Sidney D'Albrook Movies

Having scored big-time box office with his first Biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), Cecil B. DeMille hoped to top this success with his 1927 The King of Kings. Inasmuch as he was now dealing with the life of Christ, DeMille had to be careful to serve up equal amounts of showmanship and reverence. The first creative challenge: how to "introduce" Christ in a tasteful manner? The answer: as a blind child is cured through Jesus' intervention, DeMille cuts to the child's point-of-view, slowly fading in on the kindly countenance of H.B. Warner as the Son of Man. Still, DeMille remained DeMille, especially in his handling of the character of Mary Magdalene (Jacqueline Logan). No longer a tattered streetwalker, Mary Magdalene is now a glamorous courtesan, replete with legions of gorgeous slave girls (one of whom is "bubble dancer" Sally Rand) and dressed in revealing Hollywood-style gowns. In fact, the film opens on this character, as she ruminates over the defection of her favorite customer, Judas Iscariot (Joseph Schildkraut), who is spending far too much time with Jesus of Nazareth. Upon visiting Jesus herself, she immediately repents, casting off all her prior sins. Once again, the efficacy of the Cecil B. DeMille formula is proven: redemption has no dramatic value unless the film shows viewers why the sinner needs to be redeemed. Once he's gotten his box-office considerations out of the way, DeMille adheres faithfully to the particulars of Jesus' life, betrayal, trial, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. (Again, however, the director improves a bit upon his source material: the storm that follows the Crucifixion is of the same spectacular dimensions as the parting of the Red Sea in Ten Commandments, while the Resurrection is filmed in vibrant Technicolor). To back up the authenticity of his images, DeMille -- with an assist from scenarist Jeannie Macpherson -- utilizes Scriptural quotes in his subtitles. And to avoid any untoward publicity while filming, DeMille required all of his actors to sign legal documents preventing them from indulging in any sort of "sinful" activity; this meant that poor old H.B. Warner had to steer clear of alcoholic beverages for nearly a year, though he more than made up for lost time after his contract ran out. Prepared to mercilessly lambaste The King of Kings, DeMille's critics were disarmed by his reverent, tasteful approach to the subject. Years after the film's release, a specially prepared 60-minute version of the 18-reel King of Kings was making the rounds of religious groups, church basements, and Easter-weekend telecasts. The film was remade in 1961 by producer Samuel Bronston and director Nicholas Ray, with Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Producer Hal Roach was known for his comic shorts; however, his first foray into the world of features wasn't a comedy, but a Western. Naturally, it wasn't your typical Western -- the star was Rex, the Wonder Horse. Rex is Black, a wild stallion who is the leader of a herd near the Mexican border. Cowboy Billy Blair (Leon Bary) is determined to capture Black, but the horse is too fast and crafty for him. Cowboy and horse ultimately form a common bond during a forest fire as Black is trapped and Blair shows him a way out. Black becomes devoted to Blair. Ranch foreman Wade Galvin (Pat Hartigan) is secretly a horse thief, and he tries to put the blame for his crimes on Blair. With the help of Black, Galvin is rounded up and proven to be the guilty party. Blair wins the love of pretty Mary Fielding (Edna Murphy), and Black is allowed to return to the wild. Hal Roach himself wrote the story to this film. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Wallace Reid starred in a legion of comedy-dramas involving speeding cars and most of them (generally written by Byron Morgan) were interchangeable -- this one is no exception. John Dent (Paramount's most dependable character actor, Theodore Roberts) manufactures solid, dependable -- and rather boring -- cars (these were a spoof on Ford's Model T's, changed around just enough to avoid a lawsuit). His son Jimmy (Reid), who works at his father's plant, has no use for these "flivvers," since he likes the bigger, flashier models made by Dent's rival, Dutton Tyler (with Walter Long in this role, it's almost guaranteed he'll turn out to be villainous). Dent orders that all his employees -- Jimmy included -- drive a Dent, but Jimmy rebels. There's a cross-country race going on, and since he has been carrying on a flirtation with Tyler's daughter Lorraine (Betty Francisco), he decides to ride with her and her father. Tyler's car holds the record, and Jimmy finds out why -- because he sabotages the competition. So Jimmy turns around and mans one of his pop's cars instead. He wins the race in the trusty Dent, and also wins a better girl (Mary MacLaren). Reid's inert performance and lack of closeups were obvious enough to be noted in trade paper Motion Picture News -- the star would die within a year of drugs and perhaps the effects of his addiction were showing. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In this silent Western "whodunit," a very young Buck Jones stars as Conroy Daley, a young man whose uncle offers him a job on his ranch. When Con arrives, he learns that the uncle (Charles French) has been murdered. Not only that, but a mysterious stranger (Otto Matiesen) is impersonating Con. The accused murderer, Bud Moore (Harold Miller), has disappeared and Con, keeping his real identity a secret, joins forces with Moore's innocent sister, Della (Renée Adorée). The uncle, as it turns out, is not dead at all but has been abducted by ranch foreman John Hampton (Philo McCullough), who wants the ranch for himself. This convoluted Western, whose working title was "Vamoose," had two directors: Scott R. Dunlap and C.R. Wallace, often an indication of a troubled production. Leading lady Adorée later became a major star at MGM as John Gilbert's French girlfriend in The Big Parade (1925). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Influenced by his environment, a poor boy (Sidney D'Albrook) winds up in prison. So does a rich boy (Joseph Marquis), who commits forgery. They suffer through the old methods of running a prison, and when the poor boy gets out, he winds up getting sent back in again. This time there is a new warden (Thomas Brooks) who has made some positive changes and the prisoners receive better treatment. When the gang member who ratted on the poor boy is murdered, the wrong man is accused of the crime. He is sentenced to death, and both the poor boy and rich boy -- who have become friends -- escape from prison to try to save him. They are unsuccessful, and an innocent man goes to the electric chair. The governor is shocked that this has happened, and he pardons the two young men who worked so hard to set things right. Now that they are free, the pair are able to reunite with their sweethearts (Vivienne Osborn and Helen Ferguson). This preachy drama was produced by prison reformer Thomas Mott Osborne, who was the warden at Sing Sing and, during the war, warden at the U.S. Naval Prison at Portsmouth, NH. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Like many another adventure film of the era, With Neatness and Dispatch was based on a Saturday Evening Post story by prolific wordsmith Kenneth Roberts. The story begins at a fancy country estate known as Eden, where Geraldine and Mary Ames (Beverly Bayne, Sylvia Arnold) live a sheltered existence with their eccentric Aunt Letitia (Ricca Allen). A natural-born man hater, Aunt Letitia refuses to allow Geraldine and Mary to have anything to do with romance. Aware that Mary wants to elope with a young engineer, Geraldine takes matters in her own hands, arranging with the local police commissioner (a long-time family friend) to have Aunt Letitia "robbed," tied up, and gagged by a supposed desperado, thereby allowing Mary an opportunity to escape. The man assigned to pull off the deception is the commissioner's son, Paul Donaldson (Francis X. Bushman), who pretends to be a notorious escaped convict named Slim Keegan. Little does anyone realize that Keegan is already ensconced at Eden as the family chauffeur, and that the crook is planning to pull off a genuine robbery with the help of the other servants, all of whom are his underworld cronies. Convinced that Donaldson is Keegan, Geraldine takes a liking to our hero and sets about to "reform" him, unwittingly affording the real Keegan time aplenty to loot the family safe. Donaldson manages to collar the crooks and save the family fortune, but out of love for Geraldine he agrees to keep the troublesome Aunt Letitia firmly trussed up for a while so that both Geraldine and Mary can be married in peace. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A young Russian woman rises to become one of the world's most famous ballet dancers in this romantic silent drama. Her story begins as she, the lead dancer of the Imperial Ballet, becomes the love object of Russia's Grand Duke. They marry, but because the government disapproves of the union she is exiled to France, forcing her to leave her little daughter in the academy where she is raised by the head mistress. Under her loving guidance, this girl becomes world famous and begins touring. While dancing in Paris, she is kidnapped by a would-be suitor. Just as he is about to forcibly steal her virtue, the girl's mother appears and shoots the cad dead. When the Grand Duke learns of the shenanigans he rushes over before the police arrive and takes the rap for the murder. Fortunately, all is righted by the end, and the family finally comes back together. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In Vim's Plump and Runt series, Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge were rivals almost as often as they were pals, making them a markedly different sort of team from Hardy's later partnership with brilliant comic mastermind Stan Laurel. Here Plump (Hardy) and Runt (Ruge) want the same girl, Elsie (Elsie McLeod). Either out of materialism or indecision, Elsie tells them she will choose the man who gets the better job. Runt lands employment as a bank's office boy. Plump, after a few failures, finally rescues the bank president's daughter and is hired as superintendent. The first thing he does is fire Runt. After finding out about Plump's new position, Elsie changes a dance invitation from Runt's name to that of Plump's. But Runt has gotten a job at a tailor's shop and when Plump brings his suit in to be pressed, he steals it and wears it to the dance himself. Left no other alternative, Plump shows up wearing a barrel. Elsie listens sympathetically to his tale of woe and he wins her heart. This one-reel comedy should in no way, shape or form be confused with the 1915 feature, which was based on a Rupert Hughes novel. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi