Harriet Hammond Movies
- 1925
Metro Goldwyn Mayer produced this drama with the cooperation of the Navy Department, and many of the scenes -- including the graduation ceremony -- were actually shot at Annapolis Naval Academy. James Randall (Ramon Novarro) enters the Academy and befriends freshman Ted Lawrence (Wesley Barry). Ted's sister Patricia (Harriet Hammond) turns out to be a beauty, and Randall falls in love with her. The wealthy but idle Basil Courtney (Crauford Kent) also wants Patricia, and he promises to cause difficulty. While Randall is on duty, Courtney has a girl go into the guard room in an attempt to get him expelled. Meanwhile, Ted gets himself in trouble and forges Randall's name on a check, forcing the midshipman to confront the blackmailers himself. Courtney kidnaps Patricia and makes off with her on his yacht, but he is pursued by a warship. Randall helps rescue her, just in time for the graduation exercises -- and their wedding. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Novarro, Harriet Hammond, (more)
- 1925
For this romantic drama, author and Hollywood tastemaker Elinor Glyn began with the premise that a woman does one of three things to a man: she elevates him, degrades him, or bores him to death. Then Glyn does the obvious by introducing three women -- one to represent each possibility -- into the life of her protagonist, Sir Nicholas Thormonde (Lew Cody, who, for once, plays a relatively sympathetic character). Thormonde hires Alathea Bulteel (Harriet Hammond) as his secretary. Although she is an attractive young woman, she purposely makes herself look homely, and while she is attracted to her employer, she is turned off by his womanizing ways. She's especially disgusted by his relationship with Suzette (Renée Adorée). Thormonde comes to love Alathea, but she misunderstands his intentions and quits. Her father (Gerald Grove) gets into trouble with his compulsive gambling, so Alathea agrees to marry Thormonde in name only. Eventually the couple realizes the depth of their feelings for each other. This was definitely one of Glyn's lesser efforts for MGM. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Cody, Harriet Hammond, (more)
- 1925
Produced and co-written by Hunt Stromberg, this silent crime melodrama was advertised as a Western solely because of its august leading man, Harry Carey. Carey played Pat Halahan, a Western lawman who on a trip to San Francisco catches a pretty burglar, Faith O'Day (Lillian Rich), red-handed in his hotel room. Falling for the girl, Pat is dragged into a plot where he finds himself forced to impersonate notorious gangster the Chicago Kid. While Pat, as the Kid, is ingratiating himself with the local Quig Mundy gang, the real Kid (Jimmie Quinn) turns up unexpectedly. Revealed as a fraud, Pat is imprisoned in a basement by the thugs while gang leader Mundy (Francis Ford) takes off with Faith. She is rescued in the nick of time by Pat, who has managed to escape, and Mundy is killed by a mysterious Asian man (emaciated Japanese actor Sojin) working for the authorities. Carey never had to put up with such melodramatic humbug in his straight Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Lillian Rich, (more)
- 1925
Pulp writer Bret Harte's The Idyll of Red Gulch was turned into a fine Harry Carey Western vehicle by producer Hunt Stromberg. Set during the California Gold Rush of '49, Carey plays Sandy, a prospector searching for the mother of his murdered partner's young children. She proves to be one Madame Le Blanc (Doris Lloyd) and is now in the employ of Latham (Lee Shumway), the man who killed her husband. After several close calls, Sandy finally gets his man when Latham is knocked overboard from a river boat and drowns. Repentant, Madame Le Blanc enters a convent. Former Mack Sennett star Harriet Hammond played the ingenue in this film, a young girl who Sandy rescues from the clutches of the evil Latham. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1922
Having served her apprenticeship as leading lady to Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, Alice Lake graduated to stardom in the 1920s through the auspices of Metro studios. In The Golden Gift, Lake plays a famous singer. When she gives birth to her baby, the singer simultaneously loses her "golden gift," her beautiful singing voice. As a result, misfortune befalls our heroine for the next four reels, culminating in her being obliged to take a dancing job in a Mexican cabaret. Thankfully, her voice is restored, and she rises to the heights of fame as a European opera diva. And then she falls in love with the man (John Bowers) who adopted her child, but the child's father, disgusted by anyone who would "desert" her baby, wants nothing to do with the woman. It goes on and on like this until the inevitable, all-cleansing climactic embrace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Lake, John Bowers, (more)
- 1922
This comedy is in a similar vein to the popular Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, which was released the year before. Herbert Rawlinson plays salesman Bob Mortimer, who loses his job but finds he is wealthy when he picks up what he believes to be his valise and finds it stuffed with a million dollars. The bag actually belongs to a crook who is running from the cops. When Mortimer arrives in the hick town of Croesus, he's approached by a slick con artist who calls himself Professor Lang (Lincoln Plumer). Lang mistakes Mortimer for another crook and convinces him to trick the villagers into giving them money for a phony promotion. The sheriff finally gets on their case, resulting in a Keystone-type pursuit. Eventually Mortimer encourages Lang to turn straight and they do right by the villagers. Mortimer also wins the requisite girl, played by former Mack Sennett bathing beauty, Harriet Hammond. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This film combines four short films under the title Bits Of Life. The Bad Samaritan is taken from a story in Popular Magazine in which the son of a Chinese father and a white mother is sold into slavery by his father. The boy becomes a criminal and a cunning but cruel thief. The one time he stops to help a lady in distress he is thrown in jail. Wesley Barry is the young boy and Lon Chaney the grown-up criminal. The Man Who Heard Everything is taken from the magazine Smart Set. A deaf barber saves up $50 to buy a hearing aid. When the device arrives, he hears a ribald joke at the barber shop. He returns home to overhear his wife in conversation with her brother that her husband is a "dummy" and that she willingly takes advantage of his money and good nature. Shaken by his experience, the barber's answer to his problem is to smash the new device. In Chinese Story, a young boy runs away from home to avoid a constant prayer vigil demanded by his father of his children. Sing Fat (Lon Chaney) grows up to become the proprietor of an opium factory. He falls in love with a Chinese woman who gives birth to a daughter. The irate father beats her because he wanted a boy. The mother tells their servant to nail a crucifix to the wall so she may pray to a Christian God. The crucifix begins to drip the blood of Sing Fat, who was resting on the opposite side of the wall. Director Marshal Neilan wrote the last feature called The Intrigue. A man dreams he encounters a princess and her entourage while playing golf. Following her to a fancy reception, he is attacked by Oriental guards and awakens in a dentist's chair with his tooth extracted. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Instead of his usual two-reel format, Mack Sennett made a five-reel, feature-length film to spoof the recently ended World War. The Americans use the Kaiser's penchant for a pretty face to steal some secret plans from him. They disguise one of their captains, Bob (Bothwell Browne), as a seductress and send him behind German lines. Not only does Bob in drag impress the Kaiser (Ford Sterling), but the Crown Prince (Hal St. Clair) and Hindenburg (Bert Roach) are also captivated by "her" charms. The three vie for Bob's attention, with the Kaiser clearly the favorite, until Mrs. Kaiser catches wind of the proceedings. The Kaiser, nevertheless, slips away to Bob's quarters, where Bob treats him to an Oriental dance. But Hindenburg and the Crown Prince barge in and a melee ensues. Bob makes a hasty exit, gets the plans to his superiors and snatches up a Belgian refugee (Marie Prevost) as his bride. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bothwell Browne, Ford Sterling, (more)
