Gino Corrado Movies

Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).

Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gloria Swanson is My American Wife in this farfetched but entertaining romantic drama. Married to Argentinian horse rancher Josef Swickard, Gloria is romanced by handsome aristocrat Antonio Moreno. This one has the whole shootin' match: duels, blood feuds, midnight trysts, and a pulse-pounding horse race. Sam Wood, the director famed for shooting every scene twenty times and declaring to his actors "Now let's sell 'em a load of clams!", manages to turn out a few clams of real class and style. My American Wife was based on a novel by Hector Turnbull. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Speed Creswell (Frank Merrill) and his father (Joe Girard) have a difference of opinion over the son's responsibility in this action adventure. The elder Creswell is an oil magnate who worries his son has no business sense. David Brierly (Gino Corrado) is the crooked foreman who tries to sabotage an important oil reserve and drive Crewsell out of business. Newspaper reporter Vera Wray (Virginia Warwick) uncovers the plot and notifies Speed. The good son races to prevent his father from signing over the property to scheming land grabbers in this film co-starring Ed O'Brien and Slim Cole. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

After her brilliant career in Europe, Pola Negri, came to America to make films for Paramount. Her first few pictures for the studio were disappointing, so they imported Russian director Dmitri Buchowetzki to work with her again (the two had made films together overseas). Buchowetzki wrote the story for this drama, which was adapted to the screen by the talented Paul Bern. Cleo (Negri) lives in Marseilles and works as a waitress in a waterfront dive. A stranger entices her into coming to Paris to take dancing lessons, but instead she is taken to a baron (Edgar Norton), who betrays her. In spite of this inauspicious start, Cleo becomes a successful and renowned actress, but her feelings about men have never recovered. She loathes them and uses them only for the money they offer her, which she then hands over to a penniless girl. Georges Kleber (Robert W. Fraser) falls desperately in love with her and steals from the bank where he works because she demands money from him. When she hears that Kleber has been jailed, however, she goes to his employer, Henri Duval (Robert Edeson), in an attempt to get him released. Duval helps Kleber, and when he sees that Cleo really loves him, he releases her from her end of the bargain. Buchowetzki's career, unfortunately, never took off in America, and he died in the early days of the talkie era. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Character actor William V. Mong rarely landed a role that was a real tour de force, but he has one -- or, rather, two -- in this drama. The wealthy but miserly Caleb Fry (Mong) lives with his lookalike servant, Tatterly (also Mong). The old man is the guardian of his nephew, Donald Brett (John Bowers), and he's not thrilled that the youth has decided to pursue an artistic career instead of becoming a businessman. As a result, Fry changes his will and leaves his estate to a cousin, Hector Kindon (Charles Gerard). One day Fry finds Tatterly dead and decides to take over his identity to see what his relatives are really like. To his surprise he discovers that Kindon is a worthless drunk while Donald and his sweetheart, Ella Tarrant (Marguerite de la Motte), are kindly and giving. Fry wants to help them out, but he can't because he didn't leave anything for Tatterly in his will. He cleverly manages to get some money together, however, and ruins Kindon on Wall Street. Kindon commits suicide and Fry gives the money to Donald and Ella who immediately wed and move to the country. Fry accompanies them. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Frank Merrill appears in this hackneyed melodrama in which he never drives the featured racecar alluded to by the title of this forgettable film. A widowed mother offers her daughter to the lecherous landlord in order to save the family farm. Clara Horton, Evelyn Sherman, and Gary O'Dell co-star with Joe Girard, Jimmy Quinn, and Gino Corrado. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The 1926 Amateur Gentleman was the second film version of Jeffrey Farnol's novel of the same name. Richard Barthelmess stars as Barnabas Barty, the rough-hewn son of a prizefighter (Edwards Davis). Barty's dad is accused of a crime he didn't commit; almost simultaneously, Barnabas inherits a fortune. With the help of a sympathetic butler, Barty poses as a fey nobleman, the better to weed out the persons who framed his father. The ruse is inevitably discovered, but fair Lady Cleone Meredith (Dorothy Dunbar) loves Barty all the same. Improving upon the original, The Amateur Gentleman closes with a thrilling steeplechase sequence. The Farnol novel would be filmed again in 1936, with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Barnabas Barty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The White Black Sheep in this stiff-upper-lip actioner is Robert Kincairn (Richard Bartheless), the dissolute son of a British colonel (William H. Tooker). Though outwardly a wastrel, Kincaim is gallant enough to take the blame for a robbery perpetrated by his fiancee Enid (Constance Howard). Thrown out of his household in disgrace, he vows to redeem himself by changing his name, joining the army, and heading off to a desert outpost near Palestine. Rescuing Greek dancing girl Zelle (Patsy Ruth Miller) from the unwanted advances of the treacherous El Rahib (Gino Corrado), Kincairn earns himself a powerful enemy -- which he later discovers when, while working undercover to spy on the enemy, he is captured by Rahib's minions and subjected to hideous tortures. Fortunately, our hero escapes in time to warn his superior officers of an impending Arab attack. A happy ending is assured when Kincairn's ex-fiancee confesses to her crime, whereupon Kincairn is warmly forgiven by his father -- who, as luck would have it, has been placed in charge of his son's regiment! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Skipper was based on Demetrios Contos, a seafaring yarn by Jack London. Effectively cast against type, Belle Bennett plays a wronged woman who becomes the most brutal and feared slave-ship captain on the Seven Seas. Though her crews constantly threaten to mutiny, "The Devil Skipper" (Bennett) is protected by her first officer Montague Love, who has carried a torch for her for nearly thirty years. Capturing an enemy ship, Bennett prepares to turn over pretty passenger Mary McAllister to her lustful crew -- only to discover that the helpless girl is Bennett's own daughter. Suddenly concerned only with McAllister's safety, Bennett lets down her guard long enough to be overtaken by her vengeful crew, leading to an operatic death scene. Gino Corrado, who later found his cinematic niche as Hollywood's favorite head waiter, appears in the opening scenes as Bennett's treacherous lover. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ricardo Cortez is The Gun Runner in this Tiffany-Stahl programmer. It all begins when devil-may-care Julio (Cortez) sets about to quell a South American revolution. Julio changes his mind when he falls in love with Inez (Nora Lane), sister of insurrectionist Garcia (Gino Corrado). Casting his lot with the revolutionaries, Julio is eventually arrested as a traitor. As he faces the firing squad, our hero discovers who his real friends are in the nick of time. One of a plethora of banana-republic actioners of the 1920s, The Gun Runner was based on a novel by Arthur Stringer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marceline Day plays two women in the late-silent Fox release One-Woman Idea. The actress is cast as haughty aristocrat Lady Alicia Douglas, and as alluring half-caste dancing girl Alizar. Honorable Prince Ahmed (Rod La Rocque) harbors a platonic love for the prim-and-proper Lady Alicia, while her less-than-honorable husband Lord Douglas (Douglas Gilmore) lusts after the sexy Alizia. It's an "East is East, West is West" class-consciousness drama, with "East" coming off far more sympathetically than "West." Featured as a cabin boy is child actor Coy Watson, who later became a prolific producer of "behind the scenes" Hollywood newsreels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, based on a failed Broadway play, two American sailors are stationed in Naples to find a wooden legged thief. Songs include: "Love Comes in the Moonlight," "Leave a Little Smile," "Tell Us Which One Do You Love," "Highway to Heaven," and "The Laughing Song." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide