Johnny Hines Movies

Director Maurice Tourneur transformed Frances Marion's perfunctory scenario Girl's Folly into a visual delight that resulted in not a few oohs and ahhs from 1917 audiences. June Elvidge plays an impressionable country lass who is thrilled when a movie company sets up camp near her home. She falls in love with the troupe's handsome leading man Robert Warwick, who responds by offering to surround her in luxury if she will live with him--not marry him, mind you, but live with him. Only the arrival of the girl's kindly mother dissuades Warwick from deflowering the lovely June. He Does the Right Thing by bidding her a chaste farewell when his film-making responsibilities are completed. ~ 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

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

Likable Johnny Hines stars in this lively comedy. Plumber Tommy Burke (Hines) is getting nowhere in life until he receives an inheritance from a rich uncle. All it is is a brown derby, but supposedly the hat is charmed and brings luck to the wearer. Tommy's life takes quite a turn when he goes to do some work at the estate of heiress Edith Worthing (Diana Kane). The butler introduces him as "a plumber," and since Edith is expecting her long-lost uncle, A. Plummer, to arrive, a situation of mistaken identity is clearly in the offing. Since Tommy has long admired Edith from afar, he's thrilled to win so much of her time. Her no-good sweetheart is not so thrilled and he sets out to prove the Tommy is an impostor. Tommy comes out on top, however, winning Edith away from her suitor and helping Betty Caldwell (Ruth Dwyer) and Frank Boyle (Harold Foshay) elope in the bargain. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Critics in 1928 often commented on the near-oriental facial features of popular screen comedian Johnny Hines (political correctness wasn't a consideration back then), so few were surprised when Hines turned up in the 8-reel comedy Chinatown Charlie. The star plays a likeable pickpocket who happens to stumble onto a white slavery ring while plying his trade in Chinatown. Hines tries to inform the police, but they never believed him before, so why should they believe him now? Thus, it is up to Hines to rescue heroine Louise Lorraine from the clutches of murderous Mandarin (Sojin, who, by the way, was a Japanese actor). As a bonus, he also recovers a valuable ring, which cinches the future financial security of hero and heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

Ever-smiling Johnny Hines plays a farm boy who supports himself and his mother (Margaret Seddon) by selling canned fruit preserves to tourists. Unfortunately, Hines is despised by his new stepfather (Edmund Breese), who kicks our hero off the farm. Stowing away on a Pullman car, Hines meets and falls in love with pretty heiress Marjorie Daw, who encourages the boy to try his luck in the Big City. Landing a job as a waiter, Hines figures out a method to sell his mother's preserves to the high-society crowd. The story ends up, as expected, at a fancy party held by heroine Daw, where after several hilarious social gaffes Hines scores a big hit with his home-made jams and jellies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sylvia (Barbara Castleton) is struggling along in a cheap boarding house. When she gets a job modeling for Madame Lillian's modiste shop, her life picks up. She meets the newly rich, socially ambitious Hicks -- husband Zebulon (Jack Drumier) and wife Octavia (Gertrude Berkeley). Out of the blue, the Hicks are visited by "Count de Boeuf" and "Princess Karalyn of Sylvania" -- actually a pair of con artists, Frank (Anthony Merlo) and Anna (Eloise Clement). Sylvia also meets the Hicks' grown son, Henry (Johnny Hines) when she is at a country club, posing as a Countess to model some of Madame's outfits. She is invited to the Hicks' place where she is surprised to find Anna being called "Princess." The cons wheedle a huge sum out of the family and steal Mrs. Hicks' jewels, but Sylvia thwarts them. However she's accused of the jewel theft until a representative a Sylvania appears and addresses her as Princess Karalyn. Frank and Anna take off, while Sylvia turns down a kingdom to marry Henry. ~ 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

Because of an injury, "the Great Maranelli" (Johnny Hines) is forced to give up his job as a circus performer. He hits the road with his pal Sawdust Sam (Edmund Breese) and along the way they meet pretty Dorothy Langdon (Mildred Ryan). Her father, Henry Langdon (J. Barney Sherry), runs the power company, and he gives Maranelli a job. Langdon and George Trent, Dorothy's fiancé (Bradley Barker), are putting together an amusement park. Dorothy asks Maranelli for help selling the concessions. Trent is secretly trying to ruin the plans for the amusement park, and he kidnaps Dorothy and destroys the park's dynamo. Maranelli saves the day by hitching the park up to the city circuit and getting it up and running as scheduled. Needless to say, Trent finishes out of the money and Maranelli wins Dorothy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Director Frank Borzage and star Ginger Rogers both came acropper in the lavish but dull historical biopic Magnificent Doll. The usually ebullient Rogers seems encased in wax as Dolly Madison, first lady of the United States in the early 19th century. The story begins as young Washington socialite Dolly Payne, previously and unhappily wed to one John Todd (Horace McNally), can't make up her mind romantically between idealistic politician James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and firebrand Aaron Burr (David Niven). Burr solves that problem when he flees the country after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leaving the field clear for Madison. What should have been the film's highlight, Dolly's rescue of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution during the 1812 burning of Washington, is treated as a throwaway. Told in flashback, the film ends just before Madison's ascendancy to the White House, with Dolly chastely charming the current chief executive Thomas Jefferson (Grandon Rhodes). Magnificent Doll is anything but . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A crusading physician supervises his own life-threatening operation in this farfetched potboiler from MGM, which marked Robert Taylor's first co-starring assignment. Taylor plays handsome Dr. Tommy Ellis, whose proposal of marriage is at first turned down by surgical nurse Madge Wilson (Virginia Bruce). But when Madge's paramour, the upstanding young Dr. Bill Morgan (Chester Morris), takes a leave of his principles to cater to a rich hypochondriac (Billie Burke), she gives Tommy her "yes." Shot by an escaping convict (Arthur Vinton), Bill survives a risky operation conducted by Tommy under his own guidance, and when he recovers, he finally pops the question to Madge. With Tommy's blessing, the nurse agrees to become Mrs. Morgan. Society Doctor, which was originally reviewed as Under Eight Hours, was directed by George B. Seitz, the veteran craftsman who later helmed MGM's "Dr. Kildare" films. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide