Joseph Santley co-directed with Robert Florey the first Marx Brothers feature film, The Cocoanuts, a musical comedy for which he is most famous. Based on the George S. Kaufman play, and with music by Irving Berlin, the film was billed as “Paramount’s All Talking-Singing Musical Comedy Hit.” Santley also directed the musical short film, All Americans which featured song and… Read more →
The Wild Party is a 1929 American pre-Code film directed by Dorothy Arzner and starring Clara Bow and Fredric March. Released by Paramount Pictures, it is known as Bow’s first talkie. It is the fifth film directed by Arzner and the earliest surviving film in her work as a director. Bow was unable to get used to the microphones. During… Read more →
Show Boat is a 1929 American pre-Code sound part-talkie romantic drama film based on the 1926 novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber. The film initially did not use the 1927 stage musical of the same name as a source, but scenes were later added into the film incorporating two of the songs from the musical as well as other songs…. Read more →
Welcome Danger is a 1929 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Clyde Bruckman and starring Harold Lloyd. A sound version and silent version were filmed. Ted Wilde began work on the silent version, but became ill and was replaced by Bruckman. Wilde died from stroke two months after this film’s premiere. Lloyd had already completed Welcome Danger as a silent… Read more →
The Black Watch is a 1929 American sound (All-Talking) pre-Code adventure epic film directed by John Ford and starring Victor McLaglen, Myrna Loy, and David Torrence. It was written by John Stone, based on the 1916 novel King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy, with dialogue by James Kevin McGuinness. The film features an uncredited 21-year-old John Wayne working… Read more →
River of Romance is a 1929 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace and written by Ethel Doherty, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Dan Totheroh and John V.A. Weaver. The film stars Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Mary Brian, June Collyer, Henry B. Walthall, Wallace Beery, Fred Kohler and Natalie Kingston. It is based on the play Magnolia by Booth Tarkington. The film was… Read more →
Say It with Songs is a 1929 American sound (All-Talking) pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Lloyd Bacon and released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and Davey Lee and was a follow-up to their previous film, The Singing Fool (1928). As per U.S. copyright law, the film entered the public domain on January 1, 2025. Buy a… Read more →
On with the Show! is a 1929 American sound (All-Talking) pre-Code musical film produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. Filmed in two-color Technicolor, the film became the first all-talking, all-color feature-length film, and the second color film released by Warner Bros.; the first was the partly color musical The Desert Song (1929). One reel of the 35mm color nitrate print of… Read more →
Liberty is a synchronized sound short subject film, directed by Leo McCarey and starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized orchestral musical score with sound effects. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on January 26, 1929. In the film, two men escape from prison and quickly swap their prison… Read more →
Sally is a 1929 American sound (All-Talking) Pre-Code film. It is the fourth all-sound, all-color feature film made, and it was photographed in the Technicolor process. It was the sixth feature film to contain color that had been released by Warner Bros.; the first five were The Desert Song (1929), On with the Show! (1929), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929),… Read more →
