Barbara Stanwyck

Willie Best

Ladies of Leisure

Ladies of Leisure (1930)

Arthur Space

Matt Willis

Janis Carter

The Mark of the Whistler

The Mark of the Whistler (1944)

Dick Elliott

Victor Sen Yung

A treasury agent traveling aboard a ocean liner confides to fellow passenger Charlie Chan that he's on the trail of a counterfeiting ring operating from the South Pacific and has survived two recent attempts on his life. Chan helps him avoid a third but is helpless to prevent a knife thrown in his back in the ship's club room. Although the ship will be docking shortly in Samoa, Charlie is confident that he will unmask the killer before then. Among the suspects are an elitist reverend and his wife, a beautiful young woman traveling with forged papers, a shady loudmouth of a salesman, a larcenous ship's steward, and a professional knife-thrower.—duke1029@aol.com

Dangerous Money

Dangerous Money (1946)

Frank Faylen

Elisha Cook Jr.

Oliver Hardy

The boys are recruited by a gang of thugs to get a coffin containing one of their far from dead colleagues to Dayton to try and get at an inheritance. After the coffin gets switched with the one Dante the Magician uses in his act, his stage show gets more than usually popular.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

A-Haunting We Will Go

A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)

Butterfly McQueen

Lena Horne

Juanita Moore

Chronic gambler and carouser "Little" Joe Jackson is shot by Domino Johnson at Jim Henry's gambling club over an outstanding gambling debt. Little Joe's wife, the God-fearing Petunia Jackson, prays not only for her husband's mortal life, but also his eternal soul as she's afraid that if he dies now, he, despite not being an evil man, won't make it into heaven. As Little Joe is close to death, he is visited by agents of both the Lord and of Lucifer. They make a deal with him: they will give him six months to atone for the errors of his human life. Once back on Earth, he won't remember the deal but both the Lord and Lucifer will be watching over him, trying to get him to see things their way. As both sides try to get Little Joe's soul, they figure that some of the most powerful tools they have at their disposal are the women in Little Joe's life: Petunia on behalf of the Lord, and Georgia Brown, a gold-digging floozy, on behalf of Lucifer. As hard as both the Lord and Lucifer try to get Little Joe on their side, they don't factor into the equation human judgment, which turns some of their work against them.—Huggo

Cabin in the Sky

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams

Shirley Temple

John Boles

Shirley Temple's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his family and is arrested. A Yankee takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. Shirley and "Bojangles" Robinson beg President Lincoln to intercede.—Ed Stephan

The Littlest Rebel

The Littlest Rebel (1935)

Charles Bickford

Little Martha Jane, aka Little Miss Marker is left with the bookmaker Sorrowful Jones by her dad as part of a bet on a horse race. Sorrowful and his group of fellow bookies take to her, reluctantly at first, but their cynical ways start to rub off on her. Will a party set at Camelot bring back her faith in humanity?—Miss Eli

Little Miss Marker

Little Miss Marker (1934)

Paulette Goddard

Anthony Quinn

Richard Carlson

Mary Carter inherits her family's ancestral home, located on a small island off Cuba, and, despite warnings and death threats, decides to take possession of the reputedly haunted castle. She is joined by radio broadcaster Larry Lawrence who, believing he has killed a mob gunman, flees New York with his butler, Alex. Once on the island the threesome enter the eerie castle and after viewing the ghost of one of Mary's ancestors and fighting off a menacing zombie, they find the key to the castle's treasure but are interrupted by an all-too-human foe.—Doug Sederberg

The Ghost Breakers

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Arthur Treacher

Betty Grable

Evelyn Brent

Johnnie is a would-be songwriter; Newton is a would-be inventor. Both work at a cigar stand in the lobby of an office building. Johnnie wants to sell a song to Winfield Lake, a song publisher and the owner of the building. Lake's secretary, Mary, is Johnnie's sweetheart. When Lake turns up dead, circumstances conspire to make Mary and Newton think that Johnnie is the killer. They conspire again to implicate Mary, who goes to jail. But who really shot Lake? Who is the Black Widow, the blackmailer who had threatened him? The other characters in this wacky murder mystery are: Lake's suspicious wife, a self-satisfied private detective, a seemingly slow-witted janitor, Lake's auditor, a songwriter who thinks Lake is stealing from him and another who thinks everyone is stealing from him. It's up to Newton and his truth machine to reveal the real killer.—J. Spurlin

The Nitwits

The Nitwits (1935)

George 'Spanky' McFarland

Mary Carlisle

Margaret Dumont

The Great Elmer and Company, two out-of-work magicians, help lovelorn Jerry Bronson adopt Spanky Milford, to distract him. When Bronson makes up and elopes, the pair are stuck with the little boy. But Spanky inherits a Kentucky fortune, so they head south to Banesville, where the Milfords and Wakefields are conducting a bitter feud.—Diana Hamilton

Kentucky Kernels

Kentucky Kernels (1934)

Rod Cameron

Bob Hope

Stockbroker T.T. Ralston has promised his niece Gwen to double it if she can raise $20,000 for charity. But he connives so those she asks refuse to give her more than the $10,000 she's already raised. Gwen secretly gives T.T.'s new partner Steve Bennett the $10,000 and asks him to double it. Later in a discussion with T.T., business partner Dick and client Van, about truth in business Steve bets the $10,000 that he can tell the truth for 24 hours. Having already accepted an invitation for a weekend on T.T.'s houseboat, Steve is subjected to 24 hours of attempts to get him to lie or divulge the bet, which would lose him (and Gwen) the $10,000.—Ron Kerrigan

Nothing But the Truth

Nothing But the Truth (1941)

Theresa Harris

God, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.

The Green Pastures

The Green Pastures (1936)

Ann Sothern

Leo Gorcey

Parting company with her on-stage partner Professor Orco partly due to the job being potentially hazardous to her health, streetwise but kind-hearted vaudeville performer Maisie Ravier, in Chicago, goes on a search for another job. That search takes her to a commercial building where a talent agency is located. There, she encounters many people that will play a role in her immediate future. The first is Hap Hixby, a young man who is trying to break into show business with a somewhat corny comedy routine. The second is Pappy Goodring, the building manager who has a heart of gold and who has troubles collecting rent from most of the tenants, which irks his boss, the officious Mr. Stickwell. And third is Marshall Denningham, who owns his own bottled water business and who is one of the few tenants in the building who seems to be able to make his rent payments on time. Of the opportunities that come her way, she accepts Hap's offer to be his on-stage partner, as she would like another performing gig, and she is falling for Hap. What may be obstacles in a Maisie/Hap happy ending are Hap's abilities or inabilities as a stage performer, Hap getting in over his head with a business venture, and a young woman named Elsie McIntyre, Hap's girl back home.—Huggo

Maisie Gets Her Man

Maisie Gets Her Man (1942)

Cornel Wilde

Humphrey Bogart

Barton MacLane

Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle is broken out of prison by an old associate who wants him to help with an upcoming robbery. When the robbery goes wrong and a man is shot and killed Earle is forced to go on the run, and with the police and an angry press hot on his tail he eventually takes refuge among the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, where a tense siege ensues. But will the Police make him regret the attachments he formed with two women during the brief planning of the robbery.—Mark Thompson

High Sierra

High Sierra (1941)

Patsy Kelly

Sarah Edwards

Ann Dvorak

A cynical writer, unwittingly infiltrates a loony house of philanthropists. Mrs. Emily Kilbourne runs a household that, due to her charitable nature, is as much a loony-bin as happy home. When he joins the menage, Aherne falls head over heels in love with the eldest daughter, played by Constance Bennett.—colissimo

Merrily We Live

Merrily We Live (1938)

6.7 / 10

Drama
Romance

6.5 / 10

Adventure
Crime

6.3 / 10

Crime
Mystery

6.2 / 10

Adventure
Comedy

7.1 / 10

Comedy
Drama

6.7 / 10

Comedy
Drama

6.9 / 10

Action
Adventure

7 / 10

Comedy
Crime

5.9 / 10

Comedy
Crime

6 / 10

Action
Comedy

7.1 / 10

Action
Comedy

7 / 10

Drama

6.2 / 10

Action
Adventure

7.5 / 10

Action
Adventure

7.3 / 10

Action
Comedy