Robert Elliott Movies

Produced by Poverty Row regular Morris R. Schlank, this silent domestic drama featured Dorothy Dwan as Joyce Kennedy, an inveterate gambler charged with killing a card sharp. As the girl's husband (Gaston Glass) discovers, the gambler was actually murdered by a jilted girlfriend who is made to confess on the witness stand. The murderess was played by Alice Lake, a former Mack Sennett bathing beauty now down on her luck, career-wise. The wife of star comedian Larry Semon, brunette Dorothy Dwan is perhaps best remembered as Dorothy in her husband's odd version of The Wizard of Oz (1925). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Contrary to popular belief, no one speaks into microphones hidden in vases in this, the first 100% "all-talking" feature film, although an oversized telephone prop is rather conveniently placed near the actors in one long sequence. Although not nearly as crude as its tattered reputation, Lights of New York is far from thrilling, however. Not so much due to the later so maligned sound-on-disc Vitaphone system, but mainly because this was really a quickie B-Movie helmed by a first time director, Bryan Foy, who seems to have been little more than an inefficient traffic cop. Not that there is all that much traffic in this stage-bound melodrama about Eddie (Cullen Landis), a young kid from Upstate New York conned into fronting for a speakeasy on Broadway. There is the inevitable chorus-girl with a heart of gold (top-billed Helene Costello), the downtrodden floozy (Gladys Brockwell), and a cop-killing gangster boss, Hawk Miller (Wheeler Oakman), whom screenwriters Hugh Herbert and Murray Roth furnished with the film's one memorable line. With the cops closing in on him, Hawk needs a patsy. Planting contraband in poor Eddie's shop, the gang leader then instructs his henchmen to "take. . .him. . .for. . .a. . .ride!" Oakman speaks this much parodied line slowly and in a stentorian manner, lest the audience should fail to understand the grave implications. But Eddie escapes his "ride," and there is a final confrontation. Just as all hope seems lost, Hawk is killed by persons unknown. The murder weapon, however, belongs to the chorus girl and she is about to be arrested by no-nonsense Detective Crosby (Robert Elliott), when the real murderer -- the downtrodden floozy -- gives herself up. The performances in this historic talking picture run the gamut from inept (Costello, Landis) to over-the-top (Brockwell) to adequate (Oakman, comic sidekick Eugene Palette). Perhaps due to the newness of it all, the actors keep flubbing their line -- the poor Miss Costello being the worst offender, with Tom Dugan, a veteran supporting player, a close second. Why Warner Bros. should have chosen this pedestrian gangster melodrama as the first full-length talking picture remains a mystery. The best explanation is that the studio was merely testing the waters. Rather than a prestige project like the previous year's groundbreaking part-talkie The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York was produced for a paltry $23,000 and released not on a reserved-seat basis but in a mere grind house. But to everyone's surprise, the film went on to gross over a million dollars in its first run, proving once and for all that talkies had come to stay. Today, Lights of New York remains a museum piece but despite its tattered reputation, the gangster melodrama is really no worse than the majority of low-budget early talkies. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Serial star Pearl White was near the end of her misguided attempt to become a serious actress when she made this commonplace drama. John Miles (Robert Elliot) is a self-made millionaire who doesn't fit in with society because he lacks a pedigree. This matters not one bit to Ruth Hamilton (White), who lives in the mansion next door. Her father, Warren Hamilton (Charles MacKay), however, does care very much, and he thoroughly disapproves of the young people's friendship. When he won't allow Ruth to invite Miles to her masquerade ball, she sneaks over to his home to show off her costume. Her secret visit has been observed by a jealous suitor, Bill Barton (Macey Harlam), who blabs to her father. It turns out that old money or no, Hamilton is about to go into bankruptcy, and Miles is the one who bails him out. When snobby old pa realizes that Miles is a good egg after all, he allows him to marry Ruth. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This tense Northwoods mystery originated (as did many other novels about the Canadian wilds) from the pen of James Oliver Curwood. Jeanne Marat (Zena Keefe) has a secret which keeps her from marrying her sweetheart, Bruce Cameron of the Royal Mounted Police (Robert Elliott). After she sends him away, things become clearer -- her father, Jacques Beauvais (Roy Gordon), mysteriously disappeared when she and her brother, Pierre (Jack Hopkins) were young children. After he vanished, the trading post's agent attacked their mother, who committed suicide rather than give in to him. The two orphans were raised by Indian Joe (Jack Drumier), and Pierre swore to track down the factor -- known, 20 years later, as Inspector Brandt (J. Barney Sherry) -- and get vengeance. Brandt, whose health is failing, is shot while confessing his crime to a priest, and Jeanne is accused. Cameron finds himself pursuing her and her brother, and when it looks like they won't be able to get away, Pierre claims he is the murderer. But he didn't do it, either -- Indian Joe confesses he did it so that neither Jeanne nor Pierre would be duty bound to kill Brandt. Cameron and Jeanne are free to be together at last. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

What was actress Pearl White thinking when she decided to portray a female Tarzan? The resulting picture was one of the more curious features of 1921. After the death of her missionary parents, Gratia Latham (White) grows up in the jungle with lions, monkeys and some random cannibals as her pals. But when her millionaire uncle dies, Gratia becomes an heiress, so a boat comes to fetch her. On board is the uncle's secretary, Bernard Holt (Alan Edwards), who wants to marry her so he can have her money. But one of the other members of the search party, Bob Alan (Robert Elliott), falls in love with the wild woman after she knocks him off a cliff for taking a pot shot at her lions. Gratia is eventually removed from her jungle home and taken to her uncle's home to be "civilized." This is not easy -- when given her first-ever gown, she puts it on upside down. Holt continues to woo Gratia, but for his efforts he gets beaten up -- by her. Finally Gratia becomes a relatively refined young lady and weds Alan. There was some question as to whether this feature was an adventure, a comedy, or both. Whichever, Miss White certainly has fun with her role. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this corny and unrealistic World War I drama, Doris Parker (Dolores Cassinelli) "adopts" Harry Townsend (E.K. Lincoln), a fighting soldier who has no family or friends. They write to each other, but he sends her a photograph of his friend, since he doesn't have a picture of himself. Harry is severely wounded, and Doris begs an admirer, Naval Captain Jack Tims (Robert Elliott), to sneak her on his ship and take her to France. Risking court martial, he agrees, but he is killed when the ship is attacked by an enemy sub. He is buried at sea (another inaccuracy). In France, Doris hurries to Harry's bedside, and since his face is bandaged, she doesn't know his isn't the face in the photograph. She nurses him back to health, and when the bandages finally come off, it doesn't matter to her that he's not the man in the picture -- it was his letters that made her love him. Harry returns to the U.S. and is given an honorable discharge, after which he and Doris marry and the war comes to an end. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This Henry M. Blossom melodrama had a long success on the stage before it was made into an action-packed, serial-like picture by Fox. When Pert Barlow (Jean Acker) was born, her father Judge Barlow (Bertram Marburgh) promised his best friend that she would marry his son, Arthur Kendall (Robert Elliott). But his plan goes awry when, as a young woman, Pert meets Checkers (Thomas J. Carrigan). To save her father from financial ruin, Checkers encourages Pert to enter her horse, Remorse, in a big race. The horse turns out to be incredibly fast, and Arthur, who has entered a horse of his own, is determined to keep Remorse out of the running. First Pert has to escape from her father's house, then she, Checkers, and Remorse wind up in a burning freight car. After narrowly escaping, Pert is imprisoned in the house of a wealthy Chinese man. Finally she and Remorse both make it to the race track, where she rides the horse to victory. Because of Checkers' help in saving the family fortune, Judge Barlow finally gives him his consent to marry Pert. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Enterprising Chinese-born actress Lady Tsen Mei co-founded the Betzwood Production Company in Philadelphia. As her first film for the new studio, she touched on a popular subject -- the current World War -- and put an Oriental spin on it. Princess Tsu (Mei) discovers that her uncle the Viceroy (Lai Mon Kim) is in league with the Germans, who want to put together a Chinese army to support Germany in Russia. She goes to the Americans with this information and Robert Kenyon (Robert Elliott) is given charge of the matter. Princess Tsu falls in love with Kenyon but discovers, much to her ire, that he already has a fiancée back home in the States. She is so furious that she is ready to go to the Germans and spoil all the Americans' hard work. But her conscience gets the better of her and instead she directs her efforts to vanquishing the Germans and making sure that the East is free of their evil influence. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Dwight Tilton's novel Miss Petticoats was visualized on-screen by director Harley Knoles, a British expatriate briefly working at World's New Jersey studios. Alice Brady played the titular heroine, whose real name is Agatha. The film's storyline accommodated a rich variety of contrasting types, ranging from a wealthy matriarch, to a capricious minister, to a humble mill worker, to a salty sailor. "Miss Petticoats" takes her sweet time but eventually chooses the "right" man from a crowd of candidates. Reportedly, the film was an improvement over the stage version of Tilton's novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide