Elissa Landi
Actor · 1904 – 1948 · Venice, Italy
Elissa Landi (December 6, 1904 – October 21, 1948) was an Italian born actress who was popular in Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930s. Rumoured to be a descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, she was noted for her aristocratic bearing. Born Elisabeth Marie Christine Kühnelt in Venice, Landi was raised in Austria and educated in England. Her first ambition was to be a writer, and she wrote her first novel at the age of twenty. She would return to writing during lulls in her acting career. She joined the Oxford Repertory Company at an early age, appearing in many British and American stage successes. During the 1920s she appeared in British, French, and German films before travelling to the United States to appear in a Broadway production of A Farewell to Arms. She was signed to a contact by Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox) in 1931. She played the heroine in Cecil B. De Mille's The Sign of the Cross (1932), but was overshadowed by Claudette Colbert who played the flashier role of Poppea. She was paired successfully with some of the major leading men, such as David Manners, Charles Farrell, Warner Baxter, and Ronald Colman in romantic dramas such as Body and Soul (1931) before appearing in the box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) with Robert Donat. Her contract with Fox was abruptly cancelled in 1936 as a result of her refusal to accept a particular role. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her to a contract and after a couple of romantic dramas she played the cousin of Myrna Loy in the very popular After the Thin Man (1936). After only two more films she retired, in 1943. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, and dedicated herself to writing, producing six novels and a series of poems. She died from cancer in Kingston, New York, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Elissa Landi has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 1615 Vine St. Description above from the Wikipedia article Elissa Landi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies23
Movie10.0DramaRomanceWealthy, aging millionaire John Hunter Yates (Frank Morgan) seeks to recapture his youth by pursuing a young actress, Blossom Bailey (Elissa Landi), leading him from America to Europe, where he finances her and a musician lover, only to realize his mistakes and return to his neglected wife, Elinor, understanding their true connection.
Sisters Under the Skin
1934 · 1 votes
Movie7.3ComedyMysteryAfter returning to San Francisco, Nick and Nora Charles are drawn into the disappearance of Nora’s cousin’s husband. When he is found murdered, suspicion falls on the troubled family, and Nick reluctantly resumes his detective work. With Nora eagerly at his side, the pair follows a trail of jealousy, blackmail, secret relationships, and long-buried family scandals.
After the Thin Man
1936 · 206 votes
Movie6.4DramaHistoryA Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
The Sign of the Cross
1932 · 53 votes
Movie6.8DramaAdventureYoung sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.
The Count of Monte Cristo
1934 · 64 votes
Movie6.1DramaA married writer's luck turns when he gets a play produced at Théâtre de Paris. He meets the femme fatale who should play the lead in his play. Passion and conflict occurs.
Movie6.8ComedyMusicElissa Landi and Charley Chase host an East Asian themed garden tea party in Hollywood. After introducing a few Hollywood luminaries who are attending the party, they present a number of musical and/or dance performances to entertain the crowd. This set of performances also includes ethnic Chinese actress Anna May Wong modeling some fashions she brought back from her first ever trip to China. Through it all, one of the guests, already inebriated, is having a few problems mixing and serving the cocktails he wants.
Hollywood Party
1937 · 5 votes
Movie7.0ComedyThe Warrior's Husband is a satire of the male and female roles in society set in 800 B.C.. Queen Hippolyta (Marjorie Rambeau) rules Pontus with masculine authority; in fact, it is the women of Pontus who do all the laboring, fighting, and governing. Hippolyta's husband Sapiens (Ernest Truex) is truly a sissy of the first order, and is not unlike most of Pontus' male inhabitants.
The Warrior's Husband
1933 · 1 votes
Movie5.7ActionComedyMan marries opera singer, winds up taking back seat to her career.
Enter Madame
1935 · 6 votes
Movie5.0DramaJust prior to the outbreak of World War I, in the British West African town of Akkra, English woman Myra Carson becomes involved in a scandal and is deported. While Myra's ship is docked at Duala, in German West Africa, the war breaks out and she finds herself facing internment by the Germans.
A Passport to Hell
1932 · 8 votes
Movie6.8DramaRomanceA working-class love story set in and around the London Underground of the 1920s. Two men – gentle Bill and brash Bert – meet and are attracted to the same woman on the same day at the same Underground station. But the lady chooses Bill, and Bert isn't the type to take rejection lightly...
Underground
1928 · 23 votes
Movie6.0AdventureA former boxing champion, now an innkeeper, is accused of stealing a watch from a party of guests at his inn, who happen to be members of English royalty. The old man is arrested and thrown in prison. His son, knowing that his father didn't steal the watch and suspecting a frame-up, follows the royal party to London, where he poses as a wealthy "gentleman" and insinuates himself into the English court in an effort to find out who framed his father and why.
The Amateur Gentleman
1936 · 2 votes
Movie6.5DramaA British explorer brings an Eskimo hunter to London, where he misreads a woman.
Man of Two Worlds
1934 · 2 votes
Movie5.4DramaAndress, Watson and Johnson, pilots with a Royal Air Force squadron in France, are tasked with a deadly mission.
Body and Soul
1931 · 4 votes
Movie6.3DramaHistoryKoenigsmark is a 1935 British-French drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Elissa Landi, John Lodge and Pierre Fresnay. The film is based on the novel Koenigsmark by Pierre Benoît. It's sets were designed by the art director Lucien Aguettand. The film was known in the United States as Crimson Dynasty.
Movie4.4ActionDramaA doctor and his staff in a hospital on the Philippine island of Corregidor shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor try to treat the sick, injured and wounded as American and Filipino troops desperately try to beat back a ferocious Japanese attack.
Corregidor
1943 · 4 votes
Movie8.0MysteryDivorcee Laura marries Paul but his employer is also enamored with Laura and sends Paul on a business trip during which a murder is committed and he is accused of the crime.
The Woman in Room 13
1932 · 1 votes
Movie4.2DramaRomanceVicki Meredith, an American ballet student in Paris, falls in love with Randall Williams, another American studying architecture in Paree, and they set up some light housekeeping together until she learns that Randall has forgotten to mention that he has a wife back in the USA. This miffs Vicki to the point where she ups and heads for South America where she meets and falls in love with Philip Fletcher, a construction engineer from America. But he hustles off to build Boulder Dam. They meet again in New York City and discover their separation has made their love even stronger. Then, Randall and his wife show up and sophistication rears its ugly head.
I Loved You Wednesday
1933 · 5 votes
Movie6.4MysteryComedyA temperamental film star's vacation turns deadly when he uncovers a murder.
Mad Holiday
1936 · 7 votes
Movie10.0RomanceComedyFacing an arranged marriage to a man of dubious morals, heiress Korah Hurley poses as the impoverished travelling companion of her aunt, the Marquise de Jaurmais, in order to test whether her rakish fiancé's affections are truly for her or for the fortune she will inherit.
Knowing Men
1930 · 1 votes
Movie8.0WarDramaHessian officers' flirtations with an artist's daughter accidentally give signals to the attacking English.
Bolibar
1928 · 1 votes
Movie8.0DramaRomanceA Lady adopts a runaway slum girl who resembles her own dead daughter.
London
1927 · 1 votes
Movie5.7ComedyRomanceA beautiful woman mistakes a Prince's butler for the Prince.
By Candlelight
1933 · 16 votes
Movie8.0DramaIntricate, soapy drama of romance, heartbreak, and murder amongst a diverse group of sweepstakes winners visiting a newspaper tycoon's estate.
Devil's Lottery
1932 · 1 votes