William Sherwood Movies
- 1978
Comic actor Bob Dishyappears in this episode as a pharmacist who has made it his mission in life to protest against artificial food additives. The pharmacist takes his crusade to Mel's diner--where he announces his intention to dramatize his stand by committing suicide! The curious changes in the décor of Mel's Diner which are unique to this episode suggest that it was taped very early in Season Two, but held back for several months. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
The title of this film is not merely symbolic: The heroine is, indeed, the "real" Venus, and a goodly portion of the story takes place in Ancient Greece. The film begins as Venus (Betty Lee), goddess of love, falls for a "mortal" sculptor (William Sherwood), who pays for his blasphemy when he is shot full of arrows by Venus' rival Diana (Phyllis Beveridge). Flash-forward about seventeen years: Nea (Grace Hamel), the half-human daughter of Venus, falls in love with another mortal, a fisherman named Pannas (Hassan Mussali). Once again, Diana tries to sabotage the romance, but this time Venus manages to get the OK from Jove (John Fedris) to bestow immortality on her future son-in-law. In standard Hollywood fashion, the film's well-endowed goddesses and nymphets were shown in various states of undress, thereby attracting viewers who would otherwise avoid a film about Greek Mythology like the plague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Jack Burkshaw (Carlyle Blackwell, who also directed) returns home from the West to discover that his mother (Kate Lester) has married a widower, Eugene Alston (Charles Duncan). Alston has two grown children, pretty Marion (Evelyn Greeley) and roguish Jerry (William Sherwood). While Jack falls in love with Marion, Jerry takes advantage of Barbara Manning (Muriel Ostriche), a young stenographer, then neglects her in favor of an actress. Jack uses sneaky and sometimes humorous means to make Jerry see the error of his ways, while winning Marion's heart at the same time. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
When a group of reformers, led by Mrs. Bowers (Gladys Fairbanks), closes down the red light district, district attorney Osborne (Franklin Hanna) believes it bodes ill for the town. Hattie Fenshaw (Christine Mayo), one of the area's former inhabitants, moves in next door to one of the reformers. Not only is Bryant Harding (Anders Randolph) paying her rent, Dudley Carleton (Frank Morgan) has become so besotted with her that he's broken his engagement to Betty Hamlin (Evelyn Brent). Betty meets Hattie and, unaware of her business, comes by to visit. She interrupts a little party which includes her ex-fiancé and Harding's son, Hal (William Sherwood). Harding himself then arrives, and in the ensuing confusion, almost shoots Betty -- who, it turns out is his daughter. At this juncture, the DA, Mrs. Bowers and some other reformers arrive and find out who their neighbor is. The reformers start to think that perhaps having a red light district for the "girls" isn't so bad after all. The attitude of this picture suggests that perhaps the 1910s wasn't as stuffy an era as typically thought. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Rejected by her parents, the wayward Juliette La Monde (Kitty Gordon) becomes a musical comedy actress and is courted by Morgan Grant (Frederick Truesdell). Grant is married, but no matter; he leaves his wife (Pinna Nesbit) to be with Juliette. After the death of her parents, Juliette takes care of her sister, Francine (played as a girl by Madge Evans and as a young woman by Lillian Cook). Grant has tired of Juliette and now pursues Francine. Even though Juliette has tried to keep her sister on the straight and narrow, Francine is not adverse to Grant's attention. Juliette tries to talk to Grant, but it grows into an argument in which a gun is drawn. In the struggle, Grant is mortally wounded but he exonerates Juliette before he dies. Francine winds up with another man, Philip Stewart (William Sherwood), while Juliette becomes a Red Cross nurse in Europe, and dies in battle. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Filmed on location at Saranac Lake and the St. Lawrence River in New York State, The Jury of Fate starred Mabel Taliaferro in the dual role of the Labordie twins, Jeanne (a girl) and Jacques (a boy). Jeanne grows up resigned to the fact that Jacques is her father's favorite child. Thus, when Jacques accidentally drowns, Jeanne cuts her hair short and assumes her brother's identity. While this rash act prevents Jeanne's father from suffering a fatal heart attack, it throws the girl's boyfriend Donald (William Sherwood) into despair; after all, if "Jacques" is still alive, then Jeanne would have to be the drowned twin. The hero and heroine are not reunited until the very end of the picture, by which time Jeanne has become the unwitting cause of the deaths of two men -- who, fortunately for the purposes of the plot, are the villains of the piece. The Jury of Fate contained many of the bizarre, surrealistic elements that would soon become de rigueur in the films of director Tod Browning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mabel Taliaferro, William Sherwood, (more)
- 1917
This film, based on the stage play of the same name by Adolph Philipps, gave comedian Lew Fields a role that had both humor and pathos. Charles Wendel (Fields) is a wealthy grocer who, along with his wife (Justine Cutting), adopts a little orphan, Mary (Madge Evans). He also has a son, Ralph (William Sherwood), who he hopes will become his business partner when he returns from college. Ralph, however, comes home with a snooty attitude and refuses. Wendel gets him a job at the bank, but the young man botches it up by falling prey to a pair of swindlers (Pinna Nesbit and George Cowl, who also directed). He embezzles bank money to fund a crooked company and is forced to flee when one of the swindlers is murdered. Wendel coughs up the money to pay for his son's theft, but it bankrupts him and he is forced to return to his pushcart days, while Mary (played as a young woman by Lillian Cook) goes to work. Eventually the son is cleared of the murder, and when he makes good, he comes home to his father and marries Mary. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Spell of the Yukon was inspired by the Robert W. Service narrative poem of the same name. Edmund Breese plays Jim Carson, a rough-hewn miner who strikes it rich in the Yukon. Before long, Jim has surrounded himself with luxuries and is guzzling champagne by the quart. His eventual downfall is paralleled with the rise to maturity of nominal hero Bob Adams (Billy Sherwood). Leading lady Evelyn Brent would later play the female equivalent of Jim Carson in the 1930 "Great White North" melodrama The Silver Horde. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Bertie (John Barrymore) is a bashful young man, and his sweetheart is just barely able to squeeze a marriage proposal out of him. His friends give him the usual bachelor bash, and on his way home, he's bashed on the head by some thugs. The result is that he loses his memory and winds up in the hands of the crooks. The gang takes him to rob a house, which coincidentally just happens to belong to his fiancée's family. When he sees the girl, his memory starts to come back, and he helps capture the crooks. After an operation, Bertie and his sweetheart are reunited. This comedy-drama was an extremely lightweight vehicle for John Barrymore. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Captain Harry Ford (Carlyle Blackwell) is tracking down moonshiners in the South when he runs afoul of nasty political goings-on. Some Negroes have stolen a ballot box, but a white man refuses to be bribed for its return and horsewhips the group's leader. The Negro kills the man, and the crime gets pinned on Ford. Ford is sent to prison for life, but escapes when he is put on a road-working gang. His Southern sweetheart, Georgia Gwynne (Ethel Clayton) helps him so that he can prove his innocence and finally the Negro murderer confesses. The racist attitude of this film is on par with that of Birth of a Nation, and is a sad statement on the prevailing attitudes of the 1910s. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
