Robert Warwick Movies
As a boy growing up in Sacramento, Robert Warwick sang in his church choir. Encouraged to pursue music as a vocation, Warwick studied in Paris for an operatic career. He abandoned singing for straight acting when, in 1903, he was hired by Clyde Fitch as an understudy in the Broadway play Glad of It. Within a few year, Warwick was a major stage star in New York. He managed to retain his matinee-idol status when he switched from stage to screen, starring in such films as A Modern Othello and Alias Jimmy Valentine and at one point heading his own production company. He returned to the stage in 1920, then resumed his Hollywood career in authoritative supporting roles. His pear-shaped tones ideally suited for talkies, Warwick played such characters as Neptune in Night Life of the Gods (1933), Sir Francis Knolly in Mary of Scotland (1936) and Lord Montague in Romeo and Juliet (1936). He appeared in many of the Errol Flynn "historicals" at Warner Bros. (Prince and the Pauper, Adventures of Robin Hood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex); in more contemporary fare, he could usually be found in a military uniform or wing-collared tuxedo. From The Great McGinty (1940) onward, Warwick was a particular favorite of producer/director Preston Sturges, who was fond of providing plum acting opportunities to veteran character actors. Warwick's best performance under Sturges' guidance was as the brusque Hollywood executive who insists upon injecting "a little sex" in all of his studio's product in Sullivan's Travels (1942). During the 1950s, Warwick played several variations on "Charles Waterman," the broken-down Shakespearean ham that he'd portrayed in In a Lonely Place (1950). He remained in harness until his eighties, playing key roles on such TV series as The Twilight Zone and The Law and Mr. Jones. Robert Warwick was married twice, to actresses Josephine Whittell and Stella Lattimore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1914
Director Maurice Tourneur's second American film was this five-reel adaptation of George Broadhurst's play The Man of the Hour. Robert Warwick, who appeared in several early Tourneur productions, stars as a mysterious stranger who arrives unannounced in New York -- and within two months is elected mayor! Though seemingly possessing few (if any) legislative skills, Warwick manages to rule firmly but honestly, throwing the "rascals" out with a combination of pugnacity and common sense. The film's sets were particularly noteworthy, especially a faithful re-creation of New York's Aldermanic Chamber. Very typical of the three-act romantic comedies then in vogue, Man of the Hour was a success for both star and director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Long before he became the beloved blowhard of many a Preston Sturges film, Robert Warwick was a handsome, virile Broadway leading man. The Dollar Mark is one of several pre-1920 films to star Warwick in his prime. The story concerns a crooked financial scheme and a run on a bank. It culminates with a convincing thrill sequence involving a bursting dam. According to contemporary reviews, The Dollar Mark would have been better with less plot and more action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The Face in the Moonlight in this World Films 5-reeler belonged to a wanted criminal, played by Robert Warwick. The heroine espies the face and declares her undying love. Thing of it is, the girl doesn't love the criminal but instead is enamored of his "good" twin brother. The story, set during the Napoleon era, was a hodgepodge of flashbacks, flashforwards and visual "interior monologues." It all added up to the usual "romance in wartime" cliches, including the heroine's last-minute appeals to save her beloved from a firing squad. The film's split-screen photography was well handled, which apparently was more than could be said for the script, which was based on a play by Robert Mantell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The Stolen Voice packed a lot of plot into its brisk five reels. Robert Warwick plays an immensely successful opera singer, admired by men and adored by women. One of Warwick's biggest fans is a "mystery woman" who sends him roses. The woman's husband, a doctor, jealously casts a hypnotic spell over the singer, robbing him of his voice. Unable to overcome this handicap, Warwick quickly loses his following and is deserted by his false friends. Fortunately, an old pal, now a movie director, gets Warwick a job in silent pictures, where his lack of voice is no handicap (this plot twist was probably inspired by the fate of prominent stage actor Hobart Bosworth, who enjoyed a long and successful screen career after his voice failed him). The nasty doctor who hypnotized Warwick is so upset by his rival's resurgence of popularity that he suffers a fatal heart attack. A happy ending is assured when the film director casts Warwick opposite his new "discovery" -- a former flower girl (Frances Nelson) who has worshipped our hero from afar ever since Reel One. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Lee Randall (Robert Warwick) is a man who leads a double life. By day he is a respectable person; by night he robs banks. His gang stages an elaborate break-in at a bank, but they are discovered while fleeing the scene of the crime, and the gang is captured. (During their stay in jail, real shots of prisoners in Sing Sing are shown -- though some of the prisoners didn't want their faces in the movie!). When Randall is released from prison after serving his time, the film becomes a traditional melodrama, telling the story of a man who tries to go straight and the difficulties that he encounters after he and his cronies get out of prison. When Randall has established a new life (keeping the books at a bank), a detective comes calling. The detective wants to pin an old bank heist on Randall. At the same time, a small girl is accidentally locked in the bank vault. Randall must use his safe-cracking skills to free her, even though it may send him back to prison. This film is one of several important gangster films released in the mid-teens. Director Maurice Tourneur's most imaginative camera work of the film is in the first 15 minutes when the gang executes a bank heist. There are several deep-staged set-ups that have characters in real locations (like a train) instead of just on studio sets. The heist features an over-the-head shot of the cubicles in the bank to show the night watchman just missing the crooks. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Dependable leading man Robert Warwick (who went on to become an even more dependable featured player) stars in Fruits of Desire. Warwick is cast as a hayseed who rises to the top of the executive heap at a local steel mill. In his rise to success, he forgets his humble upbringings, and manages to sever relations with all his old friends. He even trods upon the affections of his faithful girl friend. Warwick's ultimate fall from grace brings things full circle in this cinemadaptation of Henry Russell Miller's novel The Ambition of Mark Truitt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
When Virginian Judge Lee Sands (Charles Brandt) is ruined by a Wall Street manipulator, his daughter Beulah (Gerda Holmes) heads north to New York City and obtains work as a stenographer. But she's not just trying to make her way in a cruel world; she's working for Peter Brownley (Clarence Harvey), the man who double-crossed her father. She sneaks around to help get investment information for her father -- and also evidence to destroy Brownley. But she also falls in love with her employer's son, Robert (Robert Warwick). Robert catches her at her tricks and locks her in his office until the close of the stock market. She confesses all and he forgives her. The couple's love helps reconcile their warring fathers. This picture was based on a story by Thomas W. Lawson. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Not to be confused with the 1918 Harry T. Morey vehicle of the same name, the 1916 western All Man was adapted by Frances Marion from a story by Willard Mack. The title refers to hero Jim Blake, played by Robert Warwick. To prove his worth to his highly judgemental father, socialite Blake heads to Montana, Where Men are Men (and women, presumably, are very happy). In his efforts to make good, Blake befriends sisters Ethel and Alice Maynard (Gerda Holmes, Mollie King), adding a dash of romantic intrigue to the stew. Though set in the Wide Open Spaces, All Man was all too obviously filmed in New Jersey, headquarters of the World Film Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
The first half of this picture leans heavily on the romance and the historical drama doesn't kick in until later. Nathan Hale (Robert Warwick) is a country school teacher who falls in love with Alice Adams (Gail Kane), one of his pupils. Hale begins to take his part in the revolution by becoming a Minute Man, and his bravery earns him a promotion. When a man is needed to go behind Red Coat lines, he volunteers for the job. He nearly succeeds, but he is tripped up when Alice is tricked into causing his identification. With his execution, he becomes one of America's heroes. For all its pomp and period costumes, this really was nothing more than an ordinary feature. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Warwick, Gail Kane, (more)
- 1917
Friends William Ramsdell (Robert Warwick) and DeWitt Clinton (Earl Schenck) both love the same girl, Virginia Farrell (Gail Kane). The rich and spoiled Clinton has a valet, Byron (Louis Edgard), who does his bidding. At his command, he dopes Ramsdell to disgrace him in front of Virginia's family -- proving that Clinton isn't such a great friend after all. The plot works and the heart-broken Virginia agrees to marry Clinton. Ramsdell, meanwhile, goes to work in a lumber camp and works his way up to foreman. Clinton and Virginia come there for the summer, and a fight ensues between the two men. It's ended when the valet, fed up with Clinton's evil ways, shoots him and then kills himself. Virginia, who now knows the truth, is free to be with Ramsdell. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Director Maurice Tourneur transformed Frances Marion's perfunctory scenario Girl's Folly into a visual delight that resulted in not a few oohs and ahhs from 1917 audiences. June Elvidge plays an impressionable country lass who is thrilled when a movie company sets up camp near her home. She falls in love with the troupe's handsome leading man Robert Warwick, who responds by offering to surround her in luxury if she will live with him--not marry him, mind you, but live with him. Only the arrival of the girl's kindly mother dissuades Warwick from deflowering the lovely June. He Does the Right Thing by bidding her a chaste farewell when his film-making responsibilities are completed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
This film, made a couple of years before Prohibition went into effect, was basically prohibition propaganda posing as entertainment. John Smith (Robert Warwick) is a dope fiend and drunkard who decides to reform. He travels to a mission in Cincinnati and straightens up, but he cannot remember his past. Nevertheless, he becomes a prohibitionist leader. In Washington, he falls in love with Edith Mallon (Doris Kenyon), whose senator father is controlled by the Whiskey Trust. Senator Mallon and his cronies want very much to pin a scandal on John Smith so that the Prohibition movement will be discredited. They believe they have done this when a man and woman from Smith's past appear, and the woman fabricates some stories about him. Eventually, though, she admits to her lies, and Smith finally recalls his past. As it turns out, the only scandalous aspects of it were his already-known drink and drug addictions. Since these have been cured (at least that's the way they saw it in the days before 12-step programs), he is free to be with Edith. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
This light comedy was based on Anthony Hope's novel Captain Dieppe. Robert Warwick plays the captain, an international agent and diplomatic freelancer who is having differences with his latest employers, a small Italian principality. They refuse to pay him until he gives them a crucial report and he refuses to hand over the report until they pay him. Ultimately he leaves, and the minister sends secret service man Guillamo Sevier (Walter Long) after him. But Dieppe eludes Sevier and stays in Fieramondi, as the guest of the Count (Juan de la Cruz, otherwise known as James Cruze, who directed the picture). The Count and his wife (Winifred Greenwood) have been arguing over a certain Paul Sharp (Howard Gaye), and are currently estranged. Dieppe sees Lucia Bonavia D'Orano (Helene Chadwick), a cousin of the Count's by marriage, and believes her to be the Countess. He falls in love with her on sight, and when he finds out that the Countess owes a gambling debt to Sharp, he steals the I.O.U. He figures that this will bring the Count and Countess back together again, and that he is making a big romantic sacrifice. When he discovers the woman he loves isn't the Countess at all, he is overjoyed. He finally gets the money owed him, along with winning the girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Robert Warwick returned from World War I with the rank of major and wound up starring in this movie about the Civil War as soon as he got back. Lewis Dumont (Warwick) is a Northern spy in Richmond, Virginia, who is working to help capture the city. His loyalty to his country never wavers, even when his own brother is killed. But Lewis's Southern sweetheart, Edith Varney (Wanda Hawley), isn't quite as loyal to the Confederacy -- when he is discovered as a spy and captured, she loves him anyhow. Richmond falls, and with the reconstruction, their romance continues. This story was originally a very successful stage play by William Gillette. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
This meller is about as old-fashioned as the play (by Augustus Thomas) on which it was based. Sheriff Jim Radburn (Robert Warwick) secretly pays for the education of the daughter of his pal, Jo Vernon (Noah Beery). The girl, Kate (Eileen Percy), also happens to be Jim's sweetheart. But when she returns, she finds Jim too unrefined for her tastes. Instead she's drawn to Robert Travers (Robert Cain), a dandy from St. Louis. When a highwayman robs a train, Sam Fowler (Monte Blue), the fiancé of Jim's sister Emily (Hazel Brannon) is accused of the crime. But Sam recognizes Travers as the robber, and Jim goes after him. In his attempt to run away, Travers kills a man and hides in Kate's house. Jim captures him and tries to prevent him from being lynched, but when he tries to escape he is shot dead. Kate finally realizes that Travers wasn't what he pretended to be and returns to Jim. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
This light comedy was based on the play by W. Somerset Maugham. While Maugham's witty dialogue is sorely missed, the silent still shows the fine directorial hand of William C. De Mille, elder brother of Cecil B. De Mille. Iceman Jack Straw (Robert Warwick) falls in love with Ethel Parker Jennings (Carroll McComas), the daughter of a clerk (Charles Ogle). Because of an oil investment in California, the family suddenly becomes wealthy and they head out West. Along with being nouveau riche, Mrs. Jennings (Sylvia Ashton) is also a nouveau snob; she rents an estate from Mrs. Wanley (Helene Sullivan) and then refuses to associate with her. Mrs. Wanley and her friend, Holland (J. M. Dumont), plot revenge. Straw has followed Ethel out West and gotten work as a waiter. Holland approaches him and asks him to pose as a nobleman as a hoax. He agrees and enters the Jennings' household as the Archduke of Pomerania. He and Ethel are given free reign to develop their romance before Mrs. Jennings discovers that he is merely Jack Straw. Straw is tossed out of the house, but it turns out that he really is the Archduke of Pomerania, who has been exiled because of his democratic ideals. Mrs. Jennings welcomes him back and is thrilled to announce his engagement to Ethel. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Chauffeur Tommy Trotter (Robert Warwick) is really Lord Eric Temple. He's one of a group of down-on-their-luck royals who are working at menial jobs. Once a week, however, they hold court, just as they did in the old days. Corr McFadden (Edward Jobson), the butler at these proceedings, isn't what he appears to be, either -- he's a powerful political boss. Temple is in love with a governess, Miss Emsdale (Lois Wilson) who is in reality Lady Jane Thorne. When the royals' meeting is raided, Jane is rescued by McFadden, enabling her and Temple to be together. This picture was based on the novel by George Barr McCutcheon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Myles Calthorpe (Robert Warwick) is an English soldier of fortune who travels to South Africa. He goes to work for a pair of feather merchants who are, in reality, diamond smugglers. When they realize that he knows what they're up to, they fire him. So he heads for Cape Town, where he meets pretty Joan Farrant (Lois Wilson) and works for her brother, who is also a smuggler. This time, he is unaware of what is going on, so he is arrested and charged with robbery. To protect his sweetheart's brother, he goes to prison for three years. But the brother confesses to his crimes as he is dying, and Calthorpe is released to be reunited with Joan. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Douglas Kenyon (Elliott Dexter) is a confused bank clerk who wakes up the morning after a party to find chorus girl Marcia Walsh (Pauline Garon) in his apartment. He was the victor in a card game who won the privilege of escorting the girl home. Although she innocently spent the night on the sofa under the watchful eye of his housekeeper, Douglas is fired by bank president Joshua Carrington (Burr McIntosh). Carrington is the grandfather of Douglas's fiancé Jean (Betty Blythe), who refuses to pass judgment on Douglas until she hears his side of the story. Douglas is hired by the philanthropist Oliver Blair (Robert Warwick) and soon uncovers financial inconsistencies about Carrington. Jean leaves home after an argument with her stubborn grandfather and takes a job as a chorus girl. She soon falls prey to the lecherous advances of theater-producer Horace Fleming (Lowell Sherman). Douglas defends her honor by battling the brute in a thrilling rooftop fight sequence in this romantic drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Blythe, Pauline Garon, (more)
- 1929
Filmed at the DeForest Phonofilm Studios in New York, this crude early talkie resurrected pulp fiction detective Craig Kennedy, whose screen career dated back to the Pearl White serial The Exploits of Elaine. Kennedy (Robert Warwick) relates, in flashback, the story of one of his few unresolved cases: the mysterious poisoning of Mrs. Franklin Ward (Helen Mitchell). The suspect, Mary Wayne (Susan Conroy), apparently administered the fatal dose under the hypnotic influence of Prince Hamid (Milton Krims), an evil swami who managed to escape and remains at large. The swami, of course, is present in the group of people entertained by Kennedy's story and is unmasked by the detective as Count de Navarre. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In this western, three disreputable cowboys begin pursuing a beautiful lady because she possesses a map to a valuable gold mine. All three compete to win her hand because by law a wife must share all her belongings with her spouse. Despite their efforts, the woman falls in love with a decent fellow who takes her far from the three bad men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
In this western, a wealthy eastern returns from a polo match to find that his father has been murdered. Later, he is riffling through his father's papers when he discovers that his family may have had a different name. He then finds evidence that causes him to suspect that a certain western rancher may be implicated in the killing. He hops in a plane and heads West, but he doesn't make it as he plane ends up crashing into the bathroom of a pretty woman. She falls in love with him, but this causes great friction with her lover, a ranch foreman. Meanwhile the bad rancher orders the foreman to bring the son to him--unarmed. Fortunately, the young man escapes and goes to meet the rancher for a final showdown. He then learns that he is his real father. The rancher then tells him that the other man's death was accidental, that he had only gone back East to confront him as he had stolen his wife and son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Sally Eilers, (more)
A wimpy king is forced to take responsibility for his little North Sea island kingdom after his iron-fisted wife goes on a vacation to the US in this comedy. Soon after she leaves, his subjects launch a revolt and the flighty fellow must quickly figure out what to do. Things get worse when his daughter tells him that she plans to marry a commoner. Fortunately, once the king makes his decisions, things settle down and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lowell Sherman, Nance O'Neil, (more)
- 1932
A talented cast does its best with a nonsensical script in The Rich are Always With Us. Ruth Chatterton stars as a witty socialite saddled with caddish husband John Miljan. Upon learning that Miljan has been fooling around with Adrienne Dore, Chatterton divorces him, whereupon his brokerage firm goes belly-up, for which our heroine holds herself responsible. She undergoes another guilt trip when Miljan's second wife dies in a car crash. Throughout all this, Chatterton denies herself true love in the person of foreign correspondent George Brent, who became Chatterton's husband during filming. Bette Davis enjoys an early scene-chewing opportunity as a predatory young debutante who sets her sights for the handsome Brent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, (more)
