Tag Archives: USA

I Live for Love (1935) Busby Berkeley, Dolores del Rio, Everett Marshall, Guy Kibbee, Comedy, Musical, Romance

I Live for Love (1935)
Donna (Del Rio) is a diva of the stage and wants her lover Rico (Alvarado) as her leading man. To keep this from happening, the producers (Churchill, Cavanaugh) grab Roger Kerry (Marshall) off the street and say he has a contract. Donna and Roger butt heads, he’s replaced by Rico, and Donna’s play flops. While her fame flops, Roger rises as a huge radio star. The two eventually fall in love, and Roger wants both of them to leave their careers behind.
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The Secret of the Whistler (1946) George Sherman, Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks, Michael Duane, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
An artist married to a wealthy but ill woman begins an affair with one of his models, who is after him solely for his money. His wife discovers the affair and threatens to cut him out of her will. In order to be able to keep both the wife’s money and his girlfriend, he begins to secretly poison his wife – but events take a surprising turn after she eventually dies.
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Night Song (1947) John Cromwell, Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Ethel Barrymore, Drama, Romance, Music

Night Song (1947)
Cathy Mallory, beautiful socialite who prefers classical music, is taken by friends to a back-alley dance club. There, she meets blind pianist Dan Evans, who plays in Chick Morgan’s swing band but seems to be a composer of great promise. Attracted but spurned, Cathy feigns blindness herself to get past Dan’s bitter facade, scheming to get him to the doctor who can restore his sight…and to Carnegie Hall. But her actions bring about several twists in their relationship…
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Voice of the Whistler (1945) William Castle, Richard Dix, Lynn Merrick, Rhys Williams, Drama, Film-Noir

Voice of the Whistler (1945)
The 4th film of the Columbia series based on the CBS radio program, “The Whistler”, finds wealthy John Sinclair, with no health or friends, being advised by his doctor to take a long vacation. Heading for the Great Lakes, he becomes ill in the cab operated by Ernie Sparrow an is taken to a clinic where he meets nurse Joan Martin, who is engaged to intern Fred Graham. Doctors now tell him he has only a few months to live and advise him to go to Maine (where, evidently, it will seem longer.) He asks Joan to marry him, promising to leave her his fortune.
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Bad Men of the Border (1945) Wallace Fox, Kirby Grant, Fuzzy Knight, Armida, Music, Romance, Western

Bad Men of the Border (1945)
U. S. Marshal Ted Cameron (Kirby Grant), masquerading as a bandit, robs a mail coach. Delores Mendoza (Armida), a passenger, is an agent for the Mexican government, assigned to investigate a counterfeiting and smuggling gang operating below the border. She joins forces with Ted and his sidekick, Rockabye Jones (Fuzzy Knight), and together they expose the gang and bring them to justice.
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The Bugle Sounds (1942) S. Sylvan Simon, Richard Thorpe, Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, Lewis Stone, Drama, War

The Bugle Sounds 1942
Sergeant “Hap” Doan, heartbroken that the Nineteenth Cavalry, in which he has served for so many years, is to be mechanized and replenished with twenty recent draftees, goes on a drinking spree. He rails about leaving the Army, but is there when the draftees arrive, ready to make good soldiers out of them. When his horse, Cantigny, is killed by the explosion of a tank that had been sabotaged by Nazi-agents, he goes AWOL, and is court-martialed upon his return and given a dishonorable discharge. But he is under secret orders from his Commanding Officer to join the gang of German spies, who have every reason to believe they can trust the disgruntled ex-sergeant..
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Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) Jim Jarmusch, Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni, Comedy, Drama, Music

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
Eleven separate vignettes are presented. In each, celebrities, playing semi-fictionalized versions of themselves (with the exception of the characters of various wait staff, and one actor playing a lookalike cousin of herself), meet in a food service establishment with coffee/tea and cigarettes involved. Beyond the topic of discussion that brought them together, they often talk directly about coffee and cigarettes, more often that coffee and cigarettes, and by association caffeine and nicotine, are not healthy, especially if they are the only things constituting lunch. Other recurring themes include the Lee family, cousinhood, celebrity worship, the connection between the medical and musical careers, and Nikola Tesla’s belief that the Earth is a conductor of acoustic resonance. In all cases, the coming together for coffee/tea and smokes acts as a bridge to overcome disagreements, and/or makes uncomfortable situations less uncomfortable.
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