The First Talkies (1927-1929)
List of early Talkies, pre-1930.
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- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsHelene CostelloCullen LandisMary CarrA gangster frames two bootleggers for the shooting of a police officer in New York during the prohibition.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsAl JolsonBetty BronsonJosephine DunnA singing waiter and composer (Al Jolson) loves two women (Betty Bronson, Josephine Dunn), conquers Broadway and holds his dying son, singing "Sonny Boy."
- DirectorLothar MendesRoy PomeroyStarsEvelyn BrentClive BrookWilliam PowellParamount's 1st ALL TALKIE Reported killed in action, Philip Voaze(William Powell) lives under an assumed name in London. Deborah Kane(Evelyn Brent) a former love, discovers him and tries to blackmail his wife, Faith(Doris Kenyon), who has since remarried. Learning of this attempt and that he has a fatal heart disease, he kills Deborah and turns himself in to the police.
- DirectorIrving CummingsRaoul WalshStarsEdmund LoweWarner BaxterDorothy BurgessA charming, happy-go-lucky bandit in old Arizona plays cat-and-mouse with the sheriff trying to catch him while he romances a local beauty.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsEddie QuillanAlberta VaughnJane KeckleyA family of down-and-out vaudevillians discover that they are the last of the Van Revels, heirs to a Southern plantation and a blood feud with the Carstairs family that began 60 years earlier over a game of croquet. After Eddie falls in love with the neighbors' daughter, a mountaineer branch of the Carstairs clan resumes the feud with the intent of annihilating the Van Revels.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsBessie LoveAnita PageCharles KingA pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.
- DirectorJohn CromwellA. Edward SutherlandStarsHal SkellyNancy CarrollDorothy RevierWhen a vaudeville comic and a pretty young dancer have little luck in their separate careers, they decide to combine their acts; to save money on the road, they get married.
- DirectorMalcolm St. ClairFrank TuttleStarsWilliam PowellJean ArthurJames HallA beautiful showgirl, nicknamed 'the Canary', is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and soon ends up dead. But who killed 'the Canary'. All the suspects who knew her had been used by her. The only witness to the crime was also killed. Only one man, debonair detective, Philo Vance, might be able to figure out who silenced 'the Canary'.
- DirectorRobert MiltonLouis J. GasnierStarsRuth ChattertonFredric MarchJohn CromwellThe Dummy is a 1929 American comedy film directed by Robert Milton and written by Harriet Ford, Harvey J. O'Higgins, Herman J. Mankiewicz and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film stars Fredric March, John Cromwell, Fred Kohler, Mickey Bennett, Vondell Darr, Jack Oakie and ZaSu Pitts. The film was released on March 9, 1929, by Paramount Pictures.
- DirectorPaul SloaneStarsStepin FetchitClarence MuseEugene JacksonNappus, an elderly farmer, resents the fact that his daughter Chloe is married to a lazy layabout named Gummy, who allows Chloe to do all the house and farm work he himself should be doing. Chloe has to care for her two children, Trailia and Chiquapin, while managing all of Gummy's duties as well, and she is worn down by her labors. When Chloe and the child Trailia become dangerously sick, Gummy obtains the services of a Vodou doctor instead of a real medical doctor, with tragic results. Nappus decides he will somehow raise the money to send his grandson Chiquapin to medical school.
- DirectorBert GlennonStarsFred Waring and His PennsylvaniansMorton DowneyBarbara BennettThis is RKO's first sound musical. It centers on a pair of vaudevillians who are quite close on and off the stage until a dashing millionaire comes around and begins wooing the female partner.
- DirectorDorothy ArznerStarsClara BowFredric MarchMarceline DayWild girls at a college pay more attention to parties than their classes. But when one party girl, Stella Ames, goes too far at a local bar and lands in trouble, her professor must rescue her. Gossip linking the two escalates until Stella proves that she is decent by shielding an innocent girl and winning the professor's respect.
- DirectorSam TaylorStarsMary PickfordJohnny Mack BrownMatt MooreA flirtatious Southern belle is compromised with one of her suitors.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsJohn BolesCarlotta KingLouise FazendaThe Desert Song is a 1929 American Pre-Code operetta film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring John Boles, Louise Fazenda, and Myrna Loy.
- DirectorWillard MackStarsRobert AmesWillard MackSylvia FieldAn escaped convict and the detective tasked with hunting him down end up working in parallel to clear the convict's name and nab the gangsters that framed him.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsRichard DixHelen KaneLouis John BartelsA young man bets $10,000 that he can tell for 24 hour nothing but the truth.
- DirectorRoland WestStarsChester MorrisHarry StubbsMae BuschChick Williams, a prohibition gangster, rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion. The gangster took Joan, a policeman's daughter, to the theater, sneaked out during the intermission to commit the crime, then used her to support his alibi. The detective squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques, including planting an undercover agent in the gang, to bring him to justice.
- DirectorPál FejösStarsGlenn TryonEvelyn BrentMerna KennedyA naive young dancer in a Broadway show innocently gets involved in backstage bootlegging and murder.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsClaudette ColbertDavid NewellNellie SavageMrs. Ramsey sent Jean Oliver to prison on a false charge. To get even, Jean (disguised as Madame Mystera) plans to kidnap her daughter and turn her into a thief. Love entanglements with a gangster known as "The Fox" and newspaperman Grant complicate her plans.
- DirectorCastleton KnightStarsMoore MarriottMona GoyaRay MillandA Goodwin Sands lifeboatman rescues a shipwrecked girl who tries to win him away from his fiancée.
- DirectorF. Richard JonesStarsRonald ColmanClaud AllisterLawrence GrantA bored WWI veteran helps out a young woman whose uncle is being held hostage by embezzlers.
- DirectorMillard WebbStarsWalter HustonKay FrancisCharles RugglesA driven newspaperman misses out on the joys and sorrows of ordinary life.
- DirectorBradley BarkerStarsMorton DowneyBeryl MercerJohn T. DoyleYoung Irish lad Tommy O'Day, who lives in a poor section of New York's Lower East Side, is blessed with a beautiful singing voice. After an argument with his father, who accuses him of stealing the family's life savings, Tommy leaves home and gets a job singing in a cabaret. He is successful and soon lands the lead in a Broadway revue. On opening night, just as he is about to go on stage, he receives word that his mother, who he has not seen since he left home, is dying and wants to see him.