Maurice Costello Movies
Though many have followed in his illustrious foot-steps, Maurice Costello, known as the "Dimpled Darling," was one of the first big Broadway stars to appear in movies. Prior to making the switch, he was a theatrical star for 15 years. In film, he first worked with Edison until 1908 when he began working for Vitagraph. Costello's best-known movie role was that of Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. He continued playing leads through the mid-1920s when he became a character actor until he retired in the early 1940s. Occasionally, he directed his own films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1908
In the tradition of Vitagraph's best pre-1910 films, Leah, the Forsaken was excellently acted by its uncredited cast. The heroine, Leah, is the sweetheart of a young Jewish storekeeper. When the hero unexpectedly strikes it rich, he forgets all about his beloved Leah, who literally dies of a broken heart. The Variety reviewer was so impressed by the performance of the actress playing Leah that he stated that the film seemed positively empty whenever she disappeared from the screen. Less impressive was the actor playing Leah's faithless beau, whom the reviewer described as "asinine." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1909
The earliest surviving screen version of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy, this Vitagraph production managed to cram most of the play into its one-reel running time. The Duke of Athens decrees that Hermia (Rose Tapley) shall forsake Lysander (Maurice Costello) in favor of her father's choice, Demetrius (William Ackerman). The lovers elope into the woods, quickly followed by Demetrius and his love, Helena (Julia Swayne Gordon). The town tradesmen, meanwhile, rehearse a play in honor of the duke's betrothal to Hippolyta. Back in the forest, Titania, Queen of the Fairies (Florence Turner), quarrels with Penelope, who avenges herself by sending Puck (Gladys Hulette) away with a magic herb, which, dabbed on the eyes of a sleeping person, shall make the "victim" fall in love with the first person to appear after awakening. Soon, Lysander and Demetrius are smitten with the wrong girls and Titania has fallen in love with Bottom (William V. Ranous, the egotistical leader of the tradesmen, whom Puck has turned into an ass. When Penelope discovers all this mischief, she lifts the spell and the wedding of the duke and Hippolyta can proceed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1911
In this video, a silent version of Tale of Two Cities is accompanied with another silent film, In the Switch Tower, with director Frank Borzage appearing in the cast. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1912
This three-reel exercise in cinematic spiritualism was produced, appropriately enough, by the Conscience Film Company of New York. The film is predicated on one of the oldest theatrical devices known to man: What if Jesus Christ were to appear in contemporary human form? In this instance, the Christlike character comes to New York, ready and willing to expose and absolve the sins of everyone in the Big Apple. Strolling unobtrusively through the Lower East Side, the "Five Points" District, and other cesspools of iniquity, the Modern Messiah profoundly changes the lives of many a fallen soul. The reviewer for the trade magazine Variety, somewhat more cynical than the average filmgoers, recognized Conscience as a knockoff of such recent stage productions as If Christ Should Come to Chicago and The Passing of the Third Floor Back. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Maurice Costello, Vitagraph's resident matinee idol, was both star and co-director of the 6-reel drama Mr. Barnes of New York. Based on a novel by Archibald Clavering Gunter, the film casts Costello as the title character, a Manhattan man-about-town at large in the Middle East. While visiting Egypt, Mr. Barnes makes the acquaintance of one Marina Paoli (Mary Charleson), who has vowed vengeance against the British officer who killed her brother. This leads inexorably to a literally explosive climax, wherein Mr. Barnes finds himself trapped in a besieged Egyptian city, armed with little more than his courage and wits. Naomi Childers makes an appealing heroine, though many of her scenes with Maurice Costello were played in one of the most unrealistic "moving train" sets ever seen on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naomi Childers
- 1914
The 2-reel Moonstone of Fez was produced by Flying Eagle pictures, a branch of Vitagraph studios. Matinee idol Maurice Costello plays the sweetheart of a wealthy young woman who has the misfortune to fall heir to a "cursed" Moroccan moonstone. Vacationing in France with her ailing mother, the heroine returns to her hotel room one day to discover that her mom has disappeared. Contacting the authorities, the girl is informed that neither she nor her mother are registered in the hotel -- and that it's highly possible that the mother may be only a figment of the girl's imagination. For a while, it appears as though the moonstone's curse is manifesting itself, but hero Costello proves that the girl is not hallucinating: The mother had died of bubonic plague, whereupon the nervous Parisian officials, hoping to avert a panic, wiped out all traces of the woman's existence. Based on a purportedly true story which occurred during the 1893 Paris Exposition, the plotline of The Moonstone of Fez would be refilmed innumerable times, most memorably as the 1949 British feature So Long at the Fair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Star Maurice Costello also collaborated on the direction of the five-reel Vitagraph production The Man Who Couldn't Beat God. Set in England and the U.S., the film details the misadventures of Martin Henchford (Costello), who after accidentally murdering his employer escapes to America to start life anew. Finding work as a "sand hog," Henchford rapidly rises up the professional ladder, becoming the president of a construction firm and marrying his partner's daughter. On the verge of entering politics as a gubernatorial candidate, Henchford finds he cannot escape the spectre of the man he killed back in England. His attack of conscience deepens into delirium and depression, culminating in Henchford's suicide -- proving once and for all that no man, however clever or resourceful, can "beat God." This otherwise relentlessly grim film was highlighted by a brief scene wherein the hero attends a theatrical performance of Oliver Twist -- and is driven to distraction by the on-stage "murder" of Nancy Sykes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Also known as Captain Abe's Niece, this Vitagraph 5-reeler stars the studio's all-purpose leading lady Alice Joyce. The scene is a fishing town, where Joyce is hiding from her domineering aunt. Fascinated by the tall tales told by Cap'n Abe (Arthur Donaldson), Joyce suggests that, for fun's sake, the Captain pose as his brother, who is reputed to be a fearsome pirate. His impersonation leads to near-disaster when a group of East Indians, angered that the buccaneer brother once desecrated their temple, descends upon the town with swords at the ready. Onetime matinee idol Maurice Costello appears in an unstressed supporting part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Harry Morey, a longtime star with Vitagraph, had just renewed his contract with the company around the time he made this action picture. Christopher Keene (Morey) has discovered a platinum mine in Russia, and, with the help of five Malays, is bringing a shipment to the U.S. government. But when he lands on the Oregon coast, the Malays mutiny and he is forced to shoot them down. The scene is witnessed by Barbara Le Moyne (Betty Blythe), and when Keene is wounded, she goes to his rescue. But when she briefly leaves, he staggers to his boat and pushes off. He is found five days later, on the beach, with a very hazy memory. All he can really remember is that a woman was involved, and in the search for her he meets Henry Longfield (Maurice Costello), who happens to be after the platinum himself -- but for the Germans. He's presenting himself as a secret service man to hide his true purpose. Longfield, it turns out, is engaged to Barbara and he turns her against Keene by asserting that he is up to no good. But she manages to help Keene remember the events on the Oregon coast, and he defeats Longfield, whose association with the enemy is revealed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Although the plot to this Northwoods tale reads like a comedy, it was apparently meant to be a drama. William Crombie (William B. Davidson) thinks the world can be had for money. He uses his fortune to buy Agnes (Hedda Hopper) as his wife, but then he neglects her. When another man comes along, Crombie is not able to hold her. Then he goes on a hunting trip, where the other men ridicule him because without his guides, he can't bag any deer. Frustrated, Crombie goes out into the wilderness by himself and promptly gets lost. He is taken in by a woodsman who is living with a pretty young girl named Jennette (Betty Hilburn). Crombie falls for her and tries to convince her to run off with him. When the woodsman suggests that they fight over the girl, however, he chickens out. Back home, he finds his wife is still involved with someone else. Crombie finally decides he must learn to be a man and hires a trainer. Once he knows how to fight, he beats up his wife's love and tells her he wants a divorce. Then he heads into the forest, but he finds the woodsman near death and Jennette nursing him. At the girl's urging he fetches a doctor, and, when he returns, he fights off a half-breed who is attacking her. The woodsman recovers and offers to let Crombie have Jennette, but he turns him down. Back at the hunting lodge, he finds his wife waiting for him and the couple are reconciled. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William B. Davidson, Hedda Hopper, (more)
- 1922
This independently made drama ran a tiresome 11 reels (in the days when most films ran half that length), but was edited down to a more reasonable eight. The will of Whitechapel banker John Morton designates that his twin sons should be kept unaware of their true identities until they are 30 years old. When the sons reach adulthood, John Jr. becomes a missionary, while James becomes a playboy (both roles are played by Alpheus Lincoln). While performing charity work, heiress Frances Lloyd (Gene Burnell) is tricked into a robbers' den, and John comes to her rescue. The couple fall in love, but Lord Warburton, a criminal mastermind (Walter Ringham), wants her for himself. He convinces Frances that John is not the upstanding young man he seems to be -- and when she learns of his brother's scandalous behavior, she thinks her lover is responsible. Eventually everything is straightened out, and not only does John marry Frances, James wins his girl, a reformed thief by the name of Luckey (Irene Tams). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1923
After Hollywood was rocked by several scandals, the specter of censorship reared its ugly head. To keep local community leaders from doing the censoring, the film industry opted to do the editing itself. Perhaps that's why pictures such as this Allan Dwan-directed society drama based on a novel by Edith Wharton seem a bit bloodless. Although Susan Branch (Bebe Daniels) has lost her money, she still manages to live off her society friends. While staying with Fred and Ursula Gillow (Maurice Costello and Nita Naldi), she falls in love with penniless writer Nick Lansing (David Powell). In spite of his financial situation, Susan and Lansing marry, and live for the next year on money given to them by friends, staying in lavish villas in Paris, Venice, and Monte Carlo. But when the money runs out, so does their happiness. After an argument, they separate, even consulting a lawyer about divorce; but when the lawyer sees that they still love each other, he convinces them to stay together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, Nita Naldi, (more)
- 1923
Pretty Dorothy Dalton co-stars with the handsome but not as stellar David Powell in this action-packed Paramount drama. The wealthy but idle Roger Wainright (Powell) finds himself falling in love with Gale Brenon (Dalton), a modern, independent young lady who manages several Florida orange groves. While Wainright is enjoying himself at a local gambling resort, the place is raided by revenuers and Sheriff Holmes (Jack Richardson) is killed in the ensuing gun fight. Wainright escapes and Gale hides him, later helping him to escape into the swamp. But the dead man is her father, and when she discovers that Wainright is suspected of being the one who discharged the fatal shot, she leads the posse to him. At the last moment, her love for him causes her to weaken, but he turns himself in anyway. A friend, Mabel Van Buren (Martha Mansfield), reveals that she witnessed the killing, and that it was another officer, Deputy Brown (former matinee idol Maurice Costello), who did the dirty deed. Evidence backs her up, and Wainright and Gale are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Dave Powell, (more)
- 1923
Norma Shearer plays Dora Perkins, a country girl who runs away to New York City. She gets work as a nurse and marries Dr. Howard Fleming (Robert Elliott), a famed brain surgeon. Supposedly she dies in a fire, and some time later Fleming takes a vacation in the country, where by some odd cinematic coincidence he winds up meeting Dolly, Dora's sister (Gladys Leslie). Without realizing her relationship to Dora, he marries her. Soon Dolly is expecting, and not long after, Dora pops up -- she survived the fire, but has been left hopelessly insane. An operation restores her sanity, but Fleming's cousin reveals that she is married to a bigamist, causing Dora to panic and injure herself again. A second operation conveniently kills her, and Dolly -- who has been kept ignorant of all these plot complications -- can have Fleming's child in peace. Shearer somehow managed to make her role believable -- a near miracle, considering the material. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Costello, Norma Shearer, (more)
- 1924
This domestic drama was supposed to be an indictment of the supposedly lax divorce laws then current. Because Redfield (Maurice Costello) has fallen on hard times financially, his wife, Eugenie (Marie Shotwell), welcomes the arrival of Bronson Gibbs (Montagu Love), who offers to save the family if he can marry their daughter, Cynthia (Helene Chadwick). Cynthia elopes with Ernest Herrick (Lawford Davidson), a young man who has not won Eugenie's approval. She throws the couple out of the house, and Gibbs plots with Greenwich Village inhabitant Veerah Vale (Mary Thurman) to compromise Herrick. The plot seems like it's working -- after Gibbs sends Cynthia some of Herrick's letters to Veerah, she files for divorce. They reconcile when their child is seriously injured. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helene Chadwick, Montagu Love, (more)
- 1924
Who else would have directed a film with a title of such thundering moralistic drama but film pioneer J. Stuart Blackton? Americans in the 1920s were horrified at the growing divorce statistics, so the failure of marriage became a popular and sensational subject for motion pictures. This marriage drama was based on a novel by Basil King. When Harry Vassali (Leslie Austen) gets engaged to Petrina Faneuil (Pauline Frederick), Dick Lechmere (Lou Tellegen) warns him that his own marriage to an opera singer failed because of her ambition. The couple marries anyway, but their differences of opinion split apart their union. Although Petrina never stops loving her former husband, pride keeps them apart, and she marries Lechmere. Lechmere's ex-wife returns, her voice gone, and Lechmere gets back together with her. When she dies, he commits suicide. In her suffering, Petrina turns to the only man she could ever trust -- Vassali -- and they are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Seemingly the only reason for this drama was its proliferation of cameos -- the gambling hall where the action takes place sports the likes of Flora Finch, Henry Hull, Diana Allen and Dagmar Godowsky. The actual star is Edith Roberts. Before he can avenge a crooked card game, Dan Carrington (Montagu Love) suffers heart failure and dies in his chair. John Tralee (Norman Trevor), the cheater, feels a pang of guilt when he discovers that he has taken all of Carrington's money and adopts the dead man's little girl, Lois. The girl grows up (to be played by Roberts) and the gambling hall becomes her second home. A millionaire, Peter Marineaux (Walter Booth), accuses Lois of throwing a roulette game. Lois -- who has fallen in love with Marineaux -- manipulates the wheel so that he wins her. Her gamble pays off and she wins Marineaux as a husband. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Montagu Love, Norman Trevor, (more)
- 1924
Alan Holt (Antonio Moreno) is a radio expert who has invented a death ray machine for the U.S. government. International spy Drakma (Tyrone Power Sr.) wants to get his hands on the invention and he sends his henchmen to attack Holt in his laboratory. Holt's sweetheart, Mary Walsworth (Agnes Ayers), is there with him and she smashes the death ray. She and Holt are captured and taken on Drakma's yacht. The spy puts Mary on a rum-runner and Holt in a workshop on a lonely island. To save Mary, Holt is ordered to build another death ray. He agrees, but instead he builds a telegraph machine and calls for help. Mary's father, the admiral of a battleship, receives Holt's message and comes to the rescue. He sends a plane to sink Drakma's yacht, and Holt takes a raft out to the rum-runner, where he holds off the crew until the arrival of Walsworth's ship. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnes Ayres, Antonio Moreno, (more)
- 1924
This Vitagraph drama was a routine programmer. Edith (Edith Allen) gives up her artistic career when she marries Jack Banton (Ralph Kellard). Banton turns out to be a womanizer and eventually he deserts Edith. He heads for Cuba, where he has an affair with the vampy Juanita (Dagmar Godowsky), while Edith returns to her career. At a friend's suggestion, she claims to be a widow, and her artwork becomes successful because of the help offered by critic Josiah Wright (Maurice Costello). Wright falls in love with her, so she tells him the truth about her husband. His weak heart can't take the news and he dies, willing her a large sum of money. Edith has fallen in love with Wright's nephew, Norman (David Powell), but Banton -- who has heard of the inheritance -- returns. Edith buys him off. As he's leaving, a jealous suitor of Juanita's kills him. Now an actual widow, Edith is free to wed Norman. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Powell, Maurice Costello, (more)
- 1926
Fireman Rex Lease doesn't like the attentions paid by his rival Theodore Von Eltz to his sweetheart Wanda Hawley. The animosity results in a fistfight, with Lease easily trouncing his opponent. Seeking revenge, Von Eltz steals the Fireman's Ball funds and places the blame on Lease. When our hero and his girl manage to locate the cash, the bitter rival sets the building on fire. The spectacular climactic conflagration and rescue must have cost at least three-fourths of the film's budget. Produced by low-budget Rayart Pictures (a precursor to Monogram), The Last Alarm taps the talents of three motion picture veterans who'd all seen better days: director Oscar Apfel (who collaborated with Cecil B. DeMille on 1913's The Squaw Man) and actors Maurice Costello and Florence Turner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wanda Hawley, Maurice Costello, (more)
- 1927
Spider Webs is one of the few American films directed by British filmmaker Wilfred Noy. Niles Welch stars as Bert Grantland, a young man-about-town who gets mixed up in the problems of heroine Florence Benham (Alice Lake). Hoping to retrieve a packet of incriminating letters, poor Florence finds herself facing a murder rap. Grantland believes in Florence's innocence, and it is he who ultimately tracks down and captures the real miscreants. Spider Webs was lensed entirely on location in New York City, offering tantalizing glimpses of the Big Apple as it looked in 1927. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Lake, Niles Welch, (more)
- 1927
One of the better "Abie's Irish Rose" derivations of the late 1920s, The Shamrock and the Rose was adapted from a play by Owen Davis Sr. Set in New York's Lower East Side, "where the melting pot boils over," it's the story of a Jewish girl (Olive Hasbrouck) who falls in love with an Irish boy (Edmund Burns). While the hero's parents are delighted at the prospect of his marriage, the girl's mother and father are beside themselves, prompting the heroine to consider converting to Catholicism. She is diverted from this course by an understanding priest (former matinee idol Maurice Costello, in a very minor role) who exhorts her to take pride in her Hebraic heritage. The differences between the two families are settled comedically a year or so later, when the heroine is rushed to the maternity hospital. The film's best performance is delivered by Keystone veteran Mack Swain as the hero's boisterous father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mack Swain, Olive Hasbrouck, (more)
- 1927
Internationally popular kiddie-star Jackie Coogan was rapidly outgrowing his cuteness when he starred in his 1927 vehicle Johnny Get Your Hair Cut. The title is predicated on the fact that Coogan's celebrated bangs are shorn in the course of the story. Outside of this "gimmick," however, the film is a pedestrian effort, in which orphaned Johnny O'Day (Coogan) is adopted by kindly racehorse owner Baxter Ryan (Maurice Costello). Johnny returns the favor by riding Ryan's horse to victory and by saving the life of his winsome stepsister. Johnny Get Your Hair Cut was "supervised" by Coogan's father, which probably meant that Jackie Sr. was paid a huge sum of money to stay home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan
- 1927
This was the most popular of the many silent adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' famous story of a courtesan who finds true love too late. In this version, a man who has been suffering from a bout of depression buys a painting of a beautiful women and discovers that her diary is included in the deal. As he reads her words, the ghost of the woman, who is named Camille (Norma Talmadge), appears before him to tell her sad story. Camille began her life under poor circumstances, but with determination she went from a humble shop girl to the most elegant and wealthy courtesan in Paris. However, selling her affections has not brought her real love. She meets a student named Armand (Gilbert Roland), who soon falls in love with the mysterious beauty. However, even though Camille has fallen in love with him, she resists his advances; Armand's father (Maurice Costello) has learned of his son's desire for her, and he has begged her to stay away from Armand, as an affair between them would bring scandal and shame to the young man. Before long, Camille contracts tuberculosis, and Armand encounters his would-be love as she bravely tries to hide her soon-to-be fatal condition from him. This is thought to be the ninth film based on the Dumas story (including adaptations under other names), and like several others, this film is currently lost, barring a future discovery of a print by film scholars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland, (more)
