John Boles
Actor · 1895 – 1969 · Greenville, Texas, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Boles (October 28, 1895 – February 27, 1969) was an American singer and actor best known for playing Victor Moritz in the 1931 film Frankenstein. He started out in Hollywood in silent movies, but became a huge star with the advent of talkies. After the war, Boles moved to New York to study music. He quickly became well known for his talents and was selected to replace the leading man in the 1923 Broadway musical Little Jesse James. He became an established star on Broadway and attracted the attention of Hollywood producers and actors. Boles' Broadway credits include One Touch of Venus (1943), Kitty's Kisses (1925), Mercenary Mary (1924), and Little Jessie James (1923). He was hired by MGM to appear in a silent film in 1924. He starred in two more films for that studio before returning to New York and the stage. In 1927, he returned to Hollywood to star in The Love of Sunya (1927) opposite Gloria Swanson, which was a big success for him. Unfortunately, because the movies were still silent he was unable to show off his singing ability until late in the decade. In 1929, Warner Brothers hired him to star in their lavish musical operetta The Desert Song (1929). This film featured sequences in Technicolor and was a box-office success. Soon after, Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) selected him to play the leading man in their extravagant production (the last portion of the film was photographed in Technicolor) of Rio Rita, opposite Bebe Daniels. Audiences were enthralled by his beautiful voice, and John Boles suddenly found himself in huge demand. RCA Victor even hired him to make phonograph records of songs that he had sung in his films. As soon as Rio Rita was completed, Boles went back to Warner Brothers as the leading man in an even more extravagant musical entitled Song of the West (1930) that was filmed entirely in Technicolor. Shortly after this film, Universal Pictures offered John Boles a contract, which he accepted. He starred in a number of pictures for them, most notably the all-Technicolor musical revue entitled The King of Jazz (1930) and a historical operetta entitled Captain of the Guard (1930). In 1931, he starred in One Heavenly Night (1931), which would prove to be his last major musical. Boles portrayed Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931). He starred with Irene Dunne in a 1934 film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence directed for RKO Radio Pictures by Philip Moeller, and took the role of Edward Morgan in Curly Top (1935), starring Shirley Temple In 1937, Boles starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the King Vidor classic Stella Dallas. In 1943, he co-starred with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker in One Touch of Venus. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Boles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies24
Movie7.5DramaHorrorHenry Frankenstein pieces together body parts in the hope of bringing a human-like creature to life. The mad scientist’s dreams are shattered by his monstrous creation awakening with rage to a world that hates and fears him.
Frankenstein
1931 · 1.9K votes
Movie6.3MusicA large-scale revue musical built around Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, presenting a series of musical performances, sketches, and staged tableaux in early two-color Technicolor, emblematic of Hollywood’s early sound-era “all-star” musical productions.
King of Jazz
1930 · 39 votes
Movie6.4ComedyRomanceAcrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a few snags, including disapproval from her father. Eddie's also plagued by fear of having an accident during his family's trapeze act in the army variety show, which also features a gallery of MGM stars.
Thousands Cheer
1943 · 21 votes
Movie6.8DramaRomanceA working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
Stella Dallas
1937 · 101 votes
Movie5.3ComedyMusicPresident Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.
Stand Up and Cheer!
1934 · 12 votes
Movie6.5FamilyMusicWealthy Edward Morgan becomes charmed with a curly-haired orphan and her pretty older sister Mary and arranges to adopt both under the alias of "Mr. Jones". As he spends more time with them, he soon finds himself falling in love with Mary.
Curly Top
1935 · 45 votes
Movie7.0DramaAfter five years of marriage, Beth and Peter Marsh's life together is a series of rows and reconciliations. Beth is frivolous and extravagant; Peter is domineering and ambitious and has difficulty paying the bills. Daniel Rankin, who lives in the same apartment building, becomes attracted to Beth and arranges with the Marsh chauffeur to have her car break down, allowing him to offer assistance and gracefully introduce himself; Rankin later invites her to a dance. Resenting Rankin's attentions to his wife, Peter forbids her to go. However, Beth accompanies Rankin to spite her husband, and Rankin proposes that she divorce Peter and become his wife. A lost film.
So This Is Marriage?
1924 · 1 votes
Movie5.8ComedyRomanceInnocent Sally Brown thinks men are only attracted to experienced women, so she poses as the wife of an unmarried businessman on a trip to Paris.
Careless Lady
1932 · 5 votes
Movie5.0DramaRomanceA fiery Cuban woman guides an emissary from the U.S. president through the jungles of war-torn Cuba.
A Message to Garcia
1936 · 12 votes
Movie5.7DramaA small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues the relationship with his true love.
The Life of Vergie Winters
1934 · 9 votes
Movie5.5RomanceDramaAn Arab prince born and raised in the desert and a beautiful Frenchwoman from Paris fall in love and marry, but the tremendous differences in their backgrounds and the cultural differences between their two different societies put strains on their marriage that may well prove irreparable.
Fazil
1928 · 8 votes
Movie6.4ComedyDramaVirgie Cary's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his dying wife and is arrested. A Yankee officer takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. Virgie and Uncle Billy beg President Lincoln to intercede.
The Littlest Rebel
1935 · 35 votes
Movie6.4DramaRomanceA woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.
Back Street
1932 · 14 votes
Movie7.0MusicRomanceIt is California in 1852 that only recently being surrendered by Mexico to the United States and admitted into the union. Most of the land-owners of California were the descendants of the Dons who had colonized it a hundred years before and whose title deeds bore the signature and seal of a long-dead Spanish king. But, by a loop-hole in the law, the title-deeds of the Dons could not be recognized, and this opened the door of organized gangs of land-grabbers, such as the one led by Joe Kincaid, to operate with a prime excuse for legitimate plunder and robbery. In most cases the law was unable to cope with the situation. Then Rosita Castro, the daughter of Don Pasqual Castro, masked and disguised as a man, organized a band of vigilantes to fight against the tyranny of the outlaws, aided by an undercover federal agent, Jim Kearney.
Rose of the Rancho
1936 · 1 votes
Movie8.0ComedyWhen a boss proposes marriage to his secretary, she discovers that the arrangement is solely for tax purposes.
As Good as Married
1937 · 2 votes
Movie6.8DramaThe title represents the hopeful, ambitious students at a hospital training school and is primarily a story of the stern discipline and laborious physical and mental toil they endure in order to become nurses and join the White Parade. It is told mainly through the character of June Arden who finds romance with Ronald Hall III on the way, with side stories of the other girls who find failure, success, laughs and tears on the way.
The White Parade
1934 · 4 votes
Movie4.8Science FictionDramaThe victim of a political assassination is brought back to life by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.
6 Hours to Live
1932 · 9 votes
Movie8.0RomanceWesternCapt. James Stewart pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita, though he suspects that her brother is the bandit.
Rio Rita
1929 · 5 votes
Movie5.2DramaRomanceAn engaged attorney and a divorcee fall for each other in 1870s Manhattan.
The Age of Innocence
1934 · 10 votes
Movie7.0DramaAn aspiring writer and her boyfriend, a professional agitator head off to the Big Apple in search of good fortune. Unfortunately, the agitator soon finds himself in trouble with the cops. Meanwhile the writer attempts to become a Greenwich Village Bohemian type. She and her new friends are all starving for their art until a kindly gent offers them financial assistant. They refuse on principle. Tragedy pays a call when the writer learns that her boyfriend has been untrue.
I Believed in You
1934 · 1 votes
Movie5.7DocumentaryBasically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon with an orchestra playing, all sorts of stars and would-be stars sitting at tables near the pool alongside paying customers, and bathing beauties parading and diving. The Lido's manager, Reggy Denny, introduces the stars in the audience. He's sometimes interrupted by someone who does a bit, sings a song, or otherwise entertains: most of these are novelty acts. By the end, everyone's having a swell time.
Starlit Days at the Lido
1935 · 7 votes
Movie6.0DocumentaryViewers are provided a visit to Ken Maynard's private circus; Bette Davis poses for her portrait; Frank McHugh plays with his children; a visit to the West Side Tennis Club affords glimpses of many stars.
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
1936 · 1 votes
Movie5.6ComedyMusicWrestling trainer puts himself in charge of a singer's love life when the singer is jilted by a rich girl.
Fight for Your Lady
1937 · 5 votes
Movie3.3ActionDramaIn a banana republic, way south of the Texas border, a dumb-Dora American girl, Norma (Olive Borden), lets her ruby-red lips promise more than she is willing to deliver, and she finds herself a prisoner in a notorious dance-hall/brothel. But her American aviator boyfriend, Barry Blake (John Boles), is flying to her rescue. He does just that but, alas, they are quickly captured by a gang of outlaws. Possibly the many expensive pieces of jewelry she has gathered from the many male friends she has made along the way, including El Presidente, captured the outlaws' attention.
Virgin Lips
1928 · 3 votes