Raymond Griffith Movies
Born into a theatrical family, American actor Raymond Griffith was trained from an early age in the exacting art of pantomime. His ability to convey thoughts and emotions physically came in handy when Griffith went to work in silent pictures in 1914. After an apprenticeship at Vitagraph, Griffith became a staff writer and lead comic at Keystone Studios; his early buffoon roles bear... (read more) little resemblance to his sleek, sophisticated characterizations of the 1920s. Signed as a supporting actor by Paramount, Griffith gained critical attention by stealing scenes in a series of wry social comedies. While everyone around him concerned themselves with the plotline, the mustachioed, tuxedoed Griffith would sit in a corner, react coolly and agreeably to the events, and then drink another cocktail. Promoted to leading roles, Griffith further developed his implacable, nonchalant characterization in such comedies as Paths to Paradise (1926). Hands Up (1927) is considered Griffith's masterpiece; as a dapper Civil War spy, he responds to the most horrendous of dangers as if calmly ordering breakfast. Offscreen Griffith's take-charge attitude served him well when he became a producer at Warner Bros. and 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s. Griffith was forced to switch from acting to producing in the sound era because he literally had no voice: as a result of straining his vocal chords in childhood, Griffith could barely manage a hoarse whisper. But before retiring from acting, Raymond Griffith was assigned his most famous (albeit uncredited) screen role, as the bayonetted French soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front, whose facial features freeze into a hauntingly quizzical death mask. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Man I Married
1940
This cautionary pre-World War II drama stars Joan Bennett as an American girl who falls in love and marries a German (Francis Lederer) in 1938. At first he seems charming,...
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)....
Little Old New York
1940
Previously filmed in 1923 as a vehicle for Marion Davies, Rida Johnson Young's warhorse theatrical property Little Old New York was dusted off by 20th Century-Fox for...
The Great Profile
1940
John Barrymore provides an embarrassing spectacle in the semi-autobiographical role of a ham actor. Constantly in debt and always half-loaded, Barrymore accepts a role in an...
The Mark of Zorro
1940
This is perhaps the best of the many Zorro films as Tyrone Power gives an outstanding performance as the alternately swishing and swashbuckling son of a 19th century...
The Three Musketeers
1939
Allan Dwan's comedic musical adaptation of the classic Dumas story sticks close to the original tale, yet it augments it with healthy doses of humor and songs. Don Ameche...
Drums Along the Mohawk
1939
John Ford directed this outdoor adventure set in the American Colonial period. Gilbert and Lana Martin (Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert) are a young couple trying to...
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...
The Baroness and the Butler
1938
The Baroness, daughter of the Hungarian prime minister, is played by Annabella. The Butler, last of a long line of family retainers, is played by William Powell. The butler...
Always Goodbye
1938
Former doctor Jim Howard (Herbert Marshall) helps desperate Margot Weston (Barbara Stanwyck), pregnant and unmarried; when her son is born, Jim helps her place the baby with...
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
NR 1938
Previously filmed in 1917 and 1932, Kate Douglas Wiggins' bucolic novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is herein refashioned--and completely, totally, utterly rewritten--as a...
Three Blind Mice
1938
Whenever things got slow at 20th Century-Fox, the studio revved up its old reliable "three girls looking for millionaires" plotline. Three Kansas sisters (Loretta Young,...
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937
Loretta Young is the wife, Warner Baxter the doctor and Virginia Bruce the nurse in this 20th Century-Fox trifle. Society gal Young marries Park Avenue medico Baxter,...
The Seventh Heaven
1937
This romantic tearjerker was the second film based on the popular 1922 stage play. James Stewart stars as Chico, a lowly Paris sewer worker who has abandoned his faith in God...
Second Honeymoon
1937
This cinematic meringue stars Loretta Young as a young woman whose second husband (Lyle Talbot) is a hard working but dull business exec. She pines for hubby Number One...
Fifty Roads to Town
1937
Don Ameche is called upon to testify in his married friends' divorce case. Unwilling to take sides, he skips town and hides out at a country inn. A young girl (Ann Sothern)...
Thin Ice
1937
Norwegian skating star Sonja Henie reached an early pinnacle with this romantic comedy co-starring Tyrone Power as a Ruritanian prince impersonating an American reporter....
Heidi
NR 1937
Johanna Spyri's perennial children's favorite Heidi was retailored to the talents of Shirley Temple, resulting in one of her best vehicles. Orphaned early in the proceeding,...
One in a Million
1936
Norwegian skating sensation Sonja Henie made her Hollywood screen debut in the splashy 20th Century-Fox musical One in a Million. While preparing for the 1936 Winter...
It Had to Happen
1936
Italian immigrant George Raft uses his wits and his fists to rise to prominence in a local political machine. He falls in love with Rosalind Russell, the wife of a prominent...