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Directed by George Cukor, Dinner at Eight (1933) revolves around the eminent dinner part hosted by Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke), the snobbish socialite wife of shipping magnate Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore). Millicent is so aggravated about everything going wrong that she is oblivious to Oliver's impending bankruptcy and serious heart condition, as well as her daughter Paula's (Madge Evans) preoccupation about the return of her fiancé, Ernest DeGraff (Phillips Holmes), from Europe. One of the guests is Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), a former stage star and Oliver's one-time flame. Also invited are corrupt mining tycoon Dan Packard (Wallace Beery), who is secretly consuming Oliver's business, and his brassy young wife Kitty (Jean Harlow).   LEFT: Madge Evans and John Barrymore. MIDDLE: Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler. RIGHT: Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke and Edmund Lowe. On the eve of the dinner, Millicent, short of an extra man for Carlotta, invites washed-up s...

Douglas Fairbanks presents Janet Gaynor with the first ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1927) and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). Mary Pickford poses with her Oscar for Best Actress. She won for her work in Coquette (1929), her first talkie. Norma Shearer receives from Conrad Nagel the Oscar for Best Actress for The Divorcee (1930). Marie Dressler and Lionel Barrymore were the Best Actress and Best Actor winners at the 5th Academy Awards. She won for Min and Bill (1930) and he for A Free Soul (1931). MGM chief Louis B. Mayer presents producer Carl Laemmle with the award for Best Picture for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Helen Hayes proudly holds her Best Actress Oscar for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931). Shirley Temple gives Claudette Colbert the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in It Happened One Night (1934). It Happened One Night also earned Clark Gable th...

Directed by Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) opens on Christmas Eve 1945, in the town of Bedford Falls, New York, as guardian angel Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers) is sent to Earth to stop George Bailey (James Stewart) from committing suicide. In preparation for his task, Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's life. At age 12, George saved his brother Harry (Todd Karns) from drowning in an icy pond, and prevented his druggist boss, Mr. Gower (H. B. Warner), from accidentally prescribing poison to a child. After the death of his father (Samuel Hinds) in 1928, George is forced to postpone his plans to travel the world to take over the family's building and loan society to keep Henry F. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), the richest and meanest man in Bedford Falls, from having financial control over the town. Four years later, Harry returns home from college with a wife (Virginia Patton) and the promise of a good job in New York. Once again, George postpones his plans a...