Saratoga Trunk is a 1945 American Western film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Flora Robson. Written by Casey Robinson, based on the novel Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber, the film is about a Texas gambler and the daughter of a Creole aristocrat and his beautiful mistress. They become lovers and work together to seek justice from a society that has ruined their parents and rejected them. The title of the film and novel has a dual meaning. Clio says at one point that she thought a Saratoga trunk had to do with luggage, not a railroad line. It meant both. Saratoga trunks were top of the line for elegant travelers.
Dressed to Kill is a 1941 crime mystery starring Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes and Sheila Ryan. The film is based on The Dead Take No Bows, a mystery novel by Richard Burke.
Smart Money is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros., directed by Alfred E. Green, and starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. It is the only occasion Robinson and Cagney appeared in a film together, despite being the two leading actors, mainly portraying gangsters, at Warner Bros. studios throughout the 1930s. Smart Money was shot after Robinson's signature film Little Caesar had been released and during the filming of Cagney's breakthrough masterpiece The Public Enemy, which is how Cagney came to play a supporting role.
Each Dawn I Die is a 1939 gangster film directed by William Keighley and starring James Cagney and George Raft. The plot of Each Dawn I Die involves a crusading reporter who is unjustly thrown in jail and befriends a famous gangster. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Jerome Odlum and the supporting cast features Jane Bryan, George Bancroft, Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, and Victor Jory.
The Chance of a Lifetime is a 1943 crime drama starring Chester Morris, Erik Rolf and Jeanne Bates. It is one of 14 films made by Columbia Pictures involving detective Boston Blackie, a criminal-turned-crime solver. This was the sixth in the series and one of three that did not have his name in the title. The film is also William Castle's directorial debut. As with many of the films of the period, this was a flag waver to support America's efforts during World War II.
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the sixth film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes films. Made in 1943, it is a loose adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes 1893 story "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual." Its three immediate predecessors in the film series were World War II spy adventures with Holmes and Dr. Watson assisting working to thwart enemy agents, but this one marked a return to the pure mystery film form. Though several characters are military men and there are frequent mentions of the ongoing war, it is not the focus of the story.
The Man from Monterey is a 1933 American pre-Code Western directed by Mack V. Wright and starring John Wayne. The picture was released by Warner Bros. Pictures. This film was the last of six films John Wayne made at Warner Bros. between 1932 and 1933.
Penthouse is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime film starring Warner Baxter as a lawyer and Myrna Loy as a call girl who helps him with a murder case. The film features Charles Butterworth as the butler, Mae Clarke as the murder victim, Phillips Holmes as the suspected murderer, and C. Henry Gordon as the gangster who arranged the murder. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on a novel by Arthur Somers Roche. The film was later remade as the more sanitized Society Lawyer (1939), without the risqué pre-Code dialogue.
Crime Doctor (1943) is a crime film adapted from the radio series of the same name. The film stars Warner Baxter as a man with amnesia determined to remember his past. As with the radio series, the film deals with the complex issues of mental health and moral responsibility in the criminal-justice system. The film was released by Columbia Pictures.
Johnny Apollo is a 1940 American film noir crime film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Dorothy Lamour.
The Man in the Net is a 1959 American film noir starring Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones. The taut drama was directed by Michael Curtiz. The supporting cast features Diane Brewster.
The Criminal Code is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic crime drama film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. The screenplay, based on a 1929 play of the same name by Martin Flavin, was written by Fred Niblo Jr. and Seton I. Miller, who were nominated for Best Adaptation at the 4th Academy Awards but the award went to Howard Estabrook for Cimarron.
The Mark of Cain is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Stuart Paton, and starring Lon Chaney and Dorothy Phillips. The film's tagline was "A Thrilling Drama of the Long Arm of the Law With an Absorbing Love Interest". The film's working title was By Fate's Decree.
Lady Gangster is a 1942 Warner Bros. B picture crime film directed by Robert Florey, credited as "Florian Roberts". It is based on the play Gangstress, or Women in Prison by Dorothy Mackaye, who in 1928, as #440960, served less than ten months of a one- to three-year sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Lady Gangster is a remake of the pre-Code film, Ladies They Talk About (1933). Jackie Gleason plays a supporting role.
The Great O'Malley is a 1937 crime film directed by William Dieterle and starring Pat O'Brien, Sybil Jason, Humphrey Bogart, and Ann Sheridan. The 1925 silent version The Making of O'Malley starred Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill and Helen Rowland.
The Bishop Misbehaves is a 1935 American comedy crime film directed by E. A. Dupont and starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Sullivan and Lucile Watson. It was based on the 1934 play of the same title by Frederick J. Jackson. Dupont made the film after signing a one-film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, having made his first American sound film the year before with Universal Pictures. It is also known by the alternative title The Bishop's Misadventures.
Big Momma's House is a 2000 American buddy cop comedy film, directed by Raja Gosnell, and written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer. The film stars Martin Lawrence as an FBI agent who is tasked with tracking down an escaped convict and his loot, by going undercover as the estranged grandmother of his former girlfriend, unaware of the bond he will form with her. The film also stars Nia Long, Paul Giamatti, and Terrence Howard.
The Secret of Madame Blanche is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Charles Brabin and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. The film stars Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes, Una Merkel and Douglas Walton. The film was released on February 3, 1933, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Empty Holsters is a 1937 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and written by John T. Neville. The film stars Dick Foran, Patricia Walthall, Emmett Vogan, Glenn Strange, Anderson Lawler and Wilfred Lucas. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 10, 1937.
The Bridge of Sighs is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Phil Rosen and written by Louis D. Lighton and Hope Loring. The film stars Dorothy Mackaill, Creighton Hale, Richard Tucker, Alec B. Francis, Ralph Lewis, and Cliff Saum. The film was released by Warner Bros. on January 1, 1925.
