Samuel Goldwyn filmography (1929-1940)
This list covers every talking film produced by Samuel Goldwyn from 1929 to 1940 per his distribution deal with United Artists.
For films distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, see the list.
All titles are under copyright protection by The Samuel Goldwyn Company except where noted.
For films distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, see the list.
All titles are under copyright protection by The Samuel Goldwyn Company except where noted.
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- DirectorF. Richard JonesStarsRonald ColmanClaud AllisterLawrence GrantA bored WWI veteran helps out a young woman whose uncle is being held hostage by embezzlers.Goldwyn's first talkie.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsRonald ColmanAnn HardingLouis WolheimSuave thief Colman is sent to Devil's Island, where he becomes romantically involved with the wife of sadistic warden Digges.
- DirectorsGeorge FitzmauriceHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsRonald ColmanKay FrancisDavid TorrenceA 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.
- DirectorThornton FreelandStarsEddie CantorEthel ShuttaPaul GregoryWestern sheriff Bob Wells is preparing to marry Sally Morgan; she loves part-Indian Wanenis, whose race is an obstacle. Sally flees the wedding with hypochondriac Henry Williams, who thinks he's just giving her a ride; but she left a note saying they've eloped! Chasing them are jilted Bob, Henry's nurse Mary (who's been trying to seduce him) and others.
- DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsJohn BolesEvelyn LayeLeon ErrolA poor but basically honest flower woman agrees to impersonate a wicked opera star.
- DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsRonald ColmanLoretta YoungFrederick KerrSpendthrift Willie Leyland again returns to the family home in London penniless. His father is none too pleased but Willie smooth-talks him into letting him stay. At the same time, he turns the charm on Dorothy Hope, whose father is big in linoleum and who, before Willie's arrival, was about to become engaged to a Russian aristocrat.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsSylvia SidneyWilliam Collier Jr.Estelle TaylorTwenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.Produced by Feature Productions, a subsidiary of United Artists; rights later acquired by Mary Pickford.
Public domain. - DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsRonald ColmanFay WrayEstelle TaylorA bunch of crooks team up to find and steal money from an old man and his daughter.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsEddie CantorCharlotte GreenwoodBarbara WeeksThe assistant of a phony psychic leaves the fraudulent business and becomes an efficiency expert.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsGloria SwansonMelvyn DouglasAlison SkipworthA young opera singer finds her career stalled because of her cold and passionless performances, until she finds romance with a handsome admirer.Produced by Feature Productions, a subsidiary of United Artists. Copyright acquired by Mary Pickford.
Copyright renewed by Mary Pickford - DirectorJohn FordStarsRonald ColmanHelen HayesRichard BennettA medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.
- DirectorLowell ShermanStarsJoan BlondellMadge EvansIna ClaireEx-showgirls and roommates Polaire Gwynn (Madge Evans) and Schatze Citroux (Joan Blondell) are reunited with their sometime friend and former co-worker, Jean Lawrence (Ina Claire), when she returns from France. Jean, a hard-boiled gold digger, asks the honest Polaire and loyal Schatze to introduce her to a new man, and Polaire calls her boyfriend, playboy Dey Emery (David Manners), for help. The girls meet Dey and his friend, pianist Boris Feldman (the film's director Lowell Sherman), at a speakeasy, where Boris bets Jean that if his piano playing does not induce her to love him, he will give her $5,000. Later, at Boris' apartment, Jean pretends to sleep through Boris' concert. Polaire then plays, and Boris, impressed with her talent, offers to be her teacher. He implies that she will have to be his lover as well as his student, however, and Polaire becomes upset when Dey does not protest. Dey mistakenly assumes that an exhibition of jealousy would be unwelcome, and his inaction results in Polaire's acceptance of Boris' proposition. After Polaire leaves to collect her things, Schatze and the heartbroken Dey also leave, but Jean stays to seduce Boris. Jean's calculated exhibitionism is successful, and Boris does not answer the door when Polaire returns. After she leaves, Polaire is hurt in an automobile accident and is hospitalized. Sometime later, Jean tires of Boris and breaks up with him, then pursues Dey. Dey welcomes Jean's attentions until Schatze tells him that Polaire has been in the hospital since their parting. Dey immediately goes to Polaire and proposes to her, and they reconcile. Later, Jean makes an unwelcome appearance at Polaire and Schatze's apartment while Polaire is waiting to meet Dey's father Justin (Phillips Smalley) for the first time. When Dey arrives and Jean learns that Polaire is to meet Justin at the Emery house, she slips a pearl necklace into Polaire's pocket so that she will have an excuse to follow. Polaire's interview with Justin is going splendidly until Jean arrives and intimates that Polaire stole the necklace. Indignant that Dey believes Jean, Polaire storms out, while Jean stays to flirt with Justin. Later, on the day of Jean and Justin's wedding, Schatze and Polaire arrive to retrieve a bracelet that Polaire loaned Jean. Jean returns the jewelry and miserably contemplates her future of wedded boredom as Schatze and Polaire brag about the fun they will have when they sail for France that afternoon. The trio are soon drunk, and Jean decides that she cannot exchange her freedom for Justin's fortune. She sneaks out of the house with Schatze, but Polaire is caught by Dey. Dey apologizes to Polaire for misjudging her, but Polaire leaves anyway. The determined Dey follows her onto the ocean liner, where Polaire consents to marry him when he states that he is certain of her virtue. The couple then cuddles happily as Jean flirts with Schatze's male traveling companion.AKA "Three Broadway Girls" (1937 re-issue).
Produced by Feature Productions, a subsidiary of United Artists; rights later acquired by Mary Pickford.
Public domain. - DirectorKing VidorStarsRonald ColmanKay FrancisPhyllis BarryLondon barrister's marriage is under strain after his affair with a shop-girl who is out to have him. Told in flashback.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsEddie CantorLyda RobertiRobert YoungAn innocent man accused of robbing banks masquerades as a bullfighter to escape the police.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsRonald ColmanElissa LandiJuliette ComptonRonald Colman plays an MP addicted to drugs, and a double recruited to cover for him.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsEddie CantorRuth EttingGloria StuartA kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.
- DirectorsDorothy ArznerGeorge FitzmauriceStarsAnna StenPhillips HolmesLionel AtwillNana is a 1934 American Pre-Code film, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, released through United Artists, starring Anna Sten. and directed by Dorothy Arzner and George Fitzmaurice. This version of Émile Zola's heroine was to be the vehicle for Sten's triumph as Samuel Goldwyn's trained, groomed and heavily promoted answer to Greta Garbo. Despite the big investment, the publicity help from William Randolph Hearst, and a record-breaking opening week at Radio City Music Hall, Sten was beautiful but disappointing. Goldwyn's tutoring of Sten is mentioned in Cole Porter's 1934 song "Anything Goes" from the musical of the same name: "If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes."
- DirectorsRoy Del RuthWilly PoganyStarsEddie CantorAnn SothernEthel MermanA musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy (Eddie Cantor) who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father, but must go to Egypt to claim it.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsAnna StenFredric MarchJane BaxterNekhlyudov, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsGary CooperAnna StenRalph BellamyBecause his finances are low and he is seeking background for a new book, author Tony Barratt and his wife Dora return to his country home in Connecticut. While he is finding material for his book on the lives and customs of the local immigrant tobacco farmers, his wife returns to New York and, alas, his Japanese servant deserts him. He meets neighboring farm girl Manya Novak and hires her to cook his meals and clean his house. They soon fall in love, but following the customs of the old country, her father has entered a 'marriage bargain' for her to wed Fredrik Sobieski, a man not of her choosing.
- DirectorSidney FranklinStarsFredric MarchMerle OberonHerbert MarshallThe close relationship between a woman and her two male childhood friends is tested when she accepts a marriage proposal from one of them, while the burgeoning First World War threatens to change their lives forever.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsMiriam HopkinsEdward G. RobinsonJoel McCreaMary Rutledge arrives from the East, finds her fiance dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Louis Charnalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in 1850s San Francisco.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsMiriam HopkinsJoel McCreaPaul CavanaghThe once-great Lorrimore family faces bankruptcy unless older son Brighton marries wealthy Edith Gilbert. When Brighton instead returns from a trip with his new wife Phyllis, she receives a cool reception from his family. Phyllis wants Brighton to pursue his dream of being a writer, but Mrs. Lorrimore sees to it that he gets a high-pressure job that he's totally incapable of handling. She also arranges for Phyllis to spend a lot of time with Brighton's boss in order to advance Brighton's career.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsEddie CantorEthel MermanSally EilersMeek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMiriam HopkinsMerle OberonJoel McCreaTwo schoolteachers and the man they both love face ruin when a malicious student cooks up a lie.