Cinematic Era: Before 1950 Vintage

After the accidental death of an idiot heir, a stunt man is hired to impersonate him while the family gathers to determine the dispersment of the estate of Miss Tatlock's millions.

An embellished account of the 1803 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution--a.k.a. "Old Ironsides"--against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional merchant ship, The Esther, who fall afoul of the same pirates and thus become involved with the Constitution's mission.

Heiress learns to fly from aeronautical engineer. Things get complicated as their affair progresses.

Reporter Homer Smith accidently draws Marcia Warren into his mission to stop Nazis from bombing Allied Conwoys with robot-planes.

A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.

A surgeon and an ambulance driver fight racketeers who take over their hospital.

An attorney enraged over the prosecution of two innocent people goes on a killing spree.

A 1944 propaganda short film produced for the U.S. Treasury Department and intended to boost war bond sales, directed by an uncredited Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jennifer Jones as a nurse's aide. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, from the Academy War Film Collection, in 2008.

In this film, the wife of a renowned doctor becomes ill with multiple sclerosis. Trying to spare her beloved husband the ordeal, the woman turns to a family friend, Dr. Lang, to help end her life. When this doctor declines to help with the assisted suicide, however, she is forced to turn to her husband. After much soul-searching, Dr. Heyt, her husband, assists in her suicide. The act, however, is witnessed by a chambermaid, who reports him to the police. Dr. Heyt is put on trial for murder and, at first, Dr. Lang testifies against him in court. Soon, however, Dr. Lang is faced with a similar case in his professional practice and this, along with Dr. Heyt’s impassioned performance in court, convinces Dr. Lang that, in some instances, mercy killing may be the right thing to do.

A man is brought back from death at the same time a vicious criminal dies in the electric chair. However, the man's soul is now taken over by the electrocuted gangster, who embarks on a vengeful crime wave.

In 1876 Philadelphia, two sisters vie for the affections of a Frenchman who's come to town to prepare the French pavilion for the Centennial exposition.

Abandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a traumatizing past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black children.

An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.

Mickey and Minnie are on a wagon train; they camp for the night, unaware that Indians have spotted them and are doing a war dance. The attack comes, and Minnie is captured.

A fiction piece centered around the Czech resistance to the Nazis.

Christine Evans, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the widowed American ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Evans, believes that she is no longer a young girl and that she has fully matured into adulthood. Eager to make her mark in the sophisticated world of foreign diplomats living in Mexico, Christine appoints herself as organizer of her father's social activities and takes over the planning of a big garden party he will be hosting. Because he loves his daughter,

Donald and Mickey are overdue on their rent, so the sheriff is preparing to evict them and sell their belongings. Goofy the ice-man comes by and helps them move out before the sale, but their piano doesn't want to stay on his truck. Meanwhile, Donald has a fight with a plunger and a fishbowl after removing a heater from the gas line.

A wealthy blind man is determined to build a cricket pavilion as a memorial to his dead son, who was killed in battle in World War II. Not long before the dedication ceremony is to be held, the son shows up; it turns out that he wasn't killed in battle but deserted, and has become a blackmailer and a killer. He wants to get some money to "start a new life", but his blind father senses that something is wrong and sets out to find out what's going on.

Flavia's been told that her Aunt Susan's fiancé, Steve, has been on a trip around the world, but in truth he's finished his prison term. Steve wonders how he can make some money and is approached by his old associates. When Flavia discovers the truth about Steve, she loses all faith in her family and in God, and it will take a miracle to restore Flavia's belief and keep Steve out of trouble.

This is the story of the crew of a downed bomber, captured after a run over Tokyo, early in the war. Relates the hardships the men endure while in captivity, and their final humiliation: being tried and convicted as war criminals.

Laconic cowboy Maverick Brander just happens to be a very wealthy rancher, but the money doesn't really mean that much to him. The same can't be said for his social-climbing wife and his man-crazy daughter Bossy. His wife, with the help of some political bosses, helps Maverick get elected to Congress, where he manages to get in all sorts of trouble, including getting blackmailed by opponents of a bill he's trying to get passed.

A singing cowboy turns out to be a tenderfoot.

A group of guerrillas fighting against Japanese invaders.

An aspiring playwright finds himself an overnight Broadway success.

James Cagney has a rare chance to show his song-and-dance-man roots in this low-budget tale of a New York bandleader struggling with a Hollywood studio boss.

A sick king instructs his loyal minister Luo Zhengqing to guide and install the crown prince as king after his death. However, the minister of the army, Situ Yangming, makes a grab for power after the King's death and incarcerates the crown prince. Luo's daughter disguises herself as the male bandit Robin Hood, robbing government offices to help the poor. Meanwhile, Situ orders captain of the imperial guards, Zhang Zhonggeng, to kill the crown prince. Zhang is a loyalist and conspires with Lady Robin Hood to save the crown prince. When Situ discovers that the prince has escaped, he falsifies the late King's will and has himself crowned as king. However, the female Robin Hood has stolen the original will. The female Robin Hood kills Situ and installs the crown prince as the ruler.

Andy Hardy and his sister find romance during a family vacation in Catalina.

A new Broadway show starring Gary Blake shamelessly lampoons the rich Carraway family. To get her own back, daughter Mimi sets out to ensnare Blake, but the courtship is soon for real, to the annoyance of his co-star, hoofing chanteuese Mona Merrick.

Three orphan kittens are entering a society house in winter and ruin the furniture. But when they're caught by the maid, the young daughter of the house "rescues" them from the cold outside.

The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustration of the patriarch, Dan Van Dyke. His self-centered wife has a fondness for foreign imports, including "pet projects" like dancers and such and his spoiled children Tony and Carol have constant run-ins with the law. When Dan himself ends up in the clink for five years for tax evasion, he becomes bunk-mates with ex-bootlegger Joe "Spots" Ricardi. Ricardi lectures him on being such a push-over for an out-of-control family, so a dying Dan makes Ricardi his estate trustee once he is released from prison. Ricardi is then thrust into high society and must do everything he once nagged Dan to do.

Famous kabuki performer Kikugoro IV performs the Lion Dance, in which a young girl is possessed by the spirit of a lion and transforms into the demonic beast.

The circus arrives in Great Shows. Rainey Big Ben and Kit Denton, the star of the show, are informed that no representation will be allowed in the city, and that their presence is not desired by the local potentate. This incomprehensible hatred is equaled only by the Kit 's father's contempt for women. Kit, who criticized his father's contemptuous attitude towards Alicia, his girlfriend, Kit's father tells him of the drama he lived in Big Ben many years earlier.

“19 vassals of Lord Hosokawa ask permission to commit harakiri with him, as a demonstration of their loyalty. Only Yaichiemon Abe is refused permission, forced instead into the vassalage of his lord’s successor. Humiliated and derided, Yaichiemon eventually commits harakiri without permission. His eldest son is then punished for Yaichiemon’s suicide, and when he resists, is sentenced to death. The entire Abe clan rebels upon the son’s execution, and the clan is annihilated.” --Alan Poul, Japan Society

The Stooges become trainers of Bustoff, a champion wrestler. The big boss has a lot of money bet on Bustoff and orders the boys to take good care of him. Instead they accidentally knock him out and Curly must disguise himself as Bustoff and wrestle in his place. The match doesn't go very well until Curly smells "Wild Hyacinth" perfume on a lady fan at ringside. This drives him crazy and he knocks out his opponent and half the people in the stadium.

Norfolk, England, 1770. The nephew of an innkeeper and the son of a reverend maintain a very close friendship until, after living a great adventure, they must separate their paths. The former will head his footsteps to London and bound his destiny to Lloyd's, a thriving insurance company; the latter will eventually become one of the greatest heroes in the history of the British Empire.

Tom invites Toots to an elegant dinner. However, he's made the mistake of trying to put Jerry to work, as a serving boy, a corkscrew, and other tasks. Jerry puts up with a little of this, but mostly gets revenge on Tom.

The town's leading citizen becomes a homicidal maniac after his wife deserts him.

A wheelchair-bound woman manipulates her family to a point where they suspect she may be unhinged.

A policeman, working on a case against a local mobster and his gang, slips on some race-car-driver overalls and goggles and, in addition to stopping the mobsters in their tracks, wins a few races and the love of the daughter of the racetrack owner.

When Hollywood film studios reject her because she's too young, an Arkansas woman sets out to build a career as an actress on her own.

Rich boy Dick Wright, rejected by both the Army and the Navy because he is a sleepwalker, joins an ambulance unit during the war with his chauffeur and valet tagging along to protect him. They accidentally get aboard a regular troop train, arriving in France as members of the U. S. Army. Following a series of comic adventures with a hard-boiled sergeant, Ted and Sam succeed in capturing a detachment of Germans, receiving decorations for their bravery. Along the way, the boys engage in romantic interludes with Betty and Joan, respectively American and French.

August 1941. Residents of the Ural town escorted to the front of men. Left alone, women take on the most difficult cases, showing outstanding organizational skills and will. Together with the evacuated plant, refugees arrive in the town. The heroine of the Film Anna takes to her house a woman with children — her example is followed by the rest…

Marvin Hayden returns to find his ranch is about to be sold at auction and the Hayden Jorth feud still going strong. Carson wants the Hayden ranch and tries to kill Hayden. When he fails he kills Chick Jorth with a rock. As Hayden does not carry a gun and the two had argued earlier, Hayden is arrested for the murder. With Hayden in jail, his friends Chito, Ginger, and his Lawyer Gardner now go to work to find the murderer.

Deanna Durbin is all grown up in Hers to Hold, the unofficial sequel to her "Three Smart Girls" films of the 1930s. Durbin plays Penelope Craig, the starry-eyed daughter of wealthy Judson and Dorothy Craig (Charles Winninger, Nella Walker). Developing a crush on much-older playboy Bill Morley (Joseph Cotton), Penelope stops at nothing to land the elusive Morley as her husband. Highlights include Durbin's renditions of "Begin the Beguine" and the "Seguidilla" from Carmen, and a captivating sequence that includes highlights from Durbin's earlier films, presented as home movies!

A group of beavers cheerily build a dam.

A newlywed couple faces tension when the wife, after her husband leaves for work, becomes completely unmotivated to handle household chores and goes back to sleep. Her neglect of daily duties starts to strain their marriage, and the couple is on the brink of divorce. However, a close friend of the husband, determined to save their relationship, introduces a hypnotist to uncover something.

When a man asks another man more facile with words to do his wooing for him, there are always complications. The man with no talent for writing marries the girl, confesses one night he didn't write the letters and ends up with a knife in his back. The writer of the letters fell in love with the woman he wrote to and wants to become her second husband even if she did murder husband number one. Singleton doesn't remember the murder or anything about the first 22 years of her life as Victoria Remington. Then at her second wedding she wonders why she said "I take you, Roger," instead of "I take you, Allen."

There are plenty of guilty secrets at the school where Hildegarde Withers teaches. When she finds the body of the pretty music teacher, she calls in her old friend Inspector Piper, who promptly arrests the obvious suspect. Clues multiply and everyone looks suspicious as Piper and Miss Withers continue their battle of the sexes.

After years of fighting off the advances of her old flame Steve, Lisbeth settles into a steamy, casual romance with journalist Alan. Against the advice of her happily married aunt Celia -- who encourages her to demand a serious commitment -- Lisbeth continues to see Alan, even after she hears he may have a wife in France. When Alan's work sends him abroad, a lovesick Lisbeth struggles to understand her feelings.

Dick Tracy investigates the theft of a fortune of fur coats, a possible insurance swindle and several murders, all linked to a huge thug who wears a hook in place of his right hand.

Filmic insert to Eisenstein's modernized, free adaptation of Ostrovskiy's 19th-century Russian stage play, "The Wise Man" ("Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty"). The anti-hero Glumov tries to escape exposure in the midst of acrobatics, derring-do, and farcical clowning. Several members of Eisenstein's troupe at the legendary "Proletkult" stage theatre in Moscow briefly appear in this little film.

When Mister Vlasman gets promoted from baking bread to making macaroni, he and his wife want to enter high society. They could not be happier when a wealthy baron offers to introduce them into the high class. What they don't realise is that this was all an April Fools' prank. Unfortunately for the pranksters, things get out of hand when a real baron visits the Vlasmans. This film is presumed lost.

Prince Karl Heinz enjoys his carefree life as a student in Heidelberg. He falls in love with the beautiful Käthe and everything is fine and dandy till his father is reported very ill.

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.

A girl wants to go to a ball, admission one Liberty Bond, but rather than go herself, she loans the bond to a girlfriend. A soldier and a sailor find out and take her to the ball with them.

The Bumstead family is off to see relatives in the country when Blondie runs into Charlie and Millie, an eloping couple needing her help.

A hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead.

Ralph visits France with his father, a shipbuilder, and falls in love with Blossom, the granddaughter of his father's friend, a Civil war veteran not reconciled with the Union. Blossom, however, is engaged to a French nobleman. When the war breaks out, Ralph enlists, while his brother Jim, a heartbreaker, is drafted.

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.