"Bluebeard" is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid the fate of her predecessors. "The White Dove", "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" are tales similar to "Bluebeard". The notoriety of the tale is such that Merriam-Webster gives the word "Bluebeard" the definition of "a man who marries and kills one wife after another". The verb "bluebearding" has even appeared as a way to describe the crime of either killing a series of women, or seducing and abandoning a series of women.
John Carradine was an American actor, a prolific and famed character actor. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, best known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theatre. In the later decades of his career, he starred mostly in low-budget B-movies, but continued to also appear in higher-profile fare. In total, he holds 351 film and television credits, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking actors of all time.
Iris Adrian Hostetter was an American stage, film actress and dancer.
Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and loosely based on the rivalry between the popular music hall performers George Leybourne, who was called "Champagne Charlie" because he was the first artist to perform the song of that title, and Alfred Vance, who was known as "The Great Vance".
Side Street is a 1950 American film noir/police procedural starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell. Directed by Anthony Mann, the picture was filmed on location throughout New York City and culminated in one of the first modern car chases. Part of the story is set in the vicinity of the long-demolished Third Avenue El, a favorite location of the films made in the city during that era.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a 1958 American horror science fiction film from Paramount Pictures, produced and directed by Gene Fowler Jr., that stars Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott. Paramount released the film as a double feature with The Blob.
House of Dracula is a 1945 American horror film released and distributed by Universal Pictures. Directed by Erle C. Kenton, the film features several Universal Horror properties meeting as they had done in the 1944 film House of Frankenstein. The film is set at the castle home of Dr. Franz Edelmann, who is visited first by Count Dracula and later by Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, who are trying to cure their vampirism and lycanthropy, respectively. Talbot can not be cured, which leads him to discover the body of Frankenstein's monster in a cave below the base of the castle. Edelemann takes the monster's body back to his laboratory, but finds Count Dracula has awoken and by attacking his assistants, he captures Edelmann and forces a reverse blood transfusion, which gives Edelmann a split personality that likes to wreak havoc with those around him.
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was a Swedish actor active in Hollywood from 1926 to the mid-1950s, known as "the male Greta Garbo". Between 1916 and 1963 he appeared in over seventy feature films, sixteen of which were produced in the silent era. He is mainly remembered today for two silent films – The Single Standard and Wild Orchids – he made with fellow Swede Greta Garbo, and his portrayal of the title character in the controversial pre-Code Frank Capra film The Bitter Tea of General Yen.
Teala Loring was an American actress who appeared in over 30 films during the 1940s.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a 1928 American silent drama film starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young. The movie was directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Irving G. Thalberg for MGM Pictures. The film was written by Elizabeth Meehan, based on the 1923 Broadway stage production Laugh, Clown, Laugh, by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which in turn was based on a 1919 play Ridi, Pagliaccio by Fausto Maria Martini. The theme song "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" was composed by Ted Fiorito (music) and Lewis and Young (lyrics).
Lured is a 1947 film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff. The film is a remake of Robert Siodmak's 1939 French film Pièges.
Ludwig Stössel was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933.
Ilka Grüning was an Austrian-Hungarian actress. Born in Vienna in the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire, she was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to flee Europe when the Nazis came to power in 1933. A respected and famous actress in Germany, she was forced to play bit parts in Hollywood.
Delinquent Daughters, or Accent on Crime, is a 1944 American drama film directed by Albert Herman and starring June Carlson, Fifi D'Orsay and Margia Dean. An exploitation film, it is about a police investigation into the suicide death of a high school girl and the hard-partying teenagers at a party prior to the incident.
Diamond Jim is a 1935 biographical film based on the published biography Diamond Jim Brady by Parker Morell. It follows the life of legendary entrepreneur James Buchanan Brady, including his romance with entertainer Lillian Russell, and stars Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes.
The Single Standard is a 1929 American romantic drama film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed by veteran John S. Robertson and starring Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, and Johnny Mack Brown.
Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons is a 1960 British thriller film directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring George Sanders, Corinne Calvet, and Jean Kent. The story is loosely based on that of the real-life serial killer Henri Désiré Landru.
Nana is a French-Italian film by Christian-Jaque starring Martine Carol and Charles Boyer. An adaptation of the 1880 novel Nana by Émile Zola, it tells the story of two French aristocrats who are fatally ruined by their obsession for Nana, a mediocre actress and prostitute. Using the ancient theme of a worthless woman beguiling powerful men, the film portrays the moral corruption of the nominally Catholic court and nobility under the Second Empire.
The Other Woman is a 1954 American film noir written, directed and produced by Hugo Haas. Haas, Cleo Moore and John Qualen starred in the film.
Alaska is a 1944 American crime adventure film directed by George Archainbaud. It stars Kent Taylor, Margaret Lindsay, and John Carradine.
