Glen Cavender Movies

Buster Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a Southern railroad engineer who loves his train engine, The General, almost as much as he loves Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the opening shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter, Johnny tries to enlist -- and he is deemed too useful as an engineer to be a soldier. All Johnny knows is that he's been rejected, and Annabelle, thinking him a coward, turns her back on him. When Northern spies steal the General (and, unwittingly, Annabelle), the story switches from drama and romance to adventure mixed with Keaton's trademark deadpan humor as he uses every means possible to catch up to the General, thwart the Yankees, and rescue his darling Annabelle -- for starters. As always, Keaton performs his own stunts, combining his prodigious dexterity, impeccable comic timing, and expressive body language to convey more emotion than the stars of any of the talkies that were soon to dominate cinema. ~ Emru Townsend, All Movie Guide

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

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

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

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

Skirts was a 2-reel comedy vehicle for the delightful Fay Tincher, here cast as an outspoken maidservant. When her employer's house is burgled by crook Tully Marshall, Tincher is accused of the crime. But she manages to clear herself and to bring in the culprit, to the amazement of slack-jawed police chief Edward Dillon (who also directed the picture). When reviewed in the pages of the trade magazine Variety, Skirts was identified as a Keystone comedy. In truth, it was produced at D.W. Griffith's Fine Arts studio by Triangle, the company that handled distribution of the Keystones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Played mostly for laughs, this silent Buck Jones Western featured the star as "The Mediator," a drifter who manages to restore peace both within a family and between miners and their powerful employer. Buck nurses a wounded Bill Higgins (Norman Selby) back to health before returning him to the ill-named Peaceful Valley and his harridan of a wife (Frances Hatton). The local miners, meanwhile, are suffering under a dictatorial foreman (G. Raymond Nye) who, with Buck's intervention, is removed by company president Herschel Mayall. The dismissed Nye takes his revenge by inducing the workers to strike, but Buck, "The Mediator" and the newly elected foreman, prevents disaster by unmasking his predecessor as a thief. As a reward for his "mediation," Buck wins the love of Maggie, the waitress (Helen Ferguson). As always, Hollywood screenwriters took the position that bad working conditions were the fault of crooked mid-level management and not the company owners. Selby was better known as Kid McCoy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

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

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

In Charlie Chaplin's 27th comedy for Keystone, and arguably his best, he plays not a homeless Tramp, but an inept janitor in a bank. The film is a forerunner of his later Essanay film The Bank. It is the first Chaplin film in which is seen a glimmer of the pathos mixed with comedy that would become his Tramp's defining characteristic. Charlie is first seen in the lobby of the building with his broom and dustpan, being shut out of an elevator ride by a nasty elevator operator. He makes the long climb upstairs and begins his duties cleaning the offices but bungles most of the jobs. Dusting in the president's office he is clearly smitten by lovely stenographer Gene Marsh. She is in love with the manager, which is seen as she caresses his hat hanging outside his office. In that office, the manager receives a note from his bookie who threatens to expose him if he does not pay his gambling debts. He decides to rob the safe in the president's office. Meanwhile, Charlie accidentally dumps a bucket of water out the office window which soaks the president. Enraged, the president rushes upstairs and fires Charlie, who begs for his job. (During a rehearsal of this scene, according to Chaplin's autobiography, Alice Davenport watching from the sidelines found Charlie's protestations so pathetic she burst into tears.) Unable to change the presidents mind, Charlie heads downstairs to the storage room and prepares to leave. When the president and the stenographer leave, the manager sneaks into the president's office and opens the safe. He's caught by the steno who has returned unexpectedly, and the manager attacks her, threatening her with a gun. Just before she faints, she presses a call button which rings in the janitor's storage room. Charlie, after a moment of indecision, makes his way upstairs and, seeing the situation, knocks the gun from the manager's hand. Bending over to pick it up with his back turned, he holds the manager at bay by aiming the gun between his legs. He steps over his arms and goes to the window, firing some shots which quickly brings a cop to the office. The president arrives and when it is assumed that Charlie is the hold-up man, he is apprehended by the cop. The stenographer awakens and identifies Charlie as the real hero, who receives a reward and a handshake for his efforts. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide