William Janney
1908 - 1992
Two Seconds
Mervyn LeRoy
Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne
A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair. Told in flashback, we witness a sleazy dancehall girl (Vivienne Osborne) dupe a high rise riveter (Edward G. Robinson) into marriage so she can live off of him. But when he loses his job and his marbles, she ends up supporting him with money from her side man--and misses no opportunity to rub it in Robinson's face that she's now supporting him in his emasculated state. As the animosity grows and things get more and more unbearable for Robinson, he is eventually driven to desperate measures.
Two Seconds
A Successful Calamity
John G. Adolfi
George Arliss, Mary Astor
Henry Wilton is an elderly millionaire saddled with his selfish young second wife Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton and a pair of spoiled grown children, Peggy and Eddie. To test his family's mettle, Henry pretends to have gone broke. Just as he suspected they would, his children rally to their father's side and change their ways: Peggy forsakes the fortune hunter George Struthers for the nice young man she's really in love with, the polo coach Larry Rivers, while Eddie applies for a demanding job and performs admirably. Only Sweetie seems to desert Henry.
A Successful Calamity
Under-Cover Man
James Flood
George Raft, Nancy Carroll
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to find the killers, and maybe even stop a crime ring that has been plaguing the police. The sister of another innocent victim joins him as they infiltrate the syndicate. Any wrong move could lead to instant death.
Under-Cover Man
The Crime of the Century
William Beaudine
Jean Hersholt, Wynne Gibson
A doctor who is also a “mentalist” confesses to a murder. The only problem is that the murder he’s confessed to hasn’t happened yet – although dead bodies are now starting to turn up all over the place. A reporter sets out to solve the “mystery”.
The Crime of the Century
Secret of the Blue Room
Kurt Neumann
Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart
According to a legend, the mansion's "blue room" is cursed -- everyone who has ever spent the night in that room has met with an untimely end. The three suitors of the heroine wager that each can survive a night in the forbidding blue room.
Secret of the Blue Room
