Mahlon Hamilton Movies
A graduate of Maryland Agriculture College and a popular stage actor, tall, handsome Mahlon Hamilton entered films with Metro in 1915 and quickly established himself as a fine leading man opposite such powerful female stars as Olga Petrova, Louise Glaum, and Marion Davies. He reached something of a pinnacle as the wealthy guardian whom Mary Pickford grows up to marry in the extremely popular Daddy Long Legs (1919) but it was all downhill from there for the actor, who mostly starred in programmers in the 1920s. Surviving the transition to sound, Hamilton continued playing supporting roles and bit parts onscreen until at least 1949. In his final years, he resided at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
The Barkleys of Broadway became Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' "reunion" picture purely by accident. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the successful Astaire-Judy Garland vehicle Easter Parade, Barkleys was to have starred Fred and Judy as a successful musical comedy team that breaks up when the female half decides to become a "serious" artist. Just before shooting started, Garland fell ill, Rogers replaced her, and the rest, as they say, is history. The script is as thin as a spider's web, a mere coat-rack upon which to hang several topnotch musical numbers. Fred and Ginger aren't quite as footloose and fancy-free as they were in their RKO heyday, but they still work together seamlessly. The film's highlights include "My One and Only Highland Fling," "You'd Be Hard to Replace," a reprise of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (originally performed by Astaire and Rogers in Shall We Dance?), and Oscar Levant's keyboard rendition of "The Sabre Dance." The film's least memorable moment is the play-within-a-play wherein Rogers, cast as the young Sarah Bernhardt, passionately recites "The Marseillaise" as an audition piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1949
An unusually disturbing noir from a director better known for more mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was close to the director's heart, he said that it represented "the first time that I felt confident that I knew what I was doing and why I was doing it." Van Heflin stars as Frank Enley, a contractor living a peaceful life in a small California town, when Joe Parkson, a man who served in the army with him, arrives in the area, intent on killing him. He follows Frank to a lake where he's fishing but is unable to kill him. When a lakeside bartender tells Frank that a man with a limp is looking for him, Frank is frightened, realizing why he has come. He tells his wife, Edith (Janet Leigh), that Joe is a man who spent time with in a Nazi POW camp, who is now mentally ill, and that he intends to avoid him. When Frank goes to Los Angeles for a business convention, Joe arrives at his house and tells his wife that her husband is responsible for his injury and for the deaths of a number of men. Fearing for her husband's life, Edith heads for L.A. with Joe not far behind. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, (more)
Frank Capra's only MGM film, State of the Union was adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Spencer Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who is coerced into seeking the Republican Presidential nomination by predatory newspaper mogul Angela Lansbury. Campaign manager Van Johnson suggests that, for appearance's sake, Tracy be reunited with his estranged wife Katharine Hepburn (replacing Claudette Colbert, who'd ankled the project after a pre-production donnybrook with director Capra). Realizing that Tracy and Lansbury are having an affair, Hepburn nonetheless agrees to grow through the devoted-wife charade because she believes that Tracy just might make a good President. Her faith is shattered when Tracy, corrupted by the Washington power brokers, publicly compromises his values in order to get votes. Only in the film's last moments does Tracy prove himself worthy of Hepburn's love and his own self-respect by admitting his dishonesty during a nationwide radio-TV broadcast. Much of the biting wit in the original Broadway production of State of the Union is sacrificed in favor of the director's patented "Capracorn," but the film is no less entertaining because of this. As usual, the supporting cast is impeccable, from featured players Adolphe Menjou (whose off-camera political arguments with Hepburn threatened to shut down production at times) and Margaret Hamilton, to bit actors like Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tor (Plan 9 From Outer Space) Johnson. Because the television rights to State of the Union belonged to Capra's Liberty Films, the picture was released to TV by MCA rather than MGM's syndication division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florence Auer, Spencer Tracy, (more)
- 1947
When he was first offered the film version of the best-selling Frederick Wakeman novel The Hucksters, Clark Gable turned it down, characterizing the book as "filthy and not entertainment." He finally agreed to star in the film after screenwriter Luther Davis' extensive laundering job. Gable plays Vic Norman, a radio advertising executive just returned from World War II. His wartime experiences have soured him on the phony aspects of his profession; nonetheless, he takes a job with the biggest and phoniest agency in town, headed by the glad-handing Kimberly (Adolphe Menjou). At Kimberly's recommendation, Vic takes over the Beautee Soap account, which brings him in close quarter's with Beautee's boorish head man Evans (Sidney Greenstreet). At their first meeting, Evans unexpectedly spits on his highly polished conference table. "Gentlemen," he growls, summing up his philosophy on advertising, "You have just seen me do a disgusting thing. But you will always remember it!" (Evans was based on George Washington Hill, the colorfully crude president of the American Tobacco Company). Vic's first assignment for Evans is to round up 25 high society women to sign testimonials for Beautee Soap. The least cooperative of the bunch is young widow Mrs. Dorrance (Deborah Kerr, in her American film debut), the stepdaughter of an American war hero. Attracted to Vic, Mrs. Dorrance signs the agreement, but breaks off her personal relationship with Vic when it appears as though he's making unsolicited advances towards her. The ever-demanding Evans then insists that Vic sign up two-bit comedian Buddy Hare (Keenan Wynn) for a radio program. Becoming more and more corrupt with each passing day, Vic obtains Hare's service at a rock-bottom price by blackmailing the comedian's agent (Edward Arnold), Vic's onetime close friend. A demo record is made of Hare and of nightclub singer Jean Ogilvie (Ava Gardner), who is in love with Vic but who eventually gives him up because of his apparent lack of scruples. Returning to the Beautee Soap headquarters, Vic watches dumbstruck as Evans smashes the demo record--then laughs uproariously, telling Vic that the contract is his, along with a $25,000 bonus. By this time, Vic is so disgusted with himself and with Evans' childish baiting tactics that he tells off the soap mogul in no uncertain terms, ending his tirade by dousing Evans with a pitcher of water. Having regained his integrity, Vic is now worthy of the love of Mrs. Dorrance, who has forgiven him his earlier misdeeds. As the film ends, she encourages Vic to use his advertising talents for something clean and honest (and, undoubtedly, starve to death in the process!) To mollify Madison Avenue, screenwriter Davis narrowed the attack on advertisers to one single radio sponsor; to please Gable, Mrs. Dorrance was changed from a still-married woman to a widow, while Vic Rodman is transformed from a "huckster" to an idealist who Does the Right Thing at the end. The Hucksters is one of Clark Gable's best postwar films, as well as one of the finest Hollywood satires of the rarefied world of advertising. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Edward Arnold, (more)
- 1947
In this war movie, set during WW II, a pilot must crash land in the Pacific after he is shot down. As he floats upon the waves, he begins remembering the mythical island of Barbaree that his grandfather used to tell him about. To keep his wounded companion alive, he begins telling his life story. Via flashback, his youth, his love affairs, and his naval enlistment are chronicled. It is one of his lovers that talks her father into organizing a search party to find him. Meanwhile his companion dies. The pilot too, is half-dead by the time they find him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, June Allyson, (more)
The second of three serials produced by the Weiss Bros. for low-budget Stage and Screen Productions, The Clutching Hand brought back that eminent detective Craig Kennedy, who had first appeared in Pearl White's The Exploits of Elaine back in 1915. Now played by the veteran Jack Mulhall, another holdover from the early silent era, Kennedy is hired to solve the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Paul Gironda, whose formula for the manufacture of synthetic gold is coveted by a mysterious cloaked villain known only as The Clutching Hand. Along with Dr. Gironda's nubile daughter, Verna (Marion Shilling), and young newspaper reporter Walter Jameson (Rex Lease), Kennedy is aided or opposed in his quest by an impressive array of unemployed former silent screen "names" that include William Farnum, Reed Howes, Mae Busch, Bryant Washburn, Franklyn Farnum, and Snub Pollard, not to mention newcomers like Charles Locher (later known as Jon Hall) and Tom Mix's daughter, Ruth. The best made and most successful of Stage and Screen's three chapterplays (the company had promised six or seven), The Clutching Hand was also released in a 70-minute highly edited feature version. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Western star Buck Jones essays a dual role in Boss Rider of Gun Creek. In time-honored sagebrush tradition, one of the Bucks is a good guy, the other a villain. The bad Buck commits a murder, but it's the good Buck who ends up facing a hangman's noose. Thus, good Buck impersonates bad Buck in order to bring the actual killer to justice. Leslie Selander's clever direction smooths out all the lumpy plot points. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Harvey Clark, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, a teenage boy and girl, tired of parental repression, begin sneaking out on dates and to parties. The parents are strict, but pay little real attention to their kids, therefore the kids turn to their high school biology teacher who is willing to really listen to their confidences. Because he is involved in his students' lives, he is fired. Later a disaster ensues and the parents become more attentive. The bio teacher also gets his job back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen MacKellar, Mahlon Hamilton, (more)
- 1935
In this comedy with musical numbers set in the Old South, Bing Crosby plays a singer (talk about a casting stretch!) from Philadelphia named Tom Grayson, who has fallen in love with Southern heiress Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick). Tom wants to marry Elvira, but a man called Major Patterson (John Miljan) has announced his desire to do the same, and he challenges Tom to a duel to decide who will have Elvira's hand. Tom is not at all agreeable to this idea, which leads Elvira's father (Claude Gillingwater) to proclaim Tom to be a coward and deny him permission to wed his daughter. Elvira's sister Lucy (Joan Bennett), who is infatuated with Tom, thinks that he's merely being sensible, but Tom thinks that Lucy is too young for a serious relationship. In need of work and not especially welcome in the Rumford's community, Tom takes a job performing on a riverboat piloted by the blustery Commodore Orlando Jackson (W.C. Fields). One night, Tom finds himself in a barroom brawl with a man named Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler), who dies accidentally from a shot fired by his own gun. Hoping that his infamy will draw crowds, Jackson begins billing Tom as "The Singing Killer." Tom comes to realize that Lucy may be the right woman for him after all, but Lucy is not interested in a man with blood on his hands, and now Tom must convince her that he's not a killer at all. Noted gambling aficionado Fields has a hilarious poker-playing bit, and he steals most of his scenes from the rest of the cast. Mississippi was loosely based on the play "Magnolia" by Booth Tarkington. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, (more)
- 1935
Set in the Washington of World War I, Escapade stars William Powell as a newspaper editor eager to sign up for an overseas assignment. Instead, he's ordered to stay in Washington to decode enemy messages. This assignment has been arranged by the dizzy niece (Rosalind Russell) of the Undersecretary of War, who has fallen in love with Powell. She later joins the harried editor in squashing a spy ring, headed by Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes. Considering how annoying Rosalind Russell's character becomes in Rendezvous, it's understandable that role was turned down by Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Luise Rainer, (more)
- 1932
Western Limited is another of the "Grand Hotel on wheels" films so popular in the early 1930s. Stealing a valuable diamond at a Los Angeles society function, gentleman thief Edmund Burns boards a train bound for Chicago. A murder occurs during the journey, casting suspicion not only on Burns but on every other passenger. Once the gathered suspects get over the surprise that Burns is not a thief, but instead an insurance investigator assigned to protect the jewels, our hero can get down to the business of revealing the murderer's identity. Former silent-screen vamp Estelle Taylor, billed first, plays a more sympathetic role than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Edmund Burns, (more)
- 1932
Also known as The Hidden Corpse, Strangers of the Evening is an effective blend of horror and humor. There's dirty work at the city morgue, where the body of Frank Daniels (Lucien Littlefield) suddenly disappears. Later on, at Daniels' funeral, the wrong man is buried. It's all the handiwork of crooked undertaker Chandler (Warner Richmond), who is part of a complex political cover-up. Things get really hairy when Daniels shows up very much alive, much to the astonishment of his daughter Ruth (Miriam Seeger). Top-billed ZaSu Pitts plays the Daniels family maid, who has a vested interest in the macabre goings-on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Eugene Pallette, (more)
- 1931
Sporting Chance is a prime example of how once-prominent silent screen personalities ended up grasping at straws on Poverty Row. The story is built around a championship steeplechase, on which the futures of jockey Terry Nolan (Buster Collier), his sweetheart Mary Bascombe (Claudia Dell) and his romantic rival Phillip Lawrence Jr. (James Hall) are hinged. Reportedly, this film represented the first time that a steeplechase was specially staged for the cameras, though this fact took second place in the ads to the film's theme song, Old Playmates, which is sung twice too often by Claudia Dell. Only former "Our Gang" member Eugene Jackson, cast as a stablehand, seems comfortable around his equestrian co-stars. Sporting Chance was written by King Baggott, who in better times had been an important actor/director/producer but who was largely limited to bit parts in the talkie era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mahlon Hamilton, Hedwig Reicher, (more)
- 1930
Poverty row company Syndicate released this early sound western starring silent-screen refugee Mahlon Hamilton as a reformed gambler who saves Doris Hill's ranch from a gang of crooks by using a few of his otherwise retired tricks. The principal actors in this film, Hamilton, Hill and Robert Graves (as the leader of the gang) had all seen better days in the silent era but still enjoyed recognition in small towns, the intended market for Syndicate releases. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mahlon Hamilton, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1929
In this romantic drama, a wealthy, young heiress suffers from ennui and begins rebelling against the restrictions of her class by refusing to marry her equally wealthy fiance. Instead she falls for a serious salesman. Unfortunately, the salesman wants nothing to do with her money and refuses to marry her; she begins to dread her upcoming nuptials to the other fellow. In the end she and salesman reconcile, but she cannot get out of her engagement honorably. She is standing at the alter in her gown on her wedding day, when suddenly a dog wanders up with a note in its mouth. The note tells her that the salesman is leaving town. Suddenly the girl decides to follow her heart and takes off after the dog to profess undying love to the salesman. Humble marital bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1929
Worried that Greta Garbo's rich, deep voice and thick Swedish accent would not record properly, MGM executives kept Garbo in silent pictures longer than any of the studio's other contractees. The star's penultimate silent effort (with music and sound effects added) was The Single Standard, based on a 1928 novel by Adela Rogers St. John. Weary of the "good old boy" mentality which dictates that men can flit from girl to girl while women are expected to remain faithful, San Francisco socialite Arden Stuart (Garbo) decides to adopt the "single standard" and play the field herself. She turns down a marriage proposal by millionaire Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) so that she can dally with her family's chauffeur Anthony (Robert Castle), who promptly kills himself when he realizes that Arden doesn't intend to remain exclusively his. The heroine then moves on to athlete-artist Packy Cannon (Nils Asther), eventually tiring of Cannon and returning to Tommy. By this time, Arden has abandoned the notion of sex without responsibility and agrees to marry Tommy and bear his children. Beautifully photographed in the MGM manner by Oliver Marsh, The Single Standard is a prime example of how to tell an essentially "talkie" story within the confines of the silent film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, (more)
- 1929
In this sad drama, a nightclub chanteuse gives up everything to have her daughter educated abroad. When her grown-up, highly cultured daughter returns from Europe, she is appalled to learn the truth about her mother -- that she has a low class job entertaining boozy old men. She disowns her mother and the distraught mother begins singing the blues in earnest. Songs include: "I'm The Last Of The Red Hot Mommas," "I'm Doin' What I'm Doin' For Love," "He's A Good Man To Have Around," "I'm Feathering A Nest (For A Little Bluebird)," and "I Don't Want to Get Thin." and "Some of These Days." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Tucker, Lila Lee, (more)
- 1928
Filmed on a shoestring budget, Life's Crossroads at least affords a good acting opportunity for the underrated Gladys Hulette. The actress plays a shipwreck victim who washes up on the coast of an African island in the company of fellow survivor Mahlon Hamilton. Though hero and heroine cannot stand each other, they are forced to work together to survive in their new environment. The couple is rescued by a seemingly benevolent plantation owner, who turns out to be a no-good skunk, planning to murder Hamilton and claim Hulette as his mistress. But the heroine turns the tables on the villain, rescuing the bedridden hero from a grisly fate. Want to bet that Hulette and Hamilton no longer hate each other? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Hulette, Mahlon Hamilton, (more)
- 1927
Her Discretion was based on a novel by Hamilton Thompson. May Allison stars as the wife of U.S. Coast Guard captain Mahlon Hamilton. While hubby is away at sea, Allison enjoys a brief affair with a local cad. She hopes to keep this a secret from Hamilton, but her erstwhile beau is of the blackmailing variety. Sorely tempted to put a bullet through the villain's head, Allison is saved from further sullying of her reputation when the blackmailer is conveniently killed in a fall from a cliff. Having learned her lesson, Allison spends the last few scenes begging her freshly-returned husband for forgiveness. Critics carped that both May Allison and Mahlon Hamilton were getting too old for this sort of thing (except, possibly, the critic for Photoplay, whose publisher was the husband of Allison). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- May Allison, Mahlon Hamilton, (more)
- 1926
Home Sweet Home is an appropriately old-fashioned title for this musty sentimental drama. Wealthy heroine Lila Leslie rebels against her parents and runs away from home. Once on her own, the girl proves easy pickin's for every sexual predator in town. Even worse, she becomes an alcoholic after one of her duplicitous swains plies her with liquor-filled candy. Sadder and wiser, Leslie heads wearily back to the open arms of her parents, thoroughly resigned to the fact that there's No Place Like Home. The cheapness of the production and the crudity of the acting tended to evoke laughter rather than tears, which may be why Home Sweet Home has never been ranked as a classic of the silent screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mahlon Hamilton, Vola Vale, (more)
- 1926
Morganson's Finish was inspired by the Jack London story of the same name. The hero, Dick Gilbert (Johnnie Walker), is in love with wealthy Barbara Wesley (Anita Stewart), but he is disgraced in her eyes through the underhanded machinations of his rival Dan Morganson (Mahlon Hamilton). With nowhere else to go, Dick heads off to gold-rush territory in Alaska. Unbeknownst to our hero, Morganson likewise heads northward, intending to rid the world of Dick once and for all. But as indicated by the title, it is Morganson who meets his "finish" -- despite his strenuous efforts to toss Dick off a mountain cliff. Victor Potel, who'd been in films since 1908 at least, supplies comedy relief as a dull-witted Scandinavian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anita Stewart, Johnnie Walker, (more)
- 1925
Adapted from a novel by Julian LaMothe, The Winding Stair stars Edmund Lowe as Paul, a fearless French Foreign Legion officer. Ordered to quell a native uprising at a far-away outpost, he discovers that the revolt is actually a subterfuge hatched by the Arabs, so that the city under Paul's command will be left unguarded and defenseless. Unable to convince his superiors that they're leaving themselves open to slaughter, Paul goes undercover, disguising himself as a native in order to infiltrate the rebel camp. While in Arab garb, our hero manages to rescue his sweetheart, cabaret dancer Marguerite (Alba Rubens), from suffering a ghastly fate at the hands of the villains. But even though Paul also manages to prevent the enemy attack, his superiors assume that he's deserted, and drum him out of the Legion. Only by serving valiantly in WWI is Paul able to redeem himself in the eyes of his country. "Winding" is right: this one has more plot twists than a TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alma Rubens, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1925
The Other Woman's Story begins as Bennett Colby (Robert Frazer) is convicted of the murder of Robert Marshall (Mahlon Hamilton). As Colby sits on death row, he recalls the events leading to his present sorry condition in a series of flashbacks. Meanwhile, the hero's sweetheart Miss Prentiss (Helen Lee Worthing) uncovers evidence that Colby's faithless wife (Alice Calhoun) was the killer. Presenting this evidence is prostitute Mildred Van (Gertrude Short), who heretofore had kept mum because she was certain no one would believe her. By rights, Mrs. Colby should take her husband's place in the electric chair, but the producers of The Other Woman's Story decided that no audience would stand to see a woman being executed, so the film ended with the homicidal wife being released in her husband's custody! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Calhoun, Robert W. Frazer, (more)
- 1925
With a hidebound conservative element running things in a small town, the local teenagers have no choice but to seek entertainment elsewhere. With Stutz Bearcats at the ready, hip flasks in hands, and raccoon coats draped around their shoulders, the teens indulge in all sorts of sinful and potentially fatal activity outside the city limits. What is needed is a dynamic political leader who can make the community appealing enough to attract wholesome forms of entertainment for the kids. The district attorney (Mahlon Hamilton) is such a man; by bringing industry to the small town, he improves the economy, enabling the youngsters to seek out less risky diversions in their own home town. Enemies of Youth was cheaply but effectively produced. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Estelle Taylor was at the peak of her career when she made this drama -- her role in The Ten Commandments a year earlier had put her in the public eye, and her romance with boxing champ Jack Dempsey (along with their subsequent marriage) made her a prominent face in the newspapers and fan magazines. Taylor plays Gloria Dawn, who weds James Malvern (Lawford Davidson), a wealthy philanderer who doesn't let his marriage interfere with his love affairs. The couple honeymoons in the Canadian wilds, and Pierre duCharme (Mahlon Hamilton), the caretaker of Malvern's estate, falls in love with Gloria. He rescues her when her canoe is about to go over the falls. Back in town, Malvern lures Anne Cabot (Mary Thurman), the governor's sister, to his home. As a result of his involvement with Anne, Malvern is murdered, but circumstances point to duCharme as the killer. He is sentenced to death, but Gloria tracks down the real killer, and tells the governor (Edmund Breese) about his sister's involvement in Malvern's life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Mahlon Hamilton, (more)
