Myrna Loy Movies

Onoto (Myrna Loy) is slated to be sold to a wealthy Mandarin, but is rescued from the auction block by white fugitive from justice Gregory Kent (John Miljan). Onoto falls in love with Kent, and he with her, but this is 1928, and marriage between races is still taboo. Gallantly, Onoto forsakes Kent so that he may marry his white sweetheart Nadine Howells (Leila Hyams), then sadly disappears into the night. Asian actress Anna May Wong, who by rights should have played the leading role, is consigned to a glorified bit part. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Directed by a young Michael Curtiz, this Warner Bros. epic had aspirations of becoming another Intolerance (1916). In the end, Curtiz' treatise of man's inhumanity to man was ironically sabotaged by the enormous success of yet another studio release, the groundbreaking The Jazz Singer (1927). Basically a quaint romantic melodrama set during World War I, Noah's Ark opens with American George O'Brien falling in love with German Dolores Costelllo while travelling on the Orient Express on the eve of war. The train wrecks and the two seek shelter at a nearby hostelry. Russian military officer Noah Beery tries to molest Miss Costello but is repulsed by O'Brien. The three meet again near the end of the war in a little French village, where Beery accuses Costello, now Mrs. O'Brien, of being a German spy. Placed before a firing squad, Dolores is saved in the nick of time by her husband, a member of the squad.The Germans use this very moment to bomb and all are soon entombed in the basement of a demolished building. Comparing the war with the Biblical account of the Flood, screenwriters Anthony Coldeway and Darryl F. Zanuck flash back to Miriam (Costello) and Japheth (O'Brien) at the festival of Jaghut. The climactic Flood (the filming of which brought Miss Costello a severe case of pneumonia) pulls out all the stops and is magnificent in UCLA's lovingly restored print. After the deluge, the story shifts back to war-torn France, where Costello and O'Brien are rescued by the Red Cross on the eve of the Armistice. Ready to be released, Warner Bros. withdrew the film in order to add several scenes of dialogue, considered a necessity after the unprecedented reception of The Jazz Singer. The results were doleful: Ever so often, Noah's Ark comes to a screetching halt as the characters leave the realm of silent movies to speak stolid lines of dialogue. The cumbersome Vitaphone sound-on-disc made for pedestrian drama as everyone were forced to speak slowly and enunciate carefully. Dolores Costello, Warners' blonde leading lady and the off-screen Mrs. John Barrymore, suffered the most and would see her flourishing career all but evaporate. But UCLA's restoration of Noah's Ark proves once and for all that the rumors of Miss Costello having trouble with sibilants were highly exaggerated. It was Costello's line-reading of "Merthy, merthy, have you no thisther of your own?" in Tenderloin (1928) that supposedly sealed her fate in talkies. But even though the restored Noah's Ark shows little sign of the dreaded lisp, the hapless Miss Costello is visibly ill at ease before the microphone and her stilted dialogue, by Coldeway, is of no help whatsoever. "Part-talkies" like Noah's Ark were mercifully only a stop-gap measure; by the time of M-G-M's Broadway Melody (released June 6, 1929), "all-talking, all-dancing" features had already freed themselves from the constraints of early sound technology. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Warner Bros. contractees Myrna Loy and Walter Pidgeon were "borrowed" by low-budget Lumas pictures for the 1928 military drama Turn Back the Hours. Based on the venerable stage play by Edward E. Rose, the film stars Pidgeon as a Naval officer who is dishonorably discharged for cowardice. While being transported home to England, Pidgeon is caught in the middle of a shipwreck, from which he is rescued by passenger Loy. Recuperating in the Caribbean home of Loy's wealthy father, our hero returns the favor by rescuing the heroine and her daddy from a gang of bandits. In so doing, Pidgeon regains his courage and self-respect -- not to mention the love of the grateful Loy. Elements of Turn Back the Hours later resurfaced in the 1942 Humphrey Bogart vehicle Across the Pacific. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anticipating Robert DeNiro by nearly fifty years, New York cabdriver "Taxi" Driscoll (Antonio Moreno) prefers to drive his dilapidated hack in the dead of night. Unlike DeNiro, Driscoll picks up extra folding money by agreeing to transport bootleg booze. It isn't long before our none-too-ethical hero finds himself in the middle of a gang war. Helene Costello reprises her Lights of New York role as the virginal heroine, but Myrna Loy delivers a more interesting performances as a gangster's moll. Tom Dugan, another Light of New York alumnus, provides stuttering comedy relief (he'd perpetuate this act into early 1930s, at which time Roscoe Ates became the screen's foremost stammerer -- outside of Porky Pig, that is). The "Gregory Rogers" credited for the screenplay was really Warner Bros. staff writer Darryl F. Zanuck. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Climbers is the third film version of the same-named play by Clyde Fitch. Whereas the original play took place in contemporary America, the 1927 movie version was transplanted to the Spanish Empire, during the reign of King Ferdinand VII (Max Barwyn). In her efforts to enrich herself and increase her social prestige, the Duchess of Aragon (Irene Rich) has become a cruel despot, ruling her land holdings in Puerto Rico with an iron fist. Rising up against the Duchess' tyranny is the Robin Hood-like bandit El Blanco, who by day is the foppish Duke Cordova (Forrest Stanley). The plot becomes as thick as pea soup when El Blanco falls for the Duchess' daughter Laska (Flobelle Fairbanks). For the record, the original The Climbers had something to do with a social-climbing husband who is disgraced after destroying the lives of his loved ones. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the verge of receivership in 1926, Warner Bros. studio decides to risk its future by investing in the Vitaphone sound system. Warners' first Vitaphone release, Don Juan, was a silent film accompanied by music and sound effects. The studio took the Vitaphone process one step farther in its 1927 adaptation of the Samson Raphaelson Broadway hit The Jazz Singer, incorporating vocal musical numbers in what was essentially a non-talking film. Al Jolson stars as Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of Jewish cantor Warner Oland. Turning his back on family tradition, Jakie transforms himself into cabaret-entertainer Jack Robin. When Jack comes home to visit his parents, he is warmly greeted by his mother (Eugenie Besserer), but is cold-shouldered by his father, who feels that Jack is a traitor to his heritage by singing jazz music. Several subsequent opportunities for a reconciliation are muffed by the stubborn Jack and his equally stubborn father. On the eve of his biggest show-business triumph, Jack receives word that his father is dying. Out of respect, Jack foregoes his opening night to attend Atonement services at the temple and sing the Kol Nidre in his father's place. Through a superimposed image, we are assured that the spirit of Jack's father has at long last forgiven his son. Only twenty minutes or so of Jazz Singer is in any way a "talkie;" all of the Vitaphone sequences are built around Jolson's musical numbers. What thrilled the opening night crowds attending Jazz Singer were not so much the songs themselves but Jolson's adlibbed comments, notably in the scene where he sings "Blue Skies" to his mother. Previous short-subject experiments with sound had failed because the on-screen talent had come off stilted and unnatural; but when Jolson began chattering away in a naturalistic, conversational fashion, the delighted audiences suddenly realized that talking pictures did indeed have the capacity to entertain. Despite its many shortcomings (the storyline goes beyond mawkish, while Jolson's acting in the silent scenes is downright amateurish), The Jazz Singer was a box-office success the like of which no one had previously witnessed. The film did turn-away business for months, propelling Warner Bros. from a shoestring operation into Hollywood's leading film factory. Proof that The Jazz Singer is best viewed within its historical context is provided by the 1953 and 1980 remakes, both interminable wallows in sentimental goo. Worse still, neither one of those films had Al Jolson--who, in spite of his inadequacies as an actor, was inarguably the greatest musical entertainer of his era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The plot to this underworld drama, based on a story by Arthur Somers Roche, sounds more like something from the 1930s than from the silent era. It's an early starring vehicle for Myrna Loy. Southern girl Mary Carlton (Loy) finds out that her brother, Bob (Carroll Nye), is going to the electric chair for a crime he says he didn't commit. In order to get her brother exonerated, Mary travels to New York and pretends to be a Chicago gun moll. She wins the love of two gangsters, Handsome Joe (Conrad Nagel) and Big Steve Drummond (William Russell). Joe, it turns out, isn't a gangster at all, but an undercover detective. He attempts to help Mary prove her brother's innocence, and the two of them are caught in a fierce gun battle between the crooks and the cops. They make it through alive (although Drummond gets his due), and Bob is released at the last minute. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Hardly an important film, Finger Prints pleased the crowd with its heady combination of slapstick comedy and old-dark-house melodrama. A professional crook is collared by the law, but not before squirreling away a fortune in hidden money in a crumbling country mansion. The crook's sister is kidnapped by his accomplices, who take the girl to the mansion, hoping to force her to reveal the whereabouts of the loot. What they don't know is that the house has been fitted with all sorts of modern, push-button devices, which thoroughly flummox the bad guys while delighting their unterrified captive. The day is saved by the timely intervention of comic-relief servant Louise Fazenda (who certainly deserves the top billing bestowed upon her). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The title refers to ugly-duckling heroine Louise Fazenda, who sweats and strains at a hand laundry. One fine day, shy truckdriver Clyde Cook shows up at the establishment with a load of grimy clothes. He takes one look at Fazenda, and it's love at first sight. That's about all there is to the story, save for the Mutt-and-Jeff slapstick antics of Cook and his brawny partner William Demarest (evidently, Warner Bros. was hoping to promote Cook and Demarest as a comedy team, a la MGM's Karl Dane and George K. Arthur). Critics chose not to laugh at Simple Sis, though they admitted to being impressed by juvenile actor Billy Kent Schaffer, cast as Fazenda's troublesome kid brother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This melodrama, which involves the Philippine revolt during the final years of the 1800s, was based on a popular play from the same era by Charles E. Blaney. After his father brings disgrace on his family, Monte (Monte Blue) joins the Spanish-American War and goes with his regiment to the Philippines. Although he has a sweetheart back home, Claire Marsh (Jane Winton), Monte is enlisted to romance a half-caste girl, Roma (a very young Myrna Loy), who knows the whereabouts of the Philippine leader Aguinaldo (Charles Stevens). Monte must keep up the ruse, even when Claire comes to the islands to visit him. He finally gets the information he needs, but not before he is branded a deserter and then has to prove his mettle on the battlefield. When the insurrection is squelched and Aguinaldo is captured, Monte is able to explain everything to Claire, and the couple is reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

"Love of money is the root of all evil." That's the message conveyed to the audience with the subtlety of a sledgehammer in The Gilded Highway. This is the story of the Welby family: Papa (Macklyn Arbuckle), Mama (Florence Turner), daughter Primrose (Dorothy Devore) and son Jack (John Harron). The Welbys are shaken out of their middle-class complacency when Papa inherits a fortune. Soon everyone in the clan is behaving atrociously, alienating their old friends with their snobbish and avaricious ways. The only way the Welbys realize the errors of their ways is by losing all their money in one fell swoop. Based on a novel by William Babington Maxwell, The Gilded Highway is one of a handful of American films directed by British cinema pioneer J. Stuart Blackton. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Back in the 1920's, "caveman" was a slang term for a man who treated women rough and made 'em love it. We have other names for this sort of fellow today, but those names couldn't be shown on screen back in 1926. Matt Moore plays a rough-and-tumble coal delivery man who through a fluke finds himself in the company of spoiled society girl Marie Prevost. During a posh weekend party, the class-conscious Prevost passes Moore off as a "nutty professor", who's liable to say and do anything. By the time she decides to tell the truth, she's fallen in love with her modern-day caveman. This film is alleged to be the movie debut of Myrna Loy, though research indicates that she was playing bit parts as early as 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Josef von Sternberg had been the original director of Exquisite Sinner, but MGM was dissatisfied with the picture and refused to release it. When the film finally surfaced in 1926 (a full year after its completion), it had been radically altered by staff director Phil Rosen. Adapted by Alice Duer Miller from a novel by Alden Brooks, the film concerns a young man (Conrad Nagel) who forsakes the humdrum business world for the bohemian life of an artist. Renee Adoree co-stars as "The Gypsy Maid" who leads the hero merrily astray. Myrna Loy makes a brief, barely clothed appearance as "The Living Statue," the first of Josef Von Sternberg's many beautiful "mannequins," the most famous of whom would be Marlene Dietrich. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi