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".
The Barker is a 1928 American part-talkie pre-Code romantic drama film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., acquired in September 1928. The film was directed by George Fitzmaurice and stars Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill, Betty Compson, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The Barker is a part-talkie with talking sequences and sequences with synchronized musical scoring and sound effects. The film was adapted by Benjamin Glazer, Joseph Jackson and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by Kenyon Nicholson.
The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This is an overview of 1925 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. was an American actor, producer, and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best-known for starring in such films as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941). He was the son of Douglas Fairbanks and the stepson of Mary Pickford, and his first marriage was to actress Joan Crawford.
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Academy Award winning actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as a cruel, unbalanced, and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other twin daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as sensationalized fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same title starring Faye Dunaway.
Anita Page was an American film actress who reached stardom in the final years of the silent film era.
Roderick Ross La Rocque was an American actor.
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.
Mildred Harris was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was age 10. She was also the first wife of Charlie Chaplin.
The Iron Mask is a 1929 American part-talkie adventure film directed by Allan Dwan. In addition to some sequences with dialogue, the film featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects and a theme song.
Show People is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by King Vidor. 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. The film was a starring vehicle for actress Marion Davies and actor William Haines and included notable cameo appearances by many of the film personalities of the day, including stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and John Gilbert, and writer Elinor Glyn. Vidor also appears in a cameo as himself, as does Davies.
Snitz Edwards was a stage and character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s. He acted alongside popular screen actors including Rudolph Valentino, Clara Kimball Young, Douglas Fairbanks, and many others.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1939 American historical adventure film very loosely adapted from the last section of the 1847–1850 novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask.
Resurrection is a 1927 Hollywood adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel Resurrection. Filmmaker Edwin Carewe adapted the book to a feature-length silent production starring Dolores del Río and featuring an appearance by Ilya Tolstoy who co-wrote the script. In 1928, due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also prepared. The sound version included a newly filmed prologue in which the theme song "Russian Lullaby" was performed and sung. While the actual film had 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. In 1931, Edwin Carewe directed an all-talking remake of this film starred by Lupe Vélez.
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.
A Woman of Affairs is a 1928 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer synchronized sound drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Lewis Stone. 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. The film was based on a 1924 best-selling novel by Michael Arlen, The Green Hat, which he adapted as a four-act stage play in 1925. The Green Hat was considered so daring in the United States that the movie did not allow any associations with it and was renamed A Woman of Affairs, with the characters also renamed to mollify the censors. In particular, the film script eliminated all references to heroin use, homosexuality and syphilis that were at the core of the tragedies involved.
Let's Get a Divorce is a 1918 American silent comedy film starring Billie Burke and written for the screen by husband and wife team John Emerson and Anita Loos. The film was produced by the Famous Players–Lasky company and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film is based on the popular stage play Divorçons by Victorien Sardou and Émile de Najac.
The Man and the Moment is a formerly lost 1929 sound part-talkie romantic comedy film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Billie Dove. 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 survives in a copy of the International Sound Version. The sound of the domestic part-talkie version was synchronized to the surviving print of the international sound version. Because of this, many scenes feature intertitles shown immediately after the spoken dialogue conveying the same words. The talking sequences on the international sound version were muted with music and intertitles were inserted to convey the dialogue replaced in the appropriate foreign language. Therefore, intertitles were left in the talking sequences during the restoration to maintain synchronization with the Vitaphone soundtrack. The story is from a 1914 novel by Elinor Glyn, the famous novelist. The film was produced by Richard A. Rowland and released by First National Pictures. A British silent film had been film of the same story in 1918.
Modern Love is a 1929 American sound part-talkie comedy film directed by Arch Heath and written by Albert DeMond and Beatrice Van. 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 Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film stars Charley Chase, Kathryn Crawford, Jean Hersholt, Edward Martindel, Anita Garvin and Betty Montgomery. The film was released on July 21, 1929, by Universal Pictures.
