George Brent
George Brent (born George Brendan Nolan; 15 March 1904 – 26 May 1979) was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor.
Brent was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway in 1904 to John J. and Mary (née McGuinness) Nolan. His mother was a native of Clonfad, Moore, County Roscommon.
Brent made his first film, Under Suspicion, in 1930. Over the next two years, he appeared in a number of minor films produced by Universal Studios and Fox, before being signed to contract by Warner Bros. in 1932. He remained at Warner Bros. for the next 20 years, carving out a successful career as a top-flight leading man during the late 1930s and 1940s.
Highly regarded by Bette Davis, he became her most frequent male co-star, appearing with her in 13 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), Ginger Rogers in In Person (1935), 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 So Big! (1932), The Purchase Price (1932), Baby Face (1933), 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, having appeared on the religion anthology series Crossroads. He was cast in the lead in the 1956 television series Wire Service. In 1978, he made one last film, the made-for-television production Born Again.
In 1960, Brent was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars. He received a motion-pictures star located at 1709 Vine Street, and a second star located at 1612 Vine Street for his work in television.
Brent was married five times: Helen Louise Campbell (1925–1927), Ruth Chatterton (1932–1934), Constance Worth (1937), Ann Sheridan (1942–1943), and Janet Michaels (1947–1974). His final marriage to Janet Michaels, a former model and dress designer, lasted 27 years until her death in 1974. They had a son and a daughter.
Brent also carried on a lengthy relationship with his frequent Warner Bros. co-star, actress Bette Davis, who described her last meeting with Brent after many years of estrangement. He was suffering from advanced emphysema, and she expressed great sadness at his ill health and deterioration. George Brent died in 1979 in Solana Beach, California.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 1.3229 |
| Birthday | 1904-03-15 |
| Place of Birth | Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland |
| Also Known As | George Brendan Nolan, George B. Nolan, George Nolan, George Patrick Nolan, |
1933
42nd Street
6.917/223
Broadway director Julian Marsh needs just one more hit show so he can retire and recover his health. It looks like he just may pull it off until tempe...
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42nd Street
2006
Jezebel: Legend of the South
7/1
Short documentary about the making of the 1938 film "Jezebel."
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Jezebel: Legend of the South
1938
Jezebel
7/225
In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.
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Jezebel
1944
Experiment Perilous
5.776/38
In 1903, Doctor Huntington Bailey meets a friendly older lady during a train trip. She tells him that she is going to visit her brother Nick and his l...
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Experiment Perilous
1946
The Spiral Staircase
7/283
On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.
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The Spiral Staircase
1942
You Can't Escape Forever
6/6
A demoted reporter (George Brent) and his girlfriend (Brenda Marshall) seek to expose a crime kingpin.
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You Can't Escape Forever
1933
Baby Face
7.241/160
A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her hap...
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Baby Face
1939
Dark Victory
6.942/165
Socialite Judith Traherne lives a lavish but emotionally empty life. Riding horses is one of her few joys, and her stable master is secretly in love w...
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Dark Victory
1942
In This Our Life
6.931/58
An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.
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In This Our Life
1949
Illegal Entry
5.813/8
Long before he became producer/director of The Tonight Show, Fred DeCordova helmed the Universal meller Illegal Entry. Howard Duff, who later worked w...
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Illegal Entry
1941
The Great Lie
7.009/53
After a newlywed's husband apparently dies in a plane crash, she discovers that her rival for his affections is pregnant with his child.
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The Great Lie
1935
The Right to Live
4.929/7
A man with a broken back dies after his wife has an affair with his brother.
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The Right to Live
1934
Stamboul Quest
5.2/11
In 1915, German Counter-Intelligence Chief Von Sturm learns that someone is providing the British with critical strategic planning for the Turkish the...
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Stamboul Quest
1946
Temptation
5/13
After marrying an archaeologist, a Victorian-era woman with a sordid past realizes that she is not ready to settle down with one man.
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Temptation
1946
Tomorrow Is Forever
6.279/43
In 1918, Elizabeth MacDonald learns that her husband, John Andrew, has been killed in the war. Elizabeth bears John's son and eventually marries her k...
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Tomorrow Is Forever
1939
The Old Maid
7.044/57
The lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.
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The Old Maid
1931
The Lightning Warrior
6.333/3
A Rin-Tin-Tin serial presented in 12 episodes. The mysterious Wolf Man is terrorizing settlers in a western town. With the help of Rinty, young Jimmy...
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The Lightning Warrior
1952
The Last Page
5.86/25
A married bookstore owner is blackmailed after he makes a pass at his new sexy blonde clerk.
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The Last Page
1934
The Painted Veil
6.4/39
The wife of a doctor in China falls in love with a diplomat.
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The Painted Veil
1935
Special Agent
6.2/14
A federal tax agent goes undercover as a reporter and, working with a mobster's pretty bookkeeper, infiltrates a crime ring to catch the racketeer. Wh...
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Special Agent
1940
The Fighting 69th
5.8/28
Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove hi...
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The Fighting 69th
1933
Female
6.3/32
Alison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engin...
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Female
1932
The Purchase Price
6.5/28
Nightclub singer Joan Gordon runs away from her gangster boyfriend to become a mail-order bride to a struggling North Dakota farmer. Their relationshi...
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The Purchase Price
1942
The Gay Sisters
6.6/9
The eldest of three sisters protects their Fifth Avenue mansion from a developer she once married.
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The Gay Sisters
1938
Racket Busters
5.563/16
A trucker with a pregnant wife fights a New York mobster's protection racket.
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Racket Busters
1947
Christmas Eve
5.4/15
The greedy nephew of eccentric Matilda Reid seeks to have her judged incompetent so he can administer her wealth, but she will be saved if her three l...
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Christmas Eve
1933
Lilly Turner
5.5/12
One woman faces many trials on the road to romance after unwittingly marrying a bigamist, then a carnival barker, and then falling for a young enginee...
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Lilly Turner
1932
They Call It Sin
6.045/11
A young, innocent small-town church organist is thrown out of her home, told she was adopted, and that her mother was an evil woman. She follows a cru...
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They Call It Sin
1948
Luxury Liner
5.833/6
Capt. Jeremy Bradford has a particularly exciting luxury liner cruise in store when he's charged with transporting a troupe of opera singers to Rio de...
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Luxury Liner
1952
Montana Belle
6.3/8
Oklahoma outlaw Belle Starr meets the Dalton gang when rescued from lynching by Bob Dalton, who falls for her. So do gang member Mac and wealthy saloo...
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Montana Belle
1932
So Big!
5.8/17
A farmer's widow takes on the land and her late husband's tempestuous son.
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So Big!
1931
Homicide Squad
8/1
The police use a gangster's son to get to him.
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Homicide Squad
1946
My Reputation
7.3/22
Tongues begin to wag when a lonely widow becomes romantically involved with a military man. Problems arise when the gossip is filtered down to her own...
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My Reputation
1932
The Rich Are Always with Us
5.35/10
A wealthy couple's marriage is falling apart due to the man's infidelity. The wife's male friend has long loved her and sees his big opportunity.
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The Rich Are Always with Us
1941
Honeymoon for Three
6.286/7
Noted writer Kenneth Bixby, in love with his witty secretary Anne Rogers, is on a book tour when he meets up with a former college fling with a loopy...
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Honeymoon for Three
1939
Wings of the Navy
6.167/6
Jerry tries to out compete his older brother Cass, a lieutenant Naval aviator. Cass is both tough on and protective of his brother, but Jerry can give...
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Wings of the Navy
1942
Silver Queen
6/8
A beautiful heiress is an excellent poker player. Her comfortable life changes when her father and his fortune die during market crash of the 1800's.
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Silver Queen
1951
FBI Girl
6.2/9
G-men grab a gangster and a governor thanks to a clerk in the fingerprints division.
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FBI Girl
1938
Out Where the Stars Begin
6.75/6
When the ballerina star of a musical feature walks off in a huff, aided by the fit-throwing director, her understudy steps in and a star is born.
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Out Where the Stars Begin
1937
God's Country and the Woman
5.2/5
Hard-nosed Jefferson Russett runs a logging company; his brother, Steve, is the prodigal son. Steve becomes stranded on the competition's property and...
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God's Country and the Woman
1933
Luxury Liner
7.2/4
This drama offers a few slices from the lives of those who live, work, and travel upon a luxurious trans-atlantic ocean liner.
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Luxury Liner
1940
The Man Who Talked Too Much
6.4/5
A young law graduate joins his older brother's legal practice, only to discover the firm's clients are mostly mobsters.
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The Man Who Talked Too Much
1939
The Rains Came
6.1/28
Indian aristocrat Rama Safti returns from medical training in the U.S. to give his life to the poor folk of Ranchipur. Lady Edwina and her drunken art...
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The Rains Came
1932
Week-End Marriage
5.5/6
In this comedy, a hard-working husband loses his job and his wife becomes the bread winner.
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Week-End Marriage
1940
'Til We Meet Again
6.4/10
Dying Joan Ames meets criminal Dan Hardesty on a luxury liner as he is being transported back to America by policeman Steve Burke to face execution. J...
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'Til We Meet Again
1934
Desirable
7.5/6
A man meets the daughter of his lover and they begin to fall in love.
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Desirable
1937
Mountain Justice
6.333/3
Stalwart Appalachian woman finds romance as she struggles to better herself and her people amid prejudice and familial abuse.
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Mountain Justice
1935
The Goose and the Gander
4.667/9
When Georgiana Summers learns that the woman who stole and married her husband is planning a romantic tryst with a new love, she hatches a giddy plot...
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The Goose and the Gander
1940
Adventure in Diamonds
6/5
A government pilot (George Brent) falls for a woman (Isa Miranda) helping her partner (John Loder) smuggle diamonds out of South Africa.
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Adventure in Diamonds
1949
Red Canyon
5.8/5
A horse breeder's daughter falls for a cowboy out to capture the stallion she aims to ride.
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Red Canyon
1938
Swingtime in the Movies
6/14
In this musical short, a waitress at the Warner Bros. commissary gets her big break.
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Swingtime in the Movies
1935
Front Page Woman
5.9/17
Ace reporter Curt Devlin and fellow reporter Ellen Garfield love one another, but Curt believes women are "bum newspapermen". When a murder investigat...
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Front Page Woman
1947
The Corpse Came C.O.D.
6.5/4
Rival reporters (George Brent, Joan Blondell) investigate a Hollywood star (Adele Jergens) and the box she receives with a dead man inside.
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The Corpse Came C.O.D.
1937
Submarine D-1
5/7
Butch Rogers and Sock McGillis are old submarine hands stationed in Panama. On land, Butch and Sock battle over pretty Ann Sawyer. At sea and underwat...
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Submarine D-1
1941
They Dare Not Love
7.5/2
An Austrian prince flees his homeland when the Nazis take over and settles in London. He meets a beautiful Austrian émigré who makes him realize his m...
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They Dare Not Love
1938
Secrets of an Actress
6/6
Two architects lose their heads over a glamorous actress.
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Secrets of an Actress
1945
The Affairs of Susan
6.5/10
Susan is about to be married, but the wedding may get called off after her fiancé summons three former beaus. Each reveals a different portrait of Sus...
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The Affairs of Susan
1935
In Person
6.8/4
Carol Corliss, a beautiful movie star so insecure about her celebrity that she goes around in disguise, meets a rugged outdoorsman who is unaffected b...
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In Person
1935
Stranded
6/6
A Traveler's Aid worker who delights in solving people's problems gets mixed up with gangsters.
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Stranded
1932
The Crash
5.5/6
Linda Gault is a luxury loving wife who casually seduces other men while getting investment tips from one of her lovers.
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The Crash
1934
Housewife
7.25/12
Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patric...
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Housewife
1932
Miss Pinkerton
5.9/12
Scion of the once-rich Mitchell family, Herbert Wynn is found shot to death. Nurse Adams, bored by hospital routine, is recruited by the police to fer...
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Miss Pinkerton
1936
Give Me Your Heart
5.875/8
An American lawyer's wife is reunited with her child and his father, an English nobleman.
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Give Me Your Heart
1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
7/3
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival fo...
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1936
More Than a Secretary
6.538/13
When the co-owner of a secretarial school visits a magazine editor to find out why he runs through secretaries, she's mistaken for an applicant. Drawn...
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More Than a Secretary
1936
The Case Against Mrs. Ames
5/7
An attorney falls for the woman he's representing on a murder charge.
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The Case Against Mrs. Ames
1933
From Headquarters
6.125/8
When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.
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From Headquarters
1936
The Golden Arrow
6.3/12
A fake heiress marries a common reporter to thwart the advances of gold-digging playboys.
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The Golden Arrow
1933
The Keyhole
5/17
A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he's been hired to frame.
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The Keyhole
1947
Slave Girl
7.5/2
Tongue-in-cheek adventure tale of an American attempting to free sailors held as hostages and becoming involved in middle-East tribal wars.
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Slave Girl
1935
Living on Velvet
5.857/7
A lay-about falls for his best friend's fiancee. The two of them run away from a life of privilege to one of middle-class normalcy. When an influx of...
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Living on Velvet
1938
Gold Is Where You Find It
6.95/10
Colonel Ferris, a wealthy farmer in northern California, is strongly opposed to hydraulic mining, a new method developed during the gold rush of the 1...
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Gold Is Where You Find It
1936
Snowed Under
7.4/5
Alan Tanner's new play opens in a week, but he just can't finish the third act. He's retreated to a snowbound cottage to work, but blonde neighbor Pat...
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Snowed Under
1937
The Go-Getter
6.2/5
A Navy veteran with one leg fights to make himself a success.
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The Go-Getter
1946
Lover Come Back
7.125/4
A wife decides to take revenge when she learns her husband has been unfaithful.
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Lover Come Back
1940
South of Suez
4.6/5
Greedy diamond mine owner Eli Snedeker, resentful that his ex-foreman John Gamble stopped him from taking over kindly, but drunken, mine owner Roger S...
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South of Suez
1948
Angel on the Amazon
5.143/7
An expedition exploring the Amazon jungle comes across a jungle goddess who lives among the animals and fears none of them--and apparently has found t...
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Angel on the Amazon
1978
Born Again
9/2
Having been imprisoned for his part in the Watergate scandal, Charles Colson undergoes a religious conversion.
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Born Again
1949
Bride for Sale
7/4
Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she can find a suitable husband by inspecting their cl...
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Bride for Sale
1931
Ex-Bad Boy
8/1
A man gets in trouble with his girlfriend when a beautiful movie star and her fiance come to his small town.
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Ex-Bad Boy
1939
Land of Liberty
9/1
This film tells the history of the United States from pre-Revolution through 1939.
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Land of Liberty
1931
Once a Sinner
8/1
As Diana Barry is preparing to leave New York to marry inventor Tommy Mason she is offered financial assistance from her ex-lover Dick Kent, who still...
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Once a Sinner
1949
The Kid from Cleveland
6.5/2
Johnny Barrows, a young man heading toward a life of juvenile delinquency as his home life spirals out of control, sneaks into the 1948 World Series a...
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The Kid from Cleveland
1947
Out of the Blue
6.5/14
Set in an apartment building whose occupants include Arthur Earthleigh, a meek and mild type married to the beautiful-but-domineering Mae; a Bohemian...
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Out of the Blue
1953
Mexican Manhunt
6.167/3
Los Angeles, 1953. The author David L. "Dave" Brady wants to bring a missed ex-newspaperman back to Los Angeles. Therefore Dave has to travel to Mexic...
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Mexican Manhunt
1936
Breakdowns of 1936
0/0
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1936.
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Breakdowns of 1936
1941
International Lady
6.6/9
Tim Hanley, an American agent, posing as a lawyer with the United States Embassy in London, and Reggie Oliver, a Scotland Yard detective, posing as a...
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International Lady
1994
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
0/0
Share the magical memories - and see clips from her Oscar winning performances - in this profile of the "First Lady of the American screen."
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Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
1942
Twin Beds
3.833/6
Mike Abbott just wants to spend a quiet evening at home with his wife, but her collection of zany friends make hash of his hopes.
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Twin Beds
1931
Charlie Chan Carries On
7/4
Charlie steps in to solve the murder of a wealthy American found dead in a London hotel. Settings include London, Nice, San Remo, Honolulu and Hong Ko...
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Charlie Chan Carries On
1938
Breakdowns of 1938
5.8/4
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.
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Breakdowns of 1938
1935
Things You Never See on the Screen
5.25/4
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1935.
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Things You Never See on the Screen
1935
A Dream Comes True
6.25/4
A promotional short to hype the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).
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A Dream Comes True
1937
Breakdowns of 1937
6/3
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1937.
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Breakdowns of 1937
1944
Breakdowns of 1944
6.5/2
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1944.
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Breakdowns of 1944
1940
Breakdowns of 1940
4/1
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1940.
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Breakdowns of 1940
1931
Fair Warning
9/1
This George O'Brien western is based on a novel by Max Brand, previously filmed as the 1920 Tom Mix vehicle The Untamed. Cast as devil-may-car Whistli...
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Fair Warning
1956
Death of a Scoundrel
6/25
A Czech refugee uses women to advance his business interest.
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Death of a Scoundrel
1953
Tangier Incident
7/2
Steve Gordon, an American agent posing as a black market operator, is in Tangier on a mission to stop the plans of three atomic-scientists who are the...
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Tangier Incident
1930
Under Suspicion
8/1
A group of Canadian Royal Mounted Police officers arrive home after serving overseas with the Allied Army. After enjoying a birthday banquet for the a...
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Under Suspicion
1942
Breakdowns of 1942
6/1
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942.
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Breakdowns of 1942
1925
The Iron Horse
6.784/81
Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will...
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