Howard Hawks

Howard Hawks’s first sound picture. Barthelmess plays a cynical World War I pilot at odds with commanding officer Hamilton. When orders send Hamilton to a different outfit, Barthelmess assumes Hamilton’s position and struggles under the burden of command.

Howard Hawks’s second sound picture. A competent prison-reform drama that nevertheless feels like a work-for-hire job. Walter Huston’s electric as a former district attorney turned prison warden, and Boris Karloff maximizes his role as a grudge-bearing convict. But Phillips Holmes doesn’t register as the hard-luck protagonist. Ditto Constance Cummings as his love interest.

Paul Muni plays Tony Camonte, a low-level mafia hood who explains, “In this business there’s only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble: Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it.” The “it” in question is murder, and Tony does plenty as he shoots his way to the top of Chicago’s underworld.

James Cagney plays a hotshot race car driver whose ego can’t handle kid brother Eric Linden’s talent. Ann Dvorak plays Cagney’s long-suffering girlfriend. Joan Blondell plays Dvorak’s friend and Linden’s love-interest.

During World War I, a woman (Joan Crawford) pledges herself to her brother’s (Franchot Tone) friend (Robert Young) only to fall for a visiting American (Gary Cooper).

A manic director (John Barrymore) makes a star out of an actress (Carole Lombard) who deserts him for Hollywood, taking success with her.

A lumber tycoon (Edward Arnold) abandons a saloon girl (Frances Farmer) then rivals his son (Joel McCrea) for her daughter (Frances Farmer).

While trying to secure a rare bone and a one-million dollar grant for his museum, a paleontologist (Cary Grant) finds himself mixed up with an heiress (Katharine Hepburn) and her pet leopard, Baby.

Showgirl Jean Arthur finds herself stranded in a fog-bound South American port, where she encounters Cary Grant and his crew of flyers who risk their necks threading mail planes through a treacherous mountain pass.

His Girl Friday stands as the gold standard for dialog-driven movies.

Based on the true story of Alvin York (Gary Cooper), a hillbilly sharpshooter reluctant to fight in World War I because of his religion, who became the most decorated soldier in US history.

The crew of a B-17 flying fortress set out for Pearl Harbor on the eve of the United States’ entry into World War II.

In Martinique during World War II, a fishing boat captain (Humphrey Bogart) reluctantly aids the French resistance with the help of his alcoholic partner (Walter Brennan) and a sultry saloon singer (Lauren Bacall).

Private eye Bogart, hired to investigate a simple blackmail ploy, runs into a series of murders as he falls for Bacall, his client’s somewhat-bad-girl daughter who knows more than she’s letting on.

A desperate cattle drive forces a wedge between middle-aged cattle baron John Wayne and his young adopted son Montgomery Clift.

A singer (Virginia Mayo) hides out with an academic (Danny Kaye) who’s unaware of her mob connections.

In Germany, a French captain (Cary Grant) and American Lieutenant (Ann Sheridan) bicker and eventually fall in love and marry, only to face complications when she has to return to America.

A group of scientists and Air Force servicemen find themselves targeted by a vampiric alien organism at a remote Arctic outpost.

The Big Sky is a sprawling western-adventure from director Howard Hawks, featuring some great location photography and a star-making performance from Kirk Douglas.

Cary Grant plays a scientist who discovers a formula that makes him and his wife, played by Ginger Rogers, act like teenagers.

Two showgirls (Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe) look for eligible bachelors on a transatlantic cruise to Paris.

Texas sheriff John Wayne holds a powerful cattle baron’s no-good brother for murder with only drunken deputy Dean Martin and cantankerous jailer Walter Brennan for support.

A gunfighter (John Wayne) and a half-Indian gambler (James Caan) sober up a sheriff (Robert Mitchum) and take on a corrupt rancher (Edward Asner).

A Civil War colonel (John Wayne) tracks down stolen gold, and helps a group of townsfolk stand up to a corrupt sheriff.

Most remakes disappoint. Scarface proves an exception. It reimagines Howard Hawks’ 1932 gangster picture as a contemporary psycho-sexual thriller with terrific results.