Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged, and the two engage in a humorous battle of the sexes.
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.
Dead End is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by William Wyler. It is an adaptation of the Sidney Kingsley 1935 Broadway play of the same name. It stars Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie, and Claire Trevor. It was the first film appearance of the acting group known as the Dead End Kids.
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictures used the story and character as the basis for the 1937 film Internes Can't Take Money, starring Joel McCrea as Jimmie Kildare. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsequently acquired the rights and featured Kildare as the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Several of these films were co-written by Faust, who also continued to write magazine stories and novels about the character until the early 1940s. Kildare was portrayed by Lew Ayres in nine MGM films.(Ayres was drafted in 1942 and served as a non-combatant medic until 1946.) Later films set in the same hospital featured Dr. Gillespie. Ayres returned to voice the Kildare character in an early 1950s radio series. The 1961–1966 Dr. Kildare television series made a star of Richard Chamberlain and gave birth to a comic book and comic strip based on the show. A short-lived reboot of the TV series, Young Doctor Kildare, debuted in 1972 and ran for 24 episodes.
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he became best known.
Young Dr. Kildare is a 1938 American drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet and starring Lew Ayres as Dr. James Kildare, an idealistic, freshly graduated medical intern, who benefits greatly from the wise counsel of his experienced mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie. The film was based on a story and characters created by author Frederick Schiller Faust, writing as Max Brand.
These Three is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, and Bonita Granville. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1934 play The Children's Hour.
Jeanette Nolan was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series The Virginian (1962–1971) and Dirty Sally (1974), and in films such as Macbeth (1948).
Remember the Night is a 1940 American Christmas romantic comedy trial film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and directed by Mitchell Leisen. The film was written by Preston Sturges and was the last of his scripts shot by another director, as Sturges began his own directorial career the same year with The Great McGinty.
Night Nurse is a 1931 American pre-Code crime drama mystery film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell and Clark Gable. The film is based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dora Macy, the pen name of Grace Perkins. The film was considered risqué at the time of its release, particularly the scenes where Stanwyck and Blondell are shown in their lingerie. Clark Gable portrays a viciously violent chauffeur who is gradually starving two little girls to death after having already purposely run over their slightly older sister with a limousine, killing her.
A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, is a 1948 Technicolor musical film remake of Howard Hawks' 1941 movie Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. This version was also directed by Hawks, based on the story "From A to Z" by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe, adapted by Harry Tugend (uncredited) and produced by Samuel Goldwyn and released by RKO Radio Pictures.
Gambling Lady is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Archie Mayo, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea and Pat O'Brien.
The Great Man's Lady is a 1942 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. It is based on the short story "The Human Side" by Viña Delmar.
Two in a Crowd is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea and Reginald Denny. It was produced and released by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Lewis R. Foster, Doris Malloy, and Earle Snell.
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case is a 1940 American drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet. This was the fifth of a total of ten Dr. Kildare pictures. Horace MacMahon joined the cast regulars in the series as taxi driver "Foghorn" Murphy.
Woman Chases Man is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by John G. Blystone and starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea.
The Secret of Dr. Kildare is a 1939 American film directed by Harold S. Bucquet and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the fourth of a total of ten Dr. Kildare pictures, Lew Ayres starred all but the first.
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant is a 1942 feature film from MGM in their long-running Dr. Kildare series. Directed by Willis Goldbeck, it introduced two new doctors, Dr. Randall Adams and Dr. Lee Wong How.
Trooper Hook is a 1957 American Western film directed by Charles Marquis Warren and starring Joel McCrea as the title character and Barbara Stanwyck as the woman he frees from the Indians. The fact that during her captivity she has had a son by a much-feared chief makes her situation very difficult.
James Bush was an American actor from the 1930s until the early 1950s. He appeared in more than 100 television shows and films, more than 80 of them being feature films.
