Dolores Del Rio Movies

From the minute it opened on Broadway in 1924, Laurence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson's gritty WWI comedy-drama What Price Glory? was a center of controversy. Prudes and blue-noses condemned the play for its explicit language, while a group of politicians tried to bring about a federal action to halt its production because of its "disrespectful" treatment of military officers and traditions. Naturally, any play that engendered that sort of reaction had to be a hit. Two years after its stage debut, the play was adapted for the screen, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe as those eternally boozing and brawling U.S. Marines, Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt. After a prologue in the Orient, in which Flagg and Quirt duke it out over the affections of the saucy Shanghai Mabel (Phyllis Haver), the scene shifts to France in 1918, with the two male protagonists continuing their private war as all hell breaks loose around them. When they aren't blowing the brains out of the Germans, Flagg and Quirt are vying for the attentions of coquettish French girl Charmaine (Dolores Del Rio). The film alternates effectively between low comedy and grim melodrama throughout most of its running time, reaching a dramatic high point when mamma's-boy Private Lewisohn (Barry Norton), fatally wounded, screams "Stop the blood! Stop the blood!" When the smoke clears, Flagg and Quirt both decide to go AWOL for the sake of Charmaine, but when duty calls, the two friendly enemies march shoulder to shoulder towards new adventures. The battle scenes in What Price Glory? were terrifyingly realistic -- indeed, one man was actually killed during filming -- but the most memorable aspect of the picture is the ribald byplay between Flagg and Quirt (who would later be launched into a series of so-called sequels). This being a silent picture, actors McLaglen and Lowe were permitted to mouth any obscenity that came into their heads, allowing audiences in 1926 the spectacle of seeing two grown men hurling epithets that would never have been heard in any sort of polite society -- all the while strictly adhering to the rules set down by the Hollywood censors, who objected only to printed profanities. What Price Glory was unsuccessfully remade in 1952 by John Ford, who directed one scene of the original 1926 version; Barry Norton, who played Lewisohn in the original, appeared in the remake as a priest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama was a hint that perhaps the Jazz Age was beginning to wind down; its characters overcome their wild, wicked ways early in the film. Of course, there is still enough revelry to titillate 1926 audiences. As Julian Perryam, the likable but bland Lloyd Hughes is outclassed by his co-stars. Perryam is going through a round of bad luck; he is thrown out of school and loses at love. In search of a change, he heads for London, where he meets Audrey Nye (Mary Astor), a former jazz baby who has gotten a responsible job on a newspaper. She helps Perryam get hired as a reporter. Victor Buckland (Edwards Davis) has been leading on Perryam's sister, Janet (Rita Carewe, the daughter of director Edwin Carewe). Victor's father, Cyril (John T. Murray), meanwhile, is stealing from a charitable fund. Perryam is instrumental in exposing these deeds, and a mob dynamites Buckland's building. Victor flees, and Perryam weds Audrey. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Dolores Del Rio and director Raoul Walsh took on Prosper Mérimée with this sumptuous silent film produced by William Fox and originally tinted lavender. Del Rio was, of course, the gypsy cigar factory worker caught between two men: the bullfighter Escamillo (Victor McLaglen) and the soldier Don José (Don Alvarado). Following in the footsteps of Geraldine Farrar, Theda Bara, and Pola Negri, Del Rio was "apt to make these Carmens of the past appear relatively conservative," according to the New York Times. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Gateway of the Moon is set in Bolivia (with Southern California serving as a "stand-in"). Dolores Del Rio stars as Toni, the half-caste niece of corrupt railroad foreman George Gillespie (Anders Randolph). When British railroad inspector Arthur Wyatt (Walter Pidgeon) shows up in the region to institute some much-needed reforms, Gillespie sets about to either discredit or kill the "interloper." Wyatt is saved from destruction by Toni, who has fallen in love with him. Typical "never the twain shall meet" stuff, Gateway of the Moon was based on Upstream, a novel by Clifford Bax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mexican-born Dolores Del Rio is convincingly cast as a fiery Hungarian lass in Revenge. Yet another variation on The Taming of the Shrew, the film concentrates on the tempestuous relationship between whip-wielding Rascha (Del Rio), the daughter of a bear tamer, and virile Hussar officer Jorga (Leroy Mason). Kidnapping Rascha, Jorga demands that she become his wife -- and a docile, obedient one at that. The more Rascha protests against this set-up (and she puts up quite a fight!), the more Jorga falls in love with her. By film's end, Rascha is as sweet and subservient as any of her daddy's trained bears, but one still wonders how long this will last. A silent film, Revenge was released with a synchronized musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The strange and terrible things that the lust for gold can do to the soul comprise the message of this innovative, epic account of the Alaskan gold rush. Unlike Chaplin's version of the same era story, which combined hardship with comedy and culminated with a happy ending, Clarence Brown's film is disturbing. Though he follows the lives of many prospectors throughout the movie, one story receives extra attention. It is that of a gold miner who finally strikes it rich, suffers terribly to return to his true love and discovers that she has become a tawdry dance-hall girl working for a known murderer. Enraged, the prospector gets into a terrible battle that culminates in a tragic scene -- perhaps designed to make us realize how insignificant we are in the face of nature's ruthless grandeur. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues. The sailor kills his rival and ends up sentenced to Devil's Island. The only females allowed there are the wives of the guards, so, not wanting to be far from her beloved, the dancer marries the meanest guard in the prison. During a prison riot, the sailor proves his mettle and gets pardoned. The couple happily decide to return to the dancer's native Britain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dolores Del Rio plays Dolores in Girl of the Rio -- which, one supposes, makes perfect sense. The heroine is a cabaret dancer who attracts the eye of her boss, slick gambler Don Jose (Leo Carrillo). When Dolores falls for handsome gringo Johnny Powell (Norman Foster), Don Jose pulls a few strings to have the boy carted off to a faraway prison. Using a few tricks of her own, Dolores manages to secure Johnny's release, whereupon Don Jose, his back to the wall, "gracefully" bows out of her life. Adapted from the old Willard Mack play The Dove (previously filmed under that title in 1928), Girl of the Rio was remade in 1939 as The Girl and the Gambler, with Leo Carrillo reprising his role from the 1932 film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No boring historical pageant this, Warner Bros.' Madame DuBarry is a fast-paced, often hilarious romantic romp. Her Mexican accent held in check, the ravishingly beautiful Dolores Del Rio plays 18th-century French courtesan DuBarry like a 20th-century golddigger on the make. Brought to Versailles as the companion of courtier D'Aigullon (Victor Jory), former street waif DuBarry charms her way into the heart -- and boudoir -- of gouty King Louis XV (Reginald Owen). Many of the famous incidents in her character's life are given showcase treatment: When DuBarry's enemies steal her gown, she appears at her presentation at Versailles in a flimsy nightgown; and when she wants to take a sleighride in the middle of summer, King Louis "nationalizes" all the sugar in Paris as a substitute for snow. Upon Louis' death, the petulant new Queen Marie Antoinette (Anita Louise) banishes DuBarry from court, which our heroine takes in her usual stride, insouciantly chanting the roundelay "The King of France" as she walks out of the palace, with her head held high (and still -- at this point anyway -- firmly planted on her shoulders). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Per its title, this merry Warner Bros. musical was filmed on location in the resort community of Agua Caliente. Pat O'Brien plays magazine editor Larry MacArthur, whose scathingly negative review of tempestuous dancer La Espanita (Dolores Del Rio) has incurred the lady's considerable wrath. Through a fluke, MacArthur finds himself in Caliente, where he begins ardently pursuing the lovely Rita Gomez, not realizing -- at least at first -- that Rita and La Espanita are one in the same. Intending to humiliate MacArthur, Rita relents when she realizes she's fallen for him as well. Of the supporting players, only Edward Everett Horton is given any worthwhile material, and he makes the most of it. The Busby Berkeley dance numbers are okay, but the film's musical highlight is Wini Shaw's rendition of "The Lady in Red", followed by Judy Canova's semi-parody version of the same tune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Accused is a British melodrama starring American actor (and confirmed Anglophile) Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Somewhat incongruously cast as an Apache dancer, Fairbanks and his dance partner/wife Dolores Del Rio headline a Paris musical. Fairbanks becomes the unwilling target for the attentions of performer Florence Desmond (the famed British impressionist, here playing a hateful adventuress). Desmond is later murdered with the dagger used by Fairbanks and his wife in their act, and Dolores is accused of the crime. A florid court trial unmasks the real killer. Zoe Akins, a prominent playwright of the 1920s whose once-celebrated works seem somewhat childish today, was one of the scenarists of Accused. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A remake of Frank Capra's Submarine (1928), Devil's Playground is a snappy Columbia "B plus" picture starring Richard Dix and Chester Morris. Submarine officers Dorgan (Dix) and Mason (Morris) battle on land for the affections of dance-hall girl Carmen (Dolores del Rio). She marries Dorgan but makes a play for Mason when her husband is on duty. The romantic rivalry is forgotten when Dorgan must rescue
Mason and his crew from a sunken sub. Devil's Playground was one of Columbia's bigger moneymakers of 1937. Excerpts from the underwater scenes later found their way into the Three Stooges two-reeler Three Little Sew and Sews (1939). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide