Johnny Hines Movies

According to film historian William K. Everson, to offer a fully detailed synopsis of Maurice Tourneur's delightful period piece The Wishing Ring "would do a disservice to its charm." Suffice to say that the film's wide-eyed heroine Vivian Martin comes into possession of a ring which she believes to have magical powers. Armed with this belief alone, the girl is able to change the course of her entire life. Adapted from a play by Owen Davis Sr., the film opens and closes theatrically, with a group of giggling young maidens opening and closing a proscenium curtain but is otherwise thoroughly and gloriously "cinematic." Such is the skill of director Tourneur that many people have been led to believe that the film, shot in its entirety in New Jersey, was actually produced in England (even the New Jersey Palisades seem convincingly "British!"). Rediscovered almost by accident by movie archivist Kevin Brownlow, The Wishing Ring may well be the best of Maurice Tourneur's pre-1916 films and is also a testament to the talent of his cameraman John Van Den Broek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vivian Martin, one of the most attractive and successful of Mary Pickford's professional rivals, played the title role in Little Miss Brown. Adapted from a play by Philip Bartholomae, the story takes place in a busy Connecticut hotel. Through no fault of her own, Betty Brown (Martin) gets entangled in the marital warfare between Mr. and Mrs. Glenton (played by Edward M. Kimball -- who, incidentally, was the father-in-law of director James Young -- and Julia Stuart). Essential to the outcome of the story is a $10,000 endowment, which will be presented to the battling Glendons if they can prove that theirs is a happy marriage. Comedian Johnny Hines, not yet a star but already a pleasing screen presence, scored a comic bullseye as a hyperkinetic bellboy. Another future star in the cast of Little Miss Brown was perennial sourpuss Ned Sparks, here cast as a cynical night clerk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lee Randall (Robert Warwick) is a man who leads a double life. By day he is a respectable person; by night he robs banks. His gang stages an elaborate break-in at a bank, but they are discovered while fleeing the scene of the crime, and the gang is captured. (During their stay in jail, real shots of prisoners in Sing Sing are shown -- though some of the prisoners didn't want their faces in the movie!). When Randall is released from prison after serving his time, the film becomes a traditional melodrama, telling the story of a man who tries to go straight and the difficulties that he encounters after he and his cronies get out of prison. When Randall has established a new life (keeping the books at a bank), a detective comes calling. The detective wants to pin an old bank heist on Randall. At the same time, a small girl is accidentally locked in the bank vault. Randall must use his safe-cracking skills to free her, even though it may send him back to prison. This film is one of several important gangster films released in the mid-teens. Director Maurice Tourneur's most imaginative camera work of the film is in the first 15 minutes when the gang executes a bank heist. There are several deep-staged set-ups that have characters in real locations (like a train) instead of just on studio sets. The heist features an over-the-head shot of the cubicles in the bank to show the night watchman just missing the crooks. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide

A pleasant but trivial stage play by R.H. Cochran served as the basis for The Arrival of Perpetua. Vivian Martin plays a boarding school student who inherits a fortune. A codocil of the will demands that she live with one of her two court-designated guardians. Martin can't stand her stuffy aunt Nora Cecil (an actress who played stuffy aunts for nearly thirty years!), so she moves in with "man's man" Milton Sills. A perfect gentleman, Sills tries to keep his distance, but ends up falling in love with his young ward. Making his motion picture debut, Milton Sills already possesses the natural charisma that would elevate him to the pinnacles of film stardom in the 1920s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the 1918 Harry T. Morey vehicle of the same name, the 1916 western All Man was adapted by Frances Marion from a story by Willard Mack. The title refers to hero Jim Blake, played by Robert Warwick. To prove his worth to his highly judgemental father, socialite Blake heads to Montana, Where Men are Men (and women, presumably, are very happy). In his efforts to make good, Blake befriends sisters Ethel and Alice Maynard (Gerda Holmes, Mollie King), adding a dash of romantic intrigue to the stew. Though set in the Wide Open Spaces, All Man was all too obviously filmed in New Jersey, headquarters of the World Film Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If the name "Tillie" appears in the title and the film is made in the latter half of the 1910s, it's a sure bet that Marie Dressler is starring. Here, she plays Tillie Tinkelpaw, the put-upon family breadwinner, and her foil is Johnny Hines as henpecked husband Mr. Pipkins. The pair decide to escape for an afternoon from their horrendous mates (Frank Beamish as Mr. Tinkelpaw and Rubye DeRemer as Mrs. Pipkins) and go to Coney Island. They arrive via an ice wagon and have a bit of Scotch to take away the chill. Naturally, the liquor revs up all the slapstick antics to come. This was a great two-reel idea stretched out to five (how many times can Dressler sit on Hines and have it be funny?), but the stars' talents and some very funny titles carry it through. The scenario was written by Dressler's good friend Frances Marion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In one of her best pre-adult roles, little Madge Evans was cast as nine-year-old troublemaker Clarissa Leigh. Our heroine pauses in her deviltry long enough to play matchmaker for her older sister Ruth (Violet Palmer) and college boy Paul Harding (Johnny Hines). After several misadventures, Clarissa finally manages to do the right thing at the right time for a change. The trade magazine Variety lavished praise upon director Frank H. Crane for his ability to extract a convincing performance from Madge Evans), rather than succumbing to the temptation of having the girl behave like a "miniature adult." Also given kudos was the performance of Johnny Hines, who would soon become one of screendom's most popular light comedians. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Studio Girl was the film version of the 1911 Billie Burke stage vehicle The Runaway. The original play's French locale was changed to New England, where Celia Laird (Constance Talmadge) resides with her two overprotective aunts. When artist Frazer Ordway (Earle Foxe) arrives in town, he falls in love with Celia -- much to the dismay of the aunts, who'd intended the girl to marry a local millionaire. Inasmuch as Frazer has his own romantic cross to bear in the form of his possessive fiance Adriana Peroni (Edna Earle), he and Celia decide that it might be best to go their own separate ways. But this proves impossible when the heroine inadvertently boards the wrong train and, with comparable guilelessness, ends up in Frazer's New York apartment. The film's climactic rainstorm was obviously shot during an actual deluge, which somehow enhanced its comic impact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is Johnny Hines' second starring feature -- the first was called Burn 'Em Up Barnes, so there seems to be a little theme going. As for the plot, The Film Daily, a trade paper of the era, said "Don't bother about it," and true, it is a bit of fluff. Basically it's just an excuse for Hines to display his fast-paced comic sense and perform some daring stunts. Hines' character, Sure Fire Flint, is born on the Fourth of July and has an independent nature. When he returns from the war, he can't seem to hold onto a job but he can't be kept down, either. He gets fired as a taxi driver and a waiter. Then he becomes a dance partner. Finally, because of his honesty, he lands work managing a factory run by James Reynolds (Robert Edeson). The boss' daughter June (Doris Kenyon) falls for him. When she discovers that a thief is planning to rob her father, she finds herself locked in a safe. Flint, however, comes to the rescue in a death-defying climax. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This comedy-drama, based on the play by George M. Cohan, was co-directed by Arthur Rosson and its star, Johnny Hines. Hines is Johnny Jones, an American jockey. The Earl of Bloomsburg (Windham Standing) has Jones come to England with his horse, Yankee Doodle, to race in the Derby. But Robert Amstead (George Webb), another horse's owner, is determined to force him out of the running. First he kidnaps Edith Smythe, Jones' sweetheart (Molly Malone), but Jones rescues her. Jones is almost disqualified from racing, but is reinstated at the last moment. In a last-ditch attempt to get rid of Jones, Amstead has his jockey throw a blinding fluid into Jones' face after the race has started. The scheme doesn't work, and Jones still rides Yankee Doodle to victory. This picture was filmed once again in 1930 by Mervyn LeRoy, this time in its musical form, bringing classic tunes like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" to the screen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Race driver "Blue Streak" Billings (Johnny Hines) returns to his home town to find that his sweetheart, Betty West (Faire Binney), is having problems selling her line of cars because of a wealthier rival. To promote the Comet 8 -- one of Betty's line -- he comes up with a scheme in which he races the car through the town, but he makes it appear that there's nobody in the driver's seat. This causes a stir throughout the town, and nobody can catch the "speed spook." Then Billings discovers that Hiram Smith, one of the town's most powerful members (Henry West), has forged a load of ballots for the sheriff's election. The next time Billings takes the car out, he allows himself to be followed -- right to Smith's lair. After Smith is exposed, it is also discovered that he is an agent for the rival car company. After all his help, Betty is more than happy to marry her hero. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Popular silent light comedian stars in this riotous comedy about a pickle salesman involved in a South American revolution. Returning to the family pickle business in Florida after working his way through college as a short order cook, Tommy Perkins (Charles Hines) successfully launches "Perkins' Stuffed Pickles." Planning to overthrow the government of Esquasado, General Bannon (Henry West) and his equally unsavory partner Alonzo Lopez (Bradley Barker) purchase a shipment of 5,000 pickles, which they then stuff with ammunition. Tommy, who has fallen for the general's innocent daughter, Rose (Sigrid Holmquist), is on to the scheme, however, and deftly switches the contraband with pickles stuffed with cheese. All hell breaks lose in Esquasado, but Tommy, masquerading as a revolutionary general, saves both the day and his pickle company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide