Glen Cavender Movies
Burly American comic actor Glen Cavender is perhaps best remembered for playing the Union spy, Captain Anderson, in Keaton's masterpiece The General (1927), but the ex-vaudevillian began his screen career with the St. Louis Motion Picture Company (which, despite its name, was located in Los Angeles) in the early 1910s. Acknowledged as one of the original Keystone Kops, Cavender later directed the Sennett stock company in such farces as The Lion and the Girl (1916) and The Scoundrel's Toll (1916), as well as The Sheriff (1918) for Joseph Schenck's Comique, starring "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. Returning to acting in the 1920s, Cavender appeared mainly in two-reelers produced by comedy veteran Joe Rock but he did turn up in a few feature films, including the Buck Jones Western Straight from the Shoulder (1921). By the 1930s, however, Cavender was reduced to playing unbilled bit parts. He retired around 1941. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1917
Released June 24, 1917, A Dog Catcher's Love was one of the last of the Mack Sennett comedies to be released under the Keystone brand; within four months, the producer would dissolve Keystone and reorganize under the imprimatur of Mack Sennett Productions. The dog catcher of the title is arrow-narrow Slim Summerville, and his "love" is pert Peggy Pearce. Alas, Summerville's rival is handsome bow-wow fancier Glen Cavender, whose luck with women borders on the fantastic. But when Peggy is kidnapped by foreign spies, it is Summerville and his faithful hound Teddy (a top Keystone star in his own right) who gallop to the rescue. A genuine battleship and submarine are brought into play during the film's slapstick-orgy finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Hoping to cash in on the popularity of his former employee Charlie Chaplin, producer Mack Sennett hired Charlie's half-brother Sydney Chaplin, an excellent farceur in his own right, to star in series of Keystone comedies. Syd's best-remembered effort from this era was the 4-reel "special" A Submarine Pirate, a spoof of contemporary war melodramas. Cast in his familiar "Gussle" characterization (wing-tipped moustache, baggy pants and all), Chaplin plays a clumsy waiter who happens to overhear a band of pirates who plan to seize control of a submarine. Armed primarily with kitchen utensils and an excess of nerve, our hero boards the captured sub, rounds up the villains, and blows up the vessel, all in record time. Sydney Chaplin served as co-director of A Submarine Pirate, while future director Wesley Ruggles essayed a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1939
Code of the Secret Service was the second of Warner Bros. "Brass Bancroft" series, starring Ronald Reagan as troubleshooting federal operative Bancroft. This time, Brass and his wisecracking partner Gabby (Eddie Foy Jr., brother of producer Bryan Foy) take on a particularly vicious gang of counterfeiters. Our heroes end up in Mexico, where they undergo a series of wild and wooly adventures the like of which were seldom seen outside of the Republic serials. According to Reagan, he was obliged to do his own stunts in the film because the budget couldn't afford a double; it certainly looks that way. Entertaining in its own dizzy fashion. Code of the Secret Service is proof positive that Reagan could carry a film with the right material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Rosella Towne, (more)
- 1942
In this wartime drama, a doctor discovers that one of his patients isn't as crazy as he thought, with dangerous consequences for the whole world. Dr. Michael Lewis (John Garfield) is an intern at a hospital where a woman named Jane (Nancy Coleman) is admitted. Jane was injured in a car wreck, and she tells Michael a remarkable story. She claims that she is actually an espionage agent with top-secret information that could help the Allied war effort; the accident occurred while she was trying to escape from Axis spies who will do anything to get her documents. Michael, who is supposed to keep an eye on Jane, thinks she must be delusional, and when psychiatrist Dr. Ingersol (Raymond Massey) arrives with Jane's father, Mr. Goodwin (Moroni Olsen), he signs Jane out in their custody. However, Michael soon discovers that Mr. Goodwin isn't Jane's father at all; he and Ingersol are actually the Nazi spies Jane was fleeing in the accident, and someone must rescue her before it's too late, both for Jane and the Allied war effort. Dangerously They Live was scripted by Marion Parsonnet from her novel, Remember Tomorrow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, (more)
- 1939
20th Century Fox's Christmas gift to moviegoers in 1939, this fanciful comedy-drama features the studio's darling of the ice, Sonja Henie. She plays the daughter of a Nobel Peace Prize-winner feared murdered by the German Gestapo. A couple of rival American newspaper reporters, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings, discover that the legendary Professor Norden (Maurice Moscovich) is still very much alive and living under an assumed name in Switzerland. The heroes, however, completely forget their critical assignment after spotting the professor's lovely daughter, Louise (Henie), and their preoccupation with the girl nearly leads to disaster. Fox borrowed Ray Milland from Paramount for this Henie vehicle, which was partially filmed at Sun Valley, ID. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, (more)
In G Men, Warner Bros. "bad boy" James Cagney plays James "Brick" Davis, a young lawyer whose education has been financed by soft-hearted racketeer McKay (William Harrigan). When Cagney's best pal, detective Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey), is killed in a gangland shooting, James decides to become a G-Man. Though scrupulously honest, Davis is looked upon with suspicion by his fellow agents because of his association with the crooked McKay. He proves he's a "good guy" when his former girlfriend, Jean Ann Dvorak, now the wife of mobster Brad Collins (Barton MacLane), tips him off to a "Little Bohemia"-style gangster hideaway. Jean later sacrifices her own life to help James rescue his new girl, nurse Kay McCord (Margaret Lindsay), from the vengeful Collins. Based on Gregory Miller's book Public Enemy No. 1, G-Men was reissued in 1949, with an added prologue featuring David Brian as an FBI trainer who advises his students not to laugh at the old-fashioned costumes and slang in the 1935 film; seen today, it is Brian's superfluous opening comments that seem hopelessly dated, while the film itself is as exciting and entertaining as ever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1942
- NR
The Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman Broadway hit George Washington Slept Here has herein been tailored to the unique talents of Jack Benny. In the original play, city dweller Bill Fuller, fired up with the spirit of "back to the soil," purchases a ramshackle Colonial-era farmhouse in upstate New York, dragging his reluctant wife, Connie, along for the ride. Everett Freeman's screenplay retains the basic set-up with one important difference: in the film, it is Connie Fuller (Ann Sheridan), an inveterate antique collector, who is all hopped up about buying and renovating the old farmhouse, while husband Bill (Jack Benny), with visions of abject poverty dancing in his head, hates the whole idea. This slight character alteration allows Jack Benny to indulge in the frustrated, put-upon slow-burn comedy he does so well, while still leaving Hart and Kaufman's dextrous plot twists and punch lines intact. Most of the humor derives from the thousand-and-one "little" flaws in the drafty old house -- collapsing walls and ceilings, antiquated plumbing, et al. -- all duly categorized by laconic caretaker Mr. Kimber (Percy Kilbride, in a brilliant performance). Also thickening the plot are the efforts by the near-bankrupt Bill and Connie to curry favor with their wealthy uncle Stanley (Charles Coburn), who turns out to be a cheerful old fraud. The resolution of the plotline is inherent in the title, but there's still one last indignity left to be dumped on poor Bill Fuller's head at fade-out time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan, (more)
- 1938
Warner Bros.' Girls on Probation was, and is, a potboiler, redeemed slightly by its cast. The fascinating, underused Jane Bryan stars as innocent young Connie Heath, who is falsely accused of theft by witchy Gloria Adams (Susan Hayward). Though Gloria withdraws her charge, the insurance company continues to persecute poor Connie, resulting in a charge of grand larceny. Championing her cause is crusading attorney Neil Dillon (Ronald Reagan), who gets Gloria off with probation. Alas, she resumes her friendship with "fast girl" Hilda Engstrom (Sheila Bromley), who was responsible for getting Connie into trouble in the first place. And there's still 30 minutes to go! Girls on Probation received plenty of airplay in the 1980s during the Reagan presidency then enjoyed a second life as a late-night mainstay of the Turner Classic Movies cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Bryan, Ronald Reagan, (more)
- 1921
Ishmael Worth (Harold Goodwin) gives up the love of a young woman because of the social stigma attached to his illegitimacy. Beatrice (Lillian Hall) is the woman he loves so much he refuses to dishonor her by his past. He later discovers his mother (Iris Ashton) was married after all, but he must compete with the villainous rival suitor Lord Vincent (Colin Kenny). Ishmael approaches the woman he loves after his family name has be restored. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Goodwin, Lillian Hall, (more)
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's 25th Keystone comedy is a park farce on the same order as many of his earlier shorts. It opens with a famous shot of Charlie sitting on a park bench, reading Police Gazette, the National Enquirer of its time. A couple nearby are unhappy; the boy, Charles Parrot (later known as Charley Chase), has to take care of his gouty, wheelchair-bound uncle, preventing him from going off with his girlfriend, Gene Marsh. He gets an idea -- find someone to push uncle around for the day. He finds Charlie, of course, but not before his girlfriend encounters the Tramp. She accidentally drops her purse in front of him and he retrieves it and tries to flirt. When Charlie agrees to push Uncle around, the Nephew finds his girlfriend and they go off for a stroll. Wheeling Uncle past a saloon, Charlie asks for an advance for a drink but the Uncle refuses. Charlie pushes Uncle to a nearby pier where another invalid in a wheelchair with a tin cup and a "Help A Cripple" sign has fallen asleep. Charlie deftly puts the sign and cup on Uncle, who is also dozing. The first contribution is enough to send Charlie off to the saloon for a drink. Meanwhile the couple arrives at the pier and finds the sleeping Uncle in this embarrassing position. Gene laughingly teases her beau as they again escape. Another charitable soul comes by and drops a coin in the cup which awakens the cripple who takes back his sign and cup and strikes Uncle on his gouty foot with his cane. Charlie arrives quite tipsy and wheels Uncle further along the pier, amusing him with his Police Gazette. The couple has meanwhile had a fight, and the girl arrives on the pier and sits down next to Charlie. He begins flirting again, and when Uncle tries to interfere, Charlie pushes him right to the end of the pier. Nephew arrives and is enraged to see Charlie and Gene together. A scrap begins also involving a couple of Kops, one of whom shoos the boyfriend away before being pushed off the pier. The other Kop pinches Uncle as a troublemaker, leaving Charlie and Gene to walk off together. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Charley Chase, (more)
- 1922
Manly Dustin Farnum usually did well in action-packed Westerns; perhaps this one didn't work because it wasn't packed with enough action. It certainly had its fair share of clichés, however. George Kirby (William Conklin) steals a mining claim from Tom Curtis (Farnum) and forces him to become an outlaw. Years later, Curtis comes to the rescue when Anne Kirby (Marguerite Marsh) is kidnapped by real outlaws, but when he finds out she is married to his enemy, he decides to hold her captive. Although he changes his mind and offers to let her go, she stays to nurse his gunshot wounds. Kirby finds them together and accuses Anne of loving Curtis. Curtis goes to town to turn himself in and finds Bat Piper (William Elmer), another bad guy who is in cahoots with Kirby. After several gunfights, Kirby is finally killed and Anne realizes that her late husband was right -- she really does love Curtis. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Dapper, diminutive screen comedian Monty Banks stars in Keep Smiling. The inventor of an automatically inflatable life jacket, Banks gets an opportunity to demonstrate his invention after saving the life of Rose (Anne Cornwall), the daughter of steamboat executive Ryan (Robert Edeson). Through a series of misunderstandings, Ryan is led to believe that our hero is speedboat champion. Naturally, Banks is forced to prove his prowess in the water, leading to a typically hair-raising slapstick climax. Monty Banks may not have been the most memorable comic on the silent screen, but few moviegoers could ever forget his films' action-packed finales. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Banks, Robert Edeson, (more)
- 1915
Keystone Comedies is a collection of silent film shorts produced by the legendary Mack Sennett. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1939
A remake of Dr. Socrates (1935), this middling melodrama features Kay Francis as Carol Nelson, a medical doctor blaming gangster Joe Gurney (Humphrey Bogart) for the death of her husband (John Eldredge) during a police raid. Determined to get even, Dr. Nelson sets up practice in a small town where a couple of Gurney's henchmen are serving time. And sure enough, Gurney is soon in dire need of Carol's help after being wounded in a jailhouse break. Convincing the gang boss and his men that they all suffer from eye infections, the good doctor proceeds to blind the mobsters with adrenaline eye drops and then calls the cops. Warner Bros. used the general idea a third time in Bullet Scars (1942), yet another B-movie. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, James Stephenson, (more)
- 1921
Sir Stephen O'Neill, a wealthy Irishman (Eric Mayne), disowns his daughter Patricia (Eileen Percy) when she marries beneath her station. Her husband (Leslie Casey) is arrested, and she goes to the States. She dies, leaving her little daughter in the care of Mike Rorke, an old sailor (Frank Clark). Years later the girl, Patsy, now grown (and played by Percy), is running a newsstand owned by Rorke and Sir Stephen has come to regret the harsh way he treated his daughter. He decides to hunt down his granddaughter and enlists the help of his nephew, Arthur Hawks (Francis Feeney), to find her. A friend of Patsy's hears of the search and decides to pass the girl off as the heiress. Arthur returns to Ireland with Patsy, who is falling in love with him and beginning to regret the sham. But after confessing, she discovers that she really is the girl Sir Stephen was looking for after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle are a married couple in this Keystone quickie. After a fight caused by his flirtation with the maid, Fatty and Mabel go for a walk through the park (actually Echo Park in Los Angeles, a frequent location for the Keystone troupe. The park still exists today). In typically convoluted Keystone fashion, they get mixed up with another couple, the cops get involved when they believe that the "No Spooning" law has been violated, and both Mabel and the other woman's husband wind up in the clink. An amusing, if extremely dated, statement on morality in the 'teens. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Warner Bros. was hoping that this epic rendition of the Sinclair Lewis novel would become a blockbuster to rival the big releases from United Artists (Robin Hood) and Paramount (The Covered Wagon). That it didn't come close says more about the competition, really, than it does about this honestly well-produced effort. When sophisticated, artistic city girl Carol Milford (Florence Vidor) marries Will Kennicott, a rather dull small town doctor (Monte Blue), it's clear right away that they are mis-matched. Although Carol moves with Kennicott to his hometown of Gopher Prairie, she can't quite leave the city behind. She sets out to educate the townsfolk, who not only have no desire for an "education," they believe she is putting on airs. Although Kennicott adores Carol, he doesn't understand her needs. Only one person, Erik Valborg (Robert Gordon), is willing to listen to Carol and they become friendly. Erik falls in love with her and tries to convince her to run away with him. She refuses, but their meeting is interrupted by Erik's father, Adolph (Noah Beery Sr.), who has never liked Carol or her husband. He denounces Carol in front of the whole town, but Will immediately comes to her defense. He makes the crowd ashamed of their ill feelings towards his wife, and Erik completely exonerates her from any wrongdoing. Carol finally comes to realize how deeply her husband loves her, and to accept the fact that people just can't be changed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monte Blue
- 1925
When a film vehicle was needed for heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, his producers wisely decided to use the story from a 1916 Douglas Fairbanks film. They changed it around, added a lot more fisticuffs, and co-starred the fighter's new bride, Estelle Taylor (the couple, incidentally, would divorce in 1931). The basic story line, however, remains the same -- Steve O'Dare (Dempsey) is called to New York on business, and he wires that he hopes his East Coast friends have some excitement set up for him, because the big city can't possibly compare to the West. On the train to New York, he meets a beautiful and mysterious young woman (Taylor). He sees her again in a cabaret and she tells him that she is in trouble. While trying to come to her aid, he is attacked by a gang and must try to hang onto a curious box that everybody apparently wants. After knocking quite a few people unconscious, O'Dare finds himself in a seemingly deserted house which turns out to have a dining room full of his friends. The whole intrigue was a set up so that O'Dare could have the excitement he was looking for. He outsmarts everyone by taking the girl as his wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1923
In spite of racial stereotypes that grate today, this Larry Semon two-reeler has a lot of funny moments (due, in no small part to Oliver Hardy, who played his adversary in this and many other comedies). Larry is in love with a girl (Lucille Carlisle) whose father (Hardy) is on the verge of winning his first chess game in 20 years. Unfortunately, Larry knocks the board over and, instead of winning the father's consent to a wedding, he gets thrown out the window. Meanwhile, the head of a Chinese gang wants to try out his new sleeping potion, and he has an associate who is working for the father kidnap the girl. Both the girl and a black servant (Spencer Bell) are abducted. Larry comes to the rescue and falls down a laundry chute -- which just happens to take him to the gang's hideout. Larry and the servant rescue the girl and return her to her father. Instead of thanking Larry, the unforgiving father tosses him out the window again. African-American actor Spencer Bell played comic relief in many silent films, often billed under the very unfortunate moniker G. Howe Black. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry Semon, Lucille Carlisle, (more)
- 1943
The fact that star Errol Flynn had been recently embroiled in a real-life rape trial only served to increase the box-office "pull" of Warner Bros. Northern Pursuit. Flynn is cast as Canadian mountie Steve Wagner, assigned to track down and capture downed Nazi pilot Hugo von Keller (Helmut Dantine) in the snowier Hudson Bay regions. Once Wagner and fellow mountie Jim Austin (John Ridgely) catch up with Von Keller, they pretend to be on his side, hoping that he'll reveal his espionage plans. Taken in, Von Keller leads the mounties towards a secret Nazi hideaway, where the Germans have hidden a huge bombing plane, to be used against North America. The fact that Wagner is posing as a Nazi sympathizer hardly endears him to Von Keller's hostage Laura McBain (Julie Bishop), but when the truth is revealed she professes her love for him. In the light of Flynn's recent legal problems, one line in Northern Pursuit invariably brought down the house in 1943: After assuring Laura that she's the only woman he's ever loved, Wagner/Flynn turns to the camera and quips "What am I saying?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, (more)
- 1925
For the whole two reels of this comedy, Stan Laurel plays a drunk, and, while some have compared this film to Charles Chaplin's One A.M., in reality it's nowhere near as funny. Stan's drunkenness completely disrupts the goings-on at a nightclub, and finally the club's owner (Glen Cavender) throws him out. A cop finds the helpless, inebriated Stan and escorts him home -- except that he's taken the address from a card in Stan's pocket, and it's the business card of the nightclub owner. When the nightclub owner comes home and finds Stan in his bed, all hell breaks loose, but Stan manages to escape both his antagonist and the cops. Although this is not one of Laurel's best comedies as a solo artist, it does have its moments -- one of the funniest happens almost completely out of camera frame. The nightclub owner, fed up with Stan, makes him stand up. The two men can only be seen from the chest down, with the nightclub owner's arm swinging. When Stan sits down again, he has a black eye. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stan Laurel
- 1921
Veteran silent star Dustin Farnum played a rancher whose land is being constantly depreciated because of cattle rustlings in this lavish Western produced by Fox. When Carson (Harry Dunkinson), Brian Wayne's (Farnum) partner, is mortally wounded by the rustlers, Brian promises the dying man to look after his young son, Bobby (Frankie Lee). The child's nasty mother, La Belle (Rosita Marstini), is in cahoots with the rustlers and to shield Bobby from his mother's evil influence, Brian agrees to sell the ranch to Travers (Philo McCullough), the slick fiancé of newcomer Janice Webb (Mary Thurman). But Bobby discovers oil on the land and realizing he has been tricked, Brian tears up the deed. Travers takes the case in court but justice prevails and Brian is free to marry Janice, with whom he has fallen in love. Leading lady Mary Thurman was a former Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty whose career was decidedly on the upswing when she suddenly died in 1925 from bronchopneumonia. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
One of a slew of prison reform picture that flourished during the Great Depression, this melodrama was banned in Finland. Pat O'Brien stars as Steve Jameson, a former Army officer who is hired at the infamous California prison of the title and quickly brings military order to the facility, separating the general population from the most violent offenders. In the meantime, Steve is falling for a singer, May (Ann Sheridan), but he keeps his profession a secret when she reveals that her brother Joe (Humphrey Bogart) is serving time in San Quentin. May eventually learns of Steve's deception and their romance hits the skids. When a jealous rival guard, Lt. Druggin (Barton MacLane), arranges for Joe to discover the romance between Steve and his sister, Joe begins plotting escape and revenge. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, (more)
- 1940
This third film version of Maxwell Anderson's play Saturday's Children stars Claude Rains as the impecunious but proud father of a large brood. Rains' daughter Anne Shirley marries idealistic John Garfield, a would-be inventor who works for Shirley's father. Feeling that he's been tricked into marriage, Garfield gives every indication of turning out to be as much "failure" as Rains. Only when Garfield and Shirley are on the verge of breaking up do they realize that material gain is not the only barometer of success in life. Previous filmizations of this story include Saturday's Children (29), starring Corinne Griffith, and Maybe It's Love (35), costarring Ross Alexander and Gloria Stuart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Anne Shirley, (more)
