Sidney de Grey Movies

Written by the prolific Ben Hecht, Upper World is a clash-of-class melodrama set in New York City. Railroad tycoon Alexander Stream (Warren William) is neglected by his social-climbing wife Mary Astor. Quite unintentionally, through a chance encounter, he strikes up a reasonably chaste friendship with good-hearted showgirl Lilly Linder (Ginger Rogers). Lilly's ex-boyfriend Lou Colima (J. Carroll Naish) sees an opportunity to blackmail Stream; Lilly tries to block him from doing so, and is murdered for her troubles. Stream shoots Colima in self-defense and manages to cover up his involvement so that the crime scene looks like a murder-suicide, protecting his good name and marriage in the process. But a vitriolic cop (Sidney Toler), whom Stream had earlier gotten demoted over a traffic stop -- and who was on patrol in the vicinity of the crime -- involves himself in the case and gathers enough evidence to point the detectives and the press toward the wary tycoon. Though he must stand trial for Colima's death, Stream is supported in his ordeal by his suddenly attentive and affectionate wife.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama follows the lives of three sisters. One dies while giving birth, another gets married and goes to the US, and the last one gets involved with a Viennese musician. The two survivors become wealthy, and seem to forget about their impoverished mother back in Italy. Unbeknownst to any of the parties, the money the good daughters send home is being taken by a third party. That person's identity is discovered when the women and their spouses come to Italy to visit. They later leave the poor woman with a nice retirement fund. Songs include: "Italian Kisses" (L. Wolfe Gilbert, Abel Baer), "Lonely Feet," "Hand in Hand," "Keep Smiling," "Won't Dance," "Roll on Rolling Road," "What Good are Words," "You Are Doing Very Well" (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Obviously inspired by the success of Norma Talmadge's Kiki, Naughty Nanette stars Viola Dana as Nanette Pearson, a movie extra with big ambitions. During her climb to success, Nanette allows herself to be the "good friend" of several wealthy sugar daddies, but she remains her old down-to-earth self. Our heroine shows she's a good kid when she befriends disinherited socialite Lucy Dennison (Helen Foster) and reunites the girl with her crusty grandfather (Sidney De Gray). One of the best of the "forgotten" stars of the silent era, Viola Dana remained as sharp as a tack well into her eighties, providing many a film historian with vital inside information about Hollywood's Golden Years. One suspects she had as much fun making such trivialities as Naughty Nanette as the audience had watching them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This inexpensive "outdoor" actioner is set in a logging camp, where the crooked supervisor busies himself by stealing lumber from the owner. The villain manages to escape detection, principally because he's engaged to the owner's daughter. A handsome young logger gets wind of the supervisor's scheme, whereupon he and the heroine are marooned in the middle of a raging forest fire. The hero rescues the heroine, losing his eyesight in the process but winning her hand in marriage. Tired of waiting on her incapacitated husband hand-and-foot, the girl begins keeping time with the villain, never suspecting that it was he who set off the forest fire in the first place. But the hero regains his vision in time to take care of the bad guy once and for all. Top-billed in Forest Havoc is one Forrest Stanley, cast in the role of "Ronald McDonald" (no kidding!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Blaze Derringer, a 1910 novel by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr., this low-budget silent melodrama starred George Walsh in the aftermath of Metro's Ben Hur, in which he had been summarily replaced by newcomer Ramon Novarro. Toiling now for poverty row company Chadwick, Walsh played Blaze Derringer, the wastrel son of a cattle king sent out into the world with the strict order not to return until he has earned $5,000. Derringer hooks up with a couple of hobos, becomes a prize fighter, and falls for the exiled Princess Alicia of Bargonia (Wanda Hawley). Returning with the princess to her Balkan homeland, Blaze helps overthrow a usurper (Frank Leigh), winning both a wife, the princess, and a throne in the process. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

South African-born leading man Bruce Gordon stars in this pedestrian silent western about a marshal going undercover as a bandit in order to flush out the leader of a notorious gang of crooks smuggling diamonds across the Mexican border. The marshal almost gives up the masquerade when he falls for a lovely Mexican senorita (1924 WAMPAS Baby Star Carmelita Geraghty), the daughter of an intended victim (Harry Lonsdale), who, quite reasonably, hesitates to get involved with a common thief. This movie was released two years after Lonsdale's death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Sledge (Dustin Farnum) is the political boss of a small town. While he is working to establish a new street car line, he falls in love with Molly Marley (Patsy Ruth Miller), the daughter of the owner of the existing line (Sidney deGrey). Because of his love for the girl, he doesn't ruin Marley's business, which was his original intention. The tough politico finds he has romantic opposition in Bert Gilder (George Webb). Although Molly is impressed with Sledge's power and forceful personality, she thinks he is crude and decides to marry Gilder. Sledge kidnaps her in an attempt to stop her, but he decides to let her go. Molly discovers, however, that Gilder is a no-good scoundrel, and she realizes that Sledge is the man she should marry. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This satirical comedy-drama was C. Gardner Sullivan's first producing effort. To insure its success, he hired a veteran writer to pen the story and screenplay -- himself. When Donald Dillingham (Cullen Landis) weds Ardell Kendall, a chorus girl (Lillian Rich), his snobbish and wealthy parents disown him. When famed sculptor Gustaf Borgstrom (Jean Hersholt) chooses Ardell as a model, Donald's parents decide to make amends. They invite the couple and Borgstrom to their estate. One of the other guests is Maybelle Westcott (Bessie Eyton), who has her eye on Donald. She manages to catch his attention, and Ardell wheedles money out of his father (who has his own infatuation with a chorus girl) so that she can buy Maybelle off. When Maybelle doesn't keep her end of the bargain, Ardell exposes her in front of the other guests. This causes an argument between her and Donald, and she angrily goes home. Donald is already there with apologies and the couple reconciles. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Gladys Walton plays an inept newspaper reporter in this mediocre farce comedy. Leslie Adams (Walton) is secretary to the city editor of a newspaper, but she longs to write. She begs her boss for a chance, so he sends her out to cover a crowd of society people who throw wild parties. Her assignment takes her to the home of an author who goes by a nom de plume. Unfortunately, in her attempt to be creative, Leslie gets all her facts wrong. She has the writer (Robert Ellis) pegged as the man who is having an affair with the married Blanche Cartwright (Dolores Revier). The result is a libel suit against the paper. The furious city editor threatens to fire Leslie unless she can prove her story is true. Her attempts end up in the usual farcical fare -- various people in pajamas making quick entrances and exits, with general mayhem ensuing. Leslie fails at her mission, but it doesn't matter since she ends up winning the writer. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This Universal Studios programmer features Roy Stewart as a Spanish nobleman with the unlikely name Don Jose O'Neil. O'Neil, the latest in a long line of Dons, owns valuable land out West. Easterner Peter Collier (Wilfred North) wants a strip of O'Neil's land because it is rich with oil, but O'Neil refuses to sell. So Collier sends his daughter Frances (Margaret Landis) to try to convince the Don. She goes to work on him and sure enough, he soon falls in love with her. Teresa, the foreman's daughter (Marie Wells), becomes jealous of Frances, and when she discovers Collier's plot, is more than happy to tell O'Neil about it. But Frances has come to love O'Neil and has renounced her father's scheme. O'Neil doesn't know this, however, and when the plot is exposed, he angrily threatens to brand her. Her father stops him, but Frances, to prove her love, brands herself. O'Neil realizes that she is sincere, and they marry. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Johnston MacCulley's 1913 adventure yarn The Curse of Capistrano was given its first filmization in Douglas Fairbanks' 1920 The Mark of Zorro. Fairbanks plays the outwardly foppish Don Diego de la Vega, the son of wealthy Spanish Californian rancher. In reality, Don Diego is the dashed masked-and-caped Zorro, who wages a one-man war to rescue his fellow citizens from the tyranny Captain Juan Ramon (Robert McKim). The lovely Lolita (Marguerite de la Motte) despises the namby-pamby Don Diego, but loves the devil-may-care Zorro, never dreaming (until the end, of course) that the two men are one. In turn, Lolita is loved by Captain Ramon, who is as ruthless in his domestic dealings as he is in his political weight-throwing. Noah Beery Sr. plays Sgt. Garcia, a buffoonish minion of Ramon's who eventually casts his lot with Zorro--after being bested time and again by the hero's swordplay. Best scene: Zorro insouciantly challenging Ramon's soldiers to capture him while he wines and dines at a local cantina. At the time he made Mark of Zorro, Fairbanks was best known for his peppy contemporary comedies. He hoped that Zorro would be an interesting temporary change of pace for him, never dreaming that the film's popularity would lock him into the swashbuckling mode for the rest of the silent career. In 1925, Fairbanks starred in a sequel, Don Q, Son of Zorro; the original film has, of course, been remade many times since 1920. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a school teacher moves from his home in the country to a small town. He attends a party and becomes a hit when he suggests the partygoers stage a mock wedding with the loveliest girl in town. Much to his surprise, they are married by a bona fide reverend and the marriage is real. Later the town crook tries to make moves upon the beauteous bride and she begs her "husband" not to anull their union. As a result, the spurned bad guy decides to destroy the bank of the young wife's father. Lucky for her, the former school teacher has just sold his big novel. He uses his advance money to save her and then marry her for real. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide