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Henry Daniell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Henry Daniell (5 March 1894 – 31 October 1963) was an English actor who had a long and prestigious career on stage as well as in films. He is perhaps best known for his villainous roles in films like The Great Dictator, The Philadelphia Story and The Sea Hawk. Daniell was given few opportunities to play a 'good guy', including a supporting part as Franz Liszt in the biographical film Song of Love (1947). His last name is sometimes spelled "Daniel".
Daniell's film debut came in 1929 in Jealousy. He appeared as Professor Moriarty in the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green (1945). He appeared in other films such as Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (playing Garbitsch, to sound like "garbage", a parody of Joseph Goebbels), and The Body Snatcher (1945, with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi) – as well as two other films in the Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone series: The Voice of Terror (1942) and Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) with fellow Moriarty George Zucco.
Daniell played the sleazy Baron de Varville opposite Greta Garbo in Camille (1936). Another early triumph was his portrayal of Cecil in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). He also played the treacherous Lord Wolfingham (no relation to Francis Walsingham) in The Sea Hawk (1940), fighting Errol Flynn in what is often considered one of the most spectacular sword fighting duels ever filmed. When Michael Curtiz cast him in this film, Henry Daniell initially refused because he couldn't fence. Curtiz accomplished the climactic duel through the use of shadows and over-shoulder shots, with a double fencing Flynn with ingenious inter-cutting of their faces.
Towards the end of the Second World War, he appeared in one of his most memorable film roles, as the cruel Mr. Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre (1944), opposite Joan Fontaine who played Eyre. That same year he appeared in The Suspect as Charles Laughton's blackmailing next-door neighbour. In the 1950s and 1960s, he did much television, and also appeared as the malevolent Dr. Emil Zurich in Edward L. Cahn's The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), and in an episode of Maverick, "Pappy" opposite James Garner the same year. An absolute professional, he was always on the set when needed, and impatient when delays in filming took place. Much in demand for his dry, sardonic delivery, Daniell moved easily from big-budget films, such as (uncredited) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), to television without difficulty. In 1957, Daniell appeared as King Charles II of England in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show in the episode "The Trial of Colonel Blood", with Michael Wilding in the title role. In the same year he played the instructing solicitor to Charles Laughton's leading counsel barrister in Witness for the Prosecution (1957).
The actor claimed one of his favourite roles was as Tony Curtis' supervisor in the acclaimed Blake Edwards film Mister Cory (1957) at a time when the actor's career was clearly slowing down, but Daniell retained some of the best and most memorable lines in the movie, "A gentleman never grabs. Manners, Mister Cory. I find them a prerequisite in any circumstance."
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 4.831 |
Birthday | 1894-03-04 |
Place of Birth | Barnes, Surrey, UK |
Also Known As | Henry Daniel, 亨利·丹尼尔, Charles Henry Pywell Daniell, |
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1940
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The Great Dictator
8.3/3415
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
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The Great Dictator
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1940
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The Philadelphia Story
7.6/875
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
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The Philadelphia Story
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1961
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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
5.7/126
The crew of an atomic submarine battle to save the world from global destruction.
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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
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1949
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Siren of Atlantis
5.2/12
Two Foreign Legion soldiers, Jean (Dennis O'Keefe) and Andre (Jean Pierre Aumont), accidentally discover the famed lost continent of Atlantis. Bewitch...
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Siren of Atlantis
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1945
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The Body Snatcher
6.992/187
Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted o...
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The Body Snatcher
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1961
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The Comancheros
6.7/194
Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of rene...
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The Comancheros
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1943
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Jane Eyre
6.9/134
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she mee...
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Jane Eyre
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1957
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The Sun Also Rises
5.9/32
A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain.
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The Sun Also Rises

1942
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Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
6.5/92
England, at the start of World War Two. Mysterious wireless broadcasts, apparently from Nazi Germany are heard over the BBC. They warn of acts of terr...
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Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
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1940
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The Sea Hawk
7.2/130
Dashing pirate Geoffrey Thorpe plunders Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth I and falls in love with Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal he captures.
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The Sea Hawk

1941
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A Woman's Face
6.9/66
A female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possibility of looking like a normal woman.
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A Woman's Face

1945
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The Woman in Green
6.4/129
Sherlock Holmes investigates when young women around London turn up murdered, each with a finger severed. Scotland Yard suspects a madman, but Holmes...
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The Woman in Green

1956
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The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
6.8/48
Tom Rath is a suburban father and husband haunted by his memories of World War II, including a wartime romance with Italian village girl Maria, which...
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The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

1948
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Wake of the Red Witch
5.5/42
Captain Ralls fights Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye for the woman he loves, Angelique Desaix, and for a fortune in gold aboard the Red Witch.
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Wake of the Red Witch
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1956
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Lust for Life
7.1/191
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustr...
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Lust for Life
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1942
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Castle in the Desert
6.8/15
Charlie Chan, with son Jimmy on a week's pass from the Army, takes up a request for help at a castle-home, miles from anywhere in the American desert...
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Castle in the Desert

1957
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Witness for the Prosecution
8.2/1442
An ailing famous barrister agrees to defend a man in a sensational murder trial where his self-possessed wife's unconvincing testimony confuses him.
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Witness for the Prosecution

1957
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The Story of Mankind
4.6/22
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.
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The Story of Mankind

1957
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Les Girls
6.4/50
After writing a tell-all book about her days in the dance troupe "Barry Nichols and Les Girls", Sybil Wren is sued for libeling her fellow dancer Ange...
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Les Girls

1940
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All This, and Heaven Too
7.163/49
When lovely and virtuous governess Henriette Deluzy comes to educate the children of the debonair Duc de Praslin, a royal subject to King Louis-Philip...
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All This, and Heaven Too

1943
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Sherlock Holmes in Washington
6.7/67
In World War II, a British secret agent carrying a vitally important document is kidnapped en route to Washington. The British government calls on She...
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Sherlock Holmes in Washington
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1938
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Marie Antoinette
6.5/30
The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the riv...
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Marie Antoinette
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1937
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Madame X
6.2/5
An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her i...
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Madame X
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1937
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The Firefly
6.4/5
Nina Maria Azara is the beautiful and alluring singing spy for Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. Her mission is to seduce French officers, in order fo...
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The Firefly

1936
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Camille
7/130
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert t...
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Camille
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1958
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From the Earth to the Moon
5.2/27
Set just after the American civil war, businessman and inventor Victor Barbicane invents a new source of power called Power X. He plans to use it to p...
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From the Earth to the Moon
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1938
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Holiday
7.3/256
Johnny Case, a freethinking financier, has finally found the girl of his dreams — Julia Seton, the spoiled daughter of a socially prominent millionair...
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Holiday
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1929
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The Awful Truth
0/0
Story of a wealthy couple whose individual infidelities lead inexorably to the divorce court.
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The Awful Truth

1950
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Buccaneer's Girl
5.6/13
A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.
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Buccaneer's Girl

1939
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
6.277/83
This period drama frames the tumultuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and the man who would be King of England.
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

2007
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Hitler: The Comedy Years
5/1
A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.
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Hitler: The Comedy Years

1962
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The Notorious Landlady
6.7/51
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.
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The Notorious Landlady

1961

Madison Avenue
6/3
An adman and an adwoman put a dangerous milk tycoon in line for the White House.
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Madison Avenue
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1959
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The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
5.9/24
Jonathan Drake, while attending his brother's funeral, is shocked to find the head of the deceased is missing. When his brother's skull shows up later...
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The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
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1941
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The Feminine Touch
5.1/7
A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Rus...
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The Feminine Touch
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1947
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The Exile
6.1/8
In 17th-century England, Charles II, the rightful heir to the kingdom, is driven from his country by militants working for rogue leader Oliver Cromwel...
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The Exile

1937
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Under Cover of Night
5.7/3
A detective (Edmund Lowe) trails a professor (Henry Daniell) who stole credit for his wife's research, then killed her.
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Under Cover of Night
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1949

The Secret Of St. Ives
6/1
A French soldier in the Napoleonic Wars plots his escape after he's captured and imprisoned in a castle fortress in Edinburgh, Scotland. Director Phil...
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The Secret Of St. Ives
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1947
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Song of Love
6.7/8
Composer Robert Schumann struggles to compose his symphonies while his loving wife Clara offers her support. Also helping the Schumanns is their lifel...
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Song of Love
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1962
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The Chapman Report
5.3/15
A research psychologist gets involved in the personal lives of four women.
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The Chapman Report
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1957
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Mister Cory
5.688/8
An opportunistic young man from the slums gambles his way to wealth, power and high society.
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Mister Cory

1945
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Hotel Berlin
6.1/12
An assortment of diverse characters gather at the Hotel Berlin in World War II Germany as the Third Reich falls.
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Hotel Berlin
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1937
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The Thirteenth Chair
5.8/6
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
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The Thirteenth Chair

1939
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We Are Not Alone
6.125/4
A British doctor and his son's Austrian governess have an affair and are accused of killing his wife.
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We Are Not Alone

1956
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Diane
5.7/9
Asked by Francis I to tutor his son, Diane de Poitiers becomes the future King Henry II's mistress in 1500s France.
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Diane

1936
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The Unguarded Hour
6.2/4
A blackmailer tries to stop a woman from revealing evidence that could save a condemned man.
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The Unguarded Hour

1946
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Angel Street
0/0
NBC adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play Gaslight
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Angel Street

1942
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Four Jacks and a Jill
6/3
Karanina "Nina" Novak, is befriended by Nifty, the leader of a four-piece orchestra, and in return, secures an engagement for them at the Little Arega...
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Four Jacks and a Jill

1945
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The Suspect
6.7/61
Genial shopkeeper Philip has to endure the constant nagging of a shrewish wife while he secretly yearns for a pretty young stenographer. When the henp...
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The Suspect

1943
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Watch on the Rhine
6.8/43
On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years, visit Sar...
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Watch on the Rhine
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1954
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The Egyptian
6.4/91
In eighteenth-dynasty Egypt, Sinuhe, a poor orphan, becomes a brilliant physician and with his friend Horemheb is appointed to the service of the new...
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The Egyptian
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1941
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Dressed to Kill
6.386/22
A detective's wedding is postponed when gunshots are heard nearby.
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Dressed to Kill

1930
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The Last of the Lone Wolf
6/1
In this entry in the Lone Wolf series, the first to have a soundtrack, the jealousies of the King and the coquettish Queen are chronicled. When His Ma...
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The Last of the Lone Wolf
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1934
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The Path of Glory
0/0
Comedy about two Ruritanian countries who declare war on each other with the mutual intention of losing. Political satire that might have been Britain...
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The Path of Glory

1956
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The Barretts of Wimpole Street
0/0
Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
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The Barretts of Wimpole Street
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1942
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The Great Impersonation
5.8/3
An Englishman kills a German look-alike and poses as a Nazi spy in London.
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The Great Impersonation
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1945
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Captain Kidd
6/28
Cutthroat pirate William Kidd captures Admiral Blayne's treasure ship and hides the bounty in a cave. Three years later, Kidd, posing as a respectable...
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Captain Kidd
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1943
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Mission to Moscow
5.2/17
Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.
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Mission to Moscow

1942
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Nightmare
4/1
An ex-gambler helps a beautiful widow, and becomes involved with a murder, secret agents, and saboteurs.
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Nightmare

1942
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Reunion in France
6.417/18
Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get hi...
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Reunion in France
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1946
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The Bandit of Sherwood Forest
4.9/9
Robin Hood's swashbuckling son comes to the rescue when England's boy-king is captured by the evil, power-hungry William of Pembroke.
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The Bandit of Sherwood Forest
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1962
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Five Weeks in a Balloon
5.4/28
Professor Fergusson plans to make aviation history by making his way across Africa by balloon. He plans to claim uncharted territories in West Africa...
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Five Weeks in a Balloon

1962
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Mutiny on the Bounty
7/306
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as...
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Mutiny on the Bounty

1964
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My Fair Lady
7.503/1319
A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
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My Fair Lady

1955
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The Prodigal
4/7
A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the...
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The Prodigal
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1929
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Jealousy
0/0
Yvonne, proprietor of a Paris gown shop, marries Pierre, a poor artist, concealing from him an affair she had with Rigaud, an elderly boulevardier who...
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