Five Star Final is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film about the excesses of tabloid journalism directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Edward G. Robinson, Aline MacMahon and Boris Karloff. The screenplay was by Robert Lord and Byron Morgan based on the 1930 play of the same name by Louis Weitzenkorn. The title refers to the practice of newspapers publishing a series of editions throughout the day, with their final-edition front page having five stars printed and the word "Final." "Five Star Final" is also a font introduced during World War I and then favored by newspapers for its narrow type.
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibson, The Shadow has been adapted into other forms of media, including American comic books, comic strips, serials, video games, and at least five feature films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles.
The Sure Thing is a 1985 American romantic comedy Christmas road film directed by Rob Reiner and starring John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors, and Nicollette Sheridan. The film chronicles the cross-country journey of college students Walter Gibson (Cusack) and Alison Bradbury (Zuniga) as they make their way from New England to Los Angeles over Christmas break, each in an effort to meet their ideal romantic match.
Walter Brown Gibson was an American writer and professional magician, best known for his work on the pulp fiction character The Shadow. Gibson, under the pen-name Maxwell Grant, wrote "more than 300 novel-length" Shadow stories, writing up to "10,000 words a day" to satisfy public demand during the character's golden age in the 1930s and 1940s. He authored several novels in the Biff Brewster juvenile series of the 1960s. He was married to Litzka R. Gibson, also a writer, and the couple lived in New York state.
Maxwell Grant was a pen name used by the authors of The Shadow pulp magazine stories from the 1930s to 1960s.
Roderick Ross La Rocque was an American actor.
Hot Water is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on August 17, 1932, in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, and on the same date in the United States by Doubleday, Doran, New York.
The Shadow is a 1994 American superhero film from Universal Pictures, produced by Martin Bregman, Willi Bear, and Michael Scott Bregman, and directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Alec Baldwin, supported by John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, and Tim Curry. The film is based on the pulp fiction character of the same name created in 1931 by Walter B. Gibson.
S.O.S. Eisberg is a 1933 German-US pre-Code drama film directed by Arnold Fanck and starring Gustav Diessl, Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, Gibson Gowland, Rod La Rocque, and Ernst Udet. The film was written by Tom Reed based on a story by Arnold Fanck and Friedrich Wolf. S.O.S. Eisberg follows the account of the real-life Alfred Lothar Wegener polar expedition of 1929-30.
Richard Derr was an American actor who worked with stage, movie, and television drama, performing in both supporting and main roles.
Forbidden Paradise is a 1924 American silent drama film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on a 1922 Broadway play, The Czarina, by Edward Sheldon, who adapted the Hungarian-language book by Melchior Lengyel and Lajos Bíró. The play starred Doris Keane, in one of her last stage roles, as Catherine the Great. Basil Rathbone costarred with Keane. The film stars Pola Negri as Catherine the Great and Rod La Rocque in the Rathbone role. Clark Gable makes his second appearance on film.
Margo Lane is a fictional character in The Shadow stories. Margo is a friend and companion to Lamont Cranston, and an agent for his alter ego, The Shadow, in the wealthy set. Her first appearance was in 1937 in The Shadow radio drama. Her first appearance in a print story was in The Thunder King, a story in the June 15, 1941, issue of The Shadow Magazine.
Kane Richmond was an American film actor of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly appearing in cliffhangers and serials. He is best known today for his portrayal of the character Lamont Cranston in The Shadow films in addition to his leading role in the successful serials Spy Smasher and Brick Bradford.
Walter B. McGrail was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1916 and 1951. Besides feature films, he appeared in The Scarlet Runner, a 12-chapter serial.
International Crime is a 1938 American film featuring a loose version of The Shadow directed by Charles Lamont starring Rod La Rocque and Astrid Allwyn.
Loaded Pistols is a 1948 American Western film directed by John English and starring Gene Autry, Barbara Britton, and Chill Wills. Written by Dwight Cummins and Dorothy Yost, the film is about a cowboy who protects a young man wrongly accused of murder, while trying to find the real badguys.
Please Murder Me! is a 1956 American film noir directed by Peter Godfrey and starring Angela Lansbury, Raymond Burr and Dick Foran. The film contains an incomplete copyright notice omitting mention of its claimant and has fallen into the public domain.
The Falcon Strikes Back is a 1943 American crime film directed by Edward Dmytryk and stars Tom Conway as the title character, the amateur sleuth, the Falcon. Supporting roles are filled by Harriet Hilliard, Jane Randolph, Edgar Kennedy, with Cliff Edwards filling in for Allen Jenkins as the Falcon's sidekick, "Goldie" Locke. It is the fifth film in the Falcon series and the second for Conway, reprising the role that his brother, George Sanders had initiated.
Frisco Waterfront is a 1935 American drama film directed by Arthur Lubin and Joseph Santley and starring Ben Lyon, Helen Twelvetrees and Rod La Rocque.
The Calgary Stampede is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Herbert Blaché and starring Hoot Gibson. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
