Robert Dudley Movies

Celeste, a young Belgian countess (Marguerite Clark) has run off to America to avoid being married off to a German prince (Raymond Bloomer). While escaping from her villainous Uncle (E.J. Radcliffe), who wants to see the marriage consummated, she winds up in Tennessee and is protected by a Southern landowner, Robert Lawrence (Thomas Meighan). The house where Celeste goes to hide is struck by lightning and is destroyed. Luckily, she was not there at the time, but Robert takes the uncle to the ruins, shows him a few burned scraps of a dress and convinces him that his niece is dead. With that, he leaves. Robert and Celeste realize finally that they were meant for each other and are married. This picture was originally a novel by Maria Thompson Davies. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Vitagraph shot this melodrama, based on the stage play by Ramsay Norris, once before, in 1916. The newer version seemed to belong to the earlier decade, and ironically, its star was Colleen Moore, who would wind up making a name for herself by becoming the 1920s ultra-modern, quintessential flapper. Phil Bradbury (Warner Baxter) is engaged to marry society girl Kate Van Dyck (Gertrude Astor). But while he is away, Kate falls in love with Mark Leveridge (Lloyd Whitlock). There is a murder in Kate's home, and Bradbury becomes a suspect, so he runs far away to the town of Marlow. Under the assumed name of Tom Silverton, he falls in love with the town belle, Ruth Blake (Moore). Kate and Leveridge show up in Marlow and recognize him. Silverton is now also suspected of robbery and Ruth is ostracized because she tries to shield him. Silverton prepares to leave town, but a raging forest fire breaks out. It is only through Silverton's heroics that the town is saved. He is exonerated of the crimes he was thought to have committed, so he is able to settle down with Ruth. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Hefty comedian Walter Hiers stars in this tepid comedy. Jimmy Kirk (Hiers) is a soda jerk in love with Mamie Smith (Jacqueline Logan), the daughter of a banker (Charles Ogle). In spite of his lowly position, Jimmy has aspirations and leases a four-foot plot in hopes of building a store. Although his plan comes to naught, he does manage to save up enough money to rent a flivver at 60 cents an hour. When Smith's bank is robbed, Jimmy is accused of being the perpetrator. Even though he didn't do it, the car he rented was used and he finds the money concealed within. He captures the robbers, which entitles him to the reward -- only Smith won't give it to him since some of the bank's money flew out of the car during the pursuit. But Jimmy gets back at him by proving that the bank has encroached on his four-foot space, and he is entitled to a settlement. He also wins the lovely Mamie. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This drama was an early starring vehicle for fledgling star (Eleanor Boardman), and it was given a haunting directoral approach by Tod Browning, who hadn't yet devoted himself completely to horror films. After the death of philanthropist Blank Hendricks (Winter Hall), Jane Maynard (Boardman) devotes her life to his institution, which helps the needy with the philosophy, "Thy neighbor as thyself." John Anstell (Wallace MacDonald), whose father, Michael (Tyrone Power Sr.), is a formidable financial force, falls in love with Jane. Michael, who does not approve of the relationship, tries to ruin the Foundation by discrediting it in the press, and when that doesn't work, he attempts to use his financial power to destroy it. The many who have been helped by the Foundation retaliate by killing John. The grieving Anstell comes to realize that Jane really is doing good work and he reforms. Jane, meanwhile, finds happiness with Tom Barnett (Raymond Griffith). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This formulaic drama didn't miss a cliché -- there was the small-town boy with big dreams (Kenneth Harlan), his old mother (Mary Carr), the pretty daughter (Madge Bellamy) of the wicked financier (Edwards Davis), and the villainous attorney who's really causing all the trouble (John Miljan). Put all these characters together, and the plot falls right in line -- Lafayette Jordan (Davis) wants to build a water power project in the Ashaluna valley, but property belonging to Judson Forrest (Harlan) and his mother (Carr) stands in the way. Forrest has fallen in love with Jordan's daughter, Mary (Bellamy), without realizing who she is. Henry Mogridge, Jordan's attorney (Miljan), is jealous because he wants Mary himself, so he goes about trying to ruin Forrest. Judson is an aspiring inventor and he mortgages his property in order to fund one of his creations. With the help of the village banker, Mogridge buys the mortgage and proceeds to foreclose. Forrest thinks Mary is part of the scheme, but he and his pals manage to pay off the mortgage just in the nick of time (which happens to be "on the stroke of three"). Forrest discovers that Mary had nothing to do with the plot and that Jordan had no idea of Mogridge's machinations. The motion picture was adapted from the novel The Man From Ashaluna by Henry Payson Dowst. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Harold Lloyd plays a wealthy young spendthrift who is upset that his name is being used to bring parishioners into a storefront mission in the poorer part of town. He heads to the mission to have it out with the minister, only to fall in love with minister's daughter Jobyna Ralston. Realizing that the use of his name as an endorsement was an honest error on Ralston's part, Harold decides to help the girl's father attract worshippers and hymn-shouters. He goads a bunch of thugs and pluguglies into the mission, then makes certain that they stay--and secures their undying loyalty--by saving them from being arrested. Harold and Jobyna decide to get married, whereupon Harold's wealthy chums, dismayed that he is marrying beneath his station, kidnap the poor fellow to prevent him from making a "mistake". Harold is rescued by his tough-guy slum pals, but not before they've gotten themselves drunk and commandeered a double-decker bus. The climactic chase is as hilarious and exciting a piece of celluloid as has ever been produced, but it is merely the capper to an uninterrupted stream of brilliant sight gags. Long underrated, For Heaven's Sake is one of the cleverest and most consistently entertaining of all of Harold Lloyd's silent vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Cruze was the producer-director of The Night Flyer, while Cecil B. DeMille served in an executive-producer capacity. DeMille contractee William Boyd stars as Jimmy Bradley, a two-fisted locomotive fireman. Jimmy is engaged to Kate Murphy (Jobyna Ralston), but she breaks it off when our hero gets plastered at his bachelor party. Kate gravitates to Bat Mullins (Philo McCullough), a mail train engineer and Jimmy's longtime rival. When Mullins' engine suffers a breakdown, Jimmy forgets his differences with the man and gets the mail through. In so doing, he lands an important government contract and simultaneously redeems himself in Kate's eyes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A primitive early talkie from Pathé, this crime drama starred relative newcomers Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard, the latter still spelling her first name Carol. They play husband and wife, she threatening divorce unless he devotes more of his time to their marriage. In reality, Armstrong is an undercover detective busy investigating a dope ring lead by Reno (Sam Hardy), a crook with friends in high places. When Armstrong gets too close to the truth, Reno has him framed in the murder of corrupt newspaper publisher Addison (Charles Sellon). A Dictaphone recording Addison was making when he was murdered ultimately exonerates Banks, who can now return to his forgiving wife. Both Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard would see their careers soar in the 1930s, he as the nominal star of King Kong (1933), she as one of Hollywood's best light comediennes. In fact, director Gregory La Cava and Lombard would collaborate again on My Man Godfrey (1936), one of the era's best screwball comedies and a far cry from the pedestrian Big News. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly based on an "original story" by Arthur Hoerl, Shanghai Rose would seem to have been derived from the then-popular courtroom drama The Trial of Mary Dugan. Dignified Irene Rich is sorely miscast as the title character, the proprietress of a gin mill which doubles as a bordello. A murder occurs, and Rich is put on trial for her life. A series of flashbacks "reconstruct" the crime from several different points of view -- and as the story progresses, it becomes less and less obvious that Rich is the guilty party. Written off as "distasteful" by the film critics of the period, Shanghai Rose was hardly a landmark of the silent cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This ironic little British character study stars Stuart Rome as a "most likely to succeed" type. Rome has been invited to give a speech to his old classmates about self-sufficiency and optimism in the face of worldwide depression. Unfortunately, to finance his trip to London, the impoverished Rome must hock everything he owns. The hero's regaining of his own self-respect is the core of this understated drama. Reunion wasn't seen in the US until the early 1950s, when hungry-for-product TV stations were running every British picture they could get their hands on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clearly inspired by the success of Goldwyn's Barbary Coast, Warner Bros.' The Frisco Kid stars James Cagney as turn-of-the-century opportunist Bat Morgan. Heading to the gold fields of California, Bat is almost shanghaied in San Francisco but manages not only to escape his would-be captors but also to kill the infamous crime lord Shanghai Duck (Fred Kohler Sr.). The grateful citizens enable Bat to rise to wealth and power on the Barbary Coast. But he's less lucky in love, and it is his seemingly hopeless fascination with Nob Hill debutante Jean Barrat (Margaret Lindsay) that may well bring about Bat's downfall. The film is a festival of cliches, occasionally enlivened by barroom brawls and rowdy musical numbers. Featured as extras in Frisco Kid were several stars and directors of the silent era, a "generous" gesture made by Warner Bros. partly to stave off the inevitability of unionized actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eight year old Paddy O'Day (Jane Withers) arrives at Ellis Island after a long sea voyage from Ireland, to be with her mother. But her mother is nowhere to be found when the ship docks, and the authorities are notified that Mrs. O'Day has died, only a few days ago -- the little girl will have to be sent back. Paddy has only been told that her mother is ill, and manages to sneak out off the island. After encountering a group of street urchins who try to make trouble for her -- and proving that she's got what it takes to take care of herself -- she makes her way to the large mansion on Long Island where her mother works, and learns the truth. The home is owned by Roy Ford (Pinky Tomlin), a studious upper-class bird fancier who has been browbeaten into life as an eccentric collector of stuffed birds by his two overbearing aunts (Vera Lewis, Louise Carter) -- their intention is to notify the authorities if Paddy shows up. But the servants, led by kindly maid Jane Darwell and initially unwilling butler Russell Simpson, decide to hide the child in the house while the aunts are away. Paddy chances to meet Roy, who takes a liking to her and decides to try and help her as well -- and when Paddy's very pretty shipboard friend Tamara Petrovich (Rita Cansino) shows up, along with her restauranteur cousin Mischa (George Givot), he starts to really come out of his shell. Mischa and Tamara will hide the little girl, and Mischa -- with help from a beverage new to Roy, called vodka -- convinces the young millionaire that there is a future in investing in his establishment. Roy likes the loosening up effect that vodka has on him, and also likes even more being around Tamara, and he soon becomes a new man -- not only a partner in the business, but a performer in the stage show that Mischa works up for his now-expanded restaurant/night club, which includes Paddy along with Tamara. But Roy's aunts have returned home, and are as appalled by their nephew's new, joyful approach to life as they are by his apparent infatuation with an immigrant girl and her family. They hire an investigator (Clarence H. Wilson) to try to prove that Roy is mentally incompetent, and he soon discovers that the little Irish waif working in the act is in the United States illegally, a fact that, once reported to the authorities, will get not only get Paddy deported by Tamara as well. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Allegedly based on two factual works, Bouck White's The Book of Daniel Drew and Matthew Josephson's The Robber Barons, RKO's The Toast of New York is a largely fanciful account of the career of 1870s financier "Jubilee Jim" Fisk. As played by Edward Arnold in his usual "tycoon" mode, Fisk was a likable scoundrel who finagled his way into the upper rungs of Wall Street as much for fun as for profit. The film conveniently ignores Fisk's involvement with the infamous Tweed Ring, and skims over his complicity in 1869's "Black Friday," one of the most disastrous events in American economic history. We are also offered a sanitized version of Fisk's notorious mistress Josie Mansfield, who as played by Frances Farmer is an apple-cheeked lass who regards Fisk only as a loyal friend. Cary Grant is along for the ride as "Nick Boyd," a thinly disguised version of Fisk's actual partner in crime Ned Stokes. Too costly to post a profit, Toast of New York is nonetheless fine non-think entertainment, kept alive by a superb supporting cast ranging from Donald Meek as Daniel Drew and Clarence Kolb as Cornelius Vanderbilt to such bit players as Laurel & Hardy perennial James Finlayson, who plays the inventor of a self-tipping hat! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide