Highest-Rated Movies about 'Actor Billed Above The Title'

Ball of Fire (1941), The More the Merrier (1943), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Gentleman Jim (1942), Easy Living (1937), Jane Eyre (1944), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Actor Billed Above The Title movies.

#1. Ball of Fire (1941)

Storyline: Sexy, wisecracking nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea is a hot tomato who needs to be kept on ice: mobster boyfriend Joe Lilac is suspected of murder and Sugarpuss' testimony could put him away. Naive Professor Bertram Potts meets Miss O'Shea while researching an article on slang and in true romantic comedy fashion the two worlds collide. When Miss O'Shea hides out with Potts and his fellow professors, everyone learns something new: the professors how to cha-cha and Potts the meaning of "yum-yum"!—A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, farce, moll, gangster, nightclub, singer, professor ...

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#2. The More the Merrier (1943)

Storyline: It's World War II and there is a severe housing shortage everywhere - especially in Washington, D.C. where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believing it to be her patriotic duty, Connie offers to sublet half of her apartment, fully expecting a suitable female tenent. What she gets instead is mischievous, middle-aged Benjamin Dingle. Dingle talks her into subletting to him and then promptly sublets half of his half to young, irreverent Joe Carter - creating a situation tailor-made for comedy and romance.—A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

Plot Keywords: patriotism, apartment, washington d.c., camera shot of feet, female stockinged feet, stockings, taxi driver ...

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#3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Storyline: Biopic traces the life of Lou Gehrig, famous baseball player who played in 2130 consecutive games before falling at age 37 to ALS, a deadly nerve disease which now bears his name. Gehrig is followed from his childhood in New York until his famous 'Luckiest Man' speech at his farewell day in 1939.—Jerry Milani <jmilani@ix.netcom.com>

Plot Keywords: baseball, athlete, chicago illinois, hospital, retirement, terminal illness, hero ...

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#4. Gentleman Jim (1942)

Storyline: Because boxing is a considered an illegal and disreputable enterprise in 1880's San Francisco, wealthy and influential members of the prestigious Olympic Club vow to make the sport a "gentlemanly" one. They sponsor a brash, extroverted young bank clerk named Jim Corbett, who quickly becomes an accomplished fighter under the new Marquis of Queensbury Rules. Despite his success, the young Irish-American's social pretensions and boastful manner soon estrange him from his benefactors, who plot to give their conceited former protégé a well-deserved comeuppance. Despite this, his dazzlingly innovative footwork helps him to beat a succession of bigger and stronger men, and he finally finds himself fighting for the world's championship against his childhood idol, John L. Sullivan.—duke1029

Plot Keywords: auction, benefactor, new orleans louisiana, train, salt lake city utah, riverboat, breaking the fourth wall ...

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#5. Easy Living (1937)

Storyline: J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bought (very expensive) sable coat and throws it off the roof, it lands on poor hard-working girl Mary Smith. But it isn't so easy to just give away something so valuable, as he soon learns.—Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net>

Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, hobo, hotel, hunger, marriage proposal, mortgage, new york city ...

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#6. Jane Eyre (1944)

Storyline: Small, plain and poor, Jane Eyre (Joan Fontaine) comes to Thornfield Hall as governess to the young ward of Edward Rochester (Orson Welles). Denied love all of her life, Jane can't help but be attracted to the intelligent, vibrant, energetic Mr. Rochester, a man twice her age. But just when Mr. Rochester seems to be returning the attention, he invites the beautiful and wealthy Blanche Ingraham (Hillary Brooke) and her party to stay at his estate. Meanwhile, the secret of Thornfield Hall could ruin all of their chances for happiness.—A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

Plot Keywords: marriage, friendship, french, england, education, death, brother in law ...

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#7. The Talk of the Town (1942)

Storyline: In suburban Lochester, New England, three people end up living together in high school teacher Nora Shelley's rental house. The first is her new tenant, renowned Harvard law professor Michael Lightcap, who has rented the house for the summer while he writes his new book. The second is Nora herself. Despite having an auspicious first meeting, Lightcap hires Nora to be his live-in cook and secretary for a week until his manservant Tilney arrives. The third is Joseph, the property's gardener, who is currently laid up with a sprained ankle. In reality, Joseph is Nora's childhood friend Leopold Dilg, who has just escaped from prison. Leopold was being tried for the arson of the factory where he worked, and for murder for the death of the factory foreman Clyde Bracken, whose body was never recovered but who is assumed to have died in the fire. Despite the danger to herself, Nora hides Leopold since she believes his story that although he, as an activist, did speak out about the dangerous conditions at the factory, he did not set the fire, which he assumes was done by the factory's owner, Andrew Holmes, to collect the insurance money, all the while having Leopold as a scapegoat. Nora campaigned to get the job with Lightcap if only to be able to better hide Leopold in the house. Leopold escaped if only because he knew he would not get a fair trial due to the rabble rousing being conducted by Holmes against him. Lightcap and who he knows as Joseph end up getting along famously, although activist Leopold believes Lightcap's view of the law is too clinical for him truly to be a great lawyer or great judge, those thoughts arising if only because Nora and Leopold learn clandestinely that Lightcap is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Nora, Leopold and Leopold's lawyer, Sam Yates, try to get Lightcap involved in helping Leopold by showing him that Leopold indeed will not get a fair trial. In the process, Lightcap may in turn show Leopold and Nora that his current way of thinking has much merit.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, manhunt, lynch mob, political activist, love triangle, fugitive, frame up ...

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#8. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

Storyline: New York working girl Susan Applegate is desperate to go home to Iowa but does not have the railway fare so she disguises herself as a child to ride half fare. Enroute she meets Philip Kirby, an Army major teaching at a military school.—Jack McKillop <jem3@donuts0.bellcore.com>

Plot Keywords: military school, older woman younger man relationship, army officer, railway station, hostility, anger, intimidation ...

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#9. This Gun for Hire (1942)

Storyline: Hit man Philip Raven, who's kind to children and cats, kills a blackmailer and is paid off by traitor Willard Gates in "hot" money. Meanwhile, pert entertainer Ellen Graham, girlfriend of police Lieut. Crane (who's after Raven) is enlisted by a Senate committee to help investigate Gates. Raven, seeking Gates for revenge, meets Ellen on the train; their relationship gradually evolves from that of killer and potential victim to an uneasy alliance against a common enemy.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: hitman, magic trick, clothing store, child abuse, captive, blackmail, propaganda ...

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#10. Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

Storyline: Romanian gigolo Georges Iscovescu is trying to get into the United States to become a citizen, it the land of opportunity even in his line of work. Because of the visa requirement, he instead travels to Tijuana, Mexico to cross into the States via the land border, not realizing that this situation has its own obstacles, namely the quota system per country, Romanians who have up to an eight year wait. In joining the queue in Tijuana, he ends up at the Hotel Esperanza which houses many of those in his similar situation, some of those others who have their own story in trying to become American citizens. In running into an old colleague he met in Europe, the former Polish-Australian Anita Dixon now divorced US citizen Mrs. Shaughnessy - she a female version of him - he decides to do what she did to become a US citizen: get married to an American, Mr. Shaughnessy who she quickly divorced after getting her citizenship. After a few missteps in finding an American to marry, Georges sets his sights on schoolteacher Emmy Brown, a woman naive in the affairs of the heart, she in Mexico with her class on a field trip. What happens between Georges and Emmy is affected by: the presence of Mr. Hammock, a US immigration inspector who is trying to clamp down on marriages of convenience, they illegal in terms of gaining US citizenship; the presence of Mrs. Shaughnessy, who will do whatever is required to ply her trade with him, the two of them together who she sees as the perfect match in being the same; and Georges' own ideas of what best to do with Emmy.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: rainstorm, haircut, government agent, gas station, fourth of july, flirting, firecracker ...

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#11. Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

Storyline: In the bordertown of San Pablo, preparing for an annual 'Mexican Fiesta,' arrives Gagin: tough, mysterious and laconic. His mission: to find the equally mysterious Frank Hugo, evidently for revenge; or is it blackmail? FBI agent Retz is also after the elusive Hugo. Everyone in town is enigmatic, especially Pila, a mystical teenager who follows Gagin around and has premonitions of his death. Also involved are a classic femme fatale and an antique carousel with a pink horse...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: stabbing, revenge, blackmail, fbi agent, carousel, rescue, amulet ...

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#12. Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Storyline: Anti-Fascist German engineer Kurt Muller, with his American-born wife, Sara, and their three children, returns to the United States in 1940 after spending 17 years in Europe, where Kurt has engaged in underground resistance to the rising Nazi threat. Unscrupulous Romanian count Teck de Brancovis, a houseguest of Sara's family in Washington, D.C., discovers Kurt's secret and threatens to expose his activities to his contacts at the German embassy.—Jwelch5742

Plot Keywords: nazi, world war two, spy, border crossing, resistance fighter, defiance, episodic ...

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#13. Edge of Darkness (1943)

Storyline: It's two years after the Nazi's invasion of Norway, and in a small fishing village that is headquarters to one hundred fifty German soldiers, the eight hundred locals are stewing, waiting for a supply of arms so they can revolt. Leaders include Karen Stensgard (Ann Sheridan), whose father, Dr. Martin Stensgard (Walter Huston), is not all that sure that an open revolt will accomplish much, and whose brother has previously proven to be disloyal to Norway, and Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn), a fisherman who was planning to sail to England to fight, but changed his mind on hearing of English arms being delivered. Although the Nazi's cruelty is evident, the townspeople bide their time, until one incident causes the stewpot to boil over.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

Plot Keywords: based on novel, schoolteacher, flag, collaborator, brother sister relationship, book burning, betrayal ...

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#14. You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

Storyline: The Acunas, a rich Argentine family, have the tradition that the daughters have to get married in order, oldest first. When sister #1 gets married, sisters #3 and #4 put pressure on Maria, sister #2, because they have their husbands picked out already. But Maria hasn't yet met a man she likes. Eduardo Acuna, believing that men aren't romantic enough these days, sends his daughter flowers and anonymous love letters, creating a "mystery man" for her to fall in love with. He intends to pick out an appropriate beau for her later, to fill the role. But Robert Davis, an American dancer looking for work, stumbles into the picture. Maria falls for him, but the father does not approve.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: actor shares first name with character, actress name in tagline, actor's name in tagline, actress billed above the title, actor billed above the title, actor shares last name with character, actor shares first and last name with character ...

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#15. My Favorite Blonde (1942)

Storyline: Larry Haines, a mediocre vaudeville entertainer, boards a train bound for Los Angeles. Is Hollywood waiting for him with open arms? Not really as the one he signed a contract for is Percy, his roller-skating penguin partner! But, as the proverb says, the shadow of glory is better than no glory at all! Anyway, doesn't Larry meet a woman on the train? And a blonde one! And a British agent into the bargain! The delicious creature who is carrying a coded message hidden in a brooch and is being pursued by Nazi agents. She will need Larry (and Percy)'s help to elude her pursuers and to get the secret information to destination. The mission will be accomplished, although in an eventful and hilarious way...—Guy Bellinger

Plot Keywords: humiliation, watermelon, truck driver, theater, taxi driver, show business, ship ...

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