Edmund Lowe Movies
The son of a California judge, Edmund Lowe attended Santa Clara University. He worked briefly as a teacher before joining a Los Angeles stock company. Lowe made both his Broadway and movie debut in 1917. Seemingly born to wear tuxedos and dinner jackets, Lowe became a popular leading man on both stage and screen. His career went off into a new direction when he was cast against type as the brawling, swearing Sergeant Quirt in the 1927 film version of What Price Glory. This led to several reteamings with his Glory co-star Victor McLaglen, nearly always portraying those friendly enemies Quirt and Flagg, forever spouting dialogue of the "Sez you? Sez me!" variety. In 1956, Lowe and McLaglen were teamed for the last time in the all-star Around the World In 80 Days. Lowe remained in demand for leading character roles into the 1940s, including the father of the title character in Dillinger, where he was billed over the film's ostensible star Lawrence Tierney. On TV, Lowe played two-fisted reporter David Chase on the 1951-52 series Front Page Detective. The actor was married three times; his second wife was Lilyan Tashman, who died in 1934. Edmund Lowe's final film was 1960's Heller in Pink Tights; halfway through shooting, Lowe fell seriously ill and had to be doubled in long and medium shots by actor Bernard Nedell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1934
In this musical, a radio-announcer is fired after giving a false interview. For consolation he begins to drink heavily. It is his girlfriend who helps him sober up when she provides him with a major scoop--a missing airplane. He enthusiastically sets out after it and eventually finds it. As a publicity stunt, he skydives to the downed plane while broadcasting live. Songs include: Talking To Myself," "I Ain't Gonna Sin No More," "Gift Of Gab," "Somebody Looks Good," "Don't Let This Waltz Mean Goodbye," "Walkin' On Air," "What A Wonderful Day," "Tomorrow--Who Cares?" and "Blue Sky Avenue." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Gloria Stuart, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy, a pair of ex-Marines team up and get involved in a nightclub.Trouble ensues when they both fall in love with a feisty woman and begin fighting over her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1933
This drama chronicles the devoted love of a woman who tries to reform her lover, a black marketeer with a compulsive gambling problem. Unfortunately, he is killed by two crooks whom he bilked. Just before he dies, he marries his loyal girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Nancy Carroll, (more)
Based on the Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, Dinner at Eight is a near-flawless comedy/drama with an all-star cast at the peak of their talents. Social butterfly Mrs. Oliver Jordan (Billie Burke) arranges a dinner party that will benefit the busines of her husband (Lionel Barrymore). Among the invited are a crooked executive (Wallace Beery), who is in the process of ruining Jordan; his wife (Jean Harlow), who is carrying on an affair with a doctor (Edmund Lowe); a fading matinee idol (John Barrymore), who has squandered his fortune on liquor and is romantically involved with the Jordan daughter (Madge Evans); and a venerable stage actress (Marie Dressler), who since losing all her money has become a "professional guest." Nothing goes as planned, due to various suicides, double-crosses, compromises, fatal illness, and servant problems. But dinner is served precisely at eight. The script by Herman Mankiewicz, Frances Marion, and Donald Ogden Stewart is a virtual enclyopedia of witty lines and scenes, right down to the unforgettable closing gag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, (more)
- 1933
When the actress girlfriend of a rich man is pursued by a producer, the rich man hires bodyguard Lowe to protect her, but Lowe falls in love with her, too. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Wynne Gibson, (more)
- 1932
Gabby Denton (Edmund Lowe) is a slightly down-on-his-luck bettor with a taste for alcohol and the ladies. To tide himself over, he takes a job in the garage owned by his brother-in-law, Beef Evans (James Gleason). Unbeknownst to Gabby -- times being what they are in the midst of the Great Depression -- Beef has had to play along with a stolen car ring operating out of one of the upper floors of the same building, where there's also a speakeasy and a mob hangout in the penthouse. Up there, Mr. Jenkins (Alan Dinehart) and his deaf-mute "servant" (George Rosener), who's a lot more than a valet, run the hot-car operation and Jenkins entertains his current ladyfriend, Silver (Wynne Gibson). Gabby meets her one day when her car runs off the road and in the course of hauling in the wreck they strike sparks, leading to a very obvious sexual assignation (complete with cigarettes after) at her place one afternoon. Gabby does fine juggling the cars and the girl until one of the more reckless wheelmen working for the gang critically injures Beef's son (Dickie Moore) while trying to evade capture; Beef is so upset that he tries to have it out with Jenkins and is knocked cold, killed, and put into a runaway car to cover up the murder. Suddenly, Gabby puts the stolen cars together with the operation on the top two floors and Jenkins; he wants a piece of the gang leader, and is willing to go right through Silver to get it. But the "good time girl" (as they called them politely in those days) proves better and more honorable than anyone (even Gabby) expects -- first she tries to warn him off, then convince him she's back with Jenkins, and finally throws in with him directly when it looks like the hoods have the drop on him. And there are still surprises from there, in this briskly-paced picture. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Dickie Moore, (more)
- 1932
Claudette Colbert plays a dizzy socialite who wants to become an actress. She buys her way into an audition for the part of a seductive vamp in an upcoming film. To prove she's worthy of the role, Colbert comes on strong to unsuspecting bachelor Edmund Lowe. He falls like a ton of bricks, but Colbert drops him when she's cast in the film. Lowe is not so easily disposed of; he abducts Colbert from the studio and spirits her away. She eventually realizes that she's loved him all along, while the modern-day feminists in the audience grind their teeth and pull their hair. Misleading Lady was based on a play by Charles W. Goddard and Paul Dickey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1932
In this drama, an ambitious lawyer doesn't think twice about convicting an innocent man on circumstantial evidence to further his own career, at least not at first. But as time passes he feels increasingly guilty and many year's later tries to quietly make amends when the son of the man he falsely imprisoned is acquitted of murder charges. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1932
Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe carry their pugnacious Quirt-and-Flagg relationship into the murder mystery genre in Paramount's Guilty as Hell. Actually, there's very little mystery involved, since the audience is informed at the outset that dignified Dr. Tindall (Henry Stephenson) is responsible for the death of his faithless wife (Claire Dodd). Carefully arranging the evidence, Tindall manages to convince the authorities that Mrs. Tindall's lover Frank Marsh (Richard Arlen) is the criminal. Detective McKinley (McLaglen) is ready to declare the case closed, but reporter Russell Kirk (Lowe), who's sweet on Marsh's sister Vera (Adrienne Ames), suspects there's more to the story than meets the eye. Likewise falling for Vera, McKinley grudgingly joins his friendly enemy Kirk in proving Frank's innocence and Tindall's guilt. Released in England as Guilty as Charged, this lightweight thriller was remade, with its delightful surprise ending intact, as Night Club Scandal (1937), with John Barrymore hamming his way through the Henry Stephenson part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1932
Based on the radio serial of the same name, Chandu the Magician is a veritable rollercoaster ride of thrills and terror, boasting some of the best special effects of its period. Edmund Lowe stars as suave Frank Chandler, better known to his enemies as Chandu the Magician. Though he tries to keep his supernatural powers a secret from his beloved sister Dorothy (Virginia Hammond), niece Betty Lou (June Vlasek, aka June Lang) and nephew Bobby (Nestor Aber), Chandu's hand is forced by megalomaniacal villain Roxor (Bela Lugosi at his ripest). Holding Dorothy's scientist husband Robert Regent (H. B. Walthall) captive, Roxor hopes to force Regent to reveal the secret of his death ray (created, of course, "for the good of mankind") by kidnapping the scientist's wife and kids. Chandu manages to remain one step ahead of Roxor, performing all manner of miraculous magical feats to confound his enemy, but even our hero temporarily falls victim to the villain's machinations when Roxor abducts Chandu's sweetheart, Princess Nadji (Irene Ware). The production-design expertise of co-director William Cameron Menzies is never so obvious than when Chandu and his friends are subjected to the various serial-like perils imposed upon them by Roxor; some of these cliffhangers would seem to have been the inspiration for similar situations in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. Counterpointing the excitement is the comedy relief of Herbert Mundin, cast as a bibulous valet who is bedeviled by a remonstrative, pint-sized "alter ego." Two years after Chandu the Magician, the film's villain, Bela Lugosi, was offered the rare opportunity to play the heroic Frank Chandler himself in the exhilarating 12-part serial The Return of Chandu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, (more)
- 1931
An illusionist is performing his astounding tricks when an audience member is killed by another. This mystery chronicles the attempts of the magician to find out whodunit and why. He gives his theories to a police detective who thinks the illusionist is plumb nuts. Still the investigator goes along with the magician's plot and allows him to stage a seance. During the spooky doings, the killer is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Howard Phillips, (more)
- 1931
Flagg and Quirt, the eternally bickering "friendly enemies" introduced in Lawrence Stallings' WWI play What Price Glory, were at it again in 1931's Women of All Nations. Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe reprise their screen characterizations as pugnacious, girl-crazy marine sergeants Flagg and Quirt, who in the course of the film's 71 minutes hopscotch from Panama to Sweden to Nicaragua to Turkey. In Sweden, the boys battle over the affections of icy blonde Elsa (Greta Nissen), while in Turkey they find themselves in the middle of a sheik's harem (where else?) Comic relief El Brendel has the film's best scene, in which he obeys Flagg's order "Get me the lay of the land" by returning with coquettish Fifi D'Orsay! Humphrey Bogart was supposed to have played the romantic lead in Women of All Nations, but his role was all but eliminated in the final release print. The McLaglen-Lowe teaming was good for at least one more pre-Production Code vehicle, Hot Pepper (1933). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1931
Locomotive engineer Edmund Lowe falls head-over-heels in love with musical-comedy dancer Mae Clarke. When he finds out that Clarke was mixed up in a notorious scandal, Lowe, who's no paragon of virtue himself, walks out on her. He's so upset by this turn of events that he accidentally causes a train wreck, whereupon he loses his job and becomes a hobo. Given a new lease on life in the Coast Guard, Lowe is "on call" when he spots a drowning girl off the port bow. Upon rescuing the girl, he discovers that it's Clarke, and all is forgiven. Men on Call was released minus screenwriter's credit, which is just as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, William Harrigan, (more)
- 1931
Adhering to a formula that would later be popularized further in Grand Hotel, Transatlantic is one of the best of the "multi-story" films of the early 1930s. As a luxurious ocean liner makes its way across the Atlantic Ocean, the audience is made privy to the travails of several of its passengers. Edmund Lowe heads the cast as Monty Greer, a suave gambler who falls in love with Judy (Lois Moran), the daughter of immigrant lens grinder Rudolph Kramer (Jean Hersholt). In trying to recover some valuable securities stolen from banker Henry Graham (John Halliday), Greer finds himself in the middle of a fierce gun battle in the ship's engine room. Meanwhile, Graham, who has been cheating on his wife Kay (Myrna Loy) with sexy dancer Sigrid Carline (Greta Nissen), is murdered by person or persons unknown. And that's only three of the plot strands in this marvelously complex shipboard thriller. In almost constant reissue well into the 1940s, Transatlantic was also very nearly transformed into a TV series in the late 1950s; though this project never flew, vestiges of the original can be detected in the popular all-star TV weekly of the 1970s, The Love Boat. Of special interest is the Oscar-winning art direction by Gordon Wiles and the cinematography of James Wong Howe, both of whom employ techniques that anticipated Orson Welles' Citizen Kane by ten years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Lois Moran, (more)
- 1931
This French-style farce is set at a large party. There a young misogynist explains why he cannot trust women. A man overhears him and wagers $10,000 that the woman-hater will not succeed in getting the next woman through the door to kiss him. He has 48 hours to succeed or fail. Unfortunately the woman turns out to be the wagerer's wife. She gets wind of the bet and decides to teach both her hubby and the bitter young man an unforgettable lesson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Roland Young, (more)
- 1931
The Cisco Kid was to have been the sequel to the pioneering 1929 talkie In Old Arizona, with Warner Baxter repeating his Oscar-winning role as "O. Henry's Robin Hood of the Old West". Unfortunately, Fox Studios temporarily lost the rights to the Cisco Kid character, thus Baxter was starred as Cisco-in-name-only in The Arizona Kid. The rights were then reclaimed, and The Cisco Kid went into production as the third in the Baxter series -- and, by all accounts, the best of the trio, beautifully photographed and blessed with a thrilling musical score. Running just under an hour, the film finds good-hearted Cisco robbing a bank to save pretty widow Sally Benton (Nora Lane) from losing her ranch. Developing a strong affection for the widow's two children, Cisco risks arrest when he mistakenly believes that one of the kids has been injured. The hero's "friendly enemy" Sgt. Mickey Dunn (Edmund Lowe, likewise a carry-over from In Old Arizona) is so touched by this display of devotion that he "accidentally" allows Cisco to escape to new adventures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1930
This early Leo McCarey effort was tradeshown as Shepper-Newfounder, but wiser heads prevailed and the film was ultimately released as Part-Time Wife. Co-scripted by McCarey, the story concentrates of neglectful husband Jim Murdock (Edmund Lowe) and his frustrated wife Betty (Leila Hyams). For lack of anything else to do, Betty takes up golf, soon achieving professional status. Meanwhile, Jim's doctor advises him to start playing golf as an outlet for his frustrations. Sure enough, Jim and Betty are reteamed on the links, and all is well -- for everyone except Betty's erstwhile beau Tommy Milligan (Tom Clifford). Part-Time Wife was remade in 1938 as Change of Heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Leila Hyams, (more)
- 1930
This drama is set during the mid Twenties when gangsters were a bit more genteel than their 1930s counterparts. Based on a true story, it profiles the experiences of a young gangster who, after getting caught during a robbery is given a choice: he can either go to prison or join the military and fight. He chooses the military. There he becomes a hero. But when he returns home, he immediately returns to gangster life. Trouble ensues when he falls for an aristocratic woman with a daughter. Their happiness is interrupted by an old enemy who kidnaps the girl. The protagonist successfully saves the girl and kills his enemy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen, (more)
- 1930
In this classy crime drama, the well-spoken, leader of a sophisticated gang of gangsters use their high social status to gain access to the vaults of the local rich people. The suave ring leader smoothly moves through the aristocratic social circles, charming all those who cross his path. He falls in love with the bank president's daughter and that is the beginning of the end. It is not long before the true avocation of the classy robbers is revealed. They and the romance are immediately ruined. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
- 1930
In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues. The sailor kills his rival and ends up sentenced to Devil's Island. The only females allowed there are the wives of the guards, so, not wanting to be far from her beloved, the dancer marries the meanest guard in the prison. During a prison riot, the sailor proves his mettle and gets pardoned. The couple happily decide to return to the dancer's native Britain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1930
Dakin Barrolles (played by Edmund Lowe is a criminal who, while escaping from a bank robbery that went wrong, stumbles across a famous banker, Sir John Lasher, and his wife, Xandra. Lasher is deep in his cups, and neither he nor Xandra notice when Barrolles absconds with one of their possessions -- a locket with a picture of the married couple. For once, Barrolles has more in mind than thievery. He has become instantly smitten with banker's wife; planning to escape the police by enlisting in the army, he wants the picture to serve as a reminder of her beauty. During heavy fighting, Barrolles is injured in a mine explosion, and the surgeon who operates on him gives him the face of the man in the locket. By coincidence, Lasher has also joined the war effort and is missing. Xandra arrives to reluctantly take home her husband and is surprised at the change in her husband, who now is clearly in love with her and concerned about her feelings. Now in a position to commit a spectacular bank robbery, Barrolles must decide whether to give in to this temptation or stay with the woman he loves -- and must also worry about what he will do if Scotland Yard finds him or the real Lasher returns. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1930
Filmed in "Fox Grandeur," an early widescreen process, Happy Days was the immediate follow-up to Fox Studios' Movietone Follies of 1929. Most of the film takes place on the showboat of Mississippi entrepreneur Colonel Billy Batcher (Charles E. Evans). When the Colonel faces foreclosure after several failing seasons, soubrette Margie (Marjorie White) stages a fund-raising revue on the boat, enlisting the aid of all the big stars who got their start with Batcher. By an amazing coincidence, virtually all of the showboat alumni are under contract to Fox Studios! Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell perform "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own," Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe kid their roughneck screen images in the novelty number "Vic and Eddie," Sharon Lynn and Ann Pennington offer the "hot" dance routine "Snake Hips," and "Whispering" Jack Smith offers a rendition of the title tune. Also on hand are Will Rogers, El Brendel, Walter Catlett (who also staged the musical numbers), Lew Brice (Fanny's brother), Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Georgie Jessel -- not to mention an uncredited 14-year-old chorus girl named Betty Grable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Warner Baxter, sporting a black mustache and a musical-comedy Mexican accent, stars as the Cisco Kid, the "Robin Hood of the Old West" created by O. Henry. Edmund Lowe co-stars as Cisco's "friendly enemy" Sgt. Mickey Dunne, the role that was originally to have gone to Raoul Walsh. Both men are madly in love with dusky beauty Tonia Maria (Dorothy Burgess), and in fact Cisco is so "far gone" that he composes a song in the girl's honor (actually, "My Tonia", first heard during the opening credits, was written by Fox studio tunesmiths Lew Brown, B.G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson). Alas, Tonia ends up betraying Cisco to Sgt. Burke. But the crafty, cold-blooded Cisco arranges for Tonia to be killed in the trap set for him (this plot resolution is faithful to O. Henry's original conception of the Cisco Kid, who wasn't really meant to be a "good guy"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1929
This sequel to the enormously successful silent film What Price Glory reunites director Raoul Walsh with stars Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. As in the earlier film, McLaglen and Lowe are cast respectively as Flagg and Quirt, those ever-brawling U.S. Marine sergeants. With WWI but a dim memory, Flagg and Quirt continue their rowdy escapades in Russia, Nicaragua and Coney Island. And, of course, they vie for the attentions of several eager and willing young ladies, including the sexy Elenita (Lily Damita). Swedish-dialect comedian El Brendel, an inescapable presence in the early-talkie product from Fox Studios, co-stars as Olson, who indulges in his familiar "get me the lay of the land" routine. Scripted by vaudevillian Billy K. Wells, a specialist in vulgar and sometimes downright dirty humor, The Cock-Eyed World worked overtime pushing the envelope of good taste (by 1929 standards, at least), which may be one of the reasons that this dreary exercise was such a huge hit at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1929
A plucky New Orleans singer becomes a star on the New York city night club circuit in this musical drama. In the midst of it all, the woman finds herself between two men. The trouble is, she only desires one of them. Songs include: "Help Yourself to My Love", "Bride without a Groom", "Only the Girl", "Everybody's Darling", and "That Thing". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billie Dove, Edmund Lowe, (more)
