William Christy Cabanne Movies

Virginia Carter (Alma Rubens) has two suitors -- the carefree Robert Whitney (Frank Mayo) and the more restrained, but far wealthier Jordan Southwick (H.B. Warner). Because her family is having financial difficulties, Mrs. Carter (Marie Shaffer) encourages her daughter to choose Southwick. After the wedding, Virginia's no-good brother, Boyd (Walter McGrail), tries to sell Southwick Virginia's old love letters to Whitney, but Southwick destroys them unread. He does, however, decide to put Virginia's love to the test -- the couple go on a yacht cruise, and Southwick invites Whitney along. Disaster strikes when a huge liner collides with the yacht. Whitney and Virginia are rescued by a rum runner, and Southwick is presumed dead. Although Virginia remains true to her husband's memory, she finally decides to marry Whitney. Southwick has been picked up by a sea captain and he returns home. He discovers Virginia and Whitney together, but seeing their happiness, he decides to leave well enough alone and goes back to the sea with the captain. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

If her scenes had not ended up on the cutting-room floor, this uneven drama would have been the film debut of Clara Bow (later on, when she was a star, the scenes would be put back in and the picture re-released). How Bow was cut out in the first place is a mystery, since her role was pivotal to the action -- as Virginia Gardner, a little flapper girl, she is left out of a fashionable party thrown by her mother (Helen Ware). To exact revenge, she plays a joke by passing out notes amongst several of the guests reading, "Consult your conscience. Your secret is common gossip." This message sends a number of people into a panic and during the evening, and a shot rings out, wounding one of the men. By the time the mystery is cleared up, Marion Taylor (Billie Dove) and Edward Mallory (Harry Morey) have fallen in love. Ironically, when Dove was interviewed for William M. Drew's book, In the Center of the Frame, she remembered Bow as a happy girl. The reality was exactly the opposite -- right after filming, Bow's mother, in a fit of insanity, tried to kill her. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

After arguing with his father (Alec B. Francis), Bruce Morrison (Casson Ferguson) leaves home and goes to a small town. There he meets and marries Rose Kendall (Ruth Renick). Right after their wedding, he receives a notice that his father is sick. The couple returns to the Morrison home, but Bruce is compelled to hide Rose because she is well below his station and his father would disapprove of her. Old man Morrison informs his son that he has the perfect bride for him -- Jane Penfield (Virginia Caldwell). Jane's brother, Murray (Maxfield Stanley), discovers Rose, and convinces her that her husband is no good. Rose leaves and goes back home, and Bruce divorces her because she has deserted him. Rose has a baby and Jane, whom Bruce has married, soon finds herself pregnant, too. When Jane's baby dies, the family doctor (Charles Wingate) replaces it with Rose's child (apparently no one notices the difference in the babies' age or appearance). Rose misses her baby and goes to see it. Jane, meanwhile, has proven to be a social butterfly with no maternal instincts. Bruce learns that the baby belongs to Rose, and eventually they are reconciled. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In this comedy, a man is engaged to a prudish young lady (Doris Pawn) who thinks kissing is "disgusting." To cure her of this attitude, he enlists the help of his friend Bruce Sands (Lew Cody), a confirmed bachelor who has turned lovemaking into a fine art. The plan is to have the three of them in a room and suddenly turn the lights off. Bruce is to kiss the girl, but before the lights go on, her fiancé is to take his place. However, they didn't consider the fact that Bruce's mustache -- and the fiancé's lack of one -- would reveal the kisser's true identity. Naturally the girl is awakened by Bruce's passionate smooch and he's the one she now wants. It takes the rest of the film to get this situation untangled so that the engaged pair can marry and Bruce can go on with his carefree, philandering ways. Cody's skillful playing (or perhaps it was just type-casting) of characters like this one earned him a cinematic reputation as a "he-vamp." ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In this programmer, Bessie Barriscale plays Mary Ware, a society girl who is in love with Ronald Cliffe (Forrest Stanley), a formerly wealthy man who has lost his fortune. Mary's mother would much rather have her marry Gray Sands (Harry Meyers), who has enough money to pay off some of her debts. So when Cliffe goes out West to work for his rival, Mary does her mother's bidding. But Gray turns out to be a nasty character who abuses Mary when he discovers that she doesn't love him. Cliffe returns, having made his fortune back, and this inflames Gray's jealousy. He claims that Cliffe has robbed his safe and has him arrested, but Mary's testimony gets him off. The Sands separate, and Mary becomes a schoolteacher, while Cliffe heads for South America. Eventually, the hero and heroine are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Mayor Schmidt of Filbert (Jack Richardson) is a pretty nasty guy -- a Germanic elitist who is head of a crooked ring of politicians and who owns several saloons. The Civic Reform Society (the film's good guys) want him out of office. One evening they call Schmidt into conference and he has a heart attack. The reform members are at a loss about what to do -- the man is apparently dead -- until they find Charles Smith (Richardson again), who is a dead ringer for the mayor. So they enlist him as an impostor and place Schmidt in a vault. But Schmidt, it turns out, isn't really dead. He escapes to a neighboring town, a victim of amnesia. Everything seems to be working out fine, except that the impostor shows a weakness towards the evil dollar. To halt this interest, he is distracted with Molly Vaughan (Belle Bennett), and she keeps him in line. She was betrayed by Schmidt and is raising the illegitimate son (none other than popular kid actor Ben Alexander) of her sister -- Schmidt was the papa. One day the little boy wanders into one of Schmidt's sleazy saloons and Smith has to rescue both him and Molly. Smith's upstanding behavior marks him as a fake, and the real mayor makes a belated appearance, aching to get his hands on Smith. During the ensuing struggle, Schmidt's henchmen mistakenly shoot their own man. Finally the truth is brought out -- Schmidt and Smith are twins, one Americanized, one not. Smith winds up wining the election and the girl. This standard melodrama was meant, in part, as a propaganda film in favor of prohibition. The problem with that was it was released less than two months before Prohibition was to take effect -- in other words, the war had already been won. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This burlesque on old-fashioned melodramas starred 1910s screen lovers Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne (they were also real-life lovers who had just gotten married a year before making this film). Sheriff Andrew Craig (Bushman) loves Ruth Heatherly (Bayne), but he has a rival in the village blacksmith, Rufus Sanborn (Samuel Framer). Ruth can't decide between the two men and her mother (Helen Dunbar) wants her to marry Percy Smallwood (Valentine Mott), who is heir to a fortune. But Smallwood is wanted by the law for taking advantage of a girl in a nearby town. Smallwood goes to Ruth for protection and she hides him from the authorities. Craig, however, discovers that she is hiding him and confronts her. Ruth promises to marry Craig if only he will leave Smallwood alone. Torn between love and duty, Craig chooses love and agrees to Ruth's suggestion. Smallwood is allowed to flee and it turns out that he wasn't the guilty party anyhow. Since he doesn't love Ruth, he is more than happy to hand her over to Craig, who has vanquished Sanborn in a fist fight. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Shirley Bryson (Frances Nelson) lives in poverty with her sister Emma (Mary Mersh) and their mother (Caroline Harris). Mrs. Bryson becomes seriously ill and will die if she is not sent away to be cared for. Shirley's job as a manicurist certainly can't pay for this, but one day Wilfred Templeton (Harold Entwhistle) walks into the shop and makes her an offer: If she comes to live with him as his mistress, he will pay for her mother's nursing. Shirley reluctantly agrees but is humiliated by the condescending attitude of Templeton's servants. Then when Emma comes to visit and notices that Shirley isn't wearing a wedding ring, Shirley is overcome with shame. Templeton dumps her and she goes to work at a cabaret. There she meets Harold (Niles Welch), a sad young man who is burying his loneliness in drink. When he defends her from an insulting cad, a romance begins. Shirley reforms Harold and they marry, but when his father comes by to congratulate them -- it turns out to be Wilfred Templeton. He tells Harold all about Shirley's past, which gives Harold pause, but in the end he forgives her completely. This film suffered from two major problems -- a tired story and some unlikely plot twists (how could Shirley not know who Harold's father was?). ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The plot of Flirting With Fate probably wasn't new in 1916, and it certainly wouldn't disappear with this film. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. plays a struggling artist whose heart is broken when his sweetheart Jewel Carmen is promised in marriage to someone else. The woebegone Fairbanks decides he has nothing left to live for, but he isn't up to committing suicide; thus, he hires a professional killer to do the deed. When Fairbanks inherits a million dollars, Carmen's parents suddenly decide that he's worthy of their daughter's hand. The trick now is to call off the hired assassin--who is nowhere to be found! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lillian Gish shows almost as much spunk in this picture as her hoydenish sister Dorothy Gish usually did. Daphne La Tour (Gish), is the daughter of a destitute French nobleman in the early 18th century. Because he is the favorite at the king's court, Philip de Mornay (Elliot Dexter) can probably have any woman he wants, but he likes Daphne's audacity. So he orders his men to kidnap her and take her to the home of Franchette, a popular madam (Lucile Young). But before he can fetch her, he is forced to flee and is captured by pirates. Meanwhile, Franchette's place is overtaken by soldiers who are rounding up women to send to Louisiana, where wives are sorely needed. Daphne is among the young ladies captured, but the ship they are on is attacked by the pirates. Daphne helps save the day for the Frenchmen, and as a result, she saves Philip's life. Although she has been sold to Jamie D'Arcy (Walter Long), she nevertheless manages to marry Philip when they reach Louisiana. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Marfa (Lillian Gish), a Russian peasant girl, is in love with Jan (Frank Bennett). However, her uncle and aunt (A.D. Sears and Pearl Elmore) want her to marry an older, wealthy man. Colonel Griegoff (Walter Long) wants her, but Marfa will have nothing to do with him. When he tries to have his way with her, she knocks him out with a club and runs off. Along with her uncle and aunt, she emigrates to America. Jan, who wants to make his fortune, is on the same ship. They all settle in the Russian district of Los Angeles. Once again, Marfa's pushy relatives try to force her into an arranged marriage, but they are foiled by Jan and the police. A quick glance at this plot shows why Lillian Gish preferred to downplay many of the films she made with directors other than D.W. Griffith. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Former D. W. Griffith assistant William "Christy" Cabanne, in collaboration with Frank E. Woods, called the shots in The Absentee-NRA. Robert Edeson, another Griffith alumnus, stars in this tale of labor unrest. When a justifiable strike goes on indefinitely, the owners call in the militia, with violent results. Many of the scenes are allegorical in nature, placing the events in context with worldwide strife. Absentee NRA was the sort of film that would disappear from screens during World War 1, a period when free speech was bascially "closed for the duration". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi