James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.
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 performance in The Public Enemy, which is how Cagney came to play a supporting role.
George Arliss was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932).
Invisible Stripes is a 1939 Warner Bros. crime film starring George Raft as a gangster unable to go straight after returning home from prison. The movie was directed by Lloyd Bacon and also features William Holden, Jane Bryan and Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay by Warren Duff was based on the novel of the same title by Warden Lewis E. Lawes, a fervent crusader for prison reform, as adapted by Jonathan Finn.
The Bad Man of Brimstone is a 1937 American Western film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Wallace Beery, Virginia Bruce and Dennis O'Keefe. The screenplay was written by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum, from a story by Ruben and Maurice Rapf.
Stand Up and Fight is a 1939 American Western film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Wallace Beery and Robert Taylor. The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Charley Grapewin, and John Qualen. Playwright Jane Murfin and novelists Harvey Fergusson and James M. Cain shared screenwriting credit.
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon. It was photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film was produced and released by Warner Brothers, and was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical Fifty Million Frenchmen.
Side Show is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner, Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp and Donald Cook. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. The film was based on a story by William K. Wells. Although it was planned and filmed as a full-scale musical, most of the songs were cut from the film before release due to the public tiring of musicals.
Top Speed is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical comedy film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. It was based on a 1929 stage musical of the same name by Harry Ruby, Guy Bolton and Bert Kalmar. The film stars Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting, Laura Lee, and Frank McHugh.
Evalyn Knapp was an American film actress of the late 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s. She was a leading B-movie serial actress in the 1930s. She was the younger sister of the orchestra leader Orville Knapp.
The Girl of the Golden West is a 1938 American musical Western film adapted from the 1905 play of the same name by David Belasco, better known for providing the plot of the opera La fanciulla del West by Giacomo Puccini. A frontier woman falls in love with an outlaw.
The Crowd Roars is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Howard Hawks starring James Cagney and featuring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Eric Linden, Guy Kibbee, and Frank McHugh. A film of the same name was made in 1938 with a different story, starring Robert Taylor.
Other Men's Women is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Maude Fulton. The film stars Grant Withers, Regis Toomey, Mary Astor, James Cagney and Joan Blondell. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros.
Alexander Hamilton is a 1931 American pre-Code biographical film about Alexander Hamilton, produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and based on the 1917 play Hamilton by George Arliss and Mary Hamlin. It was directed by John G. Adolfi and stars Arliss in the title role. It follows the attempts of Hamilton to establish a new financial structure for the United States following the Confederation Period and the establishment of a new Constitution in 1787. It is preserved at the Library of Congress.
Sinners' Holiday is a 1930 American pre-Code all-talking crime drama film starring Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp, and featuring James Cagney, Lucille La Verne, and Joan Blondell. It is based on the 1930 play Penny Arcade by Marie Baumer. Both Cagney and Blondell reprised the roles they played in the original Broadway production.
Mothers Cry is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and directed by Hobart Henley. The movie stars Dorothy Peterson, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Evalyn Knapp and Sidney Blackmer. The film is based on the popular novel of the same name written by Helen Grace Carlisle.
The Ruling Passion is a 1922 American silent comedy film directed by F. Harmon Weight and written by Forrest Halsey based upon a short story by Earl Derr Biggers. The film stars George Arliss, Doris Kenyon, Edmund Burns, Ida Darling, J. W. Johnston, and Ernest Hilliard. The film was released on January 22, 1922, by United Artists. A print of The Ruling Passion survives at Gosfilmofond in Moscow. In 1931, Arliss starred in a talkie remake, The Millionaire.
That Way with Women is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova, written by Leo Townsend and Francis Swann, and starring Dane Clark, Martha Vickers, Sydney Greenstreet, Alan Hale, Sr., Craig Stevens and Barbara Brown. It was released by Warner Bros. on March 29, 1947.
The Man Who Dared is a 1939 American crime film directed by Crane Wilbur and written by Lee Katz. The film stars Jane Bryan, Charley Grapewin, Henry O'Neill, Johnny Russell, Elisabeth Risdon and James McCallion. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 3, 1939.
Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime is a 1941 American mystery film directed by James P. Hogan and written by Eric Taylor. The film was loosely based on the 1938 novel The Devil to Pay by Ellery Queen. It stars Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charley Grapewin, Spring Byington, H. B. Warner and James Burke. The film was released on August 14, 1941, by Columbia Pictures.
