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Monty Banks

Monty Banks

Director · Born 1897-07-14 · Cesena, Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

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Biography

Monty Banks was a short, stocky but somehow debonair Italian-born comic actor, later also writer and director. In the US from 1914, he first appeared on stage in musical comedy and cabaret. By 1917 he was working as a dancer in New York's Dominguez Cafe. After this he turned to films, acting and doing stunt work at Keystone, Universal and for Al Christie. Changing his name from Mario Bianchi to Monty Banks may have been prompted by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as a passing reference to his playing '"montebanks". By 1919 Banks had moved to Vitagraph to play a villain in The Grocery Clerk (1919), foil to star comic Larry Semon. Banks first came to the fore in his own right as star of the "Welcome Comedies" made by Warner Brothers. He spent the early 1920s at Fox and Grand Asher, graduating to writing and directing two-reel comedies with himself as the star. Most noteworthy entries in regard to inventive sight gags and Mack Sennett--style madcap plots are Pay or Move (1924) and The Golf Bug (1924). The success of this series prompted Banks to create an independent production company, the Monty Banks Pictures Corporation, in conjunction with writer/director Howard Estabrook. He made several…

Directed

  1. Great Guns (1941) — Director
  2. No Limit (1935) — Director
  3. Keep Your Seats, Please (1936) — Director
  4. You Made Me Love You (1933) — Director
  5. We're Going to Be Rich (1938) — Director
  6. The Church Mouse (1934) — Director
  7. Shipyard Sally (1939) — Director
  8. Man of the Moment (1935) — Director
  9. The Black Hand Gang (1930) — Director
  10. Poor Old Bill (1931) — Director
  11. 18 Minutes (1935) — Director
  12. The Jerry Builders (1930) — Director
  13. Leave It to Me (1933) — Director
  14. Queen of Hearts (1936) — Director
  15. Keep Smiling (1938) — Director
  16. Why Sailors Leave Home (1930) — Director
  17. Hot Sands (1924) — Director
  18. For the Love of Mike (1932) — Director
  19. Tonight's the Night - Pass It On (1931) — Director
  20. Heads We Go (1933) — Director
  21. Falling in Love (1934) — Director
  22. Almost a Honeymoon (1930) — Director
  23. Amateur Night in London (1930) — Director
  24. Cocktails (1928) — Director
  25. The Compulsory Husband (1929) — Director
  26. Eve's Fall (1930) — Director
  27. His First Car (1930) — Director
  28. Kiss Me Sergeant (1930) — Director
  29. The Musical Beauty Shop (1930) — Director
  30. The New Waiter (1930) — Director
  31. Not So Quiet on the Western Front (1930) — Director
  32. Old Soldiers Never Die (1931) — Director
  33. Money for Nothing (1932) — Director
  34. What a Night! (1931) — Director
  35. My Wife's Family (1931) — Director
  36. Votre sourire (1934) — Director
  37. Hello, Sweetheart (1935) — Director
  38. The Girl in Possession (1934) — Director
  39. Father and Son (1935) — Director
  40. Love and Luck (1932) — Director

Also appeared in

  1. Blood and Sand (1941) — Antonio Lopez
  2. The Garage (1920) — Man with Dog (uncredited)
  3. A Bell for Adano (1945) — Giuseppe
  4. Atlantic (1929) — Dandy
  5. Love (1919) — Farmhand
  6. You Made Me Love You (1933) — Taxi Driver (uncredited)
  7. The Grocery Clerk (1919) — The Tow Gusher, a 'He Vamp'
  8. The Church Mouse (1934) — Harry Blump, the Window Washer (uncredited)
  9. A Scrap of Paper (1918) — Soldier
  10. Shipyard Sally (1939)
  11. Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961) — Self (archive footage)
  12. Pay or Move (1924) — Monty
  13. Don't Park Here (1919) — A Rival
  14. Chasing Choo Choos (1927) — Monty
  15. Week-End Wives (1929) — Max Ammon
  16. A Perfect Gentleman (1928) — Monty Brooks
  17. Man of the Moment (1935) — Doctor
  18. The Head Waiter (1919) — Dinning Customer
  19. Falling in Love (1934) — Film Director
  20. Play Safe (1927) — The Boy
  21. Tonight's the Night - Pass It On (1931) — Convict
  22. The Covered Schooner (1923) — The Boy
  23. Wedding Bells (1924) — The Groom
  24. Olympic Honeymoon (1940) — Orban
  25. Flying Luck (1927) — The Boy
  26. Hot Sands (1924)
  27. For the Love of Mike (1932) — Chef
  28. Cold Hearts and Hot Flames (1916)
  29. Queen of Hearts (1936) — Montague Banking
  30. Six A.M. (1923)
  31. A Blind Pig (1918) — French Salesman
  32. Atta Boy (1926) — Monty Milde
  33. A Bedroom Scandal (1921) — A Husband
  34. Heads We Go (1933) — Chauffeur
  35. The Girl in Possession (1934) — Caruso
  36. Her First False Hare (1919) — Unnamed
  37. Paging Love (1923) — The Encyclopedia Salesman
  38. The Compulsory Husband (1929) — Monty
  39. Adam's Apple (1928) — Monty Adams
  40. So You Won't Talk (1935) — Tony