Carey Wilson

Told on the premise that the United States has always been a refuge from those seeking a reprieve from poverty and bigotry, this Miniature short from M-G-M is the story of a young Polish boy, unable to speak English, just arriving in New York City with hie parents. He leaves his lower east-side tenement to go play. Passing an open field he sees a sight unfamiliar to him; a group of boys playing baseball. When the boys drop their bats and gloves to hitch a ride on a passing ice-wagon, the Polish boy goes over to the baseball diamond and starts examining the baseball equipment. The boys come back and think he is about to steal their belongings but, when they learn he is a new immigrant and doesn't understand English, they invite him to play base ball with them..and he gets a base-hit his first time at bat.

There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.

This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel and more, with host Bob Hope.

This short film presents three legends of hidden gold in California's Death Valley.

During the American Civil War, General Ulysses Grant carries out the 'Tennessee Plan,' which involves stopping the Confederate supply line on the Tennessee River. This proved to be a vital action for the North in its push south...

In 1942, a young paratrooper in the RAF returns to Czechoslovakia to encourage his fellow countrymen to sabotage the German war effort.

This short explores the possibility that Louis XVII, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, escaped death during the French Revolution and was raised by Indians in America.

Author Frank R. Stockton, often asked the question, finally decides to divulge the untold ending of his story, The Lady or the Tiger?

This short film applies the prophecies of Nostradamus to events of World War II.

The story of Abraham Lincoln's 30-year struggle of persistence-through-failure is told to an unemployed 50 year old man.

A satirical visualization of strange and forgotten, but (at that time) nevertheless still existing laws in the U.S.A.

After John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, he escaped to Maryland and was discovered hiding in a barn. After he refused to surrender, the barn was set afire and Booth died in the blaze. However, in 1903 a Mr. David E. George, while on his deathbed in Enid, Oklahoma, claimed to be John Wilkes Booth. This MGM An Historical Mystery series short presents evidence of the possibility that Mr. George's claim was true.

An American trader disrupts life on a Polynesian island.

This short follows the early career of actress Jane Barnes. She starts by doing extra work. After several months she is offered a studio contract (the "first step"). However, her work consists mostly of fashion shoots and bit parts that end up on the cutting room floor. She is even used as a stand-in for Maureen O'Sullivan on the set of a Tarzan movie when camera angles and lighting must be set up.

An elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted the fates of her husband, her three sons and herself.

This short film looks at the life of Michel Ney, who fought at Napoleon's side and was made a Marshall of France.

Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his former girlfriend, Eleanor Breen is about to marry. Hank convinces Eleanor to leave the groom-to-be and marry him. Shortly after the marriage, they discover that they have nothing in common. They separate. Hank decides to pick any name from the phone book and date them. That date results in a wild and frightful night for Hank, thanks to Eleanor's clever plan.

The narrator's voice tells of John Dough, who wakes up after a late-night party and prepares to go to work. However, a few interruptions, including thinking for a moment that he sees a woman's body in his bed, having his car key not work, and thinking he hears his mother calling, delay his departure from home by almost a minute. When tragedy strikes close by, John revisits the morning's events. A phone call from his brother in Chicago confirms how odd this morning is. Did John experience telepathy or was it all coincidence? If radio waves can carry a communication, why not a mother's love?

This short looks at the possibility that those who have passed on can communicate with us in ways we least expect.

Carey Wilson narrates this MGM Miniature short in which an average office worker suffers all week-end because his boss, who had a bad case of indigestion, didn't speak to him when he came to work on Friday and is convinced he is going to get fired.

A tour of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio in 1925 shows the people who make the movies there, and gives viewers a glimpse at how movies are made.

This short film portrays Nostradamus as having predicted the horrors of WWI and Hitler's rise to power, as well as the eventual triumph of "the daughter of the English Isles" against these forces. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

A look at whether Napoleon Bonaparte indeed died on the island of St. Helena in 1821.

John Jones, newlywed, attends a party with his wife, when an incident occurs with his mother-in-law. His sweetie believes him to be the culprit of a supposed prank, and forces him to sleep in the guest room, but could the accident have been the benevolent warning of a twenty-years-gone ghost?

The original concept of the show was to allow the viewer to see the inner workings of a movie studio and featured interviews with MGM stars and explanations of how movies were made. Later, the format changed to show edited versions of MGM films.