Harold Goodwin Movies
American actor Harold Goodwin started performing as a child in Los Angeles community theatre. In 1915 he appeared in his first film, The Little Orphan. Though initially cast as under-fed waifs, Goodwin matured into a strapping, athletic leading man, working in roles of varying sizes and importance at Fox, Universal and other studios during the 1920s. He became a close pal and baseball buddy of comedian Buster Keaton while playing the B.M.O.C. villain in Keaton's College (27). Even when Goodwin descended into small character roles in the 1930s, Keaton saw to it that Goodwin was cast in substantial secondary parts in Buster's Educational Studios two-reelers of the 1930s. By 1955, Goodwin had been around Hollywood so long that he was among the film "pioneers" given prominent billing in Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops. In between acting assignments, Goodwin functioned as a dialogue director. When a British actor named Harold Goodwin rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s, the American Harold Goodwin changed the spelling of his first name to Herold to avoid confusion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Mary Pickford recreates her ugly-duckling drudge from Stella Maris (1918) in this bright comedy co-starring Charles Chaplin stock company regular Albert Austin. She is Amanda Afflick, the least appreciated employer in Madame Didier's (Rose Dione) French Hand Wash establishment. Even lower on the totem pole is Lavender, the laundry's old nag, who Amanda manages to save from the glue factory with her entire weekly salary. A daydreamer, Amanda is much taken with one of her customers, Horace Greensmith, Esquire, whom, in her imagination, she turns into a knight in shining armor. The real Horace (Austin) is nothing of the sort, of course, but he does agree to pretend to be Amanda's fiancé for a day in order to impress her co-workers. Too ashamed of her appearance to take her to Hampstead Heath, he instead suggests the more secluded Epping Forest. But even a Cockney waif like Amanda has her pride and she spends the bank holiday instead with Benjamin (Harold Lockwood), the laundry's upstanding delivery boy. Suds was based on a 1905 one-act play that had starred the legendary Maude Adams, Broadway's original Peter Pan. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford
- 1920
Universal ace director Lynn Reynolds directed this better-than-average silent western about a hobo Harry Carey who stumbles upon a gold-mine. The story was old hat, of course, but Carey's realistic approach to the genre proved a breath of fresh air in an era increasingly dominated by the flamboyant Tom Mix. Overland Red marked the first of three westerns in which Carey played opposite brunette Vola Vale. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1919
Roma (Edith Roberts) is a girl with too much energy and time on her hands. She becomes bored living with her staid aunt Henrietta (Blanche Gray) and decides to dress up as a Gypsy and head for the open road. Somehow, this open road lands her in New York, where she is promptly arrested because she is suspected of being a pickpocket. But an old lady, Mrs. Roberts (Molly McConnell), has taken pity on her, and takes her home. There, Roma meets Mrs. Roberts' son John (Harry Hilliard), and a romantic spark lights between them. However, Roma finds the Roberts as dull as her aunt, so she refuses to marry John. But John, understanding the problem, confides to Roma that he, too, leads a double life. Then he hires a group of thugs to play gypsies and plants them in an old house. He takes Roma there -- and they are raided by the police because the thugs had recently robbed a bank. John manages to extricate himself from this bit of trouble, and Roma decides he is the man for her after all. Since it turns out that Mrs. Roberts and Aunt Henrietta are friends, both families give their blessings. This comedy was a miss for director Tod Browning and star Edith Roberts, primarily because of the gross overacting of Roberts. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
This film was one of Mary Pickford's attempts to add at least a touch of maturity to her little girl characterizations. She is a Kentucky mountain girl in this romantic adventure film, and Harold Goodwin is the boy who befriends her. Sam DeGrasse was the villain. Future silent-screen idol Jack Gilbert also had a small role. While Heart O' the Hills received politely positive reviews and some interest surrounded Pickford's more mature role (the character was teen-aged; Mary herself was 27), there were no real raves. After this, Pickford firmly returned to the security of her more youthful portrayals -- her next film was Pollyanna. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1917
For reasons unknown, it took two directors to put the modestly budgeted The Sawdust Ring together. Bessie Love stars as Janet Magie, an awkward country girl who aspires to become a circus bareback rider. Together with her bucolic boyfriend Peter Weldon (Harold Goodwin), Janet runs away from home and joins a travelling circus. The couple's efforts to make their dreams come true alternate between the comic and the pathetic, and for a while the audience isn't sure that Janet will enjoy the happy ending she so richly deserves. Though she had yet to reach her twentieth birthday, Bessie Love was already an actress of considerable range and skill. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1915
Erich Von Stroheim played one of his first important roles in the D.W. Griffith-produced romantic drama Old Heidelberg, and he took full advantage of the opportunity, ruthlessly upstaging everyone in sight. For the most part, however, this first film adaptation of Wilhelm Meyer-Forster's novel (better known via its operetta version, The Student Prince) was a vehicle for Wallace Reid and Dorothy Gish, cast respectively as the prince of a mythical foreign country and the barmaid who loves him. Though at first willing to give up his throne for the love of the beautiful Kathi (Gish), Prince Karl (Reid) is ultimately persuaded to return from college to his native country to forestall a revolution. Sumptuously produced, Old Heidelberg was technically directed by John Emerson, though many familiar Griffith touche -- flashbacks, ghostly visions, cross-cutting -- are well in evidence. An expertly abridged 12-minute version of the film was included in the old TV anthology series Movie Museum. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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