Noel Francis
Noel Francis was born in Temple, Texas in 1906. By age 20 she was appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies, working opposite the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. Eventually Fox scouts noticed her and in 1929 she was signed to a Hollywood contract. Because of her Follies background, Fox intended to develop Noel as a musical and dance star. Unfortunately, musicals were on the wane at the time (they did rebound) and her contract was dropped. Luckily, she was picked up by Warner Brothers, and featured in a number of films that had her portraying the tough talking, sassy female connected to gangsters, convicts, and other underworld types, so popular with the movie going public then and now. Noel was rarely given the lead female role, though she worked near the top with some of the era's best actors in films that included Smart Money (1931), in which she is a scheming blonde helping Edward G. Robinson lose his money, and Blonde Crazy (1931), where her target is James Cagney. Her most noted performance was in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), working with Paul Muni in one of his strongest performances. However, perhaps because of being typecast, she found herself in "B" productions after 1932, though one was as the lead female, in Mayfair Picture Corporation's 1934 What's Your Racket?, opposite Regis Toomey. Needing work, Noel returned to Broadway, but couldn't resume her career there, and returned to Hollywood to make three final films with Buck Jones, including Stone of ...
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang. (more)
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang. (more)
Imitation of Life (1934)
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way. (more)
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way. (more)
Smart Money (1931)
Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events. (more)
Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events. (more)
Smart Woman (1931)
A society man's loving, devoted wife, upon learning that he has been unfaithful and is planning to leave her for the other woman, strategically pretends to be having an affair of her own. The woman's friends gladly assist in the deception. (more)
A society man's loving, devoted wife, upon learning that he has been unfaithful and is planning to leave her for the other woman, strategically pretends to be having an affair of her own. The woman's friends gladly assist in the deception. (more)
Night Court (1932)
A corrupt night court judge tears an innocent young family apart in his efforts to elude a special prosecutor. (more)
A corrupt night court judge tears an innocent young family apart in his efforts to elude a special prosecutor. (more)
The White Cockatoo (1935)
In a spooky hotel on the coast of France, two bands of crooks are working independently of the other in an attempt to steal the inherited fortune of an American girl, Sue Tally. Along the way the heiress is kidnapped, three murders are committed, a girl appears in ... (more)
In a spooky hotel on the coast of France, two bands of crooks are working independently of the other in an attempt to steal the inherited fortune of an American girl, Sue Tally. Along the way the heiress is kidnapped, three murders are committed, a girl appears in ... (more)
Bachelor Apartment (1931)
A New York playboy, Wayne Carter, dates wild women until he falls for a hard-working stenographer, Helene Andrews. (more)
A New York playboy, Wayne Carter, dates wild women until he falls for a hard-working stenographer, Helene Andrews. (more)
Left-Handed Law (1937)
An army colonel tries to bring peace to a lawless community. (more)
An army colonel tries to bring peace to a lawless community. (more)
Stone of Silver Creek (1935)
In perhaps the most tranquil B-Western of the 1930s, Buck Jones, who also produced, plays the tough but goodhearted proprietor of the Bonanza, the only gambling establishment in otherwise God-fearing Silver Creek. Noel Francis, who used to play blonde schemers in ... (more)
In perhaps the most tranquil B-Western of the 1930s, Buck Jones, who also produced, plays the tough but goodhearted proprietor of the Bonanza, the only gambling establishment in otherwise God-fearing Silver Creek. Noel Francis, who used to play blonde schemers in ... (more)
Strictly Dynamite (1934)
A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian. (more)
A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian. (more)
Good Dame (1934)
A chorus girl gets stranded in a small midwestern town. Against her better judgement, she hooks up with a smooth-talking con artist who says he can help her get out of town. (more)
A chorus girl gets stranded in a small midwestern town. Against her better judgement, she hooks up with a smooth-talking con artist who says he can help her get out of town. (more)
The Expert (1932)
An elderly gentleman arrives for an extended stay with his grown son in Chicago. (more)
An elderly gentleman arrives for an extended stay with his grown son in Chicago. (more)
Mutiny Ahead (1935)
A wealthy playboy winds up getting himself involved with mobsters and a search for buried treasure. (more)
A wealthy playboy winds up getting himself involved with mobsters and a search for buried treasure. (more)
New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930)
Minimum plot. Maximum stars of early cinema. Rich young Conrad Sterling (William Collier Jr.) is in love with struggling actress Mary Mason (Miriam Seeger). To prove his love, he hires Mary and the entire company of the show in which she is appearing to entertain ... (more)
Minimum plot. Maximum stars of early cinema. Rich young Conrad Sterling (William Collier Jr.) is in love with struggling actress Mary Mason (Miriam Seeger). To prove his love, he hires Mary and the entire company of the show in which she is appearing to entertain ... (more)
Son of a Sailor (1933)
A lovesick fool bumbles into espionage and finds a stolen plane. (more)
A lovesick fool bumbles into espionage and finds a stolen plane. (more)
The Loudspeaker (1934)
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. (more)
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. (more)
Manhattan Tower (1932)
The lives of the residents of a Manhattan apartment building are intertwined with the actions of a crooked investor. (more)
The lives of the residents of a Manhattan apartment building are intertwined with the actions of a crooked investor. (more)
Blood Money (1933)
The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey, who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals. (more)
The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey, who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals. (more)
Only Yesterday (1933)
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young business man is about to commit suicide. With the note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices a thick envelope addressed to him at the desk. As he begin to read, we're taken back to the ... (more)
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young business man is about to commit suicide. With the note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices a thick envelope addressed to him at the desk. As he begin to read, we're taken back to the ... (more)
Under-Cover Man (1932)
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to find the killers, and maybe even stop a crime ring that has been plaguing the police. The sister of another innocent victim joins him as they infiltrate the syndicate ... (more)
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to find the killers, and maybe even stop a crime ring that has been plaguing the police. The sister of another innocent victim joins him as they infiltrate the syndicate ... (more)