Walter Long Movies

The Little Church Around the Corner is important as the first major financial success for the fledgling Warner Bros. studios. Kenneth Harlan plays a mining-town clergyman who falls in love with his benefactor's daughter. He is about to settle into a life of cozy complacency when a group of miners come to his doorstep, asking that the minister plead to the owners for better living conditions. To prove himself to be "one" with the miners, Harlan moves into their shanty community. This causes a rift with his sweetheart's father, who happens to be one of the owners. A cave-in, an angry mob and a supposed miracle are part and parcel of this 1923 adaptation of the war-horse Marion Russell play, which is directed with a sure, subtle hand by William A. Seiter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was Miriam Cooper's last film, and in her autobiography, Dark Lady of the Silents, she claimed "It was not only the worst movie I'd ever been in, it was the worst movie I'd ever seen." She was probably exaggerating a bit, because reviews of the day indicate that it was somewhat better than mediocre. Philip Marvin (Kenneth Harlan) is flying cross-country in hopes of setting a new record, but his plane goes down during a storm, and crashes through the roof of a ranch on the Mexican border. Inez Villera (Cooper), the foster daughter of the owner, has been praying for a husband and she believes that Marvin's sudden appearance is a message from God. Marvin, meanwhile, has lost his memory, but he likes Inez, who eagerly cares for him. But a certain Captain Santos (Walter Long) wants Inez for himself, and he causes trouble by asking Marvin's relatives for a huge ransom. The secret service foils the plan, and when Marvin's memory returns, he and Inez wed. This comedy-drama based on the play by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Stoddard was filmed again in 1932, with Lupe Velez and Melvyn Douglas starring. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Wallace Reid starred in a legion of comedy-dramas involving speeding cars and most of them (generally written by Byron Morgan) were interchangeable -- this one is no exception. John Dent (Paramount's most dependable character actor, Theodore Roberts) manufactures solid, dependable -- and rather boring -- cars (these were a spoof on Ford's Model T's, changed around just enough to avoid a lawsuit). His son Jimmy (Reid), who works at his father's plant, has no use for these "flivvers," since he likes the bigger, flashier models made by Dent's rival, Dutton Tyler (with Walter Long in this role, it's almost guaranteed he'll turn out to be villainous). Dent orders that all his employees -- Jimmy included -- drive a Dent, but Jimmy rebels. There's a cross-country race going on, and since he has been carrying on a flirtation with Tyler's daughter Lorraine (Betty Francisco), he decides to ride with her and her father. Tyler's car holds the record, and Jimmy finds out why -- because he sabotages the competition. So Jimmy turns around and mans one of his pop's cars instead. He wins the race in the trusty Dent, and also wins a better girl (Mary MacLaren). Reid's inert performance and lack of closeups were obvious enough to be noted in trade paper Motion Picture News -- the star would die within a year of drugs and perhaps the effects of his addiction were showing. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Contrary to popular belief, the career of Mary Miles Minter did not end the moment that director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered (although Minter was not a suspect, her infatuation with the much-older Taylor caused a scandal). This picture came out five months after Taylor's murder, and it's treated just like any other Paramount release. No excuses are made for Minter -- in fact, Moving Picture World notes that "the star was far finer than the picture, but his has happened to Miss Minter before." The story is very different from Minter's usual frilly, girlish vehicles -- here, she is the wife of, believe it or not, the villainous Walter Long. How pretty Phyllis (Minter) wound up married to the rough-hewn Sydney Latimer (Long) is never divulged. All we know is that when Phyllis goes to the Fiji Islands to surprise Latimer, who she married the year before, she finds him drunkenly cavorting with the native girls. After a failed attempt to reform him, Phyllis runs away and meets up with John Webster (John Bowers). Webster mistakes Phyllis for the ward whose arrival he is expecting, and she decides to go along with it. A romance begins to blossom, but Latimer tracks her down. Because Phyllis refuses to have anything to do with her degenerate husband, he turns her over to the natives to use as a sacrifice. Webster finds out about the plan and rescues her. The native police kill Latimer, leaving Phyllis free to marry Webster. Minter's career did end a few months after this film came out, but it seems to have been her own choice -- her mother had pushed her into films as a child, and she was never really enamored of the profession. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Wallace Reid stars in this picture (based on the comic opera by Richard Harding Davis), Walter Long just about steals the show. Brooke Travers (Reid) is the easygoing son of a banana merchant. He runs up a 60-dollar fare by playing stage-door Johnny up and down all the Broadway theaters, and cab driver Biff Dooley (Long) is determined that Travers will ante up. But Dooley's task proves to be more difficult than he first suspected when Travers follows pretty Juanita Rivas (Lila Lee) to her home country of San Manana, in South America. First off, the two men have to work for their passage on the boat; then when they arrive in San Manana, they find it in the midst of a revolution. Travers has to save Dooley from a firing squad and he helps put Juanita's father Carlos (Theodore Kosloff) into power. The grateful Rivas makes Travers, who marries Juanita, Minister of Finance. While trade paper Motion Picture News gave the film good marks, it notes that Reid "has lost some of his dash and spontaneity" -- an ominous statement considering that the star died from his addiction to drugs six months after its release.
~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Moran of the Lady Letty was a successful attempt to establish "Latin Lover" Rudolph Valentino as a brawling he-man hero (both this film and Valentino's breakthrough picture The Sheik were directed by George Melford). Rudy plays a Spanish aristocrat who is shanghaied by burly ship's captain Walter Long, the head of a smuggling gang. While at sea, Valentino rescues a young man from a burning vessel. The young man turns out to be a young woman (Dorothy Dalton), who had earlier spurned Valentino in his pampered-aristocrat days. Rudy tries to conceal the girl's identity from the lustful Long, but soon the truth is out, setting the stage for a bloody mano-y-mano battle between hero and villain. Moran of the Lady Letty was based on a novel by Frank Norris, whose best-known work McTeague was filmed by Erich Von Stroheim as Greed (1924). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film about Omar Khayyam, author of The Rubaiyat, was adapted from the stage play by Richard Walton Tully with mixed results. It shows Omar (Guy Bates Post, who also played the role on stage) as a student in love with Shireen (Virginia Brown Faire), the daughter of his teacher. The couple marry in secret, but the Shah (Noah Beery) has heard of Shireen's beauty and carries her off to his native land. When she turns down his advances, she is imprisoned. Shireen gives birth while she is locked up and the Shah orders that both she and the baby girl be thrown off a cliff. They are saved, and the child is handed over to Omar, but Shireen is sold into slavery. It takes seventeen years for Omar and Shireen to be reunited. During that time, their daughter grows up (to be played by Patsy Ruth Miller), and falls in love with a Christian slave. Those who bought tickets to this picture hoping for The Rubaiyat were disappointed, as only a few snatches of poetry appeared in the title cards. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Star Thomas Meighan reportedly picked out the story himself, and the role of Billy Kane is a good one for him. Kane is a crook who burglarizes wealthy people's homes, but when his uncle leaves him a million dollars, he decides to reform. He goes to Europe, and on the liner he meets Dorothea Welter (Grace Darmond), the daughter of a millionaire whose home he once robbed. In Paris, the Welters, not knowing of their friend's past, allow him to take Dorothea out dancing. She meets Marechal, a French crook (Lloyd Whitlock), while Kane flirts with dancer Andree Duphot (Jacqueline Logan). Chicoq, a member of the French underworld (the always villainous Walter Long), wants Andree for himself and he and Kane get into a fight. Chicoq kidnaps Andree and takes her off to the country. Meanwhile, Dorothea marries Marechal, but he takes off when he discovers that Mr. Welter (Fred Vroom) will not support them. Dorothea is able to tell Kane where Chicoq is keeping Andree, and he goes to her rescue. He shoots up the farmhouse where the gang is staying, killing Chicoq and Marechal. The newly widowed Dorothea is free from her unfortunate marriage, and Kane weds Andree. Although the vaguely racist title to this comedy-drama sounds a bit jarring to modern-day ears, it was a common saying back in the 1920s. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

During the early '20s, Wallace Reid starred in a number of snappy car racing films. This one was adapted from the Saturday Evening Post story "The Bear Trap," by Bryon Morgan, the same author responsible for the story to Reid's prior film, The Roaring Road. "Toodles" Walden (Reid) is manager of the Darco auto concern. His father-in-law, J.D. Ward, also known as "the Bear" (Theodore Roberts), is the company's president. Ward has a Darco with a powerful, new motor, which he is hiding from his rivals at the Fargot Motor Car Company. Its president, Mutchler (Tully Marshall), is determined to get his hands on the design. One of Fargot's racing drivers, Ritz (Walter Long), gets Walden involved in a street race and he is arrested. As a result, the angry Ward makes sure his license is suspended and sells the three Darco racing cars. The Fargot company acquires two of them and disguises them as Fargots. The firm challenges Darco to a race and Ward puts up ten thousand dollars for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco race. Walden buys the other old Darco, which the Fargot people assume is the one with the new motor. Ward still has it and he gets into the race himself when he hears that Ritz has been ordered to destroy Walden's car. Walden beats Ritz up and takes over the other Fargot car. Ward wins the race, with Walden coming in second. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Cowboy hero William S. Hart tries something altogether different in this film. He plays Hairpin Harry Dutton, a burglar who is sent to prison. He spends his incarceration dreaming of his pretty young wife (Juanita Hansen) and son and making firm resolutions for the day he gets released. But when he finally gets out, his plans are dashed -- his friend (Walter Long) informs him that his wife has divorced him. Not only that -- she has married the policeman who arrested him. Angrily, the former burglar plans to seek revenge, but when he sees his son, he realizes his actions would be pointless and wrong. So, leaving his ex-wife with her new husband, he starts off on a new life, taking his son with him. While well-received, this film did not encourage Hart to abandon his Western roots very often. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This D.W. Griffith picture has the distinction of being, arguably, the worst film that the director ever made. For starters, it's a western -- not one of Griffith's best subjects. And most of the characters are two-dimensional clichés. Rosy Nell (Eugenie Besserer) is a dance-hall woman of the Old West. She has been paying for the education of her daughter (Carol Dempster) without telling the girl how she's been earning the money. When the daughter comes West for a surprise visit, she's met at the station by chivalrous bandit Alvarez (Richard Barthelmess) and a pair of miners. Meanwhile, Nell has gotten into a fight with another woman from the dance hall, Spasm Sal (Rhea Haines). Sal has a heart attack in the middle of the fight, and dies. Nell is accused of murdering her, but is saved from being lynched by Alvarez. King Bagley (Walter Long, in a typically villainous role), the dance hall's proprietor, leads an attack on Nell's cabin, but Alvarez uses himself and his notoriety as a distraction by turning himself in. He escapes from imprisonment, however, with the help of his fiery mistress Chiquita (Clarine Seymour), while Nell's daughter winds up with prospector John Randolph (Ralph Graves). Poor as it was, this was one of Dempster's few films for Griffith in which she was properly cast. On the other hand, Richard Barthelmess couldn't have been a poorer choice for Alvarez. Ironically, Dorothy Gish had recommended an actor to Griffith who probably would have been perfect: Rudolph Valentino. But Griffith mistakenly believed that foreign types were not appealing to women(!). Some critics of the day suspected that Griffith wasn't the only director on this film. They were right -- his assistant Elmer Clifton was practically co-director. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

With the exception of Joan the Woman, which contained a "contemporary" subplot, The Woman God Forgot was Cecil B. DeMille's first all-out historical spectacular. The story is set in Mexico during the reign of Emperor Montezuma (Raymond Hatton). Upon his arrival on Mexican soil, Spanish conquistador Cortez (Hobart Bosworth) sends Captain Alvarado (Wallace Reid) to the imperial palace with a demand for Montezuma's surrender. The emperor immediately puts Alvarado in chains, but he is rescued by Montezuma's daughter Tecza (Geraldine Farrar), who has fallen in love with the young Spaniard. This does not rest well with Tecza's parent-appointed fiance Guatemoco (Theodore Kosloff), who prepares to sacrifice Alvarado to the Aztec gods. To save her sweetheart, Tecza leads Cortez' army into battle against her own father. The price of her devotion to Alvarado is the total destruction of the Aztec empire, but rather than die herself (which would seem to be the logical denouement given the sequence of events), Tecza is permitted to live happily onward with her one true love. Though she was not exactly sylphlike, opera diva Geraldine Farrar wore her revealing costumes quite well, establishing a precedent for such later underdressed DeMille leading ladies as Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide