The House on 56th Street

The House On 56th Street is a Stella Dallas like melodramatic soap opera that Kay Francis did for Warner Brothers before Bette Davis made a specialty of them for that studio. This pre-Code film is laced with irony for Kay. Kay's... Full review

Melodramatic soap opera spanning several decades about a chorus girl named Peggy (Kay Francis) who performs in the "Follies of 1905" and is pursued by two rich men, one older, one younger and handsome. Well of course, she falls in... Full review

This is another of those pre-Code movies in which someone literally gets away with murder--as can happen in real life. Neither the killer nor the victim is totally good or bad, which is also the way life is. That was... Full review

During the years where Bette Davis sloshed around Warner's film after unremarkable film, Kay Francis was one of its major stars even if her work varied in quality. In 1933 alone she appeared in five movies (something perfectly common then),... Full review

Kay Francis is extraordinary in this fatalistic tale--the surprises this plot has in store for her character, Peggy Van Tyle, are heart-wrenching: stoically, heroically, she survives them all.For audiences suffering through the depression, the hardened-heart determination of Peggy Van Tyle... Full review