George Kuwa Movies

Often misrepresented as an entry in Paramount's Zane Grey series, Showdown is actually based on a novel by Houston Branch. In his never-ending search for new oil sources, wildcat driller Cardan (George Bancroft) lets nothing get in his way -- least of all his chief rival Winter (Fred Kohler Sr.), a scout for a big-time oil firm (it isn't named Standard Oil, but it might as well be). Drilling a new well in the tropics, Cardan spends his evenings with his girlfriend Goldie (Helen Lynch), whom Winter tries to steal upon his arrival. The two old enemies also quarrel over the affections of Sibyl Shelton (Evelyn Brent), the beautiful wife of aristocratic Wilson Shelton (Neil Hamilton). Upon realizing that Winter intends to lay claim on his well should a gusher come in, Cardan begins cooking up schemes to dispose of his rival. But the ultimate showdown between Cardan and Winter takes place because of Sybil, who isn't too keen about being First Prize in a macho-man "contest." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This high-seas melodrama tells the tale of a self-righteous sea captain who steals his son and leaves his wife because he believes that she is having an affair. Two decades later, a woman is discovered aboard the ship. It is the captain's ex-wife who simply wants to be near her boy who shares his father's contempt of her. Also aboard the ship is a young woman, the daughter of another woman who cheated on the captain. Things are tumultuous for a while, but eventually the emotionally stormy seas calm and the captain forgives his ex-wife and allows the son and his new lady love to wed. During a real storm, the captain sacrifices his life to save the endangered couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This typically hard-nosed Jack Holt vehicle casts the star as opium smuggler Tom Fellows. While in Shanghai on "business," Tom rescues Mary Blake (Dorothy Revier) from the clutches of his deadly rival London Charlie (Pat Harmon). But Mary can't stay out of trouble, obliging Tom to rescue her a second time. Several hairbreadth escapes later, Mary reveals herself to be "Secret Agent 63" -- whereupon Tom identifies himself as British Intelligence Officer Robert Wellesley, Mary's boss! Blessed with one fast-action scene after another, The Warning can perhaps be forgiven for its nonsensical storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Flamboyant flapper Cynthia Stockton (Marie Prevost) and misogynistic author Stanley Warrington (the "original" Harrison Ford) "meet cute" when their cars collide. Hoping to escape Warrington's wrath, Cynthia hitches a ride on a milk truck and returns home earlier than expected. Upon finding her fiance in the arms of her own sister, the disillusioned Cynthia dashes off into the night, taking shelter in a posh mansion -- owned, of course, by Warrington. When the acerbic author discovers Cynthia asleep in his bed, he blows his top, but his anger is nothing compared to the rage exhibited by Cynthia's father (Franklin Pangborn), who assumes the worst. Hastily, Cynthia claims that she and Warrington are married, leading to further misadventures during their "honeymoon" cruise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like most Westerns of the era, this Jack Holt vehicle from Paramount includes automobiles and even airplanes. But Holt went his rivals one better by incorporating a machine gun into a fight against a neighboring rancher who is out to ruin him. Based on a Peter B. Kyne novel, The Enchanted Hill also featured a triangle romance between Holt, rancher's daughter Mary Brian and jealous foreman Richard Arlen. The latter, a promising newcomer, basically took Holt's place in the Paramount hierarchy when the square-jawed star moved over to upstart Columbia. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Harold Bell Wright, this average silent western starred Warner Baxter as the son who almost loses his ranch to cover his late father's debts. Star-billed Bessie Love had little to do other than looking pretty as Baxter's Irish romantic interest. A former leading man with the Oliver Morosco stock company, the handsome, dark-haired Baxter was treading water in programmers before earning a 1929 Academy Award for playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona. Today, however, Baxter is mainly remembered for playing the Crime Doctor in a series of popular whodunits produced by Columbia in the 1940s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Reginald Denny seems to be doing a Harold Lloyd impersonation in this comedy, right down to the glasses, and maybe he was -- the plot concerns a hypochondriac, like Lloyd's 1923 hit Why Worry?. Although Rufus Billop (Denny) is convinced he will die at any minute, he has outlived his whole family with the exception of his Aunt Beulah (Lucille Ward). While visiting her he decides he desperately needs a doctor. After fighting against the tough manipulations of a towering woman chiropractor (Blanche Payson), he finds a " real" doctor (Clarence Geldert) who agrees that he needs serious care. The only thing holding Billop back from entering a sanitarium is a lack of funds -- he will inherit 750,000 dollars in three years, but if he dies any earlier all the money goes to charity. After the doctor assures a trio of lenders (Otis Harlan, William V. Mong, and Tom Ricketts) that there's really nothing wrong with Billop, they front him a hundred thousand if they will wind up with his whole fortune. So Billop happily takes on a full time nurse and lays in bed all day with a book and a thermometer. But when the first nurse, "Death Watch Mary" (Martha Mattox), doesn't work out, he is given pretty Dolores Hicks (a young and inexperienced Mary Astor). Billop falls in love with her, and when the maid (Helen Lynch) informs him that women like men who "aren't afraid of nothin'," he stops languishing in bed and starts racing cars and riding motorcycles. His brushes with death almost kill his lenders, who will lose their investment if he dies before he receives his inheritance. Dolores finally gets a lawyer to make out a fair contract, and she convinces the three men to sign it as they helplessly watch Billop painting a flagpole some 20 or so stories above a busy street. Although Denny's performance may owe something to Lloyd, this picture was actually based on the novel by Harry Leon Wilson. In addition a successful play about a hypochondriac, The Nervous Wreck, ran on Broadway in 1924, and it later became the musical Whoopee!, a stage and screen hit for Eddie Cantor -- clearly hypochondriacs were marketable entertainment at the time! ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The story to this melodrama came from one of the "Limehouse" stories written by Thomas Burke, the same author who wrote the original Broken Blossoms story. Unfortunately this tale is no Broken Blossoms -- Shirley Mason, while being a fine little comedienne, is no Lillian Gish, and director Maurice Elvey was certainly no D.W. Griffith. Big Bill Branigan (Wallace MacDonald), one of the tough characters of London's Limehouse district, falls in love with Curlytop (Mason) because of her sweet innocence. He leaves his sweetheart, Bessie (Diana Miller), for her and resolves to go straight. When he sets out to find a job, the jealous Bessie gets Curlytop drunk and hacks off her long curls. Curlytop runs away and gets a job as a waitress on a floating barge owned by Shanghai Dan (Warner Oland), the head of a gang of Chinese crooks. Branigan returns to find Curlytop gone, and when he finds her curls in Bessie's possession he forces her to reveal her whereabouts. He saves Curlytop just as she is about to be hypnotized by Dan. Another ship crashes into the barge and Dan is killed, while the couple are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The normally low-key William C. deMille veers into the territory of his younger brother, Cecil B. DeMille, with this highly dramatic feature. Actress Corinne d'Alys (Bebe Daniels) is thrilled by her newfound success and aches for more publicity and fame. Although she is loved by her manager, John Elliot (Lewis Stone), she begins an affair with a portrait painter, Robert Townsend (Adolphe Menjou, who was earning quite a reputation -- on film at least -- as a seducer). Townsend is married to Elliot's sister Elsa (Kathlyn Williams), and she's furious over the affair. When she slashes at the painting of Corinne, she winds up accidentally killing her husband. Elliot, however, is the one arrested for the crime. When Elsa sees that her brother is in love with Corinne, she commits suicide, but first leaves a note confessing that it was she who stabbed Townsend. Corinne is thoroughly chastened by these events and reconciles with the ever-faithful Elliot. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Clara Kimball Young stars as a world-famous opera diva, while Elliot Dexter co-stars as her long-neglected husband. Fed up with his wife hogging the spotlight, Dexter files for divorce. This sets the stage for Young's elaborate and often hilariously underhanded campaign to win her husband back. Enter Madame would be remade in 1935 with Elissa Landi and Cary Grant in the leading roles. Both films were based on a story by Gilda Varesi and Dolly Byrne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Moran of the Lady Letty was a successful attempt to establish "Latin Lover" Rudolph Valentino as a brawling he-man hero (both this film and Valentino's breakthrough picture The Sheik were directed by George Melford). Rudy plays a Spanish aristocrat who is shanghaied by burly ship's captain Walter Long, the head of a smuggling gang. While at sea, Valentino rescues a young man from a burning vessel. The young man turns out to be a young woman (Dorothy Dalton), who had earlier spurned Valentino in his pampered-aristocrat days. Rudy tries to conceal the girl's identity from the lustful Long, but soon the truth is out, setting the stage for a bloody mano-y-mano battle between hero and villain. Moran of the Lady Letty was based on a novel by Frank Norris, whose best-known work McTeague was filmed by Erich Von Stroheim as Greed (1924). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although this mystery-comedy came out mere weeks after John Barrymore portrayed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous character, it's not a spoof on Sherlock Holmes. Nevertheless, it's an amusing vehicle for Bert Lytell. The secret formula for the world's most powerful explosive has been stolen from the U.S. government. William Brown (Lytell), a clerk who aspires to be a detective, has just received his badge from some anonymous Midwestern agency (he paid all of 25 dollars for it), and manages to get himself embroiled in the intrigue. And he doesn't do too badly -- he actually gets his hands on the missing envelope, but then he's tricked by the thieves into giving it back to them. Instead of receiving his reward, he is ridiculed and his tin badge is soundly crushed. But all is not lost -- he remembers that the woman in possession of the envelope was wearing sandalwood perfume. He puts his olfactory senses to work, and after he's smelled just about everything he can find, he recovers the document again, gets a real detective badge, and wins his girl (Ora Carew). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide