Maisie Was a Lady
Maisie Was a Lady (1941) starring Ann Sothern, Lew Ayres
Maisie Was a Lady (1941) starring Ann Sothern, Lew Ayres – the perpetually unemployed actress is a fish out of water in a mansion …
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C. Aubrey Smith
Another Thin Man
In Another Thin Man, Nick and Nora (and their dog Asta) visit the estate of Colonel MacFay. He’s being threatened by a mysterious man wanting revenge for a past wrong. When MacFay is murdered, that man is the obvious suspect. Too obvious …
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Rebecca
Rebecca (1940), starring Sir Lawrence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Synopsis of Rebecca
Rebecca – A British gentleman’s innocent bride grapples with intrusive reminders of his deceased wife.
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Tarzan The Ape Man (1932)
Tarzan The Ape Man (1932) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith
Synopsis of Tarzan the Ape Man
Tarzan the Ape Man is Johnny Weissmuller’s first outing as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ African jungle hero. He’s aiding a young Englishwoman and her fortune-hunting father. This was the first sound version of the Tarzan adventures.
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Five Came Back
Five Came Back (1939) starring Lucille Ball, Chester Morris, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, C. Aubrey Smith
Twelve people are aboard Coast Air Line’s flagship the Silver Queen. They’re en route to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. The plane crashes into headhunter-inhabited jungles. Pilots Bill Brooks (Chester Morris) and Joe (Kent Taylor) race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take-off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But due to damage to the plane and low fuel reserves, only 5 people can be carried to safety.
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The Adventures of Mark Twain
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), starring Fredric March, Alexis Smith
Review of The Adventures of Mark Twain
I’ve often said that Hollywood takes enormous liberties with biographies. That’s true in The Adventures of Mark Twain as well. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a very enjoyable movie. It is, for a variety of reasons. It has a good pacing, interesting cinematography, and a compelling rags-to-riches story.
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Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner
If there’s a problem with the 1941 version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of a man split between his dark and light sides, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it unfortunately comes down to the lead actor, Spencer Tracy. It’s undeniable that Spencer Tracy is a fine actor but not in this film. He portrays Dr. Henry Jekyll as nearly neutral and spineless, and he plays Mr. Hyde not as a wild, unhindered, lover of self, but as a slightly more menacing version of Dr. Jekyll. When he starts a bar fight he doesn’t participate. When he abuses the lovely singer Ivy (Ingrid Bergman) its barely what most people would consider anger.
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Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet (1936), starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Basil Rathbone, Edna May Oliver, John Barrymore, C. Aubrey Smith
Romeo and Juliet (1936), starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Basil Rathbone, Edna May Oliver, John Barrymore, C. Aubrey SmithSynopsis of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare’s classic tale of love and youth ruined by a family feud. The Montagues and the Capulets, two powerful families of Verona, hate each other. Romeo, a Montague, crashes a Capulet party, and there meets Juliet. They fall in love and secretly marry. After killing a nephew of Lady Capulet in a fight, Romeo is banished from Verona. Capulet tries to marry Juliet to Paris, a prince. Juliet seeks the counsel of Friar Laurence, who married her and Romeo. He suggests a daring plan that ends tragically.