Ella Hall Movies
Pretty and with dimples, pioneering screen ingenue Ella Hall was one of many actresses brought in to threaten the hegemony of Mary Pickford. Like all the other Pickford wannabes, Hall ultimately failed but she did manage to stand out in several good films, including Lois Weber's Jewel (1915), in which she came close to duplicating Pickford's childlike geniality, and the above-average Universal serial The Master Key (1914). Like most of her competitors, Hall's career waned in the 1920s and she was reduced to bit parts and walk-ons in the sound era. The wife of actor/director Emory Johnson, Ella Hall became the mother of actors Richard Emory and Ellen Hall. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1933
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is the oddest, least characteristic talkie effort of director Frank Capra. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the intended of an American missionary (Gavin Gordon) who is sent to spread the good word in China. During a military revolution, Stanwyck and her fiance inadvertently wander into forbidden territory while trying to help a group of orphans escape. The couple is forcibly detained by elegant warlord General Yen (played by Swedish actor Nils Ashter), who relies upon the financial advice of drunken American expatriate Walter Connolly. Yen is overcome with desire at the sight of Stanwyck; at first repulsed by his attentions, Stanwyck finds herself strangely drawn in by his charisma. When everyone but Connolly deserts Yen when he needs them most, Stanwyck offers to stay behind with the General. Fearing that he will never be able to truly attain the woman he so loves, the honorable General Yen commits suicide by drinking poisoned tea rather than put her in harm's way. The one scene that everyone remembers takes place during one of Stanwyck's fevered dreams, in which she imagines Yen as a Fu Manchu-type rapist, who then melts into a gentle, courtly suitor. Directed with the exotic aplomb of a Josef von Sternberg by the usually down-to-earth Frank Capra, The Bitter Tea of General Yen was unfortunately a box office failure, due in great part to its miscegenation theme (this was still 1933). Even so, the film was chosen as the first attraction at the new Radio City Music Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, (more)
- 1930
The second of Cecil B. DeMille's talkies (as well as his second for MGM), Madam Satan is an exercise in incoherence, but this doesn't detract one iota from its entertainment value. Kay Johnson plays the sedate wife of philandering Reginald Denny, who is currently carrying on with "jazz baby" Lillian Roth. In a desperate effort to win back her husband, Johnson disguises herself as the alluring, provocatively clothed "Madame Satan." In this guise, she attends a lavish charity costume party being thrown by socialite Roland Young on a dirigible moored high above New York Harbor. Failing to recognize his mousey little wife, Denny arranges for a rendezvous with Madame Satan. When she reveals her true identity, Denny is outraged and threatens divorce. Suddenly, the dirigible is struck by lightning; it breaks loose from its moorings, tossing its terrified passengers around and about. Denny behaves heroically in shepherding the passengers into their parachutes; meanwhile, Johnson gives up her own parachute to save Roth. Coming to the mutual realization that each is worthy of the other's love, Johnson and Denny are reunited. Though when taken out of context, the dirigible sequence appears to be the ultimate in campy melodrama, this scene and all the scenes that built up to it are played for laughs: DeMille didn't take this farrago any more seriously in 1930 than we do today. Highlights include several unexpected and charmingly innapropriate musical numbers, including a bizarre "Ballet Mechanique" featuring dancer Theodore Kosloff. Though DeMille carefully threw in every ingredient that he hoped would appeal to a mass audience, Madam Satan was one of his few box office flops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1923
A classic melodrama is featured in this film that is listed as a romantic adventure. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1922
Emory Johnson both directs and acts in this sentimental family drama. Patrick O'Hara (Ralph Lewis) is a kindly policeman who finds a lost little girl (Josephine Adair) who has stolen some milk. Instead of turning her in, he brings her home, and, when she is discovered to be an orphan, adopts her. Mary grows up with O'Hara's two sons, Harry (Benny Alexander) and Johnny (Johnny Thompson). When the children grow up, Johnny (Johnnie Walker) and Mary (Ella Hall) have fallen in love and plan to marry. Harry (Johnson), a law student, is accused of stealing several hundred dollars, and his mother (Claire McDowell) is devastated by the news. Johnny resolves to get the money and clear Harry's name; unbeknownst to him, Mary also decides to help Harry. The bank where Johnny works is robbed, and he is accused of the theft. At the trial, the evidence seems overwhelming until Harry steps in and begins to work on his defense. The real robber confesses, clearing Johnny's name. Harry, too, is cleared of the charges against him and the family is happy once again. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Lewis, Claire McDowell, (more)
- 1922
Emory Johnson directs this heartwarming film, which features his wife, Ella Hall, as the love interest. After years of faithful service to the fire department, Dan McDowell (Ralph Lewis) is let go because he can't handle the fire trucks with the same skill he handled the horse-driven engines. His favorite horse, Bullet, is also discharged and sold to a new, cruel owner. McDowell's son, Johnny (Johnnie Walker), is forced to give up college to help support the family, and he follows in his father's footsteps by becoming a fireman. Bullet escapes from the barn and a newsboy, Jimmie (Frankie Lee), finds him. He takes the horse to McDowell's barn, causing a misunderstanding. McDowell is arrested for stealing Bullet. His son, meanwhile, goes to fight his first big fire -- it's at the apartment building where his sweetheart, June Rutherford (Hall), lives. He heroically comes to her rescue. Jimmie's testimony frees McDowell, who immediately dashes to the apartment building to help put out the fire. Because of his actions, McDowell is hired by the fire department to care for the retired horses. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Lewis, Johnnie Walker, (more)
- 1918
Jilted by his actress sweetheart Marie Beauchamp (Gretchen Lederer), Kenneth Scott (Emory Johnson) heads to the country to start life afresh. He promptly falls in love with rural lass Daphne Sawyer (Ella Hall), little realizing that she is the sister of the girl who just dumped him. Scott's already tangled-up love life is further complicated when Marie shows up in town to open a cabaret. He is tempted to return to his ex-sweetie, but Daphne emerges the winner. New Love for Old was a rare "adult" endeavor for director Elsie Jane Wilson, who usually specialized in juvenile-oriented pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
While Angela (Ella Hall) grows up in the South with her grandmother, her mother (Mary Mirsch) is off marrying Captain Eldone (T.C. Crittenden). The Captain has some plans for a new siege gun, and when he is reported killed and his wife returns to the U.S., she is closely watched by both the British and the Germans (this picture takes place in "the present" and in 1918, that meant World War I was being fought). Angela shows up on Lady Eldone's doorstep, just when she is becoming acquainted with Howard Grey (Emory Johnson). Grey is trying to help Great Britain get the plans, but Lady Eldone sees him in a more romantic light. Since an eighteen-year-old daughter risks killing her chances with him, she dresses Angela in short skirts like a thirteen-year-old, much to the girl's disgust. The maid, Rose Marie (Grace McLean), turns out to be a German spy and she and her compatriots are captured at about the same time Angela has gotten fed up with her ruse. Captain Eldone shows up very much alive, which conveniently squelches his wife's interest in Grey. However, now that Grey knows Angela is really a young woman, he takes an interest in her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
This Priscilla Dean vehicle began filming under the direction of Harry A. Pollard, but halfway through the shooting schedule Pollard fell ill and was replaced by Tod Browning, who received sole directorial credit. Having lost his fortune, Jimmy Nevins (Eddie Sutherland) is forced to join a gang of jewel thieves, headed by Mary Butler (Priscilla Dean. He ends up unwillingly cooperating in a robbery at the home of his ex-fiancee Doris Standish (Ella Hall). The hold-up takes place during Doris' wedding to a man she does not love. Spotting Jimmy, she begs him to help her escape her matrimonial fate. The crooks promptly nab Doris and hold her for ransom, whereupon Mary Butler, who has grown fond of Jimmy, abruptly changes her spots and helps our hero rescue the girl. Based on a magazine story by Evelyn Campbell, Which Woman? was remade in 1923 as Nobody's Bride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
When World War I breaks out, Yvonne Lamour (Ella Hall) heads for America accompanied by an old priest, Father Anatole (Charles Hill Mailes), and a young violinist, Jean Duval (Victor Rottman). They struggle to survive in New York's Lower East side, and Duval ultimately has to pawn his violin. But Sonia Maroff, a wealthy and immoral Russian woman (Gretchen Lederer), offers to break him into the closed world of music. Yvonne, meanwhile, has been singing in a cabaret to earn the money to get the violin back. She retrieves it -- and then discovers Duval and Sonia together. Duval realizes his sleazy behavior and returns to Yvonne. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
My Little Boy was directed by Elsie Jane Wilson, an acknowledged expert at turning out entertaining "kiddie" pictures. The two central characters are a little boy and a little girl, both of whom dream of finding true romance upon reaching adulthood. The two kids meet and swear eternal fidelity, only to be promptly separated by their self-centered guardians, notably the boy's ill-tempered uncle. Upon reaching adulthood, however, the hero and heroine defy their elders' wishes and elope. Their marriage causes a seemingly irreparable rift between the hero and his uncle, which the heroine takes great pains to repair. Tragically, the uncle accidentally kills the couple's young son in a hunting accident, whereupon the husband and wife decide that it would be best to go their separate ways. At this point, the whole plot is revealed to be a nightmare, experience by the Scroogelike uncle on a wintry Christmas eve. Immediately vowing to change his ways, the uncle embraces the boy and the girl (who are still children) and promises to let them remain friends forever. Cast in the role of the pint-sized heroine is Zoe Rae, who was evidently director Wilson's favorite child performer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Compiled by the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry and distributed to theaters across the United States, National Association's All-Star Picture, features selected scenes from various popular films, offering glimpses of many of the biggest stars of the day. Included are clips of Charlie Chaplin, Francis X. Bushman, Douglas Fairbanks, and many others. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1916
Secret Love was based on The Lass of Lowries, a story by Frances Hodgson Burnett (of Little Lord Fauntleroy fame). The story is set in a Lancashire coal-mining community, where bibulous, bullying miner Don Lowrie (Jack Curtis) holds the rest of the villagers in thrall. Lowrie's daughter Joan (Helen Ware) is in love with handsome mine foreman Fergus Derrick (Harry Carey Sr.) but dares not admit it lest she incur her father's horrible wrath. The film comes to a happy conclusion in a roundabout manner when the hateful Lowrie finally drinks himself to death. So as not to miss a trick, the plot manages to accommodate a mineshaft rescue, with Joan as the saver and Fergus as the sav-ee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Gabrielle Picard (Elda Hall) and Pierre Dupont (Rupert Julian) are lovers in a small French village in the early 1870s; Gabrielle's brother Anatole (Kingsley Benedict) is Pierre's best friend. The two young men are called to service by their country and go to Algiers. Anatole becomes the bugler and one day when he is commanded to sound the retreat, he sounds for the troops to charge instead. Anatole becomes a hero because of his action, but when the two men make their victorious return home, they find the Picard home ransacked and Gabrielle gone. They swear to spend their lives in search of the girl, but decades pass and they never find her. Finally when the men have reached their seventies, the French government sends word to Anatole that he is being decorated for his actions so many years earlier and he is invited to attend a luncheon in his honor. He and Pierre walk to Paris, but on the fifth day Anatole dies of exhaustion. Pierre continues on, determined to impersonate Anatole so that his friend receives the proper recognition. When he gets to Paris, he discovers that the committee has found Gabrielle. She recognizes Pierre, but she keeps quiet until after the ceremony. Then she asks where her brother is, and Pierre takes her to Anatole's dead body, and pins the medal on his breast. The film ends with the elderly couple in a clinch. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Nineteen-year-old Ella Hall played the adolescent heroine of The Love Girl. Upon the death of her parents, Ambrosia (Hall) is transplanted from the country to the city, where she is put under the care of her unfeeling Aunt (Adele Farrington). What follows is a standard "Cinderella" situation, with the aunt lavishing all her affection on her own daughter (Betty Schade), while treating Ambrosia like a drudge. The Status Quo changes radically when our heroine rescues her snotty cousin from a kidnapping, masterminded by a phony Swami (Wadsworth Harris). Harry Depp, an actor best known for his female impersonations, played a straight role (so to speak) as the cousin's boyfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
