Georgia Hale Movies
Brunette Georgia Hale starred as the dancehall girl so idolized by Charles Chaplin in the seminal classic The Gold Rush (1925). Despite the exposure from this major hit, Hale's only other noteworthy film was The Salvation Hunters (1925), an interesting failure bankrolled by Chaplin and directed by Josef Von Sternberg. A former dancer, Hale was picked from the ranks of movie extras for her role in The Gold Rush and although she would only make 13 silent films in all, she remains one of the most visible actresses of the era. In 1929, Chaplin filmed tests of Hale as the blind girl in City Lights (released 1931), hoping to replace the inexperienced Virginia Cherrill. Too much footage had already been shot, however, and Chaplin ended up retaining Cherrill, much to the detriment of Hale's own career. She reportedly remained on Chaplin's payroll until 1953 but Hale's screen career had effectively ended with the low-budget silent The Floating College (1928). Surprisingly, she returned to star opposite Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1931 Mascot serial Lightning Warrior (reportedly replacing the difficult Edwina Booth); it proved the final film for both. Long out of public view, Georgia Hale remained devoted to Chaplin for the rest of her life, so much so that she never married. Her autobiography, Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups, was published posthumously in 1995. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1983
The Charlie Chaplin outtakes in this documentary that was first shown at the 1983 Venice film festival kept the audience at that time laughing -- and hoping that similar finds might be made in the future. In Part I, takes from the years 1916-17 are shown including variations on a theme in The Cure. In Part II, Chaplin and his guest Sir Harry Lauder (the famous vaudevillian) exchange costumes and identities as each mimic the other for a home-movie segment, there are also some interviews with Chaplin co-stars, and an alternate ending to the Gold Rush. In Part III, there are vignettes that were dropped from City Lights and Modern Times that -- judging from the hilarity they evoked at the 1983 opener -- merit their own showing any time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Cherrill, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1931
This western serial features the famous trained German Shepherd Rin-Tin-Tin. Rinty gets involved in an Indian uprising caused by a mysterious criminal known as the "Wolf Man" and a father and son who are under attack by outlaws trying to steal their gold mine. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1928
The "original" Harrison Ford and former Chaplin leading lady Georgia Hale are co-starred in Tiffany-Stahl's Woman Against the World. When a chorus girl is found murdered, girl reporter Carol Hill (Hale) takes it upon herself to solve the case. The police have arrested wealthy Schuyler Van Loan (Ford) and charged him with the murder, but Carol suspects that someone else was responsible. However, she can't prove it, and soon everyone in town -- including Van Loan's fiancee Bernice Claire (Gertrude Olmstead) -- has turned against the boy. As the date of Van Loan's execution approaches, Carol desperately tries to dredge up enough evidence to prove his innocence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1928
Ethnic comedies and melodramas were popular in the late 1920s, a fashion only heightened by the enormous popularity of the Broadway play Abie's Irish Rose. Even Universal cowboy Hoot Gibson went the route, playing an Irishman befriending an old Jewish peddler (William H. Strauss) and his daughter (Chaplin discovery Georgia Hale). Gibson is a rodeo performer who helps the peddler against a nefarious rival (Frank S. Hagney). Naturally, the story takes place out West. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1928
Georgia Hale, who scored a hit as Charlie Chaplin's vis-a-vis in The Gold Rush, heads the cast of Gypsy of the North. As in the Chaplin film, Hale is cast as a brassy Klondike dance-hall girl with a heart of gold. This time, she is pursued by such ardent swains as Steve Farrell (Huntley Gordon) and Chappie Evans (Jack Dougherty). Production values in Gypsy of the North are pretty shoddy, save for the well-photographed exteriors, evidently filmed in the snowier regions of Northern California. The film was put together by Rayart Productions, the precursor to Monogram Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georgia Hale, Huntly Gordon, (more)
- 1928
On a meager budget of $5000, European director Paul Fejos tried to crack the American film market with an experimental effort titled The Last Moment. With a cast of unknown volunteers, an inexperienced production staff, and several reels of donated film stock, Fejos came up with a visually stunning "subjective-time" drama focusing upon the final thoughts of a suicide victim (Otto Matiesen). Despite a 54-minute running time, this Freudian exercise never lagged or became repetitious -- and though the production values left a great deal to be desired, Fejos handled his subject matter with clarity and precision. Highly praised by such notables as Charlie Chaplin, The Last Moment at long last opened the professional doors that had previously been closed to the Hungarian expatriate director. This humble project enabled Paul Fejos to secure a contract with Universal Pictures, resulting in such well-received films as Lonesome(1928) and Broadway(1929). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Matiesen, Julius Molnar, Jr., (more)
- 1928
Two rich sisters become arch rivals when they fall in love with their swimming teacher in this silent adventure. The sneakier sister gets her sibling out of the way by sending her on a slow boat to China. Unfortunately, the handsome instructor was just hired to teach swimming on the same cruise. Desperately the conniving sister sneaks aboard. As soon as they arrive in China, she stuffs her good sister into a hotel closet, locks the door and leaves her there. She then does her best to make love to the instructor. Unfortunately, a Chinese revolution sudden erupts and the instructor, ignoring the bad sister, races back and gets there just in time to save the endangered girl. Marital bliss soon follows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, William Collier, Jr., (more)
- 1928
Universal star Hoot Gibson usually did better with sly humor than out-and-out sagebrush melodrama. In this comedy-western, based on the life of Henry Irving Dodge, the veteran performer kept his tongue firmly planted in his cheek as he goes up against a town run by such women as newly elected sheriff, Carrie Patience (Rosa Gore in a character obviously lampooning temperance movement leader Carrie A. Nation). Hoping to restore some masculinity to the sheriff's office, Gibson stages a series of fake hold-ups but is soon upstaged by a real crook (Joe Rickson, who kidnaps the hero's girlfriend (Georgia Hale of The Gold Rush fame). Veteran comics Heinie Conklin (in blackface, no less!) and George Ovey add their patented slapstick to the already raucous goings-on in this silent Western directed by action specialist B. Reeves Eason. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1927
After suffering a blow on the head, brilliant scientist Forrest Stanley totally loses his memory. Wandering into a travelling carnival, Stanley manages to land a job as a fast-talking spieler. In this capacity, he meets and falls in love with fellow "carnie" Georgia Hale. The future happiness of hero and heroine is threatened when a woman from Stanley's past shows up to take him away from his tawdry surroundings. The plot rambles from one scene to the next with nary a rhyme nor reason, not so much ending as stopping after 6 reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Stanley, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1927
Buck Jones stars as Buck Laramie, an itinerant cowpoke who wanders into a wide-open frontier town. Heroine Ellen Wade (Georgia Hale) has been unsuccessful in driving liquor and gambling out of the community, but with Buck's help she finally manages to make some headway. This does not rest well with the town mayor, who's secretly in cahoots with a bootlegging gang. When the sheriff is "mysteriously" killed, Buck takes the lawman's place, trailing the villains to their hideaway (which turns out to be a mine shaft owned by the unsuspecting Ellen) and beating them to a pulp. Hills of Peril represents one of the few appearances of Georgia Hale after she was discovered by Charlie Chaplin for The Gold Rush (1925). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1926
Although she made an unforgettable impression in Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush, Georgia Hale spent the rest of her short acting career appearing in undistinguished films. She has good company in this one, a Western -- her co-stars are Jack Holt and Warner Oland. Nancy Raynor (Hale) is arriving from the East to see her dying uncle. Clint Beasley (Oland) and his gang are determined to kidnap her before she reaches him. Milt Dale (Holt) finds out about the plot and derails it by kidnapping Nancy himself. But Nancy proves to be a tough character -- she wounds Dale with his own gun and has the sheriff (Tom Kennedy) arrest him. While he is on trial for the kidnapping, Nancy goes to the ranch and is furious to discover that her uncle has already died. She becomes easy prey for the attentions of Beasley, but soon enough she realizes that he has ulterior motives. He still manages to have her abducted and taken to his ranch. Dale wants to get out of jail to help her, so he has his pet cougar -- who has followed him to the jail -- attack the sheriff. While they are struggling, Dale is able to reach through the bars and take the sheriff's keys and gun. He locks the sheriff up and heads for the outlaws. He and Beasley wind up in a dual. Beasley is killed and Dale unites with Nancy who (not so surprisingly) has decided that she loves him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Accurately described as "a beautiful job" by novelist John O'Hara, this 1926 silent version of F. Scott's Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby stars Warner Baxter in the title role. Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby lacks only one thing in life: the love of the beautiful, impulsive Daisy Buchanan (Lois Wilson). Gatsby's carefully laid scheme to announce his intentions to take Daisy away from her cloddish husband Tom Buchanan (Hale Hamilton) goes horribly awry, setting the stage for the inexorable tragedies that follow. Georgia Hale, previously seen as Chaplin's vis-a-vis in The Gold Rush, is cast as Buchanan's pathetic low-life mistress Myrtle Wilson, while Neil Hamilton exudes dependability from every pore as Gatsby's loyal friend Nick Carraway. Among Fitzgerald adaptations, the 1926 Gatsby was actually filmed during the historical period it depicts (which wasn't historical at all back then). The property was remade in 1949 with Alan Ladd, then again in 1974 with Robert Redford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1926
Ever since he was wounded in WWI, jockey Bobby Robertson (William Collier Jr.) has been able to predict when it's going to rain. This turns out to be handy in the horse-racing business, with Bobby placing bets on horses he knows to be good "mudders." Out of love for pretty nurse Nell Wendell (Georgia Hale), Bobby decides to use his unique talents for humanitarian purposes in a town suffering from a drought. Our hero's redemption is complete when he falls to his knees and prays for rain, whereupon the heavens open and a downpour saves the community. The Rainmaker was adapted from Heavenbent, a story by Gerald Beaumont. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Collier, Jr., Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1925
This low-budget production -- Josef von Sternberg's first directoral effort -- earned praises from Charles Chaplin and was released by United Artists. (Chaplin also used the female lead, Georgia Hale, in The Gold Rush.) The Salvation Hunters was a highly unusual film for its era. Its moody cinematography, symbolism, and purposely ugly backgrounds just did not exist in other films (except for Erich von Stroheim's Greed). In spite of Chaplin's high praise, however, this wasn't a film that audiences of the 1920s found appealing, and nowadays, when von Sternberg's once innovative techniques have become integrated into modern filmmaking, it seems heavy-handed. The story focuses on a boy (George K. Arthur), who is a failure and a coward; a girl (Hale), who is used to the rough life on the riverfront; and a child (Bruce Guerin), whose parents have been killed by the dredge on which the girl lives. In order to "get away from the mud," the boy convinces the girl to take the child and accompany him to the city. There they meet up with the brute (Olaf Hytten), who offers them shelter only because he fancies the girl. The brute takes them out to the country, where he begins to abuse the boy, who finally drops his cowardice and overcomes him in a fight. The girl, who was disgusted by the boy's weakness, is now thrilled with his valor, and they look to the future with new hope. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George K. Arthur, Georgia Hale, (more)
He may be called "The Lone Prospector" in The Gold Rush, but the character played by Charlie Chaplin is the same wistful, resourceful Little Tramp that had been entertaining the world and its brother since 1914. A most unlikely participant in the 1898 Yukon gold rush, Charlie finds himself sharing a remote cabin with two much larger and more menacing-looking prospectors: Big Jim McKay (Mack Swain) and Black Larsen (Tom Murray). Big Jim isn't really a bad sort, but Larsen is a murderer and thief. When the food supply runs out, Larsen heads out in the snowy wastes to hunt, leaving Charlie to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for Big Jim, consisting of roasted shoe. The days pass: in a delirium, Big Jim imagines that Charlie is a huge chicken, and voraciously takes after him with an axe; Charlie saves himself by inadvertently shooting a bear, thereby providing enough food for ten men (Chaplin's inspiration for this episode was the cannibalistic activities of the Donner Party). When the winds subside, Charlie and Big Jim part company. Charlie heads off to seek his fortune in a nearby gold-rush community, while Big Jim lucks upon a "mountain of gold" -- just before he is ambushed and knocked unconscious by Black Larsen. Larsen himself is then killed by an avalanche, leaving Big Jim to wander aimlessly, his memory gone. Meanwhile, Charlie has fallen in love, from afar, with self-reliant saloon girl Georgia (Georgia Hale) who doesn't know that he exists. By a fluke, Charlie and Georgia meet, whereupon Charlie invites the girl to New Year's Eve dinner in the cabin that he is tending for a local prospector. While preparing for dinner, Charlie imagines that Georgia has arrived with her friends; he entertains the girls by jabbing two forks in two rolls, then performing a captivating little "dance" with the pastries. Awakening from his dream, Charlie disconsolately realizes that Georgia has forgotten all about his little party, and isn't going to show up. The next day, Big Jim arrives in town and is shaken out of his amnesia when he spots Charlie. Hoping that the little prospector will help him find his mountain of gold, Big Jim heads back to the mountains with Charlie in tow. The two men nearly come to grief when their cabin, blown by the wind to a mountain precipice, leans precariously over the edge--a peril intensified when Charlie, clinging to the floor, develops a sudden case of hiccups! Luck of luck, the cabin slides safely down the side of the mountain, landing directly upon Big Jim's gold strike. Now fabulously wealthy, Charlie and Big Jim head back to the States on a freighter. Also on board is Georgia, who is unaware that Charlie has struck it rich and thinks that he's a stowaway. She offers to hide him from the authorities, and it is at this point that Charlie and Georgia discover that they're truly in love with one another. The Gold Rush was the longest (it ran nine reels, cut down from its ten-reel preview length) and most elaborately produced of Chaplin's silent comedies (it took him fourteen months to complete). Even so, critics of the era chastised Chaplin for permitting the Little Tramp to win the girl at the end, arguing that the character's "integrity" was damaged by so happy an ending. Evidently, Chaplin took this criticism to heart: in his 1942 reissue of The Gold Rush, for which he wrote a narration and musical score, Chaplin removed the final embrace between the Lone Prospector and Georgia, fading out on a wealthy -- but still unattached -- Charlie strolling about the deck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Georgia Hale, (more)
