Morris Ankrum
Birthday: 1896-08-28
Place of Birth: Danville, Illinois, USA
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Morris Ankrum (born Morris Nussbaum, August 28, 1896 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television and film character actor. Before signing with Paramount Pictures in the 1930s, Nussbaum had already changed his last name to Ankrum. Upon signing with the studio, he chose to use the name "Stephen Morris" before changing it to Morris Ankrum in 1939. Ankrum's stern visage and sharply defined features helped cast him in supporting roles as stalwart authority figures, including scientists, military men (particularly army officers), judges and even psychiatrists in more than 150 films, mostly B movies. One standout role was in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's production of Tennessee Johnson (1942), a biographical film about Andrew Johnson, the 17th U.S. president. As Sen. Jefferson Davis, Ankrum movingly addresses the United States Senate upon his resignation to lead the Confederate States of America as that republic's first—and only—president. Ankrum's film career was extensive and spanned 30 years. His credits were largely concentrated in the western and science-fiction genres. Ankrum appeared in such westerns as Ride 'Em Cowboy in 1942, Vera Cruz opposite Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, Apache (1954), and Cattle Queen of Montana with Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. In the sci-fi genre, he appeared in Rocketship X-M (1950), Flight to Mars (1951), as a Martian, Red Planet Mars (1952), playing the United States Secretary of Defense; the cult classic Invaders From Mars (1953), playing a United States Army officer; and as an Army general in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). In 1957 he played a psychiatrist in the cult sci-fi classic Kronos and had military-officer roles in Beginning of the End and The Giant Claw.
Movies
Lady in the Lake
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But whe...
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The Movie Orgy
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloop...
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Invaders from Mars
A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants....
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I Wake Up Screaming
A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitre...
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The Heavenly Body
The beautiful wife of a tweedy astronomer becomes convinced that her astrologer's prediction of a ne...
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The Postman Always Rings Twice
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband....
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Young and Wild
Three juvenile-delinquents launch a reign of terror upon those who witnessed a deadly auto accident ...
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Crashout
Convict Van Duff engineers a large-scale prison break; the six survivors hide out in a forgotten min...
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High Wall
Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having co...
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Silver Lode
Dan Ballard, a respected citizen in the western town of Silver Lode, has his wedding interrupted by ...
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Colorado Territory
After escaping from jail, outlaw Wes McQueen is convinced by his old partner in crime to do one last...
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The Giant Claw
Global panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant turkey-like bird t...
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The Damned Don't Cry
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob....
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Tomorrow Is Another Day
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released, and struggles to adjust to the...
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The Thin Man Goes Home
On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation....
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Tennessee's Partner
A tough, womanizing high-stakes gambler known only as Tennessee has an uneasy relationship with Duch...
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Apache
Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for t...
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Flight to Mars
Four scientists and a newsman crash land on Mars and meet martians who act friendly....
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Kronos
Scientists investigate a huge meteor that crashes into the ocean off Mexico, and encounter a skyscra...
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Courage of Lassie
Bill's separated from his litter, making friends with the wild creatures until he's found and adopte...
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Rocketship X-M
Astronauts blast off to explore the moon on Rocketship X-M or "Rocketship eXploration Moon". A space...
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Zombies of Mora Tau
A fortune hunter leads a search for diamonds guarded by undead sailors off the coast of Africa....
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The Last Command
During the Texas War of Independence of 1836 American frontiersman and pioneer Jim Bowie pleads for ...
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From the Earth to the Moon
Set just after the American civil war, businessman and inventor Victor Barbicane invents a new sourc...
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Twilight for the Gods
An alcoholic captain sails a two-master through danger with a call girl and others on board....
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Most Dangerous Man Alive
An escaped, but framed, prisoner escapes prison during a cobalt explosion and soon discovers he has ...
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Borderline
The Los Angeles police know that Pete Ritchie has been bringing drugs into the city, but they can't ...
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In a Lonely Place
A violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she be...
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Beginning of the End
An attractive reporter investigating the mysterious destruction of an Illinois town stumbles upon a ...
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Southside 1-1000
The U.S. Secret Service goes after a counterfeiting ring by placing one of its Treasury agents insid...
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Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Test space rockets exploding at liftoff and increased reporting of UFO sightings culminate in a dire...
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When Gangland Strikes
In this crime drama, mobsters swear to get revenge upon a zealous public prosecutor as he tries to g...
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Time to Kill
Lloyd Nolan is back as detective Michael Shayne who's in search of a stolen coin....
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We Were Strangers
China Valdes joins the Cuban underground after her brother is killed by the chief of the secret poli...
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Doomed Caravan
Stephen Westcott and Ed Martin scheme to put Jane Travers' wagon line out of business. They want to ...
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Pirates on Horseback
Hoppy, Lucky and California search for a mine owned by Trudy Pendleton after it was taken from her b...
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In Old Colorado
Joe Weller has instigated a conflict over water rights between two ranchers. The idea is to have the...
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The Showdown
European bad guy Baron Bendor leads some local townsmen in a plot to obtain horses through theft. Ho...
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Wide Open Town
Belle Langtry runs a town being taken over by cattle rustlers. She is also a front for the outlaws, ...
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Three Men from Texas
Hoppy and new sidekick California Carlson head to California to help out Lucky Jenkins....
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Hopalong Cassidy Returns
A crusading newspaper editor recruits his old friend Hoppy to take the job of Marshall in a town rif...
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North of the Rio Grande
Hoppy's brother has been murdered and he is on the trail of the murderers. To get them he makes hims...
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Borderland
Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) t...
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Rustlers' Valley
Hoppy clears Lucky on a charge of bank robbery and foils the plot of a crooked lawyer to rustle a he...
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Duel on the Mississippi
In bustling era of 19th-century Louisiana, sugar is as valuable as gold, and pirates like Lili Scarl...
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Hills of Old Wyoming
An evil deputy is using Indian half-breeds to rustle cattle. This causes trouble between the cattlem...
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Trail Dust
Hoppy, Johnny and Windy are fighting a malicious gang trying to stop a cattle drive from reaching a ...
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Taza, Son of Cochise
Three years after the end of the Apache wars, peacemaking chief Cochise dies. His elder son Taza sha...
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Giant from the Unknown
A series of grisly murders plague a small mountain community and the sheriff suspects a local scient...
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No Man's Woman
A greedy, scheming woman is found murdered in her studio, and the police find that there is no short...
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Son of Ali Baba
In ancient Persia the son of Ali Baba (of forty thieves fame), Kashma Baba is a military cadet by da...
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The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
Director Andrew V. McLaglen's 1961 drama, based on John William Fox's novel, is the tale of a young ...
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Roxie Hart
A café in Chicago, 1942. On a rainy night, veteran reporter Homer Howard tells an increasing audienc...
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The Man Behind The Gun
This 1952 western stars Randolph Scott as an army investigator who poses as a schoolteacher while wo...
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Guns of Diablo
14-year-old Kurt Russell plays Jamie, an orphaned boy heading westward with a wagon train. Charles B...
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The Hidden Eye
A perfumed message provides the only clue for a blind detective bent on clearing a man accused of mu...
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Chain Lightning
Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircra...
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Sky Commando
Colonel Ed Wyatt is regarded by pilots under his command as being a ruthless disciplinarian. His co-...
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My Favorite Spy
A burlesque comic doubles for a spy in Tangier and meets the spy's girlfriend, who is also a spy....
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The Redhead and the Cowboy
Gil Kyle finds himself caught up in the politics and unrest of the American Civil War and soon gets ...
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Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret ...
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Drums Across the River
When whites hunger after the gold on Ute Indian land, a bigoted young man finds himself forced into ...
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Quincannon, Frontier Scout
A young woman hires a frontier scout to help her discover if her brother died in an Indian attack on...
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The Cockeyed Miracle
A 60-ish Maine shipbuilder (Frank Morgan) and his 30-ish father (Keenan Wynn) provide for their fami...
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Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman
An American scientist tells two colleagues about the finding of an abominable snowman living in the ...
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How to Make a Monster
When master monster make-up man Pete Dumond is fired by the new bosses of American International stu...
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Hell's Crossroads
An imprisoned gunfighter must scatter to elude the authorities. Outlaws Bob Ford and Vic Rodell are ...
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The Fabulous Fraud
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, we learn the story of Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, the man w...
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Devil's Canyon
An outlaw woman helps one Arizona convict stop another with a Gatling gun....
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Desire Me
A war widow falls in love with the man who informed her of her husband's death....
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The Lion Hunters
A lion trapper and his daughter rendezvous with their hardheaded partner in the African jungle. Bomb...
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Mutiny
Early in the War of 1812, Captain James Marshall is commissioned to run the British blockade and fet...
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Cynthia
Sheltered by her conservative parents, a small-town teenager finally goes out on a date....
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Southwest Passage
As the Cavalry tests the viability of bringing camels to US deserts, a surveyor, Arab drivers, and f...
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The Eternal Sea
Biography of Admiral John Hoskins' efforts to retain active command despite WW2 injury....
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Good News
At fictitious Tait University in the Roaring '20s, co-ed and school librarian Connie Lane falls for ...
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Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam was one of the greatest Persian poets. He was also a brilliant mathematician. Though hi...
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Fury at Gunsight Pass
An outlaw terrorizes the citizens of Gunsight Pass while he searches for stolen bank money that myst...
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For the Love of Mary
Young girl gets a job at the White House as a switchboard operator and gets mixed up in politics....
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Fort Vengeance
Two brothers flee America and join the Canadian North West Mounted Police. One brother is good, the ...
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Barbary Coast Gent
Honest Plush Brannon is a con-man thrown out of the Barbary Coast in San Francisco in the 1880s and ...
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The Raiders
A rancher who has staked a claim during the California gold rush goes after the gang of murderous cl...
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A Star Shall Rise
Story of the Three Magi's search for the Christ child following their discovery of a new star foreto...
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The Little Lamb: A Christmas Story
A lamb that had wandered off plays a significant part in the Nativity....
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Fighting Back
An ex-convict, freed to fight in World War II, gets a factory job and is accused when a bracelet is ...
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Gentle Annie
The Goss family live on a farm they call the dust bowl where the wind blows during the day and the c...
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Fort Osage
Rod Cameron stars as frontier scout Tim Clay, assigned to guide a wagon train through Indian territo...
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Dixie Dugan
Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dol...
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Ride 'Em Cowboy
Two peanut vendors at a rodeo show get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train h...
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Flight Nurse
In this war drama, set during the Korean War, an Air Force nurse gets involved in a love triangle on...
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X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
A doctor uses special eye drops to give himself x-ray vision, but the new power has disastrous conse...
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Best Foot Forward
Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to ...
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Two Guns and a Badge
In the last of his four western programmers for Allied Artists, Wayne Morris plays frontiersman Jim ...
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Cherokee Strip
Richard Dix stars as Dave Morrell, the new marshal of Goliath, Oklahoma. Immediately upon arrival, M...
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Purity Squad
This entry in the Crime Does Not Pay series focuses on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's effor...
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Drango
A few months after the end of the civil war, Major Drango is sent as military governor in a southern...
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Meet the People
A idealistic shipyard worker interests a beautiful Hollywood star in staging a musical tribute to th...
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The Moonlighter
Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) is caught cattle rustling and promptly jailed. The public is outraged,...
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Along the Great Divide
US marshal Len Merrick saves Tim Keith from lynching at the hands of the Roden clan, and hopes to ge...
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Merton of the Movies
In 1915, Kansas theatre usher Merton Gill is a rabid silent-movie fan. When he brings Mammoth Studio...
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Curse of the Faceless Man
A stone-encrusted body is unearthed at Pompeii, and people left alone with it keep dying of crushed ...
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Mexican Manhunt
Los Angeles, 1953. The author David L. "Dave" Brady wants to bring a missed ex-newspaperman back to ...
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The Light of Western Stars
Easterner Madeline Hammond buys a ranch not knowing Hayworth is using it to smuggle ammunition acros...
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Buck Benny Rides Again
Radio star Jack Benny, intending to stay in New York for the summer, is forced by the needling of ri...
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Tower of London
The twisted Richard III is haunted by the ghosts of those he has murdered in his attempt to become t...
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Knights of the Range
Russell Hayden, taking a break from playing Hopalong Cassidy pictures, stars as Renn Frayne, a colle...
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Vera Cruz
After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. T...
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Phantoms, Inc.
This Crime Does Not Pay entry focuses on fake spiritualists. A mother is worried about her son, who ...
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Short Grass
Steve Llewellyn hung up his guns after killing a man in self-defense, left Willow Creek and went on ...
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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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The Power of the Resurrection
A young man, Facing torture and possibly death for his Christian beliefs, confesses his fears to Pet...
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I Beheld His Glory
Cornelius is a Roman Centurion who, upon orders from the Apostle Thomas, is sent to proclaim the glo...
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This Woman Is Mine
Three seafaring fur traders fall in love with a female stowaway they discover aboard their ship. Ma...
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Border Vigilantes
A town bedeviled with outlaws sends for Hoppy, Lucky and California after their own vigilante commit...
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The Roundup
A woman's believed-dead cowhand beau shows up on her wedding day to cause trouble....
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Bad Men of Tombstone
A marshal goes up against a collection of vicious outlaws terrorizing his own....
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Arena
Left by his wife, a vain rodeo star picks up a floozy and rides a bad Brahman bull....
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Ten Gentlemen from West Point
This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy ...
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The Silver Star
A third generation deputy sheriff doubts whether or not he has the guts for the job that killed both...
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Cattle Queen of Montana
Sierra Nevada Jones must fight a villainous rancher to regain the land that is rightfully hers....
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The Outlaw Stallion
A young boy and a veterinarian in a red convertible help thwart a gang of horse thieves. Director F...
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The Desperados Are in Town
In this western, a young man tries to walk the straight and narrow, but he is impeded by his past. T...
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Badman's Country
Pat Garrett arrives in Abilene where he catches five of Butch Cassidy's gang. He calls in Wyatt Earp...
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Three Young Texans
A Texan robs a train in an effort to prevent his father from committing the crime. A young girl atte...
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Frontier Gun
Small-town sheriff discovers that gun-fighting is the only way to clean up the town....
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The Saga of Hemp Brown
Ex-army sergeant Jed Givens and his gang rob an army payroll shipment led by Lt. Hemp Brown. Givens ...
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Naked Gun
Don Pablo Salazar steals a fortune in jewels from an Indian tribe and an Aztec medicine man puts a c...
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Little Mister Jim
After his mother's death, a young boy tries to help his father stop drinking....
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The Mighty McGurk
A retired prizefighter becomes the unlikely guardian of a young orphan boy recently arrived from Eng...
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Marriage Is a Private Affair
Theo has had many boyfriends who wanted to marry her. Since her mother, Mrs. Selworth, has been marr...
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Return from Nowhere
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a man recovers his lost memories when he is forced to r...
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Song of the Thin Man
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club....
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Chief Crazy Horse
When young Crazy Horse, of whom great things were predicted, wins his bride, rival Little Big Man go...
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Main Street Today
This patriotic short film promotes America's war effort at home. The story looks at a fictional smal...
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Souvenirs of Death
This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short tells the story of how a Mauser pistol used on t...
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The Fountainhead
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite...
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Walk the Proud Land
Indian Agent sent to try new approach to peace with Apache based on respect for autonomy rather than...
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Reunion in France
Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed ...
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Red Planet Mars
Husband-and-wife scientists pick up a pie-in-the-sky TV message supposedly from Mars....
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Tarawa Beachhead
A soldier is expected to never question the actions of his commanding officer, but when a Marine see...
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Joan of Arc
In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against ...
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Tennessee Johnson
The tumultuous presidency of 19th-president Andrew Johnson is chronicled in this biopic. The story b...
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The Harvey Girls
On a train trip out west to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young wo...
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The Sea of Grass
On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by t...
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Road Agent
Summarily accused of murder, drifters Duke (Foran), Pancho (Carrillo) and Andy (Devine) are tossed i...
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Stand Up and Cheer!
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in ord...
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The Green Years
An orphaned young boy is guided by his great-grandfather and strives to go to university to become a...
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Let's Face It
A soldier stationed on an army base and his fiancé, who runs a women's "fat farm" nearby, want to ge...
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The Cross of Lorraine
French soldiers surrender to lying Nazis and are herded into a barbaric prison of war camp. From the...
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