Helene Chadwick Movies

Produced by M.H. Hoffman's Liberty Pictures, School for Girls is based on Reginald Wright Kauffman's story Our Undisciplined Daughters. It all begins when innocent heroine Annette Eldridge (Sidney Fox) gets mixed up with a slimy jewel thief. Taking the rap for her boyfriend, Annette ends up doing a three-year stretch in a girl's reformatory, where she's subjected to the sadistic excesses of brutal matron Miss Keeble (Lucille La Verne) (the same actress who later provided the voice of the Wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Thankfully, young prison-board appointee Gary Waltham (Paul Kelly) dedicates himself to helping Annette -- and by extension, the rest of the unfortunate female inmates. The supporting cast of School for Girls reads like a "B"-picture Who's Who: Lona Andre, Russell Hopton, Kathleen Burke, Fred Kelsey, Edward Le Saint, and former silent-film favorites Anna Q. Nilsson, Charles Ray, Myrtle Stedman and Helene Chadwick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy with musical numbers set in the Old South, Bing Crosby plays a singer (talk about a casting stretch!) from Philadelphia named Tom Grayson, who has fallen in love with Southern heiress Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick). Tom wants to marry Elvira, but a man called Major Patterson (John Miljan) has announced his desire to do the same, and he challenges Tom to a duel to decide who will have Elvira's hand. Tom is not at all agreeable to this idea, which leads Elvira's father (Claude Gillingwater) to proclaim Tom to be a coward and deny him permission to wed his daughter. Elvira's sister Lucy (Joan Bennett), who is infatuated with Tom, thinks that he's merely being sensible, but Tom thinks that Lucy is too young for a serious relationship. In need of work and not especially welcome in the Rumford's community, Tom takes a job performing on a riverboat piloted by the blustery Commodore Orlando Jackson (W.C. Fields). One night, Tom finds himself in a barroom brawl with a man named Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler), who dies accidentally from a shot fired by his own gun. Hoping that his infamy will draw crowds, Jackson begins billing Tom as "The Singing Killer." Tom comes to realize that Lucy may be the right woman for him after all, but Lucy is not interested in a man with blood on his hands, and now Tom must convince her that he's not a killer at all. Noted gambling aficionado Fields has a hilarious poker-playing bit, and he steals most of his scenes from the rest of the cast. Mississippi was loosely based on the play "Magnolia" by Booth Tarkington. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A "B" picture with "A" ambitions, Hell Bound stars Leo Carrillo as ruthless but basically decent racketeer Nick Cotrelli. Worried that singer Platinum Reed (Lola Lane) may know too much about his crooked operation, Cotrelli marries the girl so that she can't testify against him in court. Believing that Cotrelli isn't interested in her, Platinum falls in love with Robert Sanford (Lloyd Hughes), the young doctor who nursed her through a serious illness. At first inclined to bump off both his wife and her lover, Cotrelli thinks the better of it and in the end sacrifices his own life to insure Platinum's future happiness. Singer Russ Columbo is credited with writing the film's signature tune "Is It Love?" but did not appear in the film, as has sometimes been reported. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A phonograph recorder provides incriminating evidence in this mystery that centers upon a widower and his 10-year old child who receives it as a birthday present. The devoted father journeys to Paris and there falls in love with a secretive countess of dubious character. Though his father is blinded by love, the boy does not trust the woman. He rejects her at every turn which gets him in trouble with his father. After one such incident he ends up in his room where he plans to record an apology for his dad on the recorder. Meanwhile, the contess's ex-lover shows up and murders her. The widower is accused of the death. His boy claims that he is the one who killed her. In the ensuing trial, the judge asks that the record be submitted as evidence. Upon playing it, it is clear that both the widower and his son are innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The "modern" mother in this modest melodrama released by Columbia was played by Helene Chadwick, a minor screen vamp of the later silent era. Chadwick played Adele Dayton, a Broadway star whose daughter, Mildred (Barbara Kent), is reared in rural Massachusetts by Maizie and John (Ethel Grey Terry and Alan Roscoe). Adele often visits but is prohibited from telling Mildred the truth of her parentage. On one such visit, Adele becomes infatuated with Mildred's handsome boyfriend, struggling playwright David Starke (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), who she brings to New York. On opening night of David's new play, Mildred blithely walks in on a romantic embrace between Adele and David and is both shocked and hurt. Realizing she is ruining her daughter's happiness, Adele sacrifices her own love by suddenly acting cold and indifferent toward the young man who soon returns, older but wiser, to Mildred. A dreary potboiler, Modern Mothers was written by Peter Milne, a former film reviewer who should have known better. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Helene Chadwick, a star of the late teens whose popularity had diminished by the end of the '20s, was still capable of delivering a persuasive performance in such minor efforts as Confessions of a Wife. Based on a play by Owen Davis Sr., a past master of domestic melodramas (and of melodramas, period), the story deals with Marion Atwell (Helene Chadwick), a chronic gambler who desperately tries to hide her "illness" from her wealthy husband Paul (Arthur Clayton). Forced to lie to Paul on a daily basis, Marion is finally trapped in her own deceit, thanks to a shady gambling boss known as Handsome Harry (Charles Gerrard). The titular confession is delayed until the final reel, permitting leading lady Chadwick to pull out all the emotional stops. The pedestrian direction by Albert Kelly did not match the quality of the performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not surprisingly, Rose of Kildare begins in Ireland, where Rose (Helene Chadwick) and Barry (Pat O'Malley) fall in love. Alas, hero and heroine are separated by a combination of Cruel Fate and False Pride. Emigrating to America, Rose becomes a successful nightclub owner, but she never gets over her lost love. Twenty-five years pass before the aging sweethearts are finally reunited, and then only because Rose's daughter Elsie (Ena Gregory) has fallen for Barry's son Barry Jr. (Carroll Nye). As a bit of dramatic irony, Barry Jr. has grown up to be a New York district attorney, determined to close down Rose's "scandalous" cabaret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Mix plays an Eastern dandy who finds himself banished to a Western ranch in this routine silent Western which boasted of an above-average supporting cast. The sophisticated Helene Chadwick, a discovery of producer Samuel Goldwyn, is the rancher whom Mix constantly provokes, while William E. Lawrence, a former Universal series star, portrays a rival ranch hand. There is a conspiracy to part Miss Chadwick from her fortune, but Mix, of course, manages to save the day -- and Miss Chadwick. The film also featured performances from such popular silent screen players as sour-faced Emily Fitzroy, comedian Spec O'Donnell, Phyllis Haver, a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty, and Ethel Grey Terry, who later played Calamity Jane in Wild Bill Hickock (1923). Hard Boiled was based on the short story Ridin' with Youth by Shannon Fife. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Happily married Robert Agnew tries to put a little variety in his life by taking dance lessons. He spends so much time learning the intricacies of the Charleston and Black Bottom that he begins to neglect his wife Lillian Rich. The limit comes when Agnew begins falling for seductive dance instructress Helene Chadwick. In retaliation, Rich steps out with bachelor Forrest Stanley, and soon she's cutting a pretty mean rug herself. Ultimately, both husband and wife realize the error of their ways and waltz themselves home. A well-staged car crash is the highlight of this easy-to-take domestic drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This routine Warner Brothers melodrama was based on the novel by Ruth Cross. Country girl Molly Shannon (Helene Chadwick) wins a college scholarship which was offered by Judge Gregory Cochran (Huntley Gordon). While attending the school, she falls in love with one of the professors, Renfro (Richard Tucker), but on the eve of their wedding, he deserts her. She wanders miserably through the night until she passes out in front of a notorious road house. Before she is taken in, she is seen by Bancroft (Frank Campeau), a politician. Molly's ordeal comes back to haunt her much later, after she and Cochran marry. Bancroft wants to use Molly's presence at the road house to stop Cochran from running for office. To save her husband, Molly disappears and pretends to have committed suicide. Just before the election, Renfro shows up and finds Molly. He is shot in a struggle -- but before he dies, he insists that Molly is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Cochran's career is saved and he and Molly are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Harold Bell Wright, a popular author during the silent era, was known for his sentimental and unsophisticated stories. This film, based on one of his novels, was a good representation of his written work. Brian Kent (Kenneth Harlan) regrets stealing money from a Chicago bank and decides to kill himself. He takes poison and sets off in a small boat, which goes ashore on the banks of the Missouri River. Judy, a little drudge (ZaSu Pitts), brings Kent to her mistress, who everyone calls Auntie Sue (Mary Carr). Auntie Sue is a spinster school teacher, and her kindness helps to regenerate Kent, who is going by the name Burns. He writes a novel, which Betty Jo (Helene Chadwick), a friend of Auntie Sue's, types up. A romance blossoms between Betty Jo and Kent. The jealous Judy reveals Kent's true identity to her father, who rushes to Chicago to turn him in and claim the reward. Auntie Sue beats him there, and convinces the bank president -- one of her former pupils -- not to prosecute him. The romance is complicated, however, when Kent's wife (Rosemary Theby) shows up. Mrs. Kent's boat is caught in the rapids and she drowns in spite of Kent's desperate attempts to save her. With his wife now gone, he is able to be with Betty Jo. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Eve Quinn (Marie Prevost) is the classic, flirty, 1920s flapper. She easily outshines her quieter, more reserved half-sister, Cornelia (Helene Chadwick). So even though Cornelia loves Lewis Dike (Monte Blue), Eve is the one who wins him. Dike's love is not enough for Eve -- almost immediately after the wedding she begins carrying on with Wilfred Meadows (John Patrick). Although Cornelia finds out about their liaisons, she keeps her mouth shut out of loyalty to Eve. The secret eventually comes out and Dike tries to convince Eve to stop seeing Meadows. She refuses to listen to him so he leaves her. Cornelia, meanwhile, has decided to travel to Europe. Dike meets her at the ship and tells her that he and Eve are getting a divorce. After he declares his love for her, Cornelia takes off, knowing he will be waiting for her when she returns. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide