Movies about Movies
When filmmakers take a look at themselves
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- DirectorJames WilliamsonStarsSam DaltonA man, objecting to being filmed, comes closer and closer to the camera lens until his mouth is all we see. Then he opens wide and swallows camera and cinematographer. He steps back, chews, and grins.
- DirectorRobert W. PaulA satire on the way that audiences unaccustomed to the cinema didn't know how to react to the moving images on a screen - in this film, an unsophisticated (and stereotypical) country yokel is alternately baffled and terrified, in the latter case by the apparent approach of a steam train
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsCharles ManleyCountry rube thinks what he sees on the movie screen is real. He jumps out of his seat to try to stop a kissing scene.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLinda ArvidsonJohn R. CumpsonFlora FinchSet in an early cinema house, this comic short illustrates the problems with the gals' hats obscuring the movie patron's line of vision.
- DirectorWladyslaw StarewiczMr Beetle seeks companionship from a statuesque dragonfly dancer, unaware that her ex-boyfriend, a slender grasshopper and an industrious cameraman, watches their every move. Will Mrs Beetle forgive him? Will he get away with adultery?
- DirectorLawrence MarstonEdwin ThanhouserStarsWilliam GarwoodMarie ElineFlorence La BadieA messenger boy is wrongfully accused of stealing bonds worth $20,000.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinRoscoe 'Fatty' ArbuckleChester ConklinCharlie is an actor in a film studio. He messes up several scenes and is tossed out. Returning dressed as a lady, he charms the director. Even so, Charlie never makes it into film, winding up at the bottom of a well.
- DirectorGeorge NicholsStarsCharles ChaplinRoscoe 'Fatty' ArbucklePeggy PearceCharlie attempts to meet his favorite movie actress at the Keystone Studio, but does not win friends there.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinBilly ArmstrongAgnes AyresCharlie is trying to get a job in a movie. After causing difficulty on the set, he is told to help the carpenter. When one of the actors doesn't show, Charlie is given a chance to act but instead enters a dice game. When he does finally act, he ruins the scene, wrecks the set, and tears the skirt from the star.
- DirectorHal RoachStarsHarold LloydBebe Daniels'Snub' PollardLonesome Luke has a movie theater and also works the box office and as an usher. He has to put up with, among other things, an incompetent projectionist who falls asleep all the time. Complications ensue.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceEric CampbellCharlie is an overworked labourer at a film studio who helps a young woman find work even while his coworkers strike against his tyrannical boss.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsRobert WarwickDoris KenyonJune ElvidgeA restless young girl yearns to leave her rural environment and "get away from it all." One day she stumbles upon a film crew shooting a Western near her home. She makes friends with the film's leading man, who encourages her to try her luck as an actress, so she leaves her small town and goes to the big city to break into the picture business. However, things don't turn out quite the way she planned.
- DirectorRupert HughesStarsEleanor BoardmanMae BuschBarbara La MarrA young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
- DirectorF. Richard JonesStarsMabel NormandRalph GravesGeorge NicholsA small town girl dreams of movie stardom. A switched photo wins her a movie contract. However, when she arrives Hollywood, she is assigned to the props department. Her parents visit and invest some money with a very shifty individual.
- DirectorOtto MessmerA starving actor, reduced to trying his luck in the movies, travels to Hollywood. His cat, Felix, poses as a travel bag and comes along.
- DirectorYuri ZhelyabuzhskyStarsYuliya SolntsevaIgor IlyinskyAnna DmokhovskayaAs she works in her tedious office job, Maria Ivanovna dreams about being married, and she has particular hopes that her co-worker Nikodim Mityushin will take an interest in her. Nikodim, though, is in love with Zina, who sells cigarettes on the sidewalk, and he frequently buys cigarettes from her even though he does not smoke. One day, a film crew uses Zina as an extra in an outdoor scene, and the cameraman, Latugin, falls in love with her. Latugin soon arranges an acting job for Zina. To complicate matters further, Zina has yet another admirer in Oliver MacBride, an American businessman who is visiting Moscow.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsHope DrownLuke CosgraveGeorge K. ArthurAngela comes to Hollywood with only two things: her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves Grandma, an aunt, her brother, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend, and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed.
- DirectorRoscoe 'Fatty' ArbuckleStarsLloyd HamiltonMarcella DalyArthur ThalassoAlthough his parents have warned him to stay away from the movies, our hero winds up acting in a costume picture, doubling for comedian Lloyd Hamilton.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireJoe KeatonA film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsColleen MooreLloyd HughesVera LewisElla Cinders, oppressed and abused by her stepmother and stepsisters, wins a contest for a film role in Hollywood. When the contest turns out to be fraudulent, she determines to stay and achieve Hollywood stardom the hard way.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarceline DayHarold GoodwinHopelessly in love with a woman working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man attempts to become a motion-picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.
- DirectorRobert FloreySlavko VorkapichStarsJules RaucourtVoya GeorgeRobert FloreyA would-be movie star experiences the surreal horrors of dehumanization at the bottom of Hollywood's social ladder as his hopes for success vanish and his identity is reduced to a number.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsEvelyn BrentWilliam PowellA former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsMarion DaviesWilliam HainesDell HendersonA young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.
- DirectorEusebio Fernández ArdavínNemesio M. SobrevilaStarsMaría AnayaRicardo BarojaFaustino BretañoTwo couples are having problems. To be happily married, they need to overcome the problems. One of them is an optimist, and his friend is pessimist. The philosopher Camus, surrealistic movie-maker, should awaken in friends a sixth sense.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickStarsBuster KeatonAnita PageTrixie FriganzaA bumbling manager tries to get a small town beauty contest winner into the movies.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsAlice WhiteJack MulhallBlanche Sweet'Rainbow Girls' has just opened and closed on Broadway when Dixie, a actress in it, runs into smooth-talking Hollywood Director Frank Buelow. He tells her she would be a natural and promises her a movie contract, so she goes to Hollywood, but there is no contract for her. She meets washed-up actress Donny (Blanche Sweet) on the lot and they become friends. Frank is fired from his studio and the new director finds that Frank's storyline is actually a copy of 'Rainbow Girls,' the Broadway stage play. They call Jimmy, the author and Dixie's boyfriend, for the rights and he goes to Hollywood to produce it as a movie. Dixie gets the lead, but things start going wrong when dizzy Dixie, spurred on by the fired Director Buelow, thinks that she is better than the picture or the studio and starts to make demands. Interesting note: Good look at early Hollywood, with cameos by Loretta Young, Walter Pigeon, Noah Beery and a young Noah Beery, Jr. make the film fun to watch.
- DirectorRoscoe 'Fatty' ArbuckleStarsLouise BrooksJack ShuttaWilliam B. DavidsonA driver on a non-stop race from New York to San Francisco gets detoured to Hollywood, where he winds up working as a publicity man for a movie studio and assigned to revive the career of a beautiful but fading star.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsConstance BennettLowell ShermanNeil HamiltonThe career of a waitress takes off when she meets an amiable drunken Hollywood director.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsGustav FröhlichAnny AhlersLien DeyersDie verliebte Firma was Max Ophüls' first feature film. The story follows a movie crew who is filming a musical in a small and idyllic alpine village. After their temperamental leading lady drops out of the film, they decide to replace her with the village's young post office clerk Gretl, who returns to Berlin with them. There she has to struggle with the movie's all-male crew, who all try to woo and win her.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanHarold LloydStarsHarold LloydConstance CummingsKenneth ThomsonAfter a mix-up with his application photograph, an aspiring actor is invited to a test screening and goes off to Hollywood.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsJean HarlowLee TracyFrank MorganA glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsJames CagneyMae ClarkeMargaret LindsayA former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsMarion DaviesBing CrosbyFifi D'OrsayA love-struck teacher pursues a radio singer to Hollywood.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsKatharine HepburnGinger RogersAdolphe MenjouA chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsIsa MirandaMemo BenassiTatyana PavlovaGaby is expelled from school after a married teacher commits suicide after telling her he can't live without her. Though she has done nothing, she is punished for his act.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanJack ConwayVictor FlemingStarsJanet GaynorFredric MarchAdolphe MenjouYoung Esther Victoria Blodgett comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom and achieves them only with the help of alcoholic leading man Norman Maine, whose best days are behind him.
- DirectorEwing ScottGeorge ShermanStarsGeorge O'BrienCecilia ParkerMaude EburneJust after Kramer goes to Wyoming to start his protection racket, cowboy actor Jeff Carson finishes a picture and goes camping. Attracted to Joyce Butler, he hires on at her ranch and quickly gets caught up in Butler's conflict with Kramer. When the Butlers refuse to buy his service, he has their cattle stampeded.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLeslie HowardHumphrey BogartJoan BlondellA New York bank plans to sell a Hollywood studio at a big loss. But the head accountant is suspicious and goes to investigate. He finds chicanery, romance, and help to save the studio.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienMarie WilsonTwo screenwriters in a rut come up with a story idea starring a bankable cowboy and the baby of the studio's waitress.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsFernandelOrane DemazisFernand CharpinMeeting a movie team on location near his house, a young man gets a lot of encouragement for his dreaming career as a movie star in what was only sarcasm from the members of the team. This is the characteristic of a schpountz: someone who sees himself as a born movie comedian and is blind on the critics to his dream. After he has signed a fake contract which he blindly takes as genuine even if it is ridiculous, he goes to Paris without money to make his career.
- DirectorJack KingStarsDonald BarrySara BernerBilly BletcherAutograph hound Donald, despite the security guard, manages to get signatures from Greta Garbo, 'Mickey Rooney', Sonja Henie, The Ritz Brothers, and Shirley Temple before he's recognized and everyone wants his autograph.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
- DirectorS. Sylvan SimonStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloFrances RaffertyWhen two bumbling barbers act as agents for a talented but unknown singer, they stage a phony murder in order to get him a plum role.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsHumphrey BogartGloria GrahameFrank LovejoyA potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
- DirectorMelvin FrankNorman PanamaStarsFred MacMurrayDorothy McGuireHoward KeelTwo marketing professionals hire a lookalike of classic Western actor Smoky Callaway to impersonate the actor and make new films, but things go awry when the real Callaway, thought long missing, returns.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsBette DavisSterling HaydenNatalie WoodA washed-up movie queen finds romance, but still desires a comeback.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsAnna MagnaniWalter ChiariTina ApicellaA woman from the lower class desperately tries to get her daughter into the movies.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsLucia BosèGino CerviAndrea ChecchiA new starlet is discovered and has ups and downs in Italian films.
- DirectorLorenzo Llobet GraciaStarsFernando Fernán GómezMaría Dolores PraderaIsabel de PomésHis director's only film, Vida en Sombras tells the story of a man who from his childhood falls in love with cinema and grows to be a director and cameraman. While struggling to make pictures he gets married and is seriously struck by the Spanish Civil War. Life events with lights and shadows mix with a deep love for movies which will prevail in the end.
- DirectorCharles CrichtonStarsDavid NivenPeggy CumminsAnne VernonRex Allerton is a top Hollywood star and an idol of the female population. To get away from the pressure of the fans who won't leave him alone, he relocates to a remote Italian village where unanticipated trouble arises when unwittingly he becomes the prize for an international lottery.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsHumphrey BogartAva GardnerEdmond O'BrienThis is the life of a Hollywood movie star named Maria, as told by writer/director Harry Dawes, from being discovered in Madrid, Spain, until her funeral in Italy.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy GarlandJames MasonJack CarsonIn George Cukor's remake, fading matinee idol Norman Maine helps young singer and actress Esther Blodgett find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceIda LupinoWendell CoreyHollywood actor Charles Castle is pressured by his studio boss into a criminal cover-up to protect his valuable career.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloFred ClarkHarry and Willie buy the Edison Movie Studio in the year 1912 from Joseph Gorman, a confidence man. They follow Gorman to Hollywood where, as stunt men, they find him directing movies as Sergei Trumanoff and stealing the studio payroll.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsAudrey HepburnFred AstaireKay ThompsonAn impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsKim StanleyLloyd BridgesSteven HillA woman adored by the people around her ultimately struggles to be happy with herself.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorGuru DuttStarsWaheeda RehmanGuru DuttKumari NaazSuresh Sinha, a famous director, discovers star potential in Shanti, a woman he stumbled into one rainy evening, and casts her as the lead in a film. In a twist of fate, Shanti becomes a superstar and Suresh faces a decline in his career.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsKenne DuncanDuke MooreJean FontaineA flunky for a porno movie ring starts murdering the smut films' lead actresses.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
- DirectorRoger LeenhardtStarsLilli PalmerMichel AuclairRobert LombardA woman becomes distressed by the resemblance between the plot of a film and the reality of her own life. But what is reality - life or film?
- DirectorDino RisiStarsAlberto SordiLea MassariFranco FabriziSilvio refuses to fight for the fascists and joins the resistance with Elena. After the war, his vitriolic newspaper articles cause him to be sentenced to imprisonment.
- DirectorJerry LewisStarsJerry LewisBrian DonlevyHoward McNearA goofy paperhanger is hired to root out a financial inefficiency on a Hollywood studio lot, wreaking havoc as he goes.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsKirk DouglasEdward G. RobinsonCyd CharisseAfter spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisJoan CrawfordVictor BuonoA former vaudeville child star torments her paraplegic sister, who eclipsed her as a movie star, in their decaying Hollywood mansion while desperately clinging to hopes of a comeback.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardUgo GregorettiPier Paolo PasoliniStarsRosanna SchiaffinoBruce BalabanMaria Pia SchiaffinoFour short films by four different directors dealing with the principles of modern life."segment La ricotta"
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBrigitte BardotJack PalanceMichel PiccoliA French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsShôichi OzawaSumiko SakamotoKeiko SagawaWhile avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions.