Jack Conway
Directing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia He was born as Hugh Ryan Conway, on July 17, 1887, in Graceville, Minnesota, US. Conway started out as an actor, joining a repertory theater group straight out of high school. He then moved into films and, in 1911, became a member of D.W. Griffith's stock company, appearing primarily in westerns. Four years later, he made his mark as a director and gained valuable experience at Universal (1916–17 and 1921–23), before moving on to MGM in 1925. He remained there until 1948, often helming prestige assignments featuring the studio's top male star, Clark Gable: Boom Town (1940), Honky Tonk (1941), The Hucksters (1947) – all solid box office hits. Conway was one of a team of MGM contract directors, who forsook any pretense to a specific individual style in favor of working within the strictures set forth by studio management. A thoroughly competent craftsman, he delivered commercially successful entertainments, on time, and within budget. Conway may not have achieved fame as a creative genius, but the majority of his films remain eminently entertaining to this day. In his most famous film, A Tale of Two Cities (1935), he utilized 17,000 extras for the Paris mob scenes alone. This spectacular adaptation of the Dickens classic is still regarded by many as the definitive screen version. Another popular hit was the sophisticated all-star comedy Libeled Lady (1936), with the New York Times reviewer commenting on Conway's "agile direction". Conway also directed Viva Villa!, a hit MGM film starring Wallace Beery that was nominated for four Academy Awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jack Conway (filmmaker), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
The Birth of a Nation
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Lil works for the Legendre Company and causes Bill to divorce Irene and marry her. She has an affair with businessman Gaerste and uses him to force society to pay attention to her.
Red-Headed Woman
A war widow falls in love with the man who informed her of her husband's death.
Desire Me
Set against the conditions leading up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, French doctor Alexandre Manette serves an 18-year imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, followed by his release to live in London with the daughter he has never met.
A Tale of Two Cities
Life in a small Chinese village is turned upside down when the Japanese invade it. A heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against the Japanese invaders.
Dragon Seed
Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity.
Love Crazy
When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.
Libeled Lady
A horse breeder's granddaughter falls in love with a gambler in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Saratoga
A charming and very daring thief known as Arsene Lupin is terrorizing the wealthy of Paris. He even goes so far as to threaten the Mona Lisa. But the police, led by the great Guerchard, think they know Arsene Lupin's identity, and they have a secret weapon to catch him.
Arsène Lupin
While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.
Too Hot to Handle
Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
Honky Tonk
A French diplomat who's recovered from amnesia is blackmailed over crimes he can't remember.
Crossroads
After his plane is downed in the South Pacific, a Navy flier recounts his life to a co-pilot while awaiting rescue.
High Barbaree
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.
Boom Town
A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.
The Hucksters
A Harvard man fights a railroad baron with a disguise and the power of the press.
Let Freedom Ring
Julia and William were married and soon separated by his snobbish family. They meet again many years later, when their daughter he has raised invites her mother to her wedding, with the disapproval of William's mother.
Julia Misbehaves
Mary wants to marry a gangster because that is where the money is. Unfortunately, the life expectancy and finances of a gangster are unstable.
The Gay Bride
In her first Talkie, Joan Crawford plays Bingo, a jungle-raised oil heiress, who turns Manhattan upside down in her hunt for Andy McAllister, the man of her dreams. Unfortunately for Bingo, Andy is penniless and refuses to agree to the match until he can provide for the wild, rich girl. Andy's prideful position is more than encouraged by Bingo's Uncle Ben, who seeks to scuttle their love match.