Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris, where he played the lead role; Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas; Ernst Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle; The Sheik with Rudolph Valentino; Morocco with Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper; and A Star Is Born with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, and was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page in 1931.
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in Quick Millions (1931) with Spencer Tracy, Scarface (1932) with Paul Muni, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with James Cagney, Invisible Stripes (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, and as a dancer in Bolero (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in They Drive by Night (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart.
Nocturne is a 1946 American film noir starring George Raft and Lynn Bari. The film was produced by longtime Alfred Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, scripted by Jonathan Latimer, and directed by Edwin L. Marin. It was one of several medium budget thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s.
Bolero is a 1934 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. The Paramount production was a rare chance for Raft to star and to play a dancer, which had been his profession in New York City, rather than portraying a gangster. The film takes its title from the Maurice Ravel composition Boléro (1928). The supporting cast includes William Frawley, Ray Milland, and Sally Rand.
Belle of the Nineties is a 1934 American Western film directed by Leo McCarey and released by Paramount Pictures. Mae West's fourth motion picture, it was based on her original story It Ain't No Sin, which was also to be the film's title until censors objected. Johnny Mack Brown, Duke Ellington, and Katherine DeMille are also in the cast. The film is noted for being the premiere performance of the jazz standard "My Old Flame", performed by West with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
The Glass Key, released in 1935, was based upon the suspense novel The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring George Raft, and featuring Edward Arnold, Claire Dodd, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Ray Milland.
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.
She Couldn't Take It is a 1935 screwball comedy film made at Columbia Pictures, directed by Tay Garnett, written by C. Graham Baker, Gene Towne and Oliver H.P. Garrett, and starring George Raft and Joan Bennett. It was one of the few comedies Raft made in his career.
Limehouse Blues is a 1934 American crime film, directed by Alexander Hall. The film is set in the Limehouse district in the East End of London and its Chinatown. Among the stars of the film were George Raft and Anna May Wong. The film is named after the song "Limehouse Blues".
The Lady's from Kentucky is a 1939 film directed by Alexander Hall and starring George Raft and Ellen Drew. It was written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan from a story by Rowland Brown. The screenplay involves a failing bookie (Raft) who becomes half owner of a racehorse, with a Kentucky lady (Drew) owning the other half. ZaSu Pitts plays a supporting role.
You and Me is a 1938 American crime film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and George Raft. They play a pair of criminals on parole and working in a department store full of similar cases; Harry Carey's character routinely hires ex-convicts to staff his store. The film was written by Norman Krasna and Virginia Van Upp.
All of Me is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film directed by James Flood and starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and George Raft. The film was written by actor Thomas Mitchell and Sidney Buchman from Rose Porter's play Chrysalis.
Rumba is a 1935 musical drama film starring George Raft as a Cuban dancer and Carole Lombard as a Manhattan socialite. The movie was directed by Marion Gering and is considered an unsuccessful follow-up to Raft and Lombard's smash hit Bolero the previous year.
The Mighty Barnum is a 1934 film starring Wallace Beery as P.T. Barnum. The movie was written by Gene Fowler and Bess Meredyth, adapted from their play of the same name, and directed by Walter Lang. Beery had played Barnum four years earlier in A Lady's Morals, a highly fictionalized biography of singer Jenny Lind. The supporting cast features Adolphe Menjou, Virginia Bruce as Jenny Lind, and Rochelle Hudson.
Christmas Eve is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Edwin L. Marin. It is based on the story by Laurence Stallings and Richard H. Landau and stars George Raft, George Brent and Randolph Scott. An independent production by Benedict Bogeaus it was distributed by United Artists. It was rereleased under the title Sinner's Holiday.
A Bill of Divorcement is a 1940 film directed by John Farrow. It was also known as Never to Love and was based on a 1921 British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane that was filmed in 1932 with John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn.
Johnny Allegro is a 1949 American film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring George Raft. An ex-gangster (Raft), temporarily working as a federal agent, runs afoul of a counterfeiting crime lord (Macready) who enjoys hunting. It was one of several thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s.
Loan Shark is a 1952 American crime film noir directed by Seymour Friedman and starring George Raft.
The Great Flirtation is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film directed by Ralph Murphy and written by Humphrey Pearson and Gregory Ratoff. The film stars Elissa Landi, Adolphe Menjou, David Manners, Lynne Overman and Raymond Walburn. The film was released on June 15, 1934, by Paramount Pictures.
The Human Side is a 1934 American drama film directed by Edward Buzzell and written by Edward Buzzell, Frank Craven and Ernest Pascal. The film stars Adolphe Menjou, Doris Kenyon, Charlotte Henry, Reginald Owen, Joseph Cawthorn and Betty Lawford. The film was released on September 1, 1934, by Universal Pictures.
