Booth Tarkington Movies

Almost an instant classic, Booth Tarkington's 1921 small-town morality tale reached the screen two years later courtesy of King Vidor and Encore Pictures. Vidor's wife, the beautiful Florence Vidor, played the title-role, a girl of modest means who pretends to be wealthy to her friends in general and socialite Arthur Russell (Vernon Steele) in particular. The highlight of the film -- and the book -- is the disastrous dinner party given in Arthur's honor. RKO remade the story in 1935 as a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn, with Fred MacMurray as Arthur and Evelyn Venable as the debutante Mildred Palmer, a role played in the 1924 original by Gertrude Astor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Before he became the king of bottom-barrel B pictures, director William Beaudine turned out several silent films of sensitivity and accomplishment. In Boy of Mine, Ben Alexander, a popular juvenile star who also appeared in Beaudine's Penrod and Sam, plays the son of wealthy, unfeeling banker Henry B. Walthall. Unable to meet the banker's impossibly stricts standards, Alexander and his mother leave home. The boy befriends kindly doctor Rockliffe Fellowes, who helps to humanize the intractable Walthall. Like Penrod and Sam, Boy of Mine was based on a story by Booth Tarkington. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By the Light of the Silvery Moon was a sequel to Warner Bros' On Moonlight Bay (1951); both films were loosely based on the "Penrod" stories by Booth Tarkington. Penrod himself (played by Billy Gray) takes a back seat to the main plot, concerning the hot-and-cold romance between Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. Gordon will not marry Doris until he is financially able to do so, which results in several breakups and reunions before the final clinch at the local ice rink. A silly subplot involves Penrod's suspicions that an attractive French schoolteacher (Maria Palmer) is not only romancing his father (Leon Ames), but is also an enemy spy! Set shortly after the end of World War I, Silvery Moon takes full advantage of that era's popular songs. The film isn't quite as good as On Moonlight Bay, but fans of Day and MacRae went home happy. Also: watch closely, and you'll spot Merv Griffin in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The director formerly known as Sean O'Feeney is billed as John Ford for the first time here, and he helps make this one of John Gilbert's best pre-MGM features. Cameo Kirby (John Gilbert), once a man of high social standing, has become a professional gambler and works the Mississippi riverboats of the 1800's. An old man (William E. Lawrence) is being cheated in a crooked card game, and Kirby gets involved in the play, with the intention of giving the man his money back. Unaware of Kirby's plans, the old man commits suicide. It turns out that Kirby's sweetheart (Gertrude Olmstead) is the man's daughter. But in spite of the tragedy, she comes to understand Kirby's altruistic motives. Based on a story by Booth Tarkington, the melodrama is offset by solid performances and an exciting paddle-wheeler river race (a bit of action that one would expect from John Ford). An 18-year-old Jean Arthur made her movie debut in this film as a bit player. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Wallace Reid plays against type in this comedy-drama, based on the play by Booth Tarkington. As a matter of fact, he does a fair imitation of Alfred Lunt, who played the title role on Broadway. He even parts his hair in the middle and wears horn-rimmed glasses, just as Lunt did. Clarence Smith (Reid) is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler (Edward Martindel) primarily because he has overheard a family argument. And the Wheeler household is going through quite a bit of turmoil -- Mrs. Wheeler (Kathlyn Williams) feels neglected by her husband and is jealous of Violet Pinney, the governess (Agnes Ayres). Daughter Cora (May McAvoy) is planning to elope with her father's secretary, Hubert Stem (Adolphe Menjou). Son Bobby (Robert Agnew), meanwhile, has been making passes at the maid. Clarence manages to solve the Wheelers' various problems -- he kidnaps Cora back from Stem, repairs everyone's hurts and ends up with Violet. Reid, incidentally, was directed by both DeMille brothers -- Cecil B. and William C. -- at one point or another during his career. Sadly, the star would be dead from drug abuse within six months of this picture's release. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Based loosely on a story by Booth Tarkington, the Warner Bros. B-picture Father's Son puts the talents of character actors John Litel and Frieda Inescourt to excellent use. The central character is Bill Emery (Billy Dawson), an obnoxious brat of a child whose misbehavior causes a rift between his father William (Litel) and mother Ruth (Inescourt). Hoping to bring his parents back together, Bill only makes matters worse by faking his own kidnapping. Through the intervention of kindly fish peddler Lunk Nelson (Christian Rub), the Emery family is happily reunited, but not before Bill is made the recipient of a bit of "child pscyhology" generously applied to his hindquarters. A very minor piece, Father's Son is kept afloat by the chemistry between Litel and Inescourt and a nonstop musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After several appearances as a "good girl," little Jane Withers returns to her patented screen brattiness in Gentle Julia. Based on a novel by Booth Tarkington, the film stars Withers as Florence Atwater, precocious kid-sister of flirtatious Julia Atwater (Marsha Hunt). After spending most of the film bedeviling Julia's hometown sweetheart Noble Dill (Tom Brown), Florence shows that she's really a good kid underneath it all by saving her sister from an unfortunate marriage to phoney-baloney city-slicker Mr. Crum (George Meeker). The film's comic high point is a fancy lawn party, which Florence sabotages by releasing a frightening array of bugs, mice and snakes. Gentle Julia represents Jane Withers' second co-starring appearance with her male counterpart, diminutive screen menace Jackie Searl (the two young actors, neither one of which were as nasty in real life as they could be on screen, got along splendidly). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Booth Tarkington, Geraldine stars winsome Marion Nixon in the title role. Though quite wealthy, sweet Geraldine Wygate lacks the social graces to win the heart of aristocratic Bell Cameron (Gaston Glass). The heroine's dad (Alexander Gran) spends a fortune sending the girl to charm school, and upon her graduation she is quite the poised fashion plate. In fact, now she's too good for the snooty Cameron, and she has fallen in love with her instructor, down-to-earth Eddie Able (Eddie Quillan). The 1953 Republic musical comedy Geraldine was not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy with musical numbers set in the Old South, Bing Crosby plays a singer (talk about a casting stretch!) from Philadelphia named Tom Grayson, who has fallen in love with Southern heiress Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick). Tom wants to marry Elvira, but a man called Major Patterson (John Miljan) has announced his desire to do the same, and he challenges Tom to a duel to decide who will have Elvira's hand. Tom is not at all agreeable to this idea, which leads Elvira's father (Claude Gillingwater) to proclaim Tom to be a coward and deny him permission to wed his daughter. Elvira's sister Lucy (Joan Bennett), who is infatuated with Tom, thinks that he's merely being sensible, but Tom thinks that Lucy is too young for a serious relationship. In need of work and not especially welcome in the Rumford's community, Tom takes a job performing on a riverboat piloted by the blustery Commodore Orlando Jackson (W.C. Fields). One night, Tom finds himself in a barroom brawl with a man named Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler), who dies accidentally from a shot fired by his own gun. Hoping that his infamy will draw crowds, Jackson begins billing Tom as "The Singing Killer." Tom comes to realize that Lucy may be the right woman for him after all, but Lucy is not interested in a man with blood on his hands, and now Tom must convince her that he's not a killer at all. Noted gambling aficionado Fields has a hilarious poker-playing bit, and he steals most of his scenes from the rest of the cast. Mississippi was loosely based on the play "Magnolia" by Booth Tarkington. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Monsieur Beaucaire, Booth Tarkington's novel about an 18th-century French barber who poses as a swashbuckling aristocrat, was the surprising source for this Grade-A Bob Hope comedy. While in the original novel the tonsorial hero pretended to be someone he wasn't by choice, in this 1946 film Hope is coerced into posturing as a nobleman on the threat of death. It's "out of the frying pan" time here, since Hope will be a target for execution the moment he weds a Spanish princess in place of genuine noble Patric Knowles. Bob's actions will prevent a war between Spain and France, but it's likely he won't be around to celebrate the Peace. Hiding his cowardice by cracking wise at every opportunity, Hope manages to save both the day and himself; he even rescues Joseph Schildkraut, the film's nominal villain, from the guillotine. The female contingent is represented by Joan Caulfield as Bob's covetous girl friend, Marjorie Reynolds as a princess, and Hillary Brooke as a haughty schemer (who is given her just desserts in an early slapstick set-piece). Woody Allen has long expressed his affection for Monsieur Beaucaire, an affection made doubly obvious in "homage" fashion by Allen's 1975 costume comedy Love and Death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After the master of sophisticated romantic comedy, Ernst Lubitsch, directed Jeanette MacDonald in the smash hit The Love Parade, they were reunited a year later for this similarly frothy romp. Countess Vera Von Conti (MacDonald) is engaged to marry the dull Prince Otto Von Seibenheim (Claud Allister), whom she doesn't love. At the 11th hour, Vera decides to skip the wedding and instead heads to Monte Carlo, where she visits the casinos and begins losing in a heroic fashion. A handsome stranger spies the beautiful Vera and asks to touch her hair for luck, but instead it's Vera's luck that dramatically improves as she wins back her fortune. Vera immediately offers the man a job as her combination valet and good luck charm, not knowing that he's actually the wealthy and powerful Count Rudolph Falliere (Jack Buchanan). The Count plays along, pretending to be a commoner as he uses his new position with Vera to learn how he can win her heart. As one might expect, MacDonald sings several songs (including "Beyond the Blue Horizon"), and also duets with British music star Jack Buchanan on "Whatever It Is, It's Grand" and "Always in All Ways." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Orson Welles wasn't the first one to bring The Magnificent Ambersons to the screen. Vitagraph produced Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel during the silent era and slapped on the very 1920s title Pampered Youth. The Ambersons are the wealthiest family of a small Midwestern town. Isabel (Alice Calhoun), the daughter of Major Amberson (Emmett King), loves Eugene Morgan (Allan Forrest), but he disgraces himself in a drunken spree and leaves town. So Isabel marries Wilbur Minfer (Wallace McDonald), even though she doesn't really love him. She lavishes all her affection on her son, George (Ben Alexander), who, as a result, grows up into a spoiled young man (Cullen Landis). George's careless extravagance uses up the Amberson fortune. After Minfer dies, Morgan, now a successful automobile manufacturer, returns and takes up with Isabel once again. George resents the relationship and believes that Morgan is beneath him, even though he loves his daughter, Lucy (Charlotte Merriam). When Major Amberson dies, George is forced to go to work, and he learns to respect his fellow man. Morgan, meanwhile, saves Isabel when her home catches fire, thus cementing their romance. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide