Lois Weber Movies
In the years prior to her movie career, American director Lois Weber was a concert pianist, charity fundraiser, and stage actress. While appearing in a stock company production of Why Girls Leave Home, Weber met her future husband, actor Phillips Smalley. Both Weber and Smalley entered films in 1905, joining the Gaumont company, where they wrote, acted, and directed in several primitive "talking" pictures. In 1911, Weber and her husband took over the Rex Film Company from Edwin S. Porter; it was here that both husband and wife excelled as creative, innovative filmmakers. Among Weber's most significant directorial credits during the World War I years was The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), which served as the screen debuts for both Anna Pavlova and Boris Karloff. As often as possible, Weber tried to inject social consciousness into her films, beginning with her delicately handled birth-control tract Where Are My Children? (1916). In 1917, Weber set up her own studio, where she continued turning out films distinguished by provocative themes, revolutionary camera angles, naturalistic acting, and cleverly written and designed subtitles. At the beginning of the 1920s, Weber was signed for a series of films by Famous Players-Lasky (aka Paramount); among these was her best-known work, The Blot (1921). Unfortunately, the films proved unsuccessful at the box office, and Weber was dropped from her contract and was never able to regain her career momentum. Her output became more sporadic as the 1920s rolled on. By the time talkies arrived, Weber was considered washed up; she directed only one sound film, the Poverty Row "east meets west" melodrama White Heat (1934), then spent the rest of the 1930s working as a "script doctor" at Universal. Lois Weber died in 1939, the same year as the death of her former husband Phillips Smalley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1934
In this melodrama filmed on location in Hawaii, a sugar plantation manager finds himself falling in love with a native girl, but instead of committing to her, he marries a socially prominent young woman from San Francisco. The spoiled girl does not easily adapt to the rigors of plantation life and she gets terribly bored. She is just about to give in to the romantic overtures of a persistent native when her former lover shows up. The husband gets jealous and is about to attack him when the wife sets fire to the cane field. The husband's native lover saves him from death. Afterward, his wife leaves to be with her old flame, and the manager is free to be with the woman he's loved all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Cherrill, Mona Maris, (more)
- 1927
Glamorous Broadway actress Babe (Leatrice Joy) is cast as a Salvation Army lass in her latest musical. For research purposes, she pays a visit to a Lower East Side S. A. Mission, dons a uniform, and goes to work on a street corner, complete with tambourine and contribution pot. This upsets her sweetheart Jerry Wilson (Victor Varconi), who feels that Babe is poking fun at the Army and its good works. But the lovers are reunited when Babe's experiences make her a better and more reverential person. Angel of Broadway was the last silent-film effort of pioneering female director Lois Weber, who unfortunately was unable to finance another film project until 1934. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Victor Varconi, (more)
- 1927
Billie Dove stars as "Egypt" Hagen, a libertine flapper who unexpectedly falls in love with the staid Reverend Lodge (Raymond Bloomer). He proposes marriage, but she sadly turns him down, worrying that her checkered past will ruin his own reputation. On the rebound, she marries millionaire Ray Sturgis (Huntley Gordon), whom she does not truly love despite his innate decency. When Sturgis is killed in a shipwreck (the film's highlight), Egypt despairs, feeling the whole tragedy is her fault. She finds spiritual solace in the arms of Rev. Lodge, finally agreeing to marry him no matter what the consequences. Sensation Seekers was the penultimate silent-film effort by Lois Weber, one of the few women directors in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billie Dove, Huntly Gordon, (more)
- 1926
Though his glory days as a matinee idol were well behind him in 1926, Francis X. Bushman cut quite a dashing figure in the romantic drama The Marriage Clause. Bushman is cast as Broadway impresario Barry Townsend, who takes it upon himself to make a star out of aspiring actress Sylvia Jordan (Billie Dove). Rival producer Max Ravenal (Warner Oland) spirits Sylvia away from Townsend, signing her to a three-year contract. But there's a hitch: the contract has a "marriage clause," prohibiting Sylvia from getting married during those three years. Feeling somewhat betrayed (especially since he's fallen in love with the girl), Townsend retires from show business, whereupon Sylvia falls into a personal and professional slump, culminating in her on-stage collapse during opening night of her biggest show. Ultimately, of course, Townsend and Sylvia are reunited, and the no-marriage clause is instantly nullified. The Marriage Clause represented a cinematic comeback for pioneering woman director Lois Weber, whose own career ironically went on the skids after her divorce from actor-director Phillips Smalley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billie Dove, Francis X. Bushman, (more)
- 1923
This was the second time Lois Weber filmed Clara Louise Burnham's Christian Science novel Jewel (the first time was in 1915 with Ella Hall). Mr. Everingham (Claude Gillingwater) is a wealthy but misanthropic old man. He is not thrilled when Madge, his eldest son's widow (Frances Raymond), comes to visit, bringing her adult daughter, Eloise (Jacqueline Gadsden), along with her. And no one is happy when Jewel, the daughter of Everingham's estranged youngest son (Jane Mercer), shows up. In spite of being surrounded by hatred and animosity, Jewel is cheerful and pleasant, just like her mother told her to be. Eventually her sunny demeanor melts everybody's hearts and through the little girl, the old man is able to reunite with his son (Robert W. Frazer). Unfortunately, this Pollyanna type of story did not go over as well in the jazz-mad 1920s as it did in the more reserved 1910s, and Weber did not make another film for three years. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Mercer, Claude Gillingwater, (more)
- 1921
Too Wise Wives was an independent film produced and directed by prominent woman director Lois Weber. It is a pointed soap opera about the state of marriage and women's roles in society in the early 1920s. Two couples are newly married. Marie (Clarie Windsor) and David Graham (Louis Calhern) are rich. She agonizes about doing everything she can to make her husband happy. This just irritates him to no end. The other couple, Sara Daly (Mona Lisa) and John Daly (Phillips Smalley) are very rich. She married him for his money. He dotes on her all of the time. Since he travels a lot, she gets bored. Also, she used to be David's girlfriend, and she want's David back and works hard to make Marie miserable. Real trouble begins when Marie intercepts a note that Sara sent to David asking him to meet for a secret affair. The cinematography is beautiful -- the movie was obviously filmed on some huge estates in Southern California. At the time this film was released, Cecil B. DeMille was famous for his films that were celebrations of materialism. This film is just the opposite. Director Weber shows how "keeping up with the Joneses" can harm a marriage. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This comedy-drama isn't one of director Lois Weber's strongest films, but at least it isn't as preachy as some of her other efforts. Phoebe Morrison (Claire Windsor) has been raised in the heart of Southern gentility, and she's tired of being surrounded by men with impeccable manners. When her father (Arthur Stuart Hull) shows her a photo of Elton, his Western oil partner (Louis Calhern), she is immediately attracted to him. When she accompanies her father to meet him, she finds she's not as thrilled with his rough ways when faced with him in person. She decides she is willing to overlook his crudity, but Elton sends her away because he knows it really does matter to her. Over time, Elton becomes a part of society and gains the polish he formerly lacked. When he and Phoebe meet up again in London, she is impressed and they marry. Back home on the ranch, she finds she's just as disappointed in Elton's gentlemanly ways as she was by his uncivilized manners. Elton figures this out, and effects a compromise, which pleases his new bride. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Although David Graham (Louis Calhern) is devoted to his wife, Marie (Claire Windsor), she believes he is in love with an old sweetheart, Sara (Mona Lisa). The truth, however, is that Sara, who has married wealthy John Daly (Philips Smalley), is the one who still has feelings for David. She invites the less well-off Grahams to spend a weekend at her palatial home while her husband is away, so that she can get David to respond to her overtures. But her plan fails, and Marie realizes she needn't have been suspicious of her husband in the first place. Actor Philips Smalley was married to Lois Weber, the director of this domestic drama. They teamed together frequently as co-directors in the 1910s, but by 1921 her efforts behind the camera had taken prominence. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
According to this Lois Weber production, men don't really seem to know what they want at all -- first Frank (J. Frank Glendon) wants to be an inventor. Then he wants to marry his childhood sweetheart, Hallie (the lovely Claire Windsor). Then he wants children. Then, when his inventions bring him financial success, he becomes restless, so he takes up with another woman. Eventually he figures out that the woman's reputation is less than squeaky clean, so he wants his wife back. But he sees Yost, one of Hallie's former admirers (Hallam Cooley), walk into their house and believes she is unfaithful. Months later, he finds out through his brother Arthur (George Hackathorne) that she's been true all this time, and Hallie lets him come back to her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
Lois Weber was generally championing something or someone in her films; this time around it's underpaid white-collar workers. Professor Griggs (Phillip Hubbard) can barely afford to support his wife (Margaret McWade) and daughter, Amelia (Claire Windsor). Amelia works at a library and she has three suitors -- carefree college boy Phil West (Louis Calhern), the boy next door whose father is a well-to-do shoemaker, and a poor minister. When Amelia is taken ill, the doctor advises her mother that she must have nourishing food. Since this is beyond what she can afford, Mrs. Griggs steals a chicken from her next-door neighbor. Because of the theft, Amelia returns to work early so that she can pay for the bird. Although West is loved by a girl of his own social station (Marie Walcamp), he prefers Amelia. She refuses to encourage him until he changes his frivolous ways. Not only does he decide to settle down, he also convinces his father, who is on the college board of trustees, to give Amelia's father a raise. Eventually the couple unite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phillip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, (more)
- 1920
The pivotal role of the vamp in this Lois Weber production was played by a cinematic newcomer "somewhat dubiously named" (to quote Variety) Mona Lisa. When Leila (Mona Lisa) and her husband (Howard Gay) come to a small seaside resort, her selfish and evil ways ruin the lives of several of the townsfolk. Before the evil Leila gets her due, her self-centered vanity kills her husband, she is responsible for a boy's death and she almost destroys the love affair between Alice Granville (Claire Windsor) and Dr. John Ransome (Edward Burns). Director Weber was famed for her morality plays, but this picture was too obvious and its subject matter too ordinary to impress. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Although this wasn't one of Lois Weber's most distinguished films, its star, Mildred Harris (billed at the time as Mrs. Charles Chaplin), was well cast. New Yorker Fred Worthington (Henry Woodward) doubts the sincerity of his sweetheart and his friends, so he plants an item claiming he has become bankrupt. Almost on cue, everyone dumps him, so he leaves the city in disgust. He goes to the country to visit his mother and meets innocent Maddie Irwin (Harris). They fall in love and marry, but only afterwards does Worthington realize that his country wife really wants to be a city girl. His arguments fall on deaf ears, so he throws a party at his country estate and invites his wildest friends. To his surprise, Maddie thoroughly enjoys the revelry instead of being repelled by it. Maddie finally satisfies her lust for city life by running off to Chinatown with a group of strangers. She becomes embroiled with a mysterious Frenchman and winds up in a lot of trouble. After one of her former admirers from the country finally rescues her, Maddie returns home glad to be a country girl -- never realizing that the Frenchman was actually her husband in disguise. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Marie (Anita Stewart), a young princess, finds herself shipwrecked and uses this as a way to escape her royal duties. She takes the guise of a hotel maid, where she meets up with Roger Sloan (Jack Holt), a rich guest. They fall in love, but the class differences keep them apart. That isn't the end of it, however -- they encounter each other again, after Marie has returned to being a princess. This time, Sloan is the one who can't marry into royalty. An impending revolution in Marie's country, however, promises that the couple will finally wind up together on the same socio-economic level. Notably, much of this film was shot at the Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles -- during the silent era it was very posh, and the hotel of choice amongst visiting film executives and stars. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Anita Stewart plays the title character. Mary Regan is the daughter of a gentleman crook and an heiress. Although she has received a good upbringing, she refuses to marry Robert Clifford (Frank Mayo) for fear of damaging his career as a city official. Some old associates of her father, Peter Loveman (George Hernandez) and Jim Bradley (Brinsley Shaw), want her to help them in their blackmailing schemes. She won't, and escapes from her trying situation by going to the mountains for a rest. Bradley brings up a reckless young man, Jack Morton (Carl Miler). Jack falls in love with Mary and proposes marriage. Mary, wanting to save him from the crooks he befriends, and wanting to save Clifford a lot of trouble, accepts Jack's offer. Mary later finds out about a scam that the crooks are trying to pull off on the wealthy Morton family and tells Clifford about it. He gets the police involved and they halt the crime. Meanwhile, Jack dies from his fast-living ways, freeing Mary to finally follow her heart and be with Clifford. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Mildred Harris was billing herself under the stage name Mrs. Charles Chaplin during the time she starred in this Lois Weber-directed drama. Mr. and Mrs. Rankin (William Critgenden and Lydia Knott) scrimp so they can send their daughter, Millicent (Harris), to a posh girls' school. One of the friends she makes at the school is Beatrice Deering (Helen Yoder), who comes from a very wealthy family. Millicent goes to visit Beatrice with dreams of finding a rich and handsome young man. But the one she meets, Elmer Lacy (Frank Elliott), is having an affair with Beatrice's mother (Clarissa Selwynne). Lacy takes time off from his romance with Mrs. Deering to pay some attention to Millicent, and she comes close to compromising herself. When Mr. Deering (John Cossar) is about to discover his wife's affair, Millicent saves the marriage by stepping into his wife's place. She returns back to her country home a whole lot wiser, and decides to settle down with the modest, down-to-earth sweetheart she left behind. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Elmo Lincoln became the first actor to play Edgar Rice Burrough's "Lord of the Jungle" on the screen when he replaced the now-forgotten Winslow Wilson in the 1918 8-reeler Tarzan of the Apes. During the first portion of the film, Tarzan -- aka Lord Greystoke -- is portrayed by juvenile actor Gordon Griffith. The earlier reels detail the deaths of Greystoke's British parents in the jungle, and how the boy was raised by female ape Kala. Years pass: a rescue party, including high-born Jane Porter (Enid Markey), arrives in the jungle, in search of the long-lost Lord Greystoke. When Jane gets lost in the foliage, it is Tarzan who rescues her from predatory beasts. He then tries to put the make on Jane, as any good ape would, whereupon she stops him with the gentle remonstration "Tarzan is a man, and men do not force their attentions upon women." His aristocratic breeding thus invoked, Tarzan is at last tamed. By any standards, Elmo Lincoln was an awful actor; in addition, he looked about twenty years too old and fifty pounds too fat for the role of Tarzan. Nonetheless, he had great presence, and Tarzan of the Apes made him a star (at least until the talkies came around). Though crudely directed, the film has a lot of energy, especially in the famous scene wherein Lincoln actually kills an attacking lion with his knife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elmo Lincoln, Gordon Griffith, (more)
- 1918
Mildred Harris plays a poor working girl whose head is turned by the finer things in life. While at the beach with her boyfriend, a simple rather dull guy, a bathhouse catches fire, burning up their clothes. A rich man, who has been lusting after the girl, takes this opportunity to offer his coat and to take her to his home. There, she is introduced to the perks of the wealthy and becomes dissatisfied with what she has at home. She turns down her boyfriend's marriage proposal and goes to the rich man. He asks her to become his mistress, but his former girlfriend finds out and calls the police in an attempt to get the girl in trouble. Although she escapes, the girl goes home to find her family enraged by her actions. It takes amends on the part of the rich man to make things right. The studio that made this picture, Universal, had director Lois Weber add a touch of social consciousness to the plot's sensationalism and then exploited Mildred Harris' status as Mrs. Charlie Chaplin in hopes of making a tidy profit. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
The busy husband-wife directorial team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber launched their surprisingly brief 1918 production schedule with The Doctor and the Woman. Adapted from K, a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the film starred Mildred Harris as the daughter of a reclusive minister. Hoping to follow in her father's humanitarian footsteps, the girl becomes a trained nurse, and it is in this capacity that she falls in love with Max, the local hospital's chief of surgeons. An inveterate carouser and ladies' man, Max is "tamed" by the stabilizing influence of the practical-minded heroine. She ends up saving Max from being blamed for the tragic surgical mistakes perpetrated by the incompetent Dr. Edwards, and she also prevents her doctor sweetheart from taking the rap for a murder he didn't commit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Completed in late 1917, the Lois Weber-Phillips Smalley production For Husbands Only received its first New York playdate in September of 1918. Reminiscent of George Bernard Shaw's Fanny's First Play, the story revolves around a wealthy playboy (Lewis Cody) who stages amateur theatricals in his Park Avenue mansion. Despite his dramatic inclinations, Cody's main purpose in life is to seduce as many young ladies as possible. Mildred Harris, one of Cody's intended victims, decides to teach the rakish hero a lesson. Upon getting married, Harris pretends to be in love with Cody and arranges several romantic "trysts," always managing to leave Cody panting before anything serious can happen. During a weekend party at Cody's mansion, Harris announces that she would like to stage a play for the entertainment of the guests -- including her husband. Since the plot of the play deals with an unconsummated romantic rendezvous between a married woman and a rakish bachelor, it doesn't take long for Cody to figure out that Harris is merely re-enacting one of their cozy but innocent tete-a-tetes. Aware that he has been hoodwinked, Cody vows to change his hedonistic ways -- at least whenever Harris is around! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Most theater marquees advertised this Lois Weber production under its alternate title, The Mysterious Mrs. M. Cast in the title role was Evelyn Selbie, but the true heroine of the piece is Phyllis Woodman, played by one of Weber's most talented protégées, Mary MacLaren. The story is set in motion when lethargic young clubman Raymond Von Seer (played by the "original" Harrison Ford) is targeted for a practical joke by his pals. Convinced by supposed fortune-teller Mrs. Musselwhite (Selby) that he is due for a series of disasters, Von Seer begins living "in the fast lane" -- precisely the intention of his pals, who feel that our hero needs a little excitement in his life. And when Mrs. M. predicts that Von Seer has but three months to live, he hastens to the office of his family doctor, where he meets and falls in love with doctor's daughter Phyllis (McLaren). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Here, director Lois Weber -- with the help of her partner and husband, Phillips Smalley -- tackles one of her favorite subjects, birth control. This was quite a controversial subject during the 1910s, as proved by the trials and tribulations of birth control proponent Margaret Sanger; in fact, this picture takes quite a bit from Sanger's life story. Mrs. Broome (Weber) is under surveillance by the police because of her efforts to educate women about birth control. Eventually she is arrested, but through the connections of her doctor husband (Smalley), she is released. In a discussion with another couple, the Grahams (Priscilla Dean and Wedgewood Nowell), Mrs. Broome tells the story of a servant, Sarah (Evelyn Selbie), and her husband (Harry deMore) who had more children than they could support. Once again, while she is holding a meeting, Mrs. Broome is arrested. She stages a hunger strike, and again is pardoned. License Commissioner Bell entered an objection against this picture before its screening in New York, but Weber's studio, Universal, got an injunction from the Supreme Court and ran it anyway. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Director Lois Weber created this allegory, in which Satan (Harry Carter) tempts two married artists. Carrillo (Ben Wilson) and Selma (Mignon Anderson) live under the protection of Carrillo's three statues representing Youth, Love, and Honor. Satan sends various imps to counter these three qualities: Cleo, "a harpy" (Maud George), runs off with Carrillo's Honor, while Stray (Hayward Mack), posing as a friend of Selma's, takes away Love. Then Jacques (Earle Page) influences Carrillo's drinking and he loses his Youth. But Loyalty finally brings the couple to Repentance. While this sounds corny to the extreme -- and with its double and triple exposures, this film was pretty obvious in making its points -- in 1917, the art of cinema was still new enough for Weber's approach to be acceptable. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Having directed several films in tandem with her husband Phillips Smalley, Lois Weber went solo with the 1916 production Shoes. The film was based on a Collier's Magazine story by Stella Wynne Herron, which in turn was inspired by a quote from a book by 19th-century humanitarian Jane Addams. The heroine, working-girl Eve Meyer (Mary McLaren), is unable to afford a new pair of shoes on her meager wages. After several frustrating weeks of trying to scrimp and save, Eve is reduced to selling herself sexually for the sake of the shoes. She comes to regret this decision, bitterly ruminating over "what might have been" during the film's somber closing scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Tyrone Power Sr., the father of you-know-who, made quite a meal of his dual role in the Bluebird production John Needham's Double. Based on a play by Joseph Hatton, the story concerns dissipated nobleman Lord John Needham (Power), who is appointed guardian of rich young Thomas Creighton (Buster Emmons. It doesn't take long for Lord John to squander the vast fortune which was supposed to go to Thomas when the boy came of age. Desperate to cover his losses, Lord John resorts to murder then tries to pin the crime on his look-alike Joseph Norbury (also played by Power). Husband-and-wife directors Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber did what they could to cover up the logic gaps in this familiar yarn, which had for many years served as a theatrical vehicle for E.S. Willard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Hop, the Devil's Brew was another deft blend of social commentary and entertainment from the husband-and-wife directorial team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. Made with full cooperation of the U.S. Customs Bureau, the story is a case study of how opium is harvested in the Orient then smuggled and distributed to America. Putting a face on the scourge of narcotics is the plight of Lydia Jensen (Weber), the wife of customs agent Ward Jensen (Smalley). While Jensen is out trying to smash a vicious dope ring, poor Lydia becomes an opium addict. The grueling final reels depict Jensen trying to wean his wife off the killer drug, a chillingly graphic sequence which was every bit as powerful as the more celebrated denouement of Otto Preminger's 1955 opus The Man with the Golden Arm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
