Robert De Vilbiss Movies

The Parisian settings of George Du Maurier's novel were faithfully recreated for this production -- which is more than can be said for Maurice Tourneur's 1915 version of the film. It was the first American feature for French actress Andree Lafayette, and Arthur Edmund Carewe gives a skillful performance as Svengali (although John Barrymore's performance in the 1931 talkie version is definitive). Trilby (Lafayette) is toiling away in a French laundry when she meets a young English art student. She calls him Little Billee (Creighton Hale), and they have a romance. But she comes under the influence of a musician, Svengali, who has hypnotic powers. On the night of Trilby's engagement to Billee, Svengali steals her away, and with his powers, turns her into a brilliant concert singer. One night Billee and his friends (Philo McCullough and Francis McDonald) see her perform. Svengali has a heart attack and dies, and Trilby loses her beautiful voice. Although she is now free of Svengali's influence, the strain is too much for her and she dies. There were two endings made of this picture -- one was Du Maurier's tragic ending and the other was the typically happy Hollywood finish. An interesting note: the 1915 Maurice Tourneur version starred Clara Kimball Young, who was then married to James Young, the director of the 1923 version. James Young was also in the cast of the Tourneur version. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Elinor Glyn, author of the notorious Three Weeks, wrote this story on which this drama was based, so the film was bound to draw interest. Glyn's books may seem tame today but they were scandalous (and delightfully so) to 1920s audiences, and the producers had to tame her material down a bit. This is emphasized by the trade paper Motion Picture News, which affirms, "there is nothing suggestive in this picture. The screen version has been pasteurized as far as this goes and no one will find anything objectionable." After the death of her husband, Olive Kingston (Myrtle Stedman) wants to see her daughter Laline (Corinne Griffith) married off to the wealthy and distinguished Lord Charles Chetwyn (Claude King). Laline accepts her fate and travels to Paris where she meets Dion Leslie (Frank Mayo), a friend of her brother's. Her brother died in battle (the story taking place in post-World War I Europe), so the two visit his grave. They also go to the dugouts, but the entrance caves in, trapping them. Entombed for six days, Laline and Leslie fall in love and are married by a priest , who conveniently has been trapped with them and who then dies in another landslide. Eventually both Laline and Leslie escape. It turns out that Leslie is Chetwyn's son from a former marriage, so Chetwyn not only gives the couple his blessings, but also names the young man heir to his estate. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In spite of many attempts to bring Will Rogers superstardom in silent films (he was already one on Broadway), it wasn't until sound came in that he found his niche. Here, he and director Clarence G. Badger flounder as they try for pathos a la Charles Chaplin's The Kid. Rogers plays Noah Vale, a penniless inventor who is struggling along trying to support himself and a pair of cute orphans. He toils night and day on an invention that he hopes will make him enough money so that he will be worthy of Miss Fay (Sylvia Breamer, who is wasted here), the daughter of a wealthy man (George Williams). Vale has a relative who's well off, but won't have anything to do with him or his invention; the machine, however, is stolen by the relative's partner. It turns out that the invention is utterly worthless, but Vale winds up ahead anyhow -- he has a few stories, and his relation's secretary markets them. Thus Vale and the kids still manage to become financially solvent. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide