Ernest Gillen Movies
- 1926
The career of Charles Ray was on a downhill slide by the time he made this picture, based on a novel by Rex Beach. It had been filmed once before, in 1917, but this version, made by MGM, played up its comedy aspects. As wealthy city boy Bob Wharton, Ray goes against his usual rube type with mixed results. Wharton is a spendthrift who elopes with Lory Knight (Eleanor Boardman), a beauty contest winner from South Carolina. When she realizes that Wharton knows more about going out on the town than he does about honest, hard work, she leaves him and returns to South Carolina. Wharton follows after her and gets a job as a shoe salesman. While he's making good, Carter Lane (Ernest Gillen) tries to win Lory over. Lane's sister, Bernice (Sally O'Neil), meanwhile, vamps Wharton and compromises him. The irate Lane men are determined that Wharton must marry Bernice or die, but she finally confesses that the situation was all her doing, and he is innocent. Having proved he can be a success, Wharton reunites with Lory. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Ray, Eleanor Boardman, (more)
- 1926
While the mid-1920s were deluged with films about college life, and Brown of Harvard is probably the ultimate silent film in this genre, even more significantly it is an early example of the buddy film. Never mind the romance between Harvard undergrad Tom Brown (William Haines) and professor's daughter, Mary Abbott (Mary Brian) -- the real love story, and the one that truly moves the film's plot, is the one between the handsome, athletic Brown and his weakling sidekick Jim Doolittle (Jack Pickford) (in fact, the physical contrast between the two men is echoed in another important buddy film which came out some 40 years later -- Midnight Cowboy). The relationship between the two young men is established right from the beginning, when the brash and cocky Brown easily wins over his dormitory mates but refuses to let them ostracize Doolittle. Doolittle becomes Brown's biggest champion and their mutual loyalty is much more straightforward than Brown's pursuit of Mary, who can't decide whether she hates him, loves him, or prefers his stuffy rival, Bob MacAndrews (Francis X. Bushman, Jr.). Doolittle sticks by his pal when he loses the rowing competition against Yale, and later on risks his life by chasing after Brown in a pouring rainstorm to tell him that he hasn't been scratched from the football team after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Pickford, Mary Brian, (more)
- 1925
Norma Shearer, who hadn't yet become the queen of the MGM lot (or won mogul Irving Thalberg as her husband), stars in this comedy with Lew Cody. Ruth Lawrence (Shearer) is the stenographer for David Colman (Cody) and John Sloden (Willard Louis). The two men are less than impressed with Ruth's appearance, since she wears dowdy clothes and no makeup. Colman, in fact, says he wouldn't kiss her for a thousand dollars. Ruth overhears his remark and decides to teach him a lesson. While on a business trip with Sloden, Ruth finds a beauty specialist and undergoes a transformation. Now that she is breathtakingly gorgeous, she brings Colman to his knees. He calls on her, but she has conspired with the janitor (Karl Dane) that as soon as Colman begins kissing her, he will show up and claim that she is his wife. Finally, Ruth confesses the trick to Colman and they end the film together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Lew Cody, (more)
- 1925
When Ellen Linden (Alice Terry) returns from finishing school, she discovers that her father has lost his fortune. Although she's less than thrilled at the prospect, she finds work in an office. Both her employers, James Rand (Lawson Butt) and Egbert Phillips (Henry Kolker), show their interest in her. Ellen only cares for Tom Galloway (Ernest Gillen), who is trying to promote a new soft drink. She attempts to interest her bosses in financing his endeavor, but when Rand discovers that the pair are romantically involved, he pulls his backing. Rand and Ellen team up for a treasure hunt (a fad popular in England during the mid-'20s in which the competitors compete with the help of scooters, old cars, old-fashioned bicycles, and just about anything else that moved). They are delayed and wind up being out until the early morning hours. Mrs. Rand (Margarita Fischer) is furious, as is Galloway. Galloway finally realizes that Ellen did nothing wrong and they are reunited. Rand decides it's a good idea to kiss up to his wife, and offers to back Galloway's soft drink as a wedding present to Ellen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Ernest Gillen, (more)
