Walter Long Movies

One of the most readily available features of the silent era, The Yankee Clipper is happily also one of the best. A pre-Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd plays Hal Winslow, the scion of a prominent Boston shipbuilding family. Manning the helm of the Yankee Clipper, Winslow prepares to race The Lord of the Isles, a British vessel; the winner will control China's tea trade to America. The race begins at Foo Chow Harbor, where Winslow is paid a courtesy visit by Lady Jocelyn (played by Elinor Fair, then the wife of star Boyd), the daughter of the rival English captain. Lady Jocelyn is escorted by her fiance Paul de Vigny (John Miljan), whom we will learn in due time is a cad and bounder. The Yankee Clipper shoves off while Lady Jocelyn and de Vigny are still on board. They demand to be put ashore, but Winslow, anxious not to lose any sailing time, refuses. Lady Jocelyn's presence on board is resented by cabin boy Mickey (Junior Coghlan), who hates all "wimmin"; on the other head, crew member Iron Head Joe (Walter Long), "mongrel whelp of the high seas", begins drawing up plans to rape the girl at the first opportunity. An outsized typhoon imperils the Yankee Clipper, its crew and passengers, but stalwart Captain Winslow manages to save everyone from drowning. After the storm, the water supply is rationed. Angrily demanding more water, the crew joins a mutiny fomented by the treacherous de Vigny. Meanwhile, Iron Head Joe chases Jocelyn and Mickey to the very top of the rigging, intending to kill the boy and have his way with the girl. Both of the film's villains are foiled in very permanent fashion before the thrill-packed finale at Boston Harbor. One of the videocassette versions of The Yankee Clipper is introduced by surviving cast member Junior Coghlan, now better known as Frank Coghlan Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Priscilla Dean made a name for herself in the silent era by playing lady crooks for Universal. By the mid-'20s, however, her star was fading fast and she was acting in low-budget independent films. Here she plays Margarita Sloane, a book agent who discovers that she is heir to her uncle's estate. She goes to his rancho and finds it is next door to a graveyard. From that moment on, a number of strange things happen. An Indian squaw (Marie Percivale) shows up with a chest containing the dead man's "legacy." Lawyer Maclyn Mills (John Bowers) arrives to inform Margarita that there is a mortgage on the property, but he is able to translate a piece of parchment she finds. It's a map to some buried treasure on an island. The map is promptly stolen by a tattooed man named Pedro (Walter Long). Margarita and Mills arrive at the island to find that Pedro and his cronies are already there. The men find the treasure, and Pedro tries to double-cross them. Margarita takes the jewels herself and Pedro goes after her. Both of them fall off a cliff into the shark-infested waters. A shark devours Pedro, while Mills rescues Margarita. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The frequently filmed James Oliver Curwood yarn Back to God's Country was given reverential treatment in this impressive Universal production. Captain Blake (Walter Long), skipper of a trading vessel, makes his semi-annual trek to a northern seaport in the company of his roughneck crew. Taking a fancy to Renee Debois (Renee Adoree), the daughter of trapper Jean Debois (Mitchell Lewis), the lustful Blake vows to make the girl his bride. He forces Jean to consent to the marriage by threatening to turn the trapper over to the authorities on a murder charge. Renee is temporarily rescued by handsome engineer Bob Stanton (Robert Frazer), though it's clear we haven't seen the last of Blake. The rivalry between the two men over Renee's affections is resolved in a rugged dog-sled race through a blinding blizzard, with Blake pulling every underhanded trick in the book to incapacitate -- or terminate -- his young opponent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If Eve's Leaves has the "look" of a Cecil B. DeMille production, it's because DeMille himself functioned as producer. Salty sea captain Robert Edeson tries to keep his daughter Leatrice Joy away from men, but the rambunctious Joy yearns to experience such forbidden pleasures as kissing. When Edeson's ship docks at a Chinese port, both Joy and seaman William Boyd are captured by river bandits. The bandit chieftain hopes to take Joy as his bride, and to secure her compliance he binds Boyd hand-and-foot and prepares to subject the poor boy to torture. Joy takes this opportunity to steal a kiss from the helpless Boyd, whereupon a melodramatic scene becomes a comic one -- just as the stage play upon which this film was based was essentially a comedy. Captain Edeson rescues the lovers in the nick of time, admitting that it was a big mistake to keep his daughter locked up and agreeing to allow her to live her own life from now on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young Bostonian (Johnnie Walker) travels West to expect his father's New Mexico estate, which has become a target for gun runners. Along the way he mistakes travelling stock company actress Madge Bellamy for a child and brings her to the ranch. (The mistake is understandable as Bellamy was playing Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin at the time!). The gun runners are indeed using the estate as their launching pad, but hero Walker grits his teeth and manages to bring the gang to justice, winning Miss Bellamy in the process. A handsome light leading man with dimples, Johnnie Walker was better known for a series of pleasant comedies than rough-and-tumble western fare like this. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A minor mystery melodrama, producer Philip Goldstone's creaky The Verdict employed the oldest cliché of them all. Yes, the butler did indeed do it! Employers of a fashion emporium, Carol (Louise Lorraine), a sales girl, and Jimmy (William Collier Jr.), the young bookkeeper, find their innocent romance rudely interrupted by the owner's callous son, Victor Ronsard (Lou Tellegen), who wants Carol to himself. After attempting to convince Carol that Jimmy is cooking the books, Ronsard is found murdered. Arrested, tried, and sentenced to the chair, Jimmy is granted a last minute reprieve when Carol, to save her lover, confesses to the murder. Happily, the Ronsard butler (Paul Weigel) comes forward at that moment to plead guilty. The leading man of one diva (Sarah Bernhardt) and married to another (Geraldine Farrar), Dutch-born Lou Tellegen's notoriety as a ladykiller remained firm by 1925 but his professional career was in shambles. Tellegen did not handle the reality of aging very well, a fact that led to an especially messy suicide in 1934. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

On a voyage from India to London, it is rumored that an infamous cracksman is onboard -- of course, it is Raffles (House Peters), who is accompanied by his friend, Bunny Manners (Freeman Wood). Raffles warns one of his fellow passengers to keep an eye on her necklace, which promptly disappears. Although a search reveals no evidence, the necklace is returned in a pack of cigarettes upon arrival in London. Lord and Lady Amersteth (Winter Hall and Kate Lester) are having a house party and Raffles attends. Captain Bedford, a noted criminologist (Fred Esmelton), is also one of the guests and he asserts that a very valuable string of pearls cannot be stolen. This only encourages Raffles, who takes it. He also steals the heart of his hosts' daughter, Gwendolyn (Miss Du Pont). Although Bedford finally captures Raffles, he escapes with Gwendolyn's help and they run off together. Raffles returns the pearls and resolves to start a new and more honest life. E.W. Hornung's celebrated novel about a gentleman thief was filmed several times. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Alice Joyce stars in this tale of darkest Africa. Lady Andrea Pellor (Joyce) agrees to marry a rich South African mine owner only because her parents are in dire financial straits. Just before the wedding, she decides she can't go through with it, and begs an aviator (Kenneth Harlan), whose plane has landed on the beach nearby, to take her away. The aviator takes her into the jungle, where he is known only as White Man. When Lady Andrea contracts jungle fever, he nurses her back to health. They fall in love, but Lady Andrea suspects he is a fugitive from the law, so she treats him with reserve and suspicion. White Man's enemy, the River Thief (the ever-villainous Walter Long), kidnaps Lady Andrea and takes her to his cabin. White Man rescues her by crashing through its roof with his aeroplane. After he returns her to civilization, she discovers that he's a war buddy of her brother (a fledgling actor by the name of Clark Gable, billed at the time as "Clarke Gable"). Before he can return alone to the jungle, she drops her reserve to admit her love for him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Clara Bow was not yet a full-fledged star, she had already made a mark by mid-'20s. In this melodrama, said trade paper Motion Picture News, "Clara Bow is cast as the flapper, a role for which she has become quite famous on the screen." For once she is nearly upstaged by experienced character actor and perennial villain Walter Long, who plays a bootlegger. On the evening that society deb Angela Warriner (Bow) debuts, her mother (Myrtle Steadman) discovers that the family is bankrupt. To keep the Warriners afloat financially -- and to keep Angela's parties and social status intact -- Mrs. Warriner convinces her husband, John (Huntly Gordon), to become partners with Benedict (Long), a bootlegger posing as a count. Meanwhile, Angela is being courted by Carl Graham (Forrest Stanley), but Harry Van Alstyne (Robert Agnew) tempts her away with a fun, jazzy lifestyle. Everything falls down with a crash for the Warriner family; John is arrested and sent to prison, and his wife temporarily goes blind from the bootleg booze. This wakes up Angela, however, and she returns to the more sedate romancing of Graham. The story to this picture came from the Saturday Evening Post tale by William MacHarg. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Steve Cline (Milton Sills) returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the paper that his brother Tom (Jack Mower) was arrested for safecracking. Tom escapes and runs to the home of Sadie McCall (Carmel Myers), whose father Reever (Alec Francis) heads a forgery ring. Steve rushes to meet his brother, but Tom is killed in a police raid. Reever gets away and Steve falls for Sadie, but Steve takes the blame for the murder and faces death by hanging. Only a pardon from Governor Logan (Eric Mayne) can save him from execution in this crime drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Madalyn Harlan (Estelle Taylor), the daughter of wealthy socialites, falls in love with the chauffeur Jerry Ryan (David Butler) in this uneven society drama. She and Jerry are secretly married, but Jerry's mother tells Madalyn that Jerry is through with her. She takes poison in the cabaret that holds so many happy memories. Jerry moonlights as a cabbie and discovers too late that the drunken woman at the bar is his own wife. He steers the cab towards the river as he considers plunging to his death. The film suffers from uneven editing. Although credited, performances of Noah Beery, Frank Currier, and Hank Mann have bee eliminated, Marguerite de la Motte, John Bowers, and Walter Long co-star. The apparent lack of communication between studio heads, the editor, and those in charge of continuity give an ironic twist to the term "the silent era." Watch for comedian Chester Conklin in a small part. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Buck the Saint Bernard gets top billing in this adaptation of the novel by Jack London, and he earns it -- his performance eclipses that of such well-known actors as Jack Mulhall and Walter Long. As a puppy, Buck is a Christmas gift to a group of children. But after growing up in a loving home, he is stolen and sold as a sled dog in the frozen Klondike. He learns hatred at the cruel hands of Hagin, "the man with the club" (Long). The other dogs teach him the ways of the Northwoods, and he proves himself in a vicious struggle with a wolf-dog. Finally Buck finds a friend in Jack Thornton (Mulhall). Buck fights for Thornton's life and afterwards goes into the wild where he finds his mate. In spite of his fine performance, Buck had some competition for stardom -- at the same time this picture came out, Warner Brothers released Where the North Begins, another Northwoods tale featuring a dog. This canine was the immortal Rin Tin Tin. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide