Fred Gambold Movies

This lavish adaptation of Victor Herbert's operetta The Red Mill proved to be one of Marion Davies' most delightful and best-received silent vehicles. Davies is cast as Dutch barmaid Tina, who falls in love with handsome hero Dennis (Owen Moore). Alas, Dennis doesn't return her affections, whereupon Tina mounts a campaign to win his heart -- while simultaneously smoothing the romantic path for her friends, burgomeister's daughter Gretchen (Louise Fazenda) and army captain Jacob (Karl Dane). There's a bit of comic suspense when Tina -- disguised for plot purposes as Gretchen -- is accidentally locked in the titular mill, which is rumored to be haunted, but she manages to escape in time for a happy denouement. Beyond its romantic trappings, The Red Mill is full of wonderful slapstick moments, notably an opening scene in which the heroine tries her luck on ice skates, only to wind up covered in snow from head to foot. The film was directed by one "William Goodrich", actually a pseudonym for rotund comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose film career had been destroyed five years earlier in the wake of a messy scandal (Davies was endeavoring to help Arbuckle make a comeback -- even though her publisher boyfriend William Randolph Hearst had been largely responsible for his downfall!) It has long been assumed that the public was totally unaware that Goodrich and Arbuckle were one in the same, but contemporary reviews of The Red Mill indicate that William Goodrich's true identity was an open secret. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This second of four film versions of Owen Wister's The Virgininian stars Kenneth Harlan as the nameless principal character. Signed on as ranchhands on a huge spread, the Virginian and his best friend Steve (Pat O'Malley) have themselves a high old time until New England schoolmarm Molly Woods (Florence Vidor) enters the scene. Despite constant provoking from the duplicitous Trampas (Russell Simpson), the Virginian does his best to act like an Eastern gentleman for Molly's sake. When Steve casts his lot with Trampas and indulges in cattle rustling, The Virginian, heading a posse, is forced to hang his old friend. Molly can't understand that duty takes priority over friendship, and breaks off her relationship with The Viriginian. Molly comes to see the error of her ways just before The Virginian had his final showdown with Trampas. Previously filmed in 1914 by Cecil B. DeMille, The Virginian was remade in 1929 with Gary Cooper in the lead, and again in 1946 with Joel McCrea. In 1962, a TV version starring James Drury began its nine-season run. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Billy Barton, a bank teller (Douglas MacLean), gets himself in a load of trouble when he takes responsibility for some money stolen by Fred Kingston (Louis Natheaux), the son of the bank president (Bert Hadley). Fred has promised to come clean but he never does and Billy finds himself on a train, headed for prison. But the train wrecks and he winds up in a small town where he goes to work for a farmer, Silas Harkins (Willard Robards). Since Harkins is short on money, he pays Billy with a mule (whose tricks add quite a lot of humor to the film). Billy falls in love with Mary Spivins (Madge Bellamy), the daughter of that town's banker (tto Hoffman). Spivins and Harkins have a long-standing feud so Billy tries to negotiate a truce between them. But right when he's making some headway, crooks rob the bank and bound and gag Spivins. Billy tries to rescue him and gets locked in a vault. His mule kicks through the bricks in the wall, saving him from suffocation, but a little boy thinks he has a better idea to solve the dilemma -- dynamite. As a result, just about everybody involved lands in the hospital. But the robbers are caught, Billy proposes to his girl and all ends well. This picture contained a lot more slapstick than the usual light comedy. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi