James Kirkwood Movies

Divorcee Isabel Whitney (Kathlyn Williams) wants her eldest daughter, Eunice (Claire Adams), to marry Egbert Van Alyn (Crauford Kent), even though Jimmy Arnold (John Harron) has been her sweetheart since childhood. Eunice's younger sister, Arline (Pauline Garon), is a jazzy flapper who is creating her own troubles. She's loved by Danny Lawrence, a serious young man (Hal Cooley), but she prefers the company of the fast-and-loose Lester Howe (Maine Garey). In spite of her apparent frivolity, Arline is determined to save Eunice from marrying Van Alyn. Then she meets up with a stranger who informs her that he is her father, Richard Whitney (James Kirkwood), and that Isabel divorced him over a misunderstanding. Whitney and Lawrence discover that Van Alyn is an international crook and they dash to his home in time to keep him from stealing Isabel's jewels. Isabel reconciles with her husband, while her daughters wind up with the right mates. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Mae Murray's pictures were the ultimate in jazz-era extravagance. This one is based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez, the same author who wrote the book on which The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was based. Cecilie Brunner (Murray) was raised in a convent, but after her mother's death, she becomes a cynical vamp, who, like the mythical character Circe, brings men to their ruin. Because of the generosity of her unfortunate men friends, Cecilie is able to live well on Long Island. But then she falls in love with her next-door neighbor, Peter Van Martyn, a surgeon (James Kirkwood). Van Martyn disapproves of Cecilie's lifestyle and lets her know it. When he refuses to have anything to do with her, Cecilie parties even harder and winds up gambling away her home. Finally she realizes that Van Martyn was right and she returns to the convent. She is hit by a car and paralyzed while saving a child, but she miraculously regains the use of her legs when Van Martyn comes to her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Michael (James Kirkwood) and Margaret Fraser (Cleo Madison) experience marital discord when his professional career interferes with romance. Jack (Vernon (Steele) and Emily Ballard (Grace Darmond) also feel the flame of love has burned out. Emily and Michael fall in love, prompting a staged elopement with Dick Everton (Arthur Rankin) and Betty Ballard (Muriel McCormac) to teach the philandering spouses a lesson in responsibility. The cast and direction of the feature sets this apart from being just another routine film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Dorothy Davenport billed herself by her private name, Mrs. Wallace Reid, for this melodrama about drug addiction. She was making a powerful point by doing so because her husband, film star Wallace Reid, had died at the beginning of 1923 as a result of his morphine habit. An exploitative bit of propaganda, Human Wreckage was nevertheless well made -- Davenport was supported by a solid cast that included James Kirkwood, Bessie Love, and Robert McKim, and the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan. Jimmy Browne, a junkie (George Hackathorne), is arrested after robbing a pawnshop, and his friend Mary Finnegan (Love) approaches Ethel MacFarland (Davenport) about the dilemma. Ethel's husband Alan (Kirkwood) is a lawyer of note, and he gets Browne released to a sanitarium to be cured. MacFarland is overworked, and his doctor (McKim) prescribes narcotics. Soon he is hooked, adverselt affecting his life and his work -- he even makes sure that Steve Stone (Harry Northrup), the head of the drug ring, gets acquitted of charges. Eventually he begs his wife to take him away so that he can kick his habit., but he is only able to quit for good when he believes that Ethel herself is succumbing to the lure of drugs. Now cured, he heads a campaign to wipe out drugs. Stone tries to escape, but Browne, who is driving him away, runs the car into a train, killing them both. This picture was made in the wake of several notorious Hollywood scandals -- Reid's drug addiction being only one -- and was a weak attempt to convince Middle America that the film capital was willing to clean up its act. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, based on the novel Pink Gods and Blue Demons by Cynthia Stockley, wasted the talents of James Kirkwood, Anna Q. Nilsson, Raymond Hatton, and especially Bebe Daniels, whose forte was comedy, not drama. Lorraine Temple (Daniels) lusts after diamonds, so while her husband, Colonel Pat Temple (George Cowl), is away, she goes after John Quelch (James Kirkwood), who owns a diamond mine. Quelch is a brutal boss who refuses to tolerate theft -- if any of his employees try to steal his diamonds by swallowing them, he has a doctor remove them surgically. Quelch's fiancee, Lady Margo Cork (Nilsson), can't tolerate his hateful acts, so he turns his attention to Lorraine. He courts her in his underground palace, but Jim Wingate (Hatton), a foreman who has undergone Quelch's cruel operation, vindictively dynamites it. The greedy Lorraine dies from injuries she receives in the explosion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Booth Tarkington-Harry Leon Wilson play was filmed once previously, in 1914, by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel. For the 1922 version, director George Fitzmaurice seems to have relied more on the picturesque backgrounds -- it was filmed on location in England and Italy -- than he should have. Genevieve Granger-Simpson (Anna Q. Nilsson) and her brother Horace (Geoffrey Kerr) go to Europe on the fortune left to them by their father. Their guardian, Daniel Forbes Pike (James Kirkwood), stays behind in Kokomo, Indiana. But when he hears that Genevieve is being romanced by a certain Prince Kinsillo (Norman Kerry),who is very interested in her large dowry, Pike packs his bags and heads for Italy -- and it just so happens that Pike loves Genevieve himself. On his way to stop her involvement with the so-called Prince, Pike helps out a traveler who happens to be the King (John Miltern), traveling incognito. With his help, he reveals the Prince and his supposedly royal cohorts as fakes and wins Genevieve's heart. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Director Marshall Neilan brought his cast and crew to Montana for this extravagant re-telling of the famous last stand at Little Big Horn. The surrounding story of a military officer (James Kirkwood) turning into a notorious gunslinger after serving time for a crime he didn't commit is average B-Western melodrama, however. On his way west, Kirkwood saves a young girl (Marjorie Daw) from marauding Indians, and in one of those coincidences found only in the brain of a Hollywood screenwriter, she turns out to be the daughter he never knew he had. With a young and pretty daughter to care for, Kirkwood's gunman redeems himself and dies nobly alongside General Custer (Dwight Crittenden) in that suicidal last stand. Director Neilan, unfortunately, cluttered up his narrative by spending an inordinate time showcasing the tiresome Wesley Barry, a freckled urchin whom no one but Neilan himself much liked. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This confusing melodrama finds Jean Jacques Barbille (James Kirkwood) as the wealthy young man from a small town in Quebec. Returning from a tour of Europe, he meets Carmen Delores (Alice Hollister), the daughter of a Spanish adventurer. The two are married, much to the dismay of the other women who coveted the towns most eligible bachelor. The two have a baby girl, but Carmen is driven into the arms of George Masson (Alan Hale) when Jean fails to give her the required attention. Jean discovers the illicit affair but spares George's life after he realizes he has only himself to blame for the break-up. Carmen and the daughter leave for Montreal, and she places the child in a convent when she gets a job as a chorus girl. Jean is left penniless when his mill burns down and his unscrupulous father-in-law steals his money. When Jean refuses to allow his other daughter to marry, she elopes with her lover. Jean is left to wander as a homeless vagabond, but he meets his daughter in Montreal by a simple twist of fate. After father and daughter are reunited, his other daughter returns with her prosperous husband and vows to care for their indigent father. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Domestic issues take center stage in this sensationalistic Western directed by Reginald Barker for Goldwyn. A young woman (Barbara Castleton) escapes her homicidal father by marrying a rancher (Russell Simpson). History repeats itself, however, and the rancher turns out to be a brute who actually marks his own wife with a branding iron. The desperate woman is rescued by a visiting New York author (James Kirkwood) who kills the husband. Returning to New York, the author turns into another Pygmalion, creating a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as it were. The trade-paper Harrison's Reports termed this cinematic mess "a powerful story masterly handled." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Although Jack Pickford was no Charles Ray, he performed nicely in this rural comedy. Johnny Spivins (Pickford) adores Milly Fields (Marguerite LaMotte), but since he's only an errand boy at the local grocery, he can't get her to look his way. Things get even worse when a city boy comes to town and boards at the Fields' home. He saves Milly from drowning and is hailed as a hero. After that Johnny figures he'll never be able to get through to Milly and decides to leave home. But his plans are interrupted when there's a bank robbery. Johnny nabs two of the robbers and brings them, and the loot, back to the village. Now Johnny's a hero and Milly finally admits that she cared for him all along. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Fox signed Evelyn Nesbit purely for sensational value. Even at this late date, she was still notorious as the cause for what was considered in 1906 to be "the crime of the century" -- the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her husband Harry Thaw. So most of the films she made for the studio were sheer exploitation. This one, however, was surprisingly good. Nesbit plays Varda Deering, a dancer who is involved with August Von Grossman (Alphonz Ethier), a suspicious character under scrutiny by the U.S. Secret Service. When she meets Lieutenant John Long (Henry Clive), he falls for her, and she for him. But he won't stand for her dealings with Von Grossman so eventually he leaves her. What he doesn't realize is that the Secret Service has contacted her and asked her to spy on Von Grossman for them. She has agreed, and becomes involved in his espionage, all for the benefit of the U.S. government. It turns out that the chauffeur is also working for the Secret Service, and he lends a hand to Varda. With the help of her aides, she breaks into Von Grossman's safe, gets the needed information and takes off in a car. The spies pursue, but are conveniently killed when their car runs afoul of an express train. With the escapade over, Varda can finally explain all to her now-understanding Lieutenant. Nesbit's young son, Russell Thaw, had a bit part as the chauffeur's kid -- a touch that must have delighted Fox's press agents. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Spencers are living the high life in New York -- Jack (David Powell) is a force on Wall Street, and Eileen (Catherine Calvert) loves gambling. But their life takes a tragic turn when their ways render them penniless and Jack begins to lose his sight. Eileen has been carrying on a flirtation with novelist Carter Ballantyne (Thomas Holding), but she dumps him for her husband's sake. She and a friend, Dolly Page (Hazel Alden), become card cheats, because that is the only way Eileen can pay for her husband's eye operation. Finally Jack is sent overseas to be cured, and Ballantyne comes around again. He knows what Eileen has been up to and threatens to expose her unless she becomes his mistress. Eileen refuses, but Dolly begs her to do something, because the scandal would ruin her and her unborn child. So Eileen hands her key over to Ballantyne. But the novelist and Jack wind up at home at the same time. So Ballantyne swears to them both that he will reveal all to their Wall Street cronies. But at a dinner that night, Eileen makes the confession herself. Jack is held back from killing Ballantyne, and he is able to get his, and Eileen's, life started over again. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide