Robert Dunbar Movies

The Lubin company of Philadelphia only made a handful of feature films. If Daughters of Men was any indication, the company was well advised to stick to one- and two-reelers. The story was a protracted account of a Labor vs. Management dispute, with Labor coming off as rather unsympathetic (unusually, considering the "populist" appeal of the early American cinema). George Soule Spencer played the principal capitalist, with Ethel Clayton (the only real "name" in the picture) as his daughter. In his publicity packet, Sigmund "Pop" Lubin described this 5-reeler as "His Masterpiece." It wasn't. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stage legend Blanche Ring, of Rings on My Fingers, Bells on My Toes fame, was the star of this three-reel Morosco production. Described as a "comedy melodrama," the film was set in Mexico, with Ring cast as all-American tourist Jessie Gordon. As expected, our heroine becomes enmeshed in a scheme to overthrow the government of President Ambroce Castroba (Herbert Standing). It goes without saying that the Mexican stereotypes exhibited herein would not pass muster in these more enlightened times. Blanche Ring may have been a bit too old for her character, but none of her fans was heard complaining. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lillian Hillary (Bessie Barriscale) is of the opinion that a young girl should marry for love. Lillian's pragmatic mother Lucy (Truly Shattuck) wants the girl to marry for money. Mama wins out, and Lillian marries wealthy Bert Werden (Frank Mills), but the girl makes no secret of the fact that, were it not for Bert's money, she wouldn't give him the time of day. Bert doesn't believe this until he loses his fortune, whereupon Lillian tells him to find a new source of income fast, or else she's out the door. Accordingly, Bert enters the world of Wall Street negotiations, and before long he has rebuilt his fortune. Unfortunately, he is now so dedicated to his work that he has no time for Lillian. Realizing that love is, indeed, the only true reason for marriage, Lillian manages to arrange for Bert to go broke again, so that the couple can start life all over again, broke but happy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The oft-told story of Sam Houston's emergence as the "father" of Texas was given an expensive and expansive treatment in the Raoul Walsh production The Conqueror. William Farnum, Fox's Number One male screen attraction, was well cast as General Houston, as was Jewel Carmen as the hero's sweetheart Eliza Allen, "the fairest rose of Tennessee." The film traces Houston's rise from obscurity to the governor's chair of Tennessee, his refusal to wage war against his Cherokee Indian friends, and his "exile" to Texas, where he single-handedly carves out a veritable kingdom, with himself as the reigning monarch. According to the film, Houston accomplished all this for the sake of Eliza, feeling unworthy of her love until he had sufficiently proven himself. Later filmed accounts of Houston's life and times were not quite as romantically motivated -- nor were those later productions as thrillingly assembled as The Conqueror. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lord and Lady Bazelhurst (Arthur Hoyt and Katherine Adams respectively) own an estate in the Adirondacks next door to wealthy American Randolph Shaw (Jack Livingston). Lord Bazelhurst wants Shaw's property, even if he has to use underhanded means to get it. Appalled by his methods, Lord Bazelhurst's sister Penelope (Peggy Hyland) runs off to Shaw's estate. There -- in the midst of a Hatfield-McCoy-type feud, only amongst the very rich -- she finds love with the resourceful American. This film, which had both light comedy and melodramatic elements to it, was based on a book of the same name by author George Barr McCutcheon. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Stenographer Ruth Lester (Gladys Brockwell) changes jobs because of the unwanted advances of her boss, the chief of police (Harry Dunkinson). She goes to work instead for Anthony Curtis, the district attorney (William Scott). Anthony and Ruth become friendly, and she goes with him on a fishing trip, but in her official capacity. It is all innocent enough until Ruth slips and Anthony catches her. As he holds her he tells her that he loves her. Henchmen of the police chief -- who Anthony is trying to oust -- have been waiting in the bushes for this, and they snap some pictures. The photograph is published in the newspapers, causing a municipal scandal. Anthony accuses Ruth of being in league with the police chief. Ruth vindicates herself, however, by an elaborate scheme. She gets a crony of the chief's, Mason Clark (J. Barney Sherry), alone in a hotel room, and arranges it so that they are arrested for violating the hotel ordinance. Then she offers to save the situation if Clark, in turn, states that her photo with Anthony was a frame-up. Clark agrees and Ruth explains the situation to the court's -- and Anthony's -- satisfaction. Thus the bad guys wind up getting the heave-ho and Ruth and Anthony win the day. The story for this Fox feature was written by future film director W.S. Van Dyke. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Too preoccupied with business matters to entertain his restless young wife Blanche (Lillian Kemble, Robert Probet (Frank Mills) prevails upon his best friend William Martindale (J. Frank Glendon) to take Blanche out from time to time. Martindale interprets this as an invitation to put the moves on Blanche, which he does after plying the heroine with too much champagne. The outraged Probet immediately assumes that Blanche led Martindale on and ejects her from their house. The terms of the subsequent divorce dictate that Blanche retain custody of her daughter, while Robert keeps their son. Assuming a new name, Blanche opens a restaurant, which within a few years becomes the "in" place for the high-society set. Among Blanche's customers is her grown son Robert Jr. (Harriet Spingler, who of course does not recognize his mother. Before long, young Robert and his best pal Tom Martindale (Rudolph Cameron) -- yes, the son of the man who "ruined" Blanche -- are vying for the attentions of Blanche's daughter Edith (Bliss Millford), Robert Jr. never dreaming that he is courting his own sister. When all the facts come out, Blanche is reunited with Robert Sr., Robert Jr. is satisfied to lose a girlfriend but gain a sister, and Edith is happily married to Tom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The saga of Alias Jimmy Valentine began with the O. Henry story "A Retrieved Reformation". This surprise-ending tale was adapted into a stage play by Paul Armstrong, which subsequently was adapted to film several times, first in 1915 with Robert Warwick in the leading role. The 1920 version of Alias Jimmy Valentine casts Bert Lytell as a supposedly reformed safecracker who takes a bank job under an assumed name, planning to eventually knock over the vault. The love of a good woman (Vola Vale) leads Lytell to reform for real, but he must convince the detective who'd sent him up years earlier that he is not the notorious Jimmy Valentine. Lytell almost succeeds in his ruse, but is forced to call upon his safecracking skills when the boss' little daughter is accidentally locked in the vault. The detective witnesses this rescue and recognizes Lytell's singular technique (he can only crack a safe if he's blindfolded), but out of compassion decides not to blow the whistle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Kid was Charles Chaplin's first self-produced and directed feature film; 1914's 6-reel Tillie's Punctured Romance was a Mack Sennett production in which Chaplin merely co-starred.

The story "with a smile and perhaps a tear," begins with unwed mother Edna Purviance leaving the Charity Hospital, babe in arms. Her burden is illustrated with a title card showing Christ bearing the cross. The father of the child is a poor artist who cares little for of his former lover, carelessly knocking her photo into his garret fireplace and cooly returning it there when he sees it is too badly damaged to keep. The mother sorrowfully leaves her baby in the back seat of a millionaire's limousine, with a note imploring whoever finds it to care for and love the child. But thieves steal the limo, and, upon discovering the baby, ditch the tot in an alleyway trash can. Enter Chaplin, out for his morning stroll, carefully selecting a choice cigarette butt from his well used tin. He stumbles upon the squalling infant and, after trying to palm it off on a lady with another baby in a carriage, decides to adopt the kid himself. Meanwhile Purviance has relented, but when she returns to the mansion and is told that the car has been stolen, she collapses in despair. Chaplin outfits his flat for the baby as best he can, using an old coffee pot with a nipple on the spout as a baby bottle and a cane chair with the seat cut out as a potty seat. Chaplin's attic apartment is a representation of the garret he had shared with his mother and brother in London, just as the slum neighborhood is a recreation of the ones he knew as a boy.

Five years later, Chaplin has become a glazier, while his adopted son (the remarkable Jackie Coogan) drums up business for his old man by cheerfully breaking windows in the neighborhood. Purviance meanwhile has become a world famous opera singer, still haunted by the memory of her child, who does charity work in the very slums in which he now lives. Ironically, she gives a toy dog to little Coogan. Chaplin and Coogan's close calls with the law and fights with street toughs are easily overcome, but when Coogan falls ill, the attending doctor learns of the illegal adoption and summons the Orphan Asylum social workers who try to separate Chaplin from his foster son. In one of the most moving scenes in all of Chaplin's films, Chaplin and Coogan try to fight the officials, but Chaplin is subdued by the cop they have summoned. Coogan is roughly thrown into the back of the Asylum van, pleading to the welfare official and to God not to be separated from his father. Chaplin, freeing himself from the cop, pursues the orphanage van over the rooftops and, descending into the back of the truck, dispatches the official and tearfully reunites with his "son". Returning to check on the sick boy, Purviance encounters the doctor and is shown the note which she had attached to her baby five years earlier. Chaplin and Coogan, not daring to return home, settle in a flophouse for the night. The proprietor sees a newspaper ad offering a reward for Coogan's return and kidnaps the sleeping boy. After hunting fruitlessly, a grieving Chaplin falls asleep on his tenement doorstep and dreams that he has been reunited with the boy in Heaven (that "flirtatious angel" is Lita Grey, later Chaplin's second wife). Woken from his dream by the cop, he is taken via limousine to Purviance's mansion where he is welcomed by Coogan and Purviance, presumably to stay.

Chaplin had difficulties getting The Kid produced. His inspiration, it is suggested was the death of his own first son, Norman Spencer Chaplin a few days after birth in 1919. His determination to make a serio-comic feature was challenged by First National who preferred two reel films, which were more quickly produced and released. Chaplin wisely gained his distributors' approval by inviting them to the studio, where he trotted out the delightful Coogan to entertain them. Chaplin's divorce case from his first wife Mildred Harris also played a part; fearing seizure of the negatives Chaplin and crew escaped to Salt Lake City and later to New York to complete the editing of the film. Chaplin's excellent and moving score for The Kid was composed in 1971 for a theatrical re-release, but used themes that Chaplin had composed in 1921. Chaplin re-edited the film somewhat for the re-release, cutting scenes that he felt were overly sentimental, such as Purviance's observing of a May-December wedding and her portrayal as a saint, outlined by a church's stained glass window. ~ Phil Posner, Rovi

This picture was based on a George M. Cohan stage play. Lawyer Richard Clarke (Bert Lytell) can't seem to find success because he is too soft-hearted. After being told by his friend that he needs to be a lot tougher to make it in business, Clarke resolves to be the "meanest man in the world." When client Hiram Leeds (Carl Stockdale) wants him to collect a debt from a storekeeper or foreclose, the lawyer resolves to do his duty. But it all comes to naught when he discovers that the shopkeeper is the lovely Jane Hudson (played by the lovely Blanche Sweet). It turns out that Leeds wants the property because oil has been discovered on it. So Clarke teams up with Jane to outwit his client and the oil promoters. They get together enough money to finance the drilling of an oil well which gushes just in the nick of time to pay for the property. Need it be added that the pair fall in love? Twenty years later, this picture would be remade as a vehicle for Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi