Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

As a cultural touchstone of United States, You Can't Have Everything resonates with its artistic bravery, audiences who connected with its message often look for similar thematic gravity. We've assembled a sequence of films that complement the tone of You Can't Have Everything perfectly.
For many, the first encounter with You Can't Have Everything is to establish Norman Taurog as a true visionary of the 1937s.
Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals George Macrae over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve.
Based on the unique artistic bravery of You Can't Have Everything, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of Music cinema:
Dir: Maurice Elvey
A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.
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Dir: Hal Roach
An American book salesman (Lloyd) is persuaded to go to the kingdom of Thermosa to impersonate the Prince. He is greeted by a peasants' revolt before the real prince shows up to claim his throne and princess. The revolution succeeds, and the American is elected president of the new republic.
Dir: Reggie Morris
A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.
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Dir: F. Martin Thornton
In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.
Dir: Jerome Storm
Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.
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Dir: J. Gordon Edwards
William Farnum is Drag Harlan, a tough cowboy vigilante. After learning about a gold mine from a dying man, he seeks his daughter (Jackie Saunders) as well as the gold. He falls in love with her, but the same gang that shot the old man is after the gold.
Dir: Robert Thornby
Mary Willard takes over her father's railroad after his death. Her major competitor is a ruthless crook named Harvey Judson. She arranges for Judson to be kidnapped and taken to an isolated spot deep in the forest and turned loose to fend for himself. She accompanies the kidnappers to the wild and Judson, not knowing who she is, begins to fall in love with her. Complications ensue.
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Dir: Maurice Campbell
Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Dave Henderson, an orphan who has become the beneficiary of a rich man's will, falls in with race-track crooks Martin Tydeman and Bokky Sharvan who bilk him out of his $100,000 inheritance. In retaliation, Dave steals the money from Tydeman's safe, but is caught and sentenced to five years in jail. In prison, Dave becomes friendly with Millman, who is about to be released, and reveals the money's hiding place to him, arranging to rendezvous at the end of Dave's term. Once released, Dave is hounded by members of Tydeman's gang as well as the police, who are waiting for him to retrieve his bounty. While taking refuge at the house of Capriano, an old bomb maker, Dave falls in love with the old man's daughter Teresa. However, Capriano sets a trap for Dave, who awakens in a drugged state to find the $100,000 missing. With the help of Millman and Teresa, Dave recovers the money, turns it over to the police and resolves to go straight.
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Dir: Malcolm St. Clair
A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.
View DetailsAnalysis relative to You Can't Have Everything
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hundredth Chance | Gritty | Dense | 87% Match |
| His Royal Slyness | Gothic | Layered | 92% Match |
| Striking Models | Tense | High | 96% Match |
| The Flame | Surreal | High | 97% Match |
| Homer Comes Home | Ethereal | Linear | 93% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of Norman Taurog's archive. Last updated: 6/25/2026.
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