Claire Adams Movies

Tom Mix travels from the desert of the American West to the Sahara desert in this picture, which is as much farce as it is Western (with a touch of Rudolph Valentino sheiki-sms thrown in for good measure). Mix is Billy Evans, a ranch owner who plays guide to pretty Janice Terhune (Claire Adams). She's a student of dead languages and travels to Arabia with her brother Waldmar (Ralph Yearsley) and professor father (George Hernandez). Evans stays behind, preferring his quiet life on the ranch, but his life is turned upside down by the appearance of Ibrahim Bulamar (Edward Piel), an Arabian prince who is running from his court retainers because he wants to marry a Follies girl. He convinces Evans to impersonate him, and as a result, the retainers kidnap him and take him to Arabia. Once there, he gets tangled up in court intrigue because Bulamar's cousin, Ali Hasson (Hector Sarno), wants the throne. Hasson also has captured Janice and the rest of her party, and intends to marry the girl. Evans has to escape from Hasson's henchmen and rescue Janice. After Evans has done most of the heroics, the prince finally shows up and gets things straightened out. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

A bachelors' club is shaken when one of its members forfeits his five thousand dollar fee to wed. Then another member adopts the child of a dying friend. This inspires Robert Audrey (Harry Myers) to adopt, too -- he figures it will get his mother (Georgia Woodthorpe) off his back. Mrs. Audrey picks out the photo of an adorable six-year-old war orphan, not realizing that the photo is 12 years old. So Audrey is quite shocked when pretty Ruth Atkins (Mae Marsh) shows up on his doorstep. The other members of the club also adopt war orphans with unexpected results -- crotchety old James Crockett (Claude Gillingwater) requests a boy but winds up with a girl and the highly efficient Henry Allen (William Louis) gets triplets. These children win over their reluctant adopted daddies with no problem, while Audrey falls in love with Ruth. Crockett and Allen both find wives who can mother their children and the bachelors' club is dissolved. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Although this drama, "suggested by" the book by Stewart Edward White, takes place in the lawless post-gold rush San Francisco of the 1850s, its theme is pretty typical: a political boss runs rampant and makes things difficult for the upstanding district attorney. Nevertheless, much attention was given to period detail and the cast was well chosen, even though none of them were big stars. District attorney Milton Keith (Carl Gantvoort) is trying to convict gangster Charles Cora (Omar Whitehead) on a murder charge. However, Ben Sansome (Robert McKim, in yet another villain role), a powerful a political boss, makes sure that he gets off. When the acquittal comes through, a vigilante committee comes together but before they can take justice into their own hands, another murder is committed. This time, suspicion falls on Calhoun Bennett (George Hackathorne), the brother of Keith's fiancee, Nan (Claire Adams). But Keith has an ally in Kraft, a small time underworld character who is in his debt (the tiny, funny-faced Snitz Edwards). With Kraft's help, Calhoun is cleared and Sansome is caught before he is able to set sail for Mexico. Sansome and Keith come to blows, and after Keith wins the fight, he brings the boss and his men to justice. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Long before Shirley Temple, Baby Peggy Montgomery was filmdom's favorite moppet. In Helen's Babies, Montgomery plays Toddie, the niece of pretentious author Harry (Edward Everett Horton). Considering himself an expert on child-rearing, Harry finds he knows next to nothing about kids when Toddie is left in his care. Featured in the cast is "It Girl" Clara Bow, on the verge of full-blown stardom. After wearing out her welcome on screen, Montgomery grew up to become prolific author (and expert film historian) Diana Cary. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Western star Tom Mix's wonder horse, Tony, took center stage in this fine silent oater directed by Lynn F. Reynolds for the Fox company. Tony actually plays a character other than Tom Mix's horse. He is a stallion horribly abused by his Mexican owner, whom he finally tramples to death. Joining a herd of wild mustangs, Tony seeks revenge on humans everywhere. That is, until cowboy Mix teaches him that not all of mankind is bad. Tony later repays the kindness by saving Mix and pretty rancher Claire Adams from a gang of rustlers. One of Tom Mix's own favorites, this Western was based on the short story Alcatraz by Max Brand (aka Frederick Faust). It was re-released in 1929 after Mix had departed from Fox. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The Man of the Forest was one of a seemingly endless stream of Zane Grey novels that were brought to the screen. Carl Gantvoort makes a rather colorless hero, and he's up against two impressive villains: Robert McKim and Jean Hersholt. Ailing ranch owner Al Auchincloss (Harry Lorraine) sends for his two nieces, Helen and Bo Raynor (Claire Adams and Charlotte Pierce), who are his heirs. Milt Dale, who lives in the forest (Gantvoort), comes down to help round up the cattle, and a romance springs up between him and Helen. This does not please Harvey Riggs (McKim), who is trying to get control of the ranch. Riggs gets help from bootlegger Lem Beasley (Jean Hersholt), who sends his henchmen to kidnap the girls. Dale, meanwhile, has been framed to keep him out of the way, but he still manages to rescue Helen and Bo. Beasley's attempt to poison Auchincloss is foiled when he is shot by Las Vegas, a cowboy (Frank Hayes). The bad guys are put to rout, and Dale can continue his romance with Helen. This story was filmed again in 1926 and 1933. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Will Prescott (Richard Dix) is a bank cashier whose assistant, Ned Seabury (Neil Hamilton), has made a killing in the stock market. With his newfound riches, Seabury proceeds to woo Prescott's wife, Agnes (Claire Adams), by buying her luxurious items that her husband can not afford. Seabury makes no secret of his aim, and Prescott desperately steals some of the bank's bonds, hoping to make enough money to keep Agnes by his side. He invests the bonds with Seabury's broker, Arnold Kirke (Henry Stephenson), but they're wiped out. Kirke kills himself, and when bank president Culman (Robert Edeson) finds the bonds missing, he blames Seabury. Although it is tempting to let Seabury hang, Prescott fesses up. He is thrown in jail, but the repentant Agnes begs Culman to give him another chance. He does, and sends Prescott and Agnes to South America to manage his coffee plantation. This drama was based on a turn-of-the-century stage play by David Belasco and Henry C. DeMille. Henry C. DeMille's elder son, William C. DeMille, directed (his younger son was filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille). ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This drama was the type of feature that was very popular among typical filmgoers in the 1920s. Fred and Alice Garlan (Eugene O'Brien and Claire Windsor) are happy newlyweds, but once they settle into their marriage, things get a little dull. Fred focuses on his work and Alice gets wrapped up in a "fast" set of friends. Among them are Esther Hamilton (Eileen Percy) and Harrison Morrill (Anders Randolf). Alice envies Esther's sables, not realizing the price she had to pay to get them. Morrill begins paying a lot of attention to Alice and Fred starts suspecting that she is another one of his conquests. When Jim Hamilton (Robert Ober) discovers his wife's affair with Morrill, he kills her in a fury. This wakes Alice up to what is really going on, and she and Fred reconcile. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The Big Parade was designed as a modest programmer concerning one young man's disillusionment in the face of war. When the MGM executives took a look at the projection-room rushes, they gave director King Vidor the go-ahead to film an all-out "spectacular", which ended up running 13 reels and costing a then-astronomical $382,000. Shorn of his matinee-idol mustache, John Gilbert is perfect as an all-American-boy who signs up for World War I service, dreaming of adventure and glory. The first half of the film is taken up with the jocular byplay between Gilbert and his army buddies Tom O'Brien and Karl Dane. These scenes seem to take forever, especially to those awaiting the big battle sequences that the MGM advertising copy had promised. But Vidor's slow buildup had its purpose; by lulling the audience into complacency, the director was able to shock the viewers with the horrors of war as suddenly and effectively as the doughboys had been shocked back in 1918. Gilbert survives the war, but returns home minus one leg (the film's script was written by Laurence Stallings, himself a war vet and amputee). MGM head Louis Mayer was terrified that the scenes of a crippled Gilbert would offend his fans, so he ordered that "protection" footage be shot with Gilbert being merely wounded, but with both legs intact. So powerful were the climactic scenes between Gilbert and his parents, however, that not one preview audience ever demanded that the alternate ending be shown. The film's many highlights includes the cute scene in which Gilbert teaches French girl Renee Adoree how to chew gum; the famous shot of Adoree desperately clinging to Gilbert as he and his fellow soldiers march to the front; the chilling Belleau wood sequence, in which the soldiers, walking stealthily amidst the tall trees, are picked off one by one by snipers; and the heart-rending reunion sequence, in which Gilbert's mother (Claire McDowell) embraces her amputee son as she flashes back to the time that he took his first steps. The only concession to MGM formula was in having Gilbert depicted as a wealthy young man, living in a mansion the size of Rhode Island. Though its original impact has been blunted by years of imitations, The Big Parade remains an unforgettable movie experience. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The subject matter to this Victor Fleming-directed drama is typically virile -- it takes place in Sacramento during the Gold Rush days of 1849. And the star who stands out the most is also the most manly: big Wallace Beery. John Joyce (William Collier Jr.) arrives in Sacramento with his sister, Martha (Claire Adams), and aunt to become the editor of a newspaper. He is determined to clear the town of the low-down mining camp types who are flaunting their freewheeling ways. When Joyce meets Faro Sampson (Pauline Starke), he falls in love, believing that she is the daughter of a minister. Actually she's the daughter of the man who runs a gambling den, "Square Deal" Sampson (Emmett C. King). Joyce tries to forget her, but he can't. Soon the same vigilante committee he has aligned himself with finds him in a compromising position with her. Joyce, Faro, and the other "undesirables" are forced onto a river boat. Ben, a fireman (Beery), takes over command, but when he tries to attack Martha, Joyce springs into action. Ben is vanquished and demoted to peeling potatoes on the ship that rescues everyone. Joyce and Faro, meanwhile, reaffirm their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi