Lillian Langdon Movies

William Desmond, he of the dazzling smile and sleek physique, was starred in the Triangle feature Society for Sale. Desmond plays "Honorable" Billy, an aristocratic Englishman who finds himself a pauper overnight. Hoping to recoup his family fortunes, Billy agrees to marry, sight unseen, a wealthy clothes model named Phyllis Cline (an early starring role for Gloria Swanson). At first feeling that he has married beneath his station, Billy is gratified to learn that Phyllis is the daughter of a prominent English nobleman. By this time, however, he has renounced his previous snobbishness and learned to love Phyllis on her own merits. Though quite easy on the eyes, Gloria Swanson was merely an arm decoration for star Desmond; within a few years, however, her profitable professional association with Cecil B. DeMille enabled her to choose vehicles specifically designed for her unique talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gloria Swanson was still being referred to as a former Keystone star when this drama was released. Here she is struggling artist Marcia Grey, who repulses the advances of rent collector Von Holtz (Harvey Clark). He vindictively has her framed for a theft, and she is sent to jail. When she is released, she joins the Salvation Army where she reacquaints herself with wealthy philanthropist John Stanford (Joe King), and they marry. Von Holtz reappears on the scene as a German spy. Stanford, who is working with the government, has some important papers that Von Holtz wants, and Marcia finds him fiddling with her husband's safe. He threatens to expose her prison term if she does not cooperate with him, so she accompanies him on a meeting with his fellow spies. Stanford's mother (Lillian Langdon) sees them sneaking off together and tells John. Believing that his wife is running off with Von Holtz, he follows, only to discover that Marcia has brought the police into the matter and the spies are arrested. Any doubts John had about his wife are gone, and they are happier together than ever. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Americano is Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the son of a wealthy mining engineer. Sent by his dad to oversee a mine in South America, he falls in love with Alma Rubens, the daughter of a deposed below-the-border president. With Fairbanks' help, the kindly ex-leader is restored to his former position and the insurgents are sent scurrying back to the hills. Even after eight decades, The Americano retains its exuberant entertainment value; the only drawback is the distressing presence of white actor Tom Wilson in blackface as the traditional "scared darkey". The film was adapted by its director John Emerson and his wife Anita Loos from a novel by Eugene P. Lyle Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).

Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norma Talmadge, already a star but not yet a STAR, played the eponymous heroine in 1916's Martha's Vindication. To protect the reputation of her best friend Dorothea (Seena Owen, Martha claims that she is the mother of the friend's illegitimate baby. Even though she is ostracized and condemned by the community in general and fire-and-brimstone preacher Hunt (Ralph Lewis) in particular, Martha refuses to tell the whole story, nor will she permit her friend -- now happily married and the mother of a legitimate child -- to speak up. Only Martha's sweetheart William (Charles West) stands by her in her hour of need, and even he has his doubts. But as indicated by the film's title, Martha is eventually proven to be as pure as the driven snow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This typical silent rags-to-riches comedy-drama featured Mary Pickford and her real-life brother Jack as sibling orphans sheltered from the world by a maiden aunt (Gertrude Norman). Suddenly, Jane (Pickford) inherits a large sum of money, enabling the two to start "living." Becoming sophisticates almost over night, Jane and John take to the air in newfangled aeroplanes, dabble with city slickers (including a haughty vamp played by screenwriter Frances Marion), and wear the latest fashion. Both Jane and John, however, eventually learn that not all that glitters is gold. Famous Players-Lasky, the producing company, hired real-life aviator Glenn Martin for a key role in this film. According to Frances Marion, the bespectacled Martin refused to kiss her as the scenario demanded "because my mother wouldn't like it." For the first and only time (also according to Marion), Adolph Zukor, the mighty chairman of Paramount, was called to the set to diplomatically convince Martin to follow the script. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Greyhound isn't about a dog, nor does it have anything to do with a cross-country bus. The title character is a slick, underhanded gambler, played by William H. Tooker. After successfully fleecing one sucker after another for nearly 5 years, Greyhound meets his match in the form of one Deep Sea Kitty (Elita Proctor Otis). Catherine Carter co-stars as Greyhound's long-suffering missus, who wishes he'd cash in his chips and come home. The film was based on a play co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Armstrong and legendary writer/publicist Wilson Mizner, who was something of a Greyhound himself in real life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide