James Gordon Movies

Action specialist B. Reeves Eason cools his jets as director of Behind Jury Doors. William Collier Jr. plays a hotshot reporter assigned to cover the murder trial of a prominent doctor. Once he meets the doc's pretty daughter Helen Chandler, Collier vows to prove the defendant's innocence. Problem is, someone on the jury has been bribed...maybe. Behind Jury Doors was one of the more polished productions to emerge from poverty-row Mayfair Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edward Childs Carpenter's stock-company perennial Bachelor Father was reshaped as a Marion Davies vehicle in 1931. Davies plays Tony Flagg, one of the three estranged grown children of aging roue Sir Basil Winterton (C. Aubrey Smith). Tony and her siblings Geoffrey Trent (Ray Milland) and Maria Credaro (Nena Quartero), were all born out of wedlock, each to a different mother. The premise finds Winterton reuniting with all of the children and becoming acquainted with each of them for the first time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Kenneth Hawks (Howard's brother) collaborated with Fox contractee David Butler on the direction of the late silent Masked Emotion. The story takes place along the seacoast of California, where sailboat skipper Brandlet Dickey (George O'Brien) stumbles upon a scheme to smuggle Chinese aliens into the country. Complicating matters is the fact that Dickey's younger brother Thad (played by crack stuntman David Sharpe) is sweet on Emily Goodell (Nora Lane), daughter of the captain (James Gordon) of the smuggling vessel. There's plenty of he-man action as Dickey simultaneously trounces the villains and guides his wounded brother back to shore. Ben Ames Williams' A Son of Anak was the source for this typically two-fisted O'Brien vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When cowboy Buck Thomas' (Buck Jones) beloved horse Silver is "drafted" into the Cavalry during WWI, Buck loyally joins up as well. Both master and horse eventually find themselves on the battlefields of France, where Buck's outfit is slated to be wiped out in a surprise attack by a German raiding party. Riding his horse across enemy lines, Buck manages to halt the ambush and capture the boche. In so doing, he wins the love of dimpled Red Cross nurse Audrey Evans (Lola Todd). One of the best of the Buck Jones silents, War Horse was co-scripted by Jones and director Lambert Hillyer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Written by Anita Loos, Publicity Madness has much in common with Loos' 1916 Doug Fairbanks vehicle His Picture in the Papers. Edmund Lowe stars as Pete Clark, a young press agent who hits upon a fool-proof publicity stunt. Using $100,000 of his boss' money, Clark promotes a contest requiring the entrants to complete a non-stop plane flight from California to Hawaii, certain that no one would be foolhardy enough to undertake so risky a venture. But after Charles Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic, Clark realizes that someone very well may win the prize -- and one hundred grand doesn't exactly grow on trees. Thus, our hero takes a crash course in aviation and enters the contest himself, hoping to cop the prize and return the money to his nervous employer. Adding spice to the proceedings is the presence of heroine Lois Moran, cast against type as a sexy seductress. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Thunder the Dog, Fox Studios' answer to Warner Bros.' Rin Tin Tin, stars in Wolf Fangs. The star plays a sheepherder's pup who turns "outlaw" when he's falsely accused of killing sheep. Adapting to the wild with ease, Thunder soon becomes head of a wolf pack, though his supremacy is challenged by his bitter rival Lobo. The story's "human" angle is introduced when heroine Ellen (Caryl Lincoln) tries to save the wounded Thunder from his pursuers; he returns the favor by rescuing Ellen from her sadistic guardian. Wolf Fangs was filmed on location at Mt. Baker Park in Oregon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Social Highwayman is a light-fingered jewel thief who preys on high-society folk. Greenhorn newspaper reporter Jay Walker (John Patrick) decides to make a name for himself by bringing the crook to justice. Before his adventure is through, our hero is in store for quite a few surprises, and not a few perils. As a fringe benefit, however, he wins the love of heiress Elsie Van Tyler (Dorothy Devore). It was clear that nobody involved in The Social Highwayman was taking the thing seriously, as witness such subtitles as "Evening came because afternoon had gone and morning was not due until dawn" (which sounds like something out of a Laurel and Hardy comedy). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A robust potboiler from Universal, The Ice Flood stars Kenneth Harlan as Jack De Quincey, a handsome youth returning from Oxford to take part in his father's Oregon lumber business. But Jack demands to work incognito and bets the elder DeQuincey (George Irving) 10,000 dollars that he will not only survive among the roughhewn loggers but prosper. Jack immediately earns the enmity of the camp bully, Pete (Frank Hagney), who takes umbrage to the newcomer's interest in Marie (Viola Dana), the daughter of Superintendent O'Neill (DeWitt Jennings). But Jack not only bests Pete in a fair fight and gets medical attention for little Billy (Billy Kent Schaefer), the camp mascot who suffers from a clubfoot, but also saves Marie from the dangerous natural disaster of the title. The Ice Flood was based on a 1918 short story by Zorro creator Johnston McCulley and had previously been filmed by Universal under its original title, The Brute Breaker (1919). According to some reports, Walter Brennan appears as one of the loggers in this film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Universal's humorously sloppy western hero Hoot Gibson starred in this average silent oater about a rugged ranch foreman who must prove his true worth in order to marry a banker's daughter (Ethel Shannon). As usual, Gibson played his character for laughs, and this film only added to his popularity. Buckaroo Kid was also an early showcase for freckled child actor Newton House, the star of the studio's popular "Champion Boy Rider" two-reel westerns 1927-1928. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Tumbleweeds marked silent-screen cowboy legend William S. Hart's return to the screen after a long absence, and it was also his swan song, as Hart's brand of individualism and moody morality gave way to the more action-oriented films of Tom Mix and the epic westerns of The Covered Wagon and The Iron Horse. Tumbleweeds takes place in 1899 when the Cherokee Strip was opened up to homesteaders. When that happens, Don Carver (Hart), the range boss for the Box K Ranch, finds himself out of work. Carver falls in love with Molly Lassiter (Barbara Bedford), the daughter of one of the families of homesteaders who have gathered in Caldwell, Kansas, preparing for the big land rush. Carver joins up with the homesteaders in the hope that he can get a piece of land and claim the site of the Box K ranchhouse, which controls the water for the strip. But he is falsely arrested and has to break free to take part in the land rush. Although King Baggot is credited as the sole director, Hart co-directed the film. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The mother of Henry Potter (George O'Brien) died when he was born, and his father, Thomas (Ralph Lewis), spoiled him with wealth and luxury. As a result, Henry has become a wild, out-of-control young man. After he is hit with a breach of promise suit and caught in a drunken brawl, Henry is sent to San Francisco, where he falls in love with Marcelle, a dancer (Dorothy Mackaill). Although Marcelle tries to straighten him out, he proves to be as reckless as ever, and Thomas orders him shanghaied and shipped off to -- where else? -- Shanghai. There he continues his drunken ways and once again runs into Marcelle, who has become a morphine addict. Together, they battle to overcome their addictions. After getting married, the couple moves to Hawaii, where an aunt (Emily Fitzroy) tries to make Henry choose between Marcelle and his sick father. Marcelle pretends to go back on the dope so that Henry will go to his father, but he refuses to leave her. Finally she convinces him to reconcile with Thomas, who comes to accept Marcelle as part of the family. This picture was remade as talkie in 1931 as an unlikely vehicle for Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

John Ford directed this epic-scale silent western, which was one of his first major successes and was hugely influential on outdoor films that followed. David Brandon (James Gordon) is a surveyor in the Old West who dreams that one day the entire North American continent will be linked by railroads. However, to make this dream a reality, a clear trail must be found through the Rocky Mountains. With his boy Davy (Winston Miller), David sets out to find such a path, but he's ambushed by a tribe of Indians led by a white savage, Peter Jesson (Cyril Chadwick); while the boy manages to escape, David is killed. Years later, the adult Davy Brandon (George O'Brien) still believes in his father's dream of a transcontinental railroad, and legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln has made it an official mandate. Davy is hired on as a railroad surveyor by Thomas Marsh (Will R. Walling), the father of his childhood sweetheart Miriam (Madge Bellamy). While Davy hopes to win Miriam's heart as he helps to find the trail that led to his father's death years ago, he's disappointed to discover that Miriam is already married -- and shocked to discover her husband is Peter Jesson, now working with the railroad as a civil engineer. As the Union Pacific crew presses on to their historic meeting at Promitory Point, Davy must find a way to earn Miriam's love and uncover Peter's murderous past. Shot on location in Arizona in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, The Iron Horse was a massive production that employed over 6,000 people; two temporary cities were built to accommodate them, with 100 cooks on hand to serve meals. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi