Norman Taurog

Although gifted golfer Harvey Miller is too nervous to golf in public tournaments, he acts as coach and caddy for friend Joe Anthony. (imdb)

Dean is an unsuccessful broadway performer until his handlers convince him to become an act using a stooge... (imdb)

Against all odds Father Flanagan starts "Boys' Town" after hearing a convict's story. Whitey Marsh comes there... (imdb)

Elvis Presley sings his way around the race circuit as successful speedway driver Steve Grayson. All... (imdb)

Chad Gates has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. (imdb)

Meek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters. (imdb)

Dr. Goldfoot has invented an army of bikini-clad robots who are programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Craig Gamble and Todd Armstrong set out to foil the fiendish plot. (imdb)

Tulsa is a specialist in the US Army stationed in Germany. He loves to sing and has dreams to run his own nightclub when he leaves the army....but dreams don't come cheap... (imdb)

Mike and Danny fly a cropduster, but because of Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff takes custody of it. Trying to earn money, they hitch-hike to the World's Fair in Seattle. While Danny tries to earn money playing poker, Mike takes care of a small girl, Sue-Lin, whose father has disappeared. Being a ladies' man, he also finds the time to court a young nurse, Diane. (imdb)

The Ship's Cook who has the Coast Guard in a Stew!

On an ocean voyage, a card shark and her father cheat a naive man out of his money. Things take a twist when the girl falls in love with the man she's just fleeced. (imdb)

Pretty Wally Cooper, a reporter for the New York Chronicle convinces her editor to let her do a series of articles on Homer Flagg, a young man from New Mexico who is believed to be dying as a result of radioactive poisoning... (imdb)

Talented small-town girl Lily Mars hounds producer John Thornway for a part in his new play, but he doesn't want anything to do with stage-struck amateurs. But when Lily follows him to New York, he gets to know her better and his opinion of her changes for the better. Then, when the leading lady of the play walks out, Lily gets her big break on Broadway. (imdb)

Set in Palm Springs during a long, fun-filled weekend where several Los Angeles college students flock to spring break, centering on Jim who finds romance with Bunny, the daughter of Palm Springs harred, stressful police chief... (imdb)

Mike McCoy is the lead singer for a band combo and part-time racecar driver trying to get by when he is persued by a trio of very different women who want his hand in marriage. The first is Les, the female drummer of his band, The second is Cynthia, a spoiled heiress and Daddy's girl. The third is Diana, a writer of books on men. (imdb)

Beautiful high society type Doris Worthington is entertaining guests on her yacht in the Pacific when it hits a reef and sinks. She makes her way to an island with the help of singing sailor Stephen Jones. Her friend Edith, Uncle Hubert, and Princes Michael and Alexander make it to the same island but all prove to be useless in the art of survival... (imdb)

To win back his job, Jeff Sherman plans to aid his boss in a divorce appeal by engaging the presiding judge in a scandalous relationship.

Sentiment rules in this version of the Twain tale of boyhood in 1850 Missouri, reasonably faithful except for minor details and making the character Jim a boy instead of a man. Includes the whitewash episode, puppy love, the graveyard murder, the boys' running away to Jackson's Island, the salvation of Muff Potter, and the cave adventure. (imdb)

In this film based on the popular comic strip, Skippy interrupts his usual routine of finding loopholes in his parents' rules when he makes friends with Sooky, a boy from the other side of the tracks. (imdb)

Fictionalized story of the songwriting partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

A man manages to land two well-paying photographer's jobs and work them both by hopping back and forth from office to office. (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide)

Teen-age heiress falls for pop singer when he's performing in England. (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide)

A singer works at an all-girl dude ranch. (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide)

Well-meaning but accident-prone bakery employee Larry is involved in numerous slapstick mishaps on the job. After accidentally causing the bakery owner to fall into a vat of cake batter Larry finds his job in jeopardy, but he redeems himself by foiling a robbery planned by the bakery foreman. (imdb)

Larry falls afoul of wanted criminal Gentleman Joe, who runs a saloon full of tough guys and gunslingers. (imdb)

A government official staying in a hotel puts some important secret papers in the hotel safe. A ring of spies out to get the papers manages to steal them from the safe, and a lady government agent enlists the help of the hotel's bumbling bellhop in getting back the papers and breaking up the spy ring. (imdb)

A bumbling sawmill employee tries to win the hand of the owner's daughter while staying out of the clutches of the mill's bullying foreman. (imdb)

A harried propman backstage at a theater must put up with malfunctioning wind machines, roosters that spit nitroglycerin, and a gang planning to rob the theater's payroll. (imdb)

A bill collector working in a tough neighborhood manages to rescue a young socialite from kidnappers. (imdb)

Lloyd, manager of a lunch wagon at the beach, must contend with his morning commute, difficult customers, and other problems on a day when absolutely everything goes wrong. (imdb)

Phil and Lou inherit property left by an eccentric uncle with the provision they occupy the house for thirty days. They start for the place but encounter some rough roads and have to camp for the night. A bear wanders near their camp and Lou shoots and wounds a black man by mistake, and they make him part of their traveling party. But their cousin, Anita, wants the property for herself and, with several hired-henchmen, sends weird-form after weird-form through the house after the boys arrive. (imdb)

Egbert Eggleston is a correspondence-school private detective. A gang of crooks rob some local homes and Edbert follows them into the big city and on into Chinatown. To keep from being detected he poses as a Buddah statue, and the incense puts him to sleep. And dreams he is a fairy queen. (imdb)

Charlie has just been notified that he has secured the job of floorwalker at a large new department store. Fortified with confidence he visits the home of Virginia, daughter of the store owner, and proposes marriage. The father says "No!." It doesn't help Charlie's cause any that he breaks the bottle on the owners head at the store christening. Charlie gets put in charge of the one-hour bargain sale. He lives to regret it. (imdb)

Lloyd gets to Grace's house just in time to hear her father say he is taking her away on a trip to Europe. Graces asks Lloyd to meet her at the pier to say goodbye. But Lloyd catches the wrong bus to the pier and, before he knows it, has signed up with the U. S. Navy for a four year tour-of-duty. From there it is slapstick and sight gags. (imdb)

His duties as the bellhop, clerk, office boy, messenger and porter at the local hotel keep Johnny busy, but he still finds time to romance Lucille, the daughter of the proprietor. Lucille also finds time to become fascinated with George, a traveling salesman, while Anita, a vamping vamp from New York City, works her wiles on Johnny. (imdb)

A well-dressed hobo gets a job as "utility man" with a theater company, and winds up starring in the show. (imdb)

Eddie Haskins, a wisecracking young man, teams up with two ham-acrobats known as 'Bugs & Sunny', and ,when they are all kicked out of a vaudeville theater in California, they enlist in the U. S. Cavalry. Eddie falls in love with Dorothy Clark, the daughter of a sergeant and, following a moonlight tryst, they are discovered by Sergeant Hank Darby who himself is in love with Dorothy. They have a fist-fight in which Eddie comes out second best. (imdb)

Ed Wynn, a waiter, tries to get hit employers daughter a start on the stage; Ginger Rogers replaces Ethel Merman when Merman is kidnapped. (imdb)

George Jessel tries to talk a friend out of committing suicide. (imdb)

In an erudite driver's taxi, Jack Benny shares a ride with a very pretty and delightfully flirtatious young lady. (imdb)

A year after their former exploits, Tom Sawyer's puppy love of Becky Thatcher keeps him home while Huck Finn, chafing under "civilizing" influences like school and shoes, plans to run away. His scapegrace, abusive father intervenes; Tom and black Jim help him escape; and (departing from the novel) all three raft down the Mississippi, where they're joined by two likable rogues and meet pretty orphans Ella and Mary Jane. The latter may change Huck's mind about girls... (imdb)

Two yokels are framed and sent to prison, but wind up playing football on the warden's championship team. (imdb)

Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc Varney. Of course, they scheme to make Varney T.K.'s public spokesman; at first, he even fools Blair's girlfriend Felicia, providing a romantic complication. As election eve approaches, the conspirators face the problem of what to do with Varney...who has difficult decisions of his own to make. (imdb)

Parisian playboy plays father to an abandoned baby who interferes with his womanizing. (imdb)

The Wiggs family plan to celebrate Thanksgiving in their rundown shack with leftover stew, without Mr. Wiggs who wandered off long ago an has never been heard from. Do-gooder Miss Lucy brings them a real feast. Her boyfriend Bob arranges to take Wiggs' sick boy to a hospital. Their other boy makes some money peddling kindling and takes the family to a show. Mrs. Wiggs is called to the hopsital just in time to see her boy die. (imdb)

The story deals with the college rivalry of a piccolo player and an All-American halfback on the football team who both love the same co-ed. After graduation they carry their their feud and collegiate ideas over into the department store business. (Film debut of radio-comedian Joe "Wanna buy a duck" Penner and singer Lanny Ross.) (imdb)

Cowboy Jeff Larabee returns from the east and meets Doris Halloway, a young girl, that he regards as a vagabond, till he learns that she's the owner of the farm where he works. He tries to win her heart, but without success, until she is endangered by gangsters. (imdb)

Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve... (imdb)

A young woman at a girl's school in Switzerland makes up stories about and writes herself letters from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father; and is eventually put in a position where she has to produce him. Interesting things happen as she talks a visiting Englishman into helping her out. (imdb)

A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falling in love with him. (imdb)

Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brent as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to gives him the name of his partner. (imdb)

Inventor Thomas Edison's boyhood is chronicled and shows him as a lad whose early inventions and scientific experiments usually end up causing disastrous results. As a result, the towns folk all think Tom is crazy, and creating a strained relationship between Tom and his father. Toms only solace is his understanding mother who believes he's headed to do great things. (imdb)

Irish colleen Nellie is in love with handsome Jerry Kelly, even though her father objects. Nellie and Jerry soon marry and announce plans to move to New York, which again angers Nellie's father. Still, fear of never seeing his daughter again convinces the old man to also head to the States. In New York, Jerry becomes a policeman, although fighting crime seems to be easier than fighting with his father-in-law. Tragedy strikes when Nellie dies in childbirth. (imdb)

Mr. and Mrs. Maitland invite Whitey to their home on a trial basis. Whitey tries to visit a friend in reform school and inmate Flip is hiding in car as Whitey leaves. Flip steals money and both boys go to reform school. Father Flanagan exposes the conditions in the school and the boys are released to him. Ted's dog is killed but Ted can walk. The Maitlands work to pay off the debts threatening Boys Town. (imdb)

Rich kid Danny Churchill (Rooney) has a taste for wine, women and song, but not for higher education. So his father ships him to an all-male college out West where there's not supposed to be a female for miles. But before Danny arrives, he spies a pair of legs extending out from under a stalled roadster. They belong to the Dean's granddaughter, Ginger Gray (Garland), who is more interested in keeping the financially strapped college open than falling for Danny's romantic line. (imdb)

A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929. (imdb)

The research, development, and deployment of the first atomic bomb, as well as the bombing of Hiroshima, are detailed in this docudrama. (imdb)

McGrath publishes books for children and Uncle Bump is one of the best sellers. Unfortunately, Greg, who is Uncle Bump, tends to drink too much and has not started his next book. Martha won a contest to illustrate the book and the first thing that happens is that Greg gets her soused. To keep her there to illustrate, John gets a juvenile delinquent named Danny to play his son and show how much pressure he is under. (imdb)

An abandoned baby is raised by three men: the Rev. Andrews, cantor Feldman, and Officer O'Donnell. When Feldman and O'Donnell each find a woman to fall in love with, they both think of getting married and settling down. And each wants to adopt Midge officially and raise her without the other "fathers". And Midge has to find some way for them to all become a family again. (imdb)

In Philadelphia, the soprano Prudence Budell returns from Europe after a period of five years training in the best Europeans music schools. Her millionaire grandmother Abigail Trent Budell sponsors an opera company under the command of the famous maestro Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Prudence to lead an opera. They hire the also famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli, but Prudence does not feel comfortable with him on the stage. (imdb)

Alison Kirbe of London, receives a telegram from Texas, that she has inherited a livestock ranch. It is plastered throughout the London newspapers that Alison has become a rich heiress, and is sailing to the United Slates alone to claim her inheritance. Or so she thinks. Three men, Terence Keath, Jeremy Tayler, and Jeremy's lawyer, Matthew Kinston take an interest in Alison, after reading about her in the papers. (imdb)

Snooty opera singer (Kathryn Grayson) meets a rough-and-tumble fisherman (Mario Lanza) in the Louisiana bayous, but this fisherman can sing! Her agent (David Niven) lures him away to New Orleans to teach him to sing opera, but comes to regret this rash decision when the singers fall in love. (imdb)

"Murder-on-the-train" mystery has lawyer Malone chasing his paroled embezzler client (Kepplar) who still hasn't paid Malone's fee. When Kepplar jumps parole on a train to Chicago, Malone follows, in company with Kepplar's ex-wife, a police inspector and Mrs. O'Malley, a hearty radio contest winner from Montana. Kepplar is murdered, and a game of musical corpses commences, with hijinks in coach corridors as Malone and Hattie search for the killer. (imdb)

Anne and "Poppy" Rose are the average American family, with three quirky kids. Anne has a good heart and gives lost cats and dogs a home - and one day also the orphan Jane, a problem child who already tried to kill herself once. At first Poppy is worried and wants to get rid of her, but with love and patience they finally manage to integrate her into the family. Just then Anne invites another orphan, the aggressive handicapped Jimmy-John, to their summer vacation. (imdb)

Nightclub comic Hap Smith assumes the identity of another soldier so he can tour army bases in a revue with his ex-partner Chuck Allen. (imdb)

Fifteen-year-old Katri Walenska jumps a Polish ship, swims ashore and enters New York illegally. The United States Immigration officials are alerted---the USA still had a functioning immigration policy and department when this was filmed---and the search is on. Katri's only possessions are a ten-dollar bill and a letter to her parents' old friend, Jan Poldi, a former Metropolitan Opera star. (imdb)

When an aspiring barber becomes inadvertently involved in the theft of a valuable diamond, necessity forces him to masquerade as a 12 year-old child - with humorous consequences. (imdb)

A rich momma's boy returns west with the son of his murdered father's partner to foil a gang trying to gain control of his family ranch. (imdb)

Kitschy musical remake of Bachelor Mother. Debbie Reynolds plays an over-eager clerk in a large department store and Eddie Fisher plays the boss' son. After getting fired from her job, she finds an adorable baby on the steps of the foundling home and the folks inside mistake her for the mother. Fisher, well-meaning, but obtuse, tries to help her out with the baby, and the buds of romance begin to appear. Meanwhile old Merlin, the owner of the store, thinks he just might be a grandfather... (imdb)

When a movie star is kidnapped, everyone thinks it's a publicity stunt. It's not. (imdb)

John Paul Steckler was the Junior Officer aboard a destroyer when WWII ended. He gets stuck with the job of sailing the ship to the states to be decommissioned. Now years latter, no one knows where the ship is. He has a choice. Find the ship, or pay for it, Now! If only Prudence, to whom he just got married, could understand why he isn't there for his Honeymoon. (imdb)

The weirdest alien of the galaxy pays a visit to Earth... (imdb)

Elvis plays Ross Carpenter, a fishing guide/sailor who loves his life out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he has to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he and his father built. He is also caught between two women: insensitive club singer Robin and sweet Laurel. (imdb)

An astronaut goes into space with a chimpanzee. When they return to Earth after their orbit, it is discovered that the chimp has the brains of the astronaut, and the astronaut has the brains of the chimp. Complications ensue. (imdb)

A rancher's daughter visits Paris to meet her mother and find love. (TCM.com)

During a drunken night out, an heiress marries a broken-down gambler. (TCM.com)

An American playboy is sent to a British boarding school to learn discipline. (imdb)

The wisp of a storyline involves two-bit radio station owner Spud (Jack Oakie), who doubles as the station's sole announcer while his comic partner Smiley (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house crooner. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who've just invented a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. (allmovie.com)

This is a somewhat serviceable, light comedy by prolific director Norman Taurog (a favored helmer of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis films). Squeaky-clean Pat Boone is a singing lieutenant who has to briefly ship out to the Aleutians and regrettably leave Sally (Barbara Eden), his new love behind. Taking off with the ship is a stowaway turkey, nurtured by Garfield (Buddy Hackett), a zany sailor with a soft heart for the avian critter. (allmovie.com)

In providing the "synopsis" for Are Husbands Necessary?, one best-selling film source says merely "And what about this film?" There's more to the story than that, of course--but not much. The film was based on Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, a novel by Frank Davis. Ray Milland and Betty Field play a warring married couple who hope to patch up their differences by adopting a baby. When Milland's ex-flame Patricia Morrison shows up unexpectedly, the fur flies.

A man hides out in the country to avoid testifying in his friends' divorce. A girl who he thinks is a process server thinks he's a gangster. So do the sheriff and his men. (imdb)

The Rent Collector is a 1921 American silent comedy film featuring Larry Semon & Oliver Hardy. (imdb)

The Sportsman is an American film comedy first released in 1921, directed by Larry Semon and Norman Taurog. The film stars Larry Semon, Lucille Carlisle, Al Thompson, Frank Alexander and William Hauber. (imdb)

A Pair of Kings is a 1922 American silent comedy film featuring Larry Semon & Oliver Hardy. (imdb)

The plot of this film really isn't that important. Instead, the sight gags and chase scenes are paramount--with some of the most impressive chase footage you'll ever see. All the near-misses with the speeding train were amazing and the scene where the car gets smashed by the truck are absolutely priceless. (imdb)

This one is set at a college picnic by the lake, with three musical numbers. "We've Got It Bad but It Don't Do Us No Good" is by a quartet of college men, with ukulele, pennywhistle, and ocarinas. "Sort of Lonesome" is a romantic song, sung straight by Roth. "Me and the Boyfriend" is sung more uptempo by Roth, made comic by her actions as she manhandles her geeky boyfriend. (imdb)

Slapstick comics Willie West and McGinty cause havoc at a construction site as they attempt to "work." (imdb)

Lee Morse sings us a few songs.... (imdb)

The Chamber of Commerce brings together the Dionne quintuplets and other people Dr. John Luke delivered. He hands out wisdom and advice to all.

Dreamy little comedy as down-on-his-luck Ham looks for work, gets thrown out of his rooming house and tries to make it on the street -- in the best, gag-filled 20s comedy style. (imdb)

Lane plays two roles: Grand Duke Algy Horseradish De Ketchup of Worcestershire and Newsboy White. The newsboy is hired by Elmer Éclair (played by Lane's younger brother, Walter Lupino) to impersonate the Duke for unstated reasons, and to attend a house party at the Smalls (a last name that leads to several puns) in the Duke's stead. Éclair warns the newsboy to stay away from the girl, as she is his finance. (imdb)

Lloyd Hamilton chasing a butterfly in the slapstick comedy "Papa's Boy". (imdb)

In this one, we are introduced to a pretentious and uppity family who we just KNOW will be brought down to size later in the short. Then we cut to Lloyd Hamilton, stumbling along, and finding a job advertisement for an electrician's helper. He applies for the job (literally dangling over the business!), and from there on out there is solid physical comedy of all kinds. (imdb)

This is a better than average Hamilton film thanks to the presence of a bratty kid who makes Lloyd's life miserable. It seems that Lloyd was hired as a combination chauffeur, butler, cook, etc. and isn't particularly adept at any of these tasks. however, to make things worse, there is a bratty kid in the home who does his best to ruin everything. (imdb)

Rivals go at it as cab drivers, romancers of the same girl and football teams. (imdb)

Larry in school and always gets in trouble until he falls asleep and dreams of when he's all grown up.

Larry having to go through a lot of trouble to get his girl. All from bomb baking cooks to high flying crashes.

Larry going investigating a Oriental opium den. And opium is to Larry what spinach is for Popeye!

Larry might be a hick causing a lot of trouble at the farm, but he shows he can outsmart those crooked city folks!

The star pitcher on the Pittsburgh ball team gets into trouble with a gold-digging groupie and his catcher helps him get back into the game. (imdb)

The first of two films pairing western/serial/action-film leading man Rex Lease (who also sings and dances here) and dialect comedian and comic writer Benny Rubin. (imdb)

Lige Conley stars in "Fast and Furious" (1924), a fast-paced silent comedy. Conley's sidekick in this film, as with several in this series of "Mermaid" comedies Conley made for Educational and Jack White, is African-American character actor Spencer Bell. The chase in reel two lifts a number of gags from Buster Keaton films.

In this youthful comedy, a child genius has fun getting her cousin into trouble. The bright girl's parents take her and her nephew on a sea cruise to Paris. En route, the girl treats the boy abominably. First she pushes him over the boat, then she stuffs him down an airshaft. Later she sticks his head in a fishbowl. When she is not bedeviling her cousin, she is helping her father get out of trouble with con artists. (allmovie.com)

A dim witted, scrawny fellow from the country finds college full of bullies that trick him into various painful situations with the dean. His wife mistakes him for a prize athlete, and he's put on the football team. The big game includes unusual things like a mud hole on the field and a wasp nest substituting for the ball. (imdb)

In 1923, The Gumps moved up to two-reel live-action comedies, with former Keystone Cop Joe Murphy as the chinless lead, pioneering comedienne-producer Fay Tincher as Min, and Jack Morgan as the rascally Chester. In this episode, the comedy begins with the announcement of Min's tenth anniversary gift from Uncle Bim--a "tin" flivver. Primping for a family outing in the new car, Min breaks a mirror due to her son's shenanigans. "That's seven more years of bad luck, Chester," she scolds.

A Lupino Lane comedy short.

A singing Paris tour guide charms the receiving end of a Montmartre knife-throwing act.

Two small town widows bring their children to Hollywood, where their children become competing film stars. The girl is sweet, the boy is a killjoy sissy. For publicity, the rival families go to London to meet a middle European boy King. The three kids decide they need to escape their stifling lives and run away to the docks and join a gang.

Skippy, son of Dr. Herbert and Mrs. Skinner, adamantly stands by his poor friend, Sooky Wayne, who lives in Shantytown with his sickly mother. The Boone Boys, a boys' club that costs thirty dollars to join and has uniforms that Sooky admires, refuses to admit him because he is poor. Sooky and Skippy form their own club called the Beagle Boys.

Andy Gump is a clueless yokel that decides that he can run for President.

A young Jewish man works in his father's jewelry business, but he doesn't like it at all--he wants to be an entertainer, something he knows that his father would never approve of. He comes up with a scheme to put on his own show in a theater and show his father that he can be a success, but things don't work out quite as well as he planned.

Larry Semon working as a stage hand.

A variety of accidents and escapes culminates in a cyclone which produces some ludicrous effects on the buildings, persons and animals in a small Western town.