Ernest Vajda
Writing
Biography
Hungarian screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and actor.
Known For

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.
Marie Antoinette

When easterner Jack Steel gets into trouble with the law again, his father sends him to his ranch out west. There he and Alice Duncan become attracted to each other. Cowhand Slim was planning to marry Alice and now kidnaps her. When Slim's girl friend learns of Slim's interest in Alice, she tells Jack where Alice is and he heads out alone to face the three kidnapers.
Manhattan Cowboy

Bank clerk William Marble is desperate for money to pay his family's bills. When his wealthy nephew visits, Marble asks him for a loan, but the young man refuses. Marble decides to kill his nephew. It is a twisted path to justice after Marble is transformed by the crime he committed and the wealth he gains.
Payment Deferred

Raymond Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. He convinces the sheriff to give him a job watching the house and furniture of widow Crystal Wetherby without knowing she is engaged to his brother.
Personal Property

Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.
Queen Christina

A defiant young woman struggles against the norms and morals established by Victorian society and enforced by her autocratic father.
A Woman Rebels

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country.
The Merry Widow

Remarkable poet Elizabeth Barrett is slowly recovering from a crippling illness with the help of her siblings, especially her youngest sister, Henrietta, but feels stifled by the domestic tyranny of her wealthy widowed father. When she meets fellow poet Robert Browning in a romantic first encounter, her heart belongs to him. However, her controlling father has no intention of allowing her out of his sight.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Monsieur Albert is a very elegant and much-appreciated butler. One day he falls in love with a client, Sylvia Robertson, and follows her to a winter sports resort. Sylvia does not recognize him and imagines that he is related to a king who goes incognito.
Mister Albert

A young French soldier in World War I is overcome with guilt when he kills a German soldier who, like himself, is a musically gifted conscript, each having attended the same musical conservatory in France. The fact that the incident occurred in war does not assuage his guilt. He travels to Germany to meet the man's family.
Broken Lullaby

The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.
The Love Parade

An exiled archduke (John Barrymore) tries to renew romance with a former lover (Diana Wynyard) now wed to a psychiatrist (Frank Morgan).
Reunion in Vienna

A countess fleeing her husband mistakes a count for her hairdresser at a Monte Carlo casino.
Monte Carlo

An Austrian prince flees his homeland when the Nazis take over and settles in London. He meets a beautiful Austrian émigré who makes him realize his mistake in leaving. He makes a deal with the Nazis to return in exchange for some Austrian prisoners, but discovers that the Nazis are not to be trusted.
They Dare Not Love

An amorous lieutenant is forced to marry a socially awkward princess, though he tries to keep his violin-playing girlfriend on the side.
The Smiling Lieutenant

An Indian jewel merchant goes from penniless to wealthy in this story about gratitude.
Son of India

A film biography of the composer John Philip Sousa, from his early days in the Marine Corps Band through the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Stars and Stripes Forever

On the day of his wedding, Sir John Carteret's fiancée, Moonyeen, is killed by a jealous rival named Jeremy, leaving him emotionally devastated. Carteret spends three decades in seclusion, mostly communing with the spirit of Moonyeen, until he learns that her niece, Kathleen, has become an orphan. He adopts and raises the child as his own but is alarmed when, as a young woman, she falls in love with the son of Moonyeen's murderer.
Smilin' Through

An acclaimed actor and his equally acclaimed actress wife, who have been married for less than a year, are already showing signs of strain in their marriage. The actor believes his wife is capable of infidelity and sets out to prove this is so. Disguising himself as the kind of man he believes she fancies (a Russian military officer), the actor woos his wife while she believes her husband to be out of town.
The Guardsman

Rachel becomes the leading actress in the Comédie Française through the patronage of three influential men: Baron Hartman, the wealthiest man in France; Count Vareski, a relative of Napoleon; and Dr. Durande. All three men are in love with her, but she throws them over when she falls in love with Raoul Duval. A lost film.