Lost Movies From 1931
US movies from 1931 (third year of the "pre-code" era) which are listed as lost on IMDB. Many of these films have user ratings and reviews. The mere existence of reviews didn't cause a film to be excluded from this list. Some reviews could be from people who saw the film before it was lost. On the other hand, some reviews seem based not on actually having seen the movie, but on something the reviewer has read elsewhere, or that the reviewer does/doesn't like an actor/the director, doesn't like old movies, or whatever, and wants to chime in based on that. And frankly, some reviews I have read come across as fabrications ("I had an exclusive showing of this otherwise lost film in the home of a private collector").
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- DirectorRobert F. HillStarsFrancis X. Bushman Jr.Alberta VaughnTom LondonThe manager of The Big Circus plots to marry the owner's daughter and gain control of the outfit.
- DirectorWilliam A. O'ConnorStarsHelen FosterJohn DarrowDorothy GrangerA naive high school girl (Helen Foster) falls for the school's star football player. Her ignorance in the matters of sex leads to pregnancy and heartbreak.
- DirectorLeander De CordovaStarsJay WilseyWanda HawleyTom LondonA wagon train of "Forty-Niners" heading for the California gold fields includes a girl, her father and an old black servant, who have hidden their family jewels and life savings in their wagon. One of the men in the train plots with some Indians to attack the caravan and steal the family's wealth. In order to isolate their wagon, the villain has one of his men pose as a small pox victim so that the wagon train will leave them behind. After they fight with the Indians and the band of outlaws, the girl and her family are saved by the leader of the wagon train.
- DirectorAlan JamesStarsHal TaliaferroVirginia Brown FaireWalter MillerTexas Rangers Captain Wally is leading a troop of Rangers in pursuit of the Valdez brothers, border bandits. There is an encounter with a portion of the outlaw band in which Jose Valdez is killed by Wally. The Rangers head for the Flores ranch where Carlos and Manuel Valdez are hiding out. Before they get there Carlos and Manuel hear of Jose's death and ride out for vengeance. Rosita Flores, Jose's sweetheart and daughter of ranch owner Don Flores, also thirsts for vengeance and demands that the Ranger Captain be brought back to her alive. For his part, old man Flores has had more than enough of the Valdez brothers. The Rangers are trapped in Hell's Valley, Wally is severely wounded and his force scattered. He is brought back to the ranch where Rosita promises the Valdez brothers to nurse him back to life so that he can be tortured. Oh, yeah, that the teekit. But the Valdez brothers have no contigency plan in the event Rosita falls in love with her patient, especially with both brothers now having an eye on Rosita since Jose is out of the picture. But after some fighting, shooting, riding, intrigue and a smooch or two between Wally and Rosita, Carlos is tricked into shooting Manuel and is, in turn, killed by Rosita's father.
- DirectorRobert J. HornerStarsJack PerrinJosephine HillBuzz BartonA young cowboy is in love with the ranch owner's daughter. When they learn that the girl's father plans to send her to a nearby city to live with her aunt, the two decide to elope. The girl is not surprised when she is kidnapped from the stagecoach because she believes that her fiance planned the whole thing. Actually, it is the cowboy's rival who has arranged her kidnapping. The girl discovers the truth when the rival arrives at the shack where she is being held. The cowboy arrives just in time to rescue her from the rival's unwelcome advances.
- DirectorRaymond CannonStarsGrant WithersThelma ToddPhilo McCulloughA power company floods a sleepy Tennessee Valley for a dam to run a hydraulic power plant. Garry, a Northern engineer on the project, falls in love with Caroline, Colonel Bradford's adopted daughter. The colonel's nephew, Jack Bradford, uses his power of attorney to sell a valuable portion of the colonel's estate to Morton, head of the power project. The colonel confronts Jack and is killed in the struggle. When Garry finds the body and Jack accuses him of the murder, he escapes, but is pursued by bloodhounds. Jack witnesses Garry retrieving the deed of sale from Morton and blows up the dam to prevent him from returning. The waters sweep Jack away and trap Caroline in a cave. Garry rescues her and the two become engaged.
- DirectorRay TaylorStarsKenneth HarlanEdna MurphyGayne WhitmanThe Secret Service sets out to break up a smuggling ring.
- DirectorClarence G. BadgerStarsSidney BlackmerLila LeeRaymond HattonJudith Temple has come West to Arizona for some excitement. As she says goodbye to her brother and his wife, who are returning to the East, Dr. Neil Cranford, who is in love with her, is called away to tend the broken ribs of a man injured in a barroom brawl. The three other men involved in the fight, Geoffrey Bland, Joao and Kempen, force their way into Judith's room and throw dice to see which one will win her. She begs Bland to save her, so he pays one man off and beats up the other one. Taking Judith away with him, he marries her against her will. Judith helps him build a new home in the mountains but refuses to live with him. Bland has fallen in love with her and reluctantly agrees to her terms. Ore is found on Bland's land, and while he is away arranging financing for a mine, Judith goes into town to sell some mats she has woven. She runs into her brother, his wife and Cranford there. Returning home, she pretends in front of her friends that everything is fine in her marriage. Later, however, she tries to buy her freedom from Bland with nuggets she purchased from Joao. Since she is pregnant, Bland agrees to send her back East with her brother. After the birth of the baby, Judith's mental state is so strange that her mother sends for Bland. She refuses to see him and tells her mother the story of her marriage. After hearing it, her brother threatens Bland, but Judith realizes that she has grown to love Bland and returns with him to Arizona.
- DirectorHamilton MacFaddenStarsWarner OlandJohn GarrickMarguerite ChurchillCharlie steps in to solve the murder of a wealthy American found dead in a London hotel. Settings include London, Nice, San Remo, Honolulu, and Hong Kong. Fast-paced with lots of wisecracking.Before dubbing in alternate languages became common, films were sometimes shot simultaneously in different languages, using the same sets, but with different casts. The Spanish language version of this film survives, although the English version is lost.
- DirectorMelville W. BrownStarsMary AstorJack HoltRicardo CortezAfter years of wilderness living, multi-millionaire Gordon Kent, who has made his fortune as a mining engineer, returns to New York City for good times and "white shoulders." There he meets penniless showgirl Norma Selbee and, intoxicated by her beauty, proposes marriage the same night. Confident that she will fall in love with him in time, Norma accepts Gordon's impetuous proposal, and the couple marries. While on her European honeymoon, however, Norma grows weary of Gordon's displays of generosity and adoration and secretly curses him for not trying to win her love. Then, in France, Norma runs into Lawrence Marchmont, an old friend, who uses his skills as a womanizer to seduce the newlywed. Driven to hysterics by Gordon's uncontrolled affection, Norma denounces her husband for never trying to romance her and locks herself in her bedroom. Although Gordon breaks down the door and enters Norma's room, she leaves for Paris with Marchmont the next day. Heartbroken and angry, Gordon follows the couple to Paris and swears to them that if they ever separate he will send both of them to jail. Gordon then reveals that he has discovered that Norma's first husband, Jim Selbee, never officially divorced her and that Marchmont, whose real name is Tommy Pierce, is a wanted embezzler and swindler. To keep his vow, Gordon hires private detectives to shadow the couple after they return to New York. There Norma soon sees that Gordon was correct about Marchmont when she is forced to resume her showgirl career to support him and his drinking habit. Although Norma grows to hate Marchmont, Gordon forces his rival to remain with her, even after he tries to flee with her jewels. Eventually Norma is confronted by Selbee and, to protect Gordon from his blackmail, agrees to return to her first marriage. While Norma discusses the matter with Gordon, Selbee shows up at the Kent estate and finds a drunken Marchmont there. Together Selbee and Marchmont plot to steal Norma's jewels, but as Selbee is opening Gordon's safe, Marchmont shoots and kills him. After Marchmont is apprehended by the police, Gordon finds Norma and begs her to forgive him. Although Norma at first refuses to reconcile with her husband, her roommate tells Gordon that, in spite of her words, Norma truly loves him. Thus discovered, Norma finally admits her love and reunites with her husband.
- DirectorJames P. HoganStarsJack PerrinDorothy BauerFred HargreavesJack, an outlaw but innocent of the crimes he is being accused of, is running from a posse when he discovers a baby whose parents have been killed by raiders. He takes the baby and tends it even though it means he will be captured. But the sheriff knows something about the baby that Jack doesn't.
- DirectorJohn P. McCarthyStarsLloyd HughesDorothy SebastianCharles MiddletonA cruel sea captain (Charles Middleton) oversees a rough crew.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsRalph GravesHelen ChandlerSally O'NeilYoung Nell loses her job and home and her father is sent to prison. She joins the Salvation Army and tries to redeem him when he comes out bent on continuing his life of crime.
- DirectorStuart PatonStarsGrant WithersMarjorie BeebeWheeler OakmanBuddy Hollins (brother of Lil Hollins), a young dance-hall girl, gets involved with a gang of crooks, led by Michael Rush. He double-crosses them on a safe-cracking job by stealing the loot ahead of the gang. Later, he is shot by a policeman and taken to a hospital. The gang kidnaps him from the hospital and takes him to their hideout to make him divulge where he hid the robbery money. They also kidnap a young doctor, Ralph Ingram, the sweetheart of his sister.
- DirectorDavid KirklandStarsHal TaliaferroBuzz BartonFred ChurchThis film and "Flying Lariats,1931" were filmed in a week on location in Sonora, California (interiors shot at Universal) with the exact same cast in both films. Both were produced (for Big 4) by a company named Hooper-Connell Corp.,Ltd, which was cameraman R.B. Hooper and brothers Robert and Charles T. Connell. Hooper shot both films, David Kirkland wrote and directed both and Charles T. Connell edited both, minus a credit line. Common mistakes regarding both films is that an elder actor named Joe Lawliss was in both (and billed as such) but some source has evidently decided Joe Lawliss didn't know how to spell his own name and has incorrectly changed it to Joe Lawless. Some source also thinks that the Don Wilson credited in both films is the same Don Wilson that was the announcer on the Jack Benny radio and television programs. He ain't. Etta Delmas is in both films (same cast in both) but some source has decided that her role in "Flying Lariats" was played by an actress that doesn't exist named Etta Dalsing. Well, she didn't exist until said source created her. The plot of "Riders of the Cactus" must have taken four of the seven shooting days as it is more involved than the one in "Flying Lariats." This one revolves around an old Latin parchment which holds the secret to the location of a buried Spanish treasure. American tourist Josie Casey and her Aunt Sarah come into possession of the document, but transposing Latin is neither's strong suit, which need not be meant to imply that acting was. But Jake McKeever/Jake Wenzel does and intends to acquire it. He has his wife Pearl (Tete Brady), bar girl wearing a one-piece bathing suit or corset or something but making whatever it is look really good, distract Border Patrolman Bob Bronson while Jake gets the document from the Caseys. Jake and his gang head for the Sonoran desert. They are followed by a prospector leading a blanket-covered mule train. Jake and his men are a little miffed when Border Patrolmen and Mexican Rurales come out from under the blankets. There were several of these Hopper-McConnell westerns shot over a short period of time, and a few of them appear like they mixed up some reels in the editing process, as character names and situations sometimes change in a New York minute. But that doesn't account for the Joe Lawless/Etta Delsing/Don Wilson errors. Those have been created in the past few years.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsJohn LongdenJane WelshJerry VernoA murderer is out for revenge on those who gave evidence against him.
- DirectorStuart PatonStarsCharles DelaneyVera ReynoldsCarroll NyeSan Francisco newspaper reporter Jimmy Gray turns detective to bring the killer of the brother of his sweetheart, Ellen Garwood, to justice. His city editor is so confident that he will that he 'holds the presses", and then puts a stuttering man on the re-write-desk telephone.
- DirectorVin MooreStarsRobert ArmstrongJean ArthurJason Robards Sr.A man gets in trouble with his girlfriend when a beautiful movie star and her fiance come to his small town.The one review says the film is not lost. The film does have many ratings, may be so, although I haven't seen it.
- DirectorLawrence C. WindomStarsMary NolanJohnnie WalkerLou TellegenThe Lady cop Florence Vinton goes undercover to get the goods on rival gangsters Eddie Swan and Larry Marsh. Just at the point in which Florence looks like she's going to be rubbed out, Swan and Marsh shoot each other down.
- DirectorLawrence C. WindomStarsMary NolanJohnnie WalkerLou TellegenThe Lady cop Florence Vinton goes undercover to get the goods on rival gangsters Eddie Swan and Larry Marsh. Just at the point in which Florence looks like she's going to be rubbed out, Swan and Marsh shoot each other down.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsMargaret SchillingPaul GregoryTom PatricolaWhile picking apples in her father's orchard, Molly Standing and her girl friend, Gertie, meet Tommy Melville and Gus Schultz. Molly and Tommy fall in love, as do Gus and Gertie. Wealthy art patrons Gerald Winters and his mother hear Molly sing, and attracted by her beauty, Gerald urges his mother to sponsor her studies abroad. Molly has just become engaged to Tommy and is reluctant to accept, but needing the money to replace a payroll stolen from her drunken father, she accepts. Eighteen months later, Molly is given the chance to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where she is a great success. Tommy attends the reception and realizing how far apart they have grown, breaks their engagement. Shortly after, Molly's engagement to Gerald is announced. When Molly's health fails, family physician Dr. Joe Thompson takes her for a ride through the apple orchards, where she relives her happy memories of Tommy. By chance, she meets Tommy there and decides to give up her career to marry him. The doctor explains to her manager that Molly has lost her voice and will no longer be able to sing, except perhaps, a lullaby.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsClara Kimball YoungMarian NixonPaul PageDaisy Bowman runs a boarding house in New York City and becomes romantically involved with new boarder Jake. Among the other boarders are shopgirl Betty and her taxi-driver fiance Eddie. Eddie is framed for murder by a gangster and sent to prison. He keeps the fact of his arrest secret from Betty, who believes he has left her. Jake makes a play for Betty, which makes Daisy jealous. Jake and Daisy quarrel and he is about to strangle her when her young blind son shoots and kills him. Pete, another gangster, gets Betty drunk. He wants to spend the night with her and, when Daisy tries to prevent him, he threatens to tell the police who really killed Jake. Meanwhile, Eddie has been released from jail, and when he returns to find Betty drunk with Pete, he is disgusted. Jake's brother, thinking that Eddie murdered Jake, tries to shoot him, but Daisy tells him that Pete killed his brother. The brother kills Pete, then dies shortly afterward of a wound inflicted by Pete. With her son in the clear, Daisy helps Eddie and Betty reunite.
- DirectorNoel M. SmithStarsRichard TalmadgeBlanche MehaffeyRobert EllisA fisherman on Catalna Island tries to break into "society" and winds up helping a rich young girl mixed up with kidnappers.