Gloria Hope Movies

The little-known Twice Blessed was an MGM vehicle for the Wilde Twins, who were first introduced in Andy Hardy's Double Trouble. Not surprisingly, the film is predicated on a mistaken-identity gimmick, with "typical" teenage girl Terry Turner (Lee Wilde) trading places with her high-IQ look-alike Stephanie Hale (Lyn Wilde). Amidst a welter of comic complications, romance blooms between Terry's father Jeff (Preston S. Foster) and Stephanie's mother Mary (Gail Patrick). Fresh from Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series, Jimmy Lydon co-stars as the boyfriend of one of the twins, though he isn't sure which one. Twice Blessed was directed by Harry Beaumont, whose association with MGM extended back to the early-talkie era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Silent cowboy star Fred Thomson, a former army chaplain, played a variation on the Zorro legend in this well-mounted, fast-paced oater from FBO. A Yale graduate, Quemado (Thomson) returns to the border area where once his Spanish forebears reigned supreme. Hiding in the hills, he makes nightly raids on lawless border towns, protecting the weak settlers from ruthless usurpers such as Gretorix (Alan Roscoe). Promising proud Easterner Joanna Thatcher (Gloria Hope that she will someday learn to love him, Quemado watches from afar as the girl is engaged to Gretorix. On the couple's wedding-night, Quemado swoops down from his hill to carry the prospected bride off into the night, forcing her to admit that she does indeed love him. One of Tom Mix's few serious rivals, Thomson was married to prolific screenwriter Frances Marion. He died at the young age of 27 following a gall stone operation. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Mary Pickford had recently put out a couple of mediocre pictures and her latest, Little Lord Fauntleroy, wasn't an immediate hit with her audience (although it would gross over a million dollars -- an enormous sum in those days -- some fans initially voiced disappointment in the film). It was time for Pickford to pull out a sure thing, and a remake of 1914's Tess of the Storm Country made a lot of sense. Tessibel Skinner is the kind of character her audiences loved -- the ragged but spunky young girl who is willing to make a great sacrifice. And Pickford had been very disappointed with Edwin S. Porter's primitive direction in the earlier version. So she bought the rights to the 1909 Grace Miller White novel and went about making it the right way. The result was an enchanting, if overlong, film. Tess is the daughter of a squatter (Forrest Robinson), and the rich man (David Torrence) who owns the land is dying to get rid of them and the other squatter families. Tess is just as determined to make sure they all stay. The man's son, Frederick Graves (all-American leading man Lloyd Hughes), is on her side. When Frederick's sister Teola (Gloria Hope) becomes pregnant out of wedlock, Tess protects her by claiming the child as her own. She is ostracized and the infant is refused baptism, so Tess sneaks into the church and does her own ritual. Eventually the truth comes out, the elder Graves learns some humility, and all ends well. Tess was a big hit and wound up grossing almost as much as Little Lord Fauntleroy. It also changed the life of Lloyd Hughes and Gloria Hope -- they fell in love on the set and later married. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In this adaptation of the Augustus Thomas stage play (he also wrote one called Arizona), the time frame has been updated to post-World War I. Frank Austin (Frank Mayo) shares a gold strike with Tom Doyle (Charles Newton), but gives it up to James Kincaid (Charles LeMoyne), his former commanding officer, in order to keep secret his misconduct in the service. Doyle, meanwhile, believes that Austin is having an affair with his wife (Lillian West), but the truth is he's really in love with their daughter, Kitty (Gloria Hope). Kincaid finally reveals that he has held Austin's honorable discharge papers the whole time, and Doyle discovers that Austin is interested in Kitty, not Mrs. Doyle. So Austin gets back his share of the mine, and the girl. This was the second time Universal Studios filmed this play; the first was in 1915, with Hobart Bosworth as Doyle. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Sidney Franklin, formerly the principal director of the "Fox Kidlettes" series, works with grownups in the silent Courage. Sam DeGrasse plays a brooding Scotsman who spends 18 years in prison on a trumped-up murder charge. Only his wife Naomi Childers believes in DeGrasse's innocence. She nobly awaits her husband's return, ever seeking out the opportunity of exonerating him. Northern California proves an excellent substitute for the crags of Scotland in Courage, which was based on a short story by Andrew Soutar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this Harry Carey/John Ford collaboration, Carey plays Texas Ranger Jim Kyneton. Jim's foster brother Nick (Vesta Pegg) has fallen in with a pack of bandits who rob a mine. For this particular Ranger, duty comes before family, and Jim arrests all of them, including Nick. But Roseen (Claire Anderson), a dance-hall girl, is angry because Jim spurned her, so she helps the varmints escape. Jim has to go round them up all over again, which he does -- except for Nick, who commits suicide by riding his horse off a cliff. His job finished, Jim returns to Betty (Gloria Hope), the girl he loved all along. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

When heroine Enid Bennett leaves the small rural community of her birth, she is the epitome of sweet innocence. When she returns home after four months in the Big City, she is something else again. The girl's newfound poise and sophistication throws the community into a tizzy; after all, anyone so "worldly" must also be terribly wicked, right? Well, they're wrong. The girl is just as virtuous now as she was "then," and she proves as much before the "End" title is flashed on the screen. The supporting cast of Naughty, Naughty included director Earle Rodney and stage soubrette Marjorie Bennett, who would still be playing character roles well into the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This war-time D.W. Griffith film was literally filler -- some of the footage was left over from around the time he shot Hearts of the World. According to reports of the day (the film apparently no longer exists), its modest story and simple approach was a comedown from the director's other, far more impressive work. When World War I breaks out, Jim Young (Robert Harron), of Youngstown goes to Canada to enlist. While training in Britain, he becomes fired up by observing the Dowager Queen and Lady Diana Manners contributing to the war effort (these were actual members of the British royalty and nobility, and were filmed in 1917). He also meets Susie Broadplains (Lillian Gish), a reverend's daughter, but their romance is interrupted by intrigue. Sir Roger Brighton (Henry B. Walthall), who has deserted a girl (Gloria Hope) and come to town, is being courted by a group of German spies. Sir Roger gets interested in Susie when she inherits some money, and this angers Jim, who leaves for the front. Susie naively marries Sir Roger, but when she finds out about his former sweetheart, she spurns him. The spies are to light the way for some planes to bomb an arsenal, but when the driver is captured, Mademoiselle Cointee (Rosemary Theby) is pressed into service. She can't drive, so she convinces Sir Roger to help her. Jim, who has returned, chases after them and smashes their searchlight. Then he uses his own and leads the German fleet to bomb an empty field. In disgrace, Sir Roger takes his own life, leaving Jim and Susie to reunite in the war cause. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi