Elliott Dexter Movies

Based on a novel by William J. Locke, Stella Maris is a remake of the 1918 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name. Patsy Ruth Miller takes over the Pickford role as Stella, a crippled girl who is raised like a hothouse orchid by her overprotective guardians. Also like Pickford, Miller essays a second role: Unity Blake, an ugly kitchen slavey who, in contrast to Stella, is mistreated and abused by everyone around her. The destinies of Stella and Unity intersect when the poor slavey murders a man to secure the future happiness of the wealthy cripple. In the original, Unity also financed the operation that restored Stella's ability to walk: in the remake, the operation is paid for by Stella's sweetheart John Risca (Elliot Dexter). Though the split-screen and double-exposure work is superb, this Stella Maris is otherwise inferior to the Pickford version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The drama opens with a prologue in which an innocent boy (Eddie Phillips) is sent to the electric chair and executed before the governor (Joseph Kilgour) can get through to save him. The actual story involves a contention by George Harrington (Elliott Dexter) that he can have an innocent man convicted for murder. His friend Harry Phillips (Robert Ellis) takes him up on the bet, and they choose Dan O'Connor, a recently reformed crook (George Hackathorne) as the innocent party. O'Connor agrees because the men offer to pay him and he needs the money to help his mother (Mary Carr) and marry his sweetheart, Delia Tate (Clara Bow). So Phillips leaves town and O'Connor is arrested when he tries to pawn some items with Phillips' monogram. He is convicted of murdering Phillips on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to die. In the meantime, Phillips has been killed -- Harrington murdered him in a fight over Mona Caldwell (Margaret Livingston). Mona convinces Harrington to deny any involvement in the bet, and it looks like O'Connor will be executed. Mona's guilty conscience forces her to reveal the truth, thus saving O'Connor's life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Novelist Richard Sones (Elliot Dexter) prefers his literary buddies while his wife, Margaret (Betty Compson), prefers a "fast set." Their differences widen even further when suave Ernest Steele (Adolphe Menjou) lends a sympathetic ear and romantic overtures to Margaret. Sones doesn't help the situation when he brings Mona, a prostitute (ZaSu Pitts), to one of Margaret's parties, insisting that she's a professional in a room of amateurs. Margaret decides to divorce Sones, which disturbs the urbane Steele, who did not plan on marrying her. He goes to Sones and gives him a few lessons on how to win back his wife. Sones follows Steele's advice and does just that. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A spectacular trains wreck -- courtesy of stock footage -- highlighted this otherwise pedestrian silent melodrama from low-budget producer Harry Asher. Mildred Harris, the first Mrs. Charles Chaplin, starred as a naive stenographer saved from the unwanted attention of her lecherous employer (Anders Randolf) by a young missionary (Elliott Dexter). The latter is soon falsely accused of an arson fire actually committed by Randolf but escapes prison due to the aforementioned train disaster. Assuming a new identity, the young fugitive obtains a position in Randolf's household where his "divine power" is eventually able to cure a crippled child (Jeanne Carpenter). Redeemed by this miracle, Randolf exonerates Dexter, who is free to begin a new life with Harris. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This comedy-melodrama, based on the novel by Rupert Hughes (who also directed), blends fiction and reality to tell the story of a young woman's rise in Hollywood; the film uses real stars and productions (even Charles Chaplin filming A Woman of Paris) as its backdrop. Eleanor Boardman plays Remember Steddon, better known as Mem. Mem is a small-town girl who marries slick bad guy Owen Scudder (Lew Cody); Owen insures his brides and then murders them for the money. After the wedding, Mem starts to have her doubts about him and runs away while their train is chugging through the desert. She happens on a film crew and gets work as an extra, later becoming a famous dramatic actress in Hollywood with the help of director Frank Claymore (Richard Dix). Scudder finally tracks her down during a shoot involving a circus tent; when a storm sets the tent on fire, Scudder loses his life saving Mem from a wind machine's propeller. Freed from her marriage, Mem is able to choose between Claymore and her leading man. Boardman, whose first starring role finds her surrounded by a long and impressive supporting cast, wound up at the Goldwyn studios through a "New Faces" contest. Her co-winner, future star William Haines, also had a bit part as the company's assistant director. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

John Craig and Mary Eileen Anderson are childhood sweethearts who grow up in a small town in this melodrama taken from the poem by James Whitcomb Riley. John becomes the owner of the local paper and dedicates himself to the public good. His childhood friend Stuff Shade (Lloyd Whitlock) promotes an oil-speculation scheme in the paper. Soon the townsfolk are pooling their money in hopes of getting rich on the oil reserves. John discovers the scheme is all a ruse and tries to warn the people that they are being swindled. After the perpetrators are exposed, a gusher comes in that makes people rich. Pat Moore and Elliot Dexter play John as child and grown-up respectively. Mary Jane Irving and Helen Jerome portray Mary Eileen, and Turner Savage is the young Stuff Shade. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

As naïve chorus girl, Sunny Duane (Elaine Hammerstein), finds herself in a load of trouble in this comedy-melodrama. She is befriended by the older, more experienced Jean Valjean (Kathlyn Williams) and meets society man Eugene Durant (Elliot Dexter). A wealthy playboy asks Sunny out to dinner, but he is found murdered later that night. Suspicion falls on Sunny, but she disappears after marrying Durant, who believes he is dying and wants to leave her his fortune. He survives, although he is left a helpless cripple. The police finally track Sunny down and are about to arrest her when an old sweetheart shows up and confesses to the crime. Durant discovers that he is able to walk again when the crisis inspires him to take action. Director Marshall Neilan must have had a little time on his hands when this picture was being made -- he shows up in a bit role as a driver. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Clara Kimball Young stars as a world-famous opera diva, while Elliot Dexter co-stars as her long-neglected husband. Fed up with his wife hogging the spotlight, Dexter files for divorce. This sets the stage for Young's elaborate and often hilariously underhanded campaign to win her husband back. Enter Madame would be remade in 1935 with Elissa Landi and Cary Grant in the leading roles. Both films were based on a story by Gilda Varesi and Dolly Byrne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Back in 1922, grand larceny meant theft of anything more than 50 dollars. In this tale of domestic turmoil, however, it refers to the theft of a wife's affections. John Annixter (Elliott Dexter), an attorney, knows all the legal ins and outs. Because he spends so much time on his work, he allows his friends to keep his wife Kathleen (Claire Windsor) company. But Kathleen is a pretty, flirtatious Southern belle and one man, Barry Clive (Lowell Sherman), takes her behavior personally. Kathleen is quick to set him straight, however, and he comes to her home to ask for forgiveness. Annixter walks in on the scene and misunderstands. He throws them both out of the house, and as they are leaving, implies that neither of them is capable of being faithful to the other. Because she doesn't know what else to do, Kathleen marries Clive after the divorce, but Annixter's words have made them permanently suspicious of one another. When the three meet up once again, Clive begs Annixter to take Kathleen off his hands. But Kathleen won't have either of them, and insists that she will go it alone. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

aka Forever George du Maurier's classic novel was made into a play by John Raphael which starred John and Lionel Barrymore. In their places, the film version had lesser lights Wallace Reid and Montagu Love playing Peter and his uncle, Colonel Ibbetson, respectively. Peter is an orphan raised by his uncle, but when Colonel Ibbetson insults his dead mother, Peter attacks him and is ordered from the house. Then the young man runs into his childhood sweetheart, Mimsi (Elsie Ferguson), and their romantic feelings are rekindled. Unfortunately, Mimsi has married, but they carry on a love affair in their dreams. Their dream-affair continues over the years, even after Peter kills his uncle and is given a life prison sentence. After their death, the lovers reunite in the astral world. This lyrical, highly romantic story was not exactly the kind of material that went over in the hinterlands, so to remove any literary pretensions, Paramount retitled the picture Forever for release out side of the New York area. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

During the late teens and early '20s, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille reveled in much cinematic pomp and circumstance, mixing epic past-life fantasies with James M. Barrie in Male and Female and blending high society with sex in the domestic scenarios of Don't Change Your Husband and Why Change Your Wife?. So when he tried for simplicity and a spiritual message with Something to Think About, it took quite a few people aback. Elliott Dexter plays David Markley, crippled but wealthy, who pays for the education of Ruth Anderson Gloria Swanson, daughter of the town blacksmith Theodore Roberts. When Ruth returns from school, Markley falls in love with her. She feels obliged to marry him but elopes instead with Jim Dirk Monte Blue. After Dirk is killed in an accident, Ruth comes home once again, but her angry and now-blind father denounces her. The altruistic Markley agrees to marry Ruth only for the benefit of the son she had by Dirk. But this marriage -- in name only -- turns into a real romance as Ruth and Markley fall in love. The bad feelings between them vanish and heal the crippled man. The intention behind Something to Think About was certainly well-meant, but at this point in DeMille's career words like "straightforward" and "uncomplicated" just weren't part of his vocabulary. Unfortunately that's just what this film needed to be, but instead it veered between sincerity and melodrama. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide