In motion pictures, he appeared with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in Possessed in 1931, and the next year he was given the lead in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Freaks. Ford went on to have an extensive career over 30 years, appearing in more than 150 films, with lead roles in the 1930s and '40s in Hollywood B movies such as The Rogues' Tavern (1936), Murder by Invitation (1941), and Roar of the Press (1941), and supporting roles in larger feature films such as The Lost Patrol (1934), Shadow of a Doubt (1942), Spellbound (1945), and Dead Reckoning (1947).