Ethan Laidlaw Movies

Admittedly, gridiron flash Harold "Red" Grange was more at home on the football field than before the cameras, but he was an agreeable screen presence in his handful of starring films. In Racing Romeo, his second movie vehicle, Grange is cast as auto mechanic and aspiring racer Red Walden. For the sake of the lovely Sally (Jobyna Ralston), Red enters the obligatory Big Race. Three guesses as to who crosses the finish line ahead of the other cars (and the first two guesses don't count!) Providing strong support for the personable Mr. Grange are such sure-handed comic performers as Trixie Friganza and Walter Hiers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This silent gangster film plays like a B-Western and was actually made by specialists of that genre. There is even a thrilling transfer stunt where young Francis X. Bushman, Jr. (or his stunt double) switches from speeding motorcycle to runaway automobile much like a Western hero would from horse to carriage. Bushman plays a small-town cub reporter who comes to the assistance of a couple of revenue agents (Jack Perrin and Hal Walters) tracking a gang of hi-jackers. Half-way through, unfortunately, the story moves indoors to a swank hotel and the film begins to drag a bit, its makers obviously out of their natural element. Western villains Ethan Laidlaw and Tom London are the leaders of the gang, while Mildred Harris, the first Mrs. Charles Chaplin, does the ingenue bit as the sister of one of the agents. The son of the matinee-idol, Francis X. Bushman, Jr. later worked under his real name, Ralph Bushman. The penultimate entry in a series of eight crime melodramas, Dangerous Traffic was produced independently by Otto K. Streyer for release by poverty row company Goodwill. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

New York subway guard Barry Baline (Monte Blue) is struck down by a speeding car on New Years' Eve. The driver, a mentally unhinged millionaire named Johnson Craigle (John Miljan), exchanges clothing with the unconscious Barry. When he awakens, Barry is assumed to be Craigle, leading to a series of amazing adventures, culminating in an episode with a gang of blackmailer-kidnappers. Deciding to assume Craigle's identity for expedience's sake, Barry pretends to play along with the blackmailers' schemes so that he can rescue abducted housemaid Minnie Humphrey (Patsy Ruth Miller). The subway-chase finale reportedly rivalled the similar climax in 1977's The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three. Wolf's Clothing was one of seven 1927 films starring Monte Blue, moneymakers all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the better Sam Sax-produced actioners of the late 1920s, When Danger Calls stars William Fairbanks as a fearless fire inspector. Despite stiff opposition from a cadre of corrupt politicians, Fairbanks endeavors to expose several recently-constructed tenements as dangerous firetraps. The chief crook manages to unload his property holdings on unsuspecting heroine Eilleen Sedgwick, knowing full well that any subsequent tragedies will be blamed on the girl. The owner of a slum mission, Sedgwick assumes that her "benefactor" is on the up and up, and naturally resents Fairbanks' snooping around. The inevitable climax finds the hero rescuing the heroine from a roaring blaze then settling the hash of the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

FBO's juvenile cowboy hero, Buzz Barton, once again played Red Hepner in this pleasant, if minor, silent western. With his gruff sidekick, Hank Robbins (Frank Rice), Red comes to the rescue of Pap Curtis (James Welch), the owner of a medicine show who is falsely accused of payroll theft. The real culprit, however, is one Cal Rogers (Ethan Laidlaw), who Red catches singlehandedly. Meanwhile, Pap Curtis' daughter Sally (Betty Welch) and the sheriff (Bert Moorehouse) have fallen in love and plan to marry. James and Betty Welch were father and daughter in real life as well. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The era's greatest western star Tom Mix had left his safe berth with the Fox company by 1929 and was struggling on poverty row. In this his third film for FBO (Film Booking Office), Mix plays Tom Manning, a cowboy framed for murder and bank robbery by bandit leader Ethan Laidlaw. As always, justice prevails, but Mix has to make a daring escape from jail to right the wrongs done to him. The leading lady, Sally Blane, was the sister of Loretta Young. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A prospector's unhappy wife (Alice Calhoun) takes in, cares for and later comes to love a man (LeRoy Mason) who is unjustly accused of a killing. The true killer, however, turns out to be her husband (Ethan Laidlaw), a fact the audience spotted long before the characters caught on. This basically silent western came augmented with a few sound effects and offered an early sympathetic portrayal by LeRoy Mason, a dapper-looking actor more at home playing smooth-talking villains. In fact, had the film been made only a few years later, Mason, whose darkly good looks were almost too sinister for heroics, would undoubtedly have played the murderous husband. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Circus life provides the framework of this drama that chronicles the love, life, and aspiration of a young circus waif. The aspiring star is learning to walk the high-wire with the young wire-walker she adores. He loves another, his partner, but she is untrue to him. As a result he is almost on the edge of a breakdown. When she abandons him, he takes comfort in drinking too much. The plucky young girl tries to help him return to his former glory. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This part-talkie is one of those strange hybrids so prevalent during the changeover to sound: part silent western, part variety show featuring Abe Lyman and His Orchestra, vaudeville comedienne Mona Ray, yodeling, and a barn dance. The silent western section of the film is actually more romantic comedy than action, what with handsome young George Duryea and bad guy Harry Woods fighting over Sally Starr. Duryea actually did achieve recognition as a western star in the 1930s but under the name Tom Keene. He later played character parts, usually villainous, under yet another moniker: Richard Powers. Pardon My Gun did not make a lasting impression upon film history, however. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Contemporary viewers who go into Dishonored expecting a musty, dated espionage melodrama will be in for a surprise. Marlene Dietrich delivers a subtle and witty performance as a Viennese prostitute who offers her services as a spy during WWI. As "Agent X-27" our heroine proves invaluable to her superiors, seducing and betraying enemy officers with the greatest of ease. But when she falls in love with Russian spy Lt. Kranau (Victor McLaglen), she permits him to escape her clutches, and as a consequence is sentenced to be executed. Ever the mistress of her own fate, "X-27" stands proud and tall before the firing squad, even comforting the officer in charge (Barry Norton) who can't bring himself to shoot a woman. The scenes between Dietrich and bemedalled general Warner Oland are in themselves worthy of the admission price; equally as entertaining is the brief sequence in which the jaded heroine disguises herself as a zaftig peasant girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sea-going thriller, an unsavory seaman working on a cargo ship bound for Singapore, enlists the aid of another, plots a mutiny; he also poisons the ship's captain. The conspiracy is overheard by the second mate who ends up falling into the ocean. Meanwhile, the captain's naive daughter finds herself falling for the villain's sugar-sweet words and finds him to be a kindly fellow. The ship makes it to Singapore where it takes on an extremely valuable cargo for the sailor. Actually the heavily insured "cargo" will be used to sink the ship and allow him to collect a nice sum on it later. While in port, he also takes on a new second mate who learns about the scheme from the sinister sailor's girl friend who has also come aboard. He then tries to take on the bad-guy, but he loses and winds up locked in a cabin. Meanwhile the girl friend tries to stop her lover by telling the late captain's daughter the truth about her "friend." She succeeds, locks the bad sailor in a cabin, rescues the second mate and all three manage to make it two a life-boat minutes before the ship explodes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot ape. The film introduces us to flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, they stumble on a ceremony in which the native dancers circle around a terrified-looking young girl, chanting, "Kong! Kong!" The chief (Noble Johnson) and witch doctor (Steve Clemente) spot Denham and company and order them to leave. But upon seeing Ann, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Denham refuses, and he and the others beat a hasty retreat to their ship. Late that night, a party of native warriors sneak on board the ship and kidnap Ann. They strap her to a huge sacrificial altar just outside the gate, then summon Kong, who winds up saving Ann instead of devouring her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night of his Broadway premiere, thinking that his beloved Ann is being hurt by the reporters' flash bulbs. Now at large in New York, Kong searches high and low for Ann (in another long-censored scene, he plucks a woman from her high-rise apartment, then drops her to her death when he realizes she isn't the girl he's looking for). After proving his devotion by wrecking an elevated train, Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide