Bessie Love Movies

Wilfred Lucas plays a distinguished banker, falsely accused of murder. Though acquitted in court, Lucas' reputation is destroyed, and he force from his job. Like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, Lucas decides that he's worth more dead than alive; thus, he plans to kill himself so his family can collect his life insurance. Also like George Bailey, he is saved from this fate at the very last minute. With only one reel left, everyone puts in overtime to rush through a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).

Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Good Bad Man is at once a straight western and a gentle spoof of the genre. Douglas Fairbanks plays a fellow who calls himself "Passin' Through." Orphaned at birth, Our Hero grows up to be a Robin-Hood-like bandit, robbing the rich so that he can finance a home for unwanted children. In this guise, he meets Bud Fraser (Sam DeGrasse), the man who killed his father. Bessie Love plays the obligatory heroine, who frankly hasn't much to do in the proceedings. The Good Bad Man was directed by frequent Fairbanks collaborator Allan Dwan; it was photographed by Victor Fleming, who later became an excellent director in his own right (one of his 1930s films was a little something called Gone with the Wind). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent superstar Douglas Fairbanks lampoons both his dashing onscreen persona and the detective mystery genre in this curious little two-reeler. Detective Coke Ennyday (Fairbanks) wears a drooping mustache, odd clothes, and starts his day with some hootch and a few hypodermics. The police call and ask him to track down a smuggler, which he does with a lot of artificial "help." He also has to save the girl, played by Bessie Love, who is trapped in a Chinese laundry, more opportunity for the wily detective to get high. The finale is a burlesque battle between Ennyday and the villain, followed by a coda showing Fairbanks telling the story to a studio scenario editor. The editor, much to Fairbanks' disgust, tells him to stick to acting. This film was directed by John Emerson and written by his wife Anita Loos (the pair were Fairbanks' frequent collaborators in the mid-'10s). It had a small cult revival in the early '70s because of its brazen displays of drug usage. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Broadway luminary DeWolfe Hopper was felicitously cast as a broken-down ham actor in the 5-reel comedy-drama Stranded. The title accurately describes the dilemma faced by H. Ulysses Watts (Hopper) and his fellow performers when travelling-show manager Stoner (Carl Stockdale) skips town with the box-office receipts (a munificent $7.40!) Most of the actors manage to secure jobs with other companies, but the troupe's pretty trapeze artist (Bessie Love) is unable to leave town because of a broken arm. Magnanimously, Watts offers to remain in town with her until she heals. Strapped for cash, Watts takes on the assignment of directing a local amateur production of Romeo and Juliet, passing himself off as a famous Shakespearean tragedian and claiming that the trapeze girl is his daughter. Within a few days, the girl has fallen in love with the son of the town's leading citizens, who are willing to accept her into their family because of Watts' trumped-up reputation. Things go along smoothly until the crooked Stoner returns, threatening to expose Watts and the girl as phonies unless he is given a substantial sum of money. A fight ensues, and the old actor is shot and fatally wounded. But Watts, a trouper to the last, manages to cling on to life long enough to march his "daughter" down the aisle at her lavish wedding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1915 British film of the same name, 1918's The Great Adventure is a showcase for that delightful screen gamine Bessie Love. The star plays a small-town girl who heads to New York in pursuit of a show-business career. She falls in love with a chorus boy (Chester Barnett), but their romance is imperiled when the girl, subbing for the star of the show, becomes an overnight success. Before long, she has forgotten the chorus boy and is hitting all the Manhattan nightspots with a matinee idol (Donald Hall). Only in the last reel does she discover that the matinee idol is a cad and bounder, and that the chorus boy is the only man for her. Based on a novel by Henry Kitchell Webster, The Great Adventure was directed by Alice Guy-Blaché , the foremost (and, for a while, the only) female director of the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When she played this Peg O' My Heart-type character, Bessie Love was 20 -- still very young, but nevertheless rather old to play a youngster. But like other silent stars -- Mary Pickford and Mary Miles Minter, to name a couple -- she pulls it off. Joseph Stagg (Charles Elder) is the leading merchant of the small village of Sunrise Cove. Although he was once engaged to Amanda Parlow (Charlotte Mineau), the daughter of the town's carpenter, he has never married and Aunt Rose Kennedy (Eunice Moore) runs his home. Stagg's sister and husband are lost at sea, and he is asked to care for their child, Carolyn May Cameron (Love). Carolyn and her dog Prince show up and proceed to change Stagg's life. The girl meets Amanda and befriends her. They go off on a vacation together and are trapped in a forest fire, though Stagg saves both of them and renews his romance with Amanda. They finally wed, and soon Carolyn begins to feel neglected, so she runs away back to her old home in Harlem. Stagg and Amanda come searching for her, and after they find her, they discover more good news -- her parents have been found, alive and safe. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

John Nelson (Hobart Bosworth) is a cruel sea captain who has harbored a grudge against humankind ever since his wife deserted him 16 years ago. When Tom Walton (Emory Johnson) is cast aside by his family for his debaucherous behavior, he takes a job as a deck hand on Nelson's whaling ship. The crew tries to mutiny when the water supply goes low, and Nelson single-handedly beats up the surly sailors. Tom is sent ashore to a South Seas island to fetch more water and discovers a young girl (Bessie Love) and an old man. Tom brings the two island dwellers aboard, where the girl experiences Nelson's cruelty first-hand. Tom and the girl escape, just as a menacing storm begins to form. Nelson reads the young girl's Bible and realizes the girl is his long-lost daughter by the woman who deserted him years before. He turns the ship around and tries to make a dramatic rescue before the storm's fury drowns the helpless couple. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Sessue Hayakawa wrote the story for this simple little drama. Wang (Hayakawa) is a Chinese vegetable peddler in the slum area of a big city. He befriends a little boy, Buster (Frankie Lee), and meets the boy's mother, Mary (Bessie Love). Mary has been deserted by her no-good husband, and when Wang finds out that she and Buster are about to be evicted, he pawns his horse, Bimbo, to help them. Without his horse, Wang needs to find other employment, so he becomes a fortune teller. Buster helps out by hiding under the table and peeking into the customers' wallets to ensure that the fortunes are accurate. A new rent collector, Johnny Rand (Ralph McCullough), proves to be Mary's childhood sweetheart, who still carries a torch for her. She discovers that her estranged husband, Spencer Wellington (Harland Tucker), is about to marry Norma Biddle (Janice Wilson). Wang -- and Buster -- are hired as the entertainment for Norma's engagement party. They reveal Wellington's past, and his marriage, so Norma breaks off the engagement. Then Mary proceeds to get a divorce so that she and Rand can marry. Wang gets his horse out of hock, and goes to the Orient to fetch the girl who has been waiting for him all along. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Everybody at Mack Sennett's Keystone studios was expected to do a little bit of everything, which is why bassett-faced comedian Hank Mann both directed and co-starred in the 2-reel laughfest The Village Blacksmith. Burly Tom Kennedy plays the title character, while gawky Polly Moran is cast as the Smithy's sweetie, a laundress. A refined young lady (Vivien Edwards) becomes fascinated by the Smithy's remarkable feats of strength, including his ability to pound nails with his knuckles. The girl succeeds in stealing Kennedy away from Moran, which of course precipitates a climactic confrontation between the two females. Though The Village Blacksmith contained more plot than was usual for Keystone, sight gags and slapstick still predominate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, with all its standard trappings, was adapted the stage play by Pierce Kingsley, which in turn was based on Grace Miller's novel. Bessie Love stars as orphaned country girl Anna Moore, who, along with her brother, Tommy (Frankie Lee), is being raised by hypocritical Squire Simpson (Tully Marshall). Anna is due to come into an inheritance, and Simpson and his son plot to get their hands on the money. Anna falls in love with Bob Crandall, a visitor from the city (William Scott), and they plan to marry. But the ceremony is interrupted by the appearance of a woman (Barbara Tennant) with a baby, who accuses Crandall of betraying her. Anna returns home, brokenhearted and ready to marry Simpson's son. But the Squire overplays his hand by insisting that Crandall be run out of town. This sets into motion a series of events that wind up proving his innocence. The woman confesses that it is the Squire's son, not Crandall, who is the baby's father, and Crandall and Anna are finally united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide