Pre-Code: The Man with Two Faces (1934).

The Man with Two Faces (1934). Directed by Archie Mayo, the film stars Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Louis Calhern and Mae Clarke. The story was adapted by Tom Reed and Niven Busch from the play The Dark Tower by George S. Kaufman and Alexander Woollcott. The Man with Two Faces was actress Margaret Dale's last movie, and only talkie.

The story begins when Jessica Wells, a talented actress, is returning to the stage after a three-year absence. Her family and friends are shocked when Vance, her long-lost husband with a criminal past, shows up. He immediately takes over Jessica life.

Vance, soon learns that his wife holds half the rights to the play in which she will be performing, which now might turn out to be a disaster in her present state.

Damon Wells, wants to help his sister's comeback acting as her coach. He and Jessica's manager realize that they must get rid of Vance, so Damon pretends to be French theatrical producer Jules Chautard, and lures Vance, to a hotel room believing that he will be paid for Jessica's half-interest in the play, but is murdered. Damon covers his tracks, but accidentally leaves behind a few clues. Will Sergeant William Curtis, use the clues to crack the case?

When, EDWARD G. ROBINSON, goes under cover you will not recognize him. Not one of my favorite MARY ASTOR performance, but still entertaining. MAE CLARKE, has a more spirited role as girlfriend of Robinson. I enjoyed the Pre-Code ending.

Mae Clarke (August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) . She started her professional career as a dancer sharing a room with Barbara Stanwyck and starred in many films for Universal Studios, including the film, The Front Page (1931) and the first sound version of Frankenstein (1931) with Boris Karloff. Clarke played the role of Henry Frankenstein's fiancee Elizabeth in Frankenstein, who was attacked by the Monster on her wedding day. The Public Enemy, released that same year, contained featured one of cinema's most famous scenes, in which James Cagney pushed a half grapefruit into Clarke's face, then went out and picked up Jean Harlow.

She performed as Myra Deauville, in the 1931 Pre-Code version of Waterloo Bridge. In the film, she plays a young American woman who is forced into a life of prostitution in World War I London.

She also appeared in the modest pre-code film, Night World (1932), with Lew Ayres, Boris Karloff, and Hedda Hopper.

By the mid-1930s, Clarke was no longer a leading lady and was only featured in small or bit parts through to the 1960s.

CMBA Blogathon - Movies of 1939: Midnight(1939).

Midnight (1939). Romantic/ comedy. Director: Mitchell Leisen. Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder based on a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore.

Eve Peabody an American showgirl, finds herself stranded in Paris one rainy night. Eve makes a deal with cab driver Tibor Czerny, to double his fee for driving her from nightclub to nightclub looking for a job. Eve, decides to run away from him when it looks like he is becoming interested in her. She hides from him at a charity event where she meets, millionaire Georges Flammarion.

The adventure begins after Georges gives her the title of the Baroness Czerny and Eve finds herself in a room at the Ritz, every girls dream, with beautiful clothes and a chauffeured limousine. Later that morning, Georges, appears at the Ritz to offer Eve the job of taking Jacques away from Helen. She accepts the job and his weekend invitation at his home. That same day, Tibor has organized the cab drivers of Paris to find Eve and on a tip, he finds her at the Flammarion chateau. Just as Helen is about to expose Eve as an impostor, Tibor arrives as the Baron to claim his wife. Will they be able to keep up the crazy charade?

Favorite quote: Eve Peabody: (at the ball) Don't forget, every Cinderella has her midnight.

This is my second Midnight movie review. I thought the story was magical. Once again, Claudette Colbert shows that she is a wonderful comedian. Don Ameche, gives one of my favorite performances. Mary Astor, combines beauty and meanness into a wonderful performance.

Please click here to view Dawn's first Midnight(1939) movie review.

Claudette Colbert ( September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996), was a French-born American stage and film actress. Claudette began her career on Broadway during the 1920s, moving onto talking pictures. She began a successful film career with Paramount Pictures and later, as a freelance performer. Claudette was recognized as one of the leading women of screwball comedy. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the film, It Happened One Night (1934), and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since You Went Away (1944).

Her film career began to decline in the 1950s, and she made her last film in 1961. Colbert continued to act in theater and, briefly, in television during her later years.

Don Ameche (May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an Academy Award winning actor. Ameche was a versatile and popular film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the handsome, leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity began to fade in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film career made a comeback in the 1980s as an aging millionaire in, Trading Places (1983) and in the film,Cocoon (1985).

John Barrymore (February 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942). He began his acting career as a handsome stage actor in light comedy. His success continued in movies in both the silent and sound eras. John Barrymore is mostly known for his roles in movies like, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920), Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Don Juan (1926). He was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore and was the paternal grandfather of, Drew Barrymore.

Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was most remembered for her performance in the film, The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart. Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the 1920s.

She made a successful transition to talkies, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film, The Great Lie (1941). She was an MGM contract player through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, on television and on stage until her retirement from the screen in 1964. Astor was the author of five novels. Her autobiography became a bestseller, as did her later book, A Life on Film, which was about her career.

Page Miss Glory (1935).

Page Miss Glory (1935). Romantic comedy. Cast: Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, Mary Astor and Dick Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Joseph Schrank and Phillip Dunning.

Small town girl Loretta Dalrymple, arrives in New York City and finds a job as a chambermaid in a luxurious hotel. Also, staying at the hotel is con man Wiley and his photographer partner Ed Olsen, who are three weeks behind on their hotel bill. Click and Ed, come up with a plan, to put together a picture of a beautiful woman, by combining the best features of several Hollywood beauties and enter the picture as "Dawn Glory" in a nationwide beauty contest for the $2500 prize. Which they win.

Bingo Nelson a pilot, immediately falls in love when he sees her picture. After flying a serum to Alaska through a blizzard, he proposes to Dawn on national radio. As a result, reporters want to interview Miss Glory, putting Click in a tough spot. Slattery of the Express digs up Click's checkered past to try to blackmail him into giving him an interview. Ed's girlfriend Gladys Russell finds Loretta trying on a dress delivered for Dawn. Earlier in the day, Loretta had her hair styled in the new hairdo called, "Dawn's bobb". Gladys and Ed think that she looks a lot like the "picture" and decide to pass off Loretta as Dawn. Soon, advertising endorsements and royalties come rolling in, making Click and Ed rich.

Meanwhile, Loretta has fallen in love with a newspaper picture of Bingo. Now, that she is famous she hopes she will meet Russell and when she does.. the troubles begin.

Marion Davies, shines in this fun film from beginning to end. Dick Powell, Mary Astor and Patsy Kelly, are all wonderful. This one of Davies' last pictures and she was pushing 40, but.. she is brave to play half the film as the dowdy country girl. Davies was a star for 20 years and made the switch to talkies.

Patsy Kelly (January 12, 1910 – September 24, 1981). Kelly, like many New York actors, made her screen debut in a Vitaphone short subject filmed there. Producer Hal Roach hired Kelly to co-star with Thelma Todd in a series of short-subject comedies. The Todd-Kelly shorts created Patsy Kelly's image: a brash, wisecracking woman. Later, in the series showcased Kelly's dancing skills. Thelma Todd died in 1935, and Kelly finished out the series.

Patsy Kelly then moved into feature films, often playing working-class character roles in comedies and musicals. One of her memorable roles was as Etta, the cook, in the five Academy Awards-nominated comedy, Merrily We Live(1938).

On television she performed in shows: The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Wild Wild West, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also made a memorable performance as Laura-Louise in the film, Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Kelly performed as the housekeeper Mrs. Schmauss in the film, Freaky Friday(1976). Her final movie performance was in the Disney comedy, The North Avenue Irregulars(1979).

Patsy Kelly movies I have seen:
1935 Page Miss Glory.
1938 There Goes My Heart.
1938 The Cowboy and the Lady.
1941 Topper Returns.
1960 Please Don't Eat the Daisies.
1968 Rosemary's Baby.

Pre- Code: Upper World (1934).

Upper World(1934).Cast: Warren William, Ginger Rogers and Mary Astor.

Rich railroad tycoon Alex Stream, is a wonderful family man. His wife Hettie's, first priority in life is her rich society friends. When Alex rescues drowning showgirl Lilly Linder, he finds her very charming and she thanks him by cooking dinner for him. When Hettie forgets their wedding anniversary and makes other plans, Alex invites Lilly to join him for dinner. Alex find himself spending a lot of time with Lilly. Lilly's boyfriend, tries to convince her to blackmail Alex, and when she refuses, Lou steals Alex's letters to her. When Lou confronts him, Alex believes that Lilly was also involved in the plan. While he tries to get the letters back from Lou, he shoots and accidentally kills Lilly. Alex shoots Lou in self-defense, then tries to make it look like a murder-suicide. Alex thinks that nobody has seen him, but a policeman  recognised his car parked outside the apartment and is convinced that he is the murderer. Will Alex be able to prove his innocence?

Both Mary Astor and Ginger Rogers are both highly entertaining, in this early movie in their film careers. William is his typical cool self. Dickie Moore is also good as William's son and Naish nearly steals the scenes as the ruthless wannabe gangster. Sidney Toler, the future Charlie Chan, plays the cop out to break William. It is also fun to see a younger Andy Devine.

Warren William (December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After moving from Broadway to Hollywood in 1931, he reached his peak as a leading man in early 1930s pre-Production Code films. He was a contract player at the Warner Bros. studio and was known for portraying heartless businessmen and lawyers, including the Sam Spade character in the second filming of The Maltese Falcon, called Satan Met a Lady (1936) with Bette Davis.

He also played sympathetic roles, as in Imitation of Life, in which he portrayed Claudette Colbert's love interest. He appeared as her love interest again that year, when he played Julius Caesar to her Cleopatra in Cecil B. DeMille's version of Cleopatra. And he was the swashbuckling d'Artagnan in the 1939 version of The Man in the Iron Mask.

William was the first to portray Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional defense attorney Perry Mason on the big screen and starred in four Perry Mason mysteries. He also played Raffles-like reformed jewel thief The Lone Wolf  beginning with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) with Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth, and he starred as detective Philo Vance in two films in that series, 1934's The Dragon Murder Case and 1939's The Gracie Allen Murder Case .

Turnabout(1940).

Turnabout(1940). Comedy film. Directed by Hal Roach. Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis and John Hubbard. Based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Thorne Smith, the screenplay was written by Mickell Novack, Bernie Giler and John McClain with additional dialogue by Rian James.

Tim Willows and his wife Sally continually argue in front of Mr. Ram, an Indian statue given to them by a relative. After a hard day at work for Tim and Sally a day as a lady of leisure, get into a heated argument, both making a wish to change places. Mr. Ram begins to speak and grants their wish.

The next morning, Tim and Sally find themselves in the other's body. Tim, in the body of Sally, stays home and causes problems at home, while Sally, in the body of Tim, goes off to the office and creates problems at work.

When Sally returns home from her day at the office, the couple beg Mr. Ram to put them back into their original bodies. Using Sally's pregnancy as an excuse for their strange behavior, they go out to smooth things over with the clients and friends. Just as you think things are back to normal, the real trouble begins.

I really wanted to see this film because I'm a huge Carole Landis fan. I thought the main cast was very charming. Even the minor roles by Donald Meek, Franklin Pangborn and Marjorie Main, were wonderful performances. John Hubbard, was hilarious in his gender switching role. The situations and the dialog were rather colorful for a 1940's film.

John Hubbard, took acting lessons at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where he received movie offers. He was signed by Paramount in 1937, but his contract was sold to MGM a year later. At MGM, Hubbard played a leading role in, Dramatic School (1938), which lead to a four-picture deal with Hal Roach, who used Hubbard in comedies such as The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939), Road Show (1940) and Turnabout (1940). Hubbard did a dramatic turn in Whispering Footsteps(1943), but returned to comedy. In 1950 he became a supporting actor, he played "Brown" in The Mickey Rooney Show (12 episodes), "Bill Bronson" in My Little Margie (4 episodes), "Col. U. Charles Barker" in the military comedy Don't Call Me Charlie (18 episodes) and "Ted Gaynor" in Family Affair (8 episodes), but most of his television appearances were in one-off roles. Between acting roles, Hubbard worked as an automobile salesman and the manager of a restaurant. He retired from acting in 1974 after a character role in Herbie Rides Again, although he made one more appearance in a television movie in 1980.

Other John Hubbard films I have seen:
1941 You'll Never Get Rich
1951 Bullfighter and the Lady
1957 Pal Joey
1958 The Buccaneer
1974 Herbie Rides Again

Carole Landis picture below.

This is the list of  other "Body switch/swapping", movies I came up with:
1. Being John Malkovich
2. Big
3. Freaky Friday
4. Mulholland Drive
5. Face/Off
6. Vice Versa
7. 18 Again!
8. Like Father, Like Son
9. Dream a Little Dream

Blond Fever(1944). Gloria Grahame's first film performance.

Blond Fever(1944). Directed by Richard Whorf. Cast: Philip Dorn, Mary Astor, Felix Bressart, Gloria Grahame, in her first film performance.

Peter's wife Delilah, knows that Peter is having an affair with Sally Murfin, one of the cigarette girls at one of the nightclubs in Reno and decides to tell her that his Cafe, is losing money in hopes of scaring her off. Peter overhears the lie and denies it. Later, Delilah comes up with another plan to end their relationship when she hires Sally's fiancee, Freddie Bilson, as a waiter.

When a radio show announces the winner of a lottery, Peter and Freddie, who have both entered the contest, listen as the numbers are called. Peter has the winning ticket, which makes Peter and Sally very happy.

Later, Freddie accidentally walks in on Sally and Peter in the wine cellar, he awkwardly pulls a gun on Peter and threatens to kill him. Peter tells Freddie that he and Sally are in love and plan to marry.

That night, Delilah asks Peter for a divorce, and instead of alimony, she tells him that she wants the lottery check. While Delilah is packing her bags, Peter tells Sally's friend Johnny that he has made a big mistake and that he wants to win back his wife. Will Freddie find a way to win back Sally's forgiveness?

What a fun cast, Mary Astor and Gloria Grahame. This film does a wonderful job of entertaining. I think it is a very charming way to spend the afternoon, especially watching Gloria Grahame, in her first film performance.

Autumnal Bliss

I'm doing a guest post for my best Internet-friend Libby at Catching The Stars  and its all about Autumn and classic movies. Here is what I did.

 Autumn And The Movies

I'm sure there are lots of movies set in the autumn, but whenever I try to think of any, I can only think of a few. The one that has the most association with autumn for me, is Meet Me In St. Louis (1944). The film is about The Smiths, a lovely New England family that go through the normal troubles of every day middle-class life in 1904. The film shows the goings on the the family through from spring to Christmas. The cast is as follows:

• Judy Garland as Esther Smith
• Margaret O'Brien as "Tootie" Smith
• Mary Astor as Mrs. Anna Smith
• Lucille Bremer as Rose Smith
• Tom Drake as John Truett
• Marjorie Main as Katie the maid
• Leon Ames as Mr. Alonzo Smith
• Harry Davenport as Grandpa

"If I like a you and you like a me and we like a both the same! I'd like to stay this very way, under the bamboo tree!"

Ok, So I will just do a quick plot summary. Esther Smith is the second eldest sister of the Smith family. She is in love with the "boy next door", but he doesn't know she exists. Her elder sister, Rose, is expecting her sweetheart to propose to her over the newly discovered "telephone *squeal of excitement*", but he only talks to her about how it is "LIKE THEY"RE IN THE NEXT ROOM!" she replies with "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Esther's romance with the boy next door is going nowhere fast, after he said to her on their first meeting "That perfume smells just like the kind my grandmother would wear," and, "You got a mighty strong grip for a girl!" Whilst all of this romance is going on, their five year old sister, Tootie (the adorable Margaret O'Brien) rides around on the ice wagon and causes mayhem. They all get the shock of their lives when they find out that their father has decided to take a job in New York.



Mary Astor, who is best remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941), Is lovely as the mother of Judy Garland and her siblings (although she is really too young to play the mother of young adult children), and she is so lovely ;-). But she still lets them go out, on their own to throw flower bombs at people on Halloween. The main reason that this reminds me of Autumn is the said Halloween sequence were all of these unsupervised 10 year old children have a huge bonfire (health hazard or what?)!

And Tootie, dresses up as a dead man with a Charlie Chaplin mustache. She wants to throw a chair into the bonfire (!), but all the older children tell her to go away 'cause she's too little. She makes a deal with them, if she throws a flower bomb in Mr. Broughcoff's (is that how you spell it?) face. Mr. Broughcoff is the scariest man in town, and according to rumor, he branded his wife with a red hot poker! But he is really a sweet middle aged man, who is scared the daylights out of when Tootie screams "I hate you Mr. Broughcoff!" and throws a flower bomb in is face.

Beautiful house

There is only one other reference to Autumn that comes to mind, and that is in All About Eve (1950) when Celest Holm as Karen Richards declares that "Loyd always says that in the theatre a lifetime is a season and a season a lifetime. It must have been last October." But it isn't really an autumny movie just my fabourite one, and I reccomend it to all of you!

Karen is the one in the mink, not the mousy one with the trench coat and funny hat.

~Bette

Mary Astor

Mary Astor, is most remembered for her role in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Astor began her movie career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s. She made a successful transition to talkies. Astor had great success on the screen, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941). She gave a wonderful performance as the selfish, concert pianist, who gives up her child. Davis wanted Astor cast in the role after watching her screen test and seeing her play Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. She then wanted Astor to help with her on rewriting the script. Astor followed Davis's advice and wore a bobbed hairdo for the role. The soundtrack of the movie during the scenes where she plays with violent hand movements on the piano, was actually played by pianist Max Rabinovitch. Davis stepped back to allow Astor to shine. As a result , Astor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, thanking Bette Davis and Tchaikovsky in her acceptance speech. Astor and Davis became good friends.

After The Great Lie (1941), Astor was signed on to a MGM contract through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, television and stage until her retirement in 1964. Astor was the author of five novels. Her autobiography became a bestseller, as did her book, A Life on Film, which was about her career.

The Great Lie (1941).

The Great Lie (1941). Drama. Director: Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee, the movie is based on the novel, January Heights by Polan Banks. Cast: Bette Davis, Mary Astor, who the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and George Brent.

When concert pianist Sandra Kovak and her aviator husband Peter Van Allen learn their marriage is not valid because her divorce had not been finalized. Peter realizes that he really is not in love with Sandra and flies to Maryland to marry Maggie, his long time love. Five days later, Pete's job calls him back to Washington, D.C., Maggie waits for him in New York. There she learns that Sandra is expecting a baby and intends to use her pregnancy to get Pete back. Pete does not return to New York, but leaves for a mapping flight over the Brazilian jungle and when his plane goes missing, everyone believes he has crashed in the jungle and killed. Now, that everyone thinks Pete is not coming back, Maggie suggests that she raise the child as her own. The two women go to Arizona to await the birth of Sandra's son, who is named after his father. Sandra then goes off on her world tour, during which Peter, returns home and Maggie leads him to believe the boy is theirs. Will Sandra return, wanting the father and son for herself?



After the movie The Letter, Betty was vacationing in New Hampshire, when she was offered the part of Maggie Peterson in, The Great Lie. She wasn't very excited about it, but fans wanted her to play a nice role for a change. The best scenes are the confrontations between Davis and Astor. I thought Bette Davis and Mary Astor were equal in their wonderful performances.

George Brent (March 15, 1899 – May 26, 1979), Signed a contract with Warner Brothers, in the late 1930s and 1940s. Highly regarded by Bette Davis, he became her most frequent male co-star, appearing with her in thirteen films, including Front Page Woman (1935), Special Agent (1935), The Golden Arrow (1936), Jezebel (1938), The Old Maid (1939), Dark Victory (1939) and The Great Lie (1941). Brent also played opposite Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street (1933), Greta Garbo in The Painted Veil (1934), Madeleine Carroll in The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936), Jean Arthur in More Than a Secretary (1936), Myrna Loy in Stamboul Quest (1934) and The Rains Came (1939), Merle Oberon in 'Til We Meet Again (1940), Ann Sheridan in Honeymoon for Three (1941), Joan Fontaine in The Affairs of Susan (1945), Barbara Stanwyck in The Purchase Price (1932), The Gay Sisters (1942) and My Reputation (1946), Claudette Colbert in Tomorrow Is Forever (1946), Dorothy McGuire in The Spiral Staircase (1946), Lucille Ball in Lover Come Back (1946) and Yvonne De Carlo in Slave Girl (1947).

Brent drifted into "B" pictures from the late 1940s and retired from film in 1953. He continued to appear on television until 1960, starring in the series Wire Service in 1956. In 1978, he made one last film, the made-for-television production Born Again.

The Palm Beach Story (1942). And they lived happily ever after...or did they?

The Palm Beach Story (1942). Romantic/screwball comedy. Written and directed by Preston Sturges. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the musical score, which included a variation of William Tell Overture for the opening scenes.

Tom and Gerry Jeffer's apartment manager shows their apartment to the future tenant an elderly man, known as the "Wienie King," who is so taken by Gerry that he gives her $700 to help pay the bills. Gerry is tired of being broke and believes that she has held her husband back that she leaves him. At Pennsylvania Station, Gerry uses her feminine charms to get a men's hunting club, to buy her a ticket on the train headed for Palm Beach, Florida.

The club members become too rowdy and after the men shoot out the windows she runs into a sleeper car. In the morning, Gerry discovers that the conductors have disconnected the Club's car because of their unruliness and have left her without her suitcase. John, an eccentric and one of wealthiest men in the world, takes an interest in Gerry and joins her in Jacksonville, Florida. There the normally frugal multimillionaire buys Gerry an entire wardrobe of beautiful clothes and a ruby bracelet. (my favorite part of the movie). Gerry is thrilled to meet one of the richest men in the world, and joins him on his yacht to Palm Beach. When she sees her husband Tom waiting at the dock for her, Gerry introduces him as her brother, "Captain McGloo." John's sister, Princess Maud Centimillia, immediately makes advances toward Tom. Gerry, talks John into becoming a financial backer for Tom's airport project. Will Gerry and Tom reunite and what will happen to Toms airport project?

This movie is full of hilarious one-liners. From the moment Colbert gets aboard a train the fun starts heades toward a conclusion that is not even hinted to until the last scene of film. My favorite character is Rudy Vallee as a eccentric millionaire (and he sings). Mary Astor, as his sister, is hilariously over the top.

Soundtracks:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Isn't It Romantic"
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Music by Richard Rodgers
Sung by Rudy Vallee during ballroom sequence

"Goodnight Sweetheart"
Written by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell and Rudy Vallee
Sung under heroine's bedroom window by Rudy Vallee

"Frankie and Johnny"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played on the piano in the rail car as Geraldine arrives

"The Old Folks at Home"
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Sung by the Ale and Quail Club

"Sweet Adeline"
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Richard H. Gerard, music by Harry Armstrong
Sung as a serenade by the Ale and Quail Club to Geraldine

"Merrily We Roll Along"
(uncredited)
A song loosely based on 'Good Night Ladies' by Edwin P. Christy
Sung the Ale and Quail Club

"A Hunting We Will Go"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Sung by the Ale and Quail Club as they search for Geraldine in the train

Red Dust(1932)- Pre Code: You can check the wings and halo at the desk.

Red Dust (1932). Romantic/drama . Director; Victor Fleming. The picture is the second of six movies Clark Gable and Jean Harlow made together and was produced during the Pre-Code era of Hollywood.

Dennis Carson lived in Indochina, leaving his rubber plantation occasionally for fun in the city of Saigon. Soon Vantine a prostitute, arrives at the plantation. She quickly becomes comfortable in the plantation's harsh environment and begins playfully teasing Carson. He resists her charm at first, but soon gives in, and they develop a casual sexual relationship. His new surveyor, Gary Willis and his wife Barbara, arrive just as Vantine, was about ready to leave. Barbara does not like Dennis, until he nurses Gary through malaria. Soon Vantine returns to the plantation because her boat has been damaged, and Dennis, who is now in love with Barbara, tries to protect her from Vantine's character. One day, after they have been caught in a monsoon rain storm, Dennis and Barbara begin to fall in love. Everyone knows about thier romance except Gary, who is sent out on a job by Dennis to survey the plantation. Barbara and Dennis want to marry and Dennis realizes he must tell Gary. He travels to the survey site to break the news to him....

Will Dennis break up their marriage?
Red Dust Movie Trailer.
For me this is one of the films that defined the Pre-Code Era. This film had it all, prostitution, adultery, sex, partial nudity, drunkenness and strong women characters. Plus, it has a very interesting storyline and setting. One of the most interesting things that I found about this film, was how fun the dialog was. Loved the characters: Clark is handsome as ever and Jean Harlow was wonderful character, even with her personal problems. Mary Astor's character is also very well done and believable . I also enjoyed remake, Mogambo (1953), by director John Ford in 1953. This time set in Africa rather than Indochina and shot on location in color, with Ava Gardner in the Harlow role and Grace Kelly playing Astor's part. Clark Gable returned, twenty-one years later, to play the same character.

Any Number Can Play (1949)

Any Number Can Play (1949). Drama. Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Audrey Totter and Mary Astor.

Any Number Can Play, Movie Trailer.
I just saw the movie Any Number Can Win, for the first time. This story will pull at your heart strings. Clark Gable Is wonderful playing a dangerous man playing a dangerous game. The story begins when Charley Enley Kyng, the owner of a casino, is diagnosed with heart disease, his doctor advises him to give up his way of life. Charley knows that it is time to quit and reconnect with his wife and son. Charley takes his doctor's advice and decides to go on a fishing trip. Before leaving, the family enters the Casino just as gambler Jim Kurstyn, who is on a winning streak, is about to bankrupt the casino. Will Charley lose his family and his casino?

Alexis Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) . She was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. after being discovered by a talent scout while attending college. Her earliest film roles were uncredited parts, and it took several years for her career to gain momentum. Her first credited role was in the feature film, Dive Bomber (1941), playing the female lead opposite Errol Flynn. Her appearance in ,The Constant Nymph (1943) led to bigger parts. During the 1940s she appeared alongside Errol Flynn in, Gentleman Jim (1942) and San Antonio (1945) (in which she sang a special version of the popular ballad "Some Sunday Morning"), Humphrey Bogart in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), Cary Grant in a  fictionalized version of the life of Cole and Linda Porter in Night and Day (1946), and Bing Crosby in Here Comes the Groom (1951). Among Smith's other films are Rhapsody In Blue (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946), and The Young Philadelphians (1959). Smith had a recurring role on the television series Dallas as Clayton Farlow's sister Jessica Montford in 1984 and again in 1990. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the sitcom Cheers in 1990.