Florence Bates
Also Known As: Florence Rabe
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Florence Bates (born Florence Rabe, April 15, 1888 – January 31, 1954) was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles. Her path to becoming an actress had many turns. She had a degree in Mathematics, taught school until married, then became the first Texas female lawyer. Then she became a bilingual radio commentator. After her husband lost her fortune, she and her husband opened a bakery in Los Angeles. In the mid-1930s, Bates auditioned for and won the role of Miss Bates in a Pasadena Playhouse adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. When she decided to continue working with the theatre group, she changed her professional name to that of the first character she played on stage. In 1939, she was introduced to Alfred Hitchcock, who cast her in her first major screen role, the vain dowager Mrs. Van Hopper, in Rebecca (1940). Bates appeared in more than sixty films over the course of the next thirteen years. Among her cinema credits are Kitty Foyle, Love Crazy, The Moon and Sixpence, Mr. Lucky, Heaven Can Wait, Lullaby of Broadway, Mister Big, Since You Went Away, Kismet, Saratoga Trunk, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Winter Meeting, I Remember Mama, Portrait of Jennie, A Letter to Three Wives, On the Town, and Les Misérables. In television, Bates had a regular role on The Hank McCune Show and made guest appearances on I Love Lucy, My Little Margie, I Married Joan and Our Miss Brooks.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Birthday: April 13, 1888
Deathday: January 31, 1954
Adult: No
Gender: Female
Popularity:
Known For:
Rebecca
Overview: Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.
Genres: Mystery Romance Thriller Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-03-23
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The Brasher Doubloon
Overview: Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock hires Marlowe to find an old rare coin, the Brasher Doubloon, that belonged in her deceased husband's collection. Marlowe begins investigating, but quickly finds himself entangled in a series of unexplained murders.
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-02-06
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Love Crazy
Overview: Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-05-23
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Belle of Old Mexico
Overview: Wealthy Kip Artmitage III (Robert Rockwell) honors his late wartime friend's request to look after the friend's "little sister."
Genres: Comedy Music Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-03-01
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Main Street to Broadway
Overview: In New York, a surly, down-on-his-heels playwright meets a country girl who's giving up trying to act and returning home. He goes with her for inspiration when his agent convinces a stage star to take his next effort. When he returns to Broadway, his girl stays behind and starts seeing a local businessman.
Genres: Romance Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-10-12
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The Tall Target
Overview: A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.
Genres: Thriller History Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-08-17
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Tahiti Nights
Overview: Islanders make arrangements for an American bandleader to marry a princess.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-28
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Overview: Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-09-01
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The Mask of Dimitrios
Overview: A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-06-23
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Lullaby of Broadway
Overview: Pretty Melinda Howard has been abroad singing with a musical troupe. She decides to return home to surprise her mother whom she thinks is a successful Broadway star with a mansion in Manhattan. She doesn't know that her mother is actually a burnt-out cabaret singer with a love for whiskey. When she arrives at the mansion, she is taken in by the two servants who are friends of her mother's. The house actually belongs to Adolph Hubbell, a kind-hearted Broadway producer who also gets drawn into the charade. Hubbell takes a shine to Melinda and agrees to star her in his next show. Melinda also finds romance with a handsome hoofer who's also in the show. All is going well for Melinda except that she wants to see her mother who keeps putting off their reunion.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-03-26
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I Remember Mama
Overview: Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.
Genres: Family Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-03-09
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Winter Meeting
Overview: A repressed poetess and an embittered war hero help each other cope with their problems.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-04-07
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Tonight and Every Night
Overview: An American girl falls for an RAF pilot while performing at a British music hall.
Genres: Music Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-01-09
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Kismet
Overview: Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.
Genres: Adventure Fantasy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-10-01
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The Devil and Miss Jones
Overview: The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-04-11
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The Second Woman
Overview: In flashback from a 'Rebecca'-style beginning: Ellen Foster, visiting her aunt on the California coast, meets neighbor Jeff Cohalan and his ultramodern clifftop house. Ellen is strongly attracted to Jeff, who's being plagued by unexplainable accidents, major and minor. Bad luck, persecution...or paranoia? Warned that Jeff could be dangerous, Ellen fears that he's in danger, as the menacing atmosphere darkens.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-07-07
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The Diary of a Chambermaid
Overview: Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?
Genres: Drama Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-02-15
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Belle of the Yukon
Overview: Left by a con man, Belle De Valle, a dancer, finds him again in gold-rush Alaska running an honest casino/dance hall.
Genres: Western Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-27
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A Letter to Three Wives
Overview: A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
Genres: Romance Drama Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-01-20
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Mr. Lucky
Overview: A conman poses as a war relief fundraiser, but when he falls for a charity worker, his conscience begins to trouble him.
Genres: Comedy Romance Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-07-01
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San Antonio
Overview: Rancher Clay Hardin arrives in San Antonio to search for and capture Roy Stuart, notorious leader of a gang of cattle rustlers. The vicious outlaw is indeed in the Texan town, intent on winning the affections of a beautiful chanteuse named Jeanne Starr. When the lovely lady meets and falls in love with the charismatic Hardin, the stakes for both men become higher.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-12-29
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The Son of Monte Cristo
Overview: Rightful owner of the kingdom, the Duchess of Zona, is engaged in a power struggle with the evil General Gurko. Edmond, the son of Monte Cristo, dons many disguises to come to the aid of the Duchess.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-12-05
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Strange Alibi
Overview: An undercover cop finds himself on the wrong side of the law when the mob discovers his true identity.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-04-19
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Cluny Brown
Overview: Amateur plumber Cluny Brown gets sent off by her uncle to work as a servant at an English country estate.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-06-02
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The Moon and Sixpence
Overview: Loosely inspired from Gauguin's life, the story of Charles Strickland, a middle-aged stockbrocker who abandons his middle-classed life, his family, his duties to start painting, what he has always wanted to do. He is from now on a awful human being, wholly devoted to his ideal: beauty.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-10-27
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Whistle Stop
Overview: When beautiful Mary returns to her "whistle stop" hometown, long-standing feelings of animosity between two of her old boyfriends leads to robbery and murder.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-01-25
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The Chocolate Soldier
Overview: Maria and Karl Lang are the singing duo of Vienna. Maria is very flirtatious and Karl very jealous. Karl decides to masquerade as a Russian guardsman and attempts to make Maria flirt with him - to test her loyalty to him - as the Russian, Karl makes a vigorous attempt to seduce Maria. For a moment she accepts then rejects. Karl is left in turmoil...
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-11-01
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River Lady
Overview: In the 1850s, in a logging town on the Mississippi River, a conflict between the people of a mill town and the lumberjacks who work downriver. Romance and deceit are catalyzed by the arrival of the gambling river boat, River Lady, owned by the beautiful Sequin. Bauvais, a representative of the local lumber syndicate and Sequin's business partner, is trying to convince H.L. Morrison, the mill owner, to sell his business.
Genres: Action Drama Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-06-01
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Les Miserables
Overview: In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Genres: Adventure Drama History Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-08-14
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The Tuttles of Tahiti
Overview: After a long absense from the island, Chester Tuttle returns to Tahiti to find that little has changed. His large family, particularly his scheming Uncle Jonas, would rather dance and romance than earn a living. When Jonas loses the family plantation in a cockfight, Chester saves the day by towing in a large ship abandoned at sea and claiming the salvage. But opening a joint bank account in the name of the Tuttle clan may not have been a wise decision.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-05-01
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Road Show
Overview: Rich playboy Drogo Gaines is in imminent danger of marrying a gold digger, and escapes by feigning insanity. The joke's on him when he wakes up in an asylum full of comical lunatics. There he befriends Colonel Carraway, and together they escape, catching a ride with a beautiful blonde who proves to be Penguin Moore, carnival owner.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-02-18
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The Inside Story
Overview: A collection agent arrives in a small town with $1000 for a local farmer. Whilst waiting for the farmer to arrive the money is put in a safe at a hotel for safe keeping. However, it is removed by mistake and solves a number of financial problems before it is returned.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-03-14
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Slightly Dangerous
Overview: Small-town soda-jerk Peggy Evans quits her dead-end job and moves to New York where she invents a new identity.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-04-01
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We Were Dancing
Overview: A penniless former princess weds an equally cash-strapped baron, so they support themselves by becoming houseguests at the homes of wealthy American socialites.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-04-30
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Mister Big
Overview: Students at the Davis School of the Theatre are assigned "Antigone" as their class play, but they conspire to do a swing musical instead.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-05-28
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Mexican Spitfire at Sea
Overview: An advertising executive and his temperamental wife sail to Hawaii in search of business. The fifth entry (of eight) in the "Mexican Spitfire" comedy series.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-03-13
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Paris Model
Overview: A new dress plays a key role in the lives of four women who are not acquainted with each other.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-11-10
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Claudia and David
Overview: The follow-up film to "Claudia", with Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young reprising their earlier roles as a young married couple living in a small Connecticut town.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-02-25
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Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Overview: Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she's a nice girl, named Perry, running away from a job at a gasoline station. Soon they're off to New York together, but part ways once they arrive. Time passes and Eddie is failing to sell his play; Perry is failing to find a job. Odd circumstances, involving an old pickpocket named Mandy, bring them together again.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-07-16
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Out of This World
Overview: An all-girl band hits paydirt—and mud—when they sign a male crooner and then sell five 25% shares of his contract.
Genres: Romance Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-07-13
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The Judge Steps Out
Overview: A judge flees the pressures of professional and family life for a job as a short-order cook.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-12-15
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Calling All Husbands
Overview: A henpecked husband and his bossy wife are due for a surprise when the wife's former boyfriend unexpectedly turns up.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-09-07
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My Dear Secretary
Overview: A budding young writer thinks it's her lucky day when she is chosen to be the new secretary for Owen Waterbury, famous novelist. She is soon disppointed, however, when he turns out to be an erratic, immature playboy. Opposites attract, of course, but not without sub-plots that touch on competitiveness within marriage and responsibility.
Genres: Drama Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-11-05
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Heaven Can Wait
Overview: Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy. The devil, however, isn't so sure Henry meets Hell's standards. Convinced he is where he belongs, Henry recounts his life's deeds, both good and bad, including an act of indiscretion during his 25-year marriage to his wife, Martha, with the hope that "His Excellency" will arrive at the proper judgment.
Genres: Comedy Romance Fantasy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-08-05
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The Girl from Jones Beach
Overview: Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his pin-up creation is really a composite of parts of the anatomy of 12 different models. In an effort to find one girl who possesses all the proper physical attributes, Randolph and PR man Chuck Donovan pursue Ruth Wilson, a beauteous schoolteacher who prefers to be admired for her brain rather than her curves. Ruth changes her tune, however, when a published photo of her in a swimsuit causes her to be fired by the uptight schoolboard. She sues for reinstatement and in the process learns that swimsuits and sex appeal do have a place in her world, after all. Written by Dan Navarro
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-07-16
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The San Francisco Story
Overview: After five years of being away, Rick Nelson (Joel McCrea) returns to San Francisco to find it filled with corruption - and crooked politicians. It isn't until he meets a beautiful San Franciscan (Yvonne De Carlo), that Nelson decides to get involved with bringing law-and-order to the city by the bay!
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-05-11
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My Heart Belongs to Daddy
Overview: A distinguished professor finds his well-ordered life tospy-turvy after he is forced to take in a pregnant widow.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-11-07
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They Got Me Covered
Overview: Bumbling reporter Robert Kittredge has been fired after bungling his latest assignment. His career isn't all he's botched up: his girlfriend Chris is tired of waiting for him to marry her. When he gets a hot tip on some Nazi spies operating in Washington, D.C., he convinces Chris to help him break the story so he can get his job back. The pair soon find themselves in several awkward predicaments as they track the criminals down in a night club, a burlesque show, and face a final showdown at a beauty salon.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-03-04
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Kitty Foyle
Overview: A hard-working, white-collar girl falls in love with a young socialite, but meets with his family's disapproval.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-12-27
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Saratoga Trunk
Overview: An opportunistic Texas gambler and the exiled Creole daughter of an aristocratic family join forces to achieve justice from the society that has ostracized them.
Genres: Drama Romance Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-11-21
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The Time, The Place and The Girl
Overview: The stuffy manager of lovely opera singer Vicki Cassel and her uncle, a classical conductor, is determined to close down the noisy nightclub next door to the Cassels' home. The club's owners--Steve, a handsome ladies' man, and Jeff, his clownish sidekick--hatch a plan to keep the club open. Steve arranges to meet--and woo--Vicki and then invite her and her uncle to the club. When Vicki's snobbish aunt and the manager discover that Vicki now favors popular music over the classics, they arrange to get the club closed. But that doesn't keep Steve and Jeff down. Instead, they decide to put on a Broadway show if they can get a backer. They find their "angel" in Vicki's uncle who agrees to finance the show only if Vicki is the leading lady. But again, Vicki's aunt and manager may be the spoiler in everyone's plans.
Genres: Music Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-12-26
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On the Town
Overview: Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Genres: Music Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-12-08
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Love and Learn
Overview: A wealthy socialite bored with her life meets and falls in love with a struggling songwriter on the verge of leaving New York and quitting the music business.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-05-02
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His Butler's Sister
Overview: Aspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-11-26
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County Fair
Overview: "Ma" Ryan, who runs a burger stand at the county fair, asks daughter Loretta to put a bet on a horse that Loretta's boyfriend Tommy is riding. Unfortunately, Loretta mistakenly places the bet on the wrong horse. When she discovers her error she tries to get the cashier to exchange the ticket for the horse she wanted, but the cashier refuses. Peter Brennan, standing in back of her in line, buys the ticket for the horse Loretta wants and then exchanges it with her. It turns out that Peter is from a wealthy family that owns racehorses, and Peter is a horse trainer himself. He soon begins to fall for Loretta, and Tommy doesn't like it one bit. Complications ensue.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-07-30
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Portrait of Jennie
Overview: A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.
Genres: Drama Romance Fantasy Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-12-25
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Father Takes the Air
Overview: In the fifth and final movie in Monogram's "Father" series, Henry Latham and Mayor Colton dream of reliving their WWI flying careers, leading to an increasingly antagonistic competition.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-06-17
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Havana Rose
Overview: Ambassador Rico DeMarco is in Washington trying to raise a five-million dollar loan for his country, Lower Salamia. Filbert Filmore and his domineering wife are about to sign on the dotted line for the loan when DeMarco's vivacious daughter, Estelita, upsets the deal by accidentally knocking hot coffee over the papers---and Mrs. Fillmore, who leaves the house in a huff. When word of the difficulties filters back home it's Viva la Revolution. But Estelita, disguised as a fortune teller tries to convince astrology believer Fillmore that the stars are propitious for his making the loan.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-09-15
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The Man I Love
Overview: Tough torch singer Petey Brown, visiting her family, finds a nest of troubles: her sister, brother, and the neighbor's wife are involved in various ways with shady nightclub owner Nicky Toresca. Petey has what it takes to handle Nicky, but then she meets San Thomas, formerly great jazz pianist now on the skids, and falls for him hard.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-12-26
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