Ruth Clifford Movies

This saga spans the globe as the three young heroes search for the man who killed their much-admired, beloved father, a cashiered officer who was wrongly dishonorably discharged before he was murdered. Their quest takes them from India to South America, London, Egypt, and the U.S. As the progress, they begin to discover the disturbing truth about the murder of the father they idolized. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy star as a husband and wife who've been married ten years...but they might not make it to eleven. The husband is a businessman who has rebuilt his fortune after the 1929 crash. The wife has stood by her man through thick and thin, rich and poor. Now it's 1935, and the husband has changed due to success; he's grasping, selfish and increasingly neglectful. The wife plans to divorce him and marry their best friend Ian Hunter, but the friend, despite his own affection for the woman, engineers the couple's reunion. Based on a nostalgic novel by Richard Sherman, To Mary--with Love is another choice example of the multiple-flashback technique being utilized long before it was "discovered" for Citizen Kane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this bouncy musical, a sax-playing ex-convict joins a swing band and embarks upon a cross-country tour. He does really well until an old friend tries to tempt him into becoming a criminal again. The convict refuses the offer so the "friend" retaliates by doing the job anyway and leaving the con to take the rap. Then the band is kidnapped by a powerful person desiring a private concert. The ex-con saves the band by informing on the crook. He is then allowed to play with them again and musical happiness ensues. Songs include: "Would There Be Love," "Let's Spill the Beans," "I Never Had a Man to Cry Over," and "Fagin Youse is a Viper" (Mack Gordon, Harry Revel). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Eight year old Paddy O'Day (Jane Withers) arrives at Ellis Island after a long sea voyage from Ireland, to be with her mother. But her mother is nowhere to be found when the ship docks, and the authorities are notified that Mrs. O'Day has died, only a few days ago -- the little girl will have to be sent back. Paddy has only been told that her mother is ill, and manages to sneak out off the island. After encountering a group of street urchins who try to make trouble for her -- and proving that she's got what it takes to take care of herself -- she makes her way to the large mansion on Long Island where her mother works, and learns the truth. The home is owned by Roy Ford (Pinky Tomlin), a studious upper-class bird fancier who has been browbeaten into life as an eccentric collector of stuffed birds by his two overbearing aunts (Vera Lewis, Louise Carter) -- their intention is to notify the authorities if Paddy shows up. But the servants, led by kindly maid Jane Darwell and initially unwilling butler Russell Simpson, decide to hide the child in the house while the aunts are away. Paddy chances to meet Roy, who takes a liking to her and decides to try and help her as well -- and when Paddy's very pretty shipboard friend Tamara Petrovich (Rita Cansino) shows up, along with her restauranteur cousin Mischa (George Givot), he starts to really come out of his shell. Mischa and Tamara will hide the little girl, and Mischa -- with help from a beverage new to Roy, called vodka -- convinces the young millionaire that there is a future in investing in his establishment. Roy likes the loosening up effect that vodka has on him, and also likes even more being around Tamara, and he soon becomes a new man -- not only a partner in the business, but a performer in the stage show that Mischa works up for his now-expanded restaurant/night club, which includes Paddy along with Tamara. But Roy's aunts have returned home, and are as appalled by their nephew's new, joyful approach to life as they are by his apparent infatuation with an immigrant girl and her family. They hire an investigator (Clarence H. Wilson) to try to prove that Roy is mentally incompetent, and he soon discovers that the little Irish waif working in the act is in the United States illegally, a fact that, once reported to the authorities, will get not only get Paddy deported by Tamara as well. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Elmer and Elsie was adapted from To the Ladies, a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Former movie tough guy George Bancroft is uncharacteristically cast as Elmer Beebe, mildly henpecked husband of frail but formidable Elsie Beebe (Frances Fuller, in the role originated on Broadway by Helen Hayes). In the company of his pal John Kincaid (George Barbier), likewise wed to a browbeating wife, Elmer expansively espouses the theory that a woman should "know her place" and stay out of her husband's affairs. But when he tries to practice this theory at home, our hero meets strong resistance from Elsie, who has become convinced that hot-shot Rocky Cott (Roscoe Karns) will lead her hubby to financial success. It's a cute bit of domestic whimsy, but hardly a landmark in the career of George Bancroft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Distantly related to Frederick Lewis Allen's non-fiction book of the same name, Only Yesterday uses fictional characters to trace the years between 1917 and 1929. Wealthy New Yorker John Boles recalls a long-ago affair with southern belle Margaret Sullavan. She gave birth to his child without ever naming the father, then moved to New York herself and set up a dress shop. As the stock-market crash of 1929 wipes out his life savings, Boles becomes remorseful over how he's forgotten Sullavan, who is now dying. He acknowledges that he is the father of her child, and promises to make a good life for the boy despite his dire financial situation. Only Yesterday opens with a remarkable montage sequence showing the devastating effects of the Depression; after that, it never quite gains momentum despite the superb performance of Margaret Sullavan (in her film debut). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM contractee Dorothy Sebastian paid a brief visit to Tiffany-Stahl to star in this bit of South Seas exotica. Unable to pay for her passage when she sails to the tropics to meet her mail-order husband, Dorothy Ryan (Sebastian) assumes the identity of a wealthy passenger who is presumed to have died. Rather enjoying the preferential treatment she receives, Dorothy continues the masquerade when she arrives at her destination. She forgets all about her husband-to-be and falls in love with local aristocrat John Rice (Larry Kent). The party comes to an end when the woman whom Dorothy is pretending to be suddenly shows up, very much alive and very angry. Disgraced in the eyes of John's family, Dorothy wanders into the jungle where she is captured by the natives and sentenced to be burned at the stake. She is spared this grisly fate by John Rice, who still loves her despite her deception. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lionel Barrymore was at a low career ebb when he agreed to appear in the independently produced Brooding Eyes. Barrymore emulates his brother John in the role of Slim Jim Carey, the "black sheep" of an aristocratic British family. A professional blackmailer, Carey suddenly and mysteriously disappears from sight, prompting his partner in crime Pat Calaghan (Montagu Love) to take over Carey's operation. Part of Calaghan's game plan is to claim an earldom which was to have been inherited by his "late" partner. But Carey, who is still alive, squashes Calaghan's scheme by showing up in his ancestral home as the family butler. In this guise, he prevents Calaghan from getting his slimy hands on the mistress of the manor, Maria De Costa (Alma Bennett) -- who is actually Carey's long-estranged daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the final films bearing the Vitagraph stamp before that company was completely absorbed by Warner Bros., this silent melodrama starred debonair Canadian actor Huntley Gordon as a newlywed almost losing his wife to a bounder. Desiring both Rex Westmore's money, and his new wife Betty (Ruth Clifford), crooked financial advisor Ward Ralston (John Roche) conspires with a phony doctor to ruin Rex's health. After the doc has pumped Rex full of drugs, Ralston cons Betty into divorcing her husband and marry him. But Ralston's scheme is exposed and Rex and Betty are reunited. Willard Louis and Louise Fazenda added a bit of comic relief to an overly melodramatic tale. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Virile House Peters stars in this melodrama based on the stage play by Lincoln J. Carter. Tornado (Peters) has come to a lumber camp to work as a foreman because he wants to escape his heartbreak -- through lies and manipulation, his former friend, Ross Travers (Richard Tucker) won the hand of his sweetheart, Ruth (Ruth Clifford). But his past comes back to haunt him when Travers and Ruth show up in the lumber town. Travers does everything he can to keep Tornado and Ruth apart, but finally Ruth learns the truth about her husband's deception. Tornado sees the brutal way that Travers treats Ruth, and threatens him. Travers and Ruth take an early train out of town, but a cyclone rears up. Tornado single-handedly saves the town by breaking the log jam, but the logs also destroy a bridge just as the train is going over. It falls in the water and Tornado goes to the rescue. He saves Ruth and then goes back for Travers but he is too late -- which conveniently makes Ruth a widow. She is now free to be with Tornado for the requisite happy ending. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This epic covers all of Lincoln's life. His birth in a blizzard; his boyhood (depicted by Danny Hey as young Lincoln); his romance with the ill-fated Anne Rutledge (Ruth Clifford) and courtship of Mary Todd (Nell Craig), who he married; his debates with Stephen Douglas (William Humphreys); and his rise to the presidency. The Civil War is covered, including the surrender of Lee (James Welch), then Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth (William Moran). Playing Lincoln as an adult is George A. Billings, an uncanny lookalike. Because of its scope, the film seems a bit sketchy at times, but its sincerity is always obvious. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide