Edmund Lowe Movies

A murder trial provides the setting of this drama that presents, via flashback, three very different versions and motives of the killing. According to the prosecution, the deceased's sexy (and very much married) mistress is behind the murder. The defense asserts that the woman's lover killed himself because she would not give into his demands. Unfortunately, neither side is correct. Fortunately, the real culprit confesses in court at the very last minute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Most of Dressed to Kill takes place at a swank nightclub which serves as an Underworld rendezvous. Heroine Jean (Mary Astor) hopes to recover the bonds that her imprisoned sweetheart is accused of stealing. To do this, Jean sidles up to mob boss Mile-Away Barry (Edmund Lowe), figuring that he was the mastermind behind the theft. Unfortunately, the crooks play for keeps, and by Reel Five it looks as though Jean is going to be taken "for a ride." But Mile-Away Barry undergoes a sudden change of heart, putting his own life on the line to save Jean's. One symbolic touch -- the chief heavy dying from police bullets under an advertising billboard reading "You Can't Win" -- was borrowed from Josef Von Sternberg's Salvation Hunters and would be used again, with variations, in Howard Hawks' Scarface. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This portentously (and pretentiously) titled Fox Studios release stars Edmund Lowe as WWI veteran Slim Paris. Though most of his comrades died in battle, Paris returns home with nary a scratch. This convinces him that his life has a "greater purpose" in the scheme of things, so he sets about to find that purpose. Before the story has run its course, Paris has rescued his two older brothers from losing the love of their wives, selflessly sacrificing his own well-being in the process. One Increasing Purpose was adapted from a then-popular novel by A. S. M. Hutchinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Is Zat So? was playwright/actor James Gleason's Broadway breakthrough, Gleason himself did not appear in the first film version. The stars of this 7-reel silent are George O'Brien as boxer Ed Chick Cowan, Edmund Lowe as Cowan's manager Hap Hurley (the Gleason part) and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as young millionaire G. Clinton Blackburn. Befriending the naïve Blackburn, Cowan and Hurley save the young man from the mercenary machinations of his brother-in-law (Cyril Chadwick). While the stage version relied upon snappy patter for most of its laughs, the screen version concentrates on visual humor (as indeed it had to). As for James Gleason, he would not step before the cameras until the advent of talkies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From the minute it opened on Broadway in 1924, Laurence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson's gritty WWI comedy-drama What Price Glory? was a center of controversy. Prudes and blue-noses condemned the play for its explicit language, while a group of politicians tried to bring about a federal action to halt its production because of its "disrespectful" treatment of military officers and traditions. Naturally, any play that engendered that sort of reaction had to be a hit. Two years after its stage debut, the play was adapted for the screen, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe as those eternally boozing and brawling U.S. Marines, Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt. After a prologue in the Orient, in which Flagg and Quirt duke it out over the affections of the saucy Shanghai Mabel (Phyllis Haver), the scene shifts to France in 1918, with the two male protagonists continuing their private war as all hell breaks loose around them. When they aren't blowing the brains out of the Germans, Flagg and Quirt are vying for the attentions of coquettish French girl Charmaine (Dolores Del Rio). The film alternates effectively between low comedy and grim melodrama throughout most of its running time, reaching a dramatic high point when mamma's-boy Private Lewisohn (Barry Norton), fatally wounded, screams "Stop the blood! Stop the blood!" When the smoke clears, Flagg and Quirt both decide to go AWOL for the sake of Charmaine, but when duty calls, the two friendly enemies march shoulder to shoulder towards new adventures. The battle scenes in What Price Glory? were terrifyingly realistic -- indeed, one man was actually killed during filming -- but the most memorable aspect of the picture is the ribald byplay between Flagg and Quirt (who would later be launched into a series of so-called sequels). This being a silent picture, actors McLaglen and Lowe were permitted to mouth any obscenity that came into their heads, allowing audiences in 1926 the spectacle of seeing two grown men hurling epithets that would never have been heard in any sort of polite society -- all the while strictly adhering to the rules set down by the Hollywood censors, who objected only to printed profanities. What Price Glory was unsuccessfully remade in 1952 by John Ford, who directed one scene of the original 1926 version; Barry Norton, who played Lewisohn in the original, appeared in the remake as a priest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Black Paradise begins as lifelong crook Jack Callahan (Leslie Fenton) promises that he'll reform for the sake of his sweetheart Sylvia Douglas (Madge Bellamy). But he can't, and when detective Lawrence Graham (Edmund Lowe) comes calling, Jack takes Sylvia by the hand and escapes to the safety of the schooner owned by criminal chieftain Murdock (Ed Peil Sr.), moored 12 miles outside of San Francisco. Graham boards the schooner, only to be caught by Murdock and forced to work as a crewman. The vessel ends up in the South Seas, where Jack takes up with a local native girl; meanwhile, Sylvia falls in love with the captive Graham. Murdock orders Sylvia to "give in" to him, threatening to kill Graham if she doesn't. Only the timely eruption of a volcano saves Sylvia from sacrificing her virtue to save the man she loves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When rector Daniel Gilchrist (Edmund Lowe) preaches material sacrifice to his wealthy congregation, he is forced out of his parish. His sweetheart, Clare (Brenda Bond), dumps him in favor of Jerry Goodkind (Raymond Bloomer), the son of a wealthy man (George Lessey). Gilchrist goes on to found a mission, while Jerry's constant womanizing tortures Clare. When she returns to her former flame, however, he insists that happiness comes through service. Hennig, a vindictive and misguided miner (A.J. Herbert), incites a mob to attack Gilchrist, but they come to a halt when Mary, a crippled little girl (Anne Dale), is healed by her faith and walks. Jerry's father compares Gilchrist's life to that of his son, and wonders whether the ousted rector has had the more successful life. This drama actually turned out better than the Channing Pollock play on which it was based -- something that doesn't happen often in motion pictures. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This mythical kingdom romance, based on The Lady From Longacre by Victor Bridge, is spiced up with a mystery angle. It wasn't exactly original, but it made for an entertaining programmer. Wealthy American Tom Conway (Edmund Lowe) and his pal, pugilist Tiger Bugg (Ben Hendricks), rescue a girl from attackers during their stay in London. The girl gives her name as Isabel Francis (Dolores Costello), and the men put her up for the night. When Molly Montrose (Margaret Livingston), an actress friend of Conway's, loses her jewels, Isabel is a prime suspect -- until it is revealed that she is really a foreign princess. She is kidnapped by royal spies and taken back to her own country. Conway and Molly go to track her down. They undergo numerous thrilling adventures before rescuing the princess. Conway and Isabel are united, while Molly finds a lover of her own. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a novel by Julian LaMothe, The Winding Stair stars Edmund Lowe as Paul, a fearless French Foreign Legion officer. Ordered to quell a native uprising at a far-away outpost, he discovers that the revolt is actually a subterfuge hatched by the Arabs, so that the city under Paul's command will be left unguarded and defenseless. Unable to convince his superiors that they're leaving themselves open to slaughter, Paul goes undercover, disguising himself as a native in order to infiltrate the rebel camp. While in Arab garb, our hero manages to rescue his sweetheart, cabaret dancer Marguerite (Alba Rubens), from suffering a ghastly fate at the hands of the villains. But even though Paul also manages to prevent the enemy attack, his superiors assume that he's deserted, and drum him out of the Legion. Only by serving valiantly in WWI is Paul able to redeem himself in the eyes of his country. "Winding" is right: this one has more plot twists than a TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a 1911 novel by Elinor Glyn, this melodrama seems at first to focus on the dilemma of whether to marry for material gain or for love. This choice is put before the young heroine Velma (Aileen Pringle). For Velma, it is no choice at all. She steadfastly refuses an arranged marriage to a nobleman, a marriage meant to save the mortgage on her uncle's estate. As she fights for her right to choose a husband, she falls in love with Lord Tancred (Edmund Lowe). Little does she know at this point that Lord Tancred is exactly the man her uncle wanted her to wed in the first place. She goes through with the marriage of her dreams, only to find out that the nobleman of the original arranged marriage and Lord Tancred are one and the same. Upset by this imagined betrayal, she reacts by adamantly refusing to have anything to do with her husband, certain that he married her only to save her uncle's estate. But lo and behold, Velma makes an unusual discovery that changes her mind. Even in 1926, the plot and its premises stretched credibility for most people. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Although John Greenleaf Whittier wrote the poem Barbara Frietchie, it was actually the Clyde Fitch play that served as inspiration for both this and the 1915 film by the same name. In the days before the Civil War, southerner Barbara Frietchie (Florence Vidor) falls in love with Captain Trumbull (Edmund Lowe), a northern friend of her brother, Arthur (Charles Delaney). But when the war between the states breaks out, Trumbull must fight for the North. His troops take over Frederickstown, where the Frietchies live, and Barbara discovers her love for him overrides her feelings for the Confederacy. The couple goes to Hagerstown to marry, but a Confederate advance prevents the wedding. Arthur Frietchie wounds Trumbull and takes him into his own home. Because she believes her sweetheart is dying, Barbara hangs the stars and stripes out the window as the Confederates march by. The crowd is furious, but Stonewall Jackson, impressed by her courage, announces that anyone who harms her is to be shot. One man, Trumbull's rival, Jack Negly (Joe Bennett), ignores the order and shoots Barbara. She is not seriously wounded, and she then discovers that Trumbull is still alive. She nurses him back to health, and after the war they are finally married. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide