Barnett Parker Movies
A busy supporting actor of the 1930s who was often cast as the quintessential English manservant, tall, dapper-looking Barnett Parker had appeared with such British stage stars as George Alexander and Fred Terry prior to making his Broadway debut opposite Billie Burke in Mind the Paint Girl. The year was 1912 and the busy Parker immediately established himself as the typical... (read more) "silly ass" British comic, "silly ass" being a description favored by the actor himself. Parker, who went on to appear opposite such legendary stage stars as Lew Fields and Lou Tellegen, moonlighted in movies from 1915 to 1920, chiefly for the New Rochelle-based Thanhouser company, where he scored quite a hit playing Astorbilt, the millionaire hero of the comedy Prudence the Pirate (1916). Parker spent the next decade or so on the boards but returned to films in 1936 to play a seemingly endless series of butlers, servants, and waiters. His death was attributed to a heart attack. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
The Reluctant Dragon
1941
The very first Disney feature to include live-action footage, this behind-the-scenes documentary about the studio's animation process includes the cartoon short of the...
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941
Cesar Romero plays an outwardly tough prohibition-era gangster who in reality wouldn't hurt a fly. He maintains his "killer" reputation by planting evidence of his involvement...
Kisses for Breakfast
1941
Kisses for Breakfast is a dumbed-down remake of the 1930 marital comedy The Matrimonial Bed, itself based on a British stage play by Seymour Hicks-which in turn was...
A Man Betrayed
1941
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The...
New Wine
1941
Also released as The Great Awakening, New Wine purports to recreate an incident in the life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert. Though the real-life Schubert was chubby and...
Hit Parade of 1941
1940
In this musical, the second entry in a five-film series, a thrift shop owner sells his business and buys a small time radio station. He begins looking for sponsors. He finds one...
Hullabaloo
1940
It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that the MGM programmer Hullabaloo bears no relation to the 1960s rock-and-roll series of the same name. Frank Morgan plays Frank...
If I Had My Way
1940
In this musical drama, a construction worker becomes the guardian of a 12-year old girl after one of his buddies is killed. She and he head to New York to look for her uncle, a...
One Night in the Tropics
1940
The third film version of Earl Derr Biggers' novel Love Insurance, One Night in the Tropics stars Allan Jones as a hotshot insurance salesman who sells a policy to his...
He Married His Wife
1940
This slick marital farce features Joel McCrea as T. H. Randall, a race horse owner whose devotion to his work causes a strain in his relationship with wife Valerie (Nancy Kelly)....
La Conga Nights
1940
In this comedy, actor Hugh Herbert plays six different roles. Only one of the roles is a man. The story centers around a dizzy music lover, who has grown rich through real...
Love Thy Neighbor
1940
Love Thy Neighbor was produced to capitalize on the famous radio feud between comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The two stars (actually friends in real life) play...
Babes in Arms
1939
This fun-filled spin-off of the Rodgers & Hart Broadway musical by the same name, features Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as two young children of vaudevillian parents...
Hotel for Women
1939
In this romance, a young woman journeys from Syracuse to New York to see her sweetheart, a prominent architect. She is bitterly disappointed to discover that he has lost interest...
She Married a Cop
1939
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Policeman's Ball. For a long time,...
At the Circus
1939
A distinct letdown from their previous MGM films, the Marx Bros.' At the Circus nonetheless contains intermittent moments of high hilarity. When Jeff Wilson (Kenny...
Marie Antoinette
1938
M.G.M.'s opulent costume drama Marie Antoinette marked a return to the screen after a two-year absence for reigning Queen of M.G.M. Norma Shearer. Shearer plays the...
Sally, Irene and Mary
1938
Three manicurists hope to become entertainers through the auspices of their wisecracking agent (Fred Allen). Sally (Alice Faye) is the smart one, Irene (Joan Davis) the...
Listen, Darling
1938
Two of MGM's top juvenile stars, Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew, team up for the otherwise unremarkable Listen, Darling. The story gets rolling when widowed...
Hold That Kiss
1938
Hold That Kiss is a cute story cutely played by the irresistably cute Maureen O'Sullivan. She plays working girl June Evans, who meets handsome Tommy Bradford (Dennis O'Keefe)...