
Louise Bates
1886 - 1972It's a Wonderful Life
Frank Capra
James Stewart, Donna Reed
A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
It's a Wonderful Life
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Frank Capra
Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mrs. Miniver
William Wyler
Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.
Mrs. Miniver
A Chump at Oxford
Alfred J. Goulding
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy
The boys get jobs as a butler and maid-- Stan in drag-- for a dinner party. When that ends in disaster, they resort to sweeping streets and accidentally capture a bank robber. The grateful bank president sends them to Oxford, at their request, and higher-education hijinks ensue.
A Chump at Oxford
Arms and the Girl
Joseph Kaufman
Billie Burke, Thomas Meighan
Ziegfeld Follies headliner Billie Burke starred in a handful of silent films, of which Arms and the Girl was the second. Burke plays an American lass who journeys to Europe to be reunited with her fiance. Not only has her sweetheart been unfaithful, but she arrives on the continent just as World War I breaks out.
Arms and the Girl
Inspiration
George Foster Platt
Audrey Munson, Thomas A. Curran
Audrey Munson (a real-life 'perfect' model for numerous Beaux-Arts sculptors) first appeared artistically nude as a sculptor's model, recreating classic artistic (nude) paintings in George Foster Platt's controversial film from the Mutual Film Corporation. In fact, the film told the story of her own life. This film has generally been regarded as the first non-pornographic American film to feature nudity. This was the first known film in which a leading actress stripped down to be naked, making her the first nude film star. (filmsite.org)
Inspiration
Here Comes Happiness
Noel M. Smith
Mildred Coles, Edward Norris
Jessica leaves her upper class home to assume an anonymous working class identity. She meets a blue collar guy, Chet and falls in love with the poor but ambitious man. Chet observes a series of suspicious, clandestine meetings with her rich father and his chauffeur which makes him think she is stringing along a "Sugar Daddy" on the side. Financial trickery and sequences of misunderstandings and coincidences culminate with a wedding that turns out much differently than planned.
Here Comes Happiness
The Beloved Brat
Arthur Lubin
Bonita Granville, Dolores Costello
Roberta Morgan is being raised in a wealthy home where her mother is occupied with her society-club activities and her father is immersed in his business activities. She also feels that the household staff is against her and that no one understands her needs and problems. Things spiral out of control.
The Beloved Brat
Here's to Romance
Alfred E. Green
Nino Martini, Genevieve Tobin
Kathleen Gerard, a high society wife fed up with her husband's artistic "protegées", decides to take one of her own in Nino, a promising tenor, patronizing him to study in Paris. He and her girlfriend are perfectly happy until the Gerards pay a visit and Mrs. Gerard starts to show too much interest in him.
Here's to Romance