Irene Hunt
- 1924
Robert Fraser plays a double role in this routine melodrama co-starring Elaine Hammerstein, Gladys Brockwell, and Phyllis Haver. Mary Adams (Hammerstein) is the schoolteacher who falls for a lecherous lawyer. She marries the man who saves her from the barrister, but she soon believes he is guilty of being a thief. Her husband is stabbed by his insane mother who believes he is her long-lost husband returning after many years. Although seriously wounded, he races through a raging forest fire to be reunited with his beloved wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elaine Hammerstein, Robert W. Fraser, (more)
- 1924
This epic covers all of Lincoln's life. His birth in a blizzard; his boyhood (depicted by Danny Hey as young Lincoln); his romance with the ill-fated Anne Rutledge (Ruth Clifford) and courtship of Mary Todd (Nell Craig), who he married; his debates with Stephen Douglas (William Humphreys); and his rise to the presidency. The Civil War is covered, including the surrender of Lee (James Welch), then Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth (William Moran). Playing Lincoln as an adult is George A. Billings, an uncanny lookalike. Because of its scope, the film seems a bit sketchy at times, but its sincerity is always obvious. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Hunt
- 1923
Writer/director Marshall Neilan once more makes lemonade from a lemon in The Eternal Three. Hobart Bosworth plays Frank R. Walters, an elderly doctor who takes for himself a young bride, portrayed by Claire Windsor. Feeling neglected, the new wife starts up an affair with Walter's adopted son Bob (George Cooper), who has a terrible reputation with the ladies. In ways both large and small, both lovers pay for their sins, and the doctor is made to realize how his neglect of his wife caused the whole imbroglio. Raymond Griffith deftly steals the film with his perfectly timed and paced comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hobart Bosworth, Claire Windsor, (more)
- 1922
Although this Shirley Mason picture was reportedly adapted from a play written by David Belasco and Clay M. Greene, its plot bears marked similarities to The Five Dollar Baby, which starred Mason's sister Viola Dana and was released several months earlier. Mason plays Meg who, as a child, was handed over to pawnbroker Abe Levi (Jacob Abrams) by her mother, Ruth Sternold (Irene Hunt). Abe's son Harris (Fred Warren) is fond of the girl and hands her over to a wealthy friend so she can receive the best care and a good education. Now that Meg is a pretty teenager, Chic Saxe (Robert Agnew) falls for her. Although he is a thief, Chic is desperately trying to pursue an honest life. Ruth finally returns with her pawn ticket to reclaim her daughter, and some shocking facts are revealed before Meg is reunited with her father, mother and sweetheart. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Mason, Robert Agnew, (more)
- 1922
Veteran silent-screen vamp Dorothy Dalton starred in this commonplace western based on Vingie E. Roe's story, Tharon of Last Valley. Dalton's Tharon Last is a plucky rancher out to avenge the murder of her father (Will R. Walling). As it turns out, the girl is up against a conspiracy that also includes the local judge and sheriff. Tharon learns how to handle a gun or two, however, and manages to nail the murderer (Frank Campeau). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Jack Mower, (more)
- 1922
Although this drama tugged a little too insistently at the heartstrings, Billie Dove -- still a fresh star -- stands out as the crippled young orphan girl. She is left in an asylum by her mother (Irene Hunt), who can't afford to keep her. As the years pass, the girl forms a friendship with another orphan, a boy (Gareth Hughes), which grows into love as they become teens. By then, the mother is living a life of luxury (just how this happens is never explained), and she returns to the asylum. But she doesn't recognize her own daughter, so she adopts the boy instead. Later, the girl is taken in by an old street musician (Otto Lederer), who teaches her how to play the violin. One day she is hired to play a wedding, which turns out to be the wedding of her former sweetheart from the asylum. The girl eventually becomes a concert violinist and the boy, whose wife (Myrtle Lind) has died, finds her once again. Not only are the couple reunited, but the girl finds out the identity of her mother and is reunited with her, too. This picture was efficiently directed by W.S. Van Dyke -- he was still pretty new to the craft, but he would one day earn the nickname "One-Take Woody" for his speed in shooting films. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Hunt, Will Machin, (more)
- 1921
Filmed in late 1920 and released in early '21, The Big Punch was director John Ford's second film for Fox. Buck Jones starred as a divinity student jailed for a crime actually committed by his outlaw brother (Jack Curtis). Upon his release, Jones is befriended by Salvation Army girl Barbara Bedford and together the two manage to convert the lawless brother. Ford directed this and the earlier Jones vehicle Just Pals (1920) concurrently before returning to his home studio, Universal. When that company's Carl Laemmle fired cowboy actor Harry Carey, Ford left for good, returning to Fox, for whom he would direct such future successes as The Iron Horse (1924), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and My Darling Clementine (1946). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Barbara Bedford, (more)
- 1920
Edith Storey plays a French girl who, as a child, wandered into an Arab tribe after her mother was murdered. The tribe raises her as their own, and when she reaches adulthood, the chief's son proposes to her. But she decides she'd rather run off with a French artist who brings her to Paris. After a couple of reels, the artist turns out to be worse than a mere cad -- he's the one who betrayed her mother. The girl discovers this when her long lost father barges in and kills the artist. The young Arab man then shows up in Paris, and the girl decides that he can make her happy after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Alan Holubar was both star and director of the Universal production Heart Strings. When little Johanna (Virginia Lee Corbin) is abandoned by her irresponsible mother, the child is adopted by lonely Dr. John McClean (Holubar). Growing into attractive womanhood, Johanna (now played by Francelia Billington) falls in love with young medical student Gerald (Paul Byron). Unfortunately, the boy falls under the spell of predatory older woman Leonie (Maud George) -- who, of course, is Johanna's long-lost mother. It falls upon Dr. McLean to clear up this mess and bring Johanna and Gerald together again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
This tale of Cockney London used the current World War as a backdrop. Although he doesn't make much money, Johnny Roberts (Leo Pierson) marries Mary, a schoolteacher (Ann Kronan). But it doesn't take long for Johnny's habits to get on Mary's nerves and she starts griping at him. To escape his unhappiness at home, he goes to the local pub, the White Horse, where he meets Anne, a barmaid (Irene Hunt). After he and Mary have a particularly vicious fight, Anne takes him in and he remains there until he is drafted to the front. When Anne discovers that Mary -- and the child Johnny has never met -- are starving, she takes them in. They hear a false account that Johnny has been killed in battle. It turns out that he is alive, but has been blinded by gas. When Johnny returns home, Anne realizes that he should be with his family and reunites the couple. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This Universal Studios melodrama gave King Baggot a juicy role. Jim Herron (Baggot) comes home to Virginia to find that his sister Betty (Irene Hunt) is being wooed by Antonio Gaudio (Joseph Granby), a questionable foreigner. The couple run away together, and Herron follows. At the hotel, he hears them arguing through the door and breaks into the room. Gaudio shoots at Herron but his bullet strikes Betty instead. He escapes, and because of circumstantial evidence, Herron is convicted of killing his own sister. In prison Herron distinguishes himself by rescuing the governor, Dudley Ward (Joseph W. Gerard), during an attempted escape by some cons. He is made a trustee, and Ward's grateful daughter Ruth (Helen Marten) gives him a carrier pigeon. Meanwhile, Gaudio has been posing as a count and cheating other gamblers at cards. One of his victims is Ward's son Larry (Johnny Walker), and the warden asks Herron to help in apprehending the cheat. Dressed up in an expensive suit, Herron accompanies Larry and Ruth to a club where he recognizes the count as Gaudio. He catches him cheating, and the two men wind up in a sword fight. Herron defeats Gaudio and makes him confess to Betty's murder as he is dying; Herron is released from prison and he and Ruth pursue a romance. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Based on a controversial novel by Robert Ellis Wales, The Penitentes was inspired by a real-life religious cult which thrived in 17th-century Mexico. A group of fanatical Roman Catholics were so dedicated to their beliefs that they staged actual crucifixions on Good Friday. Not all of the victims of this practice were willing ones, which is why the film ends with a "race to the rescue" not unlike the climax in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Indeed, The Penitentes was directed by Griffith assistant Jack Conway, who did an excellent job of emulating "The Master." Some have suggested that The Penitentes was written to stir up animosity against such present-day religious sects as the Mormons, but chances are that most viewers accepted the film on face value as a rip-roaring adventure yarn (with the requisite dash of romance, of course). Unfortunately, this film is sometimes confused with the much-later exploitationer Lash of the Penitentes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
One year before her "great leap" off a mountaintop in Birth of a Nation, Mae Marsh was cast as the leading lady of The Great Leap. Marsh and Bobby Harron play a pair of young lovers, whose families are engaged in a long-standing feud. Despite the admonishments of their parents, the two continue to meet clandestinely. Through their example, the warring families eventually realize the futility of their bloody behavior. Also featuring Ralph Lewis, Raoul Walsh and Donald Crisp, The Great Leap was designed to keep D. W. Griffith's stock company busy while Griffith was occupied with other projects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Home Sweet Home has been referred to by its leading lady Lillian Gish as "the first all-star film." Indeed, virtually every member of director D.W.Griffith's celebrated stock company appears in this three-part, five-reel biographical drama. Based on the life of John Howard Payne, composer of the "world-famous" title song, the film stars Henry B. Walthall as Payne, herein depicted as a brilliant but unstable artist who never found the happiness embodied in his songs. As incidents in Payne's life are enacted on the screen -- his early failures, his success as a playwright in England and as a composer in France, and his lonely, embittered final years in Africa -- these scenes are counterpointed with three "sub-stories," in which the song Home Sweet Home is shown to have a profound effect on several different people. In Episode One, a western miner (Robert Harron) nearly leaves his waitress sweetheart Mae Marsh), but they are reunited to the strains of the Payne song. In Episode Two, the song causes a faithless wife (Blanche Sweet) to renounce her lover (Owen Moore) and return to her husband (Courtenay Foote). And in the final episode, two quarrelling brothers (Donald Crisp and James Kirkwood) kill each other, leaving their grieving mother to find solace in the familiar strains of Home Sweet Home. Though Lillian Gish also spoke respectfully of her artistic collaborations with D.W. Griffith, even she found the film's final scene -- in which, dressed as Heavenly angel, she rescues John Howard Payne from the bowels of Hell -- a bit difficult to watch with a straight face. This silly denouement aside, Home Sweet Home, a joint effort of the Reliance and Mutual film companies, was quite wonderful entertainment, and one of the most successful of Griffith's pre-Birth of a Nation endeavors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, (more)
- 1914
This Reliance four-reeler starred Dorothy Gish as the title character, a rambunctious frontier dance-hall gal named Nell. When a dissolute, drunken Easterner (Henry B. Walthall) arrives in town, he proves easy prey to the local bullies and sharpsters. But Nell takes pity on the stranger and nurses him back to health. The redemption turns out to be two-tiered: Completely recovered, the Easterner marries Nell and rescues her from her wild-and-wooly environs. Though Dorothy Gish made several westerns, she was deathly afraid of horses, the result of a traumatic accident in her youth. Among the Reliance"regulars" appearing in minor roles are James Kirkwood (who also directed), Donald Crisp and Walter Long. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
