Ralph Forbes

A sequel to Herbert Brenon's 1926 hit Beau Geste, this pre-Code adventure sends an American (Lester Vail) into the French Foreign Legion to rescue his boyhood friend John Geste (Ralph Forbes, reprising his silent role). Filmed on location in the Sonoran Desert and on the RKO lot, the picture adapts P.C. Wren's novel with a Max Steiner score and early all-dialogue location recording. Loretta Young and Irene Rich round out the cast. The film is marked public domain on its Internet Archive item.

Adventure · Romance · War

A pre-Code spy drama set at Gibraltar during the First World War, where a pair of German agents posing as a British officer and a family friend plot to seize the key to the harbor's mine field, each unaware of the other's true loyalty. Betty Compson and Ralph Forbes star, with Montagu Love as the governor and Mischa Auer as the Hindu servant who unmasks them. Directed by effects pioneer Roy Pomeroy for RKO from Earl Derr Biggers' 1915 play, the film entered the public domain in the United States when its copyright was not renewed after 28 years.

Drama · War

A radio-era whodunit from Monogram. Crooner Norman Wilder (Ralph Forbes) is the most popular voice on the air — but the voice isn't his: he has been secretly lip-syncing to a blacklisted singer, the "phantom" of the broadcast. When Wilder is shot dead mid-performance, detectives and rival singers pile into a case where everyone in the station had a motive and nobody is who they claim to be. Phil Rosen, one of Poverty Row's most prolific directors, keeps the mystery brisk. Its copyright was never renewed; it is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime · Music