The Band Plays On

A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.

Mary Rafferty comes from a poor family of steel mill workers in 19th Century Pittsburgh. Her family objects when she goes to work as a maid for the wealthy Scott family which controls the mill. Mary catches the attention of handsome scion Paul Scott, but their romance is complicated by Paul's engagement to someone else and a bitter strike among the mill workers.

Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining priest.

Concentrating on the personal lives of those involved, a war correspondent takes us through the preparations, landing and initial campaign on Guadalcanal during WWII.

A sideshow bally girl sets out to seduce the naive son of the show's manager to get even with him for a friend that he jilted.

The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

On a secluded base in Arizona, veteran World War I pilot Steve Britt trains flyers to fight in World War II. One of his trainees, Englishman Peter Stackhouse, competes with Britt for the affections of Kay Saunders, the daughter of a local rancher. Despite their differences, Britt makes sure Sutton passes his training and becomes a combat pilot -- even though he loses Kay to the young man in the process.

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

Expert lineman Red takes Farm-boy Slim under his wing and teaches him the dangerous, migratory trade of putting up transmission lines. They both love their work, and the same girl, who hates their dangerous profession.

An American woman seeking divorce from her wealthy, controlling husband falls for a romantic Parisian who saves her from his entrapment.

A man goes to a loan shark to finance his family's vacation.

After the death of a gangster, those familiar with his million dollar stash start mysteriously dying. Police detectives with the help of a clairvoyant try to determine who, living or dead, is responsible.

Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. We see birth, life and death in this small community.

Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.

Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) is a tourist guide determined to make his fortune by finding the Sunburst, an Inca treasure.

Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.

Explore the unlikely partnership and enduring legacy of one of the most prolific power couples in entertainment history. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz risked everything to be together.

When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2000.

Angela Lansbury hosts a celebration and anniversary tribute to the Wizard of Oz which includes the premiere of the restored, uncut print of the classic.

An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist husband's hands with those of a knife-throwing murderer.

On a train trip out west to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young women traveling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.

A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?

Some of MGM's musical stars review the studio's history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.

Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hopes to have better luck with a gravity-busting derivative he's dubbed "Flubbergas." Ned's experiments, constantly hampered by government obstruction, earn the consternation of his wife, Betsy. But a game-winning modification to a football uniform may help Ned make the case for his fantastic new invention.

A financially-strapped charter pilot hires himself to an oil tycoon to kidnap his madcap daughter and prevent her from marrying a vapid band leader.

Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

A wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.

This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.

A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.

Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve: a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million if Steve does not marry his fiancée, Cynthia. The upcoming marriage is jeopardized by Steve's ex-girlfriend, Mickey, and Cynthia's disapproving Aunt Kitty. The policy is underwritten by a nightclub owner, Roscoe, who sends two enforcers - Abbott and Costello - to ensure that the wedding occurs as planned.

Gale, a store owner, lives in an Alaskan village with his grown ward, Necia, whom he had rescued years before from her murderer father, Captain Bennett. Now Bennett, disguised as Ben Stark, has arrived in the village seeking vengeance and his daughter.

At the Club Habana, Henry Cabot, a bumbling busboy, is infatuated with the club's dancer, Conchita Montez. As Tiger Martin, the leader of a gang of thieves, gives Conchita a diamond bracelet, he is arrested. After Tiger is deported, Duke Selton, of Tiger's gang, pays a visit to Conchita and tells her he believes that Blackie Bennet, the leader of a rival gang, is responsible for tipping off the police about Tiger's citizenship.

A bandit disguises himself as an officer in an attempt to woo a saloon singer.

Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

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.

Famous Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

Summarily accused of murder, drifters Duke (Foran), Pancho (Carrillo) and Andy (Devine) are tossed into the hoosegow, only to be released when their alibi checks out. Far from offended by his ill treatment, Duke agrees to take the job of sheriff, retaining Pancho and Andy as his deputies. The gruesome threesome then sets about to solve a series of mysterious Wells Fargo robberies

Jimmy Durante is jungle movie star Schnarzan the Conqueror, but the public is tiring of his fake lions. When Baron Munchausen comes to town with real man-eating lions, Durante throws him a big Hollywood star-studded party so that he might use the lions in his next movie. But, his film rival sneaks into the party to buy the lions before Durante.

Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.

Ted Healy and His Stooges alternate mildly risque vaudeville routines with semi-elaborate Berkeleyesque musical numbers with beautiful chorines.

Two sisters from Indiana, the wide-eyed and innocent Mae Thorpe, and her more streetwise sister June, move into the Rolf House for Homeless Girls in New York. With June's help, Mae obtains a job as a stenographer for the scientist Joseph von Schraeder, while June gets work as a telegraph operator at Western Union.

Bing Crosby was, without a doubt, the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first half of the twentieth century, pulling audiences in with his intimate, laid-back voice and innate charm. Narrated by Stanley Tucci and directed by Robert Trachtenberg, this film explores the life and legend of this iconic performer, revealing a personality far more complex than the image the public had only thought they'd known.