Madge Evans Movies
Demure American leading lady Madge Evans was a professional from childhood. As an infant, she was featured in print ads as the "Fairy Soap girl." From 1915 through 1918, she was resident child actress of the World Film Company. During the early 1920s she kept busy as a ingenue, leaving films in 1924 to devote her time to the stage. Though her "official" return to films as an adult performer was 1931, Evans had earlier appeared as a saucy teenager in a 1929 Vitaphone short starring Walter Winchell. One of the best of MGM's second-echelon stars, Evans appeared in such "A"-pictures as Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935), as well as a larger number of "B"s along the lines of Death on the Diamond (1934). Retiring from films in 1938 to marry playwright Sidney Kingsley, Evans continued to appear onstage until 1943. Madge Evans made her last appearances before the cameras on television, showing up as a panelist on one of the earlier incarnations of that hardy perennial Masquerade Party. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1917
Child actress Madge Evans plays the title role in The Adventures of Carol. One of those sugary miss-fixit types, Carol spreads a little sunshine wherever she goes. By film's end, she has straigthened out her selfish and insensitive family, through the simple expedient of running away to join the circus. Yes, this is the same Madge Evans who matured into a slim and lovely MGM leading lady in the 1930s. Adventures of Carol is based on a short story by Julia Burnham. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Rejected by her parents, the wayward Juliette La Monde (Kitty Gordon) becomes a musical comedy actress and is courted by Morgan Grant (Frederick Truesdell). Grant is married, but no matter; he leaves his wife (Pinna Nesbit) to be with Juliette. After the death of her parents, Juliette takes care of her sister, Francine (played as a girl by Madge Evans and as a young woman by Lillian Cook). Grant has tired of Juliette and now pursues Francine. Even though Juliette has tried to keep her sister on the straight and narrow, Francine is not adverse to Grant's attention. Juliette tries to talk to Grant, but it grows into an argument in which a gun is drawn. In the struggle, Grant is mortally wounded but he exonerates Juliette before he dies. Francine winds up with another man, Philip Stewart (William Sherwood), while Juliette becomes a Red Cross nurse in Europe, and dies in battle. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This story was very much typical of its era -- Janet Hall (Ethel Clayton) is "wronged" by Henry Dalton (Montagu Love) and becomes pregnant. She has the child and begs Dalton to marry her but he refuses. However, when he comes to a sudden end, he leaves her with a cottage and a small income. Then she meets and falls in love with Dale Overton (Irving Cummings), a minister who's fond of preaching the virtues of charity and forgiveness. Because of her past, she refuses to marry him at first, but finally, because of his sermons, she gives in. But when he discovers that she's a "fallen woman," all his ideals fly out the window and he renounces her. It takes an angry harangue from his friend Stuart Doane (Holbrook Blinn) for Overton to realize his hypocrisy and take Janet back. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Captain Harry Ford (Carlyle Blackwell) is tracking down moonshiners in the South when he runs afoul of nasty political goings-on. Some Negroes have stolen a ballot box, but a white man refuses to be bribed for its return and horsewhips the group's leader. The Negro kills the man, and the crime gets pinned on Ford. Ford is sent to prison for life, but escapes when he is put on a road-working gang. His Southern sweetheart, Georgia Gwynne (Ethel Clayton) helps him so that he can prove his innocence and finally the Negro murderer confesses. The racist attitude of this film is on par with that of Birth of a Nation, and is a sad statement on the prevailing attitudes of the 1910s. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
When Doris Baker (Ethel Clayton) spends her husband Dick (Holbrook Blinn) into serious debt, he embezzles funds from the bank where he works to cover some speculative investments. He is joined in these plans by one of the bank's directors, but when Doris unknowingly snubs the director's wife, he pulls out his aid. Dick finds himself in serious trouble, and then Doris leaves him after an argument. She is about to leave for the Orient with her daughter Bessie (Madge Evans), a friend, Mrs. Prescott (Gerda Holmes), and an admirer, Patrick Alliston (Montagu Love), but they are stopped at the station because Dick is believed to be with them. He isn't, and his difficulties drive him to an aborted suicide attempt. Doris finally wakes up to what is going on and reconciles with Dick. The bank examiner looks over the books and helps Dick get back on his feet, much to the director's chagrin. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
An old Hungarian story was the basis for the Marguerite Clark vehicle Seven Sisters. The story takes place in a Budapest household, where it is believed that if one of the younger daughters marries first, her older siblings will be doomed to live out their lives as old maids. The youngest daughter, 5-year-old Clara (played by future leading lady Madge Evans) is hardly of marriageable age, nor are the next two daughters. But the fourth oldest, Mici (Marguerite Clark), is much sought after by potential husbands, driving her older sisters into a frenzy. For their own protection, the older girls arrange for Mici to be shipped off to a convent school, far removed from anyone in trousers. Despite her cloistered existence, Mici manages to escape long enough to attend a masked ball, where she meets and falls in love with Count Horkoy (Conway Tearle). With his help, Mici finds suitable husbands for her older sisters, and everything turns out "Jake." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Zaza, the ever-popular David Belasco-produced stage drama by Pierre Breton and Charles Simon, was first brought to the screen by Famous Players. Taking over from the original production's Mrs. Leslie Carter in the title role was the equally talented Pauline Frederick. The story is the familiar one of a popular French music-hall performer who falls in love with Dufrene (Julian L'Estrange, a wealthy and married nobleman. Humiliated by her furtive back-street romance with her rich paramour, Zaza vows to ruin the man but finds that she can't go through with it. When Dufrene's wife conveniently dies, it appears as if a happy ending is inevitable, but don't count on it. Zaza was remade in 1923 with Gloria Swanson and in 1939 with Claudette Colbert; both remakes were produced by Famous Players'successor, Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Lee Randall (Robert Warwick) is a man who leads a double life. By day he is a respectable person; by night he robs banks. His gang stages an elaborate break-in at a bank, but they are discovered while fleeing the scene of the crime, and the gang is captured. (During their stay in jail, real shots of prisoners in Sing Sing are shown -- though some of the prisoners didn't want their faces in the movie!). When Randall is released from prison after serving his time, the film becomes a traditional melodrama, telling the story of a man who tries to go straight and the difficulties that he encounters after he and his cronies get out of prison. When Randall has established a new life (keeping the books at a bank), a detective comes calling. The detective wants to pin an old bank heist on Randall. At the same time, a small girl is accidentally locked in the bank vault. Randall must use his safe-cracking skills to free her, even though it may send him back to prison. This film is one of several important gangster films released in the mid-teens. Director Maurice Tourneur's most imaginative camera work of the film is in the first 15 minutes when the gang executes a bank heist. There are several deep-staged set-ups that have characters in real locations (like a train) instead of just on studio sets. The heist features an over-the-head shot of the cubicles in the bank to show the night watchman just missing the crooks. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide
