Gordon Griffith Movies

Set in India, this romantic drama tells the melodramatic tale of a young couple who travel to a remote jungle village to announce their betrothal to the bride's parents. Unfortunately, while there, the groom becomes attracted to his love's free-spirited sister who lives in the jungle causing the fiancee to try to kill herself. Seeing that she has inadvertently harmed her sister, the jungle girl returns to the forest and the shamed groom returns to his fiancee. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Speed Limited is an apt title; the speed in this quickie is limited to that of the proverbial tortoise. Ralph Graves heads the All-Hasbeen cast, playing an FBI agent. Graves spends most of the film's molasses-slow 52 minutes chasing down a vicious kidnapping ring. He also juggles with the affections of a mystery woman (Evelyn Brent) and a dizzy heiress (Claudia Dell). Filmed in 1936, Speed Limited gathered dust for four years before it was picked up for distribution by the fly-by-night Regent corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this bargain-basement actioner, a determined young woman tries to prove that her incarcerated brother is innocent. She must hurry, for he has a fatal date with the electric chair. Desperate, she enlists the aide of a shady character and a kindly district attorney. Most of the action scenes were cut from minor serials. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The penultimate Bill Cody Western in a series of nine produced by Gower Gulch company Spectrum Pictures, Blazing Justice featured its weatherbeaten star as a lawman mistaken for an outlaw by pretty Gertrude Messinger. Naturally, the real culprit is the very man Cody was trailing in the first place. Whew the girl's father (Budd Buster) is found murdered, Cody becomes an obvious suspect but a $10,000 insurance settlement eventually lures the real killer (Gordon Griffith) into a trap. A holdover from the silent era, Cody cut a rather dismal figure at this point in his career and was beaten not once but twice by villain Griffith in Blazing Justice. Producer Ray Kirkwood announced in late 1935 that Cody would nevertheless star in a second series for Spectrum, but following Outlaws of the Range (1936) the veteran performer found himself replaced with crooner Fred Scott. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The Holy Wars are given the usual overblown Cecil B. DeMille treatment in The Crusades. It all begins in the 12th-century AD, when Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Saracens, and the Christians are slaughtered or sold into slavery. A holy man known as The Hermit (C. Aubrey Smith) rallies the rulers of England and Europe to launch a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem in the name of Christianity. Among those embarking upon this massive undertaking is England's King Richard the Lion-Hearted (played as a swaggering roughneck by Henry Wilcoxon), who finances his knights by marrying wealthy French princess Berengaria (Loretta Young) sight unseen. Saladin (Ian Keith), the elegant and well-spoken ruler of the Saracens, attempts to stave off the crusaders by kidnapping Berengaria and holding her hostage. Sensing that he can never win against so formidable a collection of foes, Saladin eventually opens the gates of Jerusalem to all but Richard the Lion-Hearted, with whom he has a personal score to settle. In the film's most memorable scene, the fundamental difference between the boorish Richard and the cultured Saladin is demonstrated when the Saracen ruler delicately cleaves Berengaria's silk scarf in twain with his gleaming sword. It took a great deal of nerve to depict the film's hero as a thuggish brute and the nominal villain as the most sympathetic character in the story, but DeMille gets away with it in The Crusades, and still has time left over to deliver his usual quota of thrills, pageantry, convoluted history and campy dialogue. And yes, that is Ann Sheridan as a Christian captive in the opening scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Silent screen leading man Lawrence Gray stars in this low-budget thriller produced by legendary penny-pincher Sam Katzman. After selling his cargo of silk to merchant Nick Conrad (Bryant Washburn), Captain Matthews (John Elliott) is brutally robbed by a gang of thieves under Conrad's control. Fortunately, intrepid newspaper reporter Jerry Mason (Gray) manages to get hold of the money, which he hides in a sausage at the deli belonging to his friend Freddy (Fuzzy Knight). Just as the thieves descend on the deli, the sausage is purchased by police officer O'Brien (Fred Kelsey), and is thus out of their reach. Having decided to set sail on the Lottie Carson as soon as possible, Matthews and his daughter Lorraine (Sheila Mannors aka Sheila Bromley) are persuaded by Jerry to stash the money in Freddy's safe. But Conrad and his gang, who quickly descend on the defenseless couple, intercept a letter to Jerry from Matthews. Happily, Jerry and Freddy manage to arrive just in time at the Lottie Carson to save father and daughter from Conrad, who is summarily thrown overboard to his death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

One of several poverty-row films which vanished from sight during the 1935-36 movie season, Beacon Productions did its best to stay afloat as long as possible with such potboilers as What Price Crime? Future cowboy hero Charles Starrett is cast as G-Man Allan Grey, hot on the trail of a gang of firearms smugglers. Going undercover, Grey poses as an aspiring prizefighter in order to gain the confidence of gang leader Douglas Worthington (Noel Madison). The plot becomes as thick as pea soup when our hero falls in love with Worthington's sister Sondra (played by Virginia Cherrill, previously the blind flower girl in Chaplin's City Lights). Despite its urban setting, much of What Price Crime was economically filmed out-of-doors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wealthy collegiate Charles Delaney inherits a row of tenement buildings in the city's slum district. Visiting his new acquisition, he meets and falls in love with tenement girl Erin La Bissoniere. He marries her and sets her up in a posh home in the suburbs, where she soon attracts the attentions of every male in the vicinity. Upon discovering that La Bissoniere enjoys "playing the field," the disillusioned Delaney walks out on her and heads to Texas. A series of bizarre circumstances leads the world at large to assume that Delaney has been killed, and he does nothing to discourage this assumption. Drifting to Mexico, Delaney makes the acquaintance of a fight manager and before long has established himself as a champ pugilist. When his true identity is discovered, Delaney isn't too put out, since he has by now found true happiness with his ex-wife's virtuous sister (June Marlowe). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Thirty-two year old Mary Pickford returned to form as America's Sweetheart as Little Annie Rooney, a tough teenager from the streets who gets into mischief with her little gang of ruffians. She has a boyfriend, Joe Kelly (William Haines), whom she is sweet on. But when her father (Walter James) is killed, her brother Tim (Gordon Griffith) thinks that Joe is the murderer. Tim shoots Joe with his father's gun, but Annie, convinced of Joe's innocence, gives him a blood transfusion and saves his life. She then organizes her gang of street kids to search for the real killer of her father. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Those who see the title to this picture and think it must be based on a hoary old melodrama are absolutely correct. The play, popular circa 1900, was written by Charles E. Blaney. Even though melodramas were making a little comeback in the early 1920s, this one really had no place in the flapper era. Julian Lorraine (J. Frank Glendon) is the leading man in a stock company. He leaves his wife, Viola (Alice Lake) because he believes she has been unfaithful. He is told that she has drowned himself, so he weds Josephine Clifford, his leading lady (Rosemary Theby). But Viola is not dead, and eventually she comes back to kidnap her own daughter, Ruth (Josephine Adair). Ultimately, the truth is revealed -- Vincent Grant, another actor of the troupe (Philo McCullough) was in love with Viola, so he plotted with Josephine to split up the Lorraines. Josephine is killed, Grant winds up behind bars, and Lorraine reunites with his faithful wife. Incidentally, this picture was produced by Harry Cohn, who would become famous -- or, perhaps, infamous -- as the head of Columbia Pictures. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Based on Joseph Bushnell Ames' Shoe Bar Stratton (published that same year), this average Tom Mix Western starred the decade's number one cowboy hero as Bob Stratton, a young veteran who returns from the war to find his ancestral ranch in the hands of Mary Thorne (Lillian Rich). Thorne is the daughter of a usurper, now deceased, who had appropriated the ranch under the false notion that Stratton had died. After several skirmishes with a couple of shadowy figures, Stratton solves the ownership dilemma by simply marrying the girl. Catch My Smoke was helmed by William Beaudine, a veteran director whose fast-paced and somewhat slipshod methods would earn him the not entirely laudatory nickname "One-Shot." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Produced by the low-budget Weiss brothers, Leonard and Louis, The Adventures of Tarzan was the first of no less than five jungle serials to be produced in the span of only ten months and by far the most popular. Starring burly Elmo Lincoln, and 16-year-old Louise Lorraine as Jane, the 15-chapter cliffhanger was based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Return of Tarzan and Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Returning to his beloved jungle kingdom, Tarzan spurns the love of Queen la of Opal (Lillian Worth), who in revenge attempts to sabotage the jungle king's efforts to defeat a treasure-hunting Bolshevik, Rokoff (Frank Whitson), and his own cousin, William Clayton (Percy Pembroke), a pretender to the title of Lord Greystoke. The early chapters of The Adventures of Tarzan came in for some criticism from bluenoses and Lincoln's manly chest was quickly covered up. Unbeknownst to the majority of moviegoers, Elmo was doubled by 1918 gymnastic champion Frank Merrill, whose athletic skills did much to ensure success. Merrill would eventually play Lord Greystoke in two Universal serials: Tarzan the Mighty (1928) and Tarzan the Tiger (1929), the last mentioned a partial remake of The Adventures of Tarzan featuring the exotic Kithnou as the evil jungle queen. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

"New Thought," a form of spiritual positivism, was very popular in the late 1910s through the 1930s, and the principles behind it were the inspiration for this drama. Margery Wilson both directed and starred. Young spendthrift Edwin Drake (Charles Meredith) is disowned by his father. When he cannot find work he becomes a tramp, but a vision shows him his better self and he begins his regeneration. He finally lands a job and works his way up to one of the firm's top positions. Meanwhile, Sarah Holmes (Wilson) is working as a boarding house slavey. She finds her will with the help of a professor who has befriended her. She meets Mrs. Drake, who is out on a charity mission. The wealthy matron befriends the girl and finally adopts her. When Mrs. Drake tells Sarah of her lost son, she recognizes Edwin, who has boarded at her house under an assumed name. She reunites mother and son, and eventually marries Edwin. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi