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- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
