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William Fox

William Fox

Production

Biography

Starting at the age 8 he had a series of jobs before starting his own business in 1900, which was sold to buy a Brooklyn nickelodeon in 1904. As the new owner with an empty house, Fox hired a coin manipulator and a barker to attract patrons into the dark 146-seat theatre. Once audiences adequately understood what moving pictures were, live acts were dispensed with. More nickelodeons were opened and he became a successful film exhibitor. He then won a long legal battle against Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Patent Company, ending the film trust and allowing him to start his own production company in 1913. Operations were consolidated into the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Theda Bara and Tom Mix starred in successful pictures made at the Fox Hollywood studios and the profits from them, and from the 1000 house Fox theatre chain, paid for "artistic" projects like Sunrise (1926), for awards and critical acclaim. In 1927, Fox acquired the American patent rights to the sound-on-film process developed by a Swiss firm. Fox pioneered the widescreen film with The Big Trail (1930). Poised for the future of talkies, he attempted to buy MGM just in time for 1929s stock market crash. In 1930 Fox was forced out of his company after a federal anti-trust investigation. His version is told in 1933 Upton Sinclair's book, 'Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox.' In 1936, a year after Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures merged with Fox Films, Fox bribed a judge during the liquidation of his holdings in bankruptcy proceedings. His sentence, a year in prison, began in 1941. Paroled in 1943, he was a pariah in Hollywood. Though secure from his many patent holdings, the industry for which he had been so visionary was closed to him. A virtual pariah at the time of his death, no industry representative came to eulogize at his funeral.

Known For

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
7.8

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927
There Were Thirteen
7.1

This is the Spanish-language version, with a different cast and crew, of the Charlie Chan film Charlie Chan Carries On, in which Charlie sets out to discover the killer of an American found dead in a London hotel room.

There Were Thirteen

1931
Young America
5.5

Mrs. Doray sits with a Juvenile Court Judge to learn more about problem children and what to do about them. One of the cases involves 13 year old Arthur, "the worst kid in town", who moves cars away from fiire-plugs without the knowledge of the owners. The judge gives Arthur and friend Nutty another chance. However they run into further trouble when they break into Mr. Doray's drugstore to get medicine for Nutty's grandmother. Mr. Doray is not sympathetic and completely against his wife's plan to become Arthur's guardian. More incidents occur with Mr. Doray quick to judge prior to getting all of the facts. Mrs. Doray must choose between her marriage and Arthur.

Young America

1932
Monte Cristo
6.5

A film adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The Abbe tells Edmond of a fantastic treasure hidden away on a tiny island, that only he knows the location of...

Monte Cristo

1922
7th Heaven
7.4

In 1910s Paris, a sewer worker disillusioned with Christianity feels his prayers have been answered when he chances upon a street waif and they fall in love.

7th Heaven

1927
The Iron Horse
6.7

Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.

The Iron Horse

1925
City Girl
7.5

A waitress from Chicago falls in love with a man from rural Minnesota and marries him, with the intent of living a better life - but life on the farm has its own challenges.

City Girl

1930
Wild Girl
6.2

Salomy Jane, a California mountain girl, is sought after by a number of men in the nearby small town of Redwood City. She is affected when two criminals are pursued by authorities: one for killing a hypocritical mayoral candidate, the other for robbing the stagecoach.

Wild Girl

1932
The Black Watch
5.9

Captain Donald King is sent to India to carry out a secret mission while the Black Watch, his regiment, leaves for France at the outbreak of the First World War.

The Black Watch

1929
Cradle Snatchers
3.8

To cure their flirtatious husbands of consorting with flappers, three wives-- Susan Martin, Ethel Drake, and Kitty Ladd-- arrange with three college boys-- Henry Winton, Oscar, and Joe Valley-- to flirt with them at a house party. Joe Valley, who poses as a hot-blooded Spaniard, is vamped by Ginsberg in female attire, and Oscar, a bashful Swede, uses caveman methods when aroused. During a rehearsal of the party, the three husbands arrive, followed by their flapper friends, leading to comic complications.

Cradle Snatchers

1927
David Harum
7.5

Rogers plays a small town banker in the 1890s whose chief rival is the deacon (Middleton) with whom he has traded horse flesh. Taylor is a bank teller who places a winning $4,500 bet on a 10-1 harness racing horse, making him Rogers' bank partner.

David Harum

1934
Quick Millions
7.3

A truck driver "too lazy to work and too nervous to steal" gets mixed up in racketeering. Naturally his underhanded business practices make him a pillar of the community.

Quick Millions

1931
Disorderly Conduct
8.0

When motorcycle cop Dick Fay gives a ticket to Phyllis Crawford, her father's graft-fed influence leads to his demotion to foot patrolman.

Disorderly Conduct

1932
Troubles of a Bride
8.0

Escaping from the police, The Baron, a gentleman crook, learns that Colonel Patterson, a wealthy banker, is remodeling his house as a surprise for his daughter, Mildred, who is about to be married to Robert Wallace. The Baron goes to the house, and, by impersonating the architect, discovers the location of the safe and also gains the confidence of Mildred, who is angry at Robert for kissing a vamp. Mildred arranges with The Baron to feign a kidnapping in order to test Robert's loyalty; but she soon regrets the deception, for The Baron, having burgled the Patterson safe, really does abduct her. Trapped on a runaway train, she is rescued by Robert just as it crashes into a deep river. Mildred forgives Robert for his indiscretion with the vamp, and The Baron is apprehended.

Troubles of a Bride

1924
The Spy
8.0

Sweethearts pitted against lovers, wives against husbands, sons against mothers, in a frantic struggle to escape the clutch and claw of the 'Tcheka,' Russia's sinister spy system.

The Spy

1931
Fazil
5.5

An Arab prince born and raised in the desert and a beautiful Frenchwoman from Paris fall in love and marry, but the tremendous differences in their backgrounds and the cultural differences between their two different societies put strains on their marriage that may well prove irreparable.

Fazil

1928
A Fool There Was
5.0

John Schuyler, a happily married lawyer, is appointed diplomat and sent to England. Due to an unfortunate accident, his wife and child can not come along with him. On the ship to England, Schuyler meets the notorious Vampire - a relentless gold digger who causes the moral degradation of those she seduces, first fascinating and then draining the very life from her victims.

A Fool There Was

1915
Happy Days
6.3

In Fox's contribution to the all-star revue cycle of early talkies, showboat singer Margie, hearing that the show is in arrears, goes to New York to gather all of the former stars to stage a minstrel show as a benefit.

Happy Days

1929
Up the River
5.9

Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious business. Two prisoners escape in order to help paroled Steve from being blackmailed by his girlfriend's ex-partner-in-crime.

Up the River

1930
Just Pals
6.4

Bim seems to be his town's biggest loser, but when he takes a needy 13-year-old boy named Bill under his wing, it seems there may be some hope for Bim. After learning about Bill, a young teacher, Mary, whom Bim secretly adores, helps get the young boy into school. And when Bim then helps Mary repay a loan, defaulted on by shifty boyfriend, it becomes evident that Bim can reform. As the plot in this captivating film twist and turns, the stakes get higher, the action gets more intense and hope for Bim bounds upward.

Just Pals

1920