Marion Davies

Some of MGM's musical stars review the studio's history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jewish prince in Jerusalem, is betrayed by his childhood friend, Roman tribune Messala, and wrongfully sent to the galley slaves.

At the conclusion of World War I, a French girl is romanced by an American doughboy even though she is promised to a French soldier who was sent to the front.

A promotional short to hype the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).

Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.

The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.

Press agent "Inky" Ames, in a quandary to publicize showgirl Anitra St. Clair, convinces her to paint a birthmark on her shoulder and pose as millionaire mine owner Theodore True's long-lost daughter.

New York City tenement dwelling neighbors Blondie and Lottie are longtime best friends. When Lottie makes the cast of the Follies and moves up in the world, she arranges for Blondie, as well, to join the cast and gain the advantages. But the friendship goes awry when Lottie's sweetheart, wealthy Larry Belmont, falls for Blondie and she for him.

When Polly Fisher, a circus aerialist, is hurt while performing, she is taken to the house of a nearby minister, John Hartley. As she recuperates, they fall in love with each other and secretly marry. But when the truth leaks out , John's congregation rebels at having a circus woman as their minister's wife, and he is fired. Polly decides to leave John in hopes of giving back to him the calling that means so much to him. But fate steps in and rearranges all plans.

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

In this comedy, a conservative family becomes alarmed when they begin believing their daughter is pregnant.

A servant girl plays matchmaker for the local burgomaster's daughter while setting her own sights on a visiting Irishman.

An unprecedented anthology of never-before-told true stories by and about some of Hollywood's most interesting stars, legends, and wannabes, and takes readers inside Hollywood's inner sanctum to show how casting decisions are made, who makes them, and who has the final word.

A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.

American Civil War, 1862. After the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major Allen, chief of the Secret Service of the Union, asks actress Gail Loveless to become one of his operators and infiltrate enemy territory.

John owns the largest chain of five and ten cent stores in the country. He moves his family to New York from Kansas City and their life, though grand, is falling apart due to his constant working. Wife and mother Jenny is lonely. Son Avery hates his job. Daughter Jennifer is snubbed by classmate Muriel and her friends. At a charity bazaar, Jennifer meets Berry and sparks are evident. However, he is engaged to Muriel and Muriel will make sure that she, and only she, marries Berry. After the marriage, Berry still thinks of Jennifer as Jennifer thinks of Berry. Avery laments about the state of his family since they were happy in Kansas City.

Sylvia is a French teacher at an all-girls school who wants to find love. When she hears Bill Williams on the radio, she decides to go visit and thank him. However, difficult problems lie ahead when Lili gets in the way.

An all-star revue featuring MGM contract players.

Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also acts as a relatively complete biograph of Hearst's career.

Various Hollywood performers put on a pirate-themed variety show on Catalina Island, with a number of amiable stars in the audience.

Marion go off to college where she joins the basketball team to be near the coach, Bob. She instantly makes a rival of Betty, who's also interested in Bob.

Adapted from the play The Merry Wives of Gotham, twin sisters are separated at birth - one of them becomes a society girl in New York, the other lives in the Irish slums.

Peg and her father live a simple life in an Irish fishing village. One day Sir Gerald arrives at the village to tell Pat that Peg is heir to estate of her grandfather, who hated Pat. The upshot of the will is that she must go to England for 3 years to learn to be a lady and that Pat can never see her again.

A look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist.

Documentary looking at Orson Welles and the production of the film CITIZEN KANE fifty years ago, considering the furore that accompanied it and the real life press baron William Randolph Hearst upon whom Kane is based, and his efforts to halt the film, destroy the negative and persecution of people involved with its production and showing. It includes BBC interviews with Welles made in 1960 and 1982, and film historian Robert Carringer looks at the scenes that never made it to the screen. American film critic Pauline Kael also analyses the film's enduring appeal. Extracts from "The RKO Story" (producer: Rosemary Wilton) and "Yesterday's Whitness" (producers: Christopher Cook and Stephen Peet).

Blonde, beautiful and talented, Marion Davies was the first and funniest screwball comedienne. As star of two of the best comedies ever made, Show People and The Patsy, she combined zany slapstick and exuberant mimicry. Glamorous, witty and kind, both on screen and off, Davies was also famous for her 35-year-long love affair with William Randolph Hearst.

An Irish girl comes to America disguised as a boy to claim a fortune left to her brother who has died.

An old inventor is robbed of his inventions by an unscrupulous rich man. When the inventor dies, his daughter Violet goes to New York and joins the "Follies," where she is advertised as "The Belle of New York." The rich man's son is infatuated with Violet, and is introduced to her anonymously as Jack. When Violet learns of Jack's identity, she casts him off. He takes to drinking and she joins the Salvation Army. Jack is attacked in an underworld saloon just as Violet enters in Salvation Army attire. She nurses him at his home. When Jack's father discovers with whom Jack is in love, he begs forgiveness for the wrong he did Violet's father.

A chorus girl gets bad advice from her fellow chorines in handling a rich suitor who assumes she is a gold digger.

Mary Tudor falls in love with a new arrival to court, Charles Brandon. She convinces her brother King Henry VIII to make him his Captain of the Guard. Meanwhile, Henry is determined to marry her off to the aging King Louis XII of France as part of a peace agreement.

Madge Winton, a beautiful secretary, makes herself look homely in order to avoid advances by lecherous bosses. When her new employer, writer Freddy Matthews, accidentally sees her without her disguise, she has to pretend to be her roommate Sadie.

A country girl goes to the city and gets a job in a posh hotel, and winds up becoming an instant celebrity thanks to an ambitious photographer.

An extravagant girl reforms when her father goes bust.

In this holiday short, Jackie Cooper wants to throw a Christmas party for his friends on his football team but doesn't know how to go about it. His fellow stars at MGM help him out.

Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.

A sweet-natured young Irish woman is courted by a romantic poet and a local country gentleman. Which man will she choose?

Mamie, an orphan girl who was abused in the orphanage, is taken in by Mrs. Caldwell, a kindly woman with a young son named Alexander. Mamie hits it off with the lad, and nicknames him "Zander". When Mrs. Caldwell dies, the authorities decree that the boy must be placed in the same orphanage where Mamie was mistreated. Horrified, Mamie determines to see to it that the boy will be spared the same treatment that she had to suffer.

An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her older sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice her.

A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt.

Sensational and shocking stories from Hollywood are not always fiction. Beyond anything a screenwriter could imagine, and with cast of famous stars and celebrities, this documentary goes behind the scenes to explore the real-life stories of murders in Hollywood. From the silent era to the present day, out-of-control passions, burning hatreds, and the driving greed for gain have pushed many of the rich and famous over the edge into violence - to commit bloody murder or end up as the victims of murder.

Napoleon Bonaparte's younger brother, visiting the United States, falls madly in love with a young woman he meets in Baltimore.

Documentary looking at the life and career of 1930s film star Leslie Howard. It features exclusive home movie footage, including footage from the Gone with the Wind set. The film includes extensive interviews with Howard's daughter, Leslie Ruth "Doodie" Howard, and contributions from friends and colleagues.

Jeffrey Dwyer is a writer and a poet who wrestles with the conflicts between his idealism and his passion. The two sides of his nature are personified in the women he loves: the sweetly innocent Joan Converse, and the sexy, charismatic Inez Martin.

Tillie is a secretary always dressed in the height of fashion who tries to capture a millionaire named Pennington Fish. Once she gets a stenographic position at Mr. Simpkins's company she sets her cap for the general manager, Benjamin Franklin Whipple. Eventually Tillie announces that she is going to "catch the rich Mr. Fish by using Whipple as the worm."

Another entry in the popular one-reel series.

Cecilia is a spunky Irish girl from a struggling family, faced with the imminent death of her mother.

Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.

Elaine Brooks marries Robert Ames, a junior member of the Department of Justice. Mrs. Durand, a spy uses underhanded means to steal important papers from Ames, which she gives to her superior, Dr. Kemp. Although she is innocent, Elaine becomes implicated in this plot.

Beverly Calhoun impersonates the Prince of Graustark to claim his birthright while he recovers from a skiing injury. In the meantime, she falls for her bodyguard Dantan.

It is 1774, the eve of the American War of Independence. Janice comes from a Tory household. She cavorts with American and British alike, is pursued by Charles Fownes, patriot and friend of General Washington.

Mr. May wants his daughter Diana to marry into society. The man he wishes her to wed is a scientist, Dr. Dimitrius, but Diana is in love with an officer, Commander Cleeve.

Not-so-smart chatterbox Dulcy Parker does and says all the wrong things, but they right themselves to prove she's not so dumb after all.

Aspiring actress Elizabeth Dalston, after rehearsing a murder scene for a movie, is fired by her director at the request of the company's Wall Street backer, Sylvanus Power. Although married, Power plans to make Elizabeth his mistress and offers the unsuspecting girl a dramatic education in England, to be followed by his building a theater for her. Traveling across England after school, Elizabeth witnesses a fight between two brothers, Philip and Douglas Romilly, which ends in Douglas' supposed death. On the steamer to America, Philip, disguised as Douglas, confides in Elizabeth that he was fighting to persuade Douglas not to leave his pregnant lover. Elizabeth believes him and in New York they fall in love. After she convinces Power to produce Philip's play, both the play and her acting are hits. When Power propositions Elizabeth and discovers her passion for Philip, he summons Scotland Yard detectives, but Douglas reappears and clears Philip. Power then graciously admits his defeat.

The frothy experiences of a vain little flapper. Her father induces an actor friend to become a gentlemanly cave man and the film becomes another variation of the 'Taming of the Shrew' theme.

A ditzy American girl visiting Monte Carlo is hired by a tennis champ to be his "cardboard lover"--to pretend to be in love with him so he can teach his two-timing fiancé a lesson and win her back. What he doesn't realize is that the girl isn't pretending --she actually is in love with him, and she sets out to win him for herself.

A fresh young beauty becomes an old maid waiting for her suitor to return from the Napoleonic wars. When he returns, clearly disappointed, she disguises herself as her own niece in order to test his loyalty.

A love triangle drama, based on a novel by Robert W. Chambers, who is better-known for weird fiction (which is not noticeable in this story.)

A fabulous jewel known as the 'Dark Star' is stolen; a pastor's daughter gets involved, falling into the depths of a spy plot concerning war plans and fortifications...

A behind-the-scenes look at the massive preparation in the production of Cosmopolitan's lavish musical comedy romance, 'Cain and Mabel."

Prudence Cole is an unsophisticated Quaker girl being raised by her two aunts. Prudence is flirted with by snobbish Henry Garrison, who actually disdains the girl for her lack of worldliness and savoir faire. When Henry and his friends try to embarrass her at a posh resort, Prudence turns the tables on them.

Lonely in his English country estate, Sir Basil decides to gather his grown (albeit illegitimate) children around him in his declining years. He uses a ledger which keeps track of the payments he has been making to ex-lovers to locate 2 of them, and a third is found by a lawyer in New York, her mother was too proud to accept any money. Sir Basil is a curmudgeon, and his three adult children have a hard time with him at first. Toni, the American, is a free spirit who had a budding career in show business. Jeffery is English and a semi-gentleman, and Maria is Italian, with a Latin temperament. They begin to bond, especially Sir Basil and Toni, whose outgoing personality finally wins over the old man. But past lives begin to creep back into the picture and threaten the old man's plans for a life filled with his children.

The backdrop is fifteenth century France, and Charles, Duke of Burgundy has promised his daughter, Princess Mary, that she can marry the man she loves, Prince Maximilian of Styria. But when the Swiss threaten war, the duke is compelled to take back his word and he arranges for Mary to wed the half-witted dauphin of France's King Louis XI .

A young woman must resist the charms of a handsome stranger and stay single if she wants to inherit a fortune.

April Poole (Davies), a young writer in love with publisher Kerry Sarle (Tearle), visits the office of Mr. Sarle and his partner Ronald Kenna (Frank) and reads her latest story to them. She has made Sarle the hero, Kenna the villain, and herself the heroine. In the story, April changes places with Lady Diana Mannister (Marshall), who is being sent to South Africa to separate her from her lover, a young artist. A famous diamond that Lady Diana is to deliver at the end of her journey is given to April. Thieves trail her during her journey. With efforts by Kenna to steal the diamond prevented by the intervention of Sarle, the story comes to a close.