Lionel Barrymore Movies
Like his younger brother John, American actor Lionel Barrymore wanted more than anything to be an artist. But a member of the celebrated Barrymore family was expected to enter the family trade, so Lionel reluctantly launched an acting career. Not as attractive as John or sister Ethel, he was most effectively cast in character roles - villains, military officers, fathers - even in his youth. Unable to save what he earned, Barrymore was "reduced" to appearing in films for the Biograph Company in 1911, where he was directed by the great D.W. Griffith and where he was permitted to write a few film stories himself, which to Lionel was far more satisfying than playacting. His stage career was boosted when cast in 1917 as Colonel Ibbetson in Peter Ibbetson, which led to his most celebrated role, Milt Shanks in The Copperhead; even late in life, he could always count on being asked to recite his climactic Copperhead soliloquy, which never failed to bring down the house. Moving on to film, Barrymore was signed to what would be a 25-year hitch with MGM and begged the MGM heads to be allowed to direct; he showed only moderate talent in this field, and was most often hired to guide those films in which MGM wanted to "punish" its more rebellious talent. Resigning himself to acting again in 1931, he managed to cop an Academy Award for his bravura performance as a drunken defense attorney in A Free Soul (1931), the first in an increasingly prestigious series of movie character parts. In 1937, Barrymore was crippled by arthritis, and for the rest of his career was confined to a wheelchair. The actor became more popular than ever as he reached his sixtieth birthday, principally as a result of his annual radio appearance as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and his continuing role as Dr. Gillespie in MGM's Dr. Kildare film series. Barrymore was aware that venerability and talent are not often the same thing, but he'd become somewhat lazy (if one can call a sixtyish wheelchair-bound man who showed up on time and appeared in at least three films per year "lazy") and settled into repeating his "old curmudgeon with a heart of gold" performance, save for the occasional topnotch part in such films as It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Down to the Sea in Ships (1949). Denied access to television work by his MGM contract, Barrymore nonetheless remained active in radio (he'd starred in the long-running series Mayor of the Town), and at one point conducted a talk program from his own home; additionally, the actor continued pursuing his hobbies of writing, composing music, painting and engraving until arthritis overcame him. On the day of his death, he was preparing for his weekly performance on radio's Hallmark Playhouse; that evening, the program offered a glowing tribute to Barrymore, never once alluding to the fact that he'd spent a lifetime in a profession he openly despised. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1921
Comedy was not the forte of great character actor Lionel Barrymore, and this picture, based on the novel by Arnold Bennett, suffers as a result. When his valet, Henry Leek (Thomas Braidon) dies, famed English artist Priam Farll (Barrymore) takes on his identity to escape the grasping romantic clutches of Lady Sophia Entwistle (Octavia Broske). He attends his own funeral but escapes before the tearful Lady Sophia can see him. Later Farll, as Leek, meets widow Alice Challice (Doris Rankin, Barrymore's real-life wife), who had answered a matrimonial ad of the valet's. They fall in love and marry, but to Farll's dismay, he is forced to return to painting to make money. Even though he is recognized through his work he is loathe to admit his real identity until it develops that Leek already had a wife and two children. Finally he proves that he is Farll, but only if he is allowed to officially remain dead so that Lady Sophia will stay away. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Diana Manners, (more)
Among Lon Chaney's early villainous roles was Blizzard, the criminal mastermind of this melodrama set in San Francisco's Barbary Coast neighborhood. As a young man, Blizzard was the victim of an auto accident, and a quack doctor had mistakenly ordered his legs amputated at the knees. He grows up an embittered, violent man interested only in taking revenge on the rich and powerful, especially the doctor who maimed him and is still practicing. Rose, a secret service agent (Ethel Grey Terry), is dispatched to infiltrate Blizzard's gang, but she falls under his spell and becomes his mistress. Blizzard is himself attracted to a lovely artist who wants to paint his portrait, but she resists his advances. Ultimately, Blizzard's plan to have another man's legs grafted onto his own is thwarted when it's discovered that the long-ago accident had caused a reversible brain injury which turned him to the dark side. Rather than perform the operation on his legs, the doctor repairs Blizzard's brain, and Blizzard awakens to find that he is no longer interested in a life of crime. He marries Rose, but his criminal associates decide he must pay the ultimate penalty for his knowledge of their activities. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- 1920
William Dale (Lionel Barrymore), a servant for Lord Barradine (H. Cooper Cliffe), marries Mavis, a maid (Doris Rankin, Barrymore's real-life wife). Dale wants to move up in life, and with Lord Barradine's influence, becomes district postmaster. When he vents his anger at a soldier however, Dale is in danger of losing his job. Mavis goes to Barradine for help, which he promises providing she give in to him. She does, and Dale's job is saved. But he finds out that Barradine compromised his wife, and he kills him. Although Dale gets away with the murder, it haunts him for the rest of his life. Years later, a young girl, Norah (May McAvoy), comes to live with the Dales, and he finds himself lusting after her. He realizes he's no better than the man he murdered, so he sacrifices himself by saving some little girls from a burning orphan asylum founded by Barradine. This picture was adapted from the story by W. B. Maxwell. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Henry Allen (Lionel Barrymore) swears revenge when attorney Cortland Wainwright (Ralph Kellard) sends his innocent brother to the electric chair. After becoming an underworld bigwig, Allen discovers that Wainwright worships a girl he met only briefly, Maggie Flint (Gypsy O'Brien). The girl has a prison record, so he sends her abroad to be educated, then brings her back into Wainwright's life. After they marry and Wainwright is running for governor, Allen reveals Maggie's background, which, if exposed, will force Wainwright to give up his candidacy. But Maggie appeals to his better nature and Allen realizes that revenge isn't all it's cracked up to be. He backs off and leaves the couple alone. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Lionel Barrymore played Milt Shanks, the "Copperhead" of the title, on stage and repeated the role for this Paramount studios release. The patriotic story of Civil War days (originally a novel by Frederick Landis) involves Shanks' tenure as President Lincoln's most dedicated secret service man. For 40, years as a spy, he pretends to have sympathy for the Confederacy, in spite of the shame it brings his family and the scorn shown by those around him. Barrymore's wife, Doris Rankin, appeared in both the play and the film, but as Ma Shanks, not Milt's wife, Madeline. That role went to a younger actress, Anne Cornwall. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
One would liked to have been a fly on the wall of the set of Life's Whirlpool. Its leading lady was the imperious Ethel Barrymore, while the director was her brother Lionel Barrymore -- and, though sister and brother were devoted to each other, they were unsparing in their mutual criticism whenever they worked together. For the record, Ethel plays the wife of an abusive country squire. So nasty is her husband that he all but forces her to seek solace in the arms of her former sweetheart (played by Alan Hale in his leading-man period). Their clandestine relationship finally comes out in the open when the nasty husband is killed by his irate tenants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
In the later stages of his career, Lionel Barrymore was often cast as an irascible millionaire plagued with irresponsible children. In 1917's His Father's Son, it was Barrymore who played the ne'er-do-well offspring, while Charles Eldridge portrayed his father. Thrown out of his dad's house without a penny to his name, playboy J. Dabney Barron (Barrymore) is told not to return until he has proven that he can keep a job for an entire month. After several false starts, our hero is hired to keep flighty heiress Betty Arden (Irene Howley) out of trouble. He not only succeeds but manages to get his hands on a valuable jewel that has long been coveted by his father. His Father's Son was another joint effort by those busy wordsmiths Channing Pollock and Rennold Wolf. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Although Lionel Barrymore is the star of this picture, his role sounds better suited for his brother Jack, who specialized in wacky comedies of this sort during the mid-1910s. When his friends decide that "Happy Jack" Lewis (Barrymore) needs a wife, they place an ad in the paper for one. Glad Mason (Margaret Skirvin) replies and sends her picture. Jack's pals decide she is the one, and after he sees her picture, Jack thinks so too -- until the saloon proprietor points out that maybe she doesn't look anything like her photo. In fact, she could be an old hag! This gives Jack cold feet and before Glad gets to Paradise Gulch, he ducks out of town, leaving her his home and his claim. While he is gone, Jack gets arrested -- twice -- escapes from jail, is the victim of a hold up, and a series of other misadventures. He heads back home and arrives just in time to save Glad -- who looks just like her photo -- from being attacked. She helps him save his claim from swindlers and they end the last reel happily together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Wealthy clubman Richard Dorian (Lionel Barrymore) is a lighthearted soul who can't seem to take anything seriously, including his wife (Grace Valentine). Even when they decide to divorce, he meets the lawyers with a smile. When one of the attorneys suggests a charge of brutality, Mrs. Dorian points out that it is ludicrous. Dorian offers to have a party on his yacht, during which he will try very hard to be brutal to her to give her grounds for the divorce. Among the partygoers are Mrs. Dorian's guardian and Morgan, a smuggler who is buying the yacht. The guardian, who has squandered Mrs. Dorian's money on the stock market, kills himself. Dorian thinks that his wife killed him, gallantly takes the blame himself, and dives overboard. He becomes a tramp and is shanghaied by Morgan's men to become a stoker on his former yacht. Dorian's steward, Puck, is still onboard, and he tells Dorian that the guardian committed suicide. They escape and make sure that the smugglers are captured. Dorian is about to head West, but he crosses paths with his wife, and they acknowledge that everything that has happened has made them realize how much they really love each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Hard to think of Lionel Barrymore as a romantic lead, much less a young coward who makes good. Yet Barrymore plays both in the 1916 silent production Brand of Cowardice. Barrymore plays Cyril Hamilton, a chicken-hearted easterner who heads west. He makes up for his past misdeeds by rescuing a Cavalry colonel's daughter Grace Valentine from Mexican bandidos. Note: the "Robert Cummings" and "John Davidson" listed in the cast are not the talkie-era stars of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Wall street broker Barry Dale (Lionel Barrymore) is systematically ruined financially by his alleged best friend Richard Marvin (J. H. Goldsworthy). This Marvin does so that he can win Dale's wife Virginia (Dorothy Gwynne) away from the discredited broker. Dispirited and disillusioned, Dale heads to the West for a fresh start in life. Unfortunately, he soon develops the reputation as a coward, but he manages to dispel this by becoming a notorious outlaw, reasoning that highway robbery is not all that different from Wall Street chicanery. By film's end, of course, no one dares accuse Dale of possessing the titular "yellow streak." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Forced by the dictates of his Biograph contract to give up directing in favor of "supervising," D.W. Griffith left the studio as soon as possible. Thus, though Griffith is credited as supervisor of the 4-reel Classmates, he actually had very little to do with the production. The story concerns four West Point cadets, one of whom, played by Henry B. Walthall, is unjustly expelled in his junior year. Vowing vengeance against the student who engineered his dismissal, Walthall follows the man to the steamy jungles of South America, where through various acts of conspicuous bravery he is at last able to clear his own name. Based on a play by Margaret Turnbull and William C. DeMille, Classmates was remade in 1924 with Richard Barthelmess in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Turner Morgan (William Russell) is discharged from his job as foreman at a shipyard, and Steve Carson (Lionel Barrymore) is appointed to replace him. Morgan falls in with a criminal element and gets involved with a plot to steal the legacy bequeathed to Steve's new bride. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, William Russell, (more)
- 1914
Conservative Biograph Studios, having galloped to prominence on the coattails of their star director D.W. Griffith, refused to allow Griffith to make any film longer than two reels. Ignoring this edict, Griffith permitted his Biblical epic Judith of Bethulia to stretch to four reels; Biograph's reprimands were so blistering that the director quit the studio, setting up his own independent operation. While of great historical value, Judith of Bethulia is, truth to tell, not one of Griffith's best efforts. Among other things, the film is hampered by uninteresting exterior locations and a storyline that switched dramatic gears far too often. The basic story of young widow Judith (Blanche Sweet) offering herself to Assyrian leader Holofernes (Henry B. Walthall) in order to kill the man and thus avenge the subjugation and slaughter of her countrymen was strong enough on its own to carry the day. It was hardly necessary for Griffith to concoct a last-minute-rescue subplot involving Bethulian warrior Robert Harron and damsel in distress Mae Marsh. Historians have suggested that Griffith, impressed by the recently released Italian spectacular Quo Vadis, may have conceived Judith as an American "answer" to that film--an ill-advised decision, since the plotlines of the two properties bear precious little resemblance to each other. Still, it is fascinating to watch Griffith experiment with many of the story elements and techniques that he'd later hone to perfection in such films as Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916) and Orphans of the Storm (1916); it's also an enjoyable film-buff exercise to spot such Griffith regulars as Lillian and Dorothy Gish and Harry Carey in minor roles. Biograph--whose fortunes diminished after Griffith's departure--reissued Judith of Bethulia in 1917 in an expanded version titled Her Condoned Sin, using outtakes that Griffith had wisely jettisoned back in 1914. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
- 1914
Although not as remembered as The Perils of Pauline (also 1914), The Exploits of Elaine was by all accounts the superior serial, grossing over $1 million dollars and further establishing its athletic leading lady Pearl White as the serial queen to beat. White played Elaine Dodge, whose father (William Riley Hatch) is murdered for some papers that may reveal the secret hideaway of a notorious and ruthless master criminal known only as The Clutching Hand (Sheldon Lewis). Helping Elaine track down the villain is noted detective Craig Kennedy (Arnold Daly), who is himself aided by newspaperman Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale in the first three chapters then Raymond Owens in chapters 4-14). Among the Clutching Hand's minions and henchmen are a South American Indian who uses darts dipped in curare as his weapon of choice, an insane scientist who invents an apocalyptic killing machine, and a gang of crooks known as "The Brotherhood of the Falsers." Along the way, Elaine is framed in a blackmail scheme by Wu Fang (Edwin Arden), a devil-worshipping Asian, and is almost sacrificed to the devil herself. Our heroine is rescued again and again by the stalwart Mr. Kennedy, who uses a scientific gadget or two to battle the forces of evil. Produced by the Wharton Brothers in and around Ithaca, New York, The Exploits of Elaine was co-directed by George B. Seitz, an early serial expert who is today perhaps better known for helming M-G-M's pleasantly nostalgic "Andy Hardy" series 1937-1944. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Produced by Colonial productions and released by the World Film Company, the six-reel Seats of the Mighty was based on the same-named novel by Sir Gilbert Parker. Though a prologue is set in the royal court of France (with such "celebrities" as Madames Pompadour and DuBarry in attendance) most of the film takes place in colonial Quebec. Lionel Barrymore leads the huge cast in this story of treachery and intrigue, with the outcome of the story contingent upon a packet of "secret papers." The best-known "name" in the picture was Lois Meredith, here making a meal of a remarkably small role. Slow going at times, Seats of the Mighty made up for its attenuated passages with a first-rate battle finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1913
A besieged blockhouse containing a frightened Lillian Gish, marauding Indians, and a Mexican who heroically brings the cavalry to the rescue, are the none-too-original components of D.W. Griffith's endurable 2-reeler The Battle at Elderbush Gulch, made during the director's final year with Biograph. Griffith called the film his finest up to that time, and he might very well have been correct. It was, one could say, all in the editing, which here builds to a crescendo of excitement as Gish is rescued in the nick of time. Timeworn, yes, but the master knew what he was doing and demanded longer pictures in which to do it. The old-fashioned Biograph refused, and Griffith walked, taking with him the stars of "Elderbush Gulch": Mae Marsh, Gish and Robert Harron. They all reunited the following year for the director's masterpiece, the 12-reel The Birth of a Nation. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
