Sam Taylor Movies

Marlene Dietrich and Vittorio De Sica grace this comical yet dramatic Italian tale of a tumultuous love affair between two compulsive gamblers who meet in Monte Carlo. Though both are down on their luck, they dress affluently and that is what attracts them to each other. Romantic sparks fly until they learn the truth about each other. This leads Dietrich to begin an affair with a rich American widower. His teenage daughter falls for De Sica but he feels himself too old for her and rejects her. Eventually Dietrich and the American decide to marry, but before the wedding takes place, De Sica has a major winning streak. But being an addict, he does not know when to stop and begins losing again. Fortunately, his valet intervenes by knocking him unconscious. Later, when he awakens, De Sica vows that he will never gamble again and prepares to go home to his native Naples. When Dietrich learns this she is distraught and realizing she cannot marry the Yankee, tells him the truth about her feelings for De Sica thereby freeing herself to follow him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anxious to graduate from 2-reel comedies to feature films, producer Hal Roach began phasing out his short-subject manifest in 1935. Up until that year, his only talkie features had starred Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, so Vagabond Lady can be seen as the vanguard in Roach's new policy of turning out "sophisticated" pictures a la Sam Goldwyn. Evelyn Venable delivers a remarkably good comic performance as Josephine Spriggins, daughter of "Spriggs" Spriggins (Frank Craven), faithful janitor for the department-store firm of R. D. Spear & Company. Prodigal son Tony Spear (Robert Young) falls in love with Josephine and proposes marriage, but his stuffy older brother John (Reginald Denny) vows to save Tony from making so disastrous a social gaffe by marrying the girl himself. The disgruntled Tony retreats to his yacht, where he finds himself saddled with a reluctant passenger -- Josephine. The two spend the rest of the picture getting on each other's nerves, until at the very last moment they realize they're still madly in love after all. Clearly inspired by It Happened One Night (the twist being that the girl is poor and the boy is rich), Vagabond Lady is a minor but agreeable entry in the screwball-comedy genre. The only clue as to the identity of its producer is the film's utilization of stock Hal Roach background-music themes during a nightclub sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a young couple are forced to marry after they are accidentally locked in a store overnight. Unfortunately for the young groom, his overbearing mother is unhappy with the match and keeps trying to get them divorced. She even follows them on their honeymoon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bill Harper (Will Rogers), a cattle baron turned diplomat, is assigned to the middle European country of Sylvania, which is in a nearly constant state of uproar ever since King Lothar (Ray Milland), who is convinced Queen Vania (Marguerite Churchill) was having an affair, left the country. Their young son Paul (Tad Alexander) is supposedly the leader, but it's really ruled by scheming Prince de Polikoff (Gustav Von Seyffertitz), who instantly dislikes the easygoing Bill, who makes friends with Paul and Vania. Lothar, who sneaked back into the country disguised as Bill's pilot, tries to reconcile with Vania, but to no avail. Thanks to de Polikoff's plans, Bill is arrested -- just as Lothar starts a revolution. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1926 with Norma Talmadge, the creaky David Belasco stage piece Kiki served as a curious talkie vehicle for "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford. The star plays the title character, a jazz-age Parisian chorus girl (complete with a molasses-thick French accent). When theatrical impresario Victor Randall (Reginald Denny) falls in love with Kiki, he sets the girl up in a fancy apartment, which does not rest well with Randall's ex-wife. Likewise unhappy with the situation is Kiki, whose restless spirit cannot be confined by her posh surroundings nor her possessive lover. In the film's most famous scene, the heroine, in white-tie-and-tails male drag, performs a Busby Berkeley-choreographed musical number with a group of male dancers, culminating in an unceremonious tumble into the orchestra pit. Though Mary Pickford delivered her best talkie performance to date, the actress's longtime fans didn't respond to her straying so far from her established screen image, and as a result Kiki was the first of Pickford's United Artists productions to flop at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama chronicles the rise of a famous Madame from casino hostess to king's mistress. Her story begins as she is being fished from a pond by her future lover. Next she is seen as a hostess in the gambling house. She then becomes the King's mistress. Meanwhile she continues to carry on with her first love. They are together until death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Coquette is Mary Pickford's first talkie, based on the play by George Abbott and Ann Preston Bridgers. The story was already made famous on the stage by star Helen Hayes. At almost 40 years old and lacking her signature curls, Pickford plays the young Southern belle Norma Besant, who is courting three different men: Stanley (Matt Moore), Robert (George S. Irving), and bad boy Michael Jeffrey (Johnny Mack Brown). She naturally falls for Michael and flees with him to a cottage. Her angry father, Dr. John Besant (John M. St. Polis), follows them with his shotgun, shooting both Michael and himself. Superstar Pickford won Best Actress at the 1930 Academy awards. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

One of John Barrymore's best-remembered silent films (mainly because it is one of the few that has remained in constant circulation), The Tempest is set before, during and after the Russian Revolution. Barrymore plays a Czarist military officer who is haughtily rejected by aristocratic Camilla Horn. She goes so far as to strip Barrymore of his rank and toss him into prison (allowing him the opportunity for a wholly irrelevant, but fascinating, "mad" scene). Comes the Revolution, and Barrymore is freed. Put in charge of the Red army, Barrymore now wields the power of life and death over the aristocrats. When a humbled Camilla is brought before him, he refuses to sign her death warrant, but instead kills his hateful superior officer and escapes with his new-found love to the safety of Europe. Barrymore's leading lady Camilla Horn has previously made an excellent impression as Gretchen in F. W. Murnau's production of Faust (1926); her casting in Tempest, however, is due less to her histrionic talents that to the fact that she was the girlfriend of United Artists executive Joseph M. Schenck. Originally, the film was to have been directed by Russian expatriate Victor Tourjanksy, but his working methods were too slow for Hollywood tastes; he was replaced by American journeyman Sam Taylor, who was swift, efficient and (in this instance at least) surprisingly imaginative. The principal artistic value in Tempest lies in the performance by John Barrymore and the cinematography of Charles Rosher, whose Rosher Kino Portrait Lens enabled the 46-year-old Barrymore to appear at least two decades younger on screen. An uncredited Lewis Milestone also was among those at work on the production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mary Pickford stars as the "Miss Fix-it" for her eccentric family. Pickford's job at a dime-store keeps her postman dad (Lucien Littlefield), addlepated mom (Sunshine Hart) and loose-living sister (Carmelita Geraghty) from going under. She falls in love with handsome Charles "Buddy" Rogers, never dreaming that the boy is the son of store-owner Hobart Bosworth. The "meeting cute" scene between Pickford and Rogers has been so often excerpted in silent-movie compilations that it's possible many viewers have it memorized. Based on a story by Kathleen Norris, My Best Girl served to introduce Mary Pickford to future-husband Rogers (they were wed nearly a decade later). Lucien Littlefield, the "old codger" who plays Pickford's father, was in reality three years younger than Pickford! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exit Smiling is perhaps the only film that ever fully utilized the comic genius of the incomparable Beatrice Lillie. The star is cast as the wardrobe lady of a touring theatrical company. She is introduced to the audience via subtitle as "Violet, the drudge of the troupe...Who also plays parts like 'Nothing' in Much Ado About Nothing." Though bogged down in a treacly plot concerning fugitive-from-justice Jimmy Marsh (Jack Pickford), Lillie manages to rise above the material with her first-rate clowning. Her particular highlight is an extended routine involving a string of pearls (a Lillie "standard" that she'd use time and again on stage). Alas, after the box-office failure of Exit Smiling, Bea Lillie would be confined to secondary film roles, often as not far beneath her talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On his friend's wedding day, disgusted best man Harold Lloyd swears that "I will never give up my freedom for a pair of soft-boiled eyes!" When he (literally) trips over a pretty young girl (Jobyna Ralston), he immediately forgets his words. In the time it takes to read a title card, they are married. Thus begins a Lloyd comedy which is basically three two-reelers strung together. Hubby (Lloyd) and Wifey (Ralston) delight in their married state, and the first segment shows Wifey on the phone, asking her adored Hubby to bring her a few things from the market. Next we see Harold at the market, loaded down with her several dozen requests -- and a live turkey which he has won in a raffle. He boards a trolley, and as it travels through the charming town that L.A. was in the twenties, he (and the turkey) manage to disrupt everyone in the car. Some great physical comedy happens before Harold, his packages and his turkey are thrown into the street. Things get even hairier in the second segment when the beleaguered Hubby arrives home -- Wifey's battleaxe mother (Josephine Crowell), bum of a big brother (Charles Stevenson) and brat of a little brother (Mickey McBan) have come for a visit. Hubby has just bought a gleaming new car and instead of taking Wifey for a spin alone, the whole clan tags along. The result is a hilarious and thrilling wild ride that culminates with the car rolling down a hill, completely out of control. Naturally, the car ends up being towed home, a total wreck, the family in tears. In the last segment, Hubby sneaks some chloroform on his ill-tempered mother-in-law, so that she will quiet down for the evening, and then he thinks he has killed her. In reality, mother-in-law is just fine, and Harold's utter torture as he mistakes everything he hears and sees as an indication of his "murder" is very funny. Hot Water is loaded with great gags, but considering it was Lloyd's seventh feature film, one wonders about its lack of cohesiveness. Buster Keaton's first film, Three Ages, was also essentially three two-reelers cut together, but his at least had a plot. Nevertheless, there are enough classic comedy scenes in Hot Water to make it a must-see. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Harold Lloyd plays a millionaire who suffers from imaginary illness in this memorable comedy. With the help of a beautiful nurse (Jobyna Ralston) and valet Mr. Phipps (Wallace Howe), he travels to South America to regain his health. Harold arrives during a political uprising and believes the rival factions are putting on a show for his benefit. He soon lands in jail with the giant Colosso (John Aasen), who is suffering from a toothache. Harold helps the behemoth remove the afflicted molar and the two become fast friends. Colosso and Harold escape confinement and manage to defeat both revolutionary groups in hilarious slapstick fashion. A search for the nurse reveals she has been kidnapped by the villainous Jim Blake (James Mason). Harold overcomes his hypochondria when he saves the nurse from her captor. The giant, the millionaire, and the nurse return to Los Angeles where Harold gets his large friend a job as a traffic cop and marries the girl. The comic contrast between Lloyd and Aasen is striking in this Hal Roach production, the last in which the talented comic would appear. He would soon form his own production company and continue to provide millions with his memorable comedy films. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide