Bebe Daniels

A Pre-Code musical comedy set in a traveling circus in the Old South, directed by Luther Reed for RKO. Bebe Daniels stars as Dixiana, a circus performer caught in a love triangle between a wealthy plantation owner's son and a villainous suitor. The film introduced the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey (Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey) to film audiences, and their rapid-fire banter and physical comedy made them instant favorites, launching a decade-long series of RKO comedies. The film was originally released in Technicolor sequences, though most surviving prints are in black and white. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Musical · Romance

A 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Bebe Daniels. Wall Street wizard Larry Day (Fairbanks), new to the ways of love, is coached by his valet Roger (Edward Everett Horton). He follows Vivian Benton (Daniels), an amateur aviatrix, on an ocean liner, where cocktails laced with a "love potion" work their magic. He then loses his fortune in the market crash and feels he has also lost his girl. The film features songs by Irving Berlin and an early appearance by Bing Crosby. Originally released at 91 minutes; surviving versions are typically cut to about 72 minutes.

Comedy · Musical · Romance

A 1929 American pre-Code RKO musical comedy starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles, along with the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey. Based on the 1927 stage musical produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, the film follows Capt. Jim Stewart (Boles), who pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita (Daniels), though he suspects that her brother is the bandit. The film was the biggest and most expensive RKO production of 1929 and the studio's biggest box office hit until King Kong (1933). Its finale was photographed in two-color Technicolor. Rio Rita was chosen as one of the 10 best films of 1929 by Film Daily. The film united Wheeler and Woolsey as a team and made them famous.

Musical · Romance · Western

The Affairs of Anatol is a 1921 silent comedy-drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Wallace Reid as Anatol, a wealthy man who repeatedly tries to "save" women from moral peril, often to the distress of his wife Vivian (Gloria Swanson). Based on the 1893 play by Arthur Schnitzler, the film features a lavish production design by Paul Iribe and showcases DeMille's growing taste for opulent sets and decadent subject matter. The all-star cast includes Bebe Daniels as the mysterious Satan Synne, Elliott Dexter, Wanda Hawley, and Monte Blue. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Comedy · Drama · Romance · Silent

A respectable but dull husband divorces his prudish wife and marries a vivacious younger woman, only for his ex-wife to transform herself into a glamorous flapper to win him back. Cecil B. DeMille's social comedy starring Gloria Swanson. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Comedy · Drama · Romance