Frank Currier Movies

Across to Singapore was the second screen version of Ben Ames Williams' All the Brothers Were Valiant, first filmed in 1923, and later remade in 1953. The plot is motivated by the deadly rivalry between two seafaring brothers, virtuous deckhand Joel Shore (Ramon Novarro) and wicked Captain Mark Shore (Ernest Torrence). Forced into a marriage with Mark, Priscilla Crowninshield (Joan Crawford) tries to be loyal to her husband but falls in love with Joel instead. Things reach a fever pitch when mutinous first mate Finch (James Mason) strands Shore in Singapore and takes Joel and Priscilla prisoner. Mark catches up with his ship and kills the mutineers, but when he realizes that his wife is now deeply in love with his brother, he considerately sacrifices his own life in the climactic melee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking time out from his fine series of historical westerns, Colonel Tim McCoy starred in this action melodrama set in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He plays Captain Robert Kelly, an attaché at the American Embassy in Peking, who falls for a pretty Englishwoman, Lady Patricia Rudledge (Claire Windsor). Foolishly visiting a local temple in the midst of the rebellion, the latter is attacked by an enemy priest (Sojin), whom Kelly manages to keep at bay until the girl is safely back with the allied forces. The brave captain then goes on to basically fight and destroy the enemy forces all by his lonesome. As the title implies, this melodrama was rather typical of the mindless racism of 1920s Hollywood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this lavishly produced MGM production, the ethereal Lillian Gish is a bit more earthy than normal, due in part to the selection of her co-star, he-man Norman Kerry. "Suggested by" the well-known song, the story involves two feuding Scottish clans, the MacDonalds and the Camerons. Annie Laurie (Gish) tries to bring the two clans together peacefully at her home, Maxwelton, but winds up being the cause for even more enmity because both Ian MacDonald (Kerry) and Donald Cameron (Creighton Hale) love her. She throws her lot in with Ian when the vengeful Donald uses underhanded means to get rid of his foes. Annie battles the Camerons and climbs a mountain to light a warning beacon. After her ordeal, Ian carries her to a barge and they sail over the loch. The last part of the film was shot in two-strip Technicolor. Annie Laurie wound up losing 264,000 dollars, which certainly did not help the ever-worsening relationship between Gish and the studio. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Tim McCoy western Winners of the Wilderness was shot simultaneously with McCoy's War Paint, using the same locations for both. Boasting a larger budget than the average "B"-western, the film casts McCoy as a courageous Indian scout, determined to negotiate an honorable peace between the white settlers and his Native American friends. Though his efforts are undercut by various villains pursuing their own agendae, our hero finally prevails. The film's most startling sequence finds a nude male prisoner being burned at the stake by hostile tribesmen -- hardly the sort of thing one might expect in a film essentially designed for preteen moviegoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amidst much fanfare, Lillian Gish was signed to a fabulous MGM contract in 1925 which not only assured her $400,000 per picture but also gave her complete control over her productions, including choice of co-stars and directors. For her inaugural MGM effort, Gish selected La Boheme, the theatrical version of Henri Murger's 1851 novel The Latin Quarter. Thanks to copyright conflicts, MGM was unable to use the plot elements from the Giacomo Puccini opera based on the Murger book (there'd been plans to prepare a musical score based on Puccini's themes, but these fell through at the last moment), so scriptwriter Ray Doyle and Harry Behn relied almost exclusively on the original novel. Gish is cast as Mimi, the fragile little seamstress who takes up residence in Paris's "artists colony." Here she falls in love with aspiring painter Rodolphe (John Gilbert), who though professing undying devotion and dedication to Mimi cannot help but dally with other girls. To finance Rodolphe's artistic career, Mimi pawns all of her belongings and takes a series of back-breaking jobs, destroying her health in the process. Only when Mimi is on her deathbed does Rodolphe realize the extent of her sacrifices -- and of his love for her. Renee Adoree co-stars as the saucy Musette, whose double-entendre antics are toned down here, while Edward Everett Horton steals several scenes as Rodolphe's musician pal Colline. Though John Gilbert hams it up, Lillian Gish's brilliant performance is a model of restraint and subtlety. For her final scene, the actress went to appalling lengths to convincingly simulate death, going without water for three days and training herself to breathe without discernible movement (even when seen today, the effect is startlingly real). Available only for archival showings until the early 1970s, a restored version of La Boheme was reissued theatrically in 1978, while an even better restoration was made available to television in the 1990s through the auspices of the Turner Classic Movies cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Men of Steel was the last of Milton Sills' four starring films in 1926. Sills plays Jan Bokak, a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle. Two different girls -- wealthy socialite Claire Pitt (May Allison) and blue-collar worker Mary Berwick (Doris Kenyon) -- simultaneously fall for Bokak. It later develops that Claire and Mary are actually sisters, the first of a series of surprising plot twists leading to Bokak being accused of a murder he didn't commit. In the gutsy climax, the actual villain attempts to kill Bokak by pouring a vat of molten steel upon him! Not long after the completion of Men of Steel, leading man Sills married leading lady Kenyon, a union that endured until Sills' untimely death in 1930. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A tough-as-nails Marine sergeant sets about training a rag-tag group of boys into men. Though sporting a rough and gruff exterior, the sergeant is really a caring, gentle sort. During training, he is especially rough on a smart-alecky young man, whom he hones into a first rate fighter. More tension arise between the men when they fall for the same girl. In one of the film's highlights the sarge, and his protege save an imperiled group, including the girl, from a vicious gang of Chinese bandits. After the rescue, the selfless sergeant gracefully steps aside and returns to training recruits to allow the heroic young Marine and the girl to find romantic bliss. Featuring a nice blend of comedy, adventure and romance, Tell It to the Marines was MGM's second highest grossing film of 1926. It is also one of the rare instances when Lon Chaney, known as "the man of a thousand faces," appeared sans elaborate make-up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

On a train traveling from the West, Grenfall Lorry, an American (Eugene O'Brien), meets the mysterious and beautiful Yetive (Norma Talmadge). By the time they reach their destination of New York, they are deeply in love, but Yetive is called back to the European principality of Graustark where she lives. Lorry follows after her and discovers that she is a princess who is being pushed into a loveless marriage with Gabriel, a neighboring prince (Marc McDermott). Gabriel sends his henchman Dangloss (Roy D'Avey) after Lorry, who wounds him in a battle. Dangloss is spirited out of the country and the American is accused of murder. He is convicted and sentenced to death, but Yetive helps him to escape. At the border, Lorry finds Dangloss and brings him back just in time for the wedding ceremony between Gabriel and Yetive. Gabriel is disgraced, and Yetive's desire to wed Lorry wins the approval of her countrymen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The advertising tag "four years in the making" is usually so much press-agent puffery. In the case of the 1926 silent version of Ben Hur, it was the unvarnished truth--and the filmmakers had the scars to prove it. The story behind the film is now part of Hollywood folklore: the cast and production crew changes (star George Walsh summarily dumped in favor of Roman Novarro, director Charles J. Brabin replaced by Fred Niblo, writer-supervisor June Mathis-who'd spearheaded the project in the first place-abruptly fired); the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the troublesome location shooting in Italy--money that was lost when most of the footage proved unusable; the extra expenditure of refilming in Hollywood; and the huge chunk of the film's profits eaten up by the 50% royalty deal set up with theatrical producers Klaw and Erlanger, who controlled the rights to General Lew Wallace's novel. The end result reflected the turbulent production conditions: Ben Hur is an extraordinarily uneven experience, with moments of cinematic brilliance and pulse-pounding thrills alternating with long stretches of stagey boredom. The film follows the original Wallace story to the letter: Judah Ben-Hur (Novarro), a wealthy Jew living under the reign of the Caesars, is betrayed by his best friend, ambitious Roman centurion Messala (Francis X. Bushman). Ben-Hur's family is sent to prison, while he himself is condemned to the galleys. During a violent sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of galleon commander Quintus Arrius (Frank Currier). The grateful commander adopts Ben-Hur as his son and bankrolls his desire to become a champion charioteer. Thirsting for revenge, Ben-Hur agrees to race against his old nemesis Messala. The latter is fatally injured during the race; with his dying breath, Messala reveals that Ben-Hur's family, previously reported dead, are actually alive--but living as lepers. The story is subtitled A Tale of the Christ because, at various junctures in his life, Ben-Hur has been touched by the hand of Jesus. Ben-Hur must totally embrace Christ's edict of love and forgiveness before he can be reunited with his family. As Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, Ben-Hur's mother (Claire McDowell) and sister (Kathleen Key), having also embraced the Christian philosophy, are miraculously cured of their leprosy. Most of these plot elements, together with the romance between Ben-Hur and the lovely Esther (May McAvoy), reappeared in the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur--which, fortunately, did not include the ridiculous subplot involving the alluring Iras (Carmel Myers), who attempts to seduce Ben-Hur just before the big race. The film's highlights--the sea battle, the now-legendary chariot race--were produced on a far grander scale than in the 1959 version; unfortunately, both highlights took place in the first half of the picture, leaving the viewers with a rather dreary, drawn out denouement (the remake wisely placed the sea battle in part one, and the race in part two). The Technicolor Nativity sequences were condemned in 1926 as being in poor taste, but when seen today are beautifully handled and restful on the eye (oddly, no one complained about the nude female revellers during a later Technicolor pageant scene!) Ben Hur cost $4 million and grossed $9 million on its first release. The aforementioned royalty arrangement left MGM with only a $1 million take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Because Little Old New York was so successful, MGM and newspaper/sometime film magnate William Randolph Hearst decided to put Marion Davies into another picturesque tale of New York in the 1800s -- this time a few decades later, circa 1870. The idea actually worked. The film, based on the Laurence Eyre play The Merry Wives of Gotham, was charming and it turned a profit (something not all of Davies' films did). Davies has a dual role, as Fely and Anne O'Tandy, twin sisters who are orphaned on a ship sailing from Ireland to America. Fely is taken in by a family that lives in a shantytown on the edge of New York, and Anne is adopted by the wealthy de Rondes. Fely becomes a singer at Tony Pastor's while Anne is a member of the elite. The de Rhonde son, Dirk (Conrad Nagel), experiments in electricity. He's fond of Anne, but it is Fely whom he falls for. He meets her during a shantytown uprising. The rioters see his well-tailored clothes and attack him. Fely rescues him and finds some rags for him to wear so he can pass through safely. Dirk is not bothered by her poor surroundings. His parents (Frank Currier and Julia Swayne Gordon) are bothered, however, and they disown him. Fely's father has bought a little electric stock, and when it takes off, this winds up saving the de Rhondes' bank from bankruptcy. After that, the de Rhondes gratefully welcome Fely into their home. Fely and Dirk go to pick up her father and as they leave downtown, the electric lights of the city are turned on for the first time. This picture featured a five-minute Technicolor sequence during the riot scene. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Family Secret involves wealthy Gladys Hullette and her poverty-stricken beau Edward Earle. To avoid incurring her father's wrath, Hullette marries Earle in a secret ceremony. When Hullette' child is born, papa throws her out of the house. Year pass: Earle, sneaking into his father-in-law's home to visit his child, is arrested as a burglar. It is up to the daughter-played by perennial "little Miss Fixit" Baby Peggy Montgomery--to straighten things out. Based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's hoary old kiddie story Editha's Burglar, The Family Secret is handled with wit and nuance by director William A. Seiter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After becoming an unwed mother, Joline Hofer (Viola Dana) is cast out of her father's house. After placing her baby in a home, she becomes the party girl of the Parisian underworld. She is noticed by artist Paul Granville (Monte Blue), who uses her as a model. His paintings of her make him very successful. When he hears the tale of a barren rosebush in a monastery, he decides to paint the Madonna. Joline wants desperately to pose, but he scoffs at her offer. So she disguises herself as a boy and goes to the monastery herself. When a monk sees her posing by the rosebush, he thinks she is the Madonna. Joline tries to explain her presence, but the monk insists that the Madonna was acting through her because the bush is now blossoming. The experience causes Joline to repent her wicked ways. She gets honest employment, fetches her son, and Granville marries her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide