Jimmy Godden

Eden Philpotts' "provincial" comic novel and play The Farmer's Wife was first filmed in the silent era by Alfred Hitchcock. The 1940 talkie version was directed by Leslie Arliss, son of stage star George Arliss. The story remained the same: A middle-aged widower attempts to select a wife from his rural district's eligible females (Basil Sydney). Three unsuccessful dalliances later, the farmer settles for his housekeeper, whom the audience has been rooting for all along. The Farmer's Wife is a prime example of the sort of fare that struck a proper chord with British filmgoers, but whose appeal would be lost to any other nationality.

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George is an inept reserve policeman working in wartime Liverpool, who is chosen by a gang of Nazi saboteurs as the stooge for their planned destruction of the British battleship HMS Hercules. Framed by the villains and forced to go on the run, George sets out to clear his name with the aid of new girlfriend, Jane.

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A worker at a gramophone record factory surprisingly creates a hit song.

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When Sally inherits a country house, her young brother Ronald, an aspiring journalist, hits on a sensational way to make his first big scoop: Sally will 'disappear', and he will be arrested for her murder! At his trial she will reappear, his acquittal will follow, and he will be able to supply his paper with an exclusive story. Sally and her fiance, Bill, fall in with the scheme. However, there are complications which they had not foreseen.

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Fantasy of a bank clerk who accepts a deposit of a million too late to put it in the bank and has to guard it over the weekend.

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In this comedy, a talented singer is hired to dub the voice of a star who has lost his own. During the film's premiere, news that he sang the songs slips out and suddenly he finds that he himself has become a star. Unfortunately he soon encounters unanticipated problems. He is especially concerned about his girl friend who dumped him in favor of the voiceless star.

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The dramatic story of a normal, intelligent man of good principles driven to contemplate thoughts of murder.

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A family butler tries to find the missing heir to a title.

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The Loves of Madame du Barry was the American title of the 1935 British operetta I Give My Heart, based on the stage musical The Du Barry. German actress Gitta Alpar stars as Jeanne, the young 18th century Parisian milliner who sleeps her way to the uppermost rungs of French aristocracy, emerging at last as the glamorous Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV (Owen Nares). Refusing to gloss over du Barry's sexual peccadilloes (as previous films with Norma Talmadge and Dolores del Rio had done), the film presents the "heroine" as a whore, pure and simple-or, on second thought, not so pure and simple! Particularly troublesome for American censors was a scene in which du Barry is depicted as a resident of a bawdy house. Otherwise, The Loves of Madame du Barry is standard historical-drama fare, allowing dozens of top European actors to play "dress-up" for 90 minutes.

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'Bachelor has his friend's wife pose as his own to fool rich uncle.' (British Film Catalogue)

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The Very Reverend Richard Jedd has a problem: the church spire, now in a parlous state of repair, will cost nearly £1,000 to fix. When various money-raising schemes go awry, he is persuaded to waive his principles and bet what’s left of his savings on Dandy Dick, a 10-1 odds-on at the local races. A simple tonic to enhance the nag’s performance seems a good idea… but when the butler decides to intervene, the respectable clergyman finds himself in the middle of a doping scandal – and worse!

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A young English reporter makes a bet with a wealthy publisher that he can disappear for a month. In his absence the publisher makes much of the mysterious disappearance in an attempt to boost the circulation of his newspaper.

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Based on the operetta I Lost My Heart in Heidelburg, which in turn owed a lot to that old chestnut The Student Prince. In 1825, impoverished composer Max enrolls at Heidelburg University. Local girl Veronika falls in love with Max, helping him to finance his education and clear his debts. Alas, Veronika is left out in the cold when Max becomes enamored with gorgeous tourist Helene. Little does he know that Helene is the daughter of the Grand Duke, meaning of course that their romance is doomed to disappointment. Leading lady Grete Natzler later changed her screen name to Della Lynd, and under that cognomen co-starred with Laurel & Hardy in Swiss Miss (1938).

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Sir Douglas Rolls is a highly respected defence lawyer of many years experience. Now in rapidly failing health, he is advised to retreat from the courtroom and pursue more pleasurable activities. But it is just at this point in his life that his great lost love a woman his own strong sense of duty led him to give up twenty years ago, and whom he still loves deeply walks into his chambers to ask that he defend her adulterous husband, now to stand trial for murder. Reluctantly agreeing to take on the case, Sir Douglas soon finds there is more to the story than meets the eye.

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A music-hall star and his best mate are conned out of their earnings (twice!) and left with nothing but a beloved greyhound.

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Set in Venice, the touching and sometimes unintentionally comic story of a diminutive tenor who falls in love whilst striving for success. Also filmed in German as Ein Lied geht um die Welt.

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An aunt objects to the romance between her niece and a neighbour's nephew, and steps in to put an end to the love affair.

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A telephonist falls for her employer.

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In this romantic comedy, the king of Ruritania marries an impoverished commoner after he is exiled. Trouble shows up when the king must return to his country and marry an heiress. Fortunately, his first bride has fallen for an army officer and is happy to have her royal marriage annulled.

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A farce based on Arthur Wing Pinero's play 'The Magistrate' in which the son (John Mills) of a stern magistrate (Will Hay) visits a music hall against the wishes of his father. In true farcical style, the magistrate too ends up at the music hall, and before long all the characters are trying not to avoid each other... Mainly notable (a) because of its depiction of the music hall as seen by a generation which knew it intimately (b) because of its use of music hall acts of the time and (c) because it gave Will Hay his first film role.

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In this murder mystery, Vicar Casson looks into the poisoning of a wealthy man. He soon finds that the man they convicted, the fiance of the rich man's niece, was innocent.

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A young musician invents an anti-theft device for cars, but works as a jazz conductor while waiting for his invention to be successful.

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'Poor lord tells future father-in-law that his ex-fiancée is his sister.' (British Film Catalogue)

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An evening of cocktails and frolicking lands a chap in hot water when he's suspected of masterminding a criminal gang!

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A useless secretary and his private detective friend try to help an heiress from being swindled by her guardian.

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This exuberant comedy about Jewish domestic life tells the story of an old man who is to inherit a legacy if he can prove he is in need, and who thus begins to gamble spectacularly with his savings.

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A newlywed has a trying time proving his innocence when his mother-in-law catches him kissing another girl!

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A frugal coal miner turns into a spendthrift when he wins £20,000 on the football pools!

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Farcical confusions ensue when newlywed bride Peggy Gay overhears her husband Jack discussing the purchase of a piano, and somehow interprets what he has said to mean he is the father of an illegitimate child.

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A Musical film Directed by Oscar M. Sheridan.

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