Theodore Wharton Movies
- 1923
An unscrupulous gang attempts to corner the wheat market in this low-budget but popular serial from Universal starring future cowboy ace Fred Thomson and intrepid veteran Ann Little. Little reportedly performed a couple of hair-raising stunts such as hanging on to the wing of an ascending airplane and leaping from one speeding automobile to another. Considering that famed stunt pilot Al Wilson appeared as the villain, Little was probably in fairly good hands. Financier Gregory Markham (Herbert Fortier) has in his possession a letter incriminating a gang, who promptly kidnap Miss Markham (Little), whom they keep in a subterranean cave. Enter Jack Alden (Thomson), who not only manages to rescue the damsel in distress but also saves the world from certain starvation. A newcomer to films, the handsome Thomson was the husband of screenwriter Frances Marion and went on to become perhaps Tom Mix's closest rival before dying at the young age of 37. Thomson was doubled by Al Wilson, Jack Fowler, and Cliff Bergere in The Eagle's Talons, his only serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1918
Written by a former chief of the Secret Service, this wartime serial produced by the Wharton brothers, Theodore and Leopold, was declared the perfect propaganda piece by no less than George Creel, the chairman of the Committee on Public Information. Unfortunately for the Whartons -- but happily for the country at large -- Armistice turned audiences away in droves from espionage melodramas in general and a 20-chapter liability like The Eagle's Eye in particular. Along with proving a box-office bust, the chapterplay also spelled the end to the starring career of early matinée idol King Baggot, who acted the lead role of Harrison Grant, the president of the Criminology Club and the chief opponent to such sinister Axis spies as Count Von Bernstorff (Bertram Marburgh), Franz Von Papen (Paul Everton), and Dr. Heinrich Albert (Fred Jones). Marguerite Snow played Dixie Mason, a female Secret Service agent with a penchant for getting in over her head, and the serial was co-directed by actors George A. Lessey and Wellington Playter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1917
Two men, George Carrington (Paul Gordon) and Reverend Arthur Dean (Thomas Holding) are vying for the hand of Prudence Ware (Doris Kenyon). She chooses Carrington, and they marry and have a daughter. She has a reprobate brother, Charles (Hans Roberts), and her clandestine meetings with him make her husband suspicious. His jealousy causes her so much grief that she runs away and leaves her baby in the woods, whereupon Dean finds the daughter and raises her himself. When Carrington discovers that his wife was innocent and decides to go searching for her, it is years before he gets a solid lead. She has wound up in the Klondike, working as a nurse, but has lost her memory. Dean has also landed up there with his ministry. At the tail end of his trek north, Carrington is knocked senseless by a bandit and he too loses his memory (taking the already tired amnesia angle over the top). Marie, Prudence's daughter -- the now-grown baby whom Dean adopted -- is kidnapped, but she is rescued by Prudence and Carrington, and Dean is killed by a stray bullet. When they find Marie's baby clothes, the couple's memories are restored and the family is reconciled. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1916
This melodrama was first a novel, and then a play by Steele Mackaye before winding up on the "silver sheet" (as they called motion pictures in those days). When Dunstan Kirke (William Riley) is on the verge of losing his mill, squire Rodney (Bruce McRae) bails him out. His one condition: to send the Kirke daughter, Hazel (serial star Pearl White), to be educated, then marry her. But while Hazel is at school, she meets Arthur Carringford (Creighton Hale), the son of a wealthy, socially prominent family. They fall in love, and Kirke, believing that Hazel has betrayed Rodney's trust, tosses her out of the house. So she and Carringford are married -- except that Carringford's servant gets a fake preacher for the ceremony because he knows that the Carringford family will not approve of the union. Sure enough, Arthur's mother tells Hazel to get lost and reveals that the wedding was a sham. The dejected Hazel heads back to her parents' home, and Rodney offers once again to marry her. But Carringford comes around, determined to right the wrong he believes was done. However, it turns out that the minister was not really phony at all, but just pretended to be because he wanted to prevent the wedding from being faked. So Hazel and Carringford are happily married after all. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pearl White
- 1916
Consisting of 15 two-reelers, this series starred Grace Darling in the title role, an "advice to the lovelorn" columnist, who, in each episode, helps her readers with their troubles. Assisting Beatrice is her cub reporter boyfriend Jimmy Barton (Harry Fox), an energetic young man fond of disguises. Filmed in Ithaca, NY, the series featured many then-popular Broadway actors (Fox himself was a well-known stage comic married to one of the Dolly sisters), including musical comedy star Mae Hopkins, and, making her screen debut, famed Ziegfeld girl Olive Thomas. The latter later wed Jack Pickford, but died under mysterious circumstances in Paris in 1920. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Grace Darling, Harry Fox, (more)
- 1915
Having barely survived the rigors of The Exploits of Elaine (1914) and The New Exploits of Elaine (1915), Pearl White once again came up against a heinous master criminal in the third and final Elaine serial, benignly entitled The Romance of Elaine. Alas, the heroine had little time for romancing newspaper reporter Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale), what with Doctor X, alias Marcus Del Mar (Lionel Barrymore), threatening American democracy in general and master detective Craig Kennedy's designs for a new torpedo in particular. Whenever Doctor X has Elaine or Jameson in his grasp, they are inevitably saved in the nick of time by a mystery figure garbed in black. Overworked director George B. Seitz was this time aided by Louis Gasnier and Joseph A. Golden and like the previous Elaine serials, all 12 chapters were produced by Leopold and Theodore Wharton on and around the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. As for Pearl White, she was amply compensated for her arduous work, her salary having skyrocketed to 5,000 dollars a week by the end of the third Elaine serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1915
This two-reeler was episode three in a 14-part comedy serial produced by brothers Leopold Wharton and Theodore Wharton which featured the Cosmopolitan magazine cartoon character, J. Rufus Wallingford, created by George Randolph Chester. Burr McIntosh plays Wallingford, and Max Figman appears as Wallingford's partner, Blackie Daw. The pair have set out to help Violet Warden (Lolita Robertson, Figman's wife in real life) to avenge the death of her father, who was swindled by a group of businessmen. Cornelius Rockewell is Wallingford's mark in this episode. Rockewell is in search of a cure for his ailment, and Wallingford creates a sanitarium that promises to treat it. Onion Jones, another Wallingford associate (Eddie O'Connor), convinces Rockewell that he must visit Wallingford's sanitarium. Rockewell is fooled by the place and outbids Jones to buy it -- for exactly the same amount of money he stole from Warden. Appearing as a bit player in this picture is a very young Oliver Hardy, who also shows up in three or four other Wallingford episodes. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1915
The sequel to 1914's popular serial The Exploits of Elaine, the plainly titled The New Exploits of Elaine was once again filmed in and around Ithaca, New York, by George B. Seitz and starred the irrepressible Pearl White in the title-role. Although Elaine and her savior, master detective Craig Kennedy (Arnold Daly), had defeated the devil-worshipping Wu Fang (Edwin Arden) in the 14th and final chapter of the previous serial, the wily villain was back to terrorize the civilized world in general and Elaine in particular in 10 new chapters. Also back for more punishment was Elaine's beau, intrepid newspaper reporter Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale), this time helping Mr. Kennedy and Elaine launch a newfangled torpedo in their fight for democracy. Alas, democracy was threatened yet again in the third and final "Elaine" serial, The Romance of Elaine, produced later in 1915. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1914
Although not as remembered as The Perils of Pauline (also 1914), The Exploits of Elaine was by all accounts the superior serial, grossing over $1 million dollars and further establishing its athletic leading lady Pearl White as the serial queen to beat. White played Elaine Dodge, whose father (William Riley Hatch) is murdered for some papers that may reveal the secret hideaway of a notorious and ruthless master criminal known only as The Clutching Hand (Sheldon Lewis). Helping Elaine track down the villain is noted detective Craig Kennedy (Arnold Daly), who is himself aided by newspaperman Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale in the first three chapters then Raymond Owens in chapters 4-14). Among the Clutching Hand's minions and henchmen are a South American Indian who uses darts dipped in curare as his weapon of choice, an insane scientist who invents an apocalyptic killing machine, and a gang of crooks known as "The Brotherhood of the Falsers." Along the way, Elaine is framed in a blackmail scheme by Wu Fang (Edwin Arden), a devil-worshipping Asian, and is almost sacrificed to the devil herself. Our heroine is rescued again and again by the stalwart Mr. Kennedy, who uses a scientific gadget or two to battle the forces of evil. Produced by the Wharton Brothers in and around Ithaca, New York, The Exploits of Elaine was co-directed by George B. Seitz, an early serial expert who is today perhaps better known for helming M-G-M's pleasantly nostalgic "Andy Hardy" series 1937-1944. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1913
Called to the scene of a coal-mine explosion, the Rev. Stanley Waters (Francis X. Bushman) attempts to rescue the survivors. He finds miner Edward Hale (E.H. Calvert), who days later confesses that he created the explosion to kill the mine's owner, Byron Waters (Bryant Washburn). Hale's motive was that both he and Waters were in love with the same woman (Dorothy Phillips). While numerous later sources list frequent Bushman co-star and offscreen paramour Beverly Bayne as appearing in this film, her name is absent from mention in newspaper and magazine reviews from 1913. Overall, contemporary reviews gave The Power of Conscience high marks. Alas, is the case with many of the Essanay-produced films starring Francis X. Bushman, no known copies exist and the film is considered lost. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi
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