Richard Semler Barthelmess was an American film actor, principally of the Hollywood silent era. He starred opposite Lillian Gish in D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920) and was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. The following year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for two films: The Patent Leather Kid and The Noose.
Thunderbolt is a 1929 American pre-Code proto-noir film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, Fay Wray, Richard Arlen, Tully Marshall and Eugenie Besserer. It tells the story of a criminal, facing execution, who wants to kill the man in the next cell for being in love with his former girlfriend.
Betty Compson was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in The Docks of New York and The Barker, the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
The Singing Fool is a 1928 American sound part-talkie musical drama motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer. It is credited with helping to cement the popularity of American films of both sound and the musical genre. The film entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.
Kid Millions is a 1934 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and starring Eddie Cantor. Its elaborate "Ice Cream Fantasy Finale" production number was filmed in three-strip Technicolor, one of the earliest uses of that process in a feature-length film.
The Great Gabbo is a 1929 American Pre-Code early sound musical drama film directed by James Cruze, based on Ben Hecht's 1928 short story "The Rival Dummy", and starring Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson. The film features songs by Lynn Cowan, Paul Titsworth, Donald McNamee and King Zany.
"Frankie and Johnny" is a murder ballad, a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Johnny making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Frankie is then arrested; in some versions of the song she is also executed.
The Show of Shows is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost almost $800,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor.
The Miracle Man is a 1919 American silent drama film starring Lon Chaney and based on a 1914 play by George M. Cohan, which in turn is based on the novel of the same title by Frank L. Packard. The film was released by Paramount Pictures, directed, produced, and written by George Loane Tucker, and also stars Thomas Meighan and Betty Compson. The film made overnight successes of the three stars, most notably putting Chaney on the map as a character actor.
Edward Quillan was an American film actor and singer whose career began as a child on the vaudeville stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.
Wheeler Oakman was an American film actor.
The Noose is an American silent drama film adaptation of the Willard Mack play The Noose, which was released in 1928 by First National Pictures. It stars Richard Barthelmess, Montagu Love, Robert Emmett O'Connor, and Thelma Todd. It was directed by John Francis Dillon and Richard Barthelmess's performance was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The movie was adapted by Garrett Graham and James T. O'Donohoe from the play. The play was also the basis of the Paramount Pictures film I'd Give My Life (1936).
The Big City is a 1928 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. Waldemar Young wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Tod Browning. The film is now lost.
Lord Byron of Broadway (1930), also known as What Price Melody?, is an American Pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Harry Beaumont and William Nigh. It was based on a best selling book by Nell Martin, which "was widely praised by critics as an extremely true and amusing romance of stage life." It was filmed in black and white with two-color Technicolor sequences.
Broadway Babies, aka Broadway Daddies (UK) and Ragazze d'America (Italy), is a 1929 all-talking Pre-Code black and white American musical film produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred Alice White and Charles Delaney. This was White's first sound film with dialogue. As a copyright renewed work from 1929, the film will enter the American public domain on January 1, 2025.
Drag is a 1929 American Pre-Code drama film produced by Richard A. Rowland and directed by Frank Lloyd based on the 1925 novel Drag: A Comedy by William Dudley Pelley. It stars Richard Barthelmess and Lucien Littlefield.
Woman to Woman is an all-talking sound 1929 British drama film with music directed by Victor Saville and starring Betty Compson, George Barraud and Juliette Compton. It is an adaptation of the 1921 play Woman to Woman by Michael Morton which had already been made in 1923 into a now-lost film. The 1929 version survives and unrestored copies are available on unofficial DVDs and streaming services.
Scarlet Seas is a surviving 1929 American synchronized sound romantic adventure film produced by Richard A. Rowland and distributed by First National Pictures. Although there is no audible dialogue, the film was released with a musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc recording process. The picture was directed by John Francis Dillon. It starred Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, and a teen-aged Loretta Young. Originally, the film was presumed lost.
Hot Stuff is a 1929 American sound part-talkie comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and written by Robert S. Carr, Humphrey Pearson and Louis Stevens. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The sound was recorded via the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. The film stars Alice White and features Louise Fazenda, William Bakewell, Doris Dawson, Ben Hall and Charles Sellon. The film was released by First National Pictures on May 5, 1929.
Skin Deep is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Ray Enright and starring Monte Blue. It was produced and distributed by the Warner Brothers. It was also released in the U.S. in a silent version for theaters not equipped yet with sound. The film is a remake of a 1922 Associated First National silent film of the same name directed by Lambert Hillyer and starring Milton Sills.
