Gerald C. Duffy Movies

Veteran comedian Charlie Murray plays a serious role in 1928's Head Man. Murray is cast as a senator named Watts, whose political career is ruined when he refuses to suck up to a "machine" boss. After several weeks of self-pity, Watts decides to beat the Machine at its own game. With the support of friends and family, he runs for mayor and soon the bad guys are running from him! Cast as Watts' daughter Carol is 15-year-old Loretta Young, just beginning her long association with First National/Warner Brothers. Also on hand are such surefire supporting players as Lucien Littlefield, Irving Bacon, Harvey Clark, and Dot Farley (who, like Charlie Murray, was an alumnus of the Mack Sennett comedy factory). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dorothy Mackaill has been raised by her embittered mother to despise all men. A beautiful gal, Mackaill can't help but attract the opposite sex. To counteract her appeal, she dresses in a dowdy, masculine fashion (funny, this had the opposite effect for Annie Hall in 1977). Gossips suggest that Mackaill is a you-know-what, so she enters into a platonic relationship with writer Rockliffe Fellowes. But since Jack Mulhall is in the cast of The Crystal Cup, and since Mackaill and Mulhall were a popular screen romantic team of the era, audiences were well prepared for the film's outcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Such was Richard Barthelmess' popularity in 1927 that audiences were willing to sit through all 12 reels (approximately 130 minutes) of The Patent Leather Kid. Barthelmess plays a cocky prizefighter who isn't the least bit concerned when America enters World War 1. Doing his best to avoid the army, the boxer is shamed into signing up by his girl friend Molly O'Day. Once on the battlefields of France, Barthelmess forsakes his previous selfishness and begins to pull together with his buddies. While performing a conspicous act of bravery, he is permanently crippled. The finale, in which the paraplegic Barthelmess painfully and courageously salutes the American flag, is still capable of reducing an audience to tears. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon left Mack Sennett Studios to make features for First National, he wisely brought along the two Sennett staffers who helped make him a star: gag writer Frank Capra and director Harry Edwards. Langdon's first feature-length comedy at his new studio was Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, which not only ranks as one of Harry's best efforts, but also one of the funniest comedies ever made. Our hero plays a bumbling cobbler's son who enters a cross-country walking race sponsored by shoe manufacturer John Burton (Edwards Davis). This he does partly to save his dad's business, but mainly out of love for Burton's daughter Betty (Joan Crawford), whom Harry knows only from her appearances on the Burton Shoe advertising billboards. As our hero tramp, tramp, tramps along, one mishap after another befalls him. At one point he is arrested and placed on a chain gang, leading to pantomimic tour de force in which the hapless Harry tries his best to make little rocks out of big ones. He also runs afoul of a belligerent herd of sheep, nearly plummeting off a cliff as a result. The climax finds Harry being literally swept off his feet by an outsized cyclone -- a surprisingly convincing special-effects sequence staged entirely within the studio! Miraculously, Harry wins the race and Betty's hand in marriage (According to Frank Capra, leading lady Joan Crawford was so amused by Langdon's antics that she couldn't film her big scene with him without collapsing into laughter; as a result, the scene had to be shot with Crawford's back to the camera). An amusing coda featuring a "baby" Langdon in his bassinette caps this well-nigh-perfect film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bashful bond salesman Talbot Trent (George O'Hara) constantly finds himself in trouble thanks to his brash, practical-joking buddy Howard Graham (Rex Lease). Both men fall in love with pretty secretary Dorothy (Doris Hill), and both are candidates for a general-manager post at their company's Cleveland branch. Howard seems to have the advantage with both Dorothy and the managership, which Talbot attributes to the fact that Howard drives a fancy new roadster. Talbot determines to purchase his own car, but the best he can afford is a battered taxicab. Our hero's luck goes from bad to worse as he tries to maneuver his cab around the busy city streets, and by reel five it looks as though he's going to lose his car, his job and his girl all in one fell swoop. Only when he learns to rely on his own inner strength rather than such creature comforts as automobiles and fancy clothes does Talbot finally emerge triumphant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Helene Chadwick, Gaston Glass, and a relative newcomer to the screen named Basil Rathbone were the stars of this comedy-drama, which was based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Earl Derr Biggers. Chadwick is Ellen Llewellyn, a chorus girl who is loved by orchestra leader Andy Owens (Glass), a genuinely nice guy. When Ellen meets the aristocratic Tony Winterslip (Rathbone), she's impressed by his family tree and vast wealth. When Winterslip's car breaks down during a rainstorm, Ellen gets drenched and contracts pneumonia. It takes much persuasion, but finally Ellen agrees to recuperate at the Winterslip country home. There she gets to spend a lot of time with Winterslip, his mother (Jane Jennings), and his grandmother (Esther Banks) -- too much, in fact. Esther comes to realize that money and a family tree aren't everything, and she's more than happy to return to Andy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Seemingly the only reason for this drama was its proliferation of cameos -- the gambling hall where the action takes place sports the likes of Flora Finch, Henry Hull, Diana Allen and Dagmar Godowsky. The actual star is Edith Roberts. Before he can avenge a crooked card game, Dan Carrington (Montagu Love) suffers heart failure and dies in his chair. John Tralee (Norman Trevor), the cheater, feels a pang of guilt when he discovers that he has taken all of Carrington's money and adopts the dead man's little girl, Lois. The girl grows up (to be played by Roberts) and the gambling hall becomes her second home. A millionaire, Peter Marineaux (Walter Booth), accuses Lois of throwing a roulette game. Lois -- who has fallen in love with Marineaux -- manipulates the wheel so that he wins her. Her gamble pays off and she wins Marineaux as a husband. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A lot of money was spent on this romantic melodrama -- enough so that part of it was actually filmed in France. Then again, the owner of the production company, Cosmopolitan, was William Randolph Hearst, who had a lot of money to throw around. After spending 20 years in the South American mines, Gordon Kent (Mahlon Hamilton) comes to Paris, cashes everything in and celebrates his return to civilization. He falls for Norma Selbee (Betty Blythe), a pretty but penniless American girl, and convinces her to marry him. Norma, however, isn't satisfied with the match and runs off with Laurence Marchmont (Clive Brook). Kent chases after them, and, through a detective (Fred Paul), finds out that Marchmont has a criminal past and Norma has a husband back in America. When he finally tracks down the runaway pair, he decrees that they shall live together the rest of their lives -- then spends all his money to keep an eye on them. Marchmont and Norma come to hate each other and find the constant surveillance unbearable. Jim Selbee, Norma's husband (Ernest Hilliard), then shows up and tries to blackmail Kent, but Norma finds out about his scheme and warns Kent. Marchmont kills Selbee, and Norma realizes she really loves Kent after all. Kent begs forgiveness for what he did to her, and they go to South America together. This picture, based on a story by Rex Beach, bore no relation to the 1917 film by the same name. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

While this theatrical drama is based on the clichéd premise of a country girl coming to the big city, it offers some colorful shots of the Great White Way. Charlie Murray and the Tiller Girls also perform dance numbers. The cast, too, is excellent, beginning with Doris Kenyon as Irene Marley, the country girl. While traveling through the countryside, theatrical producer Randall Sherrill (Lowell Sherman) hears Irene practicing in the church choir with her sweetheart Tom Drake (Harrison Ford). He offers to make Irene a star, so she follows him back to New York. Sherrill makes good on his promise, and Irene realizes that she has her own promise to Sherrill that she must honor. The producer has callously tossed away Connie King, his last sweetheart (Claire Dolorez), and she urges Drake to come for Irene. Drake arrives and argues with Sherrill. During their fight, Connie is shot and dies. Sherrill puts the blame on Drake, who is convicted of murder. But Irene manages to force a confession out of Sherrill, which saves Drake from being executed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This picture should have been called "What Happened to Mabel?" Mabel Normand's comedy pictures for Goldwyn had slowly been going downhill, and this entry was pretty near the bottom. Mayme Ladd (Normand) leads a drab, lonely life as a shopgirl. One day she goes to a fortune teller, Madame O'Donnelly (Eugenie Besserer), who tells her she is the reincarnation of a Spanish beauty, and if only she can believe that she will find love. So she calls herself Rosa Alvara, dresses up as a Senorita and attends a costume ball on a steamboat. There she meets Dr. Maynard Drew (Hugh Thompson), who she has adored from afar, and he falls for her. She then disappears from the party, and Drew looks all over for her without success. But finally she hurts herself and shows up in his office --this time dressed as a ragged young boy. The couple are reunited, and Drew insists that he loves her for herself. The star and director Victor Schertzinger did what they could with this weak Cinderella story. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide