George W. Hill Movies

A splashy journalist finds herself embroiled in international intrigue when she hooks up with a sneaky Russian correspondent who curries favor by saving a Secret Police official. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Nancy Carroll's popularity enabled her to survive the melodramatic excesses of Stolen Heaven with little if any damage to her career. Carroll plays Mary, the streetwalker sweetheart of born-loser Joe (Phillips Holmes). Engineering a $20,000 robbery, Mary and Joe draw up a pact to spend all the money foolishly and then commit suicide. But as time passes, they decide that they might as well live. Joe confesses to the robbery and willingly marches off to jail, secure in the understanding that Mary will await his return. Louis Calhern makes an excellent first impression as the film's nominal villain, only to completely disappear from view in the final scenes. The 1938 musical drama Stolen Heaven is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; the cell-block leader is Butch (Wallace Beery), whose outer oafishness hides a cruel, calculating mind. Butch lives for the day that he can bust out and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. Panicking, Kent "rats" on Butch and is murdered during the climactic breakout as a consequence. Morgan behaves courageously, saving the warden (Lewis Stone) and the guards from Butch's wrath; as a reward, Morgan earns a reduced sentence and the love of Kent's sister Anne (Leila Hyams). Remarkably brutal for an MGM film, The Big House (a double Oscar winner, for best screenplay and sound recording) established not only the grimy mise-en-scene of prison life, but also a whole new glossary of slang terms and a veritable menagerie of movie "types," from the firm but kindly prison chaplain to the embittered lifer. The film was gloriously lampooned by Laurel & Hardy's Pardon Us, in which Walter Long played the Beery counterpart. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This drama tells the victories and defeats of 6 U.S. Navy Academy graduates at flying school working to win their wings. ~ Rovi

Based on a Leo Tolstoy novel, The Cossacks centers around Lukashka (John Gilbert), a young Russian man who has no interest in fighting, unlike the other Cossacks around him. Because of his cheery, peaceful ways, he is ridiculed by the others of his village, even though he is the son of Ivan the Ataman (Ernest Torrence), who is the toughest man there. Finally, even Lukashka's ladylove, Maryana (Renee Adoree), believes him a coward. The people of the village dress him up in an apron and throw grapes at him, and this causes him to snap. Lukashka becomes a fierce fighter, killing any Turks that come his way. Meanwhile, the Czar's messenger, Prince Olenin (Neil Neely) comes to town and decides to take Maryana for his own. But when he makes his way back to the capital with the girl, Lukashka kidnaps her. As for the Prince, he is killed by a pack of Turks. Although the set design and photography for this film were well-done, other aspects miss. George Hill directed most of the picture but Clarence Brown was brought in at the finish to clean it up -- Brown claims the film was a mess by the time he was assigned to work on it. Many of the subtitles are poorly written and are not fair descriptions of the action. One example that is especially -- and unintentionally -- hilarious: Gilbert's character is introduced with "He does not like the smell of blood. He is a chewer of sunflower seeds." Needless to say, Gilbert was unhappy with The Cossacks. While it received, for the most part, positive reviews, hindsight shows that it subtly marked the beginning of a downward spiral for the M-G-M silent star. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Based on a novel by Kathleen Morris, The Callahans and the Murphys was the first of several MGM films costarring veteran comediennes Marie Dressler and Polly Moran. These formidable ladies are cast as Mrs. Callahan and Mrs. Murphy, feuding tenement housewives who spend most of their time keeping their multitudes of children under control. Polly's son Dan (Lawrence Gray) falls in love with with Marie's daughter Eileen (Sally O'Neill). Dan falls into a bad crowd and disappears, leaving Eileen and with a baby on the way. Mrs. Callahan tries to save her daughter's reputation by adopting the baby, but finds to her delight that the kid was "legit" all along. The film is highlighted by the drunken antics of its two female stars: in one scene, while downing bottle after bottle of beer ("This stuff makes me see double and feel single!"), Marie and Polly begin pouring the brew down each other's blouses. So raunchy were the antics of Dressler and Moran that The Callahans and the Murphys was withdrawn from distribution after protests were lodged by various Irish-American organizations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

One of Hollywood's few cowgirls, Josie Sedgwick, starred as the lady mayor of a small Western community in this silent oater released by Universal. There was an obligatory hero, of course (the mayor of the neighboring community), but Sedgwick never appeared less than capable of standing up to even toughest of lawbreakers in the hell-fire frontier town of Eden. From a family of vaudeville actors, the somewhat mannish-looking Sedgwick had begun her screen career in the mid 1910s with the old Triangle Company, reaching stardom in Universal Western 2-reelers of the early 1920s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Robert Fraser plays a double role in this routine melodrama co-starring Elaine Hammerstein, Gladys Brockwell, and Phyllis Haver. Mary Adams (Hammerstein) is the schoolteacher who falls for a lecherous lawyer. She marries the man who saves her from the barrister, but she soon believes he is guilty of being a thief. Her husband is stabbed by his insane mother who believes he is her long-lost husband returning after many years. Although seriously wounded, he races through a raging forest fire to be reunited with his beloved wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Jack Pickford, younger brother of Mary, both produced and starred in this rural melodrama about a young boy whose mother marries the villain that killed her husband for his coal-rich land. Despite his antipathy toward "Groundhog" Spence (Frank Leigh), his new stepfather, Jeb McCoy (Pickford) falls in love with the man's niece, Emmy Lou Spence (Lucille Ricksen), who teaches the boy to read and write. Groundhog has other plans, however, and forces Emmy Lou to marry his wastrel son Aaron (Ralph Yearsley). When the latter is shot by angry villagers, Jeb is accused of the crime. He proves his innocence, and it comes to a final confrontation between the youngster and his greedy stepfather on a raft in the river. Spence is drowned but Jeb is rescued in the nick of time by Emmy Lou. Most contemporary reviewers dismissed the film as pure melodrama but marveled at the climactic fight on the raft. Teenager Lucille Ricksen died soon after appearing in this film, reportedly the victim of a botched abortion. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In somewhat of a departure from his usual fare, Western star Buck Jones played a Scottish coal miner-turned-Northwest Mounted Police Officer in this silent outdoors melodrama. Jock MacTier (Jones) loves Margaret MacPherson (Helene Rosson), but she ups and marries mining pay master Arthur Whitman (William Lawrence). After nobly saving his rival's life in a mine flood, MacTier makes the aforementioned change of occupation. In the Canadian Northwest, he makes the acquaintance of lovely Lenore De Marney (Beatrice Burnham), whose father is having trouble with a gang of thieves. In one of those coincidences only found in cheap melodrama, the leader of the gang is none other than Whitman, MacTier's old nemesis, who has already abandoned his wife. MacTier beats Whitman once and for all and earns the love of Lenore. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Severing all ties with his former partners Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky, producer Samuel Goldfish went into partnership with Edgar Selwyn, and the result was the Goldwyn Pictures Company (not to mention a new last name for Mr. Goldfish!) The first official Goldwyn production was Polly of the Circus, a vehicle for one-time Griffith contractee Mae Marsh. The titular Polly travels from town to town as star equestrienne for a three-ring circus. In the course of her travels, she falls in love with handsome minister John Douglas (Vernon Steele). A serious accident which renders her paralyzed sorely challenges Polly's faith in God and Mankind, but with Douglas' help she not only recovers but also wins a high-stakes horse race. Based on a play by Margaret Mayo, Polly of the Circus was remade in 1932, with Marion Davies as Polly and Clark Gable (!) as the minister. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this lesser Mary Pickford vehicle -- her first picture under the Artcraft banner -- the star plays Radha, an English girl who was abandoned by her drug-addicted father, a British Army officer, in India. She has been brought up by Ramlan, a native swordmaker (Mario Majeroni), and believes herself to be a Hindu. There is an uprising, and Captain Richard Townsend (David Powell), who has befriended Radha, is wounded and in danger of being killed. But Radha saves him, and then she goes to rescue Ramlan, who has been jailed. Ramlan reveals her English origins, and she returns to England to claim the inheritance that is due her. But she discovers that Townsend, who is a nephew of her grandfather, has been bequeathed the fortune. This doesn't matter, however, because Townsend marries Radha. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi