Virginia Brown Faire Movies

It is said that every actor wants to play Shakespeare. Will Rogers would seem a likely exception to that rule, but here he is in this silent, taking a stab (albeit comic) at Romeo. Slim (Rogers), of course, begins as a cowpuncher but his boss switches from cattle to sheep, throwing him out of work. In addition his sweetheart, Lulu (Sylvia Breamer), says he should learn to be a real lover, like Douglas Fairbanks. So Slim decides to go work in motion pictures to discover how film folk make love. After he doubles for villains and heroes alike, Lulu changes her mind -- now she thinks Romeo and Juliet is the yardstick by which all lovers should be measured. So Slim obligingly gets his hands on a copy of the play and tries to read it. Naturally he falls asleep, but he dreams the story with himself and his girl in the title roles. When he awakes, however, he throws all technique out the window, grabs Lulu away from his rival (Raymond Hatton) and drags her off to the preache r. His show of force is what she wanted after all and the film ends happily. This was the final picture of Rogers' contract with the Goldwyn Studios. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

John Holden, an English engineer living in Lahore, India, (Thomas Holding) sees pretty Ameera (Virginia Brown Faire) being mistreated by a money-lender (Otto Lederer). He rescues her and finds out that she and her mother (Evelyn Selbie) are very poor. It seems like the only way for them to keep from starving is for Ameera to marry a repugnant old native. Holden, who is enchanted by Ameera, offers to marry her himself and provide a large dowry to the mother. A native wedding ceremony is performed (with no minister present, hence the picture's title), and Ameera and her mother go to live with Holden. They are happy for six years, until their son, Tota (Philippe DeLacy), dies. Ameera is grief-stricken. Then, while Holden is away overseeing some railroad construction, cholera breaks out and Ameera is taken ill. Holden rushes home, but she dies, leaving the Englishman alone and broken-hearted. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

aka The Count of Monte Cristo Much of John Gilbert's early work as a leading man was done at the Fox Studios. He made nineteen pictures for the company, but only two are still in existence -- this adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel, and 1923's Cameo Kirby. As Edmond Danton, and later as the Count of Monte Cristo, Gilbert at times seems too mannered -- a habit that he would have to watch throughout his career. Danton is dragged away from his wedding feast with Countess Mercedes (Estelle Taylor) and falsely imprisoned in the Chateau d'If. He swears to wreak vengeance on those who wronged him, if he ever escapes. Eventually he is able to dig his way out, and with another prisoner, he goes to the island of Monte Cristo, where he finds an immense treasure. He returns home as the Count of Monte Cristo and, as he promised, proceeds to destroy all his enemies. Featured in a supporting role is Renee Adorée, who would star with Gilbert in several of his pictures, most notably The Big Parade. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A beautiful woman is imprisoned when she refuses to join a Shah's harem because she loves another. Shireen (Virginia Brown Faire) is thrown into solitary confinement and has a child in captivity fathered by Omar the tentmaker (Guy Bates Post). The Shah (Noah Beery) orders the Persian henchmen to throw both mother and child off a high cliff. The scheming Persians allow the child to be returned to Omar and throw a dummy off instead, and Shireen's life is spared but she is sold into slavery. Maurice B. Flynn play a Christian crusader, with perennial screen-villain Walter Long as the executioner. Watch for Boris Karloff as the holy man Imam Mowaffak. Patsy Ruth Miller plays Shireen as a young girl in this drama produced by Richard Walton Tully. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Although its popularity didn't endure, The Cricket on the Hearth was originally the favorite of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books (the most well-known today is, of course, A Christmas Carol. Director Lorimar Johnston makes an imposing Josiah Tackleton (also known as "Old Gruff"), and producer Paul Gerson is a handsome and likable John Peerybingle. The rest of the cast is filled with favorites of the silent era -- Fritzi Ridgeway has the pivotal role of Bertha Plummer, the blind girl, and character actor Josef Swickard is her father, Caleb. Virginia Brown Faire is Dot Peerybingle. Peerybingle marries his much-younger sweetheart Dot and they establish a happy home in the little village of Tindsley. Nearby lives a poor toymaker, Caleb Plummer who weaves idealistic fibs of his rich home and life for his blind daughter, Bertha. But Old Gruff, the town's most powerful figure, wants young, beautiful May Fielding (Margaret Landis), who loves Plummer's son Edward (Paul Moore). After knocking down Tackleton in a fight, Edward is forced to leave town for a year. He returns disguised as an old man in time to save May from a forced marriage to Tackleton. Tackleton, meanwhile, has played on Peerybingle's jealousy in an attempt to destroy his happiness, and Bertha has learned that her father's tales are untruths. But Edward has brought a fortune in Brazilian diamonds with him, enough to make his father's stories a reality. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Edison Marshall's 1922 novel about prospectors in Northern Canada, The Skyline of Spruce, came to the screen the following year courtesy of Universal. Veteran action star William Desmond played "Wolf" Darby, who -- with his father "Pancake" (James O. Barrows) -- is prospecting in Canada when he is enlisted in the war. Wolf returns as a hero but finds his father killed by a gang of claim jumpers that included Jeffrey Neilson (William Welsh), the father of his girlfriend, Beatrice (Virginia Brown Faire). To get revenge, Wolf kidnaps Beatrice only to discover that her father was innocent in the slaying. With his faithful dog, King (Rin-Tin-Tin in his third film appearance), Wolf is able to track down the real culprit, nasty Ray Brent (Fred Kohler). A 1923 WAMPAS Baby Star, Faire is perhaps best remembered for playing Tinker Bell in Peter Pan (1924). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This very average silent western starred John Gilbert right before MGM made him an international superstar as the doughboy in King Vidor's The Big Parade (1925). Gilbert had already come a long way, from travelling stock companies to playing western villains and starring opposite Mary Pickford in Heart o' the Hills (1919). Along the way, he changed the informal "Jack" to "John" and starred in programmers like Romance Ranch. Gilbert plays Carlos Brent, a young Easterner who inherits a ranch when a long-lost will resurfaces. An evil uncle does everything he can to stop Gilbert from claiming what is rightfully his, but, as always, justice triumphs in the end. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Elderly Isadore Solomon (Dore Davidson) arrives in the small New England town of Valley Falls, but is run out of the hotel because he is Jewish. Also driven out is Mary Clark (Florence Vidor), who arrives the same night. They are taken in by Clem Beemis, a handyman and electrician (William V. Mong). Beemis wants to build an electrical plant for the town, and he gets Solomon involved in his plans. The leading citizens oppose it, but then Ned Tyler (Lloyd Hughes), son of the town banker (Fred J. Butler), falls in love with Mary. They lease the falls in Mary's name, but the citizen's try to dig up dirt on Mary's past. In spite of all the battles, the underdogs emerge victorious, and Valley Falls benefits from the new plant. Ned weds Mary, and the townsfolk give Solomon a well-deserved apology. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The comedy duo of Lew Fields and Joe Weber had parted ways for several years when they teamed up once again for this picture, based on the 1917 play by Samuel Shipman and Aaron Hoffman. As youths, Carl Pfeiffer (Fields) and Henry Block (Weber) came to America from Germany. Pfeiffer became a wholesale shoe dealer, while Block became a banker. In spite of their lines of work, they apparently save most oftheir energy for their unending arguments with each other. The latest dispute involves the Great War (the film takes place in the days just before America became involved). Block is completely patriotic towards his new country, while Pfeiffer wavers between Germany and the U.S. When his son, William (Jack Mulhall), decides to enlist, Pfeiffer is upset. He wants to keep the soldiers from going overseas, so he gives money to a fund run by Miller (Stuart Holmes) for that purpose. What he doesn't realize is that Miller is a spy, and he uses the money to sink the transport that is taking the soldiers to Europe. Pfeiffer is grief-stricken when he realizes he helped kill his own son -- but then William reappears, unharmed. As a result, Pfeiffer teams up with Block, who has joined the secret service, and Hilda Schwartz, another secret service agent (Lucille Lee Stewart), to capture Miller. William marries Block's daughter, June (Virginia Brown Faire), and their fathers go on to new quarrels. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This romance is based on the best-selling novel by Robert Keable, which was a sequel to yet another novel, Simon Called Peter. Monte Blue stars as clergyman Peter Graham, who is in love with Julie, a nurse (Marie Prevost). Julie, however, refuses to marry him. When World War I breaks out, they both serve in the same unit. When the war ends they are demobilized in Cape Town, South Africa. Julie resumes her nursing career, while Graham goes to work at a trading post. He winds up in a dispute with the corrupt boss, Stenhouse (George Siegmann), who tries to kill him. Mosheshoe, a native loyal to Graham (Charles Stevens), kills Stenhouse, but Graham's leg is shattered. Julie rushes to him and refuses to let it be amputated. She nurses him back to health, and once again he asks her to marry him. She refuses once more and he returns to London without her. He establishes a mission in London, and one day his old sweetheart Angelica (Virginia Brown Faire) shows up. She is pregnant and in need, so Graham offers to marry her. Julie arrives in London and winds up assisting in the birth of Angelica's child. But Angelica dies, freeing Graham and Julie to finally wed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Billy Sullivan, a nephew of turn-of-the-century boxing champ John L. Sullivan, starred in this low-budget prize-fight melodrama as Billy Brookes, a boxer whose spendthrift wife Phyliss (Virginia Brown Faire) considers him a loser. But when Phyliss is severely injured in an automobile accident and requires expensive surgery, Billy throws caution to the wind and wins the Big Fight. Recovering, Phyliss finally sees her husband in a heroic light and they agree to begin a new life together. A beauty contest winner, Virginia Brown Faire is perhaps best remembered today for having played Tinger Bell in Peter Pan (1924). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Based on a 1921 story by Jackson Gregory, this silent Western starred Buck Jones as Montgomery Wilson Fitzsmith, a roaming cowboy who comes to the aid of a beleaguered group of Desert Valley ranchers who are fighting an unscrupulous capitalist, Jefferson Hoades (Malcolm Waite). Hoades has cornered the valley's costly water supply, but before Fitzsmith can join the side of the righteous, he most prove himself innocent of stealing a pie. With sheriff's deputy Eugene Pallette in hot pursuit, our hero encounters Mildred Dean (Virginia Brown Faire), whose father (J.W. Johnston), is put on trial for breaking the water pipeline. Fitzsmith gallops back to town and proves that the real culprit is Hoades. A chase ensues, and Fitzsmith bests the evil Hoades in a well-staged fistfight. Having signed with Fox in 1919, Buck Jones would become that studio's runner-up to the great Tom Mix. By the mid 1920s, Jones was almost rivaling Mix's popularity, having adopted a less flamboyant but still pleasing style of his own. Jones' stardom lasted until his tragic death in a Boston nightclub fire in 1942. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide