Milton Sills Movies

In his next-to-last film, silent-screen favorite Milton Sills stars as a tough but good-natured Manhattan bootlegger. Saving the life of aspiring singer Dorothy Mackaill, Sills gives her a job in his nightclub. She's grateful for the break, but she can't fall in love with Sills, since her heart belongs to newspaperman Kenneth MacKenna. Any other hoodlum would put the reporter "on the spot," but Sills shows he's a right guy by giving his blessings to the couple. Though supposedly too old for the heroine, the 47-year-old Milton Sills looks far more handsome and virile than the antiseptic Kenneth MacKenna (and he's a better actor to boot!) Man Trouble was based on "A Very Practical Joke," a short story by Ben Ames Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Comedy specialist Edward F. Cline was a curious choice to direct the typically two-fisted Milton Sills vehicle The Crash. Sills plays the head guy of a wrecking crew who, while out on the town, is smitten by burlesque dancer Thelma Todd. At first, Sills' intentions toward Todd are strictly dishonorable, but by and by he learns to love her and ultimately asks her to be his wife. The local gossips loudly disapprove of the match, and pretty soon Sills begins to wonder if he's made a mistake, but after a spectacular train-wreck finale (hence the film's title), hero and heroine are reunited. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a novel by Jack London, Burning Daylight was the first of Milton Sills' four 1928 vehicles. Sills stars as an Alaskan real estate speculator known to friends and foes alike as "Burning Daylight." After making a fortune in the Yukon, the hero loses it all to crooked stock manipulators in San Francisco. When legal methods fail, Burning Daylight pulls out a gun and forces the crooks to return the money. He then hands over the cash to those who bought stock in his Alaskan investments, which leaves him a pauper -- but an honest one. Returning to Alaska, Burning Daylight optimistically decides to start life all over again, this time in the company of his faithful sweetheart Virginia (played by Milton Sills' real-life wife Doris Kenyon). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"Hard Boiled" Haggerty (Milton Sills) is a flight lieutenant who uses German planes for target practice during WWI. For all his bravery in the air, Haggerty is something of a clod on solid ground. Thus, when he gets mixed up with a pair of twin sisters (both played by Molly O'Day), our hero messes up to the point that he faces a court-martial. Only the Armistice saves Haggerty from feeling the full force of Military Justice. Restored to his original rank, our hero is able to escort the twin with whom he's fallen in love back to America. Fans of Milton Sills were satisfied, though some complained that Hard Boiled Haggerty didn't contain enough aerial action to suit them. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the George W. Sutton Jr. story Dawn of My Tomorrow, Framed turned out to be another winner for box-office "reliable" Milton Sills. The story begins with the court-martial of military officer Raoul Hilaire (Sills); thanks to a series of explanatory subtitles, we know that Hilaire is innocent of all charges, but the rest of the characters do not. Leaving France in disgrace, Hilaire heads to South America where he is hired as overseer of a Brazilian diamond mine. Here he is reintroduced to his ex-sweetheart Diane Laurens (Natalie Kingston), whose husband Alphone (E. J. Radcliffe) is the man who framed Hilaire on the jewel-robbery charge that got him booted from the army. After rescuing Diane from a mudslide, Hilaire decides to confront his accuser -- only to find that Alphonse has been satisfactorily hoist on his own petard. Deciding that his old enemy has been punished enough, Hilaire returns to the arms of his true love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Men of Steel was the last of Milton Sills' four starring films in 1926. Sills plays Jan Bokak, a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle. Two different girls -- wealthy socialite Claire Pitt (May Allison) and blue-collar worker Mary Berwick (Doris Kenyon) -- simultaneously fall for Bokak. It later develops that Claire and Mary are actually sisters, the first of a series of surprising plot twists leading to Bokak being accused of a murder he didn't commit. In the gutsy climax, the actual villain attempts to kill Bokak by pouring a vat of molten steel upon him! Not long after the completion of Men of Steel, leading man Sills married leading lady Kenyon, a union that endured until Sills' untimely death in 1930. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Milton Sills stars as Nicki, a popular puppeteer who returns from the battlefields of WWI deaf as a post. He soon discovers that his sweetheart Angela (Gertrude Olmstead) has become engaged to his former wardrobe master Bruno (Francis McDonald). Before the story can metamorphose into a modern-day Pagliacci, a backstage fire breaks out at Nicki's puppet theater. Bruno behaves like a craven coward during the conflagration, but Nicki valiantly saves everyone from a horrible death. As a result, Angela vows eternal devotion to Nicki -- whose hearing has been restored in all the excitement. John F. Goodrich adapted the screenplay from a theatrical piece by Frances Lightner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The popular husband-and-wife screen team of Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon star in The Unguarded Hour. Hoping to keep her away from her fortune-hunting boyfriend, the wealthy father (Claude King) of heiress Virginia Gilbert (Doris Kenyon) ships the girl off to Europe, where she is to live in the home of her dad's old friend, Duchess Bianca (Dolores Cassinelli). En route, Virginia's plane crashes, whereupon she is rescued by handsome radio operator Andrea (Milton Sills), with whom she falls in love. As luck would have it, Andrea is actually the Duke of Arona, Duchess Bianca's nephew, so Virginia's father blesses the couple's romance. But no one can foresee the "unguarded hour" when Viriginia is discovered in an innocent but highly compromising situation with scoundrelly Count Stello (Charles Beyer). To protect her sister Elena (Lorna Duveen), the Count's actual lover, Virginia refuses to explain her presence in the cad's boudoir, whereupon Andrea immediately breaks off the engagement. Ultimately, Elena kills herself, leaving behind a note exonerating Virginia. The now-contrite Andrea begs Virginia's forgiveness -- but not before tossing the Count to his death from a high balcony. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When he tears a ligament in his arm, light heavyweight champion Sandy Donlin (Milton Sills) is forced to take a break from the ring. His friend Parker, a lumber magnate (Claude King) sends him to the North woods to battle against a rival lumber boss. The rival turns out to be Farot (Harlan Knight) and his fetching daughter, Jean (Lorna Duveen), and Parker's schemes are anything but on the up-and-up. Donlin changes alliances and tries to stop his former friend's plans. Parker's men still manage to dynamite the dam, which ties up the Farot lumber for a year. It looks like Jean won't be able to make the mortgage unless Donlin goes back into the ring. The only problem is that Jean has already said she hates fighting and will have nothing to do with pugilists. At the last minute, she has a change of heart, and Donlin wins the bout and makes the payment. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Artistic backgrounds and trick photography were the draws in this romantic drama, based on The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. As Ben Ali, Ramon Novarro practically disappears in the midst of all the camera work and set design, as does his co-star Kathleen Key (who, incidentally, was a descendent of Francis Scott Key). The film's titles are, more often than not, direct quotes of the Rubaiyat's verses. As a result, the plot sticks pretty much to the original Edward Fitzgerald translation -- Ben Ali, the son of Omar (Frederick Warde), is engaged to Sherin (Key), but lusty old sheik Hassan Ben Sabbath (Edwin Stevens) wants Sherin for himself. Although Ben Ali gets the girl, Edwin Stevens walks off with the acting honors, and occasionally another actor's presence emerges memorably in the midst of all the fancy backgrounds and harems, most notably funny-faced character actor Snitz Edwards as Omar's servant. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Because of the recent Tea Pot Dome scandal, oil fields were a big topic of discussion in early 1924. Even though this melodrama concerned a scandal of a different sort, its setting in the Texas oil lands gave it a timely feel. Unfairly given a dishonorable discharge from the army, Calvin Gray (Milton Sills) lands in Dallas, where he manages to win the trust of a jeweler and is able to sell a number of diamonds to the nouveau riche Briskows (Bert Woodruff and Josephine Crowell). He makes friends with the family, who have made their fortune in oil, and rescues their son, Buddy (John Roche), from the clutches of an adventuress known as the Suicide Blonde (Cissy Fitzgerald). The Briskows, in turn, help him prove false the charges that caused his dismissal from the army. Although Gray was involved with Barbara Parker (Alice Calhoun), when Allie, the Briskow daughter (Anna Q. Nilsson), saves him from a flood of burning oil, he discovers that he really loves her. Meanwhile, Buddy wins Barbara as his sweetheart. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This 12-reel silent adaptation of The Sea Hawk is far more faithful to the Rafael Sabatini original than the 1940 Errol Flynn version. Milton Sills stars as Sir Oliver Tressilien, a wealthy English baronet who is framed for the murder of his fiancée's brother. The instigator of this outrage is Sir Tressilien's covetous half brother, who also arranges for Tressilien to be shanghaied and carried off to sea. When his ship is attacked by Spaniards, Tressilien is put to work as a galley slave. Escaping, he becomes the leader of a gang of Moorish pirates. Despite his now-fearsome reputation, Tressilien is able to win back the love of his fiancée, Lady Rosamund Godolphin (Enid Bennett), who has been compelled to marry his half brother. A thrilling climactic duel to the death brings this sure-fire audience pleaser to a rousing conclusion. The Sea Hawk may well be the best film ever made by the popular Milton Sills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi