Lumsden Hare Movies

British stage favorite Kitty Gordon made her American film debut in As in a Looking Glass. Gordon plays an alluring espionage agent, working on behalf of The Enemy. This lasts only so long as she steers clear of handsome American F. Lumsden Hare. Falling in love with Hare, Gordon turns her back on her old colleagues, going so far as to betray them to the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Robert Hitchen, Barbary Sheep was set in Algiers. The heroine, Lady Katherine Wyverne (Elsie Ferguson), forsakes her neglectful sportsman husband (Lumsden Hare) in favor of a handsome and charismatic Arab chieftain named Benchaalal (Pedro de Cordoba). Though nothing of an untoward nature happens, Lady Katherine's recklessness may very well cost her reputation and social standing. A last-minute intervention by her husband, who under the circumstances is quite reasonable, rescues the heroine from disgrace. Credit director Maurice Tourneur for making this relatively uneventful domestic drama seem more important than it actually was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elsie Ferguson has a dual role, as mother and daughter, in this tale of gambling fever. Chichita (Ferguson) has a gambler father who is murdered, and later on she marries another gambler, who shoots himself. When she meets yet another gambler, Nick Delano (Warner Oland), she marries him too, and sends her daughter Helene (also Ferguson) to a convent, with John Harvey (Fred Esmelton) as her guardian. Years later, Chichita, now known as Madame Delano, runs a fashionable gambling hall with her husband. Helene, who has married Price Ruyler (Lumsden Hare), comes to the establishment, but is not aware that her mother is its proprietor. She has inherited her father's gambling bug and soon she has gone through all her money and pawned her jewels. She owes thousands of dollars to Delano, who threatens to expose her if she does not pay up. Madame Delano finds out that Helene is her daughter and tries to make a partial payment for her. This does not satisfy Delano, who attacks Helene. In the struggle he falls off a balcony and dies. The police show up, but Madame Delano puts on Helene's wrap and hat and is taken away in her place. She is sent to prison for murder and kills herself so that she won't bring shame down on her daughter. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

John Barrymore's impressive performance in this picture is a testament to the strength of his talent, because it had a lot to overcome -- according to director Albert Parker, the famed thespian was on a bender for much of the shoot. This version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (adapted from the play by William Gillette) was shot on location in London and Switzerland; when the crew headed back to the States to complete shooting, Parker pleaded with Barrymore to quit drinking. Surprisingly, Barrymore obliged, and was sober for the rest of production. The storyline follows the play pretty closely, including Holmes' early days, in which he decided to study criminology after college graduation. Along with his faithful assistant, Dr. Watson (Roland Young), Holmes comes face to face with arch criminal Professor Moriarty (Gustav von Seyffertitz). Moriarty is causing trouble for Prince Alexis (Reginald Denny), and Holmes craftily outwits the villain. This excellent picture had only a few faults -- one was its lengthy subtitles. The other noticeable gaffe was casting Carol Dempster (who was borrowed from D.W. Griffith) to play the romantic interest, Alice Faulkner -- her performance is only passable. A young William Powell has a small supporting role. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Stage actor Alfred Lunt makes one of his rare screen appearances in this light comedy, based on the novel by Allen Updegraff. Rowland Farwell Francis (Lunt) is a retiring silk salesman at a department store. His reticent demeanor doesn't stop his widowed landlady, Mrs. Benson (Jobyna Howland) and his stenographer from considering him to be husband material. These women don't get Francis' attention, however -- and he falls for the wealthy Anne Winton (Mimi Palmeri), who he meets over the silk counter. Of course, he's too shy to do anything about it, and hat's the way it would probably have stayed if Anne's brother-in-law hadn't dared her to invite a man out to supper. She takes the dare and shows Francis such a good time that he becomes an aggressive and virile lover who wins her heart. He also lands a promotion to assistant buyer. Although the other ladies lose their chance with Francis, they still manage to win mates of their own. Lunt's wife and stage partner, Lynn Fontanne, appears in a bit role. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this early talkie from director John Ford, a Scottish captain and his regiment are sent to India during WW I and assigned to quell a native uprising in the Northern mountains. Unfortunately, soon after arriving, he gets drunk and seemingly kills another officer during a barroom fight. He escapes capture and disappears into the crowd. Now wanted as a renegade, he involves himself with a beautiful but sadistic native princess, a direct descendant of Alexander the Great. He cozies up to her and learns that she is planning to send her troops to attack the British through Khyber pass. Though she correctly suspects that the fugitive soldier is really a spy, she cannot help but fall in love with him, thereby sparing him the usual torture and castration she forces upon other captured British soldiers. Unfortunately her love causes her downfall in the exciting conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second version of Louis Joseph Vance's 1907 mystery melodrama The Brass Bowl, this early talkie featured stage actor Alan Birmingham as wealthy world traveler Dan Maitland and his evil lookalike, the master criminal Anisty. Leila Hyams played Sylvia Graeme, whose father Andrew (George Pierce) is in jail due to some incriminating papers which Sylvia believes are being kept in a safe belonging to Maitland. Both Maitland and his doppelgãnger arrive on the scene and soon one is impersonating the other, and vice versa, in a confusing game of "who's got the papers." In the end, Sylvia helps bring about Anisty's downfall, saving her father and falling in love with Maitland along the way. Masquerade had been filmed twice earlier under its original title, in 1914 featuring early action star Benjamin F. Wilson and in 1924 starring Edmund Lowe. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this wartime adventure, a wealthy young pilot strays from his mission and stops to say good bye to his girl friend. Unfortunately his plane crashes and he is left paralyzed from the waist down. To make matters worse, while he recuperates, his character comes under close scrutiny. Eventually he recovers both the use of his legs and his good name. He does the latter when he saves London from a German zeppelin attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set in Canada, Under Suspicion finds heroine Alice Freil (Lois Moran) heading above the border to escape a trumped-up criminal charge. After a suspenseful train trip to Jasper National Park, Alice links up with RCMP officer John Smith (J. Harold Murray). Lost in the wilderness, hero and heroine surviving a raging forest fire and manage to corral the genuine villain. Every so often, Mountie Smith lifts his voice in song, proving no competition for Nelson Eddy (or even Dudley Do-Right). For its first showing in Brooklyn, Under Suspicion was pepped up by having the projectionist hold a red gel over the projection lens during the fire scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will Rogers' second starring talkie feature was a spiritual twin of the first, They Had to See Paris, albeit with a significant change of locale. Although newly rich Texas mill owner Hiram Draper (Rogers) intensely despises all things British (dismissing the country as the land of "marmalade eaters"), he is forced by business considerations to journey to London. Going along for the ride are his wife (Irene Rich, who had costarred with Rogers in They Had to See Paris), and his son Hiram Junior (Frank Albertson). Upon the family's arrival, Junior falls in love with Elinor (Maureen O'Sullivan), daughter of aristocratic Lord Percy Worthing (Lumsden Hare), whose opinion of "Yankees" is about as low and disdainful as is Hiram's attitude towards "Limeys." Through a series of amusing incidents, not least of which is a zany hunting expedition, Hiram and Lord Percy become friends, consoling themselves to the marriage of their children. Highlights in this episodic star vehicle include the famous early sequence in which Hiram, who was born in Oklahoma while it was still "Indian Territory", tries to get a passport without the necessary U.S. birth certificate; and the finale, in which the two proud fathers perform a "singing duel" of their respective national anthems. Based on the successful stage play by Arthur F. Goodrich (which had originally starred George M. Cohan), So This is London was remade eight years later as one of 20th Century-Fox's "Jones Family" B-pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The George du Maurier novel Trilby, about a hypnotist who controls a female musician, was originally filmed as Trilby, a 1920s silent. In the 1931 talkie, the emphasis shifts from the music student to the teacher, Svengali. John Barrymore gives a scenery-chewing performance as Svengali, who is originally seen tutoring Honori (Carmel Myers). Trilby (Marian Marsh) is making her living as a nude model, but she wants to use her musical talents to earn money and hopes to settle down with Billee (Bramwell Fletcher). Unfortunately, his upper-class family simply wouldn't approve. Svengali falls for Trilby and starts teaching her music while manipulating her hypnotically. Eventually, she becomes so dependent on him that she can't perform outside of his presence. This film became so well-known that the word "Svengali" became incorporated into the English language, meaning "someone who, with evil intent, tries to persuade another to do what is desired." A British version of the film was released in 1955. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Warner Oland made his first appearance in the role of Earl Derr Biggers' sagacious, aphorism-spouting oriental detective Charlie Chan in the 1931 Fox production Charlie Chan Carries On. It all begins when Chan, on vacation from his job with the Honolulu police, tries to solve the murder of a wealthy American in a London hotel. The trail of clues leads Chan on a not-so-merry chase through Nice, San Remo, Hong Kong and Hawaii. The solution to the mystery lies in the words spoken by a temporarily blinded witness -- or at least that's what she seems to be. According to contemporary reviews, the film was enlivened by the dumb-blonde dialogue delivered by Marjorie White and by the bumbling villainy of Warren Hymer. Though Charlie Chan Carries On is no longer available, its quality can be adequately gauged by a viewing of its 1940 remake, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film version of the Jack DeLeon-Jack Celestin play Silent Witness stars Lionel Atwill in his original stage role of Sir Austin Howard. When his son Anthony (Bramwell Fletcher) strangles his mistress Nora Selmer (Greta Niesen) in a fit of jealous rage, Sir Austin gallantly takes the blame, secure in the belief that he will not only be able to clear himself in court, but keep his son's name out of the case. Alas, Sir Austin's strategy blows up in his face when it is revealed that the murder victim held onto life long enough to serve as the "silent witness" to her own demise. All of this is offered in flashback form, to excellent effect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide