Mary Alden Movies

A remarkably smooth 110-minute adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's marathon eight-hour play, Strange Interlude was advertised as "the picture in which you hear the characters think," a nod to O'Neill's technique of having the characters speak their innermost thoughts out loud between dialogue passages (on-stage, the actors stood stock still while delivering their soliloquies; in the film, their thoughts are heard on the soundtrack). Norma Shearer plays Nina Leeds, who during WWI is talked out of marrying her soldier sweetheart, Gordon Shaw (Robert Young), by her professor father (Henry B. Walthall). When Gordon dies two days before the Armistice, the embittered Nina rebels against her father, escaping his dominance by marrying faithful Sam Evans (Alexander Kirkland). Upon discovering that there is a strain of insanity in the Evans family, Nina, desperate to have children, enters into a romance with Dr. Ned Darrell (Clark Gable). She bears his child, a son named Gordon (Tad Alexander as a child, Robert Young as an adult), assuring Evans that the baby is his. Gordon grows up idolizing Evans and despising Darrell, even though the boy is unaware of the circumstances of his birth or his true parentage. Her love for her son bordering on the obsessive, Nina does everything she can to dominate the boy even into adulthood, trying to scare away her son's fiancée, Madeline (Maureen O'Sullivan), by bringing up the insanity issue. Hoping to make up for past misdeeds, Darrell orders Nina to stop poisoning Madeline's mind against Gordon. By the time Evans suffers a fatal heart attack, Nina and Darrell have lost whatever love they shared between them. Through it all, Charlie Marsden (Ralph Morgan), a family friend who has long harbored an unrequited love for Nina, stands on the sidelines vicariously living his life through Nina and Darrell. Of necessity severely cut due to time and censorial constrictions, Strange Interlude still manages to distill the essence of the O'Neill play in its comparatively brief running time. The film's major flaw can also be found in the original play: though the characters age only 25 years or so in the course of the story, by the film's end they are seen doddering around like nonagenarians. The "speaking one's thoughts" gimmick in Strange Interlude was parodied in such comedy films as Animal Crackers, Me and My Gal, So This Is Africa, and even the Walter Catlett two-reeler Get Along Little Hubby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, an early talkie containing approximately 4 minutes of dialog and a song, a man is paroled from prison provided he adheres strictly to "Rule No. 3," which states that he cannot get romantically involved, nor marry until he is off parole. He encounters trouble when he saves a doe-eyed girl from drowning and falls instantly in love. Fortunately, his parole officer is sensitive and the office grants the parolee special dispensation to wed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paramount's popular screen team of Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Mary Brian were once again cinematically united in 1928's Someone to Love. Rogers plays William Shelby, a struggling young sheet-music salesman, while Brian is Joan Kendricks, his wealthy sweetie. Thanks to a series of bizarre coincidences and misunderstandings, Joan is led to believe that the virtuous William is a no-account fortune hunter and skirt-chaser. But he redeems himself by using his salesmanship to put a bankrupt girl's school back on its financial feet. Not only does William get the girl, but he also falls heir to 20 million bucks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W.C. Fields' last silent film reteams him with walrus-mustached comedian Chester Conklin. Schemer Richard Whitehead (Fields) hopes to talk Samuel Hunter (Conklin), the town's richest man, into investing in an oil field. The two partners soon learn to their chagrin that their wells went dry years ago. This causes quite a strain in the romance between Hunter's daughter Louise (Sally Blaine) and Fields' young business associate Ray Caldwell (Jack Luden). But the day is saved when the "worthless" fields suddenly and unexpectedly yield a gusher. Even seasoned funsters like Fields and Conklin couldn't do much with the substandard material doled out to them in this long-lost turkey, which seems to have been slapped together merely to finish off the Paramount contracts of both actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This playful Allan Dwan effort stars Olive Borden as impulsive flapper Jewel Courage, who dumps the man she loves, a humble chauffeur (Jimmy Grainger Jr.) in favor of millionaire John Jeffrey Fleet (Neil Hamilton). Jewel soon discovers that Fleet is actually the chauffeur and her ex-beau is the millionaire; the two merely traded places for a lark. Briefly taken aback, Jewel decides to prove that she, too, can changes her spots, and before long she has become a wealthy Bodaceia of Big Business. Stills from The Joy Girl suggest that the film's principal selling angle was the stunning beauty of Olive Borden, who appeared in a variety of revealing outfits. A lengthy Technicolor sequence allowed the viewer several tantalizing glimpses of Palm Beach, Florida, vintage 1927. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While the mid-1920s were deluged with films about college life, and Brown of Harvard is probably the ultimate silent film in this genre, even more significantly it is an early example of the buddy film. Never mind the romance between Harvard undergrad Tom Brown (William Haines) and professor's daughter, Mary Abbott (Mary Brian) -- the real love story, and the one that truly moves the film's plot, is the one between the handsome, athletic Brown and his weakling sidekick Jim Doolittle (Jack Pickford) (in fact, the physical contrast between the two men is echoed in another important buddy film which came out some 40 years later -- Midnight Cowboy). The relationship between the two young men is established right from the beginning, when the brash and cocky Brown easily wins over his dormitory mates but refuses to let them ostracize Doolittle. Doolittle becomes Brown's biggest champion and their mutual loyalty is much more straightforward than Brown's pursuit of Mary, who can't decide whether she hates him, loves him, or prefers his stuffy rival, Bob MacAndrews (Francis X. Bushman, Jr.). Doolittle sticks by his pal when he loses the rowing competition against Yale, and later on risks his life by chasing after Brown in a pouring rainstorm to tell him that he hasn't been scratched from the football team after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Earth Woman was one of several films produced by Mrs. Wallace Reid (Dorothy Davenport), who after the drug-induced death of her movie-idol husband dedicated herself to saving impressionable filmgoers from the evils and pitfalls of modern life. The story is set in the hills of Tennessee, where practically everybody gets smashed on rotgut moonshine. A drink-benumbed hillbilly tries to rape heroine Sally Tilden (Priscilla Bonner), setting off a chain reaction of violence, murder, and false confessions. Through it all, "earth mother" Martha Tilden (Mary Alden) tries to hold her very dysfunctional brood together. Perhaps it was the notoriety of the still seething Hatfield-McCoy feud that prompted so many filmmakers to turn out "backwoods" dramas like this one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The frequently filmed Alice Hegan Rice novel Lovey Mary was given the slick MGM treatment in 1926. Bessie Love plays the title character, a 17-year-old orphanage runaway. Taken in by poor-but-kindly Mrs. Wiggs (Mary Alden), Lovey Mary spreads good cheer wherever she goes, even "curing" the town's leading sourpuss. She finally gets a share of happiness herself when Mrs. Wiggs' oldest son Billy (William Haines) pops the question. Lovey Mary was originally the sequel to Mrs. Rice's Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch itself filmed more than once over the years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mary Alden stands out as the powerful matriarch in this drama. Elderly Aunt Augusta (Alden) runs the great Ruyland Iron Works. Stock in the iron works is owned by the other members of the Ruyland clan, all of whom do Aunt Augusta's bidding. When she decides that Kenyon Ruyland (Eugene O'Brien) will be her successor, she also decrees that he marry Alberta Ruyland (Beatrice Burnham). Kenyon has already secretly wed Frederika (Virginia Valli), and he brings her home. The strong-willed Aunt Augusta meets her match in the young woman, and the only Ruyland who is willing to make friends with the interloper is Norval, who was born dumb (Marc McDermott). Frederika receives roses on a daily basis, and Aunt Augusta believes they are from an old admirer. So does Kenyon, and his suspicious nature compels his new wife to leave. Norval reveals that he was the one who sent the roses and commits suicide, leaving his stocks to her in his will. Frederika decides to turn the stock over to Aunt Augusta, when, combined with Kenyon's shares, will allow them to keep control of the works. Augusta refuses to accept them. She dashes off in her old carriage, and Frederika and Kenyon chase after her in their car. When they catch up with the old lady, she finally admits that she was wrong about Frederika and the two women embrace. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This melodrama about the moral redemption of two crooks stars Eileen Pearcy and Tom Moore. Whitey (Moore) goes from being a war hero to a crook. He earns the admiration of Kitty, a fellow crook (Pearcy), when he saves her from the advances of Mal (James Mason). She goes to the country to recover from a nervous breakdown, and to reform. Whitey and his pal, Skeeter (Eddie Phillips), are in the midst of a job when they are caught by the night watchman. Skeeter shoots him and is himself killed. Although Whitey is held as a witness, his friend, detective Jim Condon (Stanley Blystone), allows him to go free on the condition that he will go straight. Whitey goes to the same small town where Kitty resides and gets a job in a bank. It turns out that Kitty is staying with Skeeter's mother, and Whitey tells her that her son died a war hero, and hands over his own medal to prove it. He believes that Kitty is in love with Fred Morton, the bank's cashier (Tom Gallery), so he keeps his distance. There's a shortage at the bank and Whitey is a suspect, but Morton -- who throws over Kitty when he discovers her past -- is the real culprit. The despondent Kitty tries to commit suicide by going over the falls, but Whitey rescues her. The two reformed crooks are ultimately united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A cuckolded husband discovers that he is in love with his ex-wife's cousin in this domestic melodrama from independent producer B. P. Schulberg. Although agreeing at first to give up custody of their child, the ex-wife changes her mind when she discovers the truth. But the child is almost killed in a freak accident and the haughty wife, who wants to go off with a new lover, finally agrees to the divorce settlement. Although burdened with a lachrymose script, Faint Perfume was rescued by good performances from the three leads: Seena Owen as the wife, William Powell as the husband, and Alyce Mills as the innocent cousin. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Ellie Byrne ($Colleen Moore) and Don Lane (Ben Lyon) are childhood pals -- their fathers (Charles Murray and Russell Simpson) work together as glass blowers. They hope for better things in life, especially after they land an invitation to a fancy society party, where their shabby outfits look even shabbier next to the latest fashions. They both head for the city where Ellie aspires to stardom on the stage, and Lane works at writing. She's successful and he's not, but when he rewrites a play in which Ellie is starring, he finally makes it. Ellie is ready to marry Preston Dutton (Joseph Striker) when she comes to the realization that he's only after her money; meanwhile Lane has become engaged to Stephanie Parris (Charlotte Merriam), but the relationship breaks up. So Ellie and Lane go back home, disillusioned -- and realize, finally, that they really love each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide