Margaret Livingston Movies

In this melodrama with strong racist overtones, Clara Bow attempts to revive her failing career by playing a free-spirited girl whose father is an American Indian and whose mother is Anglo Saxon. For some reason the girl doesn't know of her mixed heritage and constantly fights with her dad. The rebellious girl decides to show her dad who's boss by marrying a man he hates. Unfortunately it's a big mistake and soon after she gives birth to a sickly baby the marriage busts up. He leaves her impoverished and in desperation she turns to prostitution. Eventually, she returns to her homeland and learns the truth. Now at peace she meets a boy with similar heritage and they find marital bliss together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a British aristocrat befriends a woman and hires her to begin distracting his son away from a conniving golddigger. She does, but finds herself falling in love with her titled boss instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part as a small-town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City in the company of his younger brother Cagney, who wants to make sure that Robinson isn't fleeced by the high-rollers. Unfortunately Robinson has a weakness for beautiful blondes, most of whom take him for all his money or betray him in some other manner. The cops aren't keen on Robinson's gambling activities, but they can pin nothing on him until he accidentally kills Cagney in a fight. The incident results in a jail term for manslaughter, and a more sober-sided outlook on life for the formerly flamboyant Robinson. Watch closely in the first reel of Smart Money for an unbilled appearance by Boris Karloff as a dope pusher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Breezy comic actor Eddie Quillan starred in several amiable Pathe programmers in 1929, 30' and '31. Big Money finds Quillan cast as a go-getting bank messenger, who falls in with unsuccessful gambler Jimmy Gleason. Entering a high-stakes card game, Quillan bets the bank's money, and is promptly cleaned out. Soft-hearted professional gambler Robert Armstrong rescues the pair from the hoosegow. Big Money was among a handful of talking features directed by Russell Mack, who was no mean gambler himself (especially with other people's money). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The widow in question is wealthy Tamarind Brooks (Gloria Swanson), who flits from one man to another with the rapidity of a butterfly. Beginning in New York and ending in Paris, Tamarind collects men like some people collect stamps. Among her most ardent suitors are lawyer Gerry (Owen Moore), violin virtuoso Baslikoff (Gregory Gaye), opera baritone Alvarado (Herbert Braggiotti), and cabaret dancer Victor (Lew Cody). After playing the field with gay abandon, Tamarind finally returns to square one (in a manner of speaking) and marries Gerry. Gloria Swanson is given opportunity aplenty to display her splendid singing voice, and even gets to hark back to her Keystone Comedy days by indulging in some gratuitous slapstick. In a sense, What a Widow was filmic valentine to Swanson from her sponsor-lover, producer Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK's father). Audiences, however, were not quite as smitten as "Papa Joe," and the film was a box-office bust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, a married man finds himself in philanderer's heaven when he gets involved with three local women. Fortunately, before it all goes too far, his son confesses that one of the letters his father found was really meant for him. Romantic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1917 and 1925, the evergreen George M. Cohan-Earl Derr Biggers stage mystery Seven Keys to Baldpate was remade as a talkie in late 1929 (and there were still three more remakes to come). Richard Dix stars as novelist William Magee, who's having trouble completing his latest manuscript. Promising his agent (Crauford Kent) that he'll finish the book within 24 hours if only he gets some peace and quiet, Magee heads off to the Baldpate Inn -- for which he thinks he holds the only key. Unfortunately, the mildewed old inn turns into a hotbed of intrigue as several mysterious characters, all bearing duplicate keys, intrude upon Magee's solitude in search of $200,000 in stolen bonds. In the course of the long, long night, a woman is seemingly murdered and a crooked sheriff lays claim to the money himself before Magee takes a hand in matters -- and then, the owner of the seventh key to Baldpate shows up. Even after repeated viewings, the film's double surprise ending holds up beautifully. Beyond bringing a classic theatrical piece to the talkie screen, Seven Keys to Baldpate served an important technical purpose: RKO Radio Pictures used the film to test out its new repertoire of sound effects, ranging from rolling thunder to realistic gunfire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a junkman, Maurice Chevalier in his American film debut, rescues a drowning boy from the Seine. The boy's mother had been attempting to kill herself and her son as well. The junkman cannot save the mother. He takes the boy to his grandfather. There he encounters the boy's aunt with whom he falls in love. The junkman is spotted while singing in the Flea Market and is hired to sing in a music hall. One of the owners is afraid that the junkman will fall for one of the chorines and begs him to leave, but the junkman is hooked and will not leave. Songs include: "Yes, We have No Bananas", "Les Ananas", "Dites-Moi, Ma Mere", "Louise", "Wait Till You See My Cherie", "It's A Habit of Mine", and "On Top of the World Alone" and "Valentine". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a producer reopens a theater where five years before, a lead actor was killed on stage during a performance. The murder remained unsolved. To solve the mystery, the producer stages the same play with the same cast. As the play is performed, the same series of events occurs and the lead actor vanishes. It is eventually discovered that a masked stage manager is behind the it all. He has set up the whole thing to force stockholders to withdraw from the production. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Look up "suave and sophisticated" in the dictionary, and one might very well find a picture of Adolphe Menjou. In His Private Life, Menjou is cast as Georges St. Germain, whose sexual peccadilloes are so frequent and plentiful that he is forced to bribe practically every civil servant in Paris to keep mum. At present, Georges is fascinated with virginal American tourist Eleanor Trent (Kathryn Carver), who is visiting Paris in the company of her more worldly friends Yvette and Henri Bergere (Margaret Livingston, Eugene Pallette). Our hero does his utmost to seduce Eleanor -- even engaging an entire section of a fancy restaurant for this purpose -- but she is not so easily won over. Ultimately, Georges does win the heroine, but only on her terms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Owen Davis' 1898 barnstormer about a fun-loving socialite turned castaway on her former fiancee's South Seas island came to the screens in 1928 courtesy of poverty row company Gotham Productions. Margaret Livingston, who played the vamp in Murnau's Sunrise (also 1928), here acted Diane Garrett, the spoiled London society belle who promises John Lancaster to marry him on his faraway island. Time passes and Diane cannot make herself give up the social whirl. She does take an ocean journey, however, and soon finds herself a castaway on Lancaster's island. There is a jealous native girl (Natalie Joyce), but she is soon killed off and Diane decides that her proper place is at John's arms. In a bit of inventive casting, the role of the romantic male lead was awarded Clyde Cook, the rubber-limbed Australian comic, here appearing sans his trademark toothbrush moustache. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The confident direction of Allan Dwan transformed The Mad Hour into something more than a mere "soap opera." Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn (the Barbara Cartland of her time), the story concerns a hasty marriage and a long, long repentance. While drunk on bootleg hootch, good-time girl Cuddles (Sally O'Neil) and college-boy Jack (Donald Reed) get married. Jack's wealthy father instantly disowns the boy, while Cuddles finds herself falsely accused of a jewel theft. While serving her prison term, Cuddles gives birth to Jack's baby, only to discover upon her release that her marriage has been annulled and her kid is illegitimate in the eyes of the law. Throwing caution to the winds, the grief-crazed Cuddles hops into a roadster and speeds off a cliff to her death -- while Jack quietly marries his former sweetheart Aimee (Alice White), the expression on his face indicating that he will be tortured with guilt for the rest of his life. The moral: Alcohol and Wedding Bells Don't Mix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide