George Lessey

Go West

Embezzler, shill, all around confidence man S. Quentin Quale is heading west to find his fortune; he meets the crafty but simple brothers Joseph and Rusty Panello in a train station, where they steal all his money. They're heading west, too, because they've heard you can just pick the gold off the ground. Once there, they befriend an old miner named Dan Wilson whose property, Dead Man's Gulch, has no gold. They loan him their last ten dollars so he can go start life anew, and for collateral, he gives them the deed to the Gulch. Unbeknownst to Wilson, the son of his longtime rival, Terry Turner (who's also in love with his daughter, Eva), has contacted the railroad to arrange for them to build through the land, making the old man rich and hopefully resolving the feud. But the evil Red Baxter, owner of a saloon, tricks the boys out of the deed, and it's up to them - as well as Quale, who naturally finds his way out west anyway - to save the day.

Moon Over Miami

After losing nearly all of an inheritance to taxes, sisters Kay and Barbara Latimer, waitresses at a drive-in restaurant in Texas, scheme to find rich husbands. With the aid of their aunt Susan, the sisters take the last of their money and head to a well-known Miami resort where they soon meet two wealthy young men, Phil and Jeff, who begin a fierce rivalry for Kay, not realizing that Barbara has fallen in love with one of them.

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante

Judge Hardy takes his family to New York City, where Andy quickly falls in love with a socialite. He finds the high society life too expensive, and eventually decides that he liked it better back home.

The Big Boss

Two brothers are separated after the death of their father. One grows up to be a politician, while the other gets involved in corruption.

Sky Murder

This final Carter film is a lot of fun, with Nick (unwillingly, at first) taking on a ring of Fifth Columnists (since this was filmed before the US entered the war, we're not told the villains are Nazis, but it's pretty clear anyway). Of course, the helpful and persistent Bartholomew is at his side--much to Nick's irritation. To further complicate things--and to make them still funnier--Joyce Compton is along for the ride too, as a delightfully brainless "detective" named Christine Cross.

Blossoms in the Dust

Edna marries Texan Sam Gladney, operator of a wheat mill. They have a son, who is killed when very young. Edna discovers by chance how the law treats children who are without parents and decides to do something about it. She opens a home for foundlings and orphans and begins to place children in good homes, despite the opposition of "conservative" citizens, who would condemn illegitimate children for being born out of wedlock. Eventually Edna leads a fight in the Texas legislature to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth records in that state, while continuing to be an advocate for homeless children.

A Divorce of Convenience

Spanish coquette Tula Moliana finds herself encumbered with two husbands, and to get a divorce from the first, Senator Wakefield, she engages Jim Blake, the fiancé of Helen, the senator's daughter, to be her correspondent. Jim agrees to help her but finds himself entangled in a web of deceit and has difficulty in making excuses to Helen for the numerous adventures in which he becomes involved, especially when a jealous rival pursuing Tula threatens his life. Matters are cleared up when Helen discovers he has been victimized, and Tula accepts her first husband. This film is lost.

Roxie Hart

A café in Chicago, 1942. On a rainy night, veteran reporter Homer Howard tells an increasing audience the story of Roxie Hart and the crime she was judged for in 1927.

Forbidden Passage

This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short looks at the U.S. Department of Immigration's efforts to halt the smuggling of illegal aliens into the country. Desperate immigrants, tired of waiting for legal entry, pay exorbitant fees and risk a grisly death to enter by illegal means.

The Golden Fleecing

A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.

Gallant Sons

When a teenager's father is accused of murder, the boy and his high-school classmates set out to find the real killer.

Romeo and Juliet

Thanhouser's version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The Miss They Missed

Professor Pierre is assigned to find a missing heiress whose fortune will go to a worthless relative if she isn't found. He uses most of his dialect ability in the search by posing as a Chinaman, an Englishman, a sailor and a Scotchman, but is unable to find her. He meets his sweetheart at a restaurant and, there, discovers she is the heiress he has been searching for. She breaks off their romance when she finds out she is rich.

We Go Fast

A waitress falls for a foreign businessman (Mohr), while receiving attention from a pair of motorcycle cops, Curtis and Defore. She soon realizes that Mohr is actually a crook and goes back to flirting with her fast cop friends.

Adventure in Washington

A troubled youth is offered the opportunity to serve as a Senate page in Washington, DC.

Soak the Old

Part of MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series, this short film focuses on crimes revolving around pension scams.

Boom Town

Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.

Sweetheart of the Campus

Ruby Keeler teams with the Nelsons (of TV and radio fame) as the singer in Ozzie's band. The setting is a college campus which is suffering from monetary woes, but somehow Ozzie's band manages to attract enough attention to increase the enrollment and keep the school from having to shut down.

Buffalo Bill

Scout William F. Cody marries a U.S. senator's daughter, fights the Cheyenne and leads a Wild West show.

Hope - A Red Cross Seal Story

An elderly bank clerk declines to donate money to a tuberculosis fund, but soon his daughter comes down with the disease.

Durand of the Bad Lands

A remake of a 1917 Dustin Farnum Western, Durand of the Bad Lands is the story a rancher falsely accused of a crime actually committed by Sheriff Clem Allison and his henchman Pete Garson.

White Thunder

The son of a sheriff is caught in the eternal battle between sheepmen and cattle ranchers.

How to Eat

Humorist Robert Benchley discusses the issue of food and how different situations can affect one's ability to consume and digest food, using his stock everyman and slightly bumbling character Joe Doakes to dramatize such situations. Situations that can impede digestion include receiving bad news resulting in stress, being in love, and feeling scared. Snacking or nibbling between meals can ruins one's appetite at meal time. Having the correct posture while eating is important for digestion; finding the right posture can be difficult in certain circumstances, such as being on a picnic or eating in bed (specifically for men when using trays). Sharing tables with staring strangers may also impede digestion. And it's difficult to digest food when one can't get any of it.

At Bear Track Gulch

This western, with its simple story set in a gold mining camp, recycles many of the elements found in David Belasco's influential play, THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST, produced a decade earlier.

The Ambassador's Daughter

The theft of an important document from the ambassador's residence leads his daughter to investigate the crime.

The Passer-by

A random passer-by is invited to a bachelor party of rich men where he tells a tale of loss to those present.

Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout

Henry and his pal Dizzy become Boy Scout leaders, but a spoiled brat in their troop quickly proves to cause them no end of trouble.

Sporting Blood

Myles Vanders feuds with hardnosed stable owner Davis Lockwood. Myles takes revenge by romancing and marrying Lockwood's daughter Linda. But as the big race looms nearer, Myles is distracted to discover that he really loves Linda.

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.

Now, Voyager

A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

One Third of a Nation

The negligent owner of a tenement slum becomes romantically involved with one of the building's residents.

Laugh Your Blues Away

Hired actors posing as Russian royalty complicate a social-climbing mother's efforts to fix up her son with the daughter of a wealthy Texas rancher.

Dixie Dugan

Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dollar a year man," is late for a radio broadcast about his new department, the Mobilization of Woman Power for War. He takes a cab driven by Dixie Dugan, who hopes that being a cabbie while the country's men are away fighting will help the war effort. Her incompetent driving, however, results in an accident for which Roger must take responsibility in order to reach the radio station in time. Dixie then returns home, where she lives with her father Timothy, who is constantly practicing his air raid warden duties, her mother Gladys, an aspiring Red Cross worker, and cousin Imogene, who studies incessantly to become a "quiz kid." The Dugans rent out their spare rooms to Dixie's fiancé, Matt Hogan, and to blustering Judge J. J. Lawson. Matt, who works in a munitions factory, wants Dixie to settle down and marry him, but Dixie is determined to help her country.

Edison, the Man

In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.

Pistol Packin' Mama

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.

The Gay Sisters

The eldest of three sisters protects their Fifth Avenue mansion from a developer she once married.

Strike Up the Band

Jimmy and Mary get a group of kids together to play in a school orchestra. A huge contest between schools is coming up and they have a hard time raising money to go to Chicago for the contest.

Hullabaloo

A radio actor faces trouble when a science-fiction story causes the audience to panic.

Dr. Kildare's Strange Case

Kildare tries brain surgery, advised by Dr. Gillespie, and faces a rival for nurse Lamont.

Patria

Spies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United States, beginning in New York, then allying themselves with Mexicans across the border. They are stopped by the efforts of munitions factory heiress Patria Channing and U.S. Secret Service agent Donald Parr.

At the Masquerade Ball

A short comedy about the romance between Margaret and John. At a masked ball at the home of John's mother, Margaret is suspected of stealing jewellery. When the misunderstanding is cleared up, nothing more stands in the way of their romance.

A Soldier's Duty

Lieutenant John Miller, U.S.A., receives a note from his southern sweetheart chiding him for not getting through the enemy's lines to visit her. His pride determines him, and going to his general he asks leave of absence. The general tells Miller that leave of absence will be given him on condition that he purposely gets captured in his fiancée's home with a decoy dispatch on him.

The High Cost of Living

Forbidden from marrying the man she loves by her wealthy businessman father because he is too poor Mildred Lord determines to find a solution. Attempting to live within the means her fiancée could afford, she finds the cost of food exorbitantly high and begins a campaign to force the prices down including taking on her father’s own company.

Birthright

After graduating from Harvard University, Peter Siner returns to his small Tennessee hometown, where he hopes to start a school for black children.

A Romance of the Rails

For years, William West has been living in a little house owned by the railroad. He has never paid rent. One day, railroad employee. George Lessey is ordered to go collect back rent. When he arrives, he discovers two things: West has no intention of paying any money, and he has a pretty niece staying with him, Bessie Learn.

Good Bad Boys

Alfalfa and the gang decide to turn to a life of crime, but Spanky tries to trick them with a fake burglary.

Blonde Inspiration

A writer of pulp Westerns cranks out more words than his editor and publisher want to pay for.

Men of Boys Town

Father Flanagan raises funds, helps a disabled boy, and saves an older boy from reform school.

None Shall Escape

Through flashbacks going as far back as the end of WW1, the story of a Nazi war criminal is exposed during his trial.

Mission to Moscow

Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.

The Pride of the Yankees

The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.

Bride by Mistake

The staggeringly wealthy Norah Hunter, a shipyard owner, too often finds herself the romantic target of gold-digging men. To attract a suitor whose main interest is not money, she changes places with her secretary, Sylvia Lockwood, and assumes the role of a young working woman. However, she then falls for recuperating fighter pilot Anthony Travis, who, in turn, is madly in love with Sylvia -- or, perhaps, with the millions he thinks she has.

Rings on Her Fingers

Susan Miller works behind the girdle counter in a department store and dreams about the beautiful clothes and glamour she can never hope to have. Enter May Worthington and Warren, a pair of con artists who pose as the mother and uncle of a pretty girl in order to separate millionaires from their money. They convince Susan she has an opportunity to fulfill all her dreams, and the trio heads for Palm Beach. Susan meets John Wheeler who says he is shopping for a sailboat. Believing that he is a millionaire, Warren and May sell him a boat that doesn't belong to them, and make off with his $15,000 life savings. Looking for greener pastures, they work themselves into the family of wealthy Tod Fenwick, who falls for Sue, posing as "Linda Worthington". But John shows up as a guest of Fenwick and he tells "Linda", not knowing she was part of the scam, that he has a detective after the fake captain that sold him the boat...

It Is the Law

This silent mystery is considered a lost film.

Bashful Ballerina

Miss Klutz is the worst dancer that has ever enrolled at the school ran by Maestro Boris Cobblier, and he is even considering giving her money back to get rid of her, a consideration not to his financial liking. But the owner of a competing dance school has lost her prize dancer and calls on Cobblier with a request to borrow one of his dancers. Seeing a way to kill two birds with one stone---get rid of Miss Klutz and ruin a competitor---he gladly loans Miss Klutz out. But things don't work out just as he had planned.

Why Girls Leave Home

Mr. Hedder is an old fashioned man who will not let his daughter Anna own an evening gown, but she is given one by a friend who is a model. Hedder believes that she stole it and confers with Mr. Wallace, the owner of the store. On Wallace's advice, Hedder hits Anna, causing her to leave home and move in with some gold diggers.

School Days

A naive young man raised poor in a small town, comes to New York City to make his fortune. Overwhelmed by the city's hustle and bustle, and entranced by the rich and sophisticated high-society types he comes into contact with, he eventually finds himself caught up in the city's seedy underworld.

The Harvest Moon

Madame Vavin dies alone in a small French village without knowledge of her second marriage in England known to anyone. Consequentially her first husband James Fullerton and his tyrannical sister Cornelia take custody of her young daughter Dora. The puritanical pair take Dora to America but disapprove of her spirited nature especially when Dora decides upon a theatrical career. On stage, Dora meets and falls in love with playwright Willard Holcomb, but the fears implanted by Fullerton and his sister make Dora incapable of romantic commitment. As she despairs of her fate, Professor Vavin, who has spent years searching for Dora, discovers his daughter and explains there is nothing to fear from love. Her confidence thus restored, Dora can continue with her life.

The Silent Command

A distinguished young Naval officer from a celebrated military falls prey to a terrorist and his seductress accomplice bent on destroying the Panama Canal.

The Fool

The Rector of a wealthy church loses the sympathy and support of parishioners when he preaches the doctrine of Christ to sacrifice worldly goods. He establishes a mission among the lower classes and, although he is beaten for his efforts, he gains happiness by doing good.