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Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12 (1937)
Character: Self (uncredited)
A tour of Hollywood, featuring such star frequented spots as the Vendome, the Lakeside Golf Club, the West Side Tennis Club, the Santa Anita Racetrack, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove, the Biltmore Bowl, and the American Legion Stadium.
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The Goose Hangs High (1925)
Character: Lois Ingals
Having a municipal position, Bernard Ingals has almost bankrupted himself sending his three children to college. The youngsters all arrive home for Christmas Eve, and their parents do their utmost to give them a good time, but the thoughtless and selfish children make other plans and go to a party, leaving their parents to a lonely dinner. A member of the common council arrives at the Ingals home and orders Bernard to reinstate a municipal employee who has been dismissed; Bernard refuses and submits his resignation. The grandmother, a strong-minded old lady, then sets out to put things right: she stakes Bernard to his life-long dream, a greenhouse of his own, and then lectures the children on their thoughtless and profligate ways. The children reform and get jobs, and the goose hangs high at last.
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Wandering Fires (1925)
Character: Guerda Anthony
A young woman, victim of a scandal involving her lover believed killed in France during war, is loved by another man who urges her to marry him. After they are married, the husband becomes jealous of the lost lover. One day the lover returns injured and with amnesia. After much drama happiness is restored.
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Reckless Youth (1922)
Character: Chorus Girl
A cautionary tale for aspiring flappers. Five of six reels survive.
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Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
Character: (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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Rich People (1929)
Character: Connie Hayden
Connie Hayden (Constance Bennett) faces a dilemma; will she choose the rich guy or the ordinary Joe? Naturally, Connie has the answer in time for the final credits.
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This Thing Called Love (1929)
Character: Ann Marvin
A romance runs into difficulties because the girl has seen a great deal of the turbulence in her sister's household, and has no illusions about married bliss.
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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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Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.
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Paris Underground (1945)
Character: Kitty de Mornay
Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period.
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As Young as You Feel (1951)
Character: Lucille McKinley
Sixty-five-year-old John Hodges must retire from Acme Printing. He later impersonates the president of the parent company and arrives at his old plant on an inspection tour. Acme president McKinley is so nervous not even his beautiful secretary Harriet can calm him. McKinley's wife Lucille becomes infatuated with Hodges. Many further complications ensue.
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Madame Spy (1942)
Character: Joan Bannister
Joan Bannister is the wife of globe-trotting war correspondent David Bannister. Returning to the US, Bannister becomes suspicious when Joan begins keeping company with known Nazi functionaries, notably the sinister Mr. Peter. Suspecting that his own wife may be the elusive “Madame Spy” wanted by American authorities, Bannister is in for quite a few surprises.
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Our Betters (1933)
Character: Lady Pearl Grayston
Soon after being wed, American heiress Lady Pearl Grayston realizes her husband has married her for her money and is keeping a mistress. The two maintain a loveless marriage, a trade-off Pearl accepts in order to gain admittance to her husband's aristocratic social circle. While Pearl pursues her own affair with gigolo Pepi D'Costa, her visiting sister, Bessie, arrives and is appalled when Pearl's arrangement is revealed.
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It Should Happen to You (1954)
Character: Guest Panelist
Gladys Glover has just lost her modeling job when she meets filmmaker Pete Sheppard shooting a documentary in Central Park. For Pete it's love at first sight, but Gladys has her mind on other things, making a name for herself. Through a fluke of advertising she winds up with her name plastered over 10 billboards throughout city.
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Born to Love (1931)
Character: Doris Kendall
A pregnant American nurse living in London during WWI, believing her soldier-fiance has been killed in France, marries a wealthy aristocrat so her child will have a father.
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Smart Woman (1948)
Character: Paula Rogers
A crusading DA falls for a defense attorney with a criminal past.
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Sin Takes a Holiday (1930)
Character: Sylvia Brenner
Dowdy Sylvia accepts her boss' marriage proposal, even though he only asked her to avoid marriage to another woman. As a wealthy wife, Sylvia changes from ugly duckling to uninhibited swan and even contemplates having an affair with a man she meets during a trip to Paris.
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Sin Town (1942)
Character: Kye Allen
Two con artists arrive in a western boom town that they think is ripe for the pickings, only to get swindled themselves.
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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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Bought! (1931)
Character: Stephanie Dale
Working-class girl dreams of living a better life and forsakes her friends when she has a chance to break into high society.
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After Office Hours (1935)
Character: Sharon Norwood
A managing editor sends a socialite reporter to spy on her boyfriend, mixed up in murder.
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The Common Law (1931)
Character: Valerie West
When a woman models for an artist they fall in love. Can the artist overcome the beauty's recent past as another man's mistress?
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Two-Faced Woman (1941)
Character: Griselda Vaughn
A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
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Common Clay (1930)
Character: Ellen Neal
Young Ellen Neal gets work as a servant with the wealthy Fullerton family. She falls in love with the Fullerton's handsome young son. But he leaves her with child, and when she attempts to gain recognition for her child, the Fullerton family treats her as a blackmailer. But a surprise awaits them all.
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Service de Luxe (1938)
Character: Helen Murphy
Glamorous and efficient Helen Murphy runs a service that will provide any type of assistance to wealthy customers, but what she's really looking for is a man who can take care of himself.
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My Son (1925)
Character: Betty Smith
A mother and her son's lives are upended by the arrival of a wealthy flapper to their small New England fishing village.
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Angel on the Amazon (1948)
Character: Dr. Karen Lawrence
An expedition exploring the Amazon jungle comes across a jungle goddess who lives among the animals and fears none of them--and apparently has found the secret of eternal youth.
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My Wife and I (1925)
Character: Aileen Alton
In a wealthy society family, the mother is forced to sit by and watch while her husband and son both compete for the affections of a pretty young temptress.
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Rockabye (1932)
Character: Judy Carroll
A Broadway actress with a problematic past falls hard for the author of her new play.
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Topper (1937)
Character: Marion Kerby
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
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Escape to Glory (1940)
Character: Christine Blaine
The Grand Hotel formula that was so overworked in the 1930s made an encore appearance in 1940's Escape to Glory. The story is given timeliness by placing the characters on a British merchant ship on the very day that World War II is declared. The ship is attacked by a Nazi U-Boat, resulting in a variety of reactions from the diverse passengers--one of whom (Erwin Kalser) is a German doctor. Constance Bennett is glamorous, Pat O'Brien is boozy, John Halliday is pensive, and everybody else (except for the German medico) is plain fearful.
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Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
Character: Marion Kerby
Mrs. Topper's friend Mrs. Parkhurst has convinced Mrs Topper to file for a divorce from Cosmo due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs. Parkhurst takes Mrs. Topper on a trip to France where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce. With help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.
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What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Character: Mary Evans
Sassy and ambitious waitress Mary Evans amuses and befriends amiable seldom-sober Hollywood film director Max Carey when he stumbles into her restaurant. Max invites Mary to his film premiere and, after a night of drinking and carousing, Mary is granted a screen test. A studio contract follows. Just as Mary finds her dreams coming true, Carey’s life and career begins its descent.
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Law of the Tropics (1941)
Character: Joan Madison aka Miss Moore and Laura
Jim Conway, who works on a South American rubber plantation, leaves to meet a girl from the United States whom he is to marry. But he receives a telegram from her telling him she has married someone else. He goes to a waterfront café where he meets a singer, Joan Madison, and tells her his troubles. He asks her to marry him and return to the plantation with him using the name of the girl he was to marry. This strikes her as a great idea as she is a wanted fugitive.
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The Pinch Hitter (1925)
Character: Abby Nettleton
Joel Parker is sent to college by his crabby farmer father only because it was his mother's dying wish that he get an education. At college, he's immediately pegged as a chump and is constantly victimized by the other students, headed by Jimmie Slater. Only Abbie Nettleton, who works at the campus bakery, has any sympathy for him.
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Madame X (1966)
Character: Estelle Anderson
A woman married to a wealthy socialite, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who had been romantically pursuing her, and is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men, eventually returning to the city of her downfall, where she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, she is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who is a public defender. Hoping to continue to protect her son, she refuses to give her real name and is known to the court as the defendant, "Madame X."
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Three Faces East (1930)
Character: Frances Hawtree / Z-1
The action takes place during the Great War in the home of the First Lord of the Admiralty.
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Into the Net (1924)
Character: Madge Clayton, his sister
Madge Clayton, a society girl, mysteriously disappears. The police suspect a master criminal is behind the girl's abduction, but her brother, Bob, and fiancé, Bert Moore, help with the search. They unearth a scheme to kidnap another girl, Natalie Van Cleef, and the evidence takes Bob and Bert to an estate on Long Island.
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The Easiest Way (1931)
Character: Laura Murdock
Growing up in a poor working-class family, Laura Murdock decides not to marry the boy next door and instead accepts wealthy, older William Brockton's invitation to move in with him. After falling in love with young up-and-coming newsman Jack Madison she leaves Will to wait for Jack's return from a long assignment. She runs out of money and becomes desperate, returning to Will who, upon learning of Jack's sudden arrival, tells Laura she must inform Jack of her living situation or he will.
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The Goose Woman (1925)
Character: Hazel Woods
A famous opera singer lost her voice when her son was born, and has drowned her sorrows in drink. When a murder is committed near her house, she invents a story in order to get herself back in front of the public again. However, the story she comes up with results in her son being arrested for the murder.
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Son of the Gods (1930)
Character: Allana Wagner
The popular Caucasian-looking son (Richard Barthelmess) of a wealthy Chinese businessman lives away from his widowed father and passes as white, but experiences prejudice, rejection, insult, and heartache when the socialite (Constance Bennett) he loves learns of his heritage.
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That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Character: (archive footage)
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
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Starlit Days at the Lido (1935)
Character: Self
Basically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon with an orchestra playing, all sorts of stars and would-be stars sitting at tables near the pool alongside paying customers, and bathing beauties parading and diving. The Lido's manager, Reggy Denny, introduces the stars in the audience. He's sometimes interrupted by someone who does a bit, sings a song, or otherwise entertains: most of these are novelty acts. By the end, everyone's having a swell time.
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Married? (1926)
Character: Marcia Livingston
A couple endure 365 days of marriage in order to inherit money.
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Cytherea (1924)
Character: Annette Sherman
Lee Randon, weary of business duties and a conventional home life, acquires a long-lost sense of excitement and romance with young flapper Claire Morris. When he meets her married aunt, Savina Grove, she appears to be the woman he imagines whenever he gazes at a doll he has christened Cytherea, goddess of love -----Cytherea features two dream sequences filmed in an early version of the Technicolor color film process.
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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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Ladies In Love (1936)
Character: Yoli Haydn
Three young women in Budapest share living quarters while searching for romance.
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Bed of Roses (1933)
Character: Lorry Evans
A girl from the wrong side of the tracks is torn between true love and a life of sin.
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Moulin Rouge (1934)
Character: Helen Hall / Raquel
A singer marries a famous composer, and after a while she gets the itch to go back on the stage. However, her husband won't let her. When she hears that a popular French singer named "Raquel" is coming to New York, she decides to go to Raquel with a plan--unbeknownst to her husband, "Raquel" is actually her sister, and her plan is for them to switch places so she can fulfill her dream of going back on the stage. However, things don't go quite as planned.
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Lady with a Past (1932)
Character: Venice Muir
A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.
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Two Against the World (1932)
Character: Adele Hamilton
A socialite finds herself involved in a murder trial that is prosecuted by her boyfriend.
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Tail Spin (1939)
Character: Gerry Lester
Trixie is a female pilot looking to win a big race to advance her career. During one race, however, her plane becomes damaged, and she needs help to repair it. She meets a Navy pilot named "Tex" Price and tries to gain his aid. Tex soon meets another pilot, Gerry, a novice who seeks to win an important upcoming race. Tex, concerned for Gerry's safety, tries to convince her not to race. But Gerry, now a rival of Trixie's, is determined to fly.
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The Unsuspected (1947)
Character: Jane Moynihan
The secretary of an affably suave radio mystery host mysteriously commits suicide after his wealthy young niece disappears.
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Outcast Lady (1934)
Character: Iris
A woman's dubious past proves to be a stumbling block when she becomes engaged to marry.
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Centennial Summer (1946)
Character: Zenia Lascalles
In 1876 Philadelphia, two sisters vie for the affections of a Frenchman who's come to town to prepare the French pavilion for the Centennial exposition.
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After Tonight (1933)
Character: Carla Vanirska
When war is declared in 1914, glamorous Russian Carla Vanirska manages to get to Vienna from Luxembourg, with the help of Captain Rudolph Ritter of the Austrian army. Meanwhile, Ritter is assigned to detect the identity of a spy.
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Merrily We Live (1938)
Character: Jerry Kilbourne
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
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Everything Is Thunder (1936)
Character: Anna von Stucknadel
The story, starring Constance Bennett and Douglass Montgomery, involves a Canadian POW being hidden by a German citizen during World War I.
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