Franklin Pangborn
Birthday: 1889-01-23
Place of Birth: Newark, New Jersey, USA
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in scores of feature films playing essentially the same character: prissy, polite, elegant, highly energetic, often officious, fastidious, somewhat nervous, prone to becoming flustered but essentially upbeat, and with immediately recognizable high-speed, patter-type speech. He typically played an officious desk clerk in a hotel, a self-important musician, a fastidious headwaiter, an enthusiastic birdwatcher, and the like, and was usually put in a situation of frustration or flustered by the antics of others. Pangborn was an effective foil for many major comedians.
Movies
The Bank Dick
Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now co...
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Reno or Bust
A scrapping married couple, Franklin Pangborn and Bernice Elliott, are going to Reno to get a divorc...
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The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
Twenty-three years after scoring the winning touchdown for his college football team mild-mannered H...
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King Kelly of the U.S.A.
A theatrical troupe headed by a flashy showman finds itself in the tiny--and bankrupt--kingdom of Be...
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My Dream Is Yours
Conceited singer Garry Mitchell refuses to renew his radio contract, so agent Doug Blake decides to ...
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A Star Is Born
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at...
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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and ...
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Bluebeard's 8th Wife
American multi-millionaire Michael Brandon marries his eighth wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broke ...
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The Palm Beach Story
A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, de...
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Now, Voyager
A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man...
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Christmas in July
An office clerk loves entering contests in the hopes of someday winning a fortune and marrying the g...
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Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 film about a man who wants to sell a film story to Esote...
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George Washington Slept Here
New Yorkers Bill and Connie Fuller have to move from their apartment. Without Bill's knowledge, Conn...
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Hail the Conquering Hero
Having been discharged from the Marines for a hayfever condition before ever seeing action, Woodrow ...
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The Great Moment
The biography of Dr. W.T. Morgan, a 19th century Boston dentist, during his quest to have anesthesia...
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Carefree
Dr. Tony Flagg's friend Steven has problems in the relationship with his fiancée Amanda, so he persu...
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Tillie the Toiler
While attending stenographer school, Tillie Jones meets office boy Mac, who falls in love with her a...
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The Story of Mankind
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil....
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Just Around the Corner
Penny helps her idealistic architect father get his dream of a slum clearance project; The little mi...
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The Flame of New Orleans
In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing se...
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Romance on the High Seas
Georgia Garrett is sent by jealous wife Elvira Kent on an ocean cruise to masquerade as herself whil...
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Stage Door
The ups and downs in the lives and careers of a group of ambitious young actresses and show girls fr...
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Fifth Avenue Girl
A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglect...
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Sullivan's Travels
Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterp...
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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show people. Bu...
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The Horn Blows at Midnight
A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an ...
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Four's a Crowd
A public relations man falls for his most difficult client's granddaughter....
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Easy Living
J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bou...
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Topper Takes a Trip
Mrs. Topper's friend Mrs. Parkhurst has convinced Mrs Topper to file for a divorce from Cosmo due to...
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Trying Out Torchy
The final entry in the Torchy short series starring Ray Cooke as things go wrong at a gathering....
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Hollywood and Vine
A young girl arrives in Hollywood determined to become a star in the movies but finds that attaining...
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The Half-Naked Truth
A carnival pitchman (Tracy) finagles his girlfriend, a fiery hoochie dancer (Vélez), into a major Br...
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Reveille with Beverly
Beverly Ross, the switchboard operator at a local radio station, jumps at the chance to be the DJ fo...
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Swing High, Swing Low
In Panama, Maggie King meets soldier Skid Johnson on his last day in the army and reluctantly agrees...
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Cockeyed Cavaliers
Two yokels try to crash royal society by posing as the King's physicians....
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I'll Be Yours
A small-town girl tells a small fib to a wealthy businessman; complications ensue....
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Blue of the Night
Starring Bing Crosby as himself in a short comedy/romance telling a tale of mistaken identity. Two-...
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Broadway Serenade
A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audi...
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A Fool's Advice
An elevator operator invents a machine that he believes can help to defeat a corrupt politician in t...
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Her Man
A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld....
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Danger – Love at Work
A New York City lawyer finds himself falling in love with the daughter of a screwball South Carolina...
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Calendar Girl
Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artis...
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It Happened in Hollywood
A silent Western star has trouble adjusting to the coming of sound....
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Obliging Young Lady
A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents' divor...
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Holy Matrimony
An artist returning from years abroad takes the identity of his dead valet and gets married, but the...
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Art in the Raw
Aspiring artist Edgar, with family in tow, relocates to Greenwich Village - according to his wife, m...
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A Blonde for a Night
After an argument, a newlywed decides to test her husband's fidelity by disguising herself as a blon...
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Manhattan Love Song
After having been swindled out of all their money by a crooked business manager, formerly wealthy so...
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Menu
A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion....
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Tell It to a Star
Carol (Ruth Terry), the cigarette girl at a swank Palm Springs hotel, dreams of singing in the estab...
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All Over Town
Two vaudevillian comedians try to stage a show in a theatre that has a reputation for being being ha...
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Sweepings
Daniel Pardway, starting with almost nothing after the great Chicago fire, builds the biggest depart...
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Dream Stuff
Walter Catlett is the cousin to some squeaky voiced Dagwood Bumstead type who can't get a girl. Can ...
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My Friend from India
Wealthy young man about town, Tommy Valentine (Franklin Pangborn) comes to the aid of Barbara Smith ...
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The Loud Mouth
Del Lord, famous director of the Three Stooges shorts, directed this story of one man in various com...
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A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
Steve is a shy quiet man who is an executive for a shipping firm. He meets Dot at the Opera where sh...
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Cradle Snatchers
To cure their flirtatious husbands of consorting with flappers, three wives-- Susan Martin, Ethel Dr...
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The Girl Downstairs
A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom ...
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Hats Off
The first musical comedy from the Grand National assembly line, Hats Off stars John Payne and Mae Cl...
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Not So Dumb
Not-so-smart chatterbox Dulcy Parker does and says all the wrong things, but they right themselves t...
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Tango
Believing his wife to be unfaithful, a husband deserts her and his child. Destitute, the woman is fo...
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The Chumps
When the story begins, a newly married couple (Franklin Pangborn and Marjorie Beebe) board a train f...
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Torchy Passes the Buck
Torchy (Ray Cooke) is an office boy....sort of like a secretary that does a variety of tasks for the...
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Torchy Turns the Trick
When he bother can't take Dorothy Dix to a fancy dinner, office boy Ray Cooke escorts her. He also h...
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Torchy
Fired from his job as office boy, Torchy gets involved with a phony gold mine promoter....
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Torchy's Night Cap
Ray Cooke is Torchy the Office boy, told to deliver a letter; through a series of accidents, he wind...
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Torchy's Two Toots
When his boss goes out of town on a big deal and leaves important securities behind, it's up to offi...
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Torchy Raises the Auntie
Ray Cooke's employer needs to raise $100,000 to retain control of his company. He hopes to get them ...
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Torchy Rolls His Own
In the eighth of the series of short sound comedies, Ray Cooke as the office boy 'Torchy' is thought...
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Torchy's Busy Day
Edmund Breese, Ray Cooke's boss, is trying to buy a sausage factory. However, the cash hasn't come t...
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Torchy's Kitty Coup
Dot Farley is throwing a benefit for cats but hasn't any. This means she calls up her husband, Edmun...
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Torchy's Loud Spooker
When the story begins, you learn that Torchy's boss has a problem with his blood pressure and the do...
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Torchy Turns Turtle
One of those gangs of Arab spies who use to infest Wall Street in their colorful native costumes ste...
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Professional Sweetheart
Radio singer Glory Eden is publicized as the ideal of American womanhood in order to sell the sponso...
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High Hat
An opera singer whose career is on the wane finds newfound fame doing popular songs on the radio....
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Lover Come Back
A wife decides to take revenge when she learns her husband has been unfaithful....
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Flirtation
A naive farmer encounters a beautiful burlesque dancer on the streets of New York and agrees to pose...
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Weekend for Three
Jim is hardly thrilled when his new bride, Ellen, invites an old friend, Randy, over for dinner. Yet...
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Tee for Two
A musical revue in which a golfer is knocked unconscious by a golf ball and dreams that the Country ...
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Dangerous Holiday
A young violin prodigy is assumed kidnapped after he runs away from home....
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She's Dangerous
A beautiful woman suspected of being a jewel thief is actually a detective tracking down a ring of b...
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Rich Relations
A secretary finds herself being romanced by a "ladies man". What she doesn't know is that it's her b...
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Doctor Rhythm
Dr. Bill Remsen pretends to be a policeman, and ends up being assigned to guard Judy Marlowe. Amazin...
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It's All Yours
Jimmy Barnes arrives from Europe to be educated by his multi-millionaire uncle, Edward J. Barnes and...
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Always Goodbye
Following the death of her fiancé, Margot Weston is left pregnant and unmarried. Former doctor Jim H...
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Cheer Up and Smile
When a popular radio singer is knocked unconscious during a robbery, a squeaky-voiced college boy fi...
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Three Blind Mice
Three sisters take their small inheritance and move from Kansas to California in search of rich husb...
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Breakfast in Bed
A woman, affectionately called Blondie by her husband, hires a cook called Blondie by both her boyfr...
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Spring Parade
In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card...
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A Lady Surrenders
A wealthy industrialist's wife gets into a big argument with him; to cool off, she goes on an ocean ...
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Over the Counter
In this musical short, the son of a department store owner replaces the regular sales girls with cho...
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You Came Along
War hero flier Bob Collins goes on a war bond selling tour with two buddies, and substitute "chapero...
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The Important Witness
A freelance stenographer is hired for a job, but when she arrives at the address she was given, she ...
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Joy of Living
Falling in love with the voice of Broadway chanteuse Margaret Garret, cocksure young tycoon Daniel B...
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Going Hollywood: The '30s
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were...
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Getting Gertie's Garter
Attorney Ken Walrick, not quite realizing the difference between a garter and a bracelet, gives Gert...
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Hollywood Victory Caravan
A girl is desperate to get to Washington D.C. to be with her lonesome brother, a wounded G.I. She pe...
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What Price Taxi
Ill-tempered Billy proves troublesome for fellow taxi drivers Franklin and Clyde....
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Call Out the Marines
Two Marine sergeants (Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe) flirt with a cafe girl (Binnie Barnes) in San Di...
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The Captain Hits the Ceiling
Franklin gets into a disagreement with a tough sea captain. However, he doesn't find out until later...
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Vivacious Lady
College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzl...
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Easy on the Eyes
A Mack Sennett Talking Comedy, released through Paramount Pictures, starring Franklin Pangborn and f...
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She Married an Artist
Because Thornwood's portraits of comely model Sally Dennis are in such great demand, he is obliged t...
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A Woman of Experience
It is 1915 in Vienna and the Great War has caused many casualties. Elsa, a beautiful prostitute, wan...
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Doughnuts and Society
Kate Flannagan and Belle Dugan operate a downtown coffee shop and, while dispensing their locally-fa...
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The Life of the Party
A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found....
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Bed of Roses
A girl from the wrong side of the tracks is torn between true love and a life of sin....
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Dangerous Number
Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his fo...
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Living on Love
A man and a woman, who have never met, are forced by pecuniary circumstances to share the same basem...
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Young and Beautiful
Bob Preston, publicity man for Superba Pictures, uses his publicity skills in an attempt to make thi...
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We Have Our Moments
A trio of American crooks board a ship bound for Europe, intending to get rid of $100,000 in stolen ...
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I'll Take Romance
Theater manager James Guthrie's (Melvyn Douglas) career depends on famed soprano Elsa Terry (Grace M...
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Turnabout
Bickering husband and wife Tim and Sally Willows mutter a few angry words to a statue who grants the...
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Eight Bells
A trustworthy captain is reduced in rank so that the owner's daughter's fiancé may take charge....
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Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case
Like the first entry, this one is played mostly for laughs, with Radio's Mister District Attorney. J...
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The Lady Escapes
A young husband schemes to regain his wife, who earlier had left him and now is involved with a Euro...
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Three Smart Girls
The three Craig sisters – Penny, Kay, and Joan – go to New York to stop their divorced father from m...
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Hit Parade of 1941
In this musical, the second entry in a five-film series, a thrift shop owner sells his business and ...
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Moonlight Masquerade
Two business partners, John Bennett, Sr. and Robert Forrester, are starting to get nervous when the ...
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My Best Gal
A girl from a show-business family seeks a backer for her boyfriend's musical....
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She Married Her Boss
A super-efficient secretary at a department store falls for and marries her boss, but finds out that...
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Parachute Jumper
An Air Force washout and his buddy room with a pretty young lady. Desperate for jobs during the Depr...
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Give Us This Night
After being introduced to the world of opera, a fisherman (Jan Kiepura) falls for a woman (Swarthout...
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What's Cookin'?
J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Cour...
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Love on Toast
The plot concerns a female press agent who must select a "Mr. Manhattan" and "Miss Brooklyn" for an ...
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Stage Door Canteen
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars o...
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$1,000 a Minute
Two rich and wealthy millionaires who have a lot of money bet that reporter Wally Jones can't spend ...
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When Love Is Young
In this drama, a girl from a small town in Pennsylvania dreams of being a star while she goes to sch...
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Where Did You Get That Girl?
In this musical comedy, a motley band of musicians have only their extreme poverty in common. They e...
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Allergic to Love
Newlywed bliss surround O'Driscoll and Beery until they get on board the ship for their honeymoon in...
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Never a Dull Moment
Nightclub gangsters hire a vaudeville act called the Three Funny Bunnies (Ritz Brothers)....
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Honeymoon Lodge
Honeymoon Lodge is a musical variation on the old Awful Truth plotline. Divorce-bound Bob and Carol ...
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My Grandfather's Clock
At Phwitterby-on-Thames, England, a murder has occurred and Philo Holmes and Dr. Watkins are out to ...
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The Eternal Melody
A group of struggling artists, poets, and musicians struggle to survive in squalor without giving up...
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International House
Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this ...
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To Mary - with Love
Mary stands by Jack after the Depression of 1929 but considers divorce when he again becomes success...
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Next Door Neighbors
Song composer Howard Green is frustrated by disturbances his wife, in-laws, and landlord while writi...
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Two Guys from Milwaukee
Balkan Prince Henry has two wishes, to meet Lauren Bacall and see the "real" America. He befriends c...
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Flying Down to Rio
An American bandleader woos a Brazilian beauty who is already engaged to his employer. His friends...
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Exit Smiling
The travails of a third-rate traveling theatre company and its wardrobe lady / maid who dreams of st...
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Unknown Blonde
An unprincipled hustler who makes his living getting--or making up--evidence in divorce cases finds ...
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Don't Gamble with Love
Standard tale of husband and wife living a party lifestyle. He works in a gambling hall and she occa...
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The Unchained Goddess
A scientist and a writer explain the various meteorological phenomena to Meteora, the goddess of wea...
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Hollywood Trouble
An oil-rich rube who aspires to stardom is bilked by a phony acting school....
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Wild Poses
Spanky's parents take their reluctant boy to get his portrait taken by a prissy photographer....
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Headline Shooter
A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot....
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On Trial
A man is put on trial for the murder of his best friend. A young attorney wants to become successful...
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Thrill of a Lifetime
"Howdy" Nelson believes there is no such think as real love and that romance can be cooked up betwee...
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College Rhythm
The story deals with the college rivalry of a piccolo player and an All-American halfback on the foo...
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Public Deb No. 1
When a waiter gives a society girl a public spanking for attending a Communist rally, her soup-tycoo...
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Two Weeks to Live
When Abner is mistakenly diagnosed as having only two weeks to live, his partner gets the idea that ...
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My Man Godfrey
Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is ...
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Sing, Bing, Sing
After singing over the radio, Bing Crosby transmits a signal to elope to his sweeheart Helen; but he...
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Bad Housekeeping
Edgar Kennedy's wife decides he should do the housework for the day, the same day the piano tuner Fr...
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The Girl in the Pullman
Dr. Burton's divorce is about to be effective when his flappery ex-wife Irene pays him a visit turni...
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See My Lawyer
Ole and Chic are comedians employed in a nightclub, but seeking to be released from their contracts ...
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She Had to Eat
An Arizona gas station owner faces comic adventures after traveling with an eccentric millionaire to...
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Bachelor Daddy
The lives of three bachelors is disrupted when one of them is left with a baby....
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Crazy House
Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson are Broadway stars who return to Universal Studios to make another movie....
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Reckless Age
Linda Wadsworth rebels against her millionaire grandfather, J. H. Wadsworth, and runs away from home...
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She Couldn't Take It
The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustra...
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Finger Prints
A gang of inept crooks and even more inept lawmen search for a cache of hidden money....
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Only Yesterday
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young businessman is about to commit suicide. With a...
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Lighthouse Love
Two marines stationed in the Chinese port of Hang Chow decide to swear off women and join the lighth...
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Imitation of Life
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The t...
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Step Lively, Jeeves!
A British butler goes to America duped by mobsters into believing he is the heir to a fortune....
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Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Ice skating is the theme; at the Tropical Ice Garden, in Westwood Hills, are seen a flock of skating...
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Lighthouse Love
Two marines stationed in the Chinese port of Hang Chow decide to swear off women and join the lighth...
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Many Happy Returns
Gracie Allen assumes the "management" of the shop owned by her papa Horatio Allen, turning it into a...
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Strictly Dynamite
A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian....
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Lady of the Pavements
Karl, a German diplomat in Paris, discovers that his fiancee, Diane, has been cheating on him. He te...
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The Villain Still Pursued Her
Victorian melodrama is sent up in this spoof of the old production "The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Sav...
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The Headline Woman
When the daughter of a newspaper publisher is falsely charged with murder, a reporter on her father'...
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Down Memory Lane
This film is a compilation, with narration by Steve Allen, of comedies from the old Mack Sennett sil...
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Hollywood Halfbacks
Johnny Harron is watching the Hollywood fire department football team playing a game and decides tha...
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The Luckiest Girl in the World
A wealthy society girl must live on $150 a month to prove to her father that she can stand being mar...
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She Married Her Boss
A super-efficient secretary at a department store falls for and marries her boss, but finds out that...
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That's Gratitude
Fly-by-night stage producer Bob Grant inadvertently saves the life of small-towner Thomas Maxwell. T...
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The Candid Camera
Mrs. Townes has been refused a new car by her husband for 3 years while he's driving in cabs all ove...
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