Virginia Valli Movies

Guilty? could be regarded as a precursor to Citizen Kane -- except that the first film isn't one-20th as good as the second. The story begins when an elderly ex-convict suddenly turns up dead. During their investigation, the police interview ten of the dead man's closest associates, each of whom offers a different perspective on the man's life. Only the victim's daughter (Virginia Valli) knows that her father committed suicide -- and only she knows why. Surprisingly shy of star names in the cast, Guilty? is forced to rely on the power of its narrative to sustain audience interest; alas, it isn't quite enough. The film was adapted for the screen by Dorothy Howell, from her own short story "Black Sheep." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Lost Zeppelin offers a bonanza of special effects and art-deco sets with a nickel's worth of plot. The film begins at a banquet celebrating an upcoming dirigible expedition to Antarctica. Explorer Donald Hall (Conway Tearle) knows that his protégé, lieutenant Tom Armstrong (Ricardo Cortez) is in love with Hall's young wife Miriam (Virginia Valli). Just when this plotline reaches its saturation point, it is forgotten in the excitement of the daring dirigible voyage. Utterly modernistic in design and equipped with every possible convenience and provision, the big blimp nonetheless meets disaster in the snowy wastes of "Little America." Somewhat slow-moving for most of its running time, The Lost Zeppelin really picks up the pace in its closing reels and remains among the most impressive of the early independent talkies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Street of Illusion was based on a story by once-popular playwright Channing Pollock. Ian Keith is well-cast as a pompous ham actor who is jealous of his rival Kenneth Thompson's success. Feeling persecuted, Keith begins to harbor thoughts of eliminating Thompson through the most drastic means possible -- murder. But by film's end, it is Keith who emerges the hero, laying down his own life for the sake of Thompson and heroine Virginia Valli. The trade magazine Variety's reviewer felt that Street of Illusion was so much applesauce, preferring instead the vaudeville show that accompanied the film's original New York run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not a remake of the 1923 film of the same name, East Side, West Side stars George O'Brien as John Breen, who is orphaned early on when his mother and stepfather are killed in a barge accident. With nothing holding him back, John heads to the Big City he's always dreamed about. Here he becomes a champion boxer under the patronage of wealthy architect Gilbert Van Horn (Holmes Herbert). What Breen doesn't know is that Van Horn is his real father, who was forced by his wealthy family to give up custody of the boy years earlier. After accumulating enough money in the ring to start a new career, Breen develops into a brilliant architect, again with Van Horn's help. Only when both Breen and Van Horn fall in love with the same girl (Virginia Valli) does the true relationship between father and son come to surface. Based on a novel by Felix Reisenberg, East Side West Side was remade in 1931 as Skyscraper, with Thomas Meighan and Hardie Albright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Believe it or not: The domestic drama Marriage was based on a story by H.G. Wells. Alan Durant plays scientist R.A.G. Trafford, whose idealism loses him one high-paying job after another. Durant's ambitious wife Marjori (Virginia Valli) talks Trafford into selling his latest revolutionary scientific formula, rather than donating it gratis to the world. He does so, whereupon husband and wife become millionaires overnight. Disgusted by Marjori's new hedonistic lifestyle, Trafford walks out on her and embarks upon a research expedition to darkest Africa. Marjori anxiously trails after her husband, at last rekindling their love when she saves his life. Posterity does not record what H.G. Wells had to say about this filmization of his novel, but one suspects he wasn't happy that his complex plotline was jammed into 56 minutes' running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon becoming a wife and mother, prima ballerina Mme. Lamphier (Virginia Valli) gives up her stellar career. But she can't get the theater out of her blood, and soon our heroine is training for a comeback. Violently opposed to this, Mme. Lamphier's tyrannical husband walks out on her, taking their infant daughter with him. Years and years later, Mme. Lamphier looks on tearfully as her now-grown daughter Dora (Virginia Bradford) literally follows in her mother's footstep. Stage Madness may well represent the best screen work of the highly variable Virginia Valli. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It stands to reason that the sartorially splendid Adolphe Menjou would star in a picture called Evening Clothes. At the beginning of the film, however,Menjou is crude, shabbily dressed French farmer Lucien D'Artois. Attracted by his wealth, avaricious Germaine (Virginia Valli) marries D'Artois, then leaves him for a more sophisticated man. D'Artois retaliates by moving to the city and learning the proper social graces. His new life style proves to be too expensive for him, and at the end he is left with nothing but one suit of evening clothes and his now contrite wife. The legendary Louise Brooks, sporting curls rather than her trademarked Dutch-bob hairstyle, has a lively secondary role as a Parisian flapper named Fox Trot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama -- one of the last gasps from Associated Exhibitors -- features an excellent cast, with Jean Hersholt taking most of the kudos. Railroad builder James Travers (George Nichols) wants his pretty daughter, Anne (Virginia Valli), to marry Herbert Landis, a young engineer (Eugene O'Brien). Unfortunately, Anne loves Landis...like a brother, and his rival, Hilary Fenton (Bryant Washburn), stands ready to snatch her up. Ole Bergson, the camp boss (Hersholt) is pals with Landis and is determined to help him win the girl. Disguised as a notorious bandit, Bergson kidnaps Anne so that Landis can rescue her and win her admiration. But the real bandit, Black Blanchette (Boris Karloff), happens to be hiding in the cabin where Bergson takes Anne. Fenton proves to be a coward, and Landis fights not only the bandit, but a raging forest fire to save Anne. Needless to say, Anne discovers she loves Landis as more than a brother and they are united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

During a carnival in Venice, Horace Pierpont, a wealthy American (Lewis Stone), falls in love with Fay Kennion (Virgina Valli). Their romance is derailed when she goes over to his apartment and finds the vampy Fifi (Nita Naldi) there. Fay goes down to Algiers, where she marries a former sweetheart, Dr. Alan Mortimer (Edward Earle). Pierpont goes after Fay and when he discovers she has wed, takes a trip with the Mortimers over the desert. Dr. Mortimer is suspicious of the relationship between his wife and the newcomer, and when Pierpont is bitten by a viper, he refuses to treat him if there is a relationship going on. Fay lies so that Mortimer will take care of the wound. Later, she confesses the truth and sends Pierpont away. Eventually Mortimer is killed by an Arab attack, and when Fay runs into Pierpont, he reveals that Fifi was at his apartment that long-ago day to exact revenge. Now that nothing at all stands in their way, the pair reunite. This drama was based on the novel Snake Bite by Robert Hichens, a popular writer of the day. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This ordinary romantic programmer starred Universal regulars Norman Kerry and Virginia Valli. Linnie Randall, a shopgirl (Valli), is bored with her humdrum life. Her complaints are overheard by the wealthy Garry Schuyler (Kerry), who is disguised as a mechanic. He asks her out to dinner and, to her delight, he calls in a limousine. The two of them wind up spending a whirlwind week together and marry at the end of it. Their happiness is ruined, however, when Schuyler's aristocratic mother (Kate Lester, who died before the film's release) returns from Florida and loudly voices her disapproval of her new daughter-in-law. She makes life so miserable for Linnie that she runs away. She is accidentally hit by Garry's car and taken to the hospital. He believes she is dead, and comes down with "brain fever." His mother takes him to Europe, while Linnie recovers and gives birth to his son. Linnie becomes a famous dancer, and when Garry returns and finds her still alive, they are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

After several collaborative efforts, Alfred Hitchcock made his solo directorial debut in the German-British co-production The Pleasure Garden. Based on the novel by Oliver Sandys, it's the tale of two chorus girls, Patsy (Virginia Valli) and Jill (Carmelita Geraghty). The comparatively virtuous Patsy marries Levett (Miles Mander), the best friend of Jill's fiance Fielding (John Stuart). After the honeymoon, Levett leaves for a job in the tropics, promising to send for Patsy as soon as he's settled. Back in London, Patsy discovers that Jill has been cheating on Fielding with other men. Secure in the belief that her own husband would never betray her, Patsy is shocked to discover that Levett has been sleeping with a native girl (Nita Naldi) in her absence. Driven mad by the treacherous native, Levett kills her and tries to murder Patsy, but she is rescued at the very last minute. Wearily, she comes back to London, where she finally finds happiness with Jill's cast-off sweetheart Fielding. Filmed on a very tight budget, The Pleasure Garden never betrays its parsimonious nature. And though it cannot be labelled a "typical" Hitchcock picture, it contains enough clever pictorial touches to indicate that the man in the director's chair was definitely someone to conjure with. To quote the reviewer of the London Daily Express: "His work is of a uniformly high quality; there are times when it is great, times when the onlooker says to himself 'That is perfect'." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wade (George Nash) is a promoter of fake oil stock who sends two of his men, Dan Corvan (Thomas Meighan) and Larry Maddox (Laurence Wheat), down to the small Florida town of Fairfield to make a sale to the miserly Godfrey Queritt (Charles Dow Clark). When Corvan discovers that Sunday school teacher Margaret Leland (Virginia Valli) is friends with the old man, he romances her. He also helps out the local charities and endears himself to the local folk. Corvan is too good at his tricks -- all this hard-won trust is turning him into an honest man. When a dying old lady gives him money and asks him to make restitution for her thieving son, he realizes he can't go through with Wade's swindle, and he breaks with his boss to go straight. When he confesses to Margaret that he is not worthy of her, she says that she loves him anyway and the couple is united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

It's a pity that there are apparently no longer any public copies available of this suspense drama by King Vidor because at the time of its release, its sophisticated approach to filmmaking impressed critics and fans alike. It takes place at a bay near the Georgia swamps, where John Woolfolk (Frank Mayo) lands in his yacht. After the death of his wife in an accident he had taken a cruise with just one friend, Paul Halvard (Ford Sterling). When Woolfolk goes ashore for water, he discovers old Lichfield Stope (Nigel de Brulier) and his granddaughter, Nellie (Virginia Valli), who are virtually being held prisoner by Iscah Nicholas, a half-crazed, half-childlike homicidal maniac (Charles A. Post). Woolfolk tries to help the girl, but when he comes back to shore, he finds that Nicholas has killed Stope and tied Nellie to a bed. Woolfolk fights the brute and takes Nellie to his yacht, but Nicholas follows after them. He shoots at the boat, injuring Halvard, and is finally killed by a mad dog that breaks its leash and attacks him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide