The Racket is a 1928 American silent crime drama film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Thomas Meighan, Marie Prevost, Louis Wolheim, and George E. Stone. The film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Tom Miranda, and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was adapted from Cormack's 1927 Broadway play The Racket.
The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Marie Prevost was a Canadian-born film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films.
James Oliver Curwood was an American action-adventure writer and conservationist. His books were often based on adventures set in the Hudson Bay area, the Yukon or Alaska and ranked among the top-ten best sellers in the United States in the early and mid 1920s, according to Publishers Weekly. At least one hundred and eighty motion pictures have been based on or directly inspired by his novels and short stories; one was produced in three versions from 1919 to 1953. At the time of his death, Curwood was the highest paid author in the world.
Leila Hyams was an American film and stage actress, model, and vaudevillian, who came from a show business family. Her relatively short film career began in 1924 during the era of silent films and ended in 1936. She started out her career as a vaudevillian, stage performer and model, before embarking on a career in film, and although her career in this genre only lasted around twelve years, the blonde blue-eyed ingenue and leading lady appeared in more than 50 film roles and remained a press favourite, with numerous magazine covers.
Louis Robert Wolheim was an American actor, of both stage and screen, whose rough physical appearance relegated him to roles mostly of thugs or villains in the movies, but whose talent allowed him to flourish on stage. His career was mostly contained during the silent era of the film industry, due to his untimely death at the age of 50 in 1931.
Cain and Mabel is a 1936 romantic comedy film designed as a vehicle for Marion Davies in which she co-stars with Clark Gable. The story had been filmed before, in 1924, by William Randolph Hearst's production company, Cosmopolitan, as a silent called The Great White Way, starring Anita Stewart and Oscar Shaw. In this version, Robert Paige introduced the song "I'll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs", with music by Harry Warren and words by Al Dubin, who also wrote "Coney Island", "Here Comes Chiquita", and other songs.
John Miljan was an American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1924 and 1958.
Havana Widows is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Ray Enright, starring Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. It was released by Warner Bros. on November 18, 1933. Two chorus girls travel to Havana in search of rich husbands. Their target is Deacon Jones, a self-appointed moralist who cannot drink without getting drunk.
Ralph Waldo Ince was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John E. Ince and Thomas H. Ince.
Leila Roy is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Lena Kaur. The character made her first appearance in June 2008. In November 2009, it was announced that Kaur had decided to leave Hollyoaks. Lena made her last appearance as Leila in January 2010.
Les Proscrits is a French short story by Honoré de Balzac, published in 1831 by éditions Gosselin, then in 1846 by Furne, Dubochet, Hetzel in Études philosophiques. He subtitled it an esquisse historique. It forms part of the Livre Mystique, as do Louis Lambert and Séraphîta, and shares several of the themes of Louis Lambert - doctor Sigier's theory that intelligence knows several avatars, from animal intelligence to angels' intelligence, and the idea that angels live among men, which often recurs in Balzacs' descriptions of women.
The Thrill Hunter is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by George B. Seitz. Buck Jones stars as a habitual teller of tall tales, while Dorothy Revier plays the film star he tries to impress.
War Nurse is a 1930 American pre-Code war film directed by Edgar Selwyn and starring Robert Montgomery, Anita Page, June Walker and Robert Ames.
Saturday's Millions is a 1933 American Pre-Code sports drama film directed by Edward Sedgwick and starring Robert Young, Andy Devine, Leila Hyams and Johnny Mack Brown. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is an adaptation of a story by Falkland Cary that was published in serial form in a national magazine.
East Side, West Side is a 1927 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring George O'Brien, Virginia Valli, and June Collyer. The supporting cast includes J. Farrell MacDonald and Holmes Herbert. The epic film was shot extensively on various locations in New York City and includes a sinking ship loosely based upon the RMS Titanic.
Yellow Dust is a 1936 American Western film directed by Wallace Fox from a screenplay by Cyril Hume, John Twist, and John Francis Larkin. The film stars Richard Dix and Leila Hyams, with a supporting cast including Moroni Olsen, Jessie Ralph, Andy Clyde, and Onslow Stevens. RKO Radio Pictures premiered the film in New York City on February 22, 1936, with a nationwide release on March 13.
The Phantom of Paris is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by John S. Robertson and written by Bess Meredyth, Edwin Justus Mayer and John Meehan. The film stars John Gilbert and Leila Hyams, and is based on the 1913 novel Chéri-Bibi et Cécily by Gaston Leroux. The film was released on September 12, 1931, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio simultaneously made and released a Spanish-language version, Chéri-Bibi, directed by Carlos F. Borcosque and starring Ernesto Vilches.
City of Shadows is a 1955 American crime film directed by William Witney and written by Houston Branch. The film stars Victor McLaglen, John Baer, Kathleen Crowley, Anthony Caruso, June Vincent and Richard Reeves. The film was released on June 2, 1955 by Republic Pictures.
Channing of the Northwest is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Eugene O'Brien, Gladden James and Norma Shearer.
