Gilbert Clayton Movies

Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play, Dead End concerns itself with several denizens of New York's East River district. Here the elite and the slum-dwellers rub shoulders due to the close proximity of the riverfront tenements with the East Side luxury hotels. Slum girl Drina Gordon (Sylvia Sidney) tries to prevent her younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop) from wasting his life as a member of the local street gang. Tommy and the other kids idolize Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a onetime East- sider who has hit the "big time" as a notorious gangster. Dodging the cops, Martin makes a sentimental journey to the neighborhood to visit his mother (Marjorie Main) and his old girlfriend Francie (Clare Trevor). But Martin's mother coldly tells him to get lost, while Francie reveals herself to be a consumptive prostitute. Despite his depressed state, Martin is still admired by the local kids; this displeases sign painter Dave Connell (Joel McCrea), who hopes to escape the slums via his romance with wealthy Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie). Attempting to kidnap a rich boy who'd earlier been beaten up by the street kids, Martin is prevented from making the snatch by Dave, who shoots Martin down. Receiving a large reward, Dave decides to give the money to Drina so that she can afford a lawyer to defend her brother Tommy, who has wrongfully been accused of masterminding the beating of the rich kid. His outlook on life altered by this unselfish act, Dave gives up his mercenary romance with Kay Burton, choosing instead the poverty-stricken Drina. The film introduces the Dead End Kids--Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Gabe Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan--all of whom were veterans of the Broadway version of Dead End and would be metamorphosed into the East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

We Live Again was based on Tolstoy's Resurrection; the title was changed upon producer Sam Goldwyn's theory that it meant the same thing as Resurrection and was easier to understand. The film was meant as an introductory showcase for Goldwyn's latest discovery, Russian actress Anna Sten. The story, much laundered from the Tolstoy original, depicts the downfall of a peasant girl who is seduced by a Russian prince (Fredric March). The once-callous nobleman tries to make amends for the hurt he has inflicted on the girl, who has wound up in prison for solicitation. The first American version of Resurrection, directed by D. W. Griffith, was made in 1909 and lasted ten minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, which marks Barbara Stawyck's Hollywood film debut, a woman is taken to an illegal cabaret set aboard a wealthy man's yacht. Her captor, the owner, then locks her in a stateroom. When the cops raid the joint, she is photographed with the wealthy cad. Time passes and the woman ends up marrying her new boss. The cad gets involved with her sister-in-law. Later her new husband and the creep get in a fight over the woman. A shot is fired and the millionaire dies. The police then find the woman locked in her room. To spare her husband, the woman confesses to killing the cad. Her husband refuses to let her take the fall for his crime and she is freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This melodrama required less stunts than usual from dog star Rin-Tin-Tin and more "acting." Always the trouper, Rin-Tin-Tin proved to be the histrionic equal of his co-stars. Slasher (Rin-Tin-Tin, a famed fighting dog, falls off the train that is carrying him. He is found, broken in spirit, by Donald Cass (John Harron). The dog is regenerated by Donald's love. Donald is equally devoted to his sweetheart, May Barton (June Marlowe), a minister's daughter. A wealthy young woman donates a large sum of money to the church and is later found murdered. The sinister Jamber Niles (Pat Hartigan) knows that the money is in Donald's safekeeping, and he attacks the young man. Slasher springs into action and kills his master's assailant. Jamber's half-wit brother Cuckoo (Victor Potel) sets a pack of bloodhounds on Donald and May, but once again Slasher comes to the rescue and fends them off. Evidence proves that Jamber was the woman's murderer. Donald, May, and the loyal Slasher look forward to a happy life together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Both animal and human nostrils flare, and passion reigns in this classic romantic tragedy with Rudolph Valentino. Valentino is Juan Gallarde, an aspiring bullfighter, married to his loving childhood sweetheart Carmen (Lila Lee). But as his fame rises as a matador, so does his hot Spanish blood, and he succumbs to the passionate embraces of the sultry Doña Sol (Nita Naldi). When Juan is gored by a bull, his bullfighting fame is cut short, and Carmen returns to his side to nurse him back to health, and, as he struggles to regain his strength and make a comeback in the bullring, Carmen is there for him. At last he returns to the bullring, but in the stands, Juan sees Doña Sol with another lover. His attention distracted, a furious bull charges him and he is killed, dying in the arms of Carmen. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Johnston MacCulley's 1913 adventure yarn The Curse of Capistrano was given its first filmization in Douglas Fairbanks' 1920 The Mark of Zorro. Fairbanks plays the outwardly foppish Don Diego de la Vega, the son of wealthy Spanish Californian rancher. In reality, Don Diego is the dashed masked-and-caped Zorro, who wages a one-man war to rescue his fellow citizens from the tyranny Captain Juan Ramon (Robert McKim). The lovely Lolita (Marguerite de la Motte) despises the namby-pamby Don Diego, but loves the devil-may-care Zorro, never dreaming (until the end, of course) that the two men are one. In turn, Lolita is loved by Captain Ramon, who is as ruthless in his domestic dealings as he is in his political weight-throwing. Noah Beery Sr. plays Sgt. Garcia, a buffoonish minion of Ramon's who eventually casts his lot with Zorro--after being bested time and again by the hero's swordplay. Best scene: Zorro insouciantly challenging Ramon's soldiers to capture him while he wines and dines at a local cantina. At the time he made Mark of Zorro, Fairbanks was best known for his peppy contemporary comedies. He hoped that Zorro would be an interesting temporary change of pace for him, never dreaming that the film's popularity would lock him into the swashbuckling mode for the rest of the silent career. In 1925, Fairbanks starred in a sequel, Don Q, Son of Zorro; the original film has, of course, been remade many times since 1920. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide