William Russell

Although there was little love lost between star Dolores Costello and director Michael Curtiz, the two Warner Bros. contractees collaborated on several films, including the early-talkie Madonna of Avenue A. Costello plays Maria Marton, an expensively educated young miss who has been led to believe that her mother Georgia (Louise Dresser) is a high-society doyenne. Our heroine is in for quite a shock when she learns that her sainted mom is actually the blowzy proprietress of a seedy dime-a-dance joint. Among the scriptwriters of Madonna of Avenue A was one Mark Canfield, a pseudonym for Warner's scriptwriter/producer Darryl F. Zanuck. The film's plot would be reworked several times, most memorably as the 1953 Doris Day vehicle Lullaby of Broadway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Under the mistaken assumption that her father (Wheeler Oakman) is guilty of murder, Virginia Browne Faire runs away from home. Lost and helpless in snow country, the girl is rescued by a gallant mountie (William Russell), who then goes in search of the real killer. Released from his contract with Fox, veteran action star William Russell was drifting when he made this low-budget "North-Western" produced and directed by Duke Worne. Russell's leading lady, Virginia Browne Faire, was Mrs. Worne at the time. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Anticipating Robert DeNiro by nearly fifty years, New York cabdriver "Taxi" Driscoll (Antonio Moreno) prefers to drive his dilapidated hack in the dead of night. Unlike DeNiro, Driscoll picks up extra folding money by agreeing to transport bootleg booze. It isn't long before our none-too-ethical hero finds himself in the middle of a gang war. Helene Costello reprises her Lights of New York role as the virginal heroine, but Myrna Loy delivers a more interesting performances as a gangster's moll. Tom Dugan, another Light of New York alumnus, provides stuttering comedy relief (he'd perpetuate this act into early 1930s, at which time Roscoe Ates became the screen's foremost stammerer -- outside of Porky Pig, that is). The "Gregory Rogers" credited for the screenplay was really Warner Bros. staff writer Darryl F. Zanuck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second filmization of Paul Armstrong's play Escape is a bleak study of slum life. Virginia Valli plays May Joyce, the daughter of a scummy bootlegger who falls in love with medical intern Jerry Magee (William Russell). When May is forced to go to work in a sleazy nightclub, Jerry becomes so disconsolate that he loses his job and takes to bootlegging himself. Only when forced to confront himself does Jerry straighten up and seek out a new life, with May at his side. William Demarest provides comic relief as a minor gangster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even in the early stages of his Warner Bros. career, director Michael Curtiz was eager and willing to tackle any sort of story tossed his way. Based on an original by Mark Canfield (a pseudonym for Darryl F. Zanuck), The Desired Woman is a standard stiff-upper-lip military drama set at a remote British outpost in Africa. Irene Rich plays Lady Diana, the wife of martinet British officer Captain Maxwell (William Russell). When Maxwell unjustly court-martials his young subordinate Larry Trent (William Collier Jr.) -- who'd been forced to kill a fellow officer in self-defense -- Lady Diana walks out on him. She divorces Maxwell and marries Sir Sydney Vincent (Richard Tucker), who uses his clout to pardon Trent. Only during the desert battle scenes was Michael Curtiz able to bring this hidebound melodrama to life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The plot to this underworld drama, based on a story by Arthur Somers Roche, sounds more like something from the 1930s than from the silent era. It's an early starring vehicle for Myrna Loy. Southern girl Mary Carlton (Loy) finds out that her brother, Bob (Carroll Nye), is going to the electric chair for a crime he says he didn't commit. In order to get her brother exonerated, Mary travels to New York and pretends to be a Chicago gun moll. She wins the love of two gangsters, Handsome Joe (Conrad Nagel) and Big Steve Drummond (William Russell). Joe, it turns out, isn't a gangster at all, but an undercover detective. He attempts to help Mary prove her brother's innocence, and the two of them are caught in a fierce gun battle between the crooks and the cops. They make it through alive (although Drummond gets his due), and Bob is released at the last minute. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Jack Newberry (E.K. Lincoln) is the millionaire's son who tries to become a Hollywood filmmaker in this melodrama. His father advances him $40,000 to make the picture with the understanding the feature must make a profit. The feature takes several comic looks at the industry, with William Russell as dictatorial director Eric Von Greed, Tom Santschi as an eccentric inventor, and comic Chester Conklin as the cameraman. A romantic side plot finds Jack in love with Florence Keaton (Helen Ferguson), whose wealthy father (Edwards Davies) has reservations about his daughter's involvement with anything Hollywood. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Summons by Katherine Newlin Burt made for such tired movie material that director Robert G. Vignola and scenarist Albert Shelby LeVino decided to have some fun with it. The film version of this boy-gets-girl tale begins in LeVino's office, where he is trying to come up with a screenplay that will be accepted -- several have already been turned down. Allowed to pick his own star, he chooses Eleanor Boardman, who emerges from her photograph in miniature (via double exposure) and insists on picking her own leading man, selecting Matt Moore. From there the story begins in earnest, with occasional cuts back to the chain-smoking LeVino. Rosamond (Boardman) is a spirited girl who is disgusted when her beau, George (Moore), voices the opinion that women need to be treated like horses. After the couple attend a prize fight, Rosamond is arrested for speeding, but she refuses to be released into George's custody, preferring to stay behind bars -- that is, until she gets into a fight with another girl. Then, when George tries to take her to her father in the mountains, she uses an excuse to ditch him and drives off. The car careens down the mountain and she winds up in a stream. She is rescued by Brand (William Russell) and Matt (Matthew Betz), who turn out to be murderers. George tries to save her from the killers, but an avalanche separates them. Unable to think of a solution, Rosamond herself goes to LeVino for an answer and he tells her to shoot her attacker. She does, and then she and Matt return to LeVino's typewriter for a clinch on top of the keys. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

William Russell plays a prizefighter with both eyes on the heavyweight crown. Russell's nephew is freckle-faced Mickey Bennett, who idolizes his uncle to the nth degree. On the eve of the Big Fight, gangsters kidnap Bennett and order Russell to throw the fight. But the resourceful Bennett manages to escape his captors, and all's well when the final bell rings. Julanne Johnston costars as a social worker who falls in love with likeable lug Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama from Fox stars William Russell. Jack Arnold (Russell), the secretary of a mining syndicate, is sent to the South Sea Island of Pago Tai to land an option on a black opal mine. He just manages to make the same steamer that is carrying the members of a rival company to the same destination. Clive Langdon (Frank Beal), representing the other company, is accompanied by his niece Caroline Peyton (Dorothy Devore) and her fiancé, Neal Travis (Lloyd Whitlock). Caroline pays Jack's fare and he begins to fall in love with her. Both Langdon and Travis use the pair's growing affection to trap Arnold. But they're still not able to prevent him from getting to the mine. He makes friends with its owner and is able to get the option. Caroline, meanwhile, has come to realize that she doesn't care for Travis at all, so she throws him over for Arnold. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The career of William Russell was on the wane when he starred in this cheaply-made comedy melodrama. Russell, a serious, manly type, was miscast as author Vance McPhee. McPhee's doctor orders him to take a rest, so he decides to spend some time at his mountain lodge. But when he arrives he finds a strange girl (Carmel Myers) is already there. When she asks him to protect her, it's obvious that any rest on McPhee's behalf is about to fly out the window. The girl doesn't explain exactly why she needs protection but a gang of villainous types descend on her and McPhee, and he is compelled to not only come to her aid, but to also save his own skin. After much intrigue, mystery, several disappearances and panicked servants -- not to mention all the times McPhee winds up battling with his fists -- the girl's story is finally revealed. She's Florence Brown, in possession of a box of valuable patents which belong to her father. Now that he's saved Florence and the patents, McPhee is really exhausted. His doctor, believing that perhaps his diagnosis was off, suggests that McPhee cure himself with some romance. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

William Russell's career was on a downslide when he appeared in this unoriginal program picture (he would make a short-lived comeback a year later when he appeared opposite Blanche Sweet in Anna Christie). Carl Morse (James Gordon) sends his son, Tom (Russell), to the Canadian Northwoods to investigate the goings-on at one of his trading posts. At the post, he finds Jessie McRae (Alma Bennett), who seems to be out to get all the bootleggers in the country. Jessie confesses that she was deserted by her drunken parents as an infant. However, this isn't true -- the man who claims to be her guardian (Charles K. French) is actually her father, Angus McRae. Tom discovers that Bully West (Stanton Heck) is the one responsible for the wrongdoings at the post and fires him. West then convinces McRae to force Jessie to marry him. Tom saves her and marries her himself, while her father atones for his behavior. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide