Bebe Daniels Movies

Although the spirited Bebe Daniels was sorely miscast as a long-suffering orphan in this comedy-drama, she somehow managed to pull it off. Nancy (Daniels) works for a cruel couple, the Kellys (James Gordon and Vera Lewis). Mrs. Kelly has turned her into a drudge, while the alcoholic Mr. Kelly tries to force himself on her. When she can take it no longer, she sneaks into a car owned by Jack Halliday ($Edward Sutherland), a wealthy young man she once met. When he arrives home and finds her, he lets her stay since his parents are gone and loans her his sister's clothes. But Jack's fiancee, Elizabeth Doane (Helen Holly) is not at all thrilled with the situation and wires his father. Jack's parents return and they convince Nancy that there is no place in their world -- or Jack's -- for her, and that she must return from where ever she came. She leaves while Jack is away, but when he discovers she is gone, he rushes after her just in time to save her from the drunken Mr. Kelly. After that he and Nancy quickly drum up a minister and wed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A young cowboy turns vigilante after his father is killed in this fine silent Western filmed on location in blistering Southern Arizona. With revenge on his mind, Bob Haddington (Jack Holt) turns himself into Velantrie, the leader of a gang of outlaws. At a mission, he meets and falls for Val Hannon (Bebe Daniels), the daughter of John Hannon (Will R. Walling), a wealthy rancher. In a case of mistaken identity, Bob is accused of cattle rustling but discovers to his horror that the real culprit is his new girlfriend's father. Not only that, but Hannon, hiding under the nickname "Black Rustler," is also the villain who killed Bob's father. In an act of supreme sacrifice, the young man exchanges places with his father's killer and is about to be hanged when Val arrives with proof of his innocence. North of the Rio Grande was based on the 1921 novel Val of Paradise by Vingie E. Roe. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This lively comedy was well suited for Bebe Daniels' talents. Daniels plays Pauline Hathaway, just turned 18 years old, who is informed by Oliver Tobin (Edwin Stevens), the family lawyer, that she will inherit half a million dollars -- that is, if she manages to live up to his high standards of behavior. If she's found not worthy, the money will go to her aunt, Emma Jessop (Maym Kelso). Of course, Pauline proceeds to get herself into trouble. While on the train to go visit a friend of her dead mother's named Mrs. Brewster (Frances Raymond), a thief hands Pauline a stolen wallet. As a result she is arrested and sent to a girls' reformatory. Bruce Reynolds (Frank Kingsley), who has seen her in court, convinces the judge to allow him to bring his invention into the reformatory. Pauline, meanwhile, breaks out of the prison with three other girls. There is a frantic search for her and she shows up at Mrs. Brewster's just before Tobin and Aunt Emma. When Pauline's name is cleared, she gets her money and wins Reynolds as a husband. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Palm Beach Girl is Emily Bennett (Bebe Daniels), the poor Iowa relation of wealthy Florida dowager Aunt Jerry (Josephine Drake). Invited to spend the winter with her aunt, Emily boards the southbound train; en route, her face is blackened by a passing tugboat, compelling her to ride in the "Jim Crow" car with the African American passengers (this egregious example of de facto segregation is treated as a joke in this film!) Upon arriving in Palm Beach, Emily is given the cold shoulder by her snooty relatives and doesn't make matters any better with her unintentionally boorish behavior. Ultimately, she gives up high society in favor of handsome motor-boat mechanic Jack Trotter (Lawrence Grey), helping the boy win an important boat race and simultaneously showing up the snobs for the phonies that they are. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, based on the novel Pink Gods and Blue Demons by Cynthia Stockley, wasted the talents of James Kirkwood, Anna Q. Nilsson, Raymond Hatton, and especially Bebe Daniels, whose forte was comedy, not drama. Lorraine Temple (Daniels) lusts after diamonds, so while her husband, Colonel Pat Temple (George Cowl), is away, she goes after John Quelch (James Kirkwood), who owns a diamond mine. Quelch is a brutal boss who refuses to tolerate theft -- if any of his employees try to steal his diamonds by swallowing them, he has a doctor remove them surgically. Quelch's fiancee, Lady Margo Cork (Nilsson), can't tolerate his hateful acts, so he turns his attention to Lorraine. He courts her in his underground palace, but Jim Wingate (Hatton), a foreman who has undergone Quelch's cruel operation, vindictively dynamites it. The greedy Lorraine dies from injuries she receives in the explosion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this sudsy hospital melodrama, a married nurse finds herself falling in love with one of two surgeons when her husband goes mad and needs an operation. One of the surgeons regards his pursuit a lark, while the other harbors genuine affections for the nurse. At first, she is attracted to the cad, but after her husband follows the suggestion of another insane patient and dives out of a window to his death, she seeks consolation in the arms of the other surgeon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rio Rita, an expensive filmization of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928, was the first major production for fledgling RKO Radio Studios. Bebe Daniels plays Rita, an Irish-Mexican girl (with thick Hispanic accent) who oversees a large ranch near the Mexican border. Rita's brother (Don Alvorado) is suspected of being "The Kinkajou," a notorious bandit. On the trail of the Kinkajou, an undercover Texas Ranger (John Boles) falls in love with Rita, much to the chagrin of a wealthy but despotic landowner (Georges Renavent). The villain arranges to make it appear that the Ranger is the Kinkajou, prompting Rita to consent to marriage with the cad in order to save her lover's life. The true identity of the Kinkajou is revealed at a lavish costume party, filmed in early Technicolor. Counterpointing the main plot are the antics of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, comic carryovers from the original Broadway show. Wheeler is in Mexico to arrange a quickie divorce so that he can marry his true love (Dorothy Lee). Woolsey is Wheeler's shady lawyer, who learns too late that he can't make the divorce stick. Wheeler and Woolsey have some of the film's best moments, including a riotous drunk scene and a closing musical number wherein they slap one another as their girlfriends sing inanely into the camera. Rio Rita not only made oodles of money for RKO (it was being regularly reissued throughout the 1930s), but it solidified the popularity of Wheeler and Woolsey, who'd become the studio's biggest comedy stars of the early 1930s. 1929's Rio Rita was withdrawn from circulation when MGM bought the rights for a 1942 remake, this one starring Abbott and Costello. Available only for museum screenings during the past five decades, Rio Rita has recently been released on videocassette, with its rare Technicolor sequence intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bebe Daniels stars in this adaptation of the Miriam Michelson novel (and play), In the Bishop's Carriage. Thief Tom Dorgan (Wade Boteler) has trained an orphan, Nance Olden (Daniels) to be his accomplice. At a station she pretends to faint so that Dorgan can steal a diamond necklace from a man's pocket. She then hides in a carriage which turns out to belong to Bishop Van Wagenen (Herbert Standing). To cast off any suspicion she pretends to be crazy, so the Bishop feels sorry for her and takes her to his friend's home. Mr. Ramsey (Z. Well Covington) is the man Dorgan robbed, so Nance has to keep up her ruse. Later that night, Dorgan enters Nance's room and is caught. He's sent to prison for his deeds. Meanwhile, Nance has fallen for William Latimer (Emory Johnson), who is engaged to Nellie Ramsey (Ruth Renick). He's onto her, but he teaches her the meaning of right and wrong. When Nance has reformed, they marry. This was an odd, and not very satisfying vehicle for rising star Bebe Daniels -- it was primarily a drama, and as Harold Lloyd's former foil, she was already known for her comedic talents. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

She's a Sheik borrows more than a little from the Rudolph Valentino vehicle, Son of the Sheik, but refreshingly, the Valentino character here is a woman, played by the dashing comedienne Bebe Daniels. She is Zaida, half-Spanish and half-Arab, and determined to marry a Christian man. The Arabian bandit Kada (William Powell doesn't care what she wants -- he's determined to have her as his own. Zaida, as swashbuckling as any male, goes sword-to-sword with him...and comes out ahead. She meets up with the French Captain Colton (Richard Arlen), decides he is for her, and kidnaps him to her desert camp. After spending a few days in captivity, Colton finally succumbs to Zaida's formidable charms. The film climaxes with a battle between French and Arab troops, with the French outwitting the Arabs, helped out by a pair of motion-picture showmen (played by Bill Franey and James Bradbury, Jr.). The company runs a clip of an attacking army on a large screen; this is enough to frighten the naive Arabs. Meanwhile Zaida and Colton close out She's a Sheik with the requisite clinch. A lot of people, though, would have preferred to see Daniels and Powell together at the end -- the pair had a real chemistry in the few films in which they appeared together. The good-looking Arlen just didn't have Powell's flair. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The factual story of H.A.W. Tabor and "Baby Doe" was the inspiration of Silver Dollar. Edward G. Robinson plays the Tabor counterpart, a prospector who strikes it rich with a silver mine. Robinson establishes the city of Denver, strongarms his way into political power, buys every creature comfort he can get his hands on, and deserts his faithful wife (Aline McMahon) for a flashy younger woman (Bebe Daniels, playing the character based on Tabor's mistress "Baby Doe"). Robinson is ruined by the decline of the silver market, spending his last days in near-madness planning and dreaming for a return to his glory days. In real life, it was Baby Doe who went insane, living (and dying) in a tiny shack near the once-prosperous silver mine. Stodgily directed, Silver Dollar isn't nearly as surrealistic as the true story it's based on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide