The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney films Pinocchio and Fantasia.
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, PC was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII.
The Sword and the Rose is a 1953 American-British family and adventure film, produced by Perce Pearce and Walt Disney and directed by Ken Annakin. The film features the story of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England.
Henry Brandon was a German-born American film and stage character actor with a career spanning almost 60 years, involving more than 100 films; he specialized in playing a wide diversity of ethnic roles.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.
John Elmer Carson was a Canadian-born, American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) with Cary Grant. He also acted in dramas such as Mildred Pierce (1945), A Star is Born (1954), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). He worked for RKO and MGM, but most of his notable work was for Warner Bros.
Souls at Sea is a 1937 American adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Gary Cooper and George Raft. Based on a story by Ted Lesser, the film is about a first mate on a slave ship who frees the slaves on the ship after a mutiny overthrows the ship's captain. The title of this film was spoofed in the Laurel and Hardy comedy film Saps at Sea (1940). The supporting cast features Frances Dee, Harry Carey, Joseph Schildkraut, Robert Cummings, George Zucco, Tully Marshall, Monte Blue, and an uncredited Alan Ladd and Edward Van Sloan.
Edward James Nugent was an American film and stage actor.
Black Legion is a 1937 American crime drama film, directed by Archie Mayo, with a script by Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines based on an original story by producer Robert Lord. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ann Sheridan. It is a fictionalized treatment of the historic Black Legion of the 1930s in Michigan, a white vigilante group. A third of its members lived in Detroit, which had also been a center of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.
The Prince and the Pauper is a 1937 film adaptation of the 1881 novel of the same name by Mark Twain. It starred Errol Flynn, twins Billy and Bobby Mauch in the title roles, and Claude Rains and has been described as "a kids' fantasy."
Joan Barclay was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, starring mostly in B-movies and cliffhangers, with her career starting during the silent film era.
Prison Shadows is a 1936 American crime film directed by Robert F. Hill and starring Edward J. Nugent, Lucille Lund and Joan Barclay.
Amateur Crook is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by Sam Katzman.
West of Nevada is a 1936 American Western film directed by Robert F. Hill and starring Rex Bell, Joan Barclay and Al St. John.
Hurricane Smith is a 1941 American action film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and written by Robert Presnell Sr.. The film stars Ray Middleton, Jane Wyatt, Harry Davenport, J. Edward Bromberg, Henry Brandon and Casey Johnson. The film was released on July 20, 1941, by Republic Pictures.
Sweetheart of the Navy is a 1937 American comedy film directed by W. Duncan Mansfield and written by Carroll Graham. The film stars Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, Roger Imhof, Bernadene Hayes, Don Barclay and Etta McDaniel. The film was released on June 8, 1937, by Grand National Films Inc.
Starlight Over Texas is a 1938 American Western film directed by Albert Herman and written by John Rathmell. The film stars Tex Ritter in his first film for Monogram Pictures, Carmen Laroux, Rosa Turich, Karl Hackett, Horace Murphy and Snub Pollard. The film was released on September 7, 1938, by Monogram Pictures.
Men of the Plains is a 1936 American Western film directed by Robert F. Hill and written by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film stars Rex Bell, Joan Barclay, George Ball, Charles King, Forrest Taylor and Roger Williams. The film was released on September 29, 1936, by Colony Pictures.
