Edna Murphy Movies

Five of Laurel and Hardy's best features from the silent film era are compiled in this collection by Robert Youngson. Included are From Soup To Nuts, Wrong Again, The Finishing Touch, and iberty. On hand are legendary comic foils like James Findlayson and Edgar Kennedy, both masters of the "slow burn" when showing their disapproval. Watch for Margaret Dumont, famous for her characterization as the flustered dowager in many Marx Brothers films, in the pie-fight scene. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A newspaper journalist must choose between the two women he loves in this drama. On one hand, he is in love with a publisher's daughter. On the other, he also loves a stage star who came to Tinsel Town to seek her fortune but finds she can only get parts as an extra. The hard working reporter soon finds himself promoted to city editor after he provides a couple of gangland scoops. For a while, he stops seeing the actress in favor of the publisher's daughter. The jilted actress then becomes a gangster's moll. It is during a car chase in which the editor is chasing the crooks, that he must finally choose whether to continue chasing them or to follow the car containing the actress. Naturally, he chooses hers. Love ensues. Meanwhile, the publisher's daughter is left out in the cold. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A couple of holdovers from the silent era, Kenneth Harlan and Edna Murphy, starred in this below-average Universal serial directed by the prolific Ray Taylor. Murphy's father (William Worthington) is falsely accused of murder, but Secret Service agent Harlan believes the real culprit to be the leader of a gang of smugglers. Unfortunately, it takes Harlan ten rather dull serial chapters to prove his point. A brunette flapper star of the 1920s, Edna Murphy was once married to director Mervyn LeRoy. She retired shortly after making the less than inspiring Finger Prints. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Dancing Sweeties is set primarily in a Chicago dance emporium. During a dance contest, Bill (Grant Withers) and Molly (Sue Carol) meet and fall in love. Deciding to go professional, Bill drops Molly when she proves unable to memorize their dance routines. Finally, however, Bill realizes that there's more to life than a syncopated pair of tootsies, and he proposes to Molly. The film's four songs were hummable but forgettable: a fifth, "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes," was cut from the final release print but went on to become a hit thanks to incessant radio and jukebox exposure. The reviewer for Variety at the time of the film's release described Dancing Sweeties as typical of a genre in which the characters' brains were in their feet. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a 1923 novel by Fannie Hurst, this dreary and primitive early talkie was unleashed on a derisive audience in January of 1930. Winifred Westover played the title-role, a downtrodden Swedish kitchen slavey seduced by the son (Ben Lyon) of her wealthy employer (Ida Darling). When she discovers that the boy is engaged to a society belle, she leaves the household, carefully hiding her pregnancy. Giving the baby up for adoption to a rich family, "Lummox," a la Madame X, can only watch from the sides as her son (Robert Ullman then William Bakewell) grows up in luxury to become a famous concert pianist. Directed by one of the grand old men of the silent era, Herbert Brenon, Lummox was stagebound to the point of ridiculousness with actors speaking their lines carefully into mikes hidden in vases and other such places. The film was also a case of nepotism: Not even a near-star, Winifred Westover was the wife of William S. Hart, the former Western ace rumored to have a financial interest in the producing company, United Artists. Formerly a leading lady of silent Westerns, Westover was singularly incapable of carrying a full-fledged talking picture. The film, her first in nine years, also proved her last. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Vallery Grove (Dolores Costello) may be high up the social ladder, but she hasn't a penny to her name thanks to her family's improvidence. Vallery is in love with Don Warren (Chester Morris), but he rejects her because of her present financial woes. Though she still loves Don, she marries Owen Mallory (Jack Mulhall) on the rebound, making her Mrs. Vallery Mallory (sounds like a joke on Laugh-In). Eventually Vallery realizes that Owen's the only man for her -- whereupon the fickle Don, now married himself, returns to the scene, demanding at gunpoint that Vallery dump her husband and return to him. The silliness of the plotline was forgotten by film fans in the light of the film's central gimmick: A revolving nightclub, which makes a complete 360-degree turn without mussing the hair of a single drunken patron. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Sap is Edward Everett Horton, a small-towner with big plans, but lacking the wherewithal to put them in motion. Even worse, Horton allows everyone to take advantage of him, further driving the nails into the coffin of his ambitions. When his brother-in-law gets mixed up with an embezzlement scheme, the Sap loyally takes the rap, going so far as to conspire with a couple of crooks to replace the money. This time, however, things turn out to our hero's advantage -- though just how this happens isn't entirely clear, even when one sees the movie. Co-starring in The Sap is silent-film ingenue Patsy Ruth Miller, an old friend of Edward Everett Horton, who'd previously appeared with Horton's California-based repertory theatre along with such mutual chums as Mary Astor, Laura LaPlante and Franklin Pangborn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ace acrobat Richard Talmadge heads the cast of the entertaining cheapie Bachelor's Club. Talmadge plays the president of a club wherein the members have disavowed any contact with women. Punishment for infraction of the rules is a severe paddling by the sergeant-at-arms. But when he falls in love with beautiful Barbara Worth, Talmadge insists that the prescribed punishment be meted out to him. After this jocular opening, the film settles down to the sort of traditional action-melodrama fare which Richard Talmadge fans had come to expect -- and indeed, demand. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Monte Blue, Edna Murphy, and Robert Ober star in this rather silly triangle melodrama, in which a supposed widow almost marries her husband's brother. Shot down over France, Blue survives but suffers from amnesia. Eight years later, his grieving widow (Edna) agrees to marry Ober, after taking one last look at the place in France where her "late" husband was last seen. Blue, meanwhile, has obtained employment at his father's aircraft plant when his memory suddenly returns. Claiming to be the son of the owner, he is immediately shipped off to the looney bin. Escaping, Blue takes himself to France where he is reunited with his wife. The assistant director of this film, Henry Blanke, later became one of Warner's most tasteful producers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Fred Thomson plays a dual role (sort of) in The Sunset Legion. Thomson is cast as a Texas ranger who poses as a cowardly firearms salesman in order to infiltrate a lawless town. By night, our hero assumes the guise of "The Black-Robed Stranger" to bedevil the villains. Heroine Edna Murphy is mad about The Black-Robed Stranger but has no time for the firearms peddler, never realizing that the two men are one in the same. The Zorro-like plot line wends its way toward an exciting conclusion, as Thomson takes on saloon owner (and outlaw leader) Harry Woods. At this point, he reveals his true identity to the wide-eyed Murphy, leading to mucho hugs 'n' kisses for the finale. The Sunset Legion was directed by Lloyd Ingraham, who helmed most of Fred Thomson's Paramount vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cowboy hero Fred Thomson's beautiful horse Silver King was the real star of this well-made FBO western. The film was Thomson's penultimate effort for the studio before signing with Paramount. After rescuing his employer Zeke (William Courtwright) from a mountain lion and Zeke's daughter Lucindy (Edna Murphy) from a runaway racehorse, Fred is given Silver King to train for the Big Race. Zeke bet his ranch on the outcome of the race, only to find Silver King abducted by the nasty Stanton (Harry Woods). Fred finds the horse in the nick of time, however, and together they beat Stanton's entry in the race. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This minor but typical Roaring '20s melodrama starred Edna Murphy, a Clara Bow type, and the wife of director Mervyn LeRoy. When Edna and newspaper reporter Bryant Washburn visit a roadhouse, the joint is raided by the police, and in the ensuing melee, Edna's too-indulgent father (Ernest Hilliard) is killed. Washburn is convicted of the murder, and Edna desperately tries to clear him. With Edna's newfound evidence, the governor stays the execution in the 11th hour, and all ends happily. This modest programmer was produced by Trem Carr, later one of the founders of Monogram. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This fast-paced melodrama is set in Tall Timber country, with a few side trips to the High Society set. Kenneth Harlan stars as a devil-may-care lumberman who is constantly at odds with his far-from-pleasant brother (Jack Richardson). The plot thickens when brother dear betrays everyone in sight for the sake of a quick buck, following in the footsteps of his covetous mother. Tragedy ensues when the villain "ruins" an innocent young girl (played by future radio star Barbara Luddy) who promptly throws herself over a cliff. Heroine Edna Murphy manages to escape this fate, enjoying a happy-ever-after with hero Harlan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi