Eagle-Lion Films

A comedy based on the wildly popular radio character Senator Beauregard Claghorn, played by Kenny Delmar on the Fred Allen show. Claghorn is a blustering Southern politician whose every sentence begins with "I'm from the South, suh!" and ends with "That's a joke, son!" In the film, the senator opposes his daughter's romance with a Yankee and gets entangled in a political scheme involving a corrupt party boss. The Claghorn character was the direct inspiration for Warner Bros.' cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn, who borrowed Delmar's voice and catchphrases. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy

Jimmy Durante leads a down-on-their-luck vaudeville family whose Christmas turns around when Rupert, a trained squirrel, starts retrieving cash their miserly landlord has hidden inside a wall. Produced by George Pal — later famous for The War of the Worlds — with Rupert brought to life through Pal's signature stop-motion Puppetoon animation. Directed by Irving Pichel, the film blends holiday comedy with a gentle satire on sudden wealth. It is in the public domain through non-renewal of copyright, and later reissued in colorized form as A Christmas Wish.

Family · Comedy

A burglar who listens in on police radio to stay a step ahead of the law shoots a Los Angeles officer and becomes the target of a citywide manhunt. The film follows the police investigation step by step, the forensics, the informants, the dead ends, and the final chase through the storm drains under the city. It is loosely based on the real crime spree of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former police department employee who terrorized Los Angeles in 1946. Richard Basehart is cold and precise as the killer, and John Alton's cinematography turns the night streets and the underground tunnels into something close to a nightmare. The film is also the unlikely origin of Dragnet: Jack Webb met the production's police technical advisor on set, and that conversation led him to create the radio show. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Crime · Noir

Fresh out of prison, con man John Muller botches a casino heist and needs to disappear — until he meets Dr. Bartok, a psychiatrist who is his near-exact double, save for a scar on the opposite cheek. Muller kills Bartok, scars himself, and steps into the dead man's life, only to learn the doctor had dangerous secrets of his own. Paul Henreid plays both roles opposite Joan Bennett in this fatalistic Eagle-Lion noir from director Steve Sekely, reissued as The Scar. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Crime · Noir · Thriller

Stockbroker Nicholas Lawrence embezzles a million dollars from his firm and boards a plane bound for Shanghai, figuring he has one free weekend before the theft is discovered. On the flight he meets Cynthia Strong, a socialite fleeing a blackmailer, and when the plane goes down their problems — and the money — get a lot more complicated. Star Gene Raymond also directs, with Osa Massen and Francis Lederer in support. A compact late-40s crime picture with a lighter touch than most noir of the era, it is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Noir · Thriller

When a string of notorious criminals walks free on suspiciously easy parole, the federal government sends undercover agent Richard Hendricks to find out who is selling the state's leniency. Posing as wanted convict Rick Carson, Hendricks works his way into the gang run by the cunning Barney Rodescu — until his cover is blown and the racket turns on him. Directed by Alfred Zeisler and starring Michael O'Shea, Turhan Bey, and Evelyn Ankers, this lean Eagle-Lion release is a brisk Poverty Row noir built on an early version of the undercover-cop story. The film is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Crime · Noir · Thriller

During the bloodiest days of the French Revolution, a mysterious operative known as Charles D'Aubigny infiltrates Paris to recover Robespierre's "black book" — a list of intended victims whose executions would cement his dictatorship — before it can be used. Robert Cummings plays the double agent, with Richard Basehart a chilling Robespierre and Arlene Dahl as the woman caught between them. Anthony Mann shot it like a noir despite the period setting, all shadows and paranoia, on a shoestring budget for Walter Wanger. Reissued as The Black Book. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

History · Thriller · Noir

Jackie Robinson stars as himself in this biographical film tracing his journey from college athlete to becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball, facing bigotry and prejudice with dignity and courage. Co-starring Ruby Dee as his wife. Directed by Alfred E. Green. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Biography · Drama · Sports

A batch of freshly printed counterfeit bills traced to imprisoned counterfeiter Tris Stewart sends the U.S. Treasury Department scrambling, so agents engineer his escape and turn him loose — betting he will lead them to the engraving plates. Stewart plays both sides, rekindling things with his girlfriend Meg while undercover agent John Downey closes in. Lloyd Bridges is the slippery counterfeiter, with Barbara Payton as Meg and John Hoyt as the agent on his tail. Richard Fleischer directs this lean semi-documentary noir in the style of T-Men, shot on location around Los Angeles. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Crime · Noir · Drama