Lux Radio Theater
by dusky-1 | created - 27 Mar 2013 | updated - 01 Apr 2013 | PublicThe Lux Radio Theater aired from 1934-55. Occasionally adapting plays, the series' focus for most of its run was in adapting feature films to radio, often with members of the original cast recreating their parts. Many of these broadcasts still exist; because Lux was a popular and influential program, I think this list is an interesting snapshot of what was considered worthy of adaptation (and by omission, what was not).
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101. Seventh Heaven (1937)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A Parisian sewer worker longs for a rise in status and a beautiful wife. He rescues a girl from the police, lives with her in a barren flat on the seventh floor, then marches away to war.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, Gregory Ratoff
Votes: 1,052
Adapted 10-17-38; 10-16-44; 03-26-51
102. Babbitt (1934)
Approved | 74 min | Drama
Middle-aged George F. Babbitt is a leading citizen in the town of Zenith, the fastest-growing community in America according to its town sign. George is a large part of that growth as a property developer and realtor.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd, Maxine Doyle
Votes: 349
Adapted 10-24-38
103. That Certain Woman (1937)
Passed | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Mary Donnell, a young legal secretary with a past, elopes with a client's son, but his father has the marriage annulled without knowing she's pregnant.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter
Votes: 1,675
Adapted 10-31-38
104. Next Time We Love (1936)
Approved | 87 min | Drama, Romance
A young married couple's relationship becomes strained when he is assigned overseas as a foreign correspondent and she becomes a major stage star.
Director: Edward H. Griffith | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Ray Milland, Grant Mitchell
Votes: 672
Adapted 11-07-38
105. The Buccaneer (1938)
Approved | 126 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
Semi-fictional account of pirate Jean Lafitte's involvement in the War of 1812.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Fredric March, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Margot Grahame
Votes: 781
Adapted 11-14-38
106. Confession (1937)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Aging down on her luck cabaret singer murders a respectable composer. On trial she slowly gives in and explains her crime. They had a complicated history.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Kay Francis, Basil Rathbone, Ian Hunter, Jane Bryan
Votes: 1,325
Adapted 11-21-38
107. Interference (1928)
83 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Paramount's 1st ALL TALKIE Reported killed in action, Philip Voaze(William Powell) lives under an assumed name in London. Deborah Kane(Evelyn Brent) a former love, discovers him and tries ... See full summary »
Directors: Lothar Mendes, Roy Pomeroy | Stars: Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, William Powell, Doris Kenyon
Votes: 155
Adapted 11-28-38
108. The Princess Comes Across (1936)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A woman pretends to be royalty in order to get aboard a cruise ship.
Director: William K. Howard | Stars: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Douglass Dumbrille, Alison Skipworth
Votes: 1,237
Adapted 12-05-38
109. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Not Rated | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
A noblewoman discovers her husband is The Scarlet Pimpernel, a vigilante who rescues aristocrats from the blade of the guillotine.
Director: Harold Young | Stars: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 4,771
Adapted 12-12-38
110. Kid Galahad (1937)
Passed | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris
Votes: 3,933
Adapted 12-19-38
111. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Approved | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household.
Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell
Votes: 215,547 | Gross: $184.93M
Adapted 12-26-38
112. The Perfect Specimen (1937)
Passed | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Raised in seclusion to be the epitome of mental, physical and moral perfection, Gerald Beresford Wicks is resigned to following his grandmother's wishes until a chance encounter with Mona Carter leads him into the outside world.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Joan Blondell, Hugh Herbert, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 459
Adapted 01-02-39
113. Mayerling (1936)
Approved | 96 min | Drama, Romance
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, is fettered on all sides. He's bored; his father, the emperor, is domineering; his politics are more liberal than his father's, but he knows his views carry... See full summary »
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Marthe Régnier, Yolande Laffon
Votes: 955 | Gross: $0.24M
Adapted 01-09-39
114. Front Page Woman (1935)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Romance
A woman reporter tries to prove she's just as good as any man, but runs into trouble along the way.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Roscoe Karns, Wini Shaw
Votes: 1,724
Adapted 01-16-39
115. Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
Approved | 82 min | Drama, History, Romance
The cunning Cardinal Richelieu must save King Louis XIII from treachery within his inner circle.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: George Arliss, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold, Cesar Romero
Votes: 242
Adapted 01-23-39
116. The Arkansas Traveler (1938)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A folksy drifter (Bob Burns) helps an old friend's widow (Fay Bainter) and daughter (Jean Parker) save their newspaper.
Director: Alfred Santell | Stars: Bob Burns, Fay Bainter, John Beal, Jean Parker
Votes: 75
Adapted 01-30-39
117. The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
Passed | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After greedy men have Edmond Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get his revenge on them.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 3,241
Adapted 02-06-39
118. The Return of Peter Grimm (1935)
Approved | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The ghost of a recently deceased family patriarch tries to help his surviving relatives, in part by preventing a marriage that he knows will go wrong.
Directors: George Nicholls Jr., Victor Schertzinger | Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Helen Mack, Edward Ellis, Donald Meek
Votes: 293
Adapted 02-13-39
119. Stage Door (1937)
Approved | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick
Votes: 9,023
Adapted 02-20-39
120. Ceiling Zero (1936)
Approved | 95 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
War veteran pilots Dizzy Davis, Texas Clark and Jake Lee are working in an airline in Newark. Dizzy is flirting with the girlfriend of a younger pilot and, due to this, he feigns illness to... See full summary »
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, June Travis, Stuart Erwin
Votes: 787
Adapted 02-27-39
121. One Way Passage (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon
Votes: 4,447
Adapted 03-06-39
122. So Big! (1932)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama, Romance
After Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis
Votes: 1,825
Adapted 03-13-39
123. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,312 | Gross: $4.36M
Adapted 03-20-39
124. Man's Castle (1933)
75 min | Drama, Romance
Bill takes Trina into his depression camp cabin. Later, just as he finds showgirl LaRue who will support him, Trina becomes pregnant.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Loretta Young, Marjorie Rambeau, Glenda Farrell
Votes: 1,764
Adapted 03-27-39; 12-01-41
125. Silver Dollar (1932)
TV-G | 83 min | Biography, Drama
Yates and Sarah Martin are barely getting by in a Colorado boom town grocery store. Sudden wealth leads to greater prosperity and political power. In Denver Yates buys a mansion and builds ... See full summary »
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Bebe Daniels, Aline MacMahon, DeWitt Jennings
Votes: 469
Adapted 04-03-39
126. The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Passed | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Three British soldiers on the Northwest Frontier of India struggle against the enemy - and themselves.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Guy Standing
Votes: 3,239
Adapted 04-10-39
127. Bullets or Ballots (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a crusader against rackets is murdered, a grand jury battles the rackets by promoting McLaren to be in charge of the cleanup. He fires NYPD Detective Blake, who punches him and joins the racket.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 3,505
Adapted 04-17-39
128. Broadway Bill (1934)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
A runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson
Votes: 1,160
Adapted 04-24-39
129. Lady for a Day (1933)
Passed | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell
Votes: 4,657
Adapted 05-01-39
130. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Passed | 116 min | Biography, Drama
The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Gloria Holden
Votes: 9,021
Adapted 05-08-39
131. Tovarich (1937)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy
After the Russian revolution, a married Russian couple of nobility must take up jobs in Paris in order to survive.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, Anita Louise
Votes: 626
Adapted 05-15-39
132. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 23,212
Adapted 05-22-39
133. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Passed | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
At a remote South American trading port, the manager of an air-freight company is forced to risk his pilots' lives in order to win an important contract as a traveling American showgirl stops in town.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Richard Barthelmess
Votes: 15,665
Adapted 05-29-39
134. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Approved | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
An Englishman on a Ruritarian holiday must impersonate the king when the rightful monarch, a distant cousin, is drugged and kidnapped.
Directors: John Cromwell, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey
Votes: 5,068
Adapted 06-05-39
135. White Banners (1938)
Approved | 92 min | Drama
A homeless woman named Hannah drifts into the lives of the kindly Ward family, in a small Indiana town in 1919. Hannah makes herself useful as a cook and housekeeper and stays with the ... See full summary »
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Claude Rains, Fay Bainter, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville
Votes: 469
Adapted 06-12-39
136. The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Mystery
A wealthy mystery writer uses her doctor ex-husband's non-payment of alimony to coerce him into a reconciliation.
Director: Stephen Roberts | Stars: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason, Eric Blore
Votes: 2,194
Adapted 06-19-39
137. Bordertown (1935)
Approved | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Mexico, a former lawyer becomes the invaluable second-in-command to a casino owner, whose wife begins to fall for him.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 2,003
138. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
An English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 4,516
139. The Awful Truth (1937)
Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Romance
A married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy
Votes: 21,383
Adapted 09-11-39; 03-10-41; 01-18-55
140. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 19,775 | Gross: $0.76M
Adapted 09-18-39; 11-04-40
141. She Married Her Boss (1935)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, History, Mystery
An efficient secretary at a department store marries her boss, but discovers that taking care of him at home is a lot different to taking care of him at work.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, Michael Bartlett, Raymond Walburn
Votes: 722
Adapted 09-25-39
142. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Passed | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 27,915 | Gross: $4.66M
Adapted 10-02-39
143. The Sisters (1938)
Approved | 99 min | Drama
Three daughters of a small town pharmacist undergo trials and tribulations in their problematic marriages between 1904 and 1908.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter
Votes: 2,130
Adapted 10-09-39
144. If I Were King (1938)
Passed | 101 min | Adventure, History
Vagabond poet François Villon rises to high office in 1463 Paris.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew
Votes: 1,020
Adapted 10-16-39
145. Invitation to Happiness (1939)
Approved | 97 min | Drama, Romance
An egotistical boxer romances a rich backer's daughter.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray, Charles Ruggles, Billy Cook
Votes: 184
Adapted 10-23-39
146. The Old Maid (1939)
Approved | 95 min | Drama
The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Donald Crisp
Votes: 4,062
Adapted 10-30-39
147. Only Yesterday (1933)
Passed | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A one-night fling during World War I results in a young girl getting pregnant. Years later, she meets him again. Now a successful businessman, he doesn't even remember her, but tries to seduce her.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, John Boles, Edna May Oliver, Billie Burke
Votes: 422
Adapted 11-06-39; 04-16-45
148. The Champ (I) (1931)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Family, Sport
An alcoholic ex-boxer struggles to provide a good living for his son.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 3,623
Adapted 11-13-39; 06-29-42
149. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Unrated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
An aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.
Directors: Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin | Stars: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills
Votes: 11,593
Adapted 11-20-39
150. Pygmalion (1938)
89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A phonetics and diction expert makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl to speak proper English and pass as a lady in high society.
Directors: Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard | Stars: Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr
Votes: 9,667 | Gross: $3.05M
Adapted 11-27-39
151. A Man to Remember (1938)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Romance
Doctor John Abbott is a single parent who settles in the town of Westport with his son Dick, trying to eke out a living for them. He also inherits, by way of his doorstep, an unwanted baby ... See full summary »
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Anne Shirley, Edward Ellis, Lee Bowman, William Henry
Votes: 472
Adapted 12-04-39; 05-18-42
152. In Name Only (1939)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance
After a wealthy man finds out his wife is a gold digger, he meets and falls for a widowed mother, and complications ensue.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis, Charles Coburn
Votes: 3,547
Adapted 12-11-39
153. Four Daughters (1938)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A musician is blessed with four musical prodigies, all girls, and cursed when a troubled young composer enters the lives of his Four Daughters.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Claude Rains, John Garfield, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh
Votes: 2,226
Adapted 12-18-39
154. Pinocchio (1940)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc, Don Brodie
Votes: 159,930 | Gross: $84.25M
Adapted 12-25-39
155. Sorrell and Son (1933)
Approved | 84 min | Drama
Stephen Sorrell, a decorated war hero, raises his son Kit alone after Kit's mother deserts husband and child in the boy's infancy. Sorrell loses a promising job offer and is forced to take ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Raymond | Stars: H.B. Warner, Margot Grahame, Peter Penrose, Hugh Williams
Adapted 01-01-40
156. Sing, You Sinners (1938)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Of the singing Beebe brothers, young Mike just wants to be a kid; responsible Dave wants to work in his garage and marry Martha; but reckless Joe thinks his only road to success is through ... See full summary »
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray, Donald O'Connor, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 256
Adapted 01-15-40; 05-07-45
157. Bachelor Mother (1939)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Romance
An unemployed woman discovers an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage, and accepts an offer to take responsibility for the child in return for a job.
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson
Votes: 4,610
Adapted 01-22-40
158. Intermezzo (1939)
Approved | 70 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A violinist's piano accompanist retires. He hears his daughter's piano teacher (Ingrid Bergman) play, asks her to play on his next international tour, and they fall in love.
Director: Gregory Ratoff | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Leslie Howard, Edna Best, Ann E. Todd
Votes: 2,905
Adapted 01-29-40; 06-04-45
159. The Young in Heart (1938)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Thrown out of the Riviera, a family of grifters meets a lonely, vulnerable rich old woman and insinuate themselves into her life while they sponge off her.
Directors: Richard Wallace, Lewis Milestone, Gilbert Pratt, Richard Thorpe | Stars: Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Roland Young, Billie Burke
Votes: 1,618
Adapted 02-05-40
160. Made for Each Other (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
While on a business trip, an ambitious young lawyer meets and immediately falls in love with a stranger. They wed the following day, and tragedy soon strikes.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Carole Lombard, James Stewart, Charles Coburn, Lucile Watson
Votes: 4,104
Adapted 02-19-40; 12-17-45
161. Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A hair-dresser stranded in Panama moves in with an ex-soldier and his hypochondriac roommate; she and the former fall in love, but their romance is threatened by success and the arrival of his old flame.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Charles Butterworth, Jean Dixon
Votes: 903
Adapted 02-26-40
162. Trade Winds (1938)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Kay Kerrigan commits a murder and then changes her hair color, assumes a new identity and flees the country by ship. She's unaware that she's being followed by Sam Wye, a skirt chasing detective. The two soon develop a shipboard romance.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Fredric March, Joan Bennett, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Sothern
Votes: 704
Adapted 03-04-40
163. My Son, My Son! (1940)
Passed | 116 min | Drama, Romance
A self-made success is determined to give his son the lavish upbringing he himself was denied. Not surprisingly, the son grows up to be spoiled rotten, causing grief and pain to everyone who loves him.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Madeleine Carroll, Brian Aherne, Louis Hayward, Laraine Day
Votes: 267
Adapted 03-11-40
164. The Rains Came (1939)
Approved | 103 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In India, a married British aristocrat is reunited with an old flame, but she truly has her sights set on a handsome surgeon.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce
Votes: 2,293
Adapted 03-18-40
165. Remember the Night (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Love blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 7,195 | Gross: $0.17M
Adapted 03-25-40; 12-22-41
166. Love Affair (1939)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lee Bowman
Votes: 6,427
Adapted 04-01-40; 7-6-1942
167. Mama Loves Papa (1933)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Romance
A woman's ceaseless badgering sends her husband on a drinking bender. Along the way, he makes a new female acquaintance.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland, Lilyan Tashman, George Barbier
168. The Under-Pup (1939)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A young city girl from a poor family is invited to spend the summer at a camp for girls from wealthy families. At first ridiculed and scorned because of her background, she determines to ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Wallace | Stars: Gloria Jean, Robert Cummings, Nan Grey, C. Aubrey Smith
Votes: 101
169. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Humble Abraham Lincoln gains the respect of his Illinois neighbors, growing in stature and respect until he is elected President in 1860 and departs for Washington.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
Votes: 2,061
Adapted 04-22-40
170. Smilin' Through (1932)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The adoptive father of a young woman is horrified to learn she plans to marry the son of the man who accidentally killed her aunt years before.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard, O.P. Heggie
Votes: 1,552 | Gross: $2.19M
Adapted 04-29-40; 01-05-42
171. Our Town (1940)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Family, Romance
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,972
Adapted 05-06-40
172. True Confession (1937)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
A lawyer defends his wife, a pathological liar, in a murder trial.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, John Barrymore, Una Merkel
Votes: 1,774
Adapted 05-13-40
173. Midnight (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Romance
A chorus girl stranded in Paris is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man, while being romantically pursued by a cab driver.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer
Votes: 5,607
Adapted 05-20-40
174. Vigil in the Night (1940)
Passed | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A nurse loses her job after selflessly taking the blame for a fatal mistake her sister and co-worker made. She is subsequently employed at a poorly-equipped hospital, where she finds romance and tragedy.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Carole Lombard, Anne Shirley, Brian Aherne, Julien Mitchell
Votes: 1,038
Adapted 05-27-40
175. Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Approved | 106 min | Drama, Music, Musical
This send-up of ragtime song and dance begins in 1915 San Francisco when society boy Roger Grant decides to pursue popular rather than serious music.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman
Votes: 2,322
Adapted 06-03-40; 04-07-47
176. 'Til We Meet Again (1940)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Dying Joan Ames meets criminal Dan Hardesty on a luxury liner as he is being transported back to America by policeman Steve Burke to face execution. Joan and Dan fall in love, their fates unbeknownst to one another.
Directors: Edmund Goulding, William K. Howard, William Keighley, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Merle Oberon, George Brent, Pat O'Brien, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Votes: 749
Adapted 06-10-40
177. After the Thin Man (1936)
Passed | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Private detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora are back home at last and hoping for a quiet New Year when there is a murder. The obvious suspect is his wife, Nora's cousin, Selma.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Elissa Landi
Votes: 12,125 | Gross: $4.34M
Adapted 06-17-40
178. Show Boat (1936)
Approved | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson
Votes: 3,695
Adapted 06-24-40
179. Alias the Deacon (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Adventure, Comedy
A hillbilly deacon, who is actually a cardsharp in disguise, becomes involved in a small-town fight game.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Bob Burns, Mischa Auer, Peggy Moran, Dennis O'Keefe
Votes: 33
Adapted 07-01-40
180. To the Ladies (1923)
60 min | Comedy
Beebe, Baker, and Mullin, three clerks in a piano-manufacturing concern, vie for the position of factory manager. Baker, aware that the president's wife, Mrs. Kincaid, makes all the ... See full summary »
Director: James Cruze | Stars: Edward Everett Horton, Theodore Roberts, Helen Jerome Eddy, Louise Dresser
Votes: 18
Adapted 07-08-40
181. Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway, George Cukor | Stars: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo
Votes: 4,807
Adapted 09-09-40
182. Love Is News (1937)
Approved | 77 min | Comedy, Romance
A financier's daughter spars with a newspaper reporter: he by writing about her, she by announcing their engagement.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Don Ameche, Slim Summerville
Votes: 937
Adapted 09-16-40
183. The Westerner (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Drama, Western
Judge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone
Votes: 6,799
Adapted 09-23-40
184. His Girl Friday (1940)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 63,192 | Gross: $0.30M
Adapted 09-30-40
185. Wings of the Navy (1939)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Romance
Biplanes flying in formation past the Washington Monument. A flotilla of seaplanes rising majestically off the surface of the Atlantic.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, John Payne, Frank McHugh
Votes: 360
Adapted 10-07-40
186. The Littlest Rebel (1935)
Approved | 73 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Shirley Temple's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his family and is arrested. A Yankee takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the ... See full summary »
Director: David Butler | Stars: Shirley Temple, John Boles, Jack Holt, Karen Morley
Votes: 1,678
Adapted 10-14-40
187. Lillian Russell (1940)
Passed | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life story of the musical star from her discovery in 1890 by bandleader Tony Pastor until her retirement in 1912, when she married newspaperman Alexander Moore.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Edward Arnold
Votes: 580
Adapted 10-21-40
188. Strike Up the Band (1940)
Passed | 120 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A high-school boy wants to become a professional musician, and his gal pal wants to become his best girl. They work together staging big-band shows with fellow classmates in the hopes of hitting it big.
Director: Busby Berkeley | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman, June Preisser
Votes: 1,940
Adapted 10-28-40
189. Nothing Sacred (1937)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An eccentric woman learns she is not dying of radium poisoning as earlier assumed, but when she meets a reporter looking for a story, she feigns sickness again for her own profit.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly
Votes: 7,264
Adapted 11-11-40
190. Jezebel (1938)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance
In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 15,057
Adapted 11-25-40
191. Knute Rockne All American (1940)
Approved | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.
Directors: Lloyd Bacon, William K. Howard | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,155
Adapted 12-02-40
192. My Favorite Wife (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Romance
Missing for seven years and presumed dead, a woman returns home on the day of her husband's second marriage.
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick
Votes: 11,516
Adapted 12-09-40
193. Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
Approved | 83 min | Comedy, Romance
Feeling unwanted by his wife and children, a wealthy industrialist hires an unemployed young woman to pose as his mistress.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Verree Teasdale, James Ellison
Votes: 1,795
Adapted 12-16-40
194. Young Tom Edison (1940)
Approved | 86 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Inventor Thomas Edison's boyhood is chronicled and shows him as a lad whose early inventions and scientific experiments usually end up with disastrous results. As a consequence, the ... See full summary »
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, George Bancroft, Virginia Weidler
Votes: 1,266
Adapted 12-23-40
195. A Little Bit of Heaven (1940)
Passed | 87 min | Musical
A 12-year-old singing sensation loses her voice when her parents refuse to give in to her harebrained schemes.
Director: Andrew Marton | Stars: Gloria Jean, Robert Stack, Hugh Herbert, C. Aubrey Smith
Votes: 44
Adapted 12-30-40
196. Vivacious Lady (1938)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Romance
A professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 4,186
Adapted 01-06-41
197. Libel! (1938 TV Movie)
90 min | Drama
Stars: Leon M. Lion, Wyndham Goldie, Leonora Corbett, Michael Shepley
Adapted 01-13-41; 03-15-43
198. The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
Approved | 91 min | Western
A lonely socialite masquerades as a maid and meets an unpretentious, plain-spoken cowboy who is unaware of her true identity.
Directors: H.C. Potter, Stuart Heisler, William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Merle Oberon, Patsy Kelly, Walter Brennan
Votes: 1,820
Adapted 01-20-41
199. Captain January (1936)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
A little girl named Star lives with the lighthouse keeper who rescued her when her parents drowned. A truant officer decides she should go to boarding school, but she's rescued by relatives.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 1,499
Adapted 01-27-41; 02-18-46
200. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,816 | Gross: $4.36M
Adapted 02-03-41; 11-06-50
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