new plan to swindle the people of Pine Ridge. However, Lum has something more important on his mind. He has to tell a young engaged couple on the verge of breaking up the story of how the Jot 'em Down store first started (through flashbacks). Based on characters from the popular "Lum and Abner" radio program of the time.
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Young Man with Ideas (1952)
Character: Secretary (uncredited)
A Montana lawyer gets distracted after moving to California with his wife and children.
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Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960)
Character: Wife - Circus Spectator
Angered at stern Uncle Daniel, Toby Tyler runs away from his foster home to join the circus, where he soon befriends Mr. Stubbs, the frisky chimpanzee. However, the circus isn't all fun and games when the evil candy vendor, Harry Tupper, convinces Toby that his Aunt Olive and Uncle Daniel don't love him or want him back. Toby resigns himself to circus life, but when he finally realizes that Tupper lied to him, and that his aunt and uncle truly love him, Toby happily returns home once again.
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When I Grow Up (1951)
Character: Bully's Mother
Josh is a young boy who feels neglected and misunderstood at home. Preparing to run away, he chances across an old diary once kept by his grandfather. Leafing through the yellowed pages, Josh discovers that Grandpa went through many of the same childhood travails that he is enduring at that moment. Armed with a renewed understanding of and appreciation for his elders, Josh decides to stick around for a while and see how things develop.
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The Naughty Nineties (1945)
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first act is to change the showboat into a floating gambling house. A ham actor and his bumbling sidekick try to devise a way to help the captain regain ownership of the vessel.
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The Man Who Walked Alone (1945)
Character: Aunt Harriett
A war hero returns home following a medical discharge and ends up entangled with a young woman speeding away from her wedding day in her fiance's car. Seeing the soldier, she gives him a ride and explains her predicament. Things get sticky when the cops capture them and accuse the soldier of desertion.
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Corpus Christi Bandits (1945)
Character: Mom Christie
After the Civil War, veteran Jim Christi (Allan Lane) returns to Texas, where he is unjustly accused of murder. In flashback, Mr. Christi relates the story of his father Corpus Christi Jim. After robbing a stage, Jim and partners Rocky and Steve decide to go straight and return the money. But the fourth member of the gang, Spade refuses and leaves. The two former partners soon find themselves on opposite sides of the law.
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Crime Wave (1953)
Character: Third Police Broadcaster (uncredited)
Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.
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The Soul of a Monster (1944)
Character: Woman in Sedan (uncredited)
A man recovers on his death bed after his wife makes a mysterious pact with a strange woman. But is he really alive?
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Sister Kenny (1946)
Character: Mother (uncredited)
An Australian nurse discovers an effective new treatment for infantile paralysis, but experiences great difficulty in convincing doctors of the validity of her claims.
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Ding Dong Williams (1946)
Character: Laura Cooper
Ding Dong Williams, a clarinet player who can neither read nor write music is employed at a motion picture studio. The studio plans to use him and his six-piece band but his musical deficiencies are discovered and the plan scrapped. But the secretary of the head of the music department intercedes on his behalf and he is given a chance in the film.
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Goin' to Town (1944)
Character: Mrs. Wenworth
General store owners, through a series of contrivances, end up on the better side of a practical joke being played on them.
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Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Character: Kindergarten Teacher (uncredited)
Two sailors on shore leave head out for four days of partying – only to become involved in the affairs of an aspiring singer and her precocious nephew.
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High Society (1956)
Character: Ruth (Jazz Festival Organizer) (uncredited)
After a divorce with her childhood friend, arrogant socialite Tracy Lord is remarrying but her ex-husband in still in love with her. Meanwhile, a gossip magazine blackmails Tracy's family into covering her new wedding. A musical remake of the 1940 romcom The Philadelphia Story.
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The Stranger (1946)
Character: Undetermined Role (uncredited)
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.
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Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Character: Gossipy Woman Hanging Clothes (uncredited)
The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.
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Wild Is the Wind (1957)
Character: Party Guest
A widowed Nevada rancher goes to Italy and marries the sister of his deceased wife and brings her back to the ranch, but his haunting memories of his lost love and her tendency to drift away to other men cause the two to have a tough time at keeping a marriage together.
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The Judge Steps Out (1947)
Character: Welfare Worker (uncredited)
A judge flees the pressures of professional and family life for a job as a short-order cook.
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Swingin' on a Rainbow (1945)
Character: Landlady (uncredited)
A young girl goes to New York to find a band leader who has stolen all the songs she wrote and is passing them off as his own.
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It Happens Every Spring (1949)
Character: Miss Collins - Prof. Greenleaf's Secretary (uncredited)
A scientist discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood. He promptly sets out to exploit his discovery.
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Your Witness (1950)
Character: Miss Hubert
Adam Hayward is a successful New York City defense lawyer. One day he receives a cable that the British war buddy who saved his life at Anzio Beach is now in trouble with the law in England. Taking the advice of his secretary to go to England rather than wire money, Adam arrives in his friend's village to find him about to stand trial for the murder of the hired stable-hand, Lawrence.
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Get Hep to Love (1942)
Character: Woman
Orphan prodigy singer runs away from her oppressive aunt and tricks a rural couple into adopting her.
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The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
Character: Second Gossiper in 1920 (uncredited)
A wealthy couple's marriage is falling apart due to the man's infidelity. The wife's male friend has long loved her and sees his big opportunity.
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Divorce (1945)
Character: Liz Smith
A woman who has been married and divorced five times comes back to her small hometown, where she proceeds to complicate, and potentially destroy, the marriage of her childhood boyfriend.
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Mama Loves Papa (1945)
Character: Mabel
A loose remake of the 1935 comedy of the same name. Thanks to the efforts of his social-climbing wife Jessie, furniture store employee Wilbur Todd is tossed headfirst into the world of small-town politics. Sized up as a patsy by crooked politician Kirkwood, poor Wilbur is plied with champagne as part of Kirkwood's scheme to land a sweetheart playground-equipment contract.
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Hell's Outpost (1954)
Character: Mrs. Moffit
A returning Korean War vet becomes embroiled in a fight over possession of a tungsten mine.
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Henry, the Rainmaker (1949)
Character: Schoolteacher
The first of Monogram's "Father" series was Henry, the Rainmaker, assembled in a fast seven days. Henry Latham is an average family man who is galvanized into entering a mayoral race over the issue of garbage disposal. When incumbent mayor Colton solves this issue himself, Henry turns his attentions to the current water shortage. His efforts to become a rainmaker prove cataclysmic, to say the least.
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How to Eat (1939)
Character: Mrs. Joe Doakes
Humorist Robert Benchley discusses the issue of food and how different situations can affect one's ability to consume and digest food, using his stock everyman and slightly bumbling character Joe Doakes to dramatize such situations. Situations that can impede digestion include receiving bad news resulting in stress, being in love, and feeling scared. Snacking or nibbling between meals can ruins one's appetite at meal time. Having the correct posture while eating is important for digestion; finding the right posture can be difficult in certain circumstances, such as being on a picnic or eating in bed (specifically for men when using trays). Sharing tables with staring strangers may also impede digestion. And it's difficult to digest food when one can't get any of it.
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Dark Magic (1939)
Character: Wife
A man buys a magic set for his son, but the tricks worked better in the store than they do at home.
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The Town Went Wild (1944)
Character: Lucille Conway
Comedy concerning two feuding fathers dealing with the shocking news that their sons were switched at birth, meaning that one of their daughters is about to marry her own brother.
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