NEWS! At last, this collection is available on DVD (release date, February 21, 2006.)
Robert Benchley & The Knights of the Algonquin reviewed by Gordon Ernst, Director, Robert Benchley Society and author of Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography -- This collection contains the following Benchley shorts:
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Almost as welcome as a shaker full of martinis, The Complete Thin Man Collection
represents an eagerly awaited DVD milestone for fans of the fizzy MGM movie series.
The best film in the series came first: The Thin Man (1934), W.S. Van Dyke's marvelous
adaptation of a Dashiell Hammet novel. The movie gods were in a generous mood when they paired
William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, the upper-class sophisticates whose sleuthing
escapades somehow joined the classic form of the whodunit with the giddyup of screwball comedy.
Contains six films on seven DVDs:
The Thin Man,
After The Thin Man,
Another Thin Man,
Shadow of the Thin Man,
Song of the Thin Man,
and The Thin Man Goes Home
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Contains seven films on five DVDs: A Night at The Opera, A Day at The Races,
A Night in Casablanca, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store Extras: | |||||||
Re-creating the role she originated in Philip Barry's wickedly witty Broadway play, Katharine Hepburn stars as the
spoiled and snobby socialite Tracy Lord in this sparkling 1940 screen adaptation of The Philadelphia Story,
one of the great romantic comedies from the golden age of MGM studios.
DVD Features Disk 1: DVD Features Disk 2: | |||||||
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, in a world of marital confusion.
Presuming his wife to be dead, Grant remarries--on the same day that his
bedraggled spouse (that's Dunne) returns. DVD Features: |
Complete Listing of Benchley's "Short Subjects" | |||||||
EC* | Title | Year | Studio | Directing by | Writing by | Acting by | Notes |
F1 | Boogie Woogie | 1945 | Paramount | Noel Madison | Ray E. Spencer | Robert Benchley, Roland Dupree, Darryl Hickman, Frank Cook, Jerry James, John Kelly, Frank Faylen, Carmella Bergstrom, Barbara Matthews, Ann Shoemaker | Color |
F2 | Courtship of the Newt, The | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F3 | Crime Control | 1941 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F4 | Dark Magic | 1939 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland |
| Robert Benchley, John Scarne |
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F5 | Day of Rest | 1939 | M-G-M | Basil Wrangell |
| Robert Benchley |
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F6 | Evening Alone, An | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo | Robert Benchley |
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F7 | Forgotten Man, The | 1941 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush |
| Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F8 | Furnace Trouble | 1929 | Fox | James Parrott | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F9 | Hollywood Victory Caravan | 1945 | Paramount | William Russell |
| Robert Benchley et al. |
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F10 | Home Early | 1939 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland |
| Robert Benchley |
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F11 | Home Movies | 1940 | M-G-M | Basil Wrangell |
| Robert Benchley et al. |
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F12 | Hour for Lunch, An | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo | Robert Benchley |
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F13 | How to be a Detective | 1936 | M-G-M | Felix E. Feist | Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo | Robert Benchley |
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F14 | How to Behave | 1936 | M-G-M | Arthur Ripley | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F15 | How to Break 90 at Croquet | 1935 | RKO | Leigh Jason | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F16 | How to Eat | 1939 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F17 | How to Figure Income Tax | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F18 | How to Raise a Baby | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ricardo Cezon, Paul Clark, Robbie and Rolly Jones |
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F19 | How to Read | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F20 | How to Sleep | 1935 | M-G-M | Nick Grinde | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley | Academy Award Winner |
F21 | How to Start the Day | 1937 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo | Robert Benchley |
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F22 | How to Sub-Let | 1939 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F23 | How to Take a Vacation | 1941 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F24 | How to Train a Dog | 1936 | M-G-M | Arthur Ripley | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F25 | How to Vote | 1936 | M-G-M | Felix E. Feist | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F26 | How to Watch Football | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Joyce Compton, John Butler, Eddie Acuff, Diane Cock |
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F27 | I'm a Civilian Here Myself | 1945 | U.S. Navy | Harry Joe Brown |
| Robert Benchley |
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F28 | Important Business | 1944 | M-G-M | Will Jason | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee, Connie Gilchirst |
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F29 | Keeping In Shape | 1942 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F30 | Lesson Number One | 1929 | Fox | James Parrott | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F31 | Man's Angle, The | 1942 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F32 | Mental Poise | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, John Butler |
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F33 | Music Made Simple | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F34 | My Tomato | 1943 | M-G-M | Will Jason | Paul Girard Smith | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee, Monty Collins |
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F35 | Night at the Movies, A | 1937 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo | Robert Benchley, Gwen Lee, Hal K. Dawson, Frank Sheridan, Jack Baxley, Ricardo Cezon | Nominated for Academy Award |
F36 | No News Is Good News | 1943 | M-G-M | Will Jason | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Lon Poff |
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F37 | Nothing But Nerves | 1942 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F38 | Opening Day | 1938 | M-G-M | Roy Rowland | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Harlan Briggs, John Butler |
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F39 | Romance of Digestion, The | 1937 | M-G-M | Felix E. Feist | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F40 | See Your Doctor | 1939 | M-G-M | Basil Wrangell | Robert Benchley, Harry Parke | Robert Benchley, Hobart Cavanaugh, Monty Woolley, Helen MacKeller, Claire DuBrey |
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F41 | Sex Life of the Polyp, The | 1928 | Fox | Thomas Chalmers | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F42 | Spellbinder, The | 1929 | Fox | Thomas Chalmers |
| Robert Benchley |
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F43 | Stewed, Fried and Boiled | 1929 | Fox | James Parrott | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Sylvia Field, Virginia Sale, Edward Brady |
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F44 | That Inferior Feeling | 1940 | M-G-M | Basil Wrangell | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Mary Lee, John Butler, Jack Mulhall |
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F45 | Treasurer's Report, The | 1928 | Fox | Thomas Chalmers | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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F46 | Trouble with Husbands, The | 1940 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F47 | Waiting for Baby | 1941 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush |
| Robert Benchley |
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F48 | Why Daddy? | 1944 | M-G-M | Will Jason | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee, Fred Brady (Quiz Show Emcee), Richard Hall (Bobby) |
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F49 | Witness, The | 1942 | Paramount | Leslie M. Roush | Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley, Ruth Lee |
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F50 | Your Technocracy and Mine | 1933 | Universal |
| Robert Benchley | Robert Benchley |
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NOTE. "EC" is a reference to the code assigned each film in Robert Benchley, an Annotated
Bibliography, by Gordon E. Ernst, Jr.
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