Manka Bros. Film Library
The World's Largest Film Library
1930 - 1939
Rachel, The Demon's Cousin (1932) - The World's First Animated Feature With Sound! [This fact is disputed by several different studios in several different countries.] Tells the story of milkmaid Rachel Bramowitz who has always had a horrifying secret that she has kept from her Bulgarian village - that she has a cousin who is a demon and he coming to visit over the Easter holidays!
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The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage (1937) - Manka Bros.’ ‘The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage’ (an animated feature based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale) is released months ahead of another Brothers Grimm-based feature - Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.’ While Manka’s was first (and many say better), Disney’s was slightly more successful.
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Retards (1930) - James Whale's early experimental film about a ruthless headmaster who makes money parading his mentally-challenged students through secondary school math class. [This film is no longer available in any form and, we believe, no prints of the film remain - which is probably a good thing.]
Who's Minding The Chimp? (1930) - Screwball comedy about two socialites who drink, trade wits and travel. But who's minding the chimp?
Curse Of The Darkened Hallway (1931) - Creepy Soviet emigre Van Puchlovsky made his horror film debut in this tale of a mystical light fixture in an otherwise cheery Pennsylvania home.
Rachel, The Demon's Cousin (1932) - The World's First Animated Feature With Sound! [This fact is disputed by several different studios in several different countries.] Tells the story of milkmaid Rachel Bramowitz who has always had a horrifying secret that she has kept from her Bulgarian village - that she has a cousin who is a demon and he coming to visit over the Easter holidays!
Ham Sandwich (1932) - A comedy of errors about a family of Bulgarian ventriloquists on the run from starvation in their native Bulgaria.
The Brothers Kielbasa (1932) - The classic Bulgarian story of two juggling brothers who risk everything to come to America from Bulgaria to juggle in order to send money home to their starving, oppressed family. (The movie was so successful, studio head Khan Manka was able to buy a 300 room, 100,000 square foot mansion on the "Gold Coast" of Long Island's North Shore. The film was remade in 1964, directed by then studio head Harry Manka, to lesser returns. Harry Manka actually had to sell one of his houses after that debacle.)
Scalpel, Please (1932) - Real-life conjoined triplets - The Lombardo Sisters - mortified the world with this tale of three nurses assigned to three different wards in the three different hospitals!
Sweet Tooth Clifford On The S. S. Ho Ho Ho (1933) - Starring Little Jimmy as Clifford, the little adorable boy with an incredible sweet tooth (and singing voice).
The Little Match Girl (1933) - Little Jimmy stars as the poor little girl from the famous fairy tale.
Tractor (1934) - The first and only American film by acclaimed Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein about a small Iowa town that takes on collective farming.
The Amazing Mr. Torso (1934) - Johnny Eck (Johnny The Half from Tom Browning's 'Freaks') portrays the Amazing Mr. Torso - a magician from Bulgaria that can bring back the dead.
The Missouri Compromise (1934) - Dramatic retelling of the controversy surrounding the admittance of Missouri as a state.
The Self-Flagellants (1934) - True story. At the height of the Depression, modern day priests break from the Catholic Church to march across America, beating themselves to rid the world of evil.
Boris Godounov (1935) - Famous Russian opera by Modest Moussorgsky - filmed before a live audience (but stopping every five minutes to reload the camera - which in those days took 45 minutes).
Sink The Titanic (1935) - Controversial film that revealed the (some say true) details behind America's plot to torpedo the Titanic on its maiden voyage.
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Keester McCoy: Home On The Mange (1935) - First appearance of the cowboy funnymen in a western tale of evil land barons, saloon lovelies and parasitic mites.
Idaho! (1936) - Helluva state! Helluva movie!
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Keester McCoy: Spine And Dandy (1936) - The boys come back East for the reading of the will of a rich uncle.
High Horse (1936) - Singing cowboy movie starring Johnny Rider. He's the best rodeo cowboy around... he knows it, the ladies know it. [This movie also featured Keester McCoy who was hated by everyone on the set for his drunken prima dona behavior. He was 'accidentally' shot in the back during filming. He died days later.]
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Shinny McFarland: Coeds Are Better Than One (1937) - After the untimely demise of Frank 'Keester' McCoy, Jimmy teams with former child star McFarland in this kooky campus romp, featuring the new element of Jimmy kicking McFarland in the shins whenever they're in a pinch.
The Three Hares (1937) - Manka's second fully animated feature. Things get confusing when three hares named 'Harry' all live in the same forest.
Too Many Eskimos (1938) - True story about Teddy Roosevelt's disastrous National Parks plan for Alaska.
Wagner's Parrot (1938) - Bird with a Svengali-like influence over famous German composer Richard Wagner. [Manka Bros. Studio founder Khan Manka died during an early screening of this film in 1937 - some say he was murdered by the film director after the studio made unwanted cuts.]
Spur Of The Moment (1938) - Johnny Rider and Shinny McFarland are city boys who buy a couple of horses and sing and joke their way through the Wild West.
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy: Life's A Kick! (1938) - Jackboot Jimmy bravely goes solo in this horrible movie about a Texas ranch hand that joins the Radio City Rockettes.
Classic Story (1938) - The classic story of a Nobel Prize-winning novelist and his search for non-fictional love.
Aluminum Zirconium (1938) - The incredibly compelling true story about the inventor of modern day deodorant, all those who died testing the product and the competitors that had him killed.
Sour Kraut (1939) - Chester Billington's last film (and only talkie) takes on the Third Reich. Here he plays an angry German who wants to kill Hitler and take over the world himself.
Barrel Of Gangsters (1939) - Directed by David Sedan. Anti-violence crime story starring a very underused Spaulding Mawkish and Wilma Harry.
Love In Flames (1939) - Producer Joseph Rothchild's epic 225-minute three-way love story set amid New York City's Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
Who's Minding The Chimp? (1930) - Screwball comedy about two socialites who drink, trade wits and travel. But who's minding the chimp?
Curse Of The Darkened Hallway (1931) - Creepy Soviet emigre Van Puchlovsky made his horror film debut in this tale of a mystical light fixture in an otherwise cheery Pennsylvania home.
Rachel, The Demon's Cousin (1932) - The World's First Animated Feature With Sound! [This fact is disputed by several different studios in several different countries.] Tells the story of milkmaid Rachel Bramowitz who has always had a horrifying secret that she has kept from her Bulgarian village - that she has a cousin who is a demon and he coming to visit over the Easter holidays!
Ham Sandwich (1932) - A comedy of errors about a family of Bulgarian ventriloquists on the run from starvation in their native Bulgaria.
The Brothers Kielbasa (1932) - The classic Bulgarian story of two juggling brothers who risk everything to come to America from Bulgaria to juggle in order to send money home to their starving, oppressed family. (The movie was so successful, studio head Khan Manka was able to buy a 300 room, 100,000 square foot mansion on the "Gold Coast" of Long Island's North Shore. The film was remade in 1964, directed by then studio head Harry Manka, to lesser returns. Harry Manka actually had to sell one of his houses after that debacle.)
Scalpel, Please (1932) - Real-life conjoined triplets - The Lombardo Sisters - mortified the world with this tale of three nurses assigned to three different wards in the three different hospitals!
Sweet Tooth Clifford On The S. S. Ho Ho Ho (1933) - Starring Little Jimmy as Clifford, the little adorable boy with an incredible sweet tooth (and singing voice).
The Little Match Girl (1933) - Little Jimmy stars as the poor little girl from the famous fairy tale.
Tractor (1934) - The first and only American film by acclaimed Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein about a small Iowa town that takes on collective farming.
The Amazing Mr. Torso (1934) - Johnny Eck (Johnny The Half from Tom Browning's 'Freaks') portrays the Amazing Mr. Torso - a magician from Bulgaria that can bring back the dead.
The Missouri Compromise (1934) - Dramatic retelling of the controversy surrounding the admittance of Missouri as a state.
The Self-Flagellants (1934) - True story. At the height of the Depression, modern day priests break from the Catholic Church to march across America, beating themselves to rid the world of evil.
Boris Godounov (1935) - Famous Russian opera by Modest Moussorgsky - filmed before a live audience (but stopping every five minutes to reload the camera - which in those days took 45 minutes).
Sink The Titanic (1935) - Controversial film that revealed the (some say true) details behind America's plot to torpedo the Titanic on its maiden voyage.
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Keester McCoy: Home On The Mange (1935) - First appearance of the cowboy funnymen in a western tale of evil land barons, saloon lovelies and parasitic mites.
Idaho! (1936) - Helluva state! Helluva movie!
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Keester McCoy: Spine And Dandy (1936) - The boys come back East for the reading of the will of a rich uncle.
High Horse (1936) - Singing cowboy movie starring Johnny Rider. He's the best rodeo cowboy around... he knows it, the ladies know it. [This movie also featured Keester McCoy who was hated by everyone on the set for his drunken prima dona behavior. He was 'accidentally' shot in the back during filming. He died days later.]
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy And Shinny McFarland: Coeds Are Better Than One (1937) - After the untimely demise of Frank 'Keester' McCoy, Jimmy teams with former child star McFarland in this kooky campus romp, featuring the new element of Jimmy kicking McFarland in the shins whenever they're in a pinch.
The Three Hares (1937) - Manka's second fully animated feature. Things get confusing when three hares named 'Harry' all live in the same forest.
Too Many Eskimos (1938) - True story about Teddy Roosevelt's disastrous National Parks plan for Alaska.
Wagner's Parrot (1938) - Bird with a Svengali-like influence over famous German composer Richard Wagner. [Manka Bros. Studio founder Khan Manka died during an early screening of this film in 1937 - some say he was murdered by the film director after the studio made unwanted cuts.]
Spur Of The Moment (1938) - Johnny Rider and Shinny McFarland are city boys who buy a couple of horses and sing and joke their way through the Wild West.
The Adventures Of Jackboot Jimmy: Life's A Kick! (1938) - Jackboot Jimmy bravely goes solo in this horrible movie about a Texas ranch hand that joins the Radio City Rockettes.
Classic Story (1938) - The classic story of a Nobel Prize-winning novelist and his search for non-fictional love.
Aluminum Zirconium (1938) - The incredibly compelling true story about the inventor of modern day deodorant, all those who died testing the product and the competitors that had him killed.
Sour Kraut (1939) - Chester Billington's last film (and only talkie) takes on the Third Reich. Here he plays an angry German who wants to kill Hitler and take over the world himself.
Barrel Of Gangsters (1939) - Directed by David Sedan. Anti-violence crime story starring a very underused Spaulding Mawkish and Wilma Harry.
Love In Flames (1939) - Producer Joseph Rothchild's epic 225-minute three-way love story set amid New York City's Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
