Joan Crawford was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison".
Our Dancing Daughters is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film starring Joan Crawford and John Mack Brown about the "loosening of youth morals" that took place during the 1920s. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Hunt Stromberg. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.
Rain is a 1932 pre-Code drama film that stars Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson. Directed by Lewis Milestone and set in the South Seas, the production was filmed in part at Santa Catalina Island and what is now Crystal Cove State Park in California. The film also features Walter Huston in the role of a conflicted missionary who insists that Sadie end her evil ways, but whose own moral standards and self-righteous behavior steadily decay. Crawford was loaned out by MGM to United Artists for this film.
Sadie McKee is a 1934 American pre-Code, romantic-drama film directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford, and featuring Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold, and Esther Ralston. The film is based on the 1933 short story "Pretty Sadie McKee", by Viña Delmar. Crawford plays the title character, from young working girl through poverty, a marriage into enormous wealth and finally a (seemingly) settled life on her own terms.
Untamed is a 1929 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer romantic-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Ernest Torrence, Holmes Herbert, Gwen Lee, and Lloyd Ingraham. The script was adapted by Sylvia Thalberg and Frank Butler, with dialogue by Willard Mack, from a story by Charles E. Scoggins.
Adventure is a lost 1925 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Fleming, and featuring Wallace Beery in a major supporting role. The picture is based on Jack London's 1911 novel Adventure.
Pretty Ladies is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D. G. Miller and featured intertitles by Joseph Farnham. Pretty Ladies originally featured musical color sequences, some in two-color Technicolor. However, the color sequences are now considered lost.
Our Blushing Brides is a 1930 American pre-Code society comedy/romantic melodrama directed and produced by Harry Beaumont and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian.
Dance, Fools, Dance is a 1931 pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer drama film starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Lester Vail in a story about a reporter investigating the murder of a colleague. Story and dialogue were created by Aurania Rouverol, and the film was directed by Harry Beaumont. Dance, Fools, Dance was the first of eight movies featuring Crawford and Gable.
The Bride Wore Red is a 1937 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Billie Burke. It was based on the unproduced play The Bride from Trieste by Ferenc Molnár. In this "rags to riches" tale, Crawford plays a cabaret singer who poses as an aristocrat. This film is the last of the seven films that Crawford and co-star Franchot Tone, then her husband, made together.
Lady of the Night is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell. The film stars Norma Shearer in a dual role.
A Slave of Fashion is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Hobart Henley. The film stars Norma Shearer and Lew Cody, with William Haines. A young Joan Crawford had an early uncredited role as a mannequin.
The Midshipman is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film directed by Christy Cabanne. The film stars Ramon Novarro and Harriet Hammond. Joan Crawford had an early uncredited role as an extra.
The Circle is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Frank Borzage. The film stars Eleanor Boardman, Malcolm McGregor, and Alec B. Francis. A young Joan Crawford appears in the film's opening scene and later in a photograph viewed by other characters. The screenplay, written by Kenneth B. Clarke, was based on the 1921 play of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham.
The Outsider is a lost 1926 American 60-minute silent drama film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Jacqueline Logan, Lou Tellegen, and Walter Pidgeon. It was based on the 1923 play The Outsider by Dorothy Brandon. The screenplay is set in London and concerns an unorthodox doctor who cures a patient with whom he is in love.
Manhandled is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was produced by Famous Players–Lasky at their East Coast Astoria Studios facility and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The supporting cast includes Frank Morgan. A young woman goes out partying when her hard-working boyfriend neglects her.
The Song and Dance Man is a 1926 American silent comedy drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a play by George M. Cohan and was directed by Herbert Brenon. A copy of the film is housed in the Library of Congress collection. Of its original seven reels, only the final five survive.
The Parasite is a 1925 American silent society drama film produced by B. P. Schulberg, and distributed by Al Lichtman and Preferred Pictures. The film was based on the 1913 novel The Parasite by Helen Reimensnyder Martin. It starred Owen Moore, Madge Bellamy, and Mary Carr.
Sally is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film starring Colleen Moore. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green, produced by Moore's husband John McCormick, and based on the musical Sally written by Guy Bolton and Clifford Grey that was adapted to film by June Mathis. The play was a Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. production written specifically for Marilyn Miller that opened on December 21, 1920, at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway. It ran for 570 performances.
Married ? is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by George Terwilliger and starring Owen Moore and Constance Bennett. It was distributed by small silent studio Renown Pictures.
