William Orlamond Movies

Directed by Edwin L. Marin, Sworn Enemy stars Robert Young as "Hank" Sherman, a law student who earns extra cash by working as a chauffeur. His job becomes significantly harder, however, when he finds himself entangled in the effort to catch the mobster who murdered his boss and harmed his brother. In order to get closer to the killer, Sherman Young masquerates as a fight promoter, and in the process falls in love with his beautiful assistant Maragaret (Florence Rice). Eventually, the young man gains the trust of the mobsters, and is allowed to join in their gang. Once inside, Sherman rushes to avenge the deaths of those near and dear to him. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Eternal movie juvenile Eric Linden offers perhaps the best performance of his career in RKO's Are These Our Children? In this pioneering Juvenile Delinquent drama, Linden plays a know-it-all high school dropout who falls in with a bad crowd. While burglarizing the delicatessen of a family friend (William Orlamond), Linden accidentally kills the old man. No one can connect him with the crime, and for a while Linden privately gloats as he reads newspaper stories of the killing. But one of his friends (Ben Alexander), who was in on the robbery, spills the beans, and Linden winds up going to the chair. The true impact of Are These Our Children? is Linden's performance as an emotionally immature youth who cannot fully fathom the seriousness of his dilemma: he tries to jolly himself into believing that he hasn't killed anyone, and as he sits on death row he continues displaying a childish bravado, as if expecting to wake up from a bad dream at any moment. Despite its age and the corniness of some of the dialogue, Are These Our Children? is an unforgettably powerful film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this college campus musical comedy from director James Tinling, the first film in which John Wayne received billing (though it's as Duke Morrison), Lois Moran stars as Mary, a pretty young singer who is sought after by two competing composers. Wayne plays Phil, one of the two rival songwriters who are vying not only for the girl, but for a 1,500-dollar prize for writing the best show tune. Mary agrees to sing each of their entries in the contest, but in the end she can only choose one of the young men. Songs include "Too Wonderful for Words," by William Kernell, Dave Stamper, Paul Gerard Smith, and Edmund Joseph; "Stepping Along," also by Kernell; and "Shadows," by Con Conrad, Sidney Mitchell, and Archie Gottler. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Orville Caldwell, who registered well as Marion Davies' leading man in MGM's The Patsy, was afforded star billing in FBO's The Little Yellow House. A backwoods drama, the story details the tribulations of the Milburns, a farming family headed by an irresponsible alcoholic (William Orlamond). A wealthy relative offers to help out the Milburns, but the proud patriarch refuses to take charity. Fed up with her shabby existence, young Emily Milburn (Martha Sleeper) walks out on her family and heads to the Big City, where she is nearly violated by all-around cad Wells Harbison (Freeman Wood). Emily is rescued just in time by her hometown sweetheart Rob Hollis (Orville Caldwell). She returns home, vowing to make the best of things despite her dad's shiftless ways. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Back in the late teens, Bryant Washburn starred in a successful series based on the "Skinner" stories by Henry Irving Dodge. After the success of Reginald Denny's Skinner's Dress Suit (1926), Washburn returned to the fold with Skinner's Big Idea in 1928. As before, the star plays Skinner, a young businessman on the way up. Now a partner in his business firm, Skinner is ordered by his boss to fire two of the older employees. Feeling beholden to the old fellows, he decides to save their jobs by enlivening their work performance. To do this, he hires cute, vivacious secretary Dorothy (Martha Sleeper), whose presence "rejuvenates" the two geezers. Naturally, Mrs. Skinner (Ethel Grey Terry) suspects the worst -- until the last reel, of course. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wind, Victor Sjostrom's final American film, is a western only in its locale: its symbolism-laden story of physical and spiritual repression, culminating in a violent, hysterical outburst, has more in common with the European or Scandanavian cinema than with the usual MGM product. Lillian Gish plays a sheltered Virginia girl who heads to Texas to live with her male cousin and his family. Upon arriving at her new home-actually little more than a squalid shack-she is treated as an unwelcome interloper. Even worse is the omnipresecent wind, which howls ceaselessly all around. To quell the jealousy of her cousin's wife, Lillian marries cowboy Lars Hanson, but this impulsive union seems foredoomed from the start. During Hanson's absence, Lillian is visited by former suitor Montague Love. With rape on his mind, Love laughs derisively as Lillian aims a pistol at his midsection. His laughter ceases when she pulls the trigger (the killing is subtly conveyed by a cutaway to a sand-covered plate, which jiggles slightly from the impact of the shot). In near hysteria, she drags the dead man outside and buries him, the mercilessly wind whipping and buffetting her about. Locking herself in the shack, Lillian looks out the window--and, in fascinated horror, sees Love's body "emerging" from the constantly shifting sands. In the film's original ending, Lillian goes completely mad, wandering blindly into the desert. Preview audiences were revolted by this denoument, so the film now ends with Larson's return and a happy reconciliation (reportedly, director Sjostrom's original cut is still available from European sources). In later years, Lillian Gish recalled The Wind as the toughest, most unpleasant picture she ever worked on. The location scenes were shot in the Mojave Desert, where the combination of relentless heat and artificially induced windstorms made working conditions virtually intolerable. At one point, Ms. Gish absentmindedly clutched the metal handle of her car's door-immediately incurring a second-degree burn. Adapted by Frances Marion from a novel by Dorothy Scarborough, The Wind, despite its artistic merit, was a box-office disappointment, resulting in a parting of the ways between Lillian Gish and MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Mulhall stars as Jerry Marsden, the wastrelly son of millionaire milk wholesaler J. Marsden Sr. (George Fawcett). After bailing Jerry out of one scrape too many, the elder Marsden cuts off the boy's allowance and tells him he's on his own. While looking for work, Jerry is hired by wealthy Roger Whitney (Crauford Kent) to serve a brief jail term on Whitney's behalf. Locked up in a minimum-security prison especially designed for "celebrity" convicts, Jerry is ensconced in a luxury cell and waited on hand-and-foot by the supplicative guards. He enjoys the occasional visits from Whitney's pretty sister Ruth (Alice Day). Entering into a business deal with another of the millionaire prisoners, Jerry strikes it rich, pleasing his dear old daddy to no end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former film editor Dorothy Arzner made her directorial debut with the Esther Ralston vehicle Fashions for Women. Ralston stars as Celeste de Givray, renowned throughout Europe as the most beautiful and best-dressed model in all Paris. Her press agent DuPont (Raymond Hatton) concocts an attention-getting publicity scheme by having Celeste undergo cosmetic surgery, then unveiling her "new" face at a posh fashion show. But thanks to a delay in the surgery, DuPont is forced to hired a substitute for Celeste, a look-alike American girl named Lulu Dooley (also played by Esther Ralston). The fun begins when Lulu, posing as Celeste, is paired up at a social occasion with aviator Raoul de Bercy (Einer Hansen), who is all too aware of Lulu's true identity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As a follow-up to the successful marital farce Up in Mabel's Room, PDC Productions came out with a film version of the evergreen Avery Hopwood stage comedy Getting Gertie's Garter. Charles Ray, once again trying vainly to shed his "boy next door" image, stars as a bachelor lawyer who gives a jeweled garter and a photograph to his girlfriend Marie Prevost. Upon becoming engaged, however, Ray realizes that his bride-to-be is not the understanding type. Thus, he spends the rest of the picture trying to retrieve the garter from Prevost, who isn't about to give up the precious -- and embarrassing -- keepsake. Famed fan dancer Sally Rand shows up in a supporting role, as does that ubiquitous movie fussbudget Franklin Pangborn. Getting Gertie's Garter was remade in 1944 with Dennis O'Keefe and Marie McDonald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clara Bow plays an inveterate flirt who impulsively marries much-older mountain man Ernest Torrence. When city lawyer Percy Marmont shows up on a camping trip, Bow can't help but lead the poor fellow on. He resists her advances, but finally succumbs, leading to disaster. Very typical of the silent films that catapulted jazz-baby Clara Bow to stardom in the late 1920s, Mantrap benefits immeasurably from Bow's boundless vivacity and from the breathtaking location photography by James Wong Howe. One nagging question: what does twentysomething Bow see in either of her superannuated leading men--particularly the cadaverous Percy Marmont? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mr. and Mrs. Weedle (William Gillespie and Charlotte Mineau) are in a jam: For years, they've been receiving substantial amounts of money from their rich uncle (William A. Orlamond), who has been led to believe that the Weedles have two children to support. Now Uncle is coming to town, and the duplicitous couple must come up with a pair of babies in a hurry. Naturally, the Our Gang kids hope to get the job, but they're given a run for their money by a mischievous 27-year-old midget (Harry Earles). Meanwhile, Gang member Joe Cobb tries to curb his fighting blood, with less than successful results. Making good use of Hal Roach Studios' standing hotel sets, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Baby Clothes was originally released on April 25, 1926 (an abbreviated TV version, retitled The Rich Uncle, is best avoided; without the original subtitles, the story makes virtually no sense). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide