Jane Darwell Movies
American actress Jane Darwell was the daughter of a Missouri railroad executive. Despite her father's disapproval, she spent most of her youth acting in circuses, opera troupes and stock companies, making her film debut in 1912. Even in her early thirties, Darwell specialized in formidable "grande dame" roles, usually society matrons or strict maiden aunts. Making an easy transition to talking pictures, Darwell worked primarily in small character parts (notably as governesses and housekeepers in the films of Shirley Temple) until 1939, when her role as the James Brothers' mother in Jesse James began a new career direction--now she was most often cast as indomitable frontierswomen, unbending in the face of hardship and adversity. It was this quality that led Darwell to be cast in her favorite role as Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which she won an Oscar. Darwell continued to work until illness crept upon her in the late 1950s. Even so, Darwell managed to essay a handful of memorable parts on TV and in movies into the 1960s; her last film role was as the "Bird Woman" in Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1932
In this political melodrama, an idealistic freshman congressman swears to do his best to get relief for his impoverished constituents who lost everything in the Great Depression. Unfortunately, he discovers that many of his colleagues have been corrupted by avaricious crooks. He begins lobbying to have them ousted from the government. To stop the rebellious young politician, the crooks demand a recount of the votes and then doctor the results to get the man thrown out of office. Fortunately, an older statesman and his granddaughter rally round the honest congressman. Soon they clear his name, and have all the bad apples thrown out of congress. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Tracy, Constance Cummings, (more)
- 1932
Sylvia Sidney is again in her "victim" mode in Paramount's Ladies of the Big House. Shortly after their wedding, young innocents Kathleen (Sylvia Sidney) and Standish (Gene Raymond) are arrested for murder on circumstantial evidence. The poor kids don't have a chance: the case is being prosecuted by crooked district attorney Doremus (Rockliffe Fellowes), while the local reporters have a field day crucifying Kathleen in the press thanks to her dubious relationship with the dead man. The couple is found guilty, whereupon Kathleen is thrown into a cell block with several hardened female cons. Hoping to save her husband from going to the electric chair, Kathleen participates in a prison break. There are many more hardships and disasters in store for our heroine before she is able to prove Standish's innocence. If the script of Ladies of the Big House seems a bit more authentic than usual, it may be because it was written by an actual prison convict named Ernest Booth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1932
Based on a best-selling novel by Fannie Hurst, Back Street concerns an ill-starred couple, Rae (Irene Dunne) and Walter (John Boles). Rae meets Walter and falls hopelessly in love with him; Walter is also drawn to Rae, but he has already pledged to marry another woman and can't find a way out. They part, and for a while Rae takes up with someone else; Walter needs to leave the country and impulsively tries to arrange a marriage with Rae, but she is unable, due to her new beau, and he sails away without her. When Rae next encounters Walter, he has married a woman from a wealthy family. Even though he's wedded to another, a passion still burns between Walter and Rae, and they enter into an illicit affair. Over the course of nearly 30 years, Rae turns down opportunities to marry other men to live a shadowy life as Walter's mistress, until she accepts a proposal of marriage when she's convinced that Walter is finally through with her. This was the first of three film versions of Hurst's story; remakes were released in 1941 and 1961. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, John Boles, (more)
- 1931
Based on the novel by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn stars Junior Durkin in the title role, Jackie Coogan as Tom Sawyer, Mitzi Green as Becky Thatcher and Clarence Muse as Jim the slave. The film hopscotches around the book, ignoring such highlights as the Grangeford-Shepherdson feud and devoting too much time to such minor incidents as Huck and Tom's "orchestrated" rescue of Jim. The basic storyline begins when Huck's no-good Pap (Warner Richmond) kidnaps the boy from his guardian, the Widow Douglas. Huck stages his own "death" and escapes down the Mississippi on a raft, in the company of Tom Sawyer and escaped slave Jim. The threesome link up with two confidence men, the King (Oscar Apfel) and the Duke (Eugene Pallette). The unscrupulous pair plan fleece the grieving family of a recently deceased man of wealth, but Huck falls in love with one of the victims of the scam (Charlotte Henry) and thwarts the villains. Huckleberry Finn was Paramount's followup to 1930's Tom Sawyer, with many of the principal actors repeating their roles. This 1931 version of Huckleberry is easy to take, but somewhat threadbare when compared to later remakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Mitzi Green, (more)
Directly after his successful screen teaming with Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, Gary Cooper returned to Paramount's "Zane Grey" western series with Fighting Caravans. Cooper is cast as Clint Belmet, a hell-raisin' frontiersman facing a misdemeanor jail term. To avoid arrest, Clint talks French-born Felice (Lily Damita) into posing as his wife. Having successfully eluded the Law, Clint joins a wagon train heading to California, with Felice in tow. He callously tells her that he expects to exercise his "husbandly" prerogative in bed, but changes his tune when he genuinely falls in love with the girl. Eventually, Clint assumes some responsibility for the first time in his life by becoming the wagon train's sole trail guide, rescuing the other passengers from the villainous machinations of gun-runner Lee Murdock (Fred Kohler). Several stock shots and outtakes from Fighting Caravans (retitled Blazing Arrows for television) later showed up in another Zane Grey series entry, Wagon Wheels (1934). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, (more)
- 1930
Tom Sawyer, Paramount's 1930 Christmas release, was the first talkie version of Mark Twain's beloved novel. A rapidly maturing Jackie Coogan is well cast as Tom, while Junior Durkin is even better as Tom's freewheeling pal Huck Finn. Juvenile impressionist Mitzi Green comes on a bit too strong in the normally demure role of Becky Thatcher, but that's what her fans expected. On the other hand, Jackie Searl and Clara "Auntie Em" Blandick are perfectly typecast as, respectively, Sid Sawyer and Aunt Polly. The usual episodes are dramatized herein, including the white-washing scene, the premature funeral, the murder in the graveyard, and the chase through the caves, culminating with the death of villain Injun Joe (played by Charlie Stevens, in real life a great-grandson of Geronimo. Though the 1930 Tom Sawyer pales in comparison to the slick Selznick Technicolor remake of 1938, it proved popular enough to warrant a sequel with virtually same cast, Huckleberry Finn, released the following Christmas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Junior Durkin, (more)
- 1915
While critiquing this fairy tale-like romance, Motion Picture News noted the "youthful personality and girlish portrayal" of Marguerite Clarke (then a stage star who had just begun her cinematic career). Although Clarke was 32 years old when she played the title character, for quite a long while she showed quite a knack for playing much younger women. Monroe Salisbury plays handsome King Frederick, who has no desire to enter into a political marriage with a princess he has never seen. While traveling around the country in disguise, he encounters Gretchen, the Goose Girl (Clarke) and finds himself helping her round up her geese. The two fall in love, and Frederick has to save her from the lustful Count Von Wallenstein. It turns out that the princess Frederick was supposed to wed is an impostor -- she's merely the daughter of the chancellor, who had switched the girls at birth. Gretchen is the real princess, so Frederick's love for her meets with approval all around. This story was based on the novel by Harold MacGrath. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
It was probably pretty simple for William C. DeMille to adapt this comedy stage hit to the screen -- he and his brother, director Cecil B. DeMille, were the playwrights. When his broker friend offers big returns, Ted Ewing (Edward Abeles) invests both his own money and that of his fiancée, Nora Heldreth (Betty Schade). But then the broker disappears and Ewing, believing that he has squandered his girl's money, takes out an insurance policy on himself and then sets out to get "accidentally" killed. Of course, nothing he tries works -- he falls in front of a train only to have it switch tracks on him, a fall from a window is broken by an awning, etc. Since members of a black hand society seem to be following him around, Ewing finally gets the idea of hiring them to murder him and gives the payment to Oki, his Japanese valet (Sessue Hayakawa). But then the broker returns and Ewing discovers that the money he invested has doubled. Now he has to figure out how to call off the black hand men, who have followed him and Nora to her aunt's cottage in Maine. Eventually a deal is worked out to everyone's satisfaction. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Credit is due to director Lois Weber for establishing (or, at least, popularizing) the concept of "artistically justifiable nudity." Weber's The Hypocrites was a semi-allegorical piece, with an unclad young lady, billed appropriately as "The Naked Truth," parading across the screen at various crucial plot junctures. The story concerns a pious priest who, motivated by a love of fine art, erects a nude statue in the town square. The townspeople fail to appreciate the aesthetic value of the statue and proceed to stone the priest to death. At this point, the statue comes to life in the form of the aforementioned girl, who spends the balance of the film exposing the hypocrisy of the self-righteous townsfolk. It can be argued that only a rock-ribbed Christian like Lois Weber could have gotten away with so potentially controversial a mood piece as The Hypocrites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Producer Jesse Lasky and stage impresario David Belasco teamed up for several films in the mid-teens and this tale of nineteenth-century California was their first project. Originally a Belasco play with Frances Starr, it became a Cecil B. DeMille/Oscar Apfel-directed feature. It opens up with a band of claim jumpers, led by the villainous Esra Kincaid (Dick LaReno), taking over the Espinoza ranch. The bandits kill the ranch's owner (Sydney Deane) and forces the daughter (future scenarist Jeanie MacPherson) to take her own life. Into this strife-ridden land comes Kearney (J. S. Johnston), an agent sent by the government to bring order out of the chaos. He romances Juanita (Bessie Barriscale), daughter of the Castros, then discovers that the Castro rancho is next on Kincaid's list for attack. Kearney calls for the cavalry, then holds off the outlaws long enough for them to arrive. With the battle won, he is able to declare his love for the vivacious Juanita. While there was a lot of potential to this picture -- it was both based and filmed in California, the involvement of Belasco, etc. -- some of it was cheaply shot, and it showed. Other pictures by the Lasky/Belasco/DeMille team -- notably The Warrens of Virginia -- would turn out far better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Almost the entire Jesse L. Lasky stock company was trotted out for this minor offering starring stage actor Edward Abeles and Theodore Roberts as a couple of prospectors who get involved with greedy city types on a business trip to New York. The film was the first to be shot entirely on Lasky's new ranch at Wilson Canyon in the San Fernando Valley. The ranch, managed by one Hosea Steelman who also played bit parts, included "varied scenery such as streams, woods, mountain peaks, abandoned mines, ore dumps, miners' huts, and an Indian camp of 35 tepees." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Oscar Apfel, the man who collaborated with Cecil B. DeMille on the direction of the pioneering feature film The Squaw Man, wielded the megaphone for the Jesse L. Lasky production The Master Mind. Repeating his stage role, Edmund Breese plays Henry Allen, a revenge-driven ex-convict who hopes to get even with the judge who mistakenly sentenced Henry's brother to the gallows. He arranges for the judge to fall in love with a "woman of the world," then exposes the magistrate as a hedonistic fraud. Eventually, however, Henry has a change of heart and decides to allow the judge and his sweetheart to live out their lives unmolested. Based on a play by Daniel D. Carter, The Master Mind was remade in 1920 with Lionel Barrymore in the old Edmund Breese role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Produced by Famous Players, The Only Son was one of several efforts to bestow movie stardom upon Broadway comic actor Thomas W. Ross. Re-creating his stage role, Ross (who must have been 45 at the time!) played the young, ne'er-do-well son of a millionaire. Refusing to enter the family business, our hero chooses instead the life of a "starving artist." He becomes involved with the wife of an insanely jealous Englishman, whose mid-film murder dictates the pulse-pounding outcome of the story. Running 3 reels, The Only Son was serviceable, but the movie-going public simply didn't warm up to Thomas W. Ross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
