Herbert Wilcox Movies
One of England's top producer-directors from the '20s until World War II, Herbert Wilcox was born in Ireland and worked as a journalist before serving as a flyer with the British during World War I. He entered the movie business as a distributor in 1919, and three years later began producing movies. Wilcox was one of the few producers in England during the '20s with a Hollywood-style flair for showmanship, and occasionally imported American stars such as Dorothy Gish for his films. He made his greatest single contribution to films in 1926 by founding Elstree Studios, which remained a major production facility right into the '80s. As a producer, he had no peer during the '20s, and was rivalled in the '30s only by Sir Alexander Korda. Korda quickly succeeded in international production on a scale that Wilcox found hard to top, but in England, Wilcox remained a major figure, especially in connection with the movies he directed and produced for actress Anna Neagle, his future wife. Sixty Glorious Years (1939) was a groundbreaking film, as a dramatization of the life of a British monarch. He went to Hollywood in the wake of the latter movie, but was not able to repeat its success, and returned to England, where he was never able to repeat his pre-war success, although he did co-produce one superb film, The Beggar's Opera (1954), starring Laurence Olivier and directed by Peter Brook. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1926
This British-made production was based on the "celebrated" (circa 1906) stage play by Freeman Wills, which was based on the Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. Sydney Carton (Sir John Martin Harvey) is a brilliant barrister who has a drinking problem. He loves Lucy Manette (Betty Faire), but she marries Charles Darnay (Frederick Cooper). The French Revolution endangers Darnay, who is really royalist St. Evremonde. He is arrested and condemned to death. Carton, ever loyal to Lucy, overcomes his faults to rescue her husband. But the revolutionaries capture Darnay once again and it looks like he will not be able to escape. Carton, however, looks quite a bit like Darnay, and he makes the ultimate sacrifice by switching places with him. As a result, it is Carton who goes to the guillotine, while Darnay is able to reunite with Lucy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1924
During the 1920s, it was a common occurrence for British filmmakers to lense their productions in Germany, and vice versa. Thus it was that Herbert Wilcox travelled to Deutschland to film his lavish Decameron Nights. The film was based on a play by McLoughlin and Lawrence, which in turn was adapted from the spicy tales of Giovanni Boccaccio. Hollywood's Lionel Barrymore plays a sultan whose son falls hopelessly in love with a Moslem princess. Also in the cast is Werner Krauss, of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fame. Decameron Nights was more or less remade in 1953, with Louis Jourdan and Joan Fontaine in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Werner Krauss, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1924
This romantic drama is taken from the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow entitled "The Spanish Student." Dolores (Betty Blythe) is the beguiling gypsy dancer who rejects the lecherous advances of Count de Silva (Randle Ayrton). Pedro (Herbert Langley) kills the count, but Dolores is jailed when she refuses to reveal the count's killer. Warwick Ward, Liane Haid, and Hal Martin co-star in this well-crafted melodrama filmed in Vienna by Irish director Herbert Wilcox. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1923
This two-part adventure drama finds the lovely Zahrat (Betty Blythe) stolen by the villainous Abou Hassan (Herbert Langley) before her marriage to Omar (Randle Ayrton). After Omar is captured, the two escape into the desert in an effort to be free of the evil Abou. Part two concerns Ali Baba (Judd Green) and his adventures in Arabia. Olaff Hytten plays Mucbill the auctioneer, with Eva Moore as Alcolom and Jeff Barlow as Mustafa. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1923
This lightweight comedy-drama is based on the stage play by Gertrude Page. Because her father (Sir Simeon Stuart) really wanted a boy, Paddy Adair (Mae Marsh in a blonde wig) becomes a hoydenish tomboy. Jack O'Hara (George K. Arthur) is in love with Paddy's sister Eileen (Lillian Douglas), but Eileen loves Lawrence Blake (Darby Foster). Blake, meanwhile, loves Paddy. This tangled mass of misplaced affections begins to unravel when General Adair dies. O'Hara travels to South America to make his fortune, and Paddy travels from her home in Ireland to London. Blake follows after her, and eventually she comes to love him. O'Hara returns home, and Paddy goes home to see him. But while wandering off by herself she gets lost in a dense fog and is rescued by Blake. The story was changed around a bit and filmed as a musical in 1933 for Janet Gaynor. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1922
With her Hollywood career in the doldrums, actress Mae Marsh briefly set up shop in England, where she appeared in several intriguing productions. In Flames of Passion, Mae plays a married woman who falls in love with her chauffeur. When her lover accidentally kills her child, Mae refuses to betray the man to the police. Only under intensive cross-examination by lawyer C. Aubrey Smith does Marsh break down and tell the truth. Flames of Passion was one of many felicitous collaborations between producer Herbert Wilcox and director Graham Cutts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
