Kay Francis

High class European thief Gaston Monesque meets his soul mate Lily, a pickpocket masquerading as a countess... (imdb)

Diane Merrow becomes secretary to wealthy but parsimonious egyptologist Arthur Drake in order to prove that he swindled her father into his present state of bankruptcy.

During the Florida land boom, the Marx brothers run a hotel, auction off some land, thwart a jewel robbery, and generally act like themselves. (imdb)

While out riding in the country, wealthy New Yorker Alec Walker meets young widow Julie Eden, and a relationship quickly develops. However, Alec has not told her that he is already locked into a loveless marriage to the avaricious Maida, who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife. A completely coincidental car crash alerts the two women to each other's existence, a situation to which they react very differently. (imdb)

Russian refugee Tanya Borisoff is suddenly abandoned penniless in Rangoon, Burma, by her lover, Tony Evans, who accepted a gunrunning deal from Nick, the owner of an amoral nightclub. Nick made the deal hoping to get Tanya as his main "hostess," which Tanya accepts after an initial refusal, just to make the best of a bad situation... (imdb)

A Traveller's Aid worker and bridge engineer fall in love, but the careers of each strain the relationship.

Niles and Carol Nelson are married doctors who save one of ganglord Gurney's men. Gurney exploits them, then kills Niles leaving Carol to take the fall. He next kidnaps writer Bill Forrest to write his biography. Knowing Bill will be killed when the biography is finished, Carol takes matters into her own hands. (imdb)

Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of Archduke Ferdinand. While there he runs into Geza, an old friend in the Hungarian Army and invites him to come to his house and visit him and his new wife. Tensions between the Serbs and the Hungarians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire reach their boiling point (imdb)

Joan Ames is slowly dying as a result of illness. She's determined to have one last good time on a holiday cruise. She meets good-natured criminal Dan Hardesty who is being transported back to the USA to face execution. A romance develops between them in what could be their last days alive without either one revealing their secret. (imdb)

Young lawyer Tod Jackson arrives in pioneer Kansas to visit his prosperous rancher friends the Daltons, just as the latter are in danger of losing their land to a crooked development company. When Tod tries to help them, a faked murder charge turns the Daltons into outlaws, but more victims than villains in this fictionalized version. Will Tod stay loyal to his friends despite falling in love with Bob Dalton's former fiancée Julie? (imdb)

Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas

Extremely stylish, well-acted soap opera in the "Madame X" vein, with singer Francis recounting events leading up to her murder of oily Rathbone. Visually arresting, this looks more like a 1920s German film than a late 1930s Hollywood product; in fact director May was a German émigré. Based very closely on the 1935 German film "Mazurka." (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide)

An officer's wife at a British outpost in Africa falls for another man.

An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject. (TCM.com)

A gentleman thief charms a Viennese baron's wife and also conducts a daring daylight robbery of a jewelers. (imdb)

A scheming musician seduces a wealthy woman for love and money.

An architect has an affair with a woman who inspires him. Her brother is in love with the architect's daughter. The complicated entanglement leads to misunderstanding and dissolution, but ultimately love.

A musical revue that basically has Paramount stars and contract-players doing things some had never done on screen, and wouldn't again; such as Ruth Chatteron , in a French-café setting singing "My Marine" to a group of U. S. Marines, including Stuart Eriwn, Stanley Smith and Frederic March; Buddy Rogers doing a song-duet with Lillian Roth called "Any Time's the Time to Fall in Love", on a cuckoo-clock set; and Clara Bow singing and dancing in "The Red Head" number to a group of sailors. (imdb)

Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, the wife of a wealthy business man. Al Wonder and the conductor/singer Tommy are in love with Inez. When Inez finds out, that Harry wants to leave Paris and is going to the USA with Liane she kills him. (imdb)

Art student John Hayden interrupts his studies in Greece to head his father's meat packing business on his father's death. He marries social climber Martha who taunts him for his ideals regarding worker happiness and meat purity. He begins supporting the musical career of singer Laura. During the Spanish American war he sells the Army tainted meat. Martha puts detectives on him and Laura. Indicted for fraud, he flees to Greece. (imdb)

In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from. (imdb)

London barrister's marriage is under strain after his affair with a shop-girl who is out to have him. Told in flashback. (imdb)

Kay Francis and Lilyan Tashman portray what used to be euphemistically labelled "good time girls". They work the convention circuit, providing companionship and other favors for tired business men--who of course lavish the girls with expensive gifts. Francis spoils this little set-up by falling for poor but virtuous Joel McCrea. Meanwhile, Tashman continues plying her trade with wealthy Eugene Pallette, whose wife responds not with jealousy but by trying to imitate Tashman's style! (TCM.com)

A district attorney tries to frame an innocent girl for the murder he committed. (TCM.com)

A woman loses her family after being falsely convicted of a crime. (TCM.com)

An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man. (imdb)

A woman who has been married and divorced five times comes back to her small hometown, where she proceeds to complicate, and potentially destroy, the marriage of her childhood boyfriend. (imdb)

When her lover is killed, a straying wife tries to intercept the confession she mailed her husband. (TCM.com)

A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he's been hired to frame. (TCM.com)

A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage. (TCM.com)

After many years, MacKenzie Scott is pardoned from prison, but his wife is already involved with another man. Nevertheless, he travels incognito to his family's town. There he befriends his daughter Victoria, who doesn't recognize him, and encourages her musical abilities. (imdb)

Two architects lose their heads over a glamorous actress. (imdb)

A distinguished English gentleman has a secret life -- he is the notorious jewel thief the press has dubbed "The Amateur Cracksman". When he meets a woman and falls in love he decides to "retire" from that life, but an old friend comes to him with a predicament that entails him committing one last job. (imdb)

A guilt-ridden pilot finds a new outlook on life when he falls for a society girl. (tcm.com)

A Paris fashion model marries a fortune hunter to protect him from the law. (TCM.com)

Story of women who marry G.I.'s just so they can receive the soldiers' pay and their life insurance if they are killed in action. (imdb)

Leslie Howard's purpose in this film is to dissuade the Bolsheviks from signing a separate treaty with the World War I German regime. It is obvious to modern-day viewers that Howard is merely looking after Britain's interests and has no concern for the Russians; this was par for the course in a 1930s film, but does not play well with less jingoistic audiences of the 1990s. The most interesting aspect of British Agent is the performance of saturnine Irving Pichel as a young Josef Stalin. (allmovie.com)

Story of a rising stage star and the trouble she causes by her ambition. (imdb)

In this bedroom farce, an ex-wife overhears her former hubby's new wife and her lover planning a tryst for the weekend while the husband is away on a business trip. Hoping that the husband will catch them in the act, the ex creates an elaborate scheme whereby the lovers' plans are foiled and they must spend the weekend at her house. She then arranges for her former husband to drop by so he can see for himself the kind of hussy he married. (allmovie.com)

Kay Francis stars as Stella Parish, a London stage favorite who suddenly disappears without a trace. British news correspondent Keith Lockridge (Ian Hunter) girdles the globe in search of Stella, who has left her beloved daughter Gloria (Sybil Jason) in the care of an aunt (Jessie Ralph). Finally locating his quarry, Lockridge learns that Stella dropped from view to hide the fact that she once served a jail sentence as an accessory to murder. (allmovie.com)

Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys. When Dan, a tough street kid, comes to the school, he wins Jo's heart despite his hard edge, and she defends him when he is falsely accused. Dan's foster father, Major Burdle, is a swindler in cahoots with another crook called Willie the Fox. When the Plumfield School becomes in danger of foreclosure, the two con men cook up a scheme to save the home. (imdb)

Lois is the editor of the 400 Magazine and is a work-a-holic. When Tom comes to her office to sell her a rowing machine, he leaves as her personal secretary. After a short time, he is an executive decision maker who works closely with Lois, and he falls for her. But Lois is married to playboy Fred, and for that reason, Tom decides to marry Ruth and leave the firm. (imdb)

Francis is the mother of four kids, three of whom are ungrateful to their widowed mom and move in with their wealthy aunt. Only Moore remains faithful to his mother. He befriends a wealthy neighbor, and when she passes away, they discover she has left her entire fortune to Moore. (imdb)

The fascinating Grace Herbert has many years' experience as a professional gold-digger. Her finances at a low ebb, she finds her mature beauty less effective than of yore, and takes on impoverished 19-year-old Ellen Daley as an apprentice: "between your youth and my spirit, we can do it." The initially reluctant Ellen soon gets the hang of it. But after the cowboy she falls for proves to be a wealthy rancher, she feels an odd reluctance to mix business with pleasure. (imdb)

Dr. Monica Brayden, a successful physician, is the central character in this story. Unbeknownst to her, her successful journalist husband has had an affair with one of her acquaintances, Mary Hathaway. John then embarks on an extended trip to Europe, leaving Mary pregnant. Mary is torn between her friendship for Monica and the baby she carries. Just before the baby is to be delivered, Monica finds out who the father in fact is. (imdb)

Briefly breaking away from her high-gloss modern soap operas, Kay Francis stars as Florence Nightingale in this reverent Warner Bros. biopic. The screenplay concentrates on Nightingale's humanitarian activities during the Crimean War of 1854-55. (allrovi.com)

A young bareback rider in a circus is in love with a trapeze artist, but he has two problems: he drinks too much and he's fallen under the spell of a "vamp" who's nothing but trouble for him. ((imdb)

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries. (imdb)

Carrie, ambitious young actress and her manager Mike Kilinsky, travel east from Chicago to Long Island so Carrie can see the new mansion that her mother Chris has just purchased. Chris is not there when Carrie arrives by Gallagher, the family major domo, tells Carrie that Chris is in love with the very rich Steve. (imdb)

A pair of grifters, one of whom is impersonating a doctor, assist a sick woman while riding a train. After the woman dies, the female con-artist assumes her identity so that she can collect a large amount of money. Trouble ensues when the woman begins to bond with the dead lady's blind son. She decides not to take the cash. This arouses her attorney's suspicions. Later, when the lad learns the truth, he has a fatal coronary. The woman and the lawyer get married. (imdb)

As presidential election time approaches in Washington it is the women behind the scenes who seem to be making the decisions. (imdb)

This courtroom and crime drama is actually a thinly veiled chronicle of the notorious exploits of former Big Apple assistant district attorney William Fallon. In this version, lawyer William Foster finds himself convicted of jury tampering and is sent to prison where he must face many of the people he jailed while working closely with the Mafia. Many of these people were innocent. The attorney must also leave his true love. (allrovi.com)

A hard-working, hard-drinking newspaperman's family life is jeopardized by his dedication to his job, missing out on his daughter's birth, her wedding, and her eventual death in childbirth -- causing him to harshly renounce his chosen profession. Cynical story taken from a stageplay. (allrovi.com)

A delightful pre-code cocktail recipe. Take three couples (add gin and tonic), their several divorces and the seven children/stepchildren of their intermarriages and blend thoroughly, and you have a mixture a too-young-to-believe Frederic March will try to straighten out. (imdb)

The Warner Bros. annual blooper reel for 1936. (imdb)

'Natural' Davis (William Powell) is a respected gambler who follows a ruthless code of honour with those who cheat against him. His wife Alma (Kay Francis) wants to divorce him because of his addiction and lifestyle but they agree on a reconciliation and 2nd honeymoon together and 'Natural' promises to give up gambling. However, his plans change when his brother 'Babe' (Regis Toomey) arrives in town

A nightclub singer is carrying on an affair with a married man. When she is found murdered, her lover is suspected of the crime. (imdb)

A society gigolo goes after a rich mother and her daughter, but tries to find true happiness with his girlfriend, who is neither rich nor in "society." (imdb)

A diplomat is blackmailed by crooked vice cops into helping them frame prostitutes. (imdb)

Kay Francis, Warner Bros.' resident "wronged woman," was the star of Give Me Your Heart. Francis plays a socialite whose illicit romance with married Patric Knowles results in a baby. When the father, a titled Englishman of means, declares that the child would be better off in his care, Ms. Francis suffers luxuriously in a series of fashionable evening gowns. She finds lasting happiness in the arms of attorney George Brent. (allmovie.com)

Carlee Thorpe (Buddy Rogers) and Claire Jernigan (Nancy Carol) enjoy considerable success with their vaudeville magic act. Offstage, Carlee thrives as a solo, performing various bits of sleight-of-hand at fancy society parties. At one such function, he falls in love with Hilt (June Collyer), the daughter of wealthy social-climber Jake Schmidlap (Knute Erickson). Heartbroken, Claire breaks up her act with Carlee and signs on as a "human target" for stage sharpshooter Magus (Rychard Cramer). (allmovie.com)

John Evans encounters his lookalike, Malcolm Scott. When Scott is killed in an accident, Evans finds himself mistaken for Scott and decides to do some good in his new role. (imdb)

Marya (Kay Francis) gets friendly with Gen. Platoff (Walter Huston) in order to save her husband Victor (Kenneth MacKenna) from being executed.

A typical Francis vehicle of the time was Women are Like That, in which the star is cast as businesswoman Claire King, the daughter of a powerful advertising executive. When Claire marries humble copywriter Bill Landin (Pat O'Brien), she wants to use her influence to help her husband get ahead, but he will have none of it. Claire's persistence and Bill's stubbornness almost leads to a parting of the ways.

A bored society woman invites scandal and heartache when she falls in love with her low-born chauffeur. (imdb)

A pilot enters an aviation race in order to win enough money to pay for her brother's medical treatment, and encounters difficulty with a rival pilot. (imdb)

A short, introduced in Pennsylvania when the state had laws disallowing the screening of films on Sunday, to sway voters on a referendum to allow such screenings. (imdb)

Confirming his principle that no one escapes the news, a tabloid editor prints a scathing story about his wife.

A fading movie star gets hooked into a blackmail scheme and falls for the reporter investigating her.

A reel of bloopers from the year's movie productions, made for the entertainment of members of the Warners Club. (Timon88)