Clive Brook Movies

Archduke Alexander (Clive Brook) is better known for his sexual conquests than his diplomatic triumphs. After a lifetime of loving 'em and leaving 'em, the Archduke finally meets a girl he can't leave, Hungarian lass Judith Peredy (Billie Dove). She resists his advances but can't hide the fact that she's in love with him. But Judith's brother Eugene (Nicholas Soussanin) resents the Archduke's presence, leading to the inevitable outbreak of violence. Judith and Eugene are thrown into prison, whereupon the conscience-stricken Archduke renounces his noble title, releases the brother and sister, and promises to be a good and faithful husband to the heroine. The Yellow Lily was the second of four cinematic collaborations between star Billie Dove and director Alexander Korda. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After leaving D.W.Griffith's stock company, Henry B. Walthall tended to flounder for several years in such indifferent starring vehicles as the Essanay three-reeler The Woman Hater. The plot has something to do with a misogynist (Walthall) who impulsively decides to take a bride (Edna Mayo) then changes his mind and stalks out of the church on the day of the wedding. The hero's best friend Bryant Washburn takes it upon himself to solve matters. Washburn arranges for Walthall to be arrested on a trumped-up charge, from which he will be released only if he agrees to a jailhouse wedding with the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Where Sinners Meet was based on The Dover Road, a whimsical play by A. A. Milne. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard, stars of the 1933 Oscar-winner Cavalcade, are reunited herein. A reclusive eccentric who has survived two unhappy marriages, Mr. Latimer pursues the strange hobby of arranging traffic accidents so that he can "kidnap" extramarital couples to warn them of the pitfalls of infidelity. His latest captives are Anne and Leonard (Wynyard and Reginald Owen) and Eustacia and Nicholas (Billie Burke and Alan Mowbray), all four of whom are escaping what they believe to be mismatched marriages. Genteelly imprisoning the two couples in his comfortable country estate, Mr. Latimer allows them enough time together to get on one another's nerves and realize that they should all return to their legal mates. Both Leonard and Nicholas are sufficiently frightened to make a break for it, but Anne and Eustacia insist upon remaining with their host -- which isn't exactly what Latimer had in mind! Where Sinners Meet was previously filmed in 1927 as The Little Adventuress. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Underworld opens with a series of title cards setting its mood, telling of "a great city in the dead of night...streets lonely...moon clouded...buildings as empty as the cave dwellings of a forgotten age." Suddenly an explosion shatters the façade of a bank building, and the title cards announce that crime kingpin Bull Weed (George Bancroft) has "closed another account." Bull emerges from the wreckage carrying his swag, but while making his getaway, he spots a derelict (Clive Brook) wandering past, a potential witness, despite his apparent inebriated state. Instead of killing him, Weed knocks him cold, throws him in his car, and takes off, intending to figure out later what to do with his unexpected "guest." Weed turns out to be a man of many parts -- greedy and a brute when it comes to getting or keeping what he wants, but with a soft spot for the underdog, and also smart enough to recognize the importance of some knowledge that he doesn't possess. He takes a liking to the erudite but totally dissolute man, christening him "Rolls Royce" and keeping him around as an elegant stooge, advisor, and sometime driver. The man is only too happy to be taken off the streets and set up in an apartment with a full library of books at his disposal, and the two men's relationship is harmonious and mutually beneficial -- the former derelict has a home, and the crime boss gets smart advice.

Bull Weed and Rolls Royce's meeting is our introduction to the world of Weed, in which he runs much of what he surveys, but not without challengers. His most notable rival is vicious hood "Buck" Mulligan (Fred Kohler), who doesn't like Weed and also covets his girlfriend, "Feathers" McCoy (Evelyn Brent). Rolls Royce is also drawn to Feathers, who is, in turn, attracted to the gentle, witty man; however, out of decency to Bull, who has been a benefactor in his own way to both of them, they agree to stay away from each other. This drives Rolls Royce back to the bottle part of the time. Weed and Mulligan finally have it out during the underworld's annual drunken bacchanal, a wildly expressionistic sequence that must have seemed all the more dazzling and compelling to audiences in 1927, in the middle of the Prohibition Era. Mulligan tries to take advantage of his rival's passing out in a stupor by having his way with Feathers, but Bull awakens with help from Mulligan's jealous girlfriend and Rolls Royce, and proceeds to rescue Feathers and finish Mulligan -- an act that gets him charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to die. Feathers and Rolls Royce, with the help of Bull's gang, try to help him break out on the eve of his execution, but their plan fails. Bull manages to escape on his own, though, and goes seeking revenge against Feathers and Rolls Royce, whom he believes have betrayed him. Just as Bull is about to pull out his gun, however, he discovers that Feathers and Rolls Royce had always played it straight with him, and even if they are attracted to each other, they never did anything about it, out of respect for him. He lets them go and surrenders to the police. Admonished by the head of the arresting squad that his break only gained him two hours, he smiles, saying those two hours were worth it for what he found out.

A masterpiece of the silent era that still holds up as an exciting and engrossing movie over 70 years later, and which is properly regarded as the first modern American gangster movie, Underworld has elements that anticipate such sound classics as Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, and a final shoot-out similar to those in Angels With Dirty Faces (co-starring Bancroft) and Each Dawn I Die. Director Josef von Sternberg and cinematographer Bert Glennon actually manage to convey sound with pure visuals in the suspenseful jailbreak scene, and, overall, they produced a beautifully stylized film, visually expressionistic but sentimental in tone and story. The script, by Ben Hecht -- a veteran Chicago reporter -- also crawls with allusions to real-life figures, Bull Weed being a highly sanitized stand-in for Al Capone, and "Buck" Mulligan a composite of Capone's Northside mob rival Dion O'Bannion and his eventual successor, O'Bannion gang member George "Bugs" Moran. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this taut drama, a wealthy financier is tried for the murder of his brother-in-law after the damning corpse is found floating in his garden pond. He is eventually acquitted. Upon his return home, he is angered to find his lawyer has become romantically involved with his wife. An argument ensues, during which the financier confesses his guilt and then makes a fatal leap from a balcony. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

King Charles (Henry Victor) flees and hides in a huge oak tree when the troops loyal to Oliver Cromwell (Henry Ainley) close in. The royal entourage is disguised, and the king's sweetheart (Betty Compson) masquerades as Charles. Only when she is brought before Cromwell is it discovered the switch has been made. Clive Brock portrays a young man loyal to the crown in this historical costume drama that contains a convincing reenactment of the Battle of Worchester. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A lot of money was spent on this romantic melodrama -- enough so that part of it was actually filmed in France. Then again, the owner of the production company, Cosmopolitan, was William Randolph Hearst, who had a lot of money to throw around. After spending 20 years in the South American mines, Gordon Kent (Mahlon Hamilton) comes to Paris, cashes everything in and celebrates his return to civilization. He falls for Norma Selbee (Betty Blythe), a pretty but penniless American girl, and convinces her to marry him. Norma, however, isn't satisfied with the match and runs off with Laurence Marchmont (Clive Brook). Kent chases after them, and, through a detective (Fred Paul), finds out that Marchmont has a criminal past and Norma has a husband back in America. When he finally tracks down the runaway pair, he decrees that they shall live together the rest of their lives -- then spends all his money to keep an eye on them. Marchmont and Norma come to hate each other and find the constant surveillance unbearable. Jim Selbee, Norma's husband (Ernest Hilliard), then shows up and tries to blackmail Kent, but Norma finds out about his scheme and warns Kent. Marchmont kills Selbee, and Norma realizes she really loves Kent after all. Kent begs forgiveness for what he did to her, and they go to South America together. This picture, based on a story by Rex Beach, bore no relation to the 1917 film by the same name. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Alfred Hitchcock provided the screenplay for this drama about marital discord between the aristocrat Adrian St. Clair (Clive Brook) and his cold-hearted wife Drusilla (Alice Joyce). Harris returns from the war to find his wife is as unresponsive as ever. His affair with a passionate French woman (Marjorie Daw) makes Drusilla realize she must change her ways to avoid divorce and scandal. Victor McLaglen also appears in this drama that is the first to credit the legendary Hitchcock with his debut as the screenwriter. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In his last British-made silent, debonair leading man Clive Brook played a man of the world who convinces his mistress (Nina Vanna) to use her not inconsiderable charms to trick a dupe (Warwick Ward) into buying a phony oil well. Brook was Hollywood-bound in 1924 and would go on to enjoy a successful career playing suave leading men to such female stars as Pola Negri, Clara Bow, and Marlene Dietrich. French-born British screen vamp Nina Vanna is perhaps best remembered for playing Lady Teakle in a 1923 version of School for Scandal. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The "Enoch Arden" theme is trotted out and slicked up for The Man From Yesterday. Nurse Claudette Colbert marries army doctor Charles Boyer, believing that her first husband, Clive Brook, has been killed in World War One. Not quite; Brook has survived (though not by much), ending up in the same hospital with Dr. Boyer and nurse Colbert. She is willing to honor her first marriage, but Brook, aware that he is dying from the aftereffects of poison gas, nobly sends her away. The Man from Yesterday is ideal fare for stiff-upper-lipped Clive Brook, but not all that suitable to the ebullient Claudette Colbert; still, she is excellent, as is the rest of the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this courtroom drama, a lawyer defends his sister's fiance after he is accused of murder. The lawyer knows his client is guilty, and that another man, a sailor, also accused of the crime because he gambled away his gun, which became the murder weapon, but he must honor the confidentiality between he and his client. The sailor is given the death sentence. Just before he is to die, the lawyer's client comes forward and tells the truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This was the third screen version of A.E.W. Mason's oft-filmed novel about one soldier's triumph over cowardice and was the last rendering during the silent era. Here, Richard Arlen stars as Harry Faversham, the British officer who resigns rather than fight against rebels in Egypt. When four of his former colleagues present him with feathers signifying their belief that he's a coward, Faversham has a change of heart, and posing as an Arab, he goes on a potentially deadly mission to rescue captured British forces. Fay Wray also appears as Ethne Eustance. Wray and directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack would reunite four years later for another classic tale of adventure, King Kong. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi