Jack Holt Movies

While Cecil B. DeMille busied himself with lavish sex comedies and garish historical melodramas, his director brother William C. deMille (note the lower case) was content with subtler human dramas. The "other" DeMille's After the Show was adapted from Rita Weiman's story "The Stage Door." Lila Lee plays Eileen, a starry-eyed young girl employed as a chorus dancer in New York. Eileen can never be certain if the men in her life are sincere, or if they perceive her as mere temporary plaything. Among the "stage door johnnies," "tired businessmen" and "sugar daddies" surrounding Eileen are Jack Holt and Carlton S. King. Also on hand is Charles Ogle as the lovable old stage manager, named-what else?--Pop. Like most of William deMille's films, After the Show has long been missing and assumed lost. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This spy melodrama was based on a novel by Samuel Merwin called Dinner at Eight, though it bears no relation whatsoever to the Edna Ferber/George S. Kaufman play by the same name. Gail Ellis (Ethel Clayton) lands a job as secretary to Professor Griswold (Clarence H. Geldart), an antiques dealer, and she travels with him and his wife (Josephine Crowell) to the Orient. Her adventurous spirit disturbs the Griswolds, but Rupert O'Dare (Jack Holt), who works at an antique store in Shanghai, finds it appealing. When she is accosted by a group of French sailors, O'Dare comes in handy, challenging the man who grabs her to a fight. O'Dare wins, but when Gail discovers that he is really a British detective, she takes off. He goes to the hotel where the Griswolds are staying, and when he finds them making off with a load of antiques, he tries to put them under arrest. He is overpowered, but then Gail shows up with the police. It turns out that she works for the American secret service and the Griswolds are opium smugglers. With her assignment done, she is able to resume her romance with O'Dare. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The careful direction of William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil) brought fresh life to Cosmo Hamilton's all-too-typical story, His Friend and his Wife. Because Bob Meredith (Jack Holt) spends all his time working, his wife Margaret (Lois Wilson) feels the romance has ebbed away from their marriage. One night, while Meredith is at the office, family friend Julian Osborn (Conrad Nagel) -- whose own spouse (Lila Lee) is out of town -takes Margaret to a dance. They wind up at a hunting lodge and begin to get carried away, but stop before things get out of hand. The pair agree to keep their encounter a secret, but unfortunately, they've been seen and word gets back to their spouses. Finally everyone gets together, confessions are offered and all is forgiven. Incidentally, Midsummer Madness was released in the dead of winter. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Marie (Anita Stewart), a young princess, finds herself shipwrecked and uses this as a way to escape her royal duties. She takes the guise of a hotel maid, where she meets up with Roger Sloan (Jack Holt), a rich guest. They fall in love, but the class differences keep them apart. That isn't the end of it, however -- they encounter each other again, after Marie has returned to being a princess. This time, Sloan is the one who can't marry into royalty. An impending revolution in Marie's country, however, promises that the couple will finally wind up together on the same socio-economic level. Notably, much of this film was shot at the Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles -- during the silent era it was very posh, and the hotel of choice amongst visiting film executives and stars. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Cecil B. DeMille made The Squaw Man three times; this silent version was the second one. While the 1914 Squaw Man bears more historical significance (as it went a long way in establishing Hollywood as the heart of the film industry), this 1918 version is, by far, the better film, with higher production values and a more sophisticated approach. To briefly recap the plot, James Wynnegate (Elliott Dexter) travels to Wyoming after a scandal involving an embezzlement. His cousin, Henry (Thurston Hall), is the guilty one, but Wynnegate takes the blame out of love for Henry's wife, Lady Diana (Katherine MacDonald). In Wyoming, Wynnegate saves an Indian maiden, Naturich (Anna Little), from the advances of the villainous Cash Hawkins (Jack Holt). Wynnegate and Naturich marry, and she then murders Hawkins. Lady Diana comes to Wyoming to tell Wynnegate that Henry was killed on a hunting trip and confessed to the embezzlement before he died. Naturich, feeling she is in her husband's way, commits suicide. Wynnegate, now the Earl of Kerhill, returns to England with Lady Diana and his half-Indian son (Pat Moore). At the time this drama was made, DeMille was only just becoming known for creating film spectaculars; this production was an assurance that this reputation would grow. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In what is perhaps one of his lesser vehicles, Douglas Fairbanks plays a Canadian Royal Mounted Policeman who impersonates a notorious bandit, "Headin' South," in order to infiltrate the lair of bandit Frank Campeau. The outlaw has kidnapped a pretty young thing (Katherine MacDonald), who at first spurns Fairbanks' romantic overtures, thinking he is a bandit, but soon falls for the energetic charmer. Leading lady MacDonald was an untalented but spectacular young actress known as "The American Beauty." She was reportedly the mistress of President Woodrow Wilson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

It would be easy to assume that combining Mary Pickford's charm with director Cecil B. DeMille's penchant for the spectacular would create an exceptional piece of work. But judging from this picture, and the one made before it -- Romance of the Redwoods -- that just wasn't the case. The bottom line was that both Pickford and DeMille wanted control over their productions and neither of them were truly capable of the kind of compromise required by collaboration. As a result, their work together suffered. America had recently entered World War I when this picture was made, and it was one of innumerable patriotic films produced around this time. It begins in 1914 with American Angela Moore (Pickford) and her two foreign suitors -- a German, Karl Von Austreim (Jack Holt) and a Frenchman, Count Jules de Destin (Raymond Hatton). Angela prefers Karl, but when war breaks out in Europe, both men go to serve their countries. Eventually Angela, too, sails for France, but her ship is sunk by a U-boat (although not named, the ship is presumed to be the Lusitania). She is saved, but when she arrives at her destination, she finds her aunt dead, and the family chateau transformed into a hospital for those wounded in battle. The Germans arrive to fight, rape and pillage. Angela and Karl are reunited when, unaware of her identity, he tries to attack her. She forgives him this transgression, but when the Germans discover her sending messages to the French, the commander (Herbert Bosworth) orders her shot. At this, Karl denounces his country and he is ordered to be shot, too. The pair are saved by a French shell which blows up the Germans at an opportune moment, and after an all-night battle, they are found by the Allies, sleeping at the foot of a cross. Although Karl is arrested, Angela is able to have him freed and they leave for the U.S. together. This mediocre film was overshadowed by the far superior Poor Little Rich Girl, which was released earlier in the year. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

When a young man from a socially prominent family commits suicide over his love affair with chorus girl Estelle Ryan (Mary MacLaren), the newspapers pick up the story. Estelle finds herself a star overnight because of the publicity, and soon another society man, Jansen Winthrop (Jack Holt), falls in love with her. His mother (Gerard Alexander) is determined that he will marry someone of his own class and asks her brother Robert (Phillips Smalley, who also directed with his wife Lois Weber) to take care of the matter. Robert kidnaps Estelle and hides her on an island. Jansen starts to believe she is faithless, while Robert discovers that she really is a nice girl and not the sleazy vamp his family assumed her to be. Robert sends for Jansen so that he and Estelle can be reunited. But Estelle now prefers Robert, who believes in her, to Jansen, who doubted her. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

We could be cute and say that The Campbells are Coming is about invading hordes of tomato soup cans. But we won't. Set during the Sepoy uprising of 1857, the film recounts the courageous activities of a Scottish regiment. Star Francis Ford (the brother of John Ford) also directed, bringing a keen sense of cinematic knowhow to the massive battle sequences. Ford's wife and costar Grace Cunard adapted the screenplay from a story by Emerson Hough. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi