Courtenay Foote Movies

Alla Nazimova had been away from the screen for over a year when she made this drama, and she was paid well under half her former salary. To add box-office value, she was given Milton Sills as a co-star, but even so, the film did not do well either in film receipts or reviews. Reverend John Morton (Sills) is the minister at a fashionable parish, but when his uncle wills him a small fortune, he quits to open up a mission in London's Limehouse district. The uncle's mistress, Mary Carlson (Nazimova), is furious that she was cut out of the will and is determined to get the money any way she can. She finds Morton and vamps him into marrying her, though much to her chagrin, she discovers that he's intent on spending his wealth on the poor. Morton eventually discovers that Mary was his uncle's mistress, so when she runs off he doesn't go after her. Mary's life goes downhill and she takes to the streets. Morton, meanwhile, is attacked by a mob and decides that he is better without his inheritance. He holds onto his ministry, however, and Mary returns to him when she decides to repent. A version of this story was filmed as a talkie in 1930. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This charming and expensively made historical romance was one of Marion Davies' best films. She spends much of the picture disguised as a boy, something she also did effectively in several other films. A young Irish lad, Patrick O'Day (Stephen Carr), inherits a fortune, providing he travels to New York to claim it within a certain period of time. His father, John (J.M. Kerrigan), manages to scrape together the money to send himself, his son, and daughter, Patricia (Davies), across the Atlantic. But the boy is sick and dies en route to New York. In order to get the money, John convinces Patricia to disguise herself as her brother. They arrive just in time to claim the inheritance, which frustrates cousin Larry Delevan (Harrison Ford), who would have received it had Pat not shown up. Although Delevan is not thrilled with his cousin's arrival, they become fast friends anyhow, and he never suspects that Pat is really a girl. Delevan wants to invest in Robert Fulton's steamship, the Clermont, and Pat loans him the money. But Delevan then wagers on a fight between Bully Boy Brewster (Harry Watson) and the Hoboken Terror (Louis Wolheim). The match is an uneven one and it looks like Delevan will lose all his money, so Pat rings a false alarm to break up the fight. When her deed is discovered, the mob drags her out to be whipped. She takes it for a few lashes before revealing that she's really a girl. Delevan falls in love with her and they marry. Contrary to popular belief, many of Marion Davies' films made money, and Little Old New York was one of them. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

For a while, Mae Murray and her then-husband, director Robert Z. Leonard, were an unstoppable team. They had their own production company, and this comedy-drama followed in the wake of the massively successful Peacock Alley. Murray plays Dolores de Lisa, the Spanish-American daughter of the aristocratic Eduardo de Lisa (Charles Lane). Dolores's New York upbringing has turned her into a carefree flapper, and when her old world aunt, the Marquesa de Lisa (Emily Fitzroy), comes to visit, she insists on taking the girl back to Spain to become a lady. But Dolores continues her playful ways and becomes infatuated with toreador Carrita (Robert W. Frazer), even though she has a fiancé, Ralph Kellogg (Vincent Coleman), back in the States. By the time Kellogg arrives in Spain, with Dolores's father and drunken brother, Carlos (Creighton Hale), Dolores has run off to the bullfights. While the men are searching for her, they get into a lot of trouble, and Dolores has to help save them. After all the difficulty she has caused, Dolores decides to return to Kellogg and lead a more sedate life. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Although Raimunda (Eualie Jensen) marries Esteban (Courtenay Foote), he holds a secret passion for his stepdaughter, Acacia (Norma Talmadge). He uses his servant, Rubio (Walter Wilson) to ruin Acacia's romance with Norbert (Harrison Ford). Then, when she becomes engaged to Faustino (Robert Agnew), Esteban has him murdered, and Norbert is tried for the crime. But he is acquitted and the guilt points toward Esteban, who runs to the hills. Eventually he returns and Raimunda begs Acacia to forgive him. The two embrace, and the truth comes out about Esteban's love for his stepdaughter. The angry Raimunda calls for help and Esteban shoots her. He is arrested and the mother dies in her daughter's arms. This picture was based on the stage play by Jacinto Benavente which starred Nance O'Neil as Raimunda. In its motion picture adaptation, the role of Acacia was built up for screen star Norma Talmadge. Talmadge's sister Natalie -- at the time engaged to comedian Buster Keaton -- had a small role. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Elsie Janis was one of the major names of the musical comedy world. In addition to starring in several highly regarded vehicles, she was also a prolific playwright and director, as well as an indefatigable troop-show entertainer during World War 1. The 1915 silent film Caprices of Kitty robbed audiences of the pleasure of Janis's rich singing and speaking voice, but her talent and vivacity still shone through every frame. The star plays a boarding school student who will lose her inheritance if she spends any time with her fiance in the six months prior to her marriage. In order to rendezvous with her beloved, Elsie resorts to clever disguises and elaborate costumes. All's well that ends well in this sprightly romantic comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Home Sweet Home has been referred to by its leading lady Lillian Gish as "the first all-star film." Indeed, virtually every member of director D.W.Griffith's celebrated stock company appears in this three-part, five-reel biographical drama. Based on the life of John Howard Payne, composer of the "world-famous" title song, the film stars Henry B. Walthall as Payne, herein depicted as a brilliant but unstable artist who never found the happiness embodied in his songs. As incidents in Payne's life are enacted on the screen -- his early failures, his success as a playwright in England and as a composer in France, and his lonely, embittered final years in Africa -- these scenes are counterpointed with three "sub-stories," in which the song Home Sweet Home is shown to have a profound effect on several different people. In Episode One, a western miner (Robert Harron) nearly leaves his waitress sweetheart Mae Marsh), but they are reunited to the strains of the Payne song. In Episode Two, the song causes a faithless wife (Blanche Sweet) to renounce her lover (Owen Moore) and return to her husband (Courtenay Foote). And in the final episode, two quarrelling brothers (Donald Crisp and James Kirkwood) kill each other, leaving their grieving mother to find solace in the familiar strains of Home Sweet Home. Though Lillian Gish also spoke respectfully of her artistic collaborations with D.W. Griffith, even she found the film's final scene -- in which, dressed as Heavenly angel, she rescues John Howard Payne from the bowels of Hell -- a bit difficult to watch with a straight face. This silly denouement aside, Home Sweet Home, a joint effort of the Reliance and Mutual film companies, was quite wonderful entertainment, and one of the most successful of Griffith's pre-Birth of a Nation endeavors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

True to the social consciousness of director Lois Weber, False Colors is an "issue" drama. The issue this time is parental neglect. Feeling sorry for himself when his wife dies in childbirth, a father puts his daughter up for adoption. Eighteen years later, the girl is in the hands of a neglectful foster family. Already soured on life, the daughter is in no mood to have her father re-enter her life. She tells him to get lost, but changes her mind in time for a happy ending (and the silent-movie equivalent of a "curtain speech") Lois Weber also co-wrote False Colors, and co-starred in the film with her husband Phillips Smalley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi