Edward Rose Movies
- 1971
- R
Sexual situations abound throughout this Italian/English language film, which uses many quickly shown images (montage) to further the mood and the story. Nino Castelnuovo is Mario, the boyfriend from hell, who consigns his girlfriend Licia (Adrienne La Russa) to a whorehouse for an evening in order to get the photographic goods with which to blackmail her father (Rossano Brazzi). To get her out of the way, Licia is then consigned to a mental hospital by her father. When she goes genuinely insane, she is released. Revenge for all this mistreatment is the order of the day. No one escapes Licia's tricks as she uses sex, psychological torture and murder to get even. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Famed Swedish director Victor Sjostrom was coaxed out of retirement to direct his final film, Under the Red Robe, a swashbuckling adventure that takes place in the France of Louis XIII. Conrad Veidt stars as Gil de Berault, quick with his sword yet set for execution. But right before his sentence is carried out, Cardinal Richelieu (Raymond Massey) offers a stay of execution if Gil will find and kill a duke suspected of leading the revolutionary antimonarchist Huguenots. Gil tracks the duke to a castle, sneaks into the guarded fortress, and ends up falling in love with the duke's sister, Lady Marguerite (Anabella). Gil now has to save the duke without bringing about his own execution. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Veidt, Annabella, (more)
- 1934
Harry Beaumont, a director-composer most closely associated with MGM's musical product, does a nice job handling the tongue-in-cheek melodramatics of Murder in the Private Car. Charlie Ruggles goes through his standard drunken-detective act as amateur gumshoe Scott, who stumbles onto a dead body when he wanders into the wrong train car. Despite the fact that the private car can only be locked from the inside, several more murders occur within its walls. This means plenty of trouble for heroine Ruth (Mary Carlisle), who'd rented the car for a cross-country journey of vital importance. Before this particular odyssey is over and the murderer is revealed, the private car, with Ruth trapped inside, is separated from the rest of the train and sent hurtling backward down the tracks, loaded with dynamite! Perhaps Harry Beaumont missed his calling: judging by Murder in the Private Car, he should have specialized in serials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Ruggles, Una Merkel, (more)
- 1928
Warner Bros. contractees Myrna Loy and Walter Pidgeon were "borrowed" by low-budget Lumas pictures for the 1928 military drama Turn Back the Hours. Based on the venerable stage play by Edward E. Rose, the film stars Pidgeon as a Naval officer who is dishonorably discharged for cowardice. While being transported home to England, Pidgeon is caught in the middle of a shipwreck, from which he is rescued by passenger Loy. Recuperating in the Caribbean home of Loy's wealthy father, our hero returns the favor by rescuing the heroine and her daddy from a gang of bandits. In so doing, Pidgeon regains his courage and self-respect -- not to mention the love of the grateful Loy. Elements of Turn Back the Hours later resurfaced in the 1942 Humphrey Bogart vehicle Across the Pacific. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1923
This mystery-melodrama had a lot of action and featured a good cast. Railroad magnate Luke Carson (William Worthington) has finally tracked his long-lost daughter Ruth (Marie Prevost) to Los Angeles. But there are some strange happenings around the girl; in her hotel room she is haunted by threats of death that are accompanied by red lights. The weird goings-on continue as she boards a train for the East. Although her fiancé John Blake (Johnnie Walker) can't accompany her, he leaves her in the care of "crime deflector" Sheridan Scott (Raymond Griffith, who plays this humorous character to the hilt). Trap doors and sliding panels abound on the train, and various people appear and disappear. The Pullman containing Ruth, her father, and the rest of their party is cut loose and speeds to certain destruction. But Blake saves the day, and Scott solves the mystery -- the perpetrator of all these odd and potentially deadly tricks is Carson's crazed brother Ezra (Jean Hersholt), who is in league with some crooked lawyers. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Prevost, Raymond Griffith, (more)
- 1922
This epic-scale silent adaptation of the popular novel by Anthony Hope concerns Rudolph (Lewis S. Stone), a member of the royal family of Ruritania who is about to be crowned King. However, his conniving and ill-tempered brother has designs on the throne, and he drugs his sibling shortly before his coronation. Rudolph's allies find a British tourist who bears a striking resemblance to the would-be king, Rudolph Rassendyll (also played by Stone). They persuade the visitor to pose as Rudolph during the coronation to prevent the brother from usurping the crown. When the brother's henchmen discover that the Englishman is posing as Rudolph, they lock the real monarch away in a dungeon and attempt to expose the false king before he can be given the crown. The Prisoner of Zenda was directed by Rex Ingram, one of the most important directors of the American silent cinema, and co-starred Alice Terry as Princess Flavia and Robert Edeson as Colonel Sapt. The story was previously filmed in 1915, and would enjoy three more remakes during the sound era. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1915
Given the title Fighting Bob, one might think that this 1915 film is the story of Wisconsin politico Bob LaFollette. Not so. The "fighting Bob" hereabouts is a two-fisted American (Orrin Johnson) at large in Central America. The film was unabashed propaganda in favor of the United States horning in on south-of-the-border political affairs. A relic from the "Manifest Destiny" era of American diplomacy, Fighting Bob might not play well today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
