James Gleason
Birthday: 1882-05-23
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Biography: James Gleason was born in New York City to William Gleason and Mina Crolius, who were both in the theatre. He was married to Lucile Gleason (born Lucile Webster), and had a son, Russell Gleason. As a young man James fought in the Spanish-American War. After the war he joined the stock company at the Liberty Theater in Oakland, California, which his parents were running. James and his wife then moved to Portland, Oregon, where they played in stock at the Baker Theater. For several years afterward they toured in road shows until James enlisted in the army during World War I. When he returned he appeared on the stage in "The Five Million." He then turned to writing, including "Is Zat So", which he produced for the NY stage. He also wrote and acted in "The Fall Guy" and "The Shannons on Broadway." Next he wrote The Broadway Melody (1929) for MGM. He collaborated, in 1930, on The Swellhead (1930), Dumbbells in Ermine (1930), What a Widow! (1930), Rain or Shine (1930) and His First Command (1929). He and his wife were then contracted to Pathe, Lucille to act, and James (or Jimmie as he was known) as a writer. Probably his most famous acting role was as Max Corkle, the manager of Joe Pendleton who was wrongly plucked from this life into the next, in the hit fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
Movies
Arsenic and Old Lace
Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against ...
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The Night of the Hunter
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whe...
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Blondie of the Follies
New York City tenement dwelling neighbors Blondie and Lottie are longtime best friends. When Lottie ...
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's ...
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Take One False Step
Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presum...
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We're Not Married!
A Justice of the Peace performed weddings a few days before his license was valid. A few years later...
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Earl of Puddlestone
When Betty's father sees the condescending attitude displayed toward her by a rich family, he decide...
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The Covered Trailer
The Higgins family prepares for a long-awaited cruise to Rio, but while father Joe bids farewell to ...
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Meet John Doe
As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who ...
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Tales of Manhattan
Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by it...
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A Guy Named Joe
A cocky U.S. Army Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female...
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I'll See You in My Dreams
Songwriter Gus Kahn fights to make his name, then has to fight again to survive the Depression....
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Miss Grant Takes Richmond
A bookie uses a phony real estate business as a front for his betting parlor. To further keep up the...
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Footlight Serenade
Conceited World Champion boxer Tommy Lundy decides to test his popularity in a Broadway show. Tommy ...
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A Date with the Falcon
In the second film of the series (and not a second part of anything), Gay Lawrence, aka The Falcon, ...
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The Big Gamble
A gambler, hopelessly in debt, agrees to pay off his debt by allowing his creditor to take out a lif...
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Hollywood Thrill-Makers
Biplane action scenes highlight this story of the lives and loves of two Hollywood stuntmen....
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The Falcon Takes Over
While an escaped convict, Moose Malloy, goes in search of his ex-girlfriend Velma, police inspector ...
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Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Boxer Joe Pendleton, flying to his next fight, crashes...because a Heavenly Messenger, new on the jo...
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Polly of the Follies
A romantic comedy, focusing on the love triangle between Bob Jones, Alysia Potter and Polly Meachum....
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Murder on a Bridle Path
When the body of Violet Feverel is discovered on the Central Park bridle path, Inspector Oscar Piper...
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Once Upon a Time
Broadway producer Jerry Flynn is anxious to recapture the magic and reclaim the crowds after a set o...
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Down to Earth
Upset at a new Broadway musical mocking The Nine Muses, Greek goddess Terpsichore comes down to eart...
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Loving You
Deke Rivers is a delivery man who is discovered by publicist Glenda Markle and country-western music...
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The Keys of the Kingdom
A young priest, Father Chisholm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christ...
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Suddenly
The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow...
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The Bishop's Wife
An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham, has been working for months on the plans for an elaborate new c...
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A Free Soul
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when hi...
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Oh, Yeah!
A couple of roving vagabonds hitch a freight to the railroad town of Linda, and between bouts with t...
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What Price Glory
Two military men, Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, who are rivals to begin with, grow more at odds ...
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The Hoodlum Saint
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's m...
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The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a horse race track by his mystery ...
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The Clock
A G.I. en route to Europe falls in love during a whirlwind two-day leave in New York City....
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Crash Dive
A US Navy submarine, the USS Corsair, is operating in the North Atlantic, hunting German merchant ra...
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Hoopla
A hula dancer at a carnival sets out to seduce the naive son of the show's manager....
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The Last Hurrah
In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a yo...
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Affectionately Yours
A married reporter's assignments carry him all over the world, which gives him ample opportunity to ...
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The Penguin Pool Murder
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker G...
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Tycoon
Engineer Johnny Munroe is enlisted to build a railroad tunnel through a mountain to reach mines. His...
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Murder on a Honeymoon
An amateur sleuth suspects foul play when a fellow passenger on a seaplane suddenly dies. The third ...
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Man or Gun
Gun-slinging drifter "Maybe" Smith's Colt .44 pistol and shooting skills are put to the test shortly...
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Helldorado
Arthur T. Ryan, a hitchhiker, gets a ride from haughty, society girl Glenda Wynant and her fiance, w...
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Nine Lives Are Not Enough
A reporter is constantly in trouble for jumping to conclusions....
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Puttin' on the Ritz
A vaudeville and nightclub performer becomes successful and forgets who his friends really are....
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This Man's Navy
During World War II, Chief Aviation Pilot Ned Trumpet is in charge of an airship at Lakehurst, New J...
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The Plot Thickens
A priceless Cellini silver cup is stolen from a local museum with both Hildegarde and Oscar on the c...
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Hay Foot
Colonel Barkley is very proud of his assistant, Sergeant Doubleday, who has a photographic memory. D...
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The Yellow Cab Man
Pirdy is accident prone. He has been denied insurance from every company in town because he is alway...
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On Your Toes
A Russian dance company agrees to stage the new ballet written by a vaudeville hoofer....
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My Gal Sal
Biopic chronicling the early life of gay nineties-era songwriter Paul Dresser as he outgrows his job...
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Money, Women and Guns
Celebrated detective traces and finds beneficiaries to the will of a gold prospector murdered by bus...
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Key to the City
At a mayors convention in San Francisco, ex-longshoreman Steve Fisk meets Clarissa Standish from New...
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Come Fill the Cup
Alcoholic newspaperman Lew Marsh hits bottom, loses his job and is rehabilitated by Charley Dolan. A...
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Riding High
A horse trainer who has fallen on hard times looks to his horse, Broadway Bill, to finally win the b...
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The Jackpot
Bill Lawrence wins a bevy of prizes from a radio program, but ends up having to sell them in order t...
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Star in the Dust
The sheriff of Gunlock is planning to hang Sam Hall, who shot three farmers found on cattle land, at...
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Home Sweet Homicide
Mystery writer Marian Carstairs is hard at work trying to finish her latest novel. Her three childre...
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Cinema Circus
Actor Lee Tracy presides as ringmaster over a show that combines the best elements of cinema with th...
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Swellhead
A young fighter, Bill Hickey, achieves success through the help and support of his friends and, once...
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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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The Crooked Circle
A group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occ...
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Forever Female
An aging actress has a hard time admitting she is too old to play the ingenue role anymore....
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Forty Naughty Girls
Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Piper try to solve a murder while attending a popular Broadway show...
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Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 12
A visit to Buck Jones's new ranch and his horse, Silver, to James Gleason and his dog, to Charles Ru...
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The Girl Rush
When her compulsive-gambler father dies, leaving her with an inheritance that amounts to zip, single...
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Clear All Wires!
Buckley is an unethical reporter who manipulates the news for his own benefit as much as he reports ...
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When My Baby Smiles at Me
Bonny Kane and 'Skid' Johnson are vaudeville performers in the 1920s. The two of them suffer marital...
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Murder on the Blackboard
There are plenty of guilty secrets at the school where Hildegarde Withers teaches. When she finds th...
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Lady and Gent
Stag Bailey, a slow-witted prizefighter, and his girlfriend, speakeasy hostess Puff Rogers, take ove...
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Spring Reunion
A spinster finally finds the right man when she returns to her alma mater after 15 years for a class...
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Army Girl
A young captain hoping to replace the U.S. Army's horses with mechanized vehicles faces court-martia...
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Sweepstakes
A popular jockey is disbarred from racing after he's accused of throwing a race....
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The Return of October
A wholesome girl believes her new racehorse, October, is the reincarnation of her favorite uncle, Wi...
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Suicide Fleet
Three US sailors aboard a decoy ship fight German U-boats in World War I and try to win Sally who wo...
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High Hats and Low Brows
Sixth entry in the Rufftown 2-reel comedy series based on stories by Arthur 'Bugs' Baer....
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Meet the Missus
When the story begins, James is confronted by his wife for his roving eyes! Soon after this, he goes...
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Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do...
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Don't Turn 'em Loose
A conscientious attorney who is a member of the State Parole Board, finds his own son, using an alia...
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The Big Game
A quarterback stands against gangsters out to control the college sports scene....
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The Homestretch
A young couple's marriage is threatened by the husband's love of horses and the racetrack circuit....
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Off His Base
It begins with the Mustangs in trouble in their championship series... all the players are banged up...
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The Life of Riley
Inspired by the popular '40s radio show of the same title, director Irving Brecher's 1949 comedy sta...
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The Female Animal
Jaded movie star Vanessa Windsor, saved from a studio accident by handsome extra Chris Farley, pursu...
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Lady Luck
A woman marries a gambler with the hopes of reforming him, but things don't quite work out the way s...
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Dumb-bells in Ermine
In a small town in Virginia, Faith Corey, daughter of a socially prominent family, meets and falls i...
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The Meanest Gal in Town
A stranded actress turned manicurist affects the lives of people in a small American town....
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The Devil Is Driving
Gabby Denton, a hard-drinking, down-on-his-luck drifter, seems to get a chance at redemption when hi...
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Rock-a-Bye Baby
An average television repairman must care for the newborn triplets of his former hometown sweetheart...
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The Matrimonial Bed
Five years after Adolphe's death in a train wreck, he is discovered very much alive and with amnesia...
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Search for Beauty
Three con artists dupe two Olympians into serving as editors of a new health and beauty magazine whi...
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The Dude Goes West
Daniel Bone is aiming for success. A Brooklyn gunsmith by trade, he figures the place to be is where...
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Beyond Victory
Four battle-weary American soldiers under fire reflect on the women they left behind....
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Manila Calling
During WWII, a group of brave Americans spy on the Japanese after their invasion of the Philippines ...
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Two Gals and a Guy
A singing couple gets their own television show, and the strains of putting on a TV show every week ...
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The Well Groomed Bride
A man and a woman fight over the last bottle of champagne left in San Francisco--she wants it for a ...
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Yours for the Asking
Casino operator Johnny Lamb hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton as his casino hostess, i...
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Man in the Shadow
In a modern cow town, the powerful ranch owner’s henchmen kill a ranch hand, prompting the sheriff t...
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Change of Heart
Catherine and Mack and their close friends Chris and Madge graduate from a West Coast college and fl...
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No Time at All
An airliner flying nonstop at night from Miami to New York fails to check in, then disappears from r...
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Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle
Joe Palooka encounters gangsters and tries to alert the law....
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Should Husbands Work?
Joe Higgins' wife gets the job meant for him, so he stays home to do the housework. A Higgins Famil...
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Don't Believe It
Before taking his wife to a play called Florida, Jimmie gets drunk and winds up on a beach in the st...
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The Higgins Family
Pa Higgins' attempts at success in the advertising business are constantly frustrated by his eccentr...
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My Wife's Relatives
It all begins when Joe Higgins, business manager of a prosperous candy-manufacturing firm, is ordere...
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It's a Wise Child
In this comedy, a conservative family becomes alarmed when they begin believing their daughter is pr...
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Money To Burn
In this episode of the Higgins Family series, pandemonium ensues when Ma enters a dog biscuit contes...
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Grandpa Goes To Town
Joe and Lil Higgins invest their life savings in a frontier hotel. Upon arrival, the family discover...
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Tanks a Million
Chubby William Tracy starred as Dodo Doubleday, a feckless Army draftee blessed (or cursed) with a p...
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Babes on Broadway
Penny Morris and Tommy Williams are both starstruck young teens but nobody seems to give them any ch...
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Captain Eddie
WWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver an...
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Breakdowns of 1941
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1941....
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Hot Tip
An amateur handicapper must help his future son-in-law recoup the money he lost while playing the po...
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The Broadway Melody
The vaudeville act of Harriet and Queenie Mahoney comes to Broadway, where their friend Eddie Kerns ...
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Joe Palooka in Triple Cross
Joe Palooka and two friends are taking hostage by three criminals....
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Orders Is Orders
A brash American movie producer arrives at an army base in England wanting to shoot a movie and use ...
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The Billion Dollar Scandal
An ex-convict working for a wealthy oil baron uncovers trouble while his brother becomes involved wi...
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Hollywood Hobbies
This short documentary narrated by sportscaster Ted Husing explores the free-time activities of some...
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Once Upon a Horse...
Two zany cowboys steal a herd of cattle only to discover it costs more to feed them than they are wo...
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Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
Fernand Gravey and Danielle Darrieux arrive in Hollywood; the Ritz Brothers achieve immortality, lea...
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The Shannons of Broadway
The Shannons, a vaudeville act, are performing in a New England town when the local hotel owner barg...
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The Count of Ten
A promising young prizefighter sees his career start to go down the drain after he gets married and ...
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