Dorothy Dalton Movies

This drama of international crime and intrigue was based on the famous series of novels by Louis Joseph Vance. Jack Holt plays gentleman crook Michael Lanyard, also known as the Lone Wolf. The United States government has developed a ray that can stop an airplane engine in midair, but the plans, hidden in a deck of cards, are stolen. A ring of crooks known as the Pack find out that Eckstrom (Alphonse Ethier) has the plans and goes after them. One of the gang, Lucy Shannon (Dorothy Dalton), meets Lanyard and suspects that he is the Lone Wolf. Lanyard has gone to the American Embassy and offered to get the plans back, but only if the United States will allow him to live, unmolested, in America. One of the Pack gets the plans from Eckstrom, but Lanyard knocks him unconscious and steals them. He removes them from the deck of cards and secrets them away in a cigarette. Lucy has decided to help Lanyard and they plan to escape together, but the Pack finds them together, and Lucy pretends she is still on their side by holding Lanyard at bay with a revolver. Lanyard lays the deck of cards on the table and the gang takes them. Eckstrom, however, knows better and demands the cigarette. He takes off in a plane and Lanyard and Lucy pursue him for a dramatic fight in the air. Only after they get the plans and return to earth does Lanyard find out that Lucy is actually a member of the Secret Service. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Dorothy Dalton stars in this colorful gypsy tale. Co-starring is Charles de Roche, in his first American film (later in the year, De Roche would be seen as Rameses in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments). Tartar girl Sahande (Dalton) is auctioned off to help pay the debts of her father, Osman (Fred Huntley). Her fiancé, Sender (Theodore Kosloff), is outbid by a gypsy chief, Costa (de Roche). Sahande is furious at this turn of events, and after their wedding that night, Costa makes a deal with her: she has ten days to return his love, or to have Sender fight him. Sender turns out to be something less than honest, and he enlists the help of a crowd of men to capture Costa. They imprison the gypsy in a tower, which catches fire. Sahande comes to his rescue, and she acknowledges that he is really a better man than Sender. With that, the couple is united. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This melodrama of the high seas sandwiches pretty silent star Dorothy Dalton between the handsome, virile Jack Holt and the not-so-handsome but equally virile Mitchell Lewis, whose character is referred to as "a ruffian." Society girl Leone Deveraux (Dalton) is sailing off to marry a man chosen by her father (Winter Hall), but whom she does not love. The ship catches fire and sinks mid-ocean, however, and she is rescued by two stokers, Jim Doran (Holt), and the aforementioned ruffian, Joe Polack (Lewis). The three of them land on a derelict ship and the two men fight it out to see who gets Leone. Polack wants her out of mere lust; Doran sincerely cares for her. Polack is fortuitously killed by a falling mast, and Leone and Doran are rescued. With a heavy heart, Leone heads for her unwanted wedding but (in a rather burlesque ending), she is suddenly snatched away by Doran, who reveals that he is actually the scion of a wealthy family, making him a perfect match for her. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Veteran silent-screen vamp Dorothy Dalton starred in this commonplace western based on Vingie E. Roe's story, Tharon of Last Valley. Dalton's Tharon Last is a plucky rancher out to avenge the murder of her father (Will R. Walling). As it turns out, the girl is up against a conspiracy that also includes the local judge and sheriff. Tharon learns how to handle a gun or two, however, and manages to nail the murderer (Frank Campeau). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In the days before air conditioning, filmmakers liked to release Northwest melodramas in the summer in the belief that the snow scenes would cool off overheated patrons. About this particular picture, Moving Picture World commented, "its snow scenes and its woodsy settings contrive to make the middle-western audiences forget the hottest September in many years." Brunette Dorothy Dalton stars as Charlotte Woods, a dancehall girl who adopts an orphaned baby brought to her by Beauregard, a trapper (Mitchell Lewis). Beauregard lusts after Charlotte, not realizing that she is already married to Edward Brent, a sleazy gambler (Edward J. Brady). Charlotte sells her kisses to provide for the infant, and when a group of reformers burn down the dancehall, she and Brent open up a store. Brent, mercenary as always, sells the store -- including Charlotte and the baby -- to Beauregard. Charlotte is forced to kill the lusty trapper, while prospector Ralph Stevens (David Powell) goes in pursuit of Brent. Brent is killed by a pack of wolves, and Charlotte finds true love with Stevens. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Dorothy Dalton stars in this tale of the Canadian Northwest. New Yorker Lucky Folsom (E.J. Ratcliffe) strikes it rich up in the North, and when he hits the town of Totem City, he meets dance hall girl Colette Brissac (Dalton), who takes money from the miners but remains aloof to them. Since Folsom has no better luck with her, he returns to New York where he marries Gloria Waldron (Marguerite Marsh). Gloria is actually in love with Martin Bates, an engineer (Edwin August), but she wants the luxuries Folsom's newfound riches can offer her. The rejected Bates becomes an alcoholic and drifts into Totem City. By now the miners have gotten fed up with Colette's cool ways, and they force her to marry the drunken Bates. Instead of running away, Colette decides to make the best of the situation and brings about Bates' regeneration. The two remain happy together until Folsom and Gloria come to town. Bates has just made a fortune from a mine he has bought, so Gloria is willing to dump her husband to be with him. Bates mistakenly believes that Folsom is after Colette and the two men come to blows at the dance hall. Colette shoots Folsom and wounds him. He comes to his senses and takes Gloria away, determined to teach her a lesson or two. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This drama was based on a play by Sir James M. Barrie. To save himself from financial ruin, the Earl of Westford (H. Cooper Cliffe) sells his daughter, Lady Lilian (Dorothy Dalton), to Richard Garson (Charles Richman), a wealthy commoner. Although Garson sincerely loves Lilian, and he is thrilled to have married a titled young woman, Lilian is not happy with the situation. She treats Garson coldly and he, in turn, is brutal towards her. She winds up having an affair with once affluent Hugh Paton (Albert Barrett), who is now broke and working for the government. After a particularly heated fight with Garson, Lilian tells Paton she will run away with him. They make plans to go to Egypt, and Lilian writes Garson a note before she leaves. But when she gets to Paton's, she discovers that he is a womanizer who makes a habit of running off with disaffected wives. He is killed by a taxicab before she can confront him. Lilian rushes home, but not before being seen by Dr. George Brodie (Frank Losee), who dines with Garson that night. Garson suspects Lilian, but she manages to find and destroy the note. She decides to tell the truth anyway, and the couple comes to a new understanding. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The Dark Mirror is the first of two Hollywood films of that title dealing with "doppelganger" twin sisters. The later film, made in 1946, concerns a murder committed by one of the siblings. The earlier Dark Mirror, lensed in 1920, is constructed more along Count of Monte Cristo or Prince and the Pauper lines. Dorothy Dalton does double duty as a girl of the slums and her high-society identical twin. It is inevitable that the twins will somehow trade places around Reel Three. The Dark Mirror is based on a story by Louis Joseph Vance, of Lone Wolf fame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Young country nurse Helen Armes (Dorothy Dalton) arrives in New York City to visit a friend and her husband. They go out for a New Year's Eve celebration, accompanied by a young profligate. When they arrive at the cabaret, the wastrel's brother is there, and seeing how innocent Helen is, insists that she is taken home. But at the hotel, this bad seed tries, unsuccessfully, to force himself on her then later tells his brother the girl was the one who made a pass. The brothers quarrel and the good one is temporarily blinded. His nurse is none other than Helen, but she uses a different name so he won't know that the woman caring for him was the type to go cabaret-hopping. When she discovers the bad brother trying to steal from her patient, she convinces him to do something decent and enlist. As a result, he goes to France, where he is killed in action. The good brother falls in love with Helen and proposes marriage, but when he regains his sight he finds out who she really is and leaves her because he believes his dead brother's story. But the brother's ghost visits him and clears her name, so they are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Although WWI was clearly winding down in the Summer of 1918, the same could not be said of the cycle of anti-German films coming out of Hollywood. In Thomas H. Ince's The Kaiser's Shadow, an inventor named Boyd (Edward Cecil) develops a super-weapon on behalf of the Allies. The plans for the invention are stolen by German spy William Kremlin (Charles K. French), and for awhile things look pretty bleak for the Good Guys. But Kremlin has reckoned without the valiant Secret Service team of Paula Harris (Dorothy Dalton) and Hugo Wagner (Thurston Hall), who manage to infiltrate the very palace of the Kaiser in order to make the world Safe For Democracy. The Kaiser's Shadow was based on a blood-and-thunder magazine serial co-written by Roy Octavus Cohen, better known for his outrageously stereotypical stories of African American life in the South. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this war drama, Dorothy Dalton is Jenevieve Bouchette, an actress in New York. When she hears that her parents have been killed by German troops, she hastens back to the French village of her youth. The Germans and French have been fighting for possession of the town, and Jenevieve is victimized by a Hun who brands her with "the cross of shame." Jean Picard (Edmund Lowe), a former co-star of Jenevieve's, is now a volunteer in the French Army and he encounters her once again when he is wounded. She saves him from the Germans and sends him on his way. Then to escape the Germans, she puts on the uniform of a dead soldier. Since the French find spy maps on the uniform she has been wearing, she is ordered to be shot, but then the officer in charge sees the cross branded on her breast and releases her. Finally peace comes to the village. Jean returns, but he has lost his memory. All efforts to help him fail until Jenevieve shows him her cross. Then he remembers and the two are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Larry Thomas (Charles Ray) is a country lad who comes to the city to work as an office boy for a friend of his father's. Through the aid of stenographer Ellen Holton (Dorothy Dalton), he works his way up in the company until he is the secretary of President Brooks (J. Barney Sherry). Brooks sees a lot of potential in the boy and wants him to marry his daughter, Muriel (Margaret Thompson). Ellen, although heartbroken, bows out and Larry becomes engaged to Muriel. But Sid (Jack Livingston), a companion from Muriel's past escapades, begins blackmailing her. She goes with Sid to her father's office one night in search of some securities, but she can't find them. Sid thinks she is hiding something and threatens her with a gun. In the ensuing struggle, she is accidentally shot and killed -- just as Larry walks in and picks up the gun. He is arrested for Muriel's murder and put on trial. Ellen quietly marries him so that she will not be able to testify against him. Things look bad for Larry, but Sid is captured and finally fesses up, Larry is released and he and Ellen are reunited. Charles Ray's star, at this point, was still on the ascent, and Dorothy Dalton was billed over him. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi