Joseph Santley

Total Credits at Criticker: 56 (Director), 5 (Writer)

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Titles you haven't rated - Director (56) | Writer (5)

    The Cocoanuts
    During the Florida land boom, the Marx brothers run a hotel, auction off some land, thwart a jewel robbery, and generally act like themselves. (imdb)
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    Melody Ranch
    His Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration. (imdb)
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    Music in My Heart
    A chorus girl engaged to a millionaire falls for the star of her latest musical. (1940)
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    Blond Cheat
    Socially prominent Michael Ashburn, is the chief assistant to Rufus Trent, wealthy London loan broker. He has allowed himself to become engaged to the Rufus' daughter, Roberta, the match engineered primarily by socially-ambitious Mrs. Trent. As Michael is closing the shop in the late afternoon, a man named Douglas takes out a large loan, using his niece's (Julie Evans) earring as a deposit. (imdb)
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    Call of the Canyon
    Gene heads some cattlemen who have been swindled by McCoy. McCoy needed their money to pay off his gambling debt. (imdb)
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    Down Mexico Way
    After the bad guys swindle the good folk of Sage City, Gene and Frog chase them to Mexico where they are now trying to rob a rich Mexican ranchero. (imdb)
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    Shadow of a Woman
    A young bride's marital bliss is replaced by shades of suspicion when she suspects that her husband is trying to starve his young son to death in order to claim an inheritance the boy is entitled to. (imdb)
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    Brazil
    Brazil is perhaps the best of the handful of American films made by Brazilian singing sensation Tito Guizar. In typical screwball-comedy fashion, the plot is set in motion by authoress Nicky Henderson (Virginia Bruce), who has hit the best-seller charts with her latest tome, Why Marry a Latin? While researching her next book in Rio De Janeiro, she finds out "why" when she meets handsome songwriter Miguel Soares (Guizar). (allrovi.com)
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    Chatterbox
    While shooting a western on location, a Hollywood "cowboy" star--whose offscreen image is exactly the opposite of his onscreen one--is saved from disaster by a gregarious local girl. She winds up becoming not only his leading lady in the movie but, because of a set of nutty offscreen circumstances, his fiancé in real life. (imdb)
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    Earl Carroll Vanities
    Royalty from a small European principality come to New York City to arrange for a loan to prop up their country's troubled finances. While the queen mother attends to the negotiations, Princess Drina strikes up a friendship with Tex Donnelly, who owns a nightclub and gives her boogie-woogie piano lessons. When, Tex's star singer, Claire, sprains her ankle, Drina steps in and belts out a few numbers impressing Earl Carroll, a Broadway producer who had come to see Claire perform. (imdb)
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    Joan of Ozark
    During World War II, a yodeling hillbilly singer goes undercover to expose a ring of Nazi spies operating in the United States. (imdb)
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    Ruth Etting in Favorite Melodies
    Singer Ruth Etting sings two popular tunes of 1929. The whole short is filmed in one take. (imdb)
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    Young and Beautiful
    Bob Preston, publicity man for Superba Pictures, uses his publicity skills in an attempt to make this fiancée June Dale the most famous movie star in the world. But in doing so, he forgets that women want to be attended to for themselves, not as objects of fame.
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    The Loudspeaker
    A young man from a small town hits New York City, bound and determined to become a radio star. Amazingly, he achieves his ambition, but in the process alienates everyone around him with his arrogance and egomania. (imdb)
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    Waterfront Lady
    When a young man is befriended by a gambling ship operator and made a partner in the business, he becomes involved in a police manhunt after he covers up a murder committed by his new partner. (imdb)
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    Harmony Lane
    The life and loves of composer Stephen Foster, from his early success through his decline, degradation, and death from alcoholism. (imdb)
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    Always in Trouble
    Jane's dad (Tombes) is an oil field worker who comes into a fortune and is then pushed into society by his wife. (imdb)
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    Behind the News
    City Editor Vic Archer assigns student reporter Jeff Flavin to veteran newsman Stuart Woodrow, primarily to get on Woodrow's nerves. Jeff has long admired Woodrow, but is saddened to see the cynical and unprofessional state to which Woodrow has declined. Woodrow, for his part, tries to cure Jeff of his idealism and cause him to leave the newspaper business. Jeff, though, sticks to his guns and saves Woodrow's reputation by filing a big scoop under Woodrow's name after Woodrow had missed it. (imdb)
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    Dancing Feet
    Peyton Wells (Ben Lyon) rescues Judy Jones (Joan Marsh) from a very dull young man, at a sedate party given for her by her multi-millionaire grandfather Silas P. Jones (Purnell Pratt.) Judy refuses to accompany Peyton on a slumming trip to a cheap dance hall, and Peyton dances with several of the dowagers and tells them that Silas is practically dying of scarlet fever. The guests hastily depart and Joan joins Peyton at the Dreamland Dance Hall.
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    A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic
    A simple filmed performance featuring Cantor, done up in his stage minstrel makeup, allegedly at the Ziegfeld Theatre Roof Garden, but actually filmed on a soundstage at the Paramount Astoria studio. (imdb)
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    Ice-Capades
    Newsreel cameraman Bob Clemens, an avowed woman hater, is assigned to cover the Lake Placid exhibition of Karen Vadja, the Swiss ice Queen. He misses his plane and fails to get the footage needed for a newsreel. Deciding that if you've seen one ice skater, you've seen them all, he goes to Central Park to film a skater picked at random. He selects Marie Bergin who is wanted by the immigration people for having over-stayed her visa. (imdb)
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    Laughing Irish Eyes
    An Irish-American boxing promoter goes back to Ireland looking for a fighter he can turn into the next heavyweight champion, and comes across a blacksmith he believes has potential. The only problem is, the blacksmith isn't interested. (imdb)
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    Make Believe Ballroom
    Liza Lee, fast-talking press agent for Al Jarvis, persuades Jarvis to stage a Musical Mystery Contest, with a $5000 prize to the person who can first name the most musical numbers and their performers. Drive-in carhops Gene Thomas ) and Josie Marlow run neck-and-neck in the contest, They are friendly rivals until college professor Leslie Todd begins courting Josie. (imdb)
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    Meet the Missus
    Mrs. Emma Foster of Fosterboro, Ohio loves to enter contests - which she never wins - the time she spends on which is much to the chagrin of her exasperated husband, barber Otis Foster. It is ironic then that the one contest for which she becomes a finalist is the Happy Noodle company's Mrs. America contest to determine the nation's best homemaker as she never has time or the want to do any housework, that burden left to Otis. (imdb)
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    Million Dollar Baby
    A husband-and-wife vaudeville team disguise their young son as a girl so he can enter a contest run by a movie studio that's looking for "a new Shirley Temple." (imdb)
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    Walking on Air
    A strong-willed young woman hires a student to impersonate a boorish French count and brings him home to meet her parents. (imdb)
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    Dancing on a Dime
    Future Universal contractees Robert Paige and Grace MacDonald (in her film debut) star in the Paramount mini-musical Dancing on a Dime. The story concerns an entertainment troupe financed by the government's Work Projects Administration. When the WPA drops its funding, the young performers despair until they come across an abandoned roll of money. Unaware that the cash is counterfeit, the kids use this windfall to finance their upcoming show, but the Feds catch up with them on opening night. (allmovie.com)
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    Goodnight, Sweetheart
    In this drama a big-city reporter moves to a tiny town to begin running the newspaper he half-owns. His in-your-face reporting style does not make him very popular; especially when he begins causing trouble for the incumbent mayor's opposition. It is the candidate's pretty niece who teaches the arrogant journalist a valuable lesson. (allmovie.com)
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    The Family Next Door
    Rose Pierce is discontent with her life as the wife of a small town plumber and has visions of becoming a wealthy socialite. Consequently, when her smart aleck son Sammy hears that an electric railroad line is to be built through town, she decides that the family can become rich by purchasing the lots along the right of way.
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    Her Master\
    Edward Everett Horton plays radio celebrity Ned Farrar, "The Fireside Troubadour." Besieged by his adoring female fans, Ned hides out at the home of his wife Queena's imperious Aunt Min. He pretends to be Aunt Min's handyman, performing his tasks so well that the old lady refuses to let him leave! This hilarious movie even includes a slapstick car chase. Adapted from a play by Clare Kummer, Her Master's Voice represented another of Dore Schary's early screenwriting assignments.
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    Swing High
    To avoid hostilities, Maryan, the ward of Doc May, a medicine show owner, induces Pop Garner, a circus owner, to join forces with her guardian. Doc May and Daphne, his wife, work as clowns; and Garry, a singing soldier of fortune, sings along with Maryan's act. Ruth, Maryan's partner, quits to get married; and Joe, who is jealous of Garry, replaces her with Trixie, his former assistant.
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    Smartest Girl in Town
    Modeling furs has given our heroine Cookie a taste for them, so she's determined to marry a rich man. Scheduled to meet a male model aboard a yacht, she meets the yacht's rich owner Dick Smith instead; he welcomes the confusion of identity and sets out to win her by force of personality alone. It's an uphill battle. Lots of wry repartee. (imdb)
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    She\
    Carol Rogers returns from Europe to discover that her recently deceased father has left her with huge debts and no resources to pay them. Aunt Jane suggests that Carol marry a South American millionaire, but, Carol refuses and vows to find a job instead. Waldo, a bookmaker, and Aunt Jane plot the perfect scheme. They arrange for Carol to be hired as a secretary for rich bachelor racetrack enthusiast and coffee magnate , Fuller Partridge. Fuller soon falls for Carol but doesn't let her know. (imdb)
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    Jamboree
    A trio of competing bands vie for a spot on a rural radio program. (SeenTh.at)
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    His College Chums
    Eddie Peabody and His College Chums play us a few songs.
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    Swing, Sister, Swing
    Broadway press agent Nap Sisler sees a chance to make a national hit with a new dance, "The Baltimore Bubble", created by Greenvale filling-station attendant Johnny Bennett. Nap promotes dance instructor Professor L. Orlando Beebee out of $500 to bring Johnny, his dancing partner Snookie Saunders, and Greenvale grocery clerk and hot trombonist Satchel-Lips Peters to New York. Introduced at a night club by band leader Ted Weems, the trio is a hit. (imdb)
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    There Goes the Groom
    A young man scores seeking Alaskan gold, comes home to claim his bride. When she snubs him, he falls for the younger sister instead. (imdb)
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    Sis Hopkins
    A young girl from the "sticks" comes to the city to live with her wealthy relatives. At first she is the objection of derision and made fun of because of her unsophisticated nature, but it turns out that there's a bit more to her than most of her snooty relatives and their condescending friends think. (imdb)
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    We Went to College
    Phil is high strung and needs a rest so Nina talks him into going to the Sutter College homecoming. He takes his wife and Glenn, who was another classmate, to have some fun and get a brick contract. Old dependable Ellery is running the activities and he has not seen Phil since his college days. Phil is more interested in the brick deal, but he lets loose and has some fun, only to discover that Ellery's wife Susan is still in love with him and wants to be Mrs. Talbot. (imdb)
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    Frisco Waterfront
    As California gubernatorial candidate Burton is about to cast his vote a truck crashes into the polling booth, critically injuring him and his opponent. A flashback traces his career from unemployed veteran to dockworker to lawyer. A side thread traces his tortured relationship with his wife.
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    A Tragedy at Midnight
    This Republic murder mystery starts with a radio broadcast by Greg Sherman who solves cases on the air that the local police cannot solve. As he names the perpetrator of a recent murder we see the criminal, who is listening to the show, become alarmed and start to make his escape. The scene shifts to the police department where the chief, fearing for his job, assigns officers to get something, anything, on Sherman and get him off the air.
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    Thumbs Up
    A young American girl sings in an American style night club in London. She's about to quit when she hears about a West End show to be made up of talent culled from war factory workers. She joins the women at an aircraft plant in the town of Minton. sharing a room with an acquaintance. When the talent competition arises, it causes her to be ostracized by the rest of the workers when they realize her heart was not in the war, but the chance at stardom.
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    Here Comes Elmer
    This musical comedy stars radio star Al Pearce has a double role playing himself and Elmer Blurt, the leader of a small-town band that struggles toward stardom in the big city. Their journey begins when Elmer decides to eject their female singer because she isn’t really right. Unfortunately, her angry father is their sponsor and when he finds out, he withdraws all support.
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    Rosie the Riveter
    In wartime 1944 in California,defense plant workers Rosalind "Rosie" Warren and her friend Vera Watson must share, on a rotating schedule, the town's last available rental-room with Charlie Doran and Kelly Kennedy, who work the other shift at the plant. The landlady, Grandma Quill , also has her grandchildren, Buzz Prouty and Mabel Prouty , and her daughter Stella Prouty ---who is on the outs with her husband Clem ---living with her.
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    The Spirit of Culver
    Tom Allen, the son of a decorated war hero who is feared to have died in battle, wins a scholarship to the Culver military academy. His arrogance and unwillingness to comply with the academy's strict rules soon gets him in trouble, but through the help of his roommate he gets by.
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    Melody and Moonlight
    With the help of a wealthy chiropodist (Jerry Colonna), O’Brien not only gets to star on a big-time radio show, but also sprinkles stardust upon his sweetheart Kay Barnett (Jane Frazee)-who, unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, is the daughter of the show’s sponsor.
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    Puddin\
    Harold l. Montgomery, the scatterbrain vice-president of the United Broadcasing System, is dismayed when he learns that one-foot of the ground on which the station's imposing new structure has been built is part of the adjoining lot belonging to Judy Goober, a hillbilly girl, who could sue them for millions. Mortally afraid of his domineering, ill-tempered sister, Matilda. who is the president of the company, Montgomery decides to say nothing to her regarding the problem.
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    Sleepy Lagoon
    Transient workers are pouring into Sleepy Lagoon by the thousands to work in the local defense factories, with no means of finding good clean fun in a town that has been moribund as its name for years past. They have been squandering their earnings and going into debt at the gambling houses, hostesses-provided dance halls and saloons that have opened up overnight. Judy Joyner, young radio personality is put up as mayoralty candidate on an all-femme reform ticket.
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    When You\
    A Texas singer hits Hollywood and cues Frankie Laine, Bob Crosby, the Modernaires and the Mills Brothers.
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    Remember Pearl Harbor
    A man tries to redeem himself after ducking out on his comrades before the fatal attack. This was the first fictional film dealing with the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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    Three Little Sisters
    One loved a soldier. One loved a sailor and one...loved a Marine.
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    Yokel Boy
    A "Perfect Movie Fan",Joe Ruddy, is brought to Hollywood as a publicity stunt, and is put in charge of a production company as a gag, but everybody isn't in on the gag, and Joe imports a notorious gangster, "Buggsy" Malone, to play "himself" in a film based on his life. "Buggsy" has gone straight, more or less, but retains some of his old habits to the extent of assuming control of the film, and the whole studio. His sister, Molly, also comes along and she falls in love with Joe.
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    Shantytown
    Elizabeth "Liz" Gorty (Mary Lee) lives with her mother and stepfather in a ramshackle boarding house in "Shantytown" on the "wrong side of the tracks." Bill Allen (John Archer) and his wife Virginia (Marjorie Lord) rent a room from the Gorty's and "Liz", always a tomboy, resolves to become a lady like Virginia, who is expecting a baby. Bill is a fugitive from the law because he was innocently involved in a crime pulled off by the "Ace" Landers gang.
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    Hitchhike to Happiness
    A famous radio singer takes time off from her career and returns to New York City to visit with old friends, who don't know she's a famous singer (she uses a stage name). She falls in love with a struggling songwriter (who also doesn't know she's a famous singer), and sets out to get his songs into a play that some producers want her to be in.
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    Two Bright Boys
    Fatherless Rory O'Donnell (Jackie Cooper) inherits a valuable piece of land in Texas which he is not yet capable of handing on his own. Bill Hattlet (Alan Dinehart), an unscrupulous oil man can't wait to appropriate the land for himself, but is prevented from doing so by the intervention of Hilary Harrington (Melville Cooper) and his son David (Freddie Bartlolomew).
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    Oh! Oh! Cleopatra
    A mad scientist creates a time travel pill, which two goofballs volunteer to test, transporting them to ancient Egypt as Marc Antony and Julius Caesar vying for the beautiful Cleopatra's love in a chariot race.
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