Otto Fries

The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country.

A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans.

When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she and her group of friends prove them wrong.

A dangerous amnesiac escapes from an asylum, hides in the opera house, and is suspected of getting revenge on those who tried to murder him 13 years ago.

Classical violinist Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls in love with the band's singer, Stella, but his reluctance to lose her leads him to thwart her efforts to become a solo star. When the World War separates them in 1917, Stella marries Roger's best friend and, when Roger returns home after the war, an important concert at Carnegie Hall brings the corners of the romantic triangle together.

In this musical, a songwriter goes to court to claim the rights to his song that was stolen by an unscrupulous music publisher. He brings his girlfriend with him. Also going to court are the Jubilee singers, hillbillies, and some cowboys and Indians who demonstrate that the composer wrote his song by rearranging four folk tunes. He wins his song back and $50,000 in damages. Songs include: "Heading Home," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," "Tender Is the Night," "You're My Thrill," "I'm Bound for Heaven," and "The Army Band."

Bonnie Brewster and "Packy" Campbell, rival reporters on competing newspapers, team up to put an end to a smuggling gang that brings illegal aliens to the United States, and then makes further victims of them by extortion payments. They go to Vancouver, Canada and board a ship carrying aliens. But the gang recognizes them as reporters and gang-henchmen Tony Scula (Ralf Harolde) and Ira Conklin take them off the ship. But Campbell recognizes Scula as the gunman who killed Carmen Zoro.

Dreamy little comedy as down-on-his-luck Ham looks for work, gets thrown out of his rooming house and tries to make it on the street -- in the best, gag-filled 20s comedy style.

Elna Curry, once a concert pianist, develops an unfounded jealousy of neighbor, Trudie Morrow. Elna who suffers from neurasthenia, believes that Trudie is having an affair with her husband, John, and vows revenge on Trudie. John explains to Trudie Elna's condition and plan. Trudie, being good-hearted tells John that she'll move. One evening, John returns late from work to discover Elna dead. John burns Elna's suicide note to protect Trudie. This results in John being charged for murder and put on trial.

Hard-boiled newspaper reporter Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) goes a bit too far in celebrating a work bonus and wakes up on a train bound for St. Louis with only a buck on his person. To remedy the problem, Doyle pawns the revolver he's carrying. When the gun is subsequently used in a murder, Doyle's problems only multiply. In the meantime, he's also fallen in love with a comely stranger (Maxine Doyle) he convinced to impersonate his wife.

Two reporters pose as man and wife in order to get the goods on a munitions supplier and the rumours of war in Europe.

Action-filled drama about a ship captain, ashamed of his background in the slave trade, forced against his will to again transport human cargo.

Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.

Mishaps befall a new home owner located next door to an insane asylum.

The gang trades places with a group of orphans about to take a train ride.

Sent as a missionary to cannibals, Lloyd Hamilton boards a ship, but encounters many problems along the voyage.

Jackie gets in a duel over the affections of Mary Ann.

In this early comedy from John Ford, Riley is a New York Irish cop sent to Germany to track down a young man who stole money from a local bakery.

Two lazy screenwriters need a story for the studio's cowboy star. A studio waitress turns out to be pregnant. This gives them the idea for a movie about a cowboy and a baby. The waitress's baby becomes the star. The cowboy and his agent run off with the waitress and her valuable asset. The writers retaliate by hiring an unemployed extra to impersonate the baby's father. But the extra already knows the waitress...

A 1923 silent comedy.

A young husband leaves his river shantyboat community in Pecan Point, Tennessee and travels to New Orleans in search of his runaway wife.

A diver saves his best friend's life but loses his own arm in doing so. Later, unable to find work because of his missing arm, he is forced to go to work for a criminal searching for lost treasures. Meanwhile his friend, who has since become a policeman, finds himself assigned to break up the crook's operation and bring in his gang--including the man who saved his life.

Unable to get work in her home country, Laurine Lynne (Beverly Roberts) travels to Vienna where her press agent, Joe Craig (Allyn Joslyn), convinces her to marry royalty. The lucky fellow is Prince Rupert (Patric Knowles), an impoverished nobleman now working as a waiter. Do the two of them fall in love despite this marriage of convenience?

Drummond's girlfriend is kidnapped by his enemies and he along with his friend Nielsen, an inspector from Scotland Yard, follow the trail and try to rescue her from the kidnappers.

When a bank is robbed, a not-so-bright teller is wrongly suspected of being part of the holdup team. Comedy.

After a misunderstanding between a well-to-do young man and the girl he wanted to marry, he decides to arbitrarily marry the first random girl that will accept him. This proves harder that he he thought, and late at night and groggy, he gets into his house after some trouble and help from the police, only to realize he's not in his house, but trapped in a strange one with a married woman.

The short starts with a duel in the Old South wherein a man inadvertently saves one of the duelist's lives for which he is given a watch. Years pass and we next see the grandson, impoverished and heading to the big city for work (taking the watch with him). His ma gives him a pigeon in case he wants to send a message back home. The watch is the key to getting a fortune and a vamp and her cohort want it.

No description available.

A woman and a man vying for a woman's affection: the usual love trio? Not quite so since the belle in question is Lorraine de Grissac, a very wealthy and alluring society woman, while one of the two rivals is none other than Arsène Lupin, the notorious jewel thief everybody thought dead, now living under the assumed name of René Farrand. As for the other suitor he is an American, a former F.B.I. sleuth turned private eye by the name of Steve Emerson. Steve not only suspects Farrand of being Lupin but when someone attempts to steal a precious emerald necklace from Lorraine's uncle, Count de Brissac, he is persuaded Lupin is the culprit. Is Emerson right or wrong? Which of the two men will win over Lorraine's heart?

A riotous comedy of social errors, as absurd as a butler's whiskers.

Soap-opera about a social-climbing Jewish man and his old-world parents who are heartbroken by his rejection of them. Young Morris Goldfish follows his immigrant father into business. His ruthless business practices cause him to become a big success, and he moves the family to Park Avenue. They go, but were happier back on the East Side. Morris is ashamed of this parents and his humble origins, but learns in the end that there is more to life than money.

Broadway star Jimmy Canfield stars in a patriotic show on the great white way during WWI. He plays the heroic soldier, but he is doesn't want to join the Army. To evade some troubles with fellow actress Berenice, he acts like joining the forces going over there, but that turns out to be real. In France he falls in love with a French barmaid and is arrested as spy. He escapes from prison, only to end in the uniform of a German officer leading "his" soldiers in an Allied trap. But being escaped from prison and wearing the enemy's uniform isn't that healthy in wartime.

Following their initial pairing in early 1927, Laurel and Hardy ended their first year on top. Their success moving into 1928 galvanized the efforts of everyone at Hal Roach Studios (including famed director Leo McCarey), who proudly upped their game in support of the winning comedy duo. Whether wreaking accidental havoc as a two-man band, doing battle against one another as millionaire and butler, or even becoming grave robbers for a mad scientist, Laurel and Hardy prove in their second year that they have what it takes to not only win over audiences in the twilight of the silent era, but generate enough momentum to make a successful transition to “talkies” in 1929.

Two young women, Zasu and Thelma, complain that all of their dates take them to Coney Island. The next day a car goes by and they are splashed with mud. The driver stops and offers to buy them some new clothes. They accept the offer and later agree to go on a date.

Two men running a carnival airplane ride are hired to fly to retrieve what they think are photos for a reporter. Actually, they are retrieving diamonds stolen from a noted gem dealer. As it turns out, their plane crashes on the very estate of the dealer. Thinking the duo are police officers, the dealer offers his home for their convalescence from the accident. Meanwhile, the diamonds have been snatched by a kleptomaniac dog and buried on the estate. When the smugglers track down the pair, they try to convince the dealer that they are officials from an institution from which the two have escaped. Before long, the carnival fellows, the crooks, the gem dealer and his family, along with a platoon of cops, are tearing up the grounds to find where the dog has buried the diamonds.

During World War I, an Austrian officer is trapped behind the Russian lines. He tries to sneak through to his own lines, but is forced to take refuge in a small hotel, where he is hidden by the establishment's chambermaid. The two fall in love, but a Russian general makes the hotel his headquarters and sets his sights on the maid. In addition, the Austrian must find out the identity of a spy who is feeding the Russians military information that could lead to the destruction of the Austrian army.

Harold Lloyd starred in the successful Lonesome Luke series. However, he soon grew tired of the obvious Charlie Chaplin imitation. In an attempt to reinvent himself, Lloyd donned a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, and thus, a new comedy legend was born. Setting himself against Chaplin, Lloyd's "glasses character" was an everyman, a resourceful go-getter who embodied the ambitious, success-seeking attitude of 1920s America.

The gang goes to a circus sideshow to visit Dickie, Dorothy, and Spanky's uncle, mistakenly believing he is "The Wild Man from Borneo."

A simpleton finds love but can't get past a pesky dog and some no-good kids.

Bang! is a 1921 silent comedy

Jim Fowler is Western University's football hero and is constantly besieged by reporters. Jim's father Ezra comes to visit him and becomes reacquainted with an old Western football chum, Mr. Chandler, who happens to be the father of Jim's girlfriend Joan. Jim keeps his roommate, Andy, busy by sending him to collect money on their laundry concessions business, even though Andy is desperately trying to meet his girlfriend Thelma, who has just come for a visit. When the coach tells Chandler and Fowler that Jim is nervous and erratic, Chandler invites Jim to spend the night before the big game at his home.

The story of Helen and Warren's marriage from courtship to parenthood.

A man, accidentally locked out of his house is mistaken for a burglar as he attempts to re-enter the house. The gag is that the person mistaking him, is an actual burglar thinking the man to be a rival to his score.

The gang is playing around the railroad station, and Joe and Chubby's father, an engineer, lectures against the kids playing in such a dangerous area. True to his word, after Joe and Chubby's father leaves, a crazy man starts a train with most of the kids on it, save for Farina who is nearly run over several times. Once Farina manages to climb aboard himself, the kids attempt to stop the runaway locomotive, but have no luck until the engine crashes into a grocery truck. As it turns out, however, the entire incident is revealed to be a dream Farina had as Joe and Chubby's father lectured the kids about rail-yard safety.

Tired of going to school, Breezy comes up with a plan to get himself expelled.

A Lloyd Hamilton slapstick comedy directed by Charley Chase.

Long lost German language version of the Laurel & Hardy film "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case". When Stan's rich uncle Ebeneezer dies and leaves behind a large estate, they think their days of living off the fish they catch are numbered. But they soon learn that Ebeneezer has been murdered. All relatives, including Stan, are under suspicion.

Lige Conley is a newspaper reporter covering a demonstration of a new invention to some money-men. The inventors boss wants to get the credit for the device and crosses the wires so that it doesn't work right. Lige's sweetheart is the daughter of the inventor, and Lige sets out to help out.

A young woman who owns a coffee shop falls for a handsome young customer, unaware that he is a gangster.

When Thelma is stopped by a cop for speeding, she tries to get out of it by telling him that she and Zasu are on their way to the hospital.

Returning from the war, Tom Mason rides square into a raging feud between the his family and the neighboring Brady gang.

Farina plans a going-away party for Stymie as authorities prepare to place him in an orphanage.

Thelma and Zazu are on a leisurely excursion in a borrowed car. Thelma lets Zazu drive. When she brakes to avoid a bull pulled along by three rustics, her foot gets stuck and the car crashes through a barn. The barn's owner won't let them leave without paying damages. The gals hoof it, walking in a large circle to arrive back at the farmer's house after dark. While outside his door, they hear a radio broadcast to beware a lion escaped from a wintering circus. Can Thelma and Zasu reclaim the car while avoiding the angry farmer, his prize bull, and the renegade lion?

Lige Conley stars in "Fast and Furious" (1924), a fast-paced silent comedy. Conley's sidekick in this film, as with several in this series of "Mermaid" comedies Conley made for Educational and Jack White, is African-American character actor Spencer Bell. The chase in reel two lifts a number of gags from Buster Keaton films.

A Mermaid Comedy

Dan Doolittle is a poor schmuck whose big talk usually gets him into trouble. After he is fired from his plumbing job, he saves Dolly Davis, who, grateful, promises to get him a job at the company where she works, Owl Taxi, which is owned by her father. That job is as the jack-of-all-trades in the garage, under the supervision of the garage foreman, whose job he expects to have within the week. But Dan becomes the bane of the foreman's existence, in part because Dan would rather spend his time with Dolly to who he is attracted. But after Dan is asked by the boss to drive Dolly to the taxi depot, Dan believes he can make his millions instead by buying a cab and starting his own taxi company. Interactions with Dolly's visiting brother - a hosiery salesman - who Dan mistakenly believes is Dolly's boyfriend, a pair of inflatable legs, and an angry foreman who was fired because of Dan's mistakes in the garage lead to one misadventure after another for Dan.

Dave Finkel's family and friends take him out to a Speakeasy for a birthday celebration. Many distractions prevent him from enjoying his meal, including a seductive Jean Harlow who tries to pick him up.

Lea Lyon, the daughter of a rabbi, lives happily with her father in their Gulicinu village, but there are rumblings of war. Soon, the village is overrun with the Imperial troops of the Russian Czar, with Constantine in Imperial command. He is attracted by the beauty of Lea and commands her to come to his quarters. She refuses and he is outraged. He orders the townspeople barred behind their doors and the village burned. Though she loves her honor above everything else, she can not bear to see the villagers suffer, and makes the lonely walk through the village to the Inn.

The Duff family can't seem to get along with their neighbors, an obsessed policeman and his wife.

A newly married couple looking for a house come up against a crooked real estate agent.

Two zany transients get jobs as vendors at a sports arena. One of them accidently knocks out one of the fighters, and must take his place, with his partner acting as referee.