Jack La Rue

Jack La Rue

Born: May 3, 1902
Died: January 11, 1984
in New York City, New York, USA
Jack La Rue (born Gaspere Biondolillo) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. La Rue went from high school to his first acting job, in Otis Skinner's road company production of Blood and Sand. He performed in Broadway plays from around 1923 to 1931. According to La Rue, while appearing in Mae West's play Diamond Lil, he was spotted by Howard Hawks, who offered him a part in the film Scarface, starring Paul Muni.

He moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in numerous films. However, Scarface was not one of them. La Rue stated in a newspaper article that, after four days, Hawks had to replace him with George Raft because La Rue was taller than Muni and had a more powerful voice. Later, however, Raft turned down the role of the despicable villain in The Story of Temple Drake, fearing it would damage his screen image, so the part went to La Rue. Sometimes mistaken for Humphrey Bogart, he played thugs and gangsters for the most part. However, director Frank Borzage atypically cast him as a priest in the 1932 version of A Farewell to Arms simply because, according to newspaper columnist Hubbard Keavy, he was "tired of seeing conventional characters". La Rue stated he turned down a role in The Godfather and many parts in the television series The Untouchables because of the way they portrayed Italian-Americans.

La Rue died of a heart attack at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 81. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

Movies for Jack La Rue...

Girl 27
Title: Girl 27
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 27, 2007
Type: Movie
The reclusive Patricia Douglas comes out of hiding to discuss the 1937 MGM scandal, in which the powerful film studio tricked her and over 100 other underage girls into attending a stag party, where she was raped.
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Complicated Women
Title: Complicated Women
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 6, 2003
Type: Movie
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
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Bogart: The Untold Story
Title: Bogart: The Untold Story
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 5, 1997
Type: Movie
Stephen H. Bogart narrates the rise to fame of his father, Humphrey Bogart through the use of film clips, written material and interviews of friends and co-workers.
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Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Title: Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Character: Silent Film Villain
Released: July 26, 1976
Type: Movie
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.
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The Spy in the Green Hat
Title: The Spy in the Green Hat
Character: Federico 'Feet' Stilletto
Released: February 3, 1967
Type: Movie
"Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966)" on the other hand, is both exciting AND funny. Especially the scene where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) hides from THRUSH agents under a young woman's (the incredibly cute Letícia Román) bed and is caught by the woman's grandmother (Penny Santon), who is forcing Solo to marry the young woman. He successfully escapes, but is hunted by a legion of stereotyped Italian gangsters. Now that's comedy.
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Title: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
Released: September 13, 1966
Type: TV
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy-fi TV series that aired on NBC for one season from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967. The series was a spin-off from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and used the same theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, which was rearranged into a slightly different, harder-edged arrangement by Dave Grusin.
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Robin and the 7 Hoods
Title: Robin and the 7 Hoods
Character: Tomatoes
Released: June 24, 1964
Type: Movie
In prohibition-era Chicago, the corrupt sheriff and Guy Gisborne, a south-side racketeer, knock off the boss Big Jim. Everyone falls in line behind Guy except Robbo, who controls the north side. Although he's out-gunned, Robbo wants to keep his own territory. A pool-playing dude from Indiana and the director of a boys' orphanage join forces with Robbo; and, when he gives some money to the orphanage, he becomes the toast of the town as a hood like Robin Hood. Meanwhile, Guy schemes to get rid of Robbo, and Big Jim's heretofore unknown daughter Marian appears and goes from man to man trying to find an ally in her quest to run the whole show. Can Robbo hold things together?
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For Those Who Think Young
Title: For Those Who Think Young
Character: Cronin's Business Associate
Released: June 1, 1964
Type: Movie
A wealthy young man tries to woo a university student, while her two uncles work to popularize a local club.
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40 Pounds of Trouble
Title: 40 Pounds of Trouble
Character: Nick the Greek
Released: December 31, 1962
Type: Movie
Hilarity ensues when a casino manager spends a day at Disneyland with a cute but troublesome little girl.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Cafe Proprietor
Released: September 21, 1957
Type: TV
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
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Title: The Millionaire
Character: Cricket Rosselli
Released: January 19, 1955
Type: TV
An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted they never know him, with one exception.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Nick Rocco
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: TV
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Ralphie Fargo
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: TV
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
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Ride the Man Down
Title: Ride the Man Down
Character: Kennedy
Released: November 25, 1952
Type: Movie
After Celia's father dies, a war erupts over control of his land.
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For Heaven's Sake
Title: For Heaven's Sake
Character: Tony Clark
Released: December 15, 1950
Type: Movie
An angel takes on human form in order to persuade a theatrical couple to finally consummate their child that has been waiting to be born.
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Title: Lights Out
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: July 19, 1949
Type: TV
Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.
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No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Title: No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Character: Slim Grisson
Released: April 15, 1948
Type: Movie
Filmed in England but set in New York, No Orchids For Miss Blandish tells of a sheltered heiress who is abducted on her wedding night by a trio of cheap hoods, in what starts out as a jewel robbery and turns into a kidnapping/murder when one of them kills the bridegroom. More mayhem ensues as the three kidnappers soon end up dead.
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Robin Hood of Monterey
Title: Robin Hood of Monterey
Character: Don Ricardo Gonzales
Released: September 6, 1947
Type: Movie
Eduardo Belmonte overhears his new step-mother, Maria, and her lover, Don Ricardo Gonzales plotting to take over the Belmonte rancho on the night of the fiesta given by her husband, Don Carlos Belmonte. Eduardo offers Maria money if she will depart the hacienda premises, but she refuses and then accuses Eduardo of making love to her. The old Don doesn't take kindly to his son hitting on his step-mother and attacks him in a rage. The lights go out, the father is killed and Maria blames Eduardo, who escapes from the house, chased by Ricardo's men. The Cisco Kid and Pancho rescue Eduardo, who has been shot, and hide him while they investigate. Cisco discovers that bullets from Maria's gun, a handy little derringer, are the same type that killed Don Carlos. But the Alcalde arrests Cisco and Pancho, and Cisco is "supposedly" executed by a firing squad, but IS NOT shot and escapes by a trick. And now Maria and Ricardo are in real trouble with Cisco on the loose.
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Bush Pilot
Title: Bush Pilot
Character: Paul Girard
Released: June 7, 1947
Type: Movie
Two pilots, who happen to be half-brothers, compete for the same girl as well as the same air cargo assignment.
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My Favorite Brunette
Title: My Favorite Brunette
Character: Tony
Released: March 19, 1947
Type: Movie
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.
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Santa Fe Uprising
Title: Santa Fe Uprising
Character: Bruce Jackson
Released: November 15, 1946
Type: Movie
The Duchess, the aunt of Red Ryder, comes to town to protect her property. Crawford, a town big-shot behind an outlaw gang, tries to prevent her from reaching her destination, but the attack is thwarted by Red. The latter is made town marshal, and when he gets too close to the truth and is making it too hot for the Crawford faction, Crawford has his henchman Luke kidnap Red's Indian friend Little Beaver.
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In Old Sacramento
Title: In Old Sacramento
Character: Laramie
Released: May 31, 1946
Type: Movie
Dashing Johnny Barrett has a secret identity: Spanish Jack, the masked bandit. Always one step ahead of the law, Barrett effortlessly balances his double life--robbing by night, romancing by day and always with a smile. But when the woman he loves begins to suspect him and the young man he befriends is arrested for being him, it's time for Johnny to rethink his priorities.
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Murder in the Music Hall
Title: Murder in the Music Hall
Character: Bruce Wilton
Released: April 10, 1946
Type: Movie
An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.
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Road to Utopia
Title: Road to Utopia
Character: LeBec
Released: February 27, 1946
Type: Movie
While on a ship to Skagway, Alaska, Duke and Chester find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been 'stolen' by thugs. In Alaska to recover her father's map, Sal Van Hoyden falls in with Ace Larson, who secretly wants to steal the gold mine for himself. Duke, Chester, the thugs, Ace and his henchman chase each other all over the countryside—for the map.
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Dakota
Title: Dakota
Character: Suade
Released: December 15, 1945
Type: Movie
In 1871, professional gambler John Devlin elopes with Sandra "Sandy" Poli, daughter of Marko Poli, an immigrant who has risen to railroad tycoon. Sandy, knowing that the railroad is to be extended into Dakota, plans to use their $20,000 nest egg to buy land options to sell to the railroad at a profit. On the stage trip to Ft. Abercrombie, their fellow passengers are Jim Bender and Bigtree Collins, who practically own the town of Fargo and Devlin is aware that they are prepared to protect the little empire... trying to drive out the farmers by burning their property, destroying their wheat, and blaming the devastation on the Indians. Continuing their journey north on the river aboard the "River Bird', Sandy and John meet Captain Bounce, an irascible old seafarer. Two of Bendender's henchmen, Slagin and Carp, board the boat and relieve John of his $20,000 at gunpoint. Captain Bounce, chasing the robber's dinghy..
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Cornered
Title: Cornered
Character: Diego, Hotel Valet
Released: November 23, 1945
Type: Movie
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
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The Spanish Main
Title: The Spanish Main
Character: Lt. Escobar
Released: October 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Laurent van Horn is the leader of a band of Dutch refugees on a ship seeking freedom in the Carolinas, when the ship is wrecked on the coast of Cartagene, governed by Don Juan Alvardo, a Spanish ruler. Alvarado has Laurent thrown in prison, but the latter escapes, and five-years later is a pirate leader. He poses as the navigator on a ship in which Contessa Francesca, daughter of a Mexican noble, is traveling on her way to marry Alvarado, whom she has never seen. Laurent's pirates capture the ship and Francesca, in order to save another ship, gives her hand-in-marriage to Laurent, who sails her to the pirate hideout. This irks his jealous pirate comrades Anne Bonney and Captain Benjamin Black. They overpower Laurent and send Francesca to Alvarado, and then Mario du Billar, a trusted right-hand man, makes a deal to deliver Laurent to Alvarado.
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Steppin' in Society
Title: Steppin' in Society
Character: Bow Tie
Released: July 9, 1945
Type: Movie
In this crime comedy, a prominent judge's vacation is interrupted during a sudden storm that forces him to seek refuge in a shady nightclub where he is mistaken by the mobsters for a highly esteemed racketeer.
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Dangerous Passage
Title: Dangerous Passage
Character: Mike
Released: December 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Joe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance, but he picks a dangerous ship on which to travel.
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The Last Ride
Title: The Last Ride
Character: Joe Genna
Released: October 7, 1944
Type: Movie
A police lieutenant is determined to bust the gang of crooks selling defective automobile tires.
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Leave It to the Irish
Title: Leave It to the Irish
Character: Rockwell
Released: August 26, 1944
Type: Movie
A private eye (James Dunn) investigates the murder of a fur dealer. Monogram.
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Machine Gun Mama
Title: Machine Gun Mama
Character: Jose
Released: August 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Two Americans stranded in Mexico with an elephant try to sell their animal to a traveling carnival. Low-budget comedy with songs and a misleading title.
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Follow the Leader
Title: Follow the Leader
Character: Larry
Released: June 3, 1944
Type: Movie
Muggs and Glimpy, two East Side Kids in the army, return to their neighborhood, supposedly on furlough; actually, Muggs has been honorably discharged with a physical defect, but he tells no one of this. Danny, another East Side kid, is in jail because a large amount of medical supplies have been stolen from the warehouse where he works. Muggs see Spider, a new member of the gang, flashing a large amount of money around, and Muggs shrewdly turns toughie, boasting that he has a dishonorable discharge because of thievery. This leads Spider to confide in Muggs that he is the one who has been aiding in the theft of supplies from the warehouse, and he gets paid for the loot by Larry, operator of a nightclub where Muggs' sister, Milly, is an entertainer. Fingers, a henchman for Larry, kills Spider when he learns that Muggs has been let in on the operation. The police then suspect Muggs of killing Spider.
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The Desert Song
Title: The Desert Song
Character: Lt. Bertin
Released: December 17, 1943
Type: Movie
Paul Hudson, leads a group of desert bandits against some Nazis, who want to use them as cheap labor for their railroad.
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Smart Guy
Title: Smart Guy
Character: Matt Taylor
Released: December 17, 1943
Type: Movie
A gambler is about to stand trial for a crime he actually didn't commit. In order to brush up his "image", he adopts an orphaned newsboy.
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The Sultan's Daughter
Title: The Sultan's Daughter
Character: Rata
Released: December 16, 1943
Type: Movie
A sultan's lovely daughter finds herself courted by a handsome American.
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Pistol Packin' Mama
Title: Pistol Packin' Mama
Character: Johnny Rossi
Released: December 15, 1943
Type: Movie
Two tuneful gamblers gambol across the country in a struggle for the money they need to run their respective casinos. It all begins when gangsters oust a gambler from the Big Apple. In need of quick cash, he goes to Las Vegas and enters a casino owned by a tough but pretty young woman. Cheating like crazy, the gambler breaks the house back and takes his considerable winnings back to New York to open his own casino. The woman is in hot pursuit and eagerly plans to turn the tables in her favor.
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Never a Dull Moment
Title: Never a Dull Moment
Character: Joey
Released: November 19, 1943
Type: Movie
Nightclub gangsters hire a vaudeville act called the Three Funny Bunnies (Ritz Brothers).
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A Scream in the Dark
Title: A Scream in the Dark
Character: Cross
Released: October 15, 1943
Type: Movie
A detective tries to prove that a woman is killing her spouses with a spiked umbrella.
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The Girl from Monterrey
Title: The Girl from Monterrey
Character: Al Johnson
Released: October 4, 1943
Type: Movie
Mexican club singer Lita Valdez is amazed to find that her younger brother Alberto is a talented boxer and is even more thrilled by his consistent success in the ring. Till he is forced to fight Jerry O'Leary, the man she loves. Caught between her devotion to both men, Lita tries her best to have the match canceled, but there is much more to the boxing racket than she had ever imagined...
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The Law Rides Again
Title: The Law Rides Again
Character: Duke Dillon
Released: August 6, 1943
Type: Movie
When a band of American Indians breaks a treaty with the federal government, U.S. Marshals Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson hit the trail with captured outlaw Duke Dillon (Jack La Rue) to find out what sparked the uprising. They discover clues that point to corrupt Indian agent John Hampton (Kenneth Harlan), but meanwhile, the bandit Dillon pulls a fast one on the marshals, and soon everybody's getting ready for a showdown.
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Secret Service In Darkest Africa
Title: Secret Service In Darkest Africa
Character: Hassan
Released: July 24, 1943
Type: Movie
An American secret agent travels to Africa to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring.
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You Can't Beat the Law
Title: You Can't Beat the Law
Character: Cain
Released: January 29, 1943
Type: Movie
A wild playboy is framed by crooks for a robbery he didn't commit and eventually lands in prison. There he becomes pals with the prison's most hardened criminal, who plans a daring escape.
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American Empire
Title: American Empire
Character: Pierre - Beauchard Henchman
Released: December 11, 1942
Type: Movie
Richard Dix as Dan Taylor and Preston S. Foster as Paxton Bryce are two longtime friends seeking their fortune in Texas after the war. The two men decide, not without problems, to establish a cattle empire. Paxton becoming too ambitious, distances himself from Dan and Abby, Paxton's wife. It will only be after a personal tragedy that he will come back to his senses.
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The Payoff
Title: The Payoff
Character: John Angus
Released: November 24, 1942
Type: Movie
The city's District Attorney is murdered, and a newspaper reporter investigates. He starts finding out that everything wasn't quite as cut and dried as it appeared to be.
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X Marks the Spot
Title: X Marks the Spot
Character: Marty Clark
Released: November 4, 1942
Type: Movie
A private detective, soon to enlist in the army, is drawn into one final case when his police officer father is killed in the line of duty. Soon his prime suspect is murdered as well, and he finds himself framed for the crime. As more witnesses get murdered, he finds himself on the run from both the police and former Prohibition violators who seem to have found a new racket.
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Highways by Night
Title: Highways by Night
Character: Johnny Lieber, Gangster
Released: October 2, 1942
Type: Movie
A young millionaire (Richard Carlson) joins the real world and meets a maid (Jane Randolph) and mobsters.
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Pardon My Sarong
Title: Pardon My Sarong
Character: Tabor (uncredited)
Released: August 7, 1942
Type: Movie
A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.
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A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
Title: A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
Character: Tommy Gould
Released: May 7, 1942
Type: Movie
A man is framed for embezzlement and runs off to San Francisco. His wife hires Ellery Queen to try and track him down before the police get to him.
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Swamp Woman
Title: Swamp Woman
Character: Pierre Pertinax Pontineau Briand Broussicourt d'Olivier, aka Pete Oliver
Released: December 5, 1941
Type: Movie
Famed striptease artist Ann Corio stars as Annabelle, a cabaret dancer who returns to the Florida bayous whence she came.
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Hard Guy
Title: Hard Guy
Character: Vic Monroe
Released: October 17, 1941
Type: Movie
Investigators crack down on a gang of nightclub con artists that has been victimizing wealthy bachelors.
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Gentleman from Dixie
Title: Gentleman from Dixie
Character: Thad Terrill
Released: September 2, 1941
Type: Movie
A man is released from prison after serving time for a murder he didn't commit. He goes to live with his brother and his family on their Louisiana ranch, where they're raising horses to compete in an important race.
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Ringside Maisie
Title: Ringside Maisie
Character: Ricky Du Prez
Released: August 1, 1941
Type: Movie
Young undefeated boxer Terry Dolan, who's been lying to his invalid mother about his career, confides to Maisie that he hates and is terrified by boxing and wants out. Not wanting to let down his best friend and manager Skeets Maguire, who has hopes of him becoming the next champion, he is reluctant to bring up the subject with him. Maisie convinces Terry to tell Skeets, whose unexpected reaction induces him to step into the ring again.
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Gangs Inc.
Title: Gangs Inc.
Character: Mickey Roman
Released: June 13, 1941
Type: Movie
Circumstances force naive Rita Adams into serving an unjust prison term, but she emerges from it a cynical criminal who rises to power in the local crime organization.
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Footsteps in the Dark
Title: Footsteps in the Dark
Character: Ace Vernon
Released: March 8, 1941
Type: Movie
A high-society gent has a secret life - he writes murder mysteries and hangs out with the police attempting to solve crimes. This causes him no end of problems when his wife wants to know about his little disappearances and exceptionally late nights out.
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East of the River
Title: East of the River
Character: Frank 'Frisco' Scarfi
Released: November 9, 1940
Type: Movie
Two troublesome boys grow into very different men, one becoming a hoodlum and the other embracing college but both are in-love with the same girl.
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Fugitive from a Prison Camp
Title: Fugitive from a Prison Camp
Character: Red Nelson
Released: October 5, 1940
Type: Movie
Sheriff Holt is determined to prove that prisoners can be rehabilitated and released into society in this prison drama. In charge of a new kind of program, the sheriff places inmates in a clean environment and makes them build a road. Despite the improved conditions, the criminals continue to pull off a few shady shenanigans as an innocent man who is sent there soon discovers.
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The Sea Hawk
Title: The Sea Hawk
Character: Lt. Ortega
Released: August 10, 1940
Type: Movie
Dashing pirate Geoffrey Thorpe plunders Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth I and falls in love with Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal he captures.
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Enemy Agent
Title: Enemy Agent
Character: Alex
Released: April 18, 1940
Type: Movie
A man is framed for being a spy. After he is released, he sets out to find who the real spies are.
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Forgotten Girls
Title: Forgotten Girls
Character: Eddie Nolan
Released: March 15, 1940
Type: Movie
A disillusioned factory worker is charged with the attempted murder of her mother's lover.
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Charlie Chan in Panama
Title: Charlie Chan in Panama
Character: Emil Manolo
Released: March 1, 1940
Type: Movie
Charlie impersonates an employee of the U.S. government to foil an espionage plot which would destroy part of the Panama Canal, trapping a Navy fleet on its way to the Pacific after maneuvers in the Atlantic.
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In Old Caliente
Title: In Old Caliente
Character: Manuel Delgardo / Sujarno
Released: June 19, 1939
Type: Movie
Americans come west to California in the hope of peaceful settlement. Roy and Gabby sing a duet: "We're Not Coming Out Tonight." Other songs include "Sundown on the Rangeland" and "Ride on Vaquero."
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Big Town Czar
Title: Big Town Czar
Character: Mike Luger
Released: May 3, 1939
Type: Movie
When gangster Phil Daley gets rid of his chief Paul Burgess he has everything that money can buy, except the respect of his parents and his sweetheart Susan Warren. His younger brother Danny quits college and forces Phil to make him part of the gang. The overly-ambitious Danny fixes a prize-fight on which rival gang-leader Mike Luger loses heavily and, thinking that Phil has double-crossed him, sends gunmen out to kill Phil. They kill Danny instead and the frightened Phil flees to a country hideout. His chief lieutenant, Sid Travis, sets a trap for Phil when he returns.
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The Gang's All Here
Title: The Gang's All Here
Character: Alberni
Released: March 4, 1939
Type: Movie
John Forrest is anticipating a quiet retirement spent penning detective fiction when he learns that a priceless collection of jewels belonging to a foreign potentate, Prince Homouska, has just vanished from the safekeeping of the Stamford Assurance Company. Aided by his butler, his Cockney assistant and his (initially) unwilling wife, Forrest sets out on the trail of the thieves.
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Murder in Soho
Title: Murder in Soho
Character: Steve Marco
Released: February 1, 1939
Type: Movie
A London nightclub hostess pretends to fall for the mobster who killed her husband.
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I Demand Payment
Title: I Demand Payment
Character: Smiles Badolio
Released: December 13, 1938
Type: Movie
A just-married young woman attempts suicide after her husband tells her he really doesn't love her because he has become involved in an extortion racket, then finds herself becoming involved with the doctor who has saved her life and become attracted to her.
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Valley of the Giants
Title: Valley of the Giants
Character: Ed Morrell
Released: September 17, 1938
Type: Movie
A lumberman takes on a sleezy corporate giant wanting to move in and do whatever it takes to drive everyone else out of business.
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Under the Big Top
Title: Under the Big Top
Character: Ricardo Le Grande
Released: August 31, 1938
Type: Movie
Director Karl Brown's 1938 circus drama stars Marjorie Main as a tough, fur-coat-wearing circus boss who raises her orphaned niece to be a trapeze star.
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Arson Racket Squad
Title: Arson Racket Squad
Character: Bud Morgan
Released: March 27, 1938
Type: Movie
New York City fireman Bill O'Connell is assigned to the Arson Sqaud with the job of apprehending the for-profit gang of arsonists who are spreading terror and loss of property, including human life.
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That I May Live
Title: That I May Live
Released: September 13, 1937
Type: Movie
Crooks use a man's safe-cracking skills then involve him in more crime after he spends three years in jail. He falls in love with a waitress and they go to work for a traveling salesman.
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Trapped by G-Men
Title: Trapped by G-Men
Character: Fred Drake
Released: September 9, 1937
Type: Movie
Granite-jawed Jack Holt performs a dual role in Columbia's Trapped by G-Men.
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Captains Courageous
Title: Captains Courageous
Character: Priest
Released: June 25, 1937
Type: Movie
Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. Harvey fails to persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince the crew of his wealth. The captain offers him a low-paid job, until they return to port, as part of the crew that turns him into a mature, considerate young man.
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Dangerous Holiday
Title: Dangerous Holiday
Character: Gollenger
Released: June 6, 1937
Type: Movie
A young violin prodigy is assumed kidnapped after he runs away from home.
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Her Husband Lies
Title: Her Husband Lies
Character: 'Trigger'
Released: March 13, 1937
Type: Movie
J. Ward Thomas of Park Avenue leads a double life as an investment broker and as notorious gambler Spade Martin, despite the protests of his beautiful wife Natalie, a nightclub singer who retired when they married. Spade's younger brother "Chick" wires Spade from Seattle that he has quit gambling for a job in real estate and is about to marry a nice girl named Betty. Relieved to find his kid brother is straight, Spade sends him $10,000 cash as a wedding present. When a woman posing as a pregnant wife comes to Spade for a loan, Spade gives it to her. Later, when Steve Burdick, the woman's supposed husband, brags in a bar that he made a fool of Spade, Spade's hit man, Trigger, kills Burdick. Tired of Spade's gambling, Natalie books a return engagement at Cafe Nocturne, telling him that she is a singer rather than a wife now.
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Mind Your Own Business
Title: Mind Your Own Business
Character: Cruger
Released: December 18, 1936
Type: Movie
Nature reporter Orville Shanks retreats to the woods for material for his "Our Wild Friends" column and to volunteer for his favorite cause, the Boy Scouts. When Orville's editor, Crane, orders him to spice up his column, Orville's wife Melba writes a gossip column using animals as metaphors for people. Crane loves Melba's article and gives Orville a raise, and the column becomes a hit.
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Yellow Cargo
Title: Yellow Cargo
Character: Al Perrelli
Released: November 7, 1936
Type: Movie
An investigator looks into the activities of a movie producer he believes is involved in smuggling Asians into the U.S.
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Ellis Island
Title: Ellis Island
Character: Dude
Released: November 4, 1936
Type: Movie
It opens in 1926 when three bank robbers, Theodore Kedrich, Jan Imarski, and Petra Lonelli, stage a daring daylight bank robbery and get away with a million dollars in cash. They are soon apprehended and sent to prison for ten years but the money is not recovered. Flash forward to 1936 when all three men have been released from prison and are about to be deported back to where they came from via the Deportation department at Ellis Island. They arrive by the ferry boat and already on hand to bid them adieu, and possibly learn where they stashed the missing money, is gang leader Dude and his three henchmen, Nails, Moxie and Bugs, and also Kendrich's niece Betty Parker there to bid old Uncle Ted a fond goodbye. Also on Ellis Island is a crook called Solo, who has an upper hand as he has stolen the credentials of a Treasury Agent named Peter James and has access to the prisoners, and has cut a deal with Kendrichs to get him off of Ellis Island.
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Born to Fight
Title: Born to Fight
Character: Smoothy Morgan
Released: November 2, 1936
Type: Movie
An honest boxer refuses to throw a fight for a gambler. They get into a fight and the boxer knocks the gambler out. Thinking he's killed him and believing that the police are after him, the horrified boxer runs off and takes to the road, promising never to box again. However, one day he comes upon a small but scrappy young kid who has the potential to be a champion. The former boxer takes the kid under his wing and trains him, but the kid's ensuing success starts to go to his head. Pretty soon he finds himself mixed up with gamblers, too.
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A Tenderfoot Goes West
Title: A Tenderfoot Goes West
Character: James "Killer" Madden
Released: October 15, 1936
Type: Movie
Wellington Pike, author of 'Wild and Bloody Tales of the West', has never been away from the sedate and civilized East, so he takes a vacation to see the land he knows nothing about. Rancher Ann Keith and her cowhands, who have read and laughed at Pike's "wild" west, decide to give him a shock impression that is even wilder than depicted in his imaginative literary flights. Gang leader "Killer" Madden and his bandits decide to make the staged robberies real ones and Pike is arrested for the crimes Madden has pulled. Written by Les Adams for IMDb.
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It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)
Title: It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)
Character: Smiley Clark
Released: August 1, 1936
Type: Movie
When a play's two producers are murdered, the playwright tries to solve the crime.
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Dancing Pirate
Title: Dancing Pirate
Character: Lt. Chago (Baltazar's Aide)
Released: May 22, 1936
Type: Movie
Jonathan Pride is a mild-mannered dance instructor in 1820 Boston. En route to visit relatives, Jonathan is shanghaied by a band of zany pirates and forced to work as a galley boy. When the pirate vessel arrives at the port of Las Palomas, Jonathan, clad in buccaneer's garb, makes his escape. Everyone in Las Palomas, including Governor Alcalde (Frank Morgan) and fetching senorita Serafina (Steffi Duna), assumes that Jonathan is the pirate chieftain, leading to a series of typical comic-opera complications.
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The Bridge of Sighs
Title: The Bridge of Sighs
Character: Packy Lacy
Released: February 14, 1936
Type: Movie
Assistant District Attorney Jeffery Powell has just sent an innocent man to prison for the murder of a gambler. Powell is in love with, Marion Courtney, but he's unaware that Marion is the sister of the innocent man he sent to prison. Marion gets herself committed to a women's prison to get proof from inmate, Evelyn 'Duchess' Thane, that her brother is innocent. Powell learns of Marion's plight and believes she's in love with the man he sent to prison.
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Strike Me Pink
Title: Strike Me Pink
Character: Mr. Thrust
Released: January 24, 1936
Type: Movie
Meek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters.
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Remember Last Night?
Title: Remember Last Night?
Character: Baptiste Bouclier
Released: October 28, 1935
Type: Movie
After a night of wild partying at a friend's house, a couple wake up to discover the party's host has been murdered in his bed.
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The Spanish Cape Mystery
Title: The Spanish Cape Mystery
Character: Gardner
Released: October 9, 1935
Type: Movie
Ellery Queen's vacation is interrupted when murder strikes next door to his oceanside cabin.
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Waterfront Lady
Title: Waterfront Lady
Character: Tom Braden
Released: October 4, 1935
Type: Movie
When a young man is befriended by a gambling ship operator and made a partner in the business, he becomes involved in a police manhunt after he covers up a murder committed by his new partner.
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His Night Out
Title: His Night Out
Character: Joe Ferranza
Released: October 1, 1935
Type: Movie
When a meek purchasing agent is told by a quack doctor that he only has three months to live, he gets involved with a bank robbery and kidnapped by the gang.
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Special Agent
Title: Special Agent
Character: Jake Andrews
Released: September 14, 1935
Type: Movie
Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Nick Carston. Julie Gardner is Carston's bookkeeper. Bradford enters Carston's organization and Julie cooperates with him to land Carston in jail. An informer squeals on them. Julie is kidnapped by Carston's henchmen as she is about to testify
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Little Big Shot
Title: Little Big Shot
Character: Jack Doré
Released: September 7, 1935
Type: Movie
A con man and his partner inherit a dead gangster's precocious daughter.
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The Daring Young Man
Title: The Daring Young Man
Character: Cubby
Released: July 17, 1935
Type: Movie
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system.
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After the Dance
Title: After the Dance
Character: Mitch
Released: June 25, 1935
Type: Movie
Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses to testify on behalf of her dance partner Jerry Davis (George Murphy), and he's sent to jail. In a riot, a hostile convict (Jack La Rue) forces Jerry to help him escape, so Jerry takes to the streets himself. Nightclub entertainer Anne Taylor (Nancy Carroll) meets him, and convinces her boss Louis (Arthur Hohl) to hire him as her partner.
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Under the Pampas Moon
Title: Under the Pampas Moon
Character: Bazan
Released: June 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Cesare Campo is a hard-riding and hard-loving Argentine gaucho. Yvonne LaMarr is a famous Parisian singer on her way to play an engagement in a Buenos Aires cabaret. THe plane she is flying in is forced to land on the Pampas. Campo and his riders take the passengers to a hotel. Yvonne and Campo quickly fall in love, but she had to leave to make her singing engagement in Buenos Aires. Campo follows her and discovers that his horse that was the favorite to win the Big Race has been stolen.
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The Headline Woman
Title: The Headline Woman
Character: Phil Zarias
Released: May 14, 1935
Type: Movie
When the daughter of a newspaper publisher is falsely charged with murder, a reporter on her father's paper goes into hiding with her. At first hoping to get an exclusive story, the reporter eventually finds himself falling in love and trying to find the real killer.
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Times Square Lady
Title: Times Square Lady
Character: Jack Kramer
Released: March 8, 1935
Type: Movie
A young Iowa woman inherits her late estranged father's New York business, but the dead man's crooked associates think they can outwit the naive heir and seize control.
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Calling All Cars
Title: Calling All Cars
Character: Jerry Kennedy
Released: January 25, 1935
Type: Movie
A reporter out to break up a criminal gang finds time to make a play for a mobster's girlfriend.
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Secret of the Chateau
Title: Secret of the Chateau
Character: Lucien Vonaire
Released: December 3, 1934
Type: Movie
Murder results when a group of houseguests converge on a chateau, each plotting to steal a valuable Gutenberg Bible.
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No Ransom
Title: No Ransom
Character: Larry Romero
Released: October 7, 1934
Type: Movie
In this family comedy, the wealthy executive of a steel company must endure life with a strict, teetotaling wife, a wild daughter, and a deadbeat son. To gain some much needed attention, the lonesome fellow hires a hitman to kill him. Instead, the gunman kidnaps him to frighten the family into appreciating their devoted father.
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Straight Is the Way
Title: Straight Is the Way
Character: Monk
Released: August 10, 1934
Type: Movie
Just out of prison, Benny Horowitz tries to go straight. Things are complicated by his former girlfriend and his former gangster buddies.
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Take the Stand
Title: Take the Stand
Character: George Gaylord
Released: August 7, 1934
Type: Movie
A radio columnist is threatened by gangsters and later murdered during a broadcast. A detective sets out to find the killers.
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The Fighting Rookie
Title: The Fighting Rookie
Character: Patrolman Jim Trent
Released: May 15, 1934
Type: Movie
Patrolman Jim Trent (Jack La Rue) hears the screams of a woman and rushes to her aid in an upstairs apartment. Inside, he is hit on the head and whiskey poured on his uniform. Gangster Louis Cantor (Mathew Betz) and his henchmen have used this ruse to get him off his beat in order to rob a warehouse. The Police Commissioner (DeWitt Jennings), knowing Trent is innocent, suggests he be dismissed from the force and get a job with the gang. At Cantor's swank gambling establishment Trent finds his girlfriend, Molly Malone (Ada Ince), who has been searching for him. With the evidence he has gathered, Trent captures Cantor and calls for the police.
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Good Dame
Title: Good Dame
Character: Bluch Brown
Released: March 16, 1934
Type: Movie
A chorus girl gets stranded in a small midwestern town. Against her better judgement, she hooks up with a smooth-talking con artist who says he can help her get out of town.
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Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen
Title: Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen
Character: Bert
Released: January 12, 1934
Type: Movie
Miss Madeline Fane is a famous California screen star who has been devoted to her baby son Michael since her husband's death the previous year. One morning she awakens to find Michael has been kidnapped. After a day, she calls in the police, who instantly begin an all-out search.
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The Kennel Murder Case
Title: The Kennel Murder Case
Character: Eduardo Grassi
Released: October 28, 1933
Type: Movie
Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.
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To the Last Man
Title: To the Last Man
Character: Jim Daggs
Released: September 15, 1933
Type: Movie
In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison for 15 years for murder. The Haydens head for Nevada and when Colby gets out of prison he heads there also seeking revenge. The head of the Hayden family tries to avoid more killing but the inevitable showdown has to occur, complicated by Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby's plans to marry.
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Headline Shooter
Title: Headline Shooter
Character: Ricci
Released: July 28, 1933
Type: Movie
A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot.
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Gambling Ship
Title: Gambling Ship
Character: Pete Manning
Released: June 23, 1933
Type: Movie
Tired of the dangerous life as gambling boss, Ace Corbin 'retires' from the racket and travels cross-country by train to begin a new life with a new name. On the train, he meets Eleanor and they fall in love. Eleanor is afraid to tell Ace she's a soiled dove and Ace doesn't tell Eleanor of his shady past. Old enemies won't let Ace begin his new life, and old commitments's won't free Eleanor of her sordid ties. Ace's old life and Eleanor's deception collide with the typical results. But love conquers all!
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The Girl in 419
Title: The Girl in 419
Character: Sammy
Released: May 26, 1933
Type: Movie
A hospital surgeon (James Dunn) protects a mystery woman (Gloria Stuart) who knows too much about a card-game murder.
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The Story of Temple Drake
Title: The Story of Temple Drake
Character: Trigger
Released: May 6, 1933
Type: Movie
The coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge is stranded at a bootleggers’ hide-out, subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence, and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely.
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Terror Aboard
Title: Terror Aboard
Character: Gregory Cordoff
Released: April 14, 1933
Type: Movie
An ocean liner is found at sea with everyone on board dead. An investigation is begun to find out what happened.
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42nd Street
Title: 42nd Street
Character: Thug (uncredited)
Released: March 11, 1933
Type: Movie
A producer puts on what may be his last Broadway show, and at the last moment a chorus girl has to replace the star.
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Christopher Strong
Title: Christopher Strong
Character: Carlo
Released: March 9, 1933
Type: Movie
A romance develops between a happily married middle-aged British politician and an adventurous young aviatrix.
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The Woman Accused
Title: The Woman Accused
Character: Little Maxie
Released: February 17, 1933
Type: Movie
Jeffrey and Glenda are two lovers about to embark on a three-day cruise to nowhere. Their plan is to be married on board by the ship's captain. As Glenda is packing to leave, she receives a threatening phone call from her obsessed, former lover Leo. Glenda confronts Leo and tells him that it's over. Leo, a high-powered attorney calls a hit man to have Jeffrey eliminated. Glenda knocks Leo over the head before he can give the hit man a name. Leo is dead. Glenda sneaks back into her apartment, goes off on the cruise with Jeffrey and pretends that all is swell. Leo's partner, Stephen Bessemer, suspects Glenda and follows her to the ship. Bessemer stages a mock trial aboard the ship and cleverly draws a confession from Glenda. Jeffrey, also an attorney, represents Glenda when she is arrested upon arriving on shore. A skeptical district attorney, and the fact that Jeffrey horsewhips the star witness (the hit man), combine to get Glenda completely off the hook.
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20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Title: 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Character: Prisoner at Check-In (uncredited)
Released: December 24, 1932
Type: Movie
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
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Lawyer Man
Title: Lawyer Man
Character: Spike Murphy (uncredited)
Released: December 24, 1932
Type: Movie
Idealistic attorney Anton Adam makes headlines when he successfully prosecutes a prominent New York racketeer named Gilmurry. Adam's sudden renown attracts the attention of high-profile legal eagle Granville Bentley, who asks Adam to become a partner in his law firm. But Adam's rising career takes a nosedive when he's framed by Gilmurry and a sexy actress in a trumped-up breach of promise suit. The only constant in Adam's life is the loyalty and unrequited love of his secretary Olga.
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A Farewell to Arms
Title: A Farewell to Arms
Character: Priest
Released: December 8, 1932
Type: Movie
A tale of the World War I love affair, begun in Italy, between American ambulance driver Lt. Frederic Henry and British nurse Catherine Barkley. Eventually separated by Frederic's transfer, tremendous challenges and difficult decisions face each as the war rages on.
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Man Against Woman
Title: Man Against Woman
Character: Alberti
Released: November 15, 1932
Type: Movie
Johnny McCloud, a tough police inspector given more to fisticuffs than investigating has the hots for torch-singer Lola Parker, but Miss Parker is much taken with a good-looking crook named George Perry. This does not bother McCloud, as he not only gets his man behind bars but takes the man's woman also.
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I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Title: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Character: Ackerman (uncredited)
Released: November 9, 1932
Type: Movie
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
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Three on a Match
Title: Three on a Match
Character: Ace's Henchman (uncredited)
Released: October 29, 1932
Type: Movie
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
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Virtue
Title: Virtue
Character: Toots O'Neil
Released: October 25, 1932
Type: Movie
Given a second chance after her arrest for prostitution, Mae decides to go straight. Mae is soon befriended by kindly cab driver Jimmy Doyle who gets her work at a diner, where she meets Gert, another former prostitute. Mae and Jimmy fall in love, marry and save to buy a small business. Gert then pleads for money from Mae, which results in her unwitting involvement in a crime. Believing Mae has lied and cheated him, Jimmy threatens to leave her.
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The All-American
Title: The All-American
Character: Joe Fiore
Released: October 1, 1932
Type: Movie
The story of the rise and fall of an All-American football player.
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Blessed Event
Title: Blessed Event
Character: Louis De Marco
Released: September 10, 1932
Type: Movie
A New York gossip columnist feuds with a singer and enjoys the power of the press.
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Radio Patrol
Title: Radio Patrol
Character: Slick (uncredited)
Released: June 2, 1932
Type: Movie
A policeman in need of money is persuaded to take a $1000 bribe to stay away the night a packing house is to be robbed.
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While Paris Sleeps
Title: While Paris Sleeps
Character: Julot
Released: May 8, 1932
Type: Movie
To save his daughter Manon from falling into the hands of a vicious gang of pimps, convict Jacques Costard escapes from jail. Jacques' problems are twofold: he must keep Manon from being abducted into a life of prostitution, and he must also hide his true identity from the girl, who has been raised to believe that Jacques died a hero in WWI.
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Night World
Title: Night World
Character: Henchman (uncredited)
Released: May 4, 1932
Type: Movie
"Happy" MacDonald and his unfaithful wife own a Prohibition era night club. On this eventful night, he is threatened by bootleggers, and the club's star dancer falls in love with a young socialite who drinks to forget a personal tragedy, among other incidents.
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The Mouthpiece
Title: The Mouthpiece
Character: Joe Garland (Uncredited)
Released: March 21, 1932
Type: Movie
A prosecutor quits his job and becomes a defense attorney when he finds out that a man he got convicted and executed was actually innocent.
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Follow the Leader
Title: Follow the Leader
Character: A Gangster
Released: December 6, 1930
Type: Movie
Ed Wynn, a waiter, tries to get hit employers daughter a start on the stage; Ginger Rogers replaces Ethel Merman when Merman is kidnapped.
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The House of Terror
Title: The House of Terror
Released: January 1, 1928
Type: Movie
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Fine Manners
Title: Fine Manners
Character: New Year's Eve Celebrant
Released: August 29, 1926
Type: Movie
The film depicts what happens when a rich boy accidentally meets a crude girl on New Year's Eve.
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The King On Main Street
Title: The King On Main Street
Character: Member of King's Retinue in Paris Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
Released: October 24, 1925
Type: Movie
A European Ruler falls in love with an American.
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The Lucky Devil
Title: The Lucky Devil
Character: Prizefight Attendant
Released: July 13, 1925
Type: Movie
Richard Dix, a displayer in a department store, enters a raffle and wins the so-called 'hoodoo' bad-luck automobile formerly owned by the store owner's son, a soul seemingly always in trouble with cops and women. Well, suddenly Dix begins to have the same problem, only he also gets mixed up in the life of Esther Ralston and her Aunt Edna May Oliver. Hilarious misunderstandings and undertakings become the fodder for the day!