Paul Schofield Movies

The third of Paramount's "deluxe" westerns of the 1930s (following The Texas Rangers and The Plainsman) was Wells Fargo, filmed on a Cecil B. DeMille scale by producer-director Frank Lloyd. In his first western appearance, Joel McCrea plays Ramsey McCay, troubleshooter for the newly formed partnership of Henry Wells (Henry O'Neill) and William Fargo (Jack Clark). Dedicated to maintaining a safe and speedy overland mail and freight service to the West, Wells-Fargo is at the forefront of several important historical events, including the California Gold Rush, the formation of the Pony Express and the Civil War. Hero McCay is briefly separated from his wife Justine (played by McCrea's real-life spouse Frances Dee) during the last-named conflict, but the two are reunited late in life as Wells-Fargo celebrates its 20th year of service. Constructed in a rather pedantic "tableau" fashion (a frequent shortcoming in Frank Lloyd's films), Wells Fargo nevertheless contains several thrill-packed highlights, most of which would do service as stock footage in such later Paramount westerns as Geronimo. Originally released at 115 minutes, Wells Fargo was radically shortened in subsequent re-issues, almost completely eliminating the semi-villainous character played by fourth-billed Lloyd Nolan (if asked, audiences would probably have preferred to see far less of comedy-relief Bob "Bazooka" Burns). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a tough and bitter woman working in a beauty salon in Panama takes a young, naive woman under her wing. Later when her mentor becomes deadly ill, the young woman decides to sell herself so she can scrape up the money to save her friend. Fortunately, her first client turns out to be a really nice guy. Soon after, the ailing woman's husband, an admiral in the Chinese navy, is passing through the canal and comes to her aid. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Framed represented the return of Evelyn Brent to her old home studio of FBO, which by 1930 had been rechristened RKO Radio. Brent plays Rose Manning, a sexy nightclub hostess who hopes to avenge the murder of her father. Holding the local police chief responsible (the chief is played by William Holden -- but not that William Holden), Rose sets about to seduce and compromise the chief's patrolman son Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey), only to fall in love with the boy. To save Jimmy from being put "on the spot," Rose double-crosses her crooked cohort, bootlegger Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Both contemporary critics and later film historians noted that Framed borrowed freely from such earlier "slice of life" crime mellers as Broadway (which also starred Evelyn Brent) and The Racket. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this romance, an early talkie containing approximately 4 minutes of dialog and a song, a man is paroled from prison provided he adheres strictly to "Rule No. 3," which states that he cannot get romantically involved, nor marry until he is off parole. He encounters trouble when he saves a doe-eyed girl from drowning and falls instantly in love. Fortunately, his parole officer is sensitive and the office grants the parolee special dispensation to wed. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though Will Rogers was still packing 'em in on Broadway, he was considered a Hollywood has-been when he starred in the independently produced A Texas Steer. Rogers also wrote the screenplay of this "topical comedy," in which he plays Texas rancher Maverick Brander, who is maneuvered into politics by his status-seeking wife Ma (Louise Fazenda). Unfortunately, Maverick finds himself at the mercy of a trio of corrupt political hacks who want our hero to use his influence to push through a piece of questionable legislation. The opponents of the bill contrive to abduct Maverick, but he escapes in time to strike a blow for honesty in Washington. The level of humor in the film can be gauged by such character names as "Bossy Brander," "Dixie Style" and "Fairleigh Bright." A Texas Steer had its moments, but Will Rogers would have to wait until talkies arrived to fully blossom as a film star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ronald Colman plays the title role in the first of several screen adaptations of Christopher Wren's tale of adventure in the foreign legion. Beau is the youngest of three brothers who fall into an ethical dilemma when their aunt resorts to stealing valuable jewelry from the family's collection to pay off her home. Beau takes the blame for the crime and, before he can be put in jail, flees the country, with his brothers John (Ralph Forbes) and Digby (Neil Hamilton) in tow. The Geste Brothers eventually join the French Foreign Legion, where they suffer under the tyrannical leadership of the cruel Sgt. Lejaune (Noah Beery Sr.). Unknown to Beau, Lejaune is in cahoots with men who want to capture the Geste Brothers and bring them to justice, but when Arab forces attack the Legion compound, the valiant Gestes fight with such bravery that even Lejaune is impressed with their selfless courage. It's said that Ronald Colman considered his performance in Beau Geste the finest work of his career; lip readers might get a chuckle out of some of Noah Beery Sr.'s non-subtitled dialogue, which today would have pushed the film into an R rating if it were audible. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This independently produced silent action melodrama starred the husband-and-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte. Bowers played Larry Pond, a young man inheriting an almost bankrupt lumber company. Attempting to save the business, Larry finds himself in trouble with a rival lumberman (Alan Hale), who hires a thug to prevent him from getting his logs to the mill. Fighting back, Larry not only manages to scare off the hired terrorist but ends up marrying his rival's erstwhile fiancee (de la Motte. Director Lloyd Ingraham's young daughter Jean appeared in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The stars and director of Sally of the Sawdust, namely Carol Dempster, W. C. Fields and D. W. Griffith, were reunited in That Royle Girl. Dempster heads the cast as Daisy Royle, the daughter of a small-time crook (Fields, of course). When Daisy's jazz-musician boyfriend Fred Ketlar (Harrison Ford) is implicated in the murder of his wife, our heroine also falls under suspicion. District attorney Calvin Clarke (James Kirkwood), assigned to investigate Daisy's case, can't help but fall in love with the girl. She likewise falls for him, then sets about to prove herself worthy of his affections. Adopting a disguise, Daisy tries to find out on her own who was responsible for Mrs. Ketlar's murder. Nearly trapped by the actual killer, Daisy manages to escape with the help of a convenient cyclone! Through it all, her unregenerate father continues trying to bilk as many suckers as he can lay his hands on. Alas, That Royle Girl is now considered a lost film, so it's difficult to determine the extent of W. C. Fields' contributions to the proceedings (contemporary reviews indicate that he was something of a square peg in a round hole). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This colorful drama of the Bowery of the 1890s was directed by Herbert Brenon. Diamond Mike (Riley Hatch) runs a Bowery saloon where, in a back room, men disguise themselves as cripples so they can beg for money. Their leader is Easy Money Charlie (Percy Marmont), who pretends to have only one arm. His enemy is a pseudo blind man, Bridgeport White-Eye (John Harrington). When street woman Portland Fancy (Juliet Brenon) dies, she convinces Charlie to take care of her four-year-old daughter. Charlie takes surprisingly good care of the girl, Mary, making sure she is raised properly and receives a good education. When she grows up (to be played by Mary Brian), a young lawyer, Philip Peyton (Neil Hamilton), falls in love with her. Mary, however, is in love with Charlie, who she believes to be a successful businessman. Charlie realizes that he's nothing but a sham and a scammer, so he confesses the truth about his line of work to Peyton and disappears. After he is reported drowned, Peyton and Mary become engaged. White-Eye sees a chance to blackmail the young couple, but Charlie reappears and really blinds his adversary in a fight. The last we see of Charlie, he is in his beggar's rags, watching Mary's wedding from outside the church. Although she does not receive billing, this was the screen debut of Louise Brooks, who played a gun moll. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Owen Moore was a bit long in tooth when he played the brash young hero of East of Broadway. Peter Mullaney (Moore) has one burning desire: to join the New York City police force. Too short--and too stupid--to pass the entrance exam, Mullaney is given a one-night-only chance by the sympathetic police commissioner (Ralph Lewis). Proving himself a hero during a life-or-death situation, Mullaney makes the force and wins the hand of lovely Judy McNulty (Marguerite de la Motte) in the bargain. Though a silent film, East of Broadway manages to lay on thick slices of Irish blarney in every scene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

At the beginning of his career, Charles "Buck" Jones didn't always play a cowboy. Here he is the foreman on a road construction job. To fulfill a contract entered into by his boss, Chet Fanning (Jones) agrees to finish the construction within a certain amount of time. However, Andrew Paxton (Milton Ross) has an enemy in the camp's boss, Dave Miller (G. Raymond Nye), who is determined to see the job fail. He hires a group of men to slack off on their work, and when Fanning forces them to get moving, he puts his life in danger. A tunnel is to be blasted at a certain time, but Miller and his men plot to do it early, which will ruin the job. They tie up Fanning to keep him from interfering, but Paxton's daughter Iris (Fritzi Brunette) helps delay the men. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Although busy with the Tom Mix and Buck Jones westerns, the Fox company also issued non-series oaters such as Lights of the Desert, a triangle melodrama geared more toward female audiences than the usual action fan. Brunette Shirley Mason, the younger sister of Metro star Viola Dana, played a touring actress stranded in a flyspeck Nevada town. She dallies with a couple of prospectors (Allan Forrest and Edward Burns) but an acting job lures her to San Francisco and into the arms of a slick oil man (James Mason. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi