Chester Conklin Movies

This melodrama about the moral redemption of two crooks stars Eileen Pearcy and Tom Moore. Whitey (Moore) goes from being a war hero to a crook. He earns the admiration of Kitty, a fellow crook (Pearcy), when he saves her from the advances of Mal (James Mason). She goes to the country to recover from a nervous breakdown, and to reform. Whitey and his pal, Skeeter (Eddie Phillips), are in the midst of a job when they are caught by the night watchman. Skeeter shoots him and is himself killed. Although Whitey is held as a witness, his friend, detective Jim Condon (Stanley Blystone), allows him to go free on the condition that he will go straight. Whitey goes to the same small town where Kitty resides and gets a job in a bank. It turns out that Kitty is staying with Skeeter's mother, and Whitey tells her that her son died a war hero, and hands over his own medal to prove it. He believes that Kitty is in love with Fred Morton, the bank's cashier (Tom Gallery), so he keeps his distance. There's a shortage at the bank and Whitey is a suspect, but Morton -- who throws over Kitty when he discovers her past -- is the real culprit. The despondent Kitty tries to commit suicide by going over the falls, but Whitey rescues her. The two reformed crooks are ultimately united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Dr. Lucien LaPierre (Sam de Grasse) desperately wants to marry Elise Duchanier, the maid to a Parisian burlesque star (Aileen Pringle). She falls ill, and to keep her by his side, he tells her that she only has a year to live. Instead of making Elise a homebody, it inspires her to make a stab at stardom herself. She asks Maurice Bruel, who owns the show (Joseph Kilgour), to help her out, and offers to give herself to him once she has become a success. Brunel does as promised and, along the way, also dumps Lolotte, his mistress (Rosemary Thebv), for her. Elise has also won the heart of Captain Tom Kendrick (Antonio Moreno). When Kendrick returns from America to marry her, however, he hears nasty things about her reputation. LaPierre finally admits to his lie, and Kendrick shows up at Brunel's home in time to save Elise from degrading herself. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Frank Norris' powerful Zola-esque novel McTeague was first filmed in 1915. While filmmaker Erich Von Stroheim would insist that he'd been enthralled by the book since it first came out in 1902, it is more likely that he didn't make the novel's acquaintance until seeing that 1915 film. Whatever the case, Von Stroheim vowed that, if he ever had enough Hollywood clout, he'd produce the "definitive" version of McTeague. After scoring an enormous financial hit with Foolish Wives, he had just that clout, and, in 1923, he began work on what he hoped would his masterpiece.

Stripped to its bare essentials, McTeague tells the story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner named McTeague (played by Gibson Gowland), who finds his true calling in life by taking over the practice of a traveling dentist. Setting up shop in San Francisco, McTeague falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts), the daughter of German immigrants. It happens that Trina is the girlfriend of McTeague's best pal Marcus (Jean Hersholt), who is mildly resentful, but ultimately forgiving, when McTeague and Trina are married. Always seeking out an opportunity to better herself, Trina buys a lottery ticket. When the ticket pays off and she wins a fortune, the previously even-tempered Trina undergoes a complete personality change, metamorphosing into a grasping, greedy, miserly shrew, hoarding huge sums of money while her husband must get by on his meager earnings as a dentist. Trina's sudden windfall sparks a change in both McTeague and Marcus, as well; driven to distraction by his wife's avarice, McTeague turns into a violent beast, while Marcus boils with jealousy over losing the now-prosperous Trina to McTeague. Pushed too far, McTeague ultimately murders Trina and escapes to the desert with her money. Appointed a sheriff's deputy, the envious Marcus heads out to bring McTeague in, and the two men catch up with one another in the middle of Death Valley. Their water supply gone, their packhorse dead, McTeague and Marcus begin a fight to the death. McTeague manages to shoot and kill Marcus -- only to discover that Marcus has manacled himself to McTeague. Utterly defeated, he sits benumbed on the scorching rocks, awaiting madness and a horrible death.

Filming at actual locations (the murder scene was shot at a locale where a real murder had occurred, while the sweltering Death Valley sequence was, likewise, made there), Von Stroheim remained doggedly faithful to the Norris original, shooting every page word for word. The end result ran 40 reels, or roughly 10 hours of screen time. Then came the corporate intrigues. Von Stroheim, who had begun the film through the auspices of the old Goldwyn studios, now had to contend with the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer regime. Production head Irving Thalberg argued logically that no audience would sit still for ten hours of unrelenting realism. Von Stroheim reluctantly responded by paring his film down to 20 reels, but it was still far too long and depressing for MGM's taste. The director's friend Rex Ingram weeded out two more reels, warning Von Stroheim that "If you cut out another inch, I'll never speak to you again." At this point, MGM, feeling that too much money had already been spent on the project, took McTeague away from Von Stroheim and ordered June Mathis to whittle the picture down to ten reels. It is this version, retitled Greed, that was released to the public in late 1924.

Far from the financial disaster that MGM always claimed it was (the film actually posted a small profit), Greed was still too overpowering for many observers. Critics and audiences were sharply divided, some hailing the film as a work of unbridled genius, others dismissing as "an epic of the sewer." Von Stroheim, angered that his baby had been "butchered," refused to ever see the ten-reel Greed. When viewed today, the film retains its raw dramatic power; the continuity gaps and clumsy transitional titles that once seemed so unforgivable are generally ignored by contemporary audiences. Still, Greed is not a happy, high-kickin' production. Though a rewarding experience, it remains very rough sledding for those accustomed to traditional, conservative entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When old rancher Mark Ridgeway (Josef Swickard) passes away, his property goes to relatives in the East instead of to trusted foreman Tom Taylor (Fred Thomson) as promised. The relatives, Reginald (Taylor Graves) and his sister Marion (Hazel Keener), arrive to take over the ranch, and Tom quickly falls for the lovely Marion. The weak Reginald, on the other hand, sells his part of the property to evil Indian Joe Deerfoot (George Magrill), who then kidnaps Marion to get her share as well. The brave ranch foreman, however, has become wise to the situation and is soon in hot pursuit on his magnificent horse, Silver King. Photoplay Magazine dismissed this minor Thomson Western as "old as the hills." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This seafaring melodrama was based on the Harkins and Barber stage play by the same name. His ship capsized in a storm, Captain John Ferguson, his wife, Mary (Anna Q. Nilsson), and their little boy are picked up by a pirate ship manned by the brutal Butch Anderson (Jack Richardson). Anderson thrashes Ferguson, blinding him, and then sets him and his son adrift, keeping Mary on board. Mary commits suicide rather than submit to Anderson. Ferguson's son, Colin (John Harron), grows up and joins the coast fire patrol. He is in love with Molly Thatcher (Madge Bellamy), but Molly's scheming sister, Emma (Helen Jerome Eddy), wants him for herself. Emma seduces Colin just as a fire at sea is breaking out, and because he misses the call, he is disgraced. One of the men rescued is Anderson, and he goes after Molly. Captain Ferguson (played as an old man by Spottiswood Aitken) is able to mete out punishment to his old adversary, and when Emma is shot, Colin and Molly are able to reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Madalyn Harlan (Estelle Taylor), the daughter of wealthy socialites, falls in love with the chauffeur Jerry Ryan (David Butler) in this uneven society drama. She and Jerry are secretly married, but Jerry's mother tells Madalyn that Jerry is through with her. She takes poison in the cabaret that holds so many happy memories. Jerry moonlights as a cabbie and discovers too late that the drunken woman at the bar is his own wife. He steers the cab towards the river as he considers plunging to his death. The film suffers from uneven editing. Although credited, performances of Noah Beery, Frank Currier, and Hank Mann have bee eliminated, Marguerite de la Motte, John Bowers, and Walter Long co-star. The apparent lack of communication between studio heads, the editor, and those in charge of continuity give an ironic twist to the term "the silent era." Watch for comedian Chester Conklin in a small part. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This comedy-melodrama, based on the novel by Rupert Hughes (who also directed), blends fiction and reality to tell the story of a young woman's rise in Hollywood; the film uses real stars and productions (even Charles Chaplin filming A Woman of Paris) as its backdrop. Eleanor Boardman plays Remember Steddon, better known as Mem. Mem is a small-town girl who marries slick bad guy Owen Scudder (Lew Cody); Owen insures his brides and then murders them for the money. After the wedding, Mem starts to have her doubts about him and runs away while their train is chugging through the desert. She happens on a film crew and gets work as an extra, later becoming a famous dramatic actress in Hollywood with the help of director Frank Claymore (Richard Dix). Scudder finally tracks her down during a shoot involving a circus tent; when a storm sets the tent on fire, Scudder loses his life saving Mem from a wind machine's propeller. Freed from her marriage, Mem is able to choose between Claymore and her leading man. Boardman, whose first starring role finds her surrounded by a long and impressive supporting cast, wound up at the Goldwyn studios through a "New Faces" contest. Her co-winner, future star William Haines, also had a bit part as the company's assistant director. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This typical Keystone slapstick comedy was Charlie Chaplin's first appearance on film. An Englishman (Chaplin) cons a newspaper reporter (Henry Lehrman) out of some money. The Englishman flirts with a young woman who later turns out to be the reporter's girlfriend, and the reporter and the Englishman fight. Later, the Englishman talks his way into a job at the same newspaper where the reporter works. When the reporter takes some photos of an automobile accident as it happens, the reporter and the Keystone Kops help the driver, and the Englishman steals the photos. He rushes them back to the paper, and they are immediately put in the latest edition. The newspaperman catches up with him, and they begin fighting in the street, and the film ends as a streetcar cowcatcher sweeps them up. Chaplin is barely recognizable in this film, sporting a monocle, a top hat, and a walrus moustache. While this costume had been used in his stage appearances, he quickly realized that it was not appropriate for a film comedian. He would devise his famous costume of the tramp in his next film Mabel's Strange Predicament. Chaplin was unhappy when he saw the finished film because many of the gags that he had performed had been cut out by Lehrman, the director. However, this is typical of Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies, where there is a lot of running around and fighting, and not a lot of funny gags. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide

Charlie Chaplin's 18th film for Keystone was likely co-written and co-directed by co-star Mabel Normand. It was shot entirely on location at an automobile racetrack during a racing event. Mabel plays a hot dog vendor who sneaks in to the track by bribing the cop who guards the gate. As soon as she sets up shop she's accosted by various male customers who give her a hard time by refusing to pay, or returning a hot dog when she has no change. Chaplin isn't dressed in his usual Tramp outfit, but as a race track tout in a frock coat with a flower in his lapel. He is clearly broke -- he sneaks into the stadium by beating up a cop and crashing past a ticket taker and, finding one of Mabel's hot dogs on the ground, first tries to light it from the stub of his cigar, and then eats it hungrily. Charlie rescues Mabel from a particularly aggressive customer but then steals her tray and tries to sell the hot dogs himself. The other racetrack fans give him a hard time as well, jostling him about and knocking off his hat. Meanwhile, Mabel has fetched a cop who the agile Chaplin bests in a fight. Defeated, Mabel bursts into tears and Charlie, touched by her emotions, decides he feels sorry for her and walks off with her arm in arm, presumably to protect her from further harassment. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide

Mabel Normand wrote, directed and starred in Charlie Chaplin's 10th film for Keystone. After disagreements with the directors of his previous films, Sennett assigned him to Normand, but Chaplin was chomping at the bit to direct his own films so for this film at least, the Chaplin/Normand relationship was not any better. It is another Keystone that takes advantage of a public event, an auto race, for background. Chaplin plays the motorcycle-riding villain of the film, dressed in frock coat and top hat (similar to his costume in his first film, Making a Living). Mabel's boyfriend, Harry McCoy, is a racecar driver who comes to Mabel's house to take her to the racetrack, but they argue because Harry won't let Mabel drive. Charlie comes along on his bike and offers Mabel a ride, which she accepts to make Harry jealous. When the cycle hits a bump, Mabel is thrown off and lands in a puddle, unnoticed by Charlie who goes on talking. Harry comes to her aid, they reconcile, and he lets her drive the racecar. Charlie, having noticed Mabel's absence, finds them together and tries to win her back, but is rejected. He decides to ruin Harry's chances of winning the race, beginning with puncturing one of the tires on his car. Later Charlie and his henchmen kidnap Harry and tie him up in a shed, forcing Mabel to drive in the race. Determined to stop Mabel from winning, Charlie and his men soak the track with water and throw bombs at the car, but Mabel's driving skills prevail and she wins the race, much to the chagrin of Charlie who, in a fit of rage, blows himself and his henchmen up with their last remaining bomb. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide