Anthony Bushell Movies

In the early days of sound film, one of Warner Bros.' big box-office draws was the aging stage actor George Arliss and, in Disraeli, Arliss scored his biggest box-office hit. He is at his best as the foxy British prime minister (in a role he created on-stage and re-created earlier in a 1921 silent film version of the same play). The film concerns the machinations of Disraeli in his efforts to secure the Suez Canal for England. After his liberal opponent Gladstone defeats Disraeli's attempt to raise a line of credit to buy the Suez Canal, Disraeli retires to his country estate to plot a new strategy. When he intercepts a coded telegram from an Egyptian potentate indicating Egyptian financial problems and a willingness to make a deal on the canal, Disraeli jumps on the chance to secure funding from the Bank of England but is denied the credit. Searching for another funding source, he obtains the services of international banker Hugh Meyers (Ivan Simpson). However, when Disraeli's emissary arrives in Cairo with a check to purchase Suez, it is discovered that Meyer has gone bankrupt. Now Disraeli must enlist all his charm and wiles to persuade the Bank of England to honor the bad check. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Basil Rathbone unexpectedly plays the romantic lead in The Flirting Widow. Dorothy Mackaill stars as a wealthy young lady whose father has forbidden her younger sister (Leila Hyams) to marry before Dorothy does. To help sis out, Dorothy "invents" a husband, whom she claims is a British colonel stationed in Arabia. Dorothy discovers that the man she's designated as her imaginary hubby actually exists, in the form of the nonplused Mr. Rathbone. The dilemma: Dorothy has claimed that Rathbone is deceased, a report that is greatly exaggerated. Based on the story Green Stockings by A.E.W. Mason, Flirting Widow was the remake of a silent feature titled Slightly Used (27). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First filmed in 1926, the venerable stage melodrama Three Faces East was remade as a talkie in 1930. Set during WWI, most of the film takes place in the London home of Sir Winston Chamberlain (sic), First Lord of the Admiralty. What Sir Winston doesn't know is that his faithful butler Erich Von Stroheim is the head of a German espionage ring. What nobody knows are the true loyalties of heroine Constance Bennett, who might be a British agent, a German spy, an innocent bystander, or none of the above. The property would be filmed again in 1940 as British Intelligence, with Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay in the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the stage play by former newspaperman Louis Weitzenkorn, Five Star Final is an uncompromising look at the consequences of journalistic irresponsibility. Hounded by his publishers to pep up circulation with a sensational story, newspaper editor Edward G. Robinson decides to revive public interest in a long-ago murder case. He discovers that a woman (Sally Starr) who'd shot her lover nearly three decades earlier is now living under a new name and is married to a pillar of society (H.B. Warner). The woman's daughter (Marian Marsh) is just about to marry the son (Anthony Bushell) of another wealthy couple. Robinson sends one of his slimier reporters (Boris Karloff), a onetime divinical student who'd been expelled for sexual misconduct, to visit the woman and secure a photograph. The underhanded reporter disguises himself as the clergyman who will officiate at the wedding, worms his way into the family's confidence, and appropriates the photo. When the story hits the papers, the woman desperately tries to call Robinson and ask him to cease and desist, but Robinson is unmoved. The disgraced woman commits suicide, as does her husband a few moments later. The groom's parents snobbishly try to call off the wedding, but the groom stands by his fiancee's side and is disinherited. The grief-maddened daughter breaks into Robinson's office with a gun, threatening to kill him for ruining her mother. She is calmed down by her fiance, who warns Robinson that he himself will come back for revenge if the newspaper ever mentions the dead woman's name again. Five Star Final was remade in 1936 as Two Against the World, this time set in a radio station instead of a newspaper office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A WWI American nurse stationed in London (Constance Bennett) meets a handsome flier and finds only sorrow in this three-hanky melodrama. She gets pregnant; then the flier disappears during a mission and she must bear her child alone. Time passes and eventually, she reluctantly agrees to marry a disabled British officer. Not long afterward, her true love reappears (not dead, after all) and many complications ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama, an ambitious young dress designer decides to make an upward career move by making a play for her employer. Later that night, the two go out, but they are involved in an auto accident. Knowing that a major scandal will erupt if it is discovered that the two are dating, the employees at the store try to create a believable cover story. Because the boss' daughter and her fiancé were also in the car, they have the girl trade places with the daughter. The fiancé takes her home and en route they fall in love. At the same time, a corrupt executive tries to extort money from the hapless employer, who suspects that the dress designer is in cahoots on the scam. In the end, her innocence is revealed, she gets to marry the man she loves, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a typist is the secret mistress of a wealthy man. After three years of illicit romance, he suddenly dumps her for the love of a wealthy heiress. The broken-hearted girl goes on with her life and falls in love with another, but when her original lover returns to beg forgiveness, they are happily reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Didn't the beautiful, ubiquitous Sally Blane ever take a day off in 1932? In Escapade, the busy Blane is cast as Kay Whitney, the wife of jailbird Phillip Whitney (Anthony Bushell). Upon his release, Phillip and Kay head to the home of his brother, celebrated lawyer John Whitney (Jameson Thomas) who, incredibly, is unaware that Phillip has "done time." It doesn't take long for Kay and John to fall in love, but this doesn't weaken John's resolve to save Phillip from the wrath of one of his former cellmates, the much-feared Gimpy McLane (Walter Long). Conveniently, Phillip and Gimpy knock each other off during a climactic gun battle, clearing the field for John and Kay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood's Charles Bickford and Mexican leading lady Raquel Torres top the cast of the British circus melodrama Red Wagon. Bickford plays Joe, an expert trick rider, while Torres is his fiery gypsy dancer Sheba. Though in love with tiger trainer Zara (Greta Nissen), Joe breaks up with her over a foolish misunderstanding and marries Sheba as consolation. A climactic confrontation with a rival circus man forces Joe to confront the mistakes he's made in his life. Red Wagon was adapted from a novel by Edward Knoblock, of Kismet fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this murder mystery, Vicar Casson looks into the poisoning of a wealthy man. He soon finds that the man they convicted, the fiance of the rich man's niece, was innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A British aristocrat and his son travel to Russia to embark upon a thrilling search for the father's other son, who was captured by the Russians after he had inadvertently stumbled across a highly secret airstrip while searching for buried treasure. The searchers find assistance with two Russian women, but even so, their quest is fraught with danger and excitement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This film from director Harold Young is the second big-screen adaptation of Baroness Emmuska Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard stars as Sir Percy Blakeney, a British aristocrat who rescues innocent victims of the French Revolution under the guise of The Scarlet Pimpernel while maintaining the identity of a foppish dandy by day. Even his wife, Lady Marguerite Blakeney (Merle Oberon), is unaware of Percy's heroic alter-ego as he and his band of likeminded masked men save countless people from the guillotine. Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the classic book, The Scarlet Pimpernel would later be lampooned in 1966's Don't Lose Your Head. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide