Rookie pitcher Francis “Ike” Farrell comes seemingly out of nowhere to help the Cubs go for the pennant. His idiosyncratic ways, which include excuses and alibis for everything, drive his manager and fiancee crazy in this baseball farce.
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Tag Archives: 1930s
Pennies from Heaven (1936) Norman Z. McLeod, Bing Crosby, Madge Evans, Edith Fellows, Comedy, Drama, Musical
Larry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promise an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help.
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Let’s Be Famous (1939) Walter Forde, Jimmy O’Dea, Betty Driver, Sonnie Hale, Comedy
An Irishman sets out to become famous as a singer on the radio. Due to a mix up he is instead entered as a contestant on a quiz show. He causes mayhem in the studio and the publicity attracts the attention of an agent who thinks he can help.
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Bright Lights / Adventures In Africa (1930) Michael Curtiz, Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, Noah Beery, Musical, Drama
The lovely young star of a Broadway show is giving an interview to several newspaper writers and tells them about her wild life, parts of which involved “hula dancing” in Africa and an involvement with a dangerous Portuguese smuggler. Unbeknownst to her, the smuggler has showed up at the theater on that very night.
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Ich war Jack Mortimer (1935) Carl Froelich, Anton Walbrook, Eugen Klöpfer, Sybille Schmitz, Drama, Thriller
The jealous star conductor Montemayor knows that his beautiful younger wife, Winifred, is cheating on him with an American named Jack Mortimer. After the concert rehearsal, he takes a taxi to the train station, sees Mortimer and shoots him at an intersection from the backseat of his taxi.
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Attorney for the Defense (1932) Irving Cummings, Edmund Lowe, Evelyn Brent, Constance Cummings, Drama
A lawyer is haunted by a previous case in which he manipulated evidence and convicted an innocent man.
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Back Page (1934) Anton Lorenze, Peggy Shannon, Russell Hopton, Claude Gillingwater, Crime, Drama
Peggy Shannon plays a young female reporter who is fired from a big city newspaper, then decides to take over a troubled small town newspaper. She encounters difficulties with small town politics, getting advertisers to help keep the paper afloat, and issues with 1930’s feminism in the resistance she receives from the town’s residents to her attempts to run the newspaper. An insightful story of a woman’s determination to succeed in an era long before the women’s rights movement.
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I Found Stella Parish (1935) Mervyn LeRoy, Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, Paul Lukas, Drama, Romance
Stella Parish, star of the London stage, keeps her private life a secret. After an opening night triumph, her mysterious past catches up with her and she vanishes before the after-party. When Ms. Parish doesn’t show up, Keith Lockridge, an ace newspaper reporter, at first assumes it to be a publicity stunt. But producer Stephan Norman receives word that Stella is leaving the country. Lockridge is able to track Stella to a ship bound for America, where she is traveling under a false name and wearing a disguise. Aboard the ship Lockridge befriends Stella and her young daughter Gloria. In New York he becomes very close to Stella (now without the disguise) and Gloria, all the while digging up the details of Stella’s sordid past. Stella confesses her love for Lockridge after he’s already wired his story to his newspaper. With the truth out in the open, Stella sends Gloria to be raised abroad while she exploits her notorious reputation onstage. Sorry for the mess he’s made, Lockridge does …
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Gentleman’s Fate (1931) Mervyn LeRoy, John Gilbert, Louis Wolheim, Leila Hyams, Drama
Jack lives the high life and wants to make Marjorie his one and only. He then learns that his deceased father is alive but dying of lead poisoning. His father sent him away, twenty years before, to keep him out of the rackets. But now that he is dying, he wants to split the business between Giacomo (Jack) and Frank, his other son. The business includes running booze down from Canada.
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The Phantom of Paris (1931) John S. Robertson, John Gilbert, Leila Hyams, Lewis Stone, Drama, Thriller
Bibi is a world class escape artist, but he cannot escape the false murder charge that is placed on him. Max has killed Bourrelier before he was removed from the will so that he will be rich when he marries Cecile. Together with Vera, they put the blame on Bibi, who is a romantic rival to Max, and he is sentenced to death. But Bibi escapes before his execution and hides in Herman’s secret cellar. When he learns that Max is dying, Bibi goes to his house for his confession, but Max dies before it is told to anyone else. So Bibi, has just one chance, and he goes to Dr. Gorin who will make him look like Max so that he can clear his name and put the blame where it belongs – on Max, even in death.
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