Throughout the 1930s, Margaret Cram directed the same film again and again. An itinerant filmmaker based in Boston, she made her living by traveling to cities across New England and producing her Movie Queen scenarios with the people who lived there. In each iteration, the eponymous character is a Hollywood star returning to her hometown and visiting nearby businesses, the drama emerging when the Movie Queen becomes the target of a comic kidnapping plot and is ultimately rescued by a local hero. Once shot, the material was quickly processed and assembled so that it could be shown to all involved, granting participants a chance to see themselves and their neighbors in the pictures—ersatz screen idols, if only for one night. This program of three such reels affords a rare glimpse into a little-known genre of amateur filmmaking, which achieves a curious poignancy through the repetition of its design.
The feisty boss of a chain of cafes wants to push the youngest of her daughters off on a husband, who would be well-suited to take over the business one day.
They meet on the plane from Dakar to Casablanca: the well-known American defense lawyer Vandegrift, his daughter Jessie and the arrested Peter Roland, who allegedly kidnapped and murdered the famous film child Binnie Casilla in Stockford in 1928.
The MGM crime reporter introduces Norman Kennedy, District Attorney of a large city, he who talks about the general want for money, and the extraordinary lengths some will go to to get it.
The Jones family females decide to teach Father a lesson. He's neglecting the family business to run for mayor, so they decide to neglect their household chores.
Giácomo is an Italian man in his forties who is single, dedicated to earning money in his business. He strikes up a relationship with a Spanish singer, whose brother encourages her to conquer him to take her money.
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
"Tailspin Tommy" Tompkins and "Skeeter" Milligan are training young U. S. Army fliers for the newly-formed 'Sky Patrol,'a branch of the Army Reserves which operates along the borders and coast-lines, on the lookout for smugglers.
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives.
Krajewski, a young bank clerk, is a romantic and dreams of perfect love. One day, he accidentally meets a beautiful girl whom he helps dry her clothes in his apartment after she falls into a puddle while getting off the tram.
Blondie and Dagwood are in charge of operations at a mountain motel. The elderly owners of the establishment are in danger of losing their life savings.
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Have you watched Three Movie Queens yet? What did you think about it?
