Stuart Holmes Movies

Released with sound effects and a music score that included the song "When Love Comes Smiling" by Walter Hirsch, Lew Pollack and Erno Rapee, Paul Leni's near masterpiece remains one of the silent era's last great romantic melodramas. Based on Victor Hugo's 1869 novel L'Homme qui Rit, The Man Who Laughs starred German import Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a carnival freak doomed to live life wearing a perpetual grin carved on his face by Dr Hardquannone (George Siegman because his father, Lord Clancharlie (Allan Cavan), had offended England's King James II (Sam De Grasse). Taken in as a child by Ursus, a mountebank (Cesare Gravina), Gwynplaine grows up alongside the beautiful but blind Dea (Mary Philbin). They fall in love but Gwynplaine refuses to marry her because his hideous face makes him feel unworthy. Queen Anne (Josephine Crowell), meanwhile, has ascended the throne and when she learns from her predecessor's evil jester Barkilphedro (Brandon Hurst) that the recalcitrant Duchess Josiana (Olga Baclanova) is in possession of Lord Clancharlie's estates, she decrees that the royal femme fatale must marry Gwynplaine, the rightful heir. Josiana, who has caught Gwynplaine's act incognito and arranged a rendezvous, is at the same time sexually attracted to and repelled by the "Laughing Man," but Gwynplaine, who realizes that the duchess' attraction has legitimized his right to love Dea, renounces his title and follows his heart to the new World. Although Kirk Douglas was long interested in producing a remake, The Man Who Laughs was instead filmed again as L'Uomo che Ride by Italian director Sergio Corbucci in 1966. Corbucci, however, changed the setting from Queen Anne to the infamous sixteenth century Italian court of the Borgias. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The same winning combination responsible for Don Juan-star John Barrymore, director Alan Crosland and screenwriter Bess Meredyth, once more aligned their talents for When a Man Loves. This adaptation of the classic novel and opera Manon Lescaut has been slightly rearranged to make the titular heroine (played by Barrymore's future wife Dolores Costello) a secondary figure and to place the emphasis on the male lead, Chevalier Fabian (Barrymore, of course). The luckless Manon is sold into a life of prostitution by her no-good brother Andre (Warner Oland). Servicing only the wealthiest and most influential men in Paris, Manon decides to chuck it all when she falls in love with the dashing Chevalier. But Manon waits too long to abandon her much-older "protector," the Count de Montfontaine (Sam De Grasse),and both hero and heroine suffer as a result. The final scenes find Manon and the Chevalier banished to the penal colony in New Orleans, where they experience a rather more positive denouement than the luckless lovers of the original Manon Lescaut. Among the "fallen women" shipped to New Orleans with Manon in the last reel is a young Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sentimental comedy begins when four middle-aged actors jointly adopt an orphaned baby girl, raising her in a backstage milieu. The girl grows up to become Doris Poole (Betty Bronson), and it is hoped by her foster daddies that she will become an actress herself. When Doris falls in love with wealthy Ted Potter (Lawrence Gray), her four surrogate parents stage an elaborate charade to convince Ted's snobbish mother Anastasia (Louise Dresser) that Doris is of good breeding. The girl wants no part of the hoax and confesses all to Ted's mom, whereupon Ted is bundled off to Europe "for his own good." But the four adoptive fathers arrange another little "drama" to get Doris on board Ted's ship. Ziegfeld Follies headliner Raymond Hitchcock steals the show (no small task in this ham-infested effort) as a phony butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mary Carr, Hollywood's favorite "martyr mother," does her usual in The Midnight Message. Carr plays the widowed, impoverished mom of Western Union messenger boy John Fox Jr. Dispatched to deliver a night telegram to millionaire Otis Harlan, Fox is overpowered by a gang of burglars. Soon, however, he turns the tables on the crooks, earning a huge reward for his efforts. Fox spends the money on a new sewing machine for her mother, a gift she accepts with unbounded gratitude -- though frankly, the money could have been better spent on a new wardrobe. Midnight Message was directed by Paul Hurst, better known for such acting roles as the Yankee Deserter in Gone with the Wind (1939). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent-movie ingenue Alice Lake was well past her prime when she headed the cast of this second-string drama. Lake is cast as the bored wife of American revenue officer Jack Richardson, who leads a lonely existence along the U.S./Canadian border. Hoping to add some spice to her life, Lake deserts her husband to run off with glib city-slicker Stuart Holmes. Inevitably, Holmes turns out to be a smuggler, putting Richardson in the untenable position of having to arrest his own wife. But when Lake kills Holmes to save her husband's life, a tearful reconciliation is next on the docket. But hey -- where's the "hurricane"? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stuart Holmes spent much of the 1920s playing villains. He even played them in comedy two-reelers for Hal Roach. Here, he gives funnyman Charley Chase a hard time. Chase has been afraid of dogs ever since he was a little boy, and this causes him no amount of trouble. He is chased into a phone booth where Holmes, as a phony Duke, was making a call. The phone has been left off its receiver, and Charley winds up talking to the girl at the other end of the line -- it's Mildred June, who desperately doesn't want to marry the Duke. Charley decides to help her out and gets a job as a butler in her home. One of his first duties is to wash the dog, which happens to be named Duke. Charley grabs Duke the human, instead of Duke the dog, and mayhem ensues. Eventually the human Duke is revealed to be bogus, and Charley wins Mildred. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Author George Barr McCutcheon, who breathed life into many a mythical kingdom, wrote the story for this action-adventure. Although he was not yet a star, William Haines' swashbuckling performance proved that he was definitely on the rise. John Smart (Haines) is a struggling writer who inherits a fortune. He buys an old castle in the kingdom of Laupheim, and finds Countess Von Pless (Madge Bellamy) hiding there. She is trying to get away from her cruel husband, the Count (Stuart Holmes), and Smart tries to help her get out of the country. His plans, however, are exposed by a woman who had unsuccessfully tried to vamp him. The Countess manages to escape by plane anyhow, while Smart fends off the Count and his men with a sword. The authorities take away Smart's castle and he returns to America, broke. His valet, however, brings back a treasure he found in the castle, which enables Smart to wed the Countess. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Even though Clara Bow was close to achieving true stardom, she was still being cast in crass, low-budget fare. In fact, she has little to do in this overwrought melodrama -- Wallace MacDonald has the meaty role, and is billed above her. Bruce Armstrong (MacDonald) is quite wealthy. He is also a drinker, a gambler, and pretty much worthless as a human being. Even after he lames his little brother Jimmy (Pat Moore) in a drunken fit, he does not straighten up. For some reason, Marilyn Merrill (Bow), a successful dancer, sticks by him. In spite of this, he gambles with her boss, Tom Canfield (Stuart Holmes), and when he loses, he writes bad checks. In order to avoid jail, Armstrong gets involved in diamond smuggling and winds up in a brutal fight over the spoils. One of the men, Big Jim Snead (Tom Santschi), attacks Armstrong, who kills him. Jimmy is the only witness, so when Armstrong is put on trial, the boy is forced to testify. To keep him from having to take the stand, Armstrong confesses. But one of the other smugglers, Dude Talbot (Templar Saxe), comes forth and admits that Armstrong killed in self-defense. Armstrong goes free and proposes to the ever-patient Marilyn. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The comedy duo of Lew Fields and Joe Weber had parted ways for several years when they teamed up once again for this picture, based on the 1917 play by Samuel Shipman and Aaron Hoffman. As youths, Carl Pfeiffer (Fields) and Henry Block (Weber) came to America from Germany. Pfeiffer became a wholesale shoe dealer, while Block became a banker. In spite of their lines of work, they apparently save most oftheir energy for their unending arguments with each other. The latest dispute involves the Great War (the film takes place in the days just before America became involved). Block is completely patriotic towards his new country, while Pfeiffer wavers between Germany and the U.S. When his son, William (Jack Mulhall), decides to enlist, Pfeiffer is upset. He wants to keep the soldiers from going overseas, so he gives money to a fund run by Miller (Stuart Holmes) for that purpose. What he doesn't realize is that Miller is a spy, and he uses the money to sink the transport that is taking the soldiers to Europe. Pfeiffer is grief-stricken when he realizes he helped kill his own son -- but then William reappears, unharmed. As a result, Pfeiffer teams up with Block, who has joined the secret service, and Hilda Schwartz, another secret service agent (Lucille Lee Stewart), to capture Miller. William marries Block's daughter, June (Virginia Brown Faire), and their fathers go on to new quarrels. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A young American girl in Paris is loved by three handsome men in this romantic melodrama based on Belonging, a popular 1920 novel by Olive Wadsley. Virginia Valli plays the young woman, Sara, who is asked to chose between three disparate suitors: Count Desanges (Marc MacDermott), who is considerably older; Charles Carleton (Stuart Holmes), who is married; and Julian Greer (Lloyd Hughes), a handsome -- and unattached -- American. In a dramatic climax, a paralyzed Count Desanges shoots and kills Carleton just as he attacks a helpless Sara. In the end, the self-sacrificing count gives his blessing for Sara to marry her true love, Julian. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This drama was written by future MGM producer Paul Bern. The greatest ambition of actress Vanna Du Maurier (Anna Q. Nilsson) is to own her own theater, but when she meets De Greve, a millionaire (Stuart Holmes), she mysteriously changes her mind. De Greve, it turns out, is the brutal father of Vanna's 19-year-old son, Teddy (Arthur Rankin). Seeing him again turns Vanna into an old woman overnight and she goes to Vienna for a rejuvenation process. While she is gone, De Greve steals Teddy's sweetheart, Sylvia Grayson (Lucille Ricksen), by promising to build a theater for her. When Vanna returns, it's evident that the operation has also affected her disposition, because she insists that De Greve close Sylvia's show, and she proceeds to vamp him away from the young actress. Sylvia is too ashamed to return to Teddy, and when Vanna realizes that De Greve has ruined Sylvia and Teddy's relationship, she horsewhips him. Then she tries to drown herself, but she is saved by her longtime lover, Richard Dowling (Wyndham Standing). Dowling then gives De Greve a thrashing himself and Vanna accepts his proposal. Teddy and Sylvia are also reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Priscilla Dean's star was beginning to fade around the time she appeared as a passionate Andulusian peasant in this drama. Young Gallito (Allan Forrest) wants very badly to become a matador. His sweetheart, Dolores (Dean), does everything she can to help him and she wheedles Pedro, a renowned bullfighter (Matthew Betz), into helping him, too. Gallito becomes a success, but he is vamped by Ardita (Claire Delorez) after Pedro is killed in the ring. Dolores becomes a dancer at a cabaret owned by Cavallo (Stuart Holmes), and when he tries to attack her, Gallito comes to her rescue. Dolores, however, is still steaming over their rift and refuses to reconcile with him. She discovers that Cavallo is plotting to drug Gallito the next time he is in the ring, which will certainly mean his death. In spite of Ardita's attempts to stop her, Dolores escapes and rushes to the bullring. She kills the bull with a sword before it can do in Gallito, and finally the couple are reunited. When Cavallo's treachery is discovered, he is attacked by an angry mob. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide