Bartlett Cormack
Encyclopedia
Edward Bartlett Cormack was an American
actor
, playwright
, screenwriter
, and producer
best known for his 1927 Broadway play The Racket, and for working with Howard Hughes
and Cecil B. DeMille
on several films.
to Chicago
, Illinois
where his father worked in sales. He graduated from University High School, and was accepted at the University of Chicago
. While a Sophomore, Cormack wrote the play Anybody's Girl, considered to be one of the best ever submitted for the Blackfriars (the student dramatic organization). Cormack became a member of Maurice Browne's Little Theatre Company in Chicago, but his duties as a general handyman were so demanding he was dismissed from the University as a result of poor class attendance.
To gain experience as a writer, he got a job at The Chicago Evening Journal
and stayed there a year, covering "hangings, race riots, street car strikes and other diversions characteristic of Mayor Thompson's
turbulent town". He left the Chicago Evening Journal for The American, working there five years before applying for reinstatement at the University of Chicago. He wrote two more college plays and became engaged, graduating two years later with honors and as a Phi Beta Kappa
. He returned to The American, where he wrote features and dramatic criticism.
In 1923, he married Adelaide Maurine Bledsoe (1901–1999), the daughter of Samuel T. Bledsoe
, who was a president and board chairman of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. They would have a son, Thomas Bledsoe Cormack, and a daughter, Adelaide Kilbee Cormack. Soon after the wedding, he accepted a position as a press agent for a theater production and the couple moved to New York City.
, Cormack's most influential work was his 1927 Broadway play The Racket, which featured Edward G. Robinson
in his first gangster role. The Racket was an exposé of political corruption in the 1920s, and was considered one of the models for the Hollywood gangster cycle of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The events take place over a period of about 18 hours in a police station on the outskirts of Chicago, and features wisecracking crime reporters who dash to the telephone and holler, "Get me the desk!" Writing in The Miami News
on December 24, 1927, O. O. McIntyre said Bartlett Cormack was "the only playwright who has made the reporter real on the stage." The play was considered so inflammatory that it was denied a presentation in Chicago, allegedly at the orders of Al Capone
; the ban remained in effect for nearly two decades.
Cormack shared writing credit for the play Tampico with Joseph Hergesheimer
, who wrote the novel of the same name in 1926. The play was produced on Broadway in 1928 with Ilka Chase
and Gavin Gordon in the cast. MGM acquired the screen rights to the play in 1930.
Cormack later wrote Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy whose setting was a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey on January 21, 1937 with Lucille Ball
as Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead." The play received good reviews, but there were problems, chiefly with its star, Conway Tearle
, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but the producer, Anne Nichols
, said the fault lay with the character and insisted that the part needed to be reshaped and rewritten. The two were unable to agree on a solution. The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre
, but closed after one week in Washington, D.C. when Tearle suddenly became gravely ill.
on the silent film version of The Racket, one of the first films nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Picture
(then called "Best Picture, Production") in 1929
.
He shared screenwriting credit with Rex Beach
for the 1930 film version of The Spoilers
. Beach based his 1906 novel on the true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which Beach had witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska
. The novel was adapted to the screen on five occasions; 1914
, 1923
, 1930
, 1942
, and 1955
.
Although Ben Hecht
was the author of the Broadway play The Front Page
, and was himself a screenwriter, Howard Hughes chose Cormack and Charles Lederer
to write the script for the 1931 film The Front Page
. At the 4th Academy Awards
, the film was nominated for Best Picture
, Best Director, and Best Actor
.
In 1933, he wrote the script for Cecil B. DeMille's
This Day and Age
, a film in which a group of High School students take the law into their own hands. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S. Birchard relates how DeMille wasn't sure Cormack's script had a sense of current slang
, so he asked high school student Horace Hahn
to read the script and comment (at the time, Hahn was senior class president at Los Angeles High School). Today we often laugh at the "Gee, that's swell" dialogue of early 1930s films but, according to Hahn at least, this was the way he and his fellow students talked. He wrote DeMille that the majority of the dialogue in Cormack's script was "really not typical of high school students. [It] Should be interspersed with a few exclamations like, 'heck' — 'gosh' — 'gee,' etc" Hahn also suggested that in Steve's speech about the murdered tailor the writer add: "Gosh, he was swell to us fellows." Despite seeking Hahn's advice, however, DeMille and Cormack did not take up his suggestions.
In 1935, he collaborated with screenwriter Fritz Lang
and story author Norman Krasna
on the anti-lynching film Fury, for which Krasna received an Academy Award
nomination for Best Writing, Original Story
.
Briefly relocating to England in 1938, Cormack helped write the screenplays for Sidewalks of London
, and the Charles Laughton
film Vessel of Wrath
(released in the United States as The Beachcomber). Cormack did some work on the script for the 1941 DeMille film Northwest Mounted Police, but did not receive credit.
One of Cormack's final screenwriting assignments was 1941's Unholy Partners
, which starred Edward G. Robinson
. Robinson acted in the original Broadway staging of The Racket, playing the part of an unidentified man.
The 1951 remake of The Racket
was directed by John Cromwell
. Cromwell was the star in the original Broadway staging of The Racket.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
best known for his 1927 Broadway play The Racket, and for working with Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
and Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
on several films.
Early life
Cormack was the son of Scottish-born Edward K. Cormack and Alice E. Cormack. By 1900 his family had moved from Hammond, IndianaHammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
where his father worked in sales. He graduated from University High School, and was accepted at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. While a Sophomore, Cormack wrote the play Anybody's Girl, considered to be one of the best ever submitted for the Blackfriars (the student dramatic organization). Cormack became a member of Maurice Browne's Little Theatre Company in Chicago, but his duties as a general handyman were so demanding he was dismissed from the University as a result of poor class attendance.
To gain experience as a writer, he got a job at The Chicago Evening Journal
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
and stayed there a year, covering "hangings, race riots, street car strikes and other diversions characteristic of Mayor Thompson's
William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson was Mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Thompson was the last Republican to serve as Mayor of Chicago, and ranks among the most unethical mayors in American history.Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Hale...
turbulent town". He left the Chicago Evening Journal for The American, working there five years before applying for reinstatement at the University of Chicago. He wrote two more college plays and became engaged, graduating two years later with honors and as a Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
. He returned to The American, where he wrote features and dramatic criticism.
In 1923, he married Adelaide Maurine Bledsoe (1901–1999), the daughter of Samuel T. Bledsoe
Samuel T. Bledsoe
Samuel T. Bledsoe was the sixteenth president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.- Early life and family :...
, who was a president and board chairman of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. They would have a son, Thomas Bledsoe Cormack, and a daughter, Adelaide Kilbee Cormack. Soon after the wedding, he accepted a position as a press agent for a theater production and the couple moved to New York City.
Stage career
As a playwrightPlaywright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, Cormack's most influential work was his 1927 Broadway play The Racket, which featured Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
in his first gangster role. The Racket was an exposé of political corruption in the 1920s, and was considered one of the models for the Hollywood gangster cycle of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The events take place over a period of about 18 hours in a police station on the outskirts of Chicago, and features wisecracking crime reporters who dash to the telephone and holler, "Get me the desk!" Writing in The Miami News
The Miami News
The Miami News was the dominant evening newspaper in Miami, Florida for most of the 20th century, its chief concurrent competitor being the morning-edition of The Miami Herald. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called The Miami Metropolis. The Metropolis had become a daily paper...
on December 24, 1927, O. O. McIntyre said Bartlett Cormack was "the only playwright who has made the reporter real on the stage." The play was considered so inflammatory that it was denied a presentation in Chicago, allegedly at the orders of Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
; the ban remained in effect for nearly two decades.
Cormack shared writing credit for the play Tampico with Joseph Hergesheimer
Joseph Hergesheimer
Joseph Hergesheimer was a prominent American writer of the early 20th century known for his naturalistic novels of decadent life amongst the very wealthy.-Biography:...
, who wrote the novel of the same name in 1926. The play was produced on Broadway in 1928 with Ilka Chase
Ilka Chase
Ilka Chase was an American actress and novelist.Born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France, she was the only child of Edna Woolman Chase, the editor in chief of Vogue magazine, and her first husband, Francis Dane Chase.Chase made...
and Gavin Gordon in the cast. MGM acquired the screen rights to the play in 1930.
Cormack later wrote Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy whose setting was a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey on January 21, 1937 with Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
as Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead." The play received good reviews, but there were problems, chiefly with its star, Conway Tearle
Conway Tearle
Conway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...
, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but the producer, Anne Nichols
Anne Nichols
Anne Nichols was an American playwright.Born in Dales Mill, Georgia, Nichols penned a number of Broadway plays, several of which were made into motion pictures...
, said the fault lay with the character and insisted that the part needed to be reshaped and rewritten. The two were unable to agree on a solution. The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre
Vanderbilt Theatre
The Vanderbilt Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre, designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for producer Lyle Andrews. It opened in 1918, located at 148 West 48th Street. The theatre was demolished in 1954....
, but closed after one week in Washington, D.C. when Tearle suddenly became gravely ill.
Film career
Moving to Beverly Hills in 1928, he worked with Howard HughesHoward Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
on the silent film version of The Racket, one of the first films nominated for the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
(then called "Best Picture, Production") in 1929
1st Academy Awards
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the...
.
He shared screenwriting credit with Rex Beach
Rex Beach
Rex Ellingwood Beach was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player.- Biography :...
for the 1930 film version of The Spoilers
The Spoilers (1930 film)
The Spoilers is a 1930 film directed by Edward Carewe and set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush. The film features Gary Cooper as Roy Glennister, Kay Johnson as Helen Chester, Betty Compson as Cherry Malotte, and William "Stage" Boyd as Alec MacNamara, and culminates in a spectacular...
. Beach based his 1906 novel on the true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which Beach had witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
. The novel was adapted to the screen on five occasions; 1914
The Spoilers (1914 film)
The Spoilers is a 1914 film directed by Colin Campbell. It is set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with William Farnum as Roy Glennister, Kathlyn Williams as Cherry Malotte, and Tom Santschi as Alex McNamara. The film culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight between Glennister and...
, 1923
The Spoilers (1923 film)
The Spoilers is a 1923 silent film directed by Lambert Hillyer. It is set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with Milton Sills as Roy Glennister, Anna Q. Nilsson as Cherry Malotte, and Noah Beery, Sr. as Alex McNamara. The film culminates in a saloon fistfight between Glennister and...
, 1930
The Spoilers (1930 film)
The Spoilers is a 1930 film directed by Edward Carewe and set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush. The film features Gary Cooper as Roy Glennister, Kay Johnson as Helen Chester, Betty Compson as Cherry Malotte, and William "Stage" Boyd as Alec MacNamara, and culminates in a spectacular...
, 1942
The Spoilers (1942 film)
The Spoilers is a 1942 film directed by Ray Enright. The movie is set in Nome, Alaska during the Nome Gold Rush, with Marlene Dietrich as Cherry Malotte, Randolph Scott as Alexander McNamara, and John Wayne as Roy Glennister, and culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight between McNamara and...
, and 1955
The Spoilers (1955 film)
The Spoilers is a 1955 film directed by Jesse Hibbs, adapted to sceen by Oscar Brodney and Charles Hoffman from the novel and play by Rex Beach. The movie is set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with Anne Baxter as Cherry Malotte, Jeff Chandler as Roy Glennister, and Rory Calhoun as...
.
Although Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
was the author of the Broadway play The Front Page
The Front Page
The Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
, and was himself a screenwriter, Howard Hughes chose Cormack and Charles Lederer
Charles Lederer
Charles Lederer was a prolific and well-connected American film writer and director of the 30s to the 60s, from a prominent theatrical family with close ties to the Hearst dynasty.-Early life:...
to write the script for the 1931 film The Front Page
The Front Page (1931 film)
The Front Page is a 1931 American comedy film, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien. Based on a Broadway play of the same name, the film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer, and distributed by United Artists. The...
. At the 4th Academy Awards
4th Academy Awards
The 4th Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened in 1930/1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the ceremony, nine-year-old Jackie Cooper, nominated for Best Actor in "Skippy," fell asleep on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler...
, the film was nominated for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director, and Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
.
In 1933, he wrote the script for Cecil B. DeMille's
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
This Day and Age
This Day and Age (film)
This Day and Age is a 1933 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is one of his rarest films and has not been released on DVD. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S...
, a film in which a group of High School students take the law into their own hands. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S. Birchard relates how DeMille wasn't sure Cormack's script had a sense of current slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
, so he asked high school student Horace Hahn
Horace Hahn
Horace L. Hahn was an American best known for working with Cecil B. DeMille on several films as a young man, including a supporting role in This Day and Age . He also served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, and assisted Justice Robert H...
to read the script and comment (at the time, Hahn was senior class president at Los Angeles High School). Today we often laugh at the "Gee, that's swell" dialogue of early 1930s films but, according to Hahn at least, this was the way he and his fellow students talked. He wrote DeMille that the majority of the dialogue in Cormack's script was "really not typical of high school students. [It] Should be interspersed with a few exclamations like, 'heck' — 'gosh' — 'gee,' etc" Hahn also suggested that in Steve's speech about the murdered tailor the writer add: "Gosh, he was swell to us fellows." Despite seeking Hahn's advice, however, DeMille and Cormack did not take up his suggestions.
In 1935, he collaborated with screenwriter Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
and story author Norman Krasna
Norman Krasna
Norman Krasna was an American screenwriter, playwright, and film director. He is best known for penning screwball comedies, melodrama, and early films noir. Krasna also directed three films during a forty-year career in Hollywood...
on the anti-lynching film Fury, for which Krasna received an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Best Writing, Original Story
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
Briefly relocating to England in 1938, Cormack helped write the screenplays for Sidewalks of London
Sidewalks of London
Sidewalks of London, also known as St. Martin's Lane, is a 1938 British, black-and-white, comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh. It also stars Ronald Shiner as the Barman...
, and the Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
film Vessel of Wrath
Vessel of Wrath (1938 film)
Vessel of Wrath is a 1938 British film directed by Erich Pommer.The film is also known as The Beachcomber in the USA.- Cast :*Charles Laughton*Elsa Lanchester*Robert Newton*Tyrone Guthrie*Eliot Makeham*Dolly Mollinger*D.A. Ward...
(released in the United States as The Beachcomber). Cormack did some work on the script for the 1941 DeMille film Northwest Mounted Police, but did not receive credit.
One of Cormack's final screenwriting assignments was 1941's Unholy Partners
Unholy Partners
Unholy Partners is a black-and-white film starring Edward G. Robinson, Laraine Day, Edward Arnold, and Marsha Hunt. The newspaper story was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Synopsis:...
, which starred Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
. Robinson acted in the original Broadway staging of The Racket, playing the part of an unidentified man.
The 1951 remake of The Racket
The Racket (1951 film)
The Racket is a 1951 remake of the the 1928 film The Racket. This film noir-style black-and-white film was directed by John Cromwell with uncredited directing help from Nicholas Ray and Mel Ferrer. The police crime drama is based on a popular Bartlett Cormack play. The Racket is a 1951 remake of...
was directed by John Cromwell
John Cromwell (director)
Elwood Dager Cromwell , known as John Cromwell, was an American film actor, director and producer.-Biography:...
. Cromwell was the star in the original Broadway staging of The Racket.
Stage plays
- 1922 Anybody's Girl
- 1927 The Racket
- 1928 Tampico
- 1930 The Painted Veil
- 1936 Hey Diddle Diddle
Screenplays
- 1928 The Racket
- 1929 Woman TrapWoman TrapWoman Trap is a 1929 American drama film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Evelyn Brent.- Cast :* Hal Skelly as Dan Malone* Chester Morris as Ray Malone* Evelyn Brent as Kitty Evans* William B. Davidson as Watts* Effie Ellsler as Mrs. Malone...
- 1929 The Greene Murder Case
- 1929 Gentlemen of the Press
- 1930 The SpoilersThe Spoilers (1930 film)The Spoilers is a 1930 film directed by Edward Carewe and set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush. The film features Gary Cooper as Roy Glennister, Kay Johnson as Helen Chester, Betty Compson as Cherry Malotte, and William "Stage" Boyd as Alec MacNamara, and culminates in a spectacular...
- 1930 The Laughing Lady
- 1928 The Benson Murder Case
- 1931 The Front PageThe Front Page (1931 film)The Front Page is a 1931 American comedy film, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien. Based on a Broadway play of the same name, the film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer, and distributed by United Artists. The...
- 1931 Kick InKick In (1931 film)Kick In is a 1931 talking film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film, based on the 1914 Broadway play by Willard Mack which had starred John Barrymore, was directed by Richard Wallace and starred legendary Clara Bow in her last film for Paramount. The...
- 1932 Thirteen WomenThirteen WomenThirteen Women is a psychological thriller film, produced by David O. Selznick and directed by George Archainbaud. It starred Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cortez, Florence Eldridge and Jill Esmond...
- 1932 The Phantom of CrestwoodThe Phantom of CrestwoodThe Phantom of Crestwood is a murder mystery film released by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by J. Walter Ruben, and starring Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Anita Louise, H. B. Warner, and Pauline Frederick...
- 1932 Is My Face Red?
- 1933 This Day and AgeThis Day and Age (film)This Day and Age is a 1933 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is one of his rarest films and has not been released on DVD. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S...
- 1934 The Trumpet BlowsThe Trumpet BlowsThe Trumpet Blows is a film directed by Stephen Roberts, featuring George Raft as a Mexican matador, Adolphe Menjou as a retired bandito clearly based on Pancho Villa, and Frances Drake as Chulita, the woman they both want to marry....
- 1934 Four Frightened PeopleFour Frightened PeopleFour Frightened People is a film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, and William Gargan.-Plot:...
- 1934 CleopatraCleopatra (1934 film)Cleopatra is a 1934 epic film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and distributed by Paramount Pictures, which retells the story of Cleopatra VII of Egypt....
- 1935 Orchids to You
- 1935 Fury
- 1935 Doubting Thomas
- 1938 Sidewalks of LondonSidewalks of LondonSidewalks of London, also known as St. Martin's Lane, is a 1938 British, black-and-white, comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh. It also stars Ronald Shiner as the Barman...
- 1938 Vessel of WrathVessel of Wrath (1938 film)Vessel of Wrath is a 1938 British film directed by Erich Pommer.The film is also known as The Beachcomber in the USA.- Cast :*Charles Laughton*Elsa Lanchester*Robert Newton*Tyrone Guthrie*Eliot Makeham*Dolly Mollinger*D.A. Ward...
- 1941 Unholy PartnersUnholy PartnersUnholy Partners is a black-and-white film starring Edward G. Robinson, Laraine Day, Edward Arnold, and Marsha Hunt. The newspaper story was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Synopsis:...
- 1951 The RacketThe Racket (1951 film)The Racket is a 1951 remake of the the 1928 film The Racket. This film noir-style black-and-white film was directed by John Cromwell with uncredited directing help from Nicholas Ray and Mel Ferrer. The police crime drama is based on a popular Bartlett Cormack play. The Racket is a 1951 remake of...
(1951, from 1928 screenplay)