80% (3) Intermezzo: A Love Story 70 min, APPROVED, [Romance, Drama] [Gregory Ratoff] [28 Feb 1940]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Metacritic: 74%, External Reviews
Actors: Edna Best, Ingrid Bergman, John Halliday, Leslie Howard
Writer: George O'Neil (screen play), Gösta Stevens (original story), Gustaf Molander (original story)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A concert violinist becomes charmed with his daughter's talented piano teacher. When he invites her to go on tour with him, they make beautiful music away from the concert hall as well. He soon leaves his wife so the two can go off together.
Rotten Tomatoes: The love of a violinist (Leslie Howard) for his daughter's music teacher (Ingrid Bergman). Thomas: John Halliday. Margit: Edna Best. Ann Marie: Ann Todd. Charles: Cecil Kellaway. Greta: Enid Bennett. Eric: Douglas Scott. Emma: Eleanor Wesselhoeft. Glossy David Selznick production. Directed by Gregory Ratoff.
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73% (1) The House on 56th Street 68 min, TV-G, [Drama, History] [Robert Florey] [23 Dec 1933]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews
Actors: Gene Raymond, John Halliday, Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez
Writer: Austin Parker (screen play), Sheridan Gibney (screen play), Joseph Santley (from the story by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: This movie opens in 1905, when showgirl and daughter of a deceased gambler Peggy Martin falls in love with Monte Van Tyle and breaks the news to lover Fiske that she is leaving him. She and Monte marry and move into the title house, where Peggy says she "wants to live forever." They live an idyllic life for several years, have baby Eleanor, and life is beautiful. Then Fiske comes back and tells Peggy he is dying and wants her to be with him. She refuses, he gets desperate and tries to shoot himself, they struggle and he is shot dead. Peggy is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years. She tells the faithful Monte to someday tell Eleanor she died in jail. Time passes, Monte dies in WWI, Peggy is finally released. Her mother-in-law left her $5,000 in her will, so Peggy gets a makeover and goes on a cruise, where she meets Bill Blaine, a crooked gambler. They team up and make scads of money all over the world cheating suckers. They end up in New York and take jobs at a recently-opened gambling house on 56th Street - Peggy's old home. Bill is in charge of the gaming and Peggy deals black jack. Who should show up but Peggy's daughter Eleanor, who gambles herself into a $15,000 debt she can't pay. Bill threatens to call her society-type husband and tell him about Eleanor, but Eleanor shoots him just as Peggy walks in.
Rotten Tomatoes: This melodrama chronicles three decades in the life of the New York located title house beginning at the turn of the century when a chorine falls in love with a wealthy young man. He loves her too and this inspires the lass to leave her sugar daddy, marry and move into the beautiful home that is located very close to Park Avenue. The pair are deliciously happy and even more so when a daughter is born. Unfortunately, unhappiness comes in the form of the jilted lover who returns and threatens to kill himself unless the former dancer comes back to him. Concerned, she visits his apartment to dissuade him from suicide. A struggle ensues with his gun and he dies leaving her to spend twenty years in jail for the alleged crime. Fortunately, her husband's belief in her innocence and his devotion never wavers. Unfortunately, he ends up killed on the front lines during WW I. It is 1925 when the hapless heroine is finally released from prison. She finds herself confused by the many dramatic changes that have turned refined New York into the wild Big Apple of the 1920s. She is also upset that her late husband's family refuses to let her see her grown daughter. They pay her a large sum to stay a stranger. On a subsequent ocean cruise she joins forces with a card sharp and becomes a wealthy con artist. They decide to work in a speakeasy on 56th Street. Surprise, it turns out to be her old home and in it is still the beautiful Florentine medallion that once symbolized the undying love between the woman and her husband. Still she opens the house for its disreputable business. One night her daughter, a compulsive gambler, who of course, doesn't recognize her own mother, shows up and loses a lot of money. She and the card sharp get in a terrible row and the young girl shoots him. Her mother then tries to take the rap but the speakeasy owner doesn't buy it and tells her he'll cover for her on the provision that she remain in the house forever. She accepts the dubious proposition and the story ends. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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73% (1) Peter Ibbetson 88 min, [Drama, Fantasy, Romance] [Henry Hathaway] [07 Nov 1935]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews
Actors: Ann Harding, Gary Cooper, Ida Lupino, John Halliday
Writer: Vincent Lawrence (screenplay), Waldemar Young (screenplay), John Meehan (additional scenes), Edwin Justus Mayer (additional scenes), George L. Du Maurier (novel), John Nathaniel Raphael (play), Constance Collier (adaptation)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French Country: USA
Plot: Architect Peter Ibbetson is hired by the Duke of Towers to design a building for him. Ibbetson discovers that the Duchess of Towers, Mary, is his now-grown childhood sweetheart. Their love revives, but Peter is sentenced to life in prison for an accidental killing. Mary comes to him in dreams and they are able to live out their romance in a dream world.
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72% (1) Desire 95 min, Approved, [Comedy, Crime, Romance] [Frank Borzage] [28 Feb 1936]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Actors: Gary Cooper, John Halliday, Marlene Dietrich, William Frawley
Writer: Hans Székely (play), Robert A. Stemmle (play), Edwin Justus Mayer (screenplay), Waldemar Young (screenplay), Samuel Hoffenstein (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: Madeleine steals a string of pearls in Paris and uses US engineer Tom, who is driving on his vacation to Spain, to get the pearls out of France, but getting the pearls, back from him proves to be difficult without falling in love.
Rotten Tomatoes: A beautiful, sophisticated woman uses her considerable charms to con a jeweler out of a pearl necklace worth a fortune. She, a notorious jewel thief, then heads for Paris, leaving a stodgy psychiatrist framed for her crime. She is careening toward the border in her car and passes a car driven by a vacationing American engineer, nearly forcing him off the road. Once at the border, the woman almost panics when she sees that the guards are checking luggage and purses. Quickly she slips the pearls into the waiting American's pocket. As soon as he makes it over the border, she is hot on his heels. Though she flirts with him from her vehicle, he is shy and ignores her. In desperation, she speeds ahead, stops and breaks her engine. Naturally he picks her up and together they go to San Sebastian, where her partner waits. Along the way, the American falls head-over-heels for the girl until he finds the purloined pearls in his pocket. He doesn't know that she has fallen deeply in love with him. Though she desperately wants to be with him, another member of her jewel-thieving ring tells her that her past will prevent all chances at romantic happiness. She lies to him and tells him that she has a husband and then admits her true vocation in hopes of scaring him away. Fortunately, he is not so easily frightened and by the story's stylish ending, the lovers are joyously reunited.
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70% (1) Perfect Understanding 80 min, [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [Cyril Gardner] [11 Mar 1933]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, External Reviews
Actors: Gloria Swanson, John Halliday, Laurence Olivier, Nigel Playfair
Writer: Miles Malleson (story), Miles Malleson (dialogue), Garrett Graham (dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: A young couple decide to marry under the condition that they agree never to disagree. That agreement is soon put to the test when the husband finds himself attracted to a beautiful young woman.
Rotten Tomatoes: Star Gloria Swanson also co-produced this British film, a romantic comedy/drama that teamed her with a young Laurence Olivier. Judy Rogers (Swanson), an American vacationing in England, meets aristocrat Nicholas Randall (Olivier) and the two fall in love. They agree to marry but insist they'll never have any disagreements -- while both intending to maintain their independence. After an idyllic honeymoon, they are separated briefly and Nicholas strays with Lady Stephanie Fitzmaurice (Nora Swinburne). After he confesses to Judy, she decides to date the eligible Ivan Ronnson (John Halliday), but keeps the encounter a flirtation only. Their marriage becomes shaky, but Judy and Nicholas weather their doubts and come to love each other all the more. Note the film's co-writer: Michael Powell, who would later direct, write, and produce Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes (in collaboration with Emeric Pressburger). ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi
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65% (1) Bed of Roses 67 min, PASSED, [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [Gregory La Cava] [14 Jul 1933]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, External Reviews
Actors: Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, John Halliday, Pert Kelton
Writer: Wanda Tuchock (by), Gregory La Cava (dialogue), Eugene Thackrey (dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Lorry and Minnie are ex-hookers who leave prison, determined to find the good life with rich men. Along the way Lorry meets and falls in love with cotton barge owner Dan. She must choose between living on a barge with her love, risking his learning about her past, and remaining the mistress of wealthy Stephen Paige.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this sassy dramatic comedy, two reform-school girls finally graduate and as soon as they get out decide to board a New Orleans-bound stern-wheeler and rustle up a couple of handsome, wealthy men. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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61% (1) Bird of Paradise 80 min, PASSED, [Adventure, Drama, Romance] [King Vidor] [12 Aug 1932]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews
Actors: Dolores del Rio, Joel McCrea, John Halliday, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher
Writer: Richard Walton Tully (play), Wells Root (screenplay), Wanda Tuchock (screenplay), Leonard Praskins (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Hawaiian Country: USA
Plot: A young man falls overboard and is saved by a beautiful Polynesian girl. They fall in love, but their idyll is smashed when the local volcano begins to erupt. The man discovers that the local custom is to sacrifice a young woman to the volcanic gods. They try to escape but realize that "east is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet."
Rotten Tomatoes: Richard Walton Tully's war-horse theatrical drama Bird of Paradise was filmed twice in Hollywood. This second version stars Louis Jourdan as French sailor of fortune Andre Lawrence, who joins his Polynesian friend, Tenga (Jeff Chandler), on a visit to the South Seas. Once he's arrived in the tropical paradise, Andre falls in love with Chandler's nubile sister, Kalua (Debra Paget). Alas, their romance brings only disaster to all concerned. To appease the gods and prevent a volcanic eruption that will destroy her home and people, the girl offers herself up as a sacrifice. This Technicolor remake of Bird of Paradise prevented the TV release of the superior 1932 version, which starred Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio; only when the 1932 film lapsed into public domain was it afforded TV exposure. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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