Ben Lyon Movies

In this WW I comedy, several young men decide to join the army. Each one has his own reason for joining up. Songs include: "Forever," "Qui, Qui," "Honey Boy," "Ja, Ja, Ja," "Side by Side." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the South Seas, half-caste Ilanu (Raquel Torres) refuses to marry Kahea (Donald Reed), as she loves Jimmy Bradford (Ben Lyon), heir to an American fortune; her grandfather warns her that her own mother's marriage to a white man was so unhappy that she'd leaped into a volcano. Despite misgivings over her race, and lingering feelings for his previous fiancee Elaine (Marian Douglas), Jimmy does marry Ilanu and takes her to San Francisco with him. His father (Robert Edeson) and sister Winnie (Thelma Todd) are shocked by Ilanu's apparent vulgarity, but Jimmy remains loyal to Ilanu, even though this means they return to her island, penniless. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

This playful spoof on the film business featured several stars including Ben Lyon, Lois Wilson, and Blanche Sweet. John Hart (Lyon) is a bank teller who gets fired after a shortage is found in his account. Desperate for work, he lands a job as a movie extra for famed director B.C. Duval (Dan Pennell, who looks and acts quite a bit like real-life director Cecil B. DeMille). Duval, with his retinue of "yes men," sees potential in young Hart and decides to make him over into a Latin lover. After they go to work on him, Hart is introduced to the press as ladykiller Don Juan Hartez. In order to promote his brand new reputation as a great lover, the press agent insists that he marry and divorce seven women in succession. After the sixth one, however, Hart gets fed up and runs off to marry his real sweetheart, Mary Kelly (Wilson), a modest little diner cook. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama an escaped killer hunts the man who squealed upon him. He stalks the man onto a train bound for San Francisco. The stoolie is killed. As a result another passenger, who witnessed the killing becomes determined to catch the cold-blooded killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a journalist assists a young woman seeking revenge upon the newspaper baron who ruined her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dance Magic was one of the earliest directorial efforts of Victor Halperin, of White Zombie fame. Hoping to make it big as a dancer, small-town girl Pauline Starke storms into the office of a Manhattan theatrical agent, demanding an interview. Impressed by her spunk, the producer arranges for Starke to work in the chorus of a major musical production. One night, the star gets sick, and our heroine goes on in her place. By rights, she should be able to return to her hometown in triumph, but this is not to be. Back home, dancing is considered sinful, and Starke is regarded as a Jezebel. Only by renouncing her "sins" in the pulpit is our heroine absolved and allowed to marry the hero (Ben Lyon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In its first few years of existence, Republic Pictures evinced an eagerness to tackle any sort of offbeat subject. The studio's Down to the Sea has to be one of the only films of the 1930s to concentrate on a pair of Greek sponge fishermen. Played by Russell Hardie and Ben Lyon, the heroes battle over the affections of Ann Rutherford, whose father controls much of Florida's sponge industry. The climactic scenes benefit from the fine location and underwater photography, courtesy of cinematographer Harry Neumann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This picture practically defined the Roaring Twenties and shot Colleen Moore to superstardom. Because she is neglected by her husband (Phillips Smalley), Mona Fentriss (Myrtle Steadman) begins living a frivolous, jazzy lifestyle. Two of her daughters, Connie (Betty Francisco) and Dee (Sylvia Breamer), follow in her footsteps and make unhappy marriages, but Mona tries to instill some sort of old-fashioned values in her youngest daughter, Pat (Moore). Heart trouble leads Mona to an early death, but before she dies, she reveals to her friend, Doctor Bobs (Elliott Dexter), that her one true love was Cary Scott (Milton Sills). Pat grows up to be a jazz baby, but Scott returns and becomes her one stabilizing influence. Although they fall in love, Scott must get a divorce from his estranged wife before they can wed. Pat is hesitant to marry at all because of all the unhappy matches around her. She becomes involved with a violinist who traps her on a yacht and she is forced to jump into the sea to save herself. She becomes gravely ill and Doctor Bobs and Scott do what they can to bring her back from the brink. It's the spirit of her mother, however, which really saves Pat so that she can recover and marry Scott. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Frisco Waterfront stars Ben Lyon as California gubernatorial candidate Glenn Burton. A freak election-day accident at the voting booth injures both Burton and his hated opponent Dan Elliot (Rod La Roque). While hovering between life and death on the operating table, Burton flashes back to his rise to prominence, and his ongoing romantic rivalry with Elliot over the affections of heroine Alice (Helen Twelvetrees). Landing a dockworker job in San Francisco, Burton gains power and prestige through the "good" graces of his unsavory cronies. Disgusted by this, Alice divorces Burton -- but she still loves him, and secretly maneuvers behind the scenes so that her ex-husband will emerge triumphant through his own abilities rather than his criminal connections. The nagging question posed at the finale: Were all of Alice's sacrifices really worth it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Great Deception is set during WWI. Educated in Germany, British youth Cyril Mansfield (Ben Lyon) is seemingly uncertain of his loyalties when the War breaks out. Refusing to enlist in the British army, Cyril is accused of being a slacker and a coward. He then commits the ultimate betrayal by selling his services to the Germans. What none of Cyril's friends know is that he is secretly in the employ of British intelligence, pretending to be a spy for the Kaiser in order to get his hands on the enemy's secret war plans. His true purpose is revealed when his girlfriend Lois (Aileen Pringle) is kidnapped by German agent Von Markow (Lucien Prival). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No one was surprised in 1929 that aviation mogul Howard R. Hughes would produce a paean to World War I flying aces like Hell's Angels. Given Hughes' comparative inexperience as a moviemaker, however, everyone was taken slightly aback that the finished film was as good as it was. The very American Ben Lyon and James Hall play (respectively) Monte and Roy Rutledge, a couple of British brothers who drop out of Oxford to join the British Royal Flying Corps. Several early scenes establish Lyon and Hall's romantic rivalry over two-timing socialite Helen (Jean Harlow). While flying a dangerous bombing mission over Germany, the brothers are shot down. The commandant (Lucien Prival), who'd earlier been cuckolded by one of the brothers, savors his opportunity for revenge. He offers the boys their freedom if they'll reveal the time of the next British attack; if they don't cooperate, they face unspeakable consequences. Roy, driven mad by his combat experiences, is about to tell all when he is shot and killed by Monte. The latter is himself condemned to a firing squad by the disgruntled commandant -- who, it is implied, will soon meet his own doom at the hands of the British bombers. Nobody really cares about this hoary old plot, however; Hell's Angels culls most of its strength from its crackerjack aerial sequences. The highlight is a Zeppelin raid over London, one of the most hauntingly effective sequences ever put on film. From the first ghost-like appearance of the Zeppelin breaking through the clouds, to the self-sacrificing behavior of the German crew members as they jump to their deaths rather than provide "excess weight," this is a scene that lingers in the memory far longer than all that good-of-the-service nonsense in the finale. Also worth noting is the star-making appearance of Jean Harlow. When Hell's Angels was begun as a silent film, Norwegian actress Greta Nissen played the female lead. During the switchover to sound, producer Hughes decided that her accent was at odds with her characterization, so he reshot her scenes with his latest discovery, Harlow. While she appears awkward in some of her scenes, there's no clumsiness whatsoever in her delivery of the classic line about slipping into "something more comfortable." Originally, Marshall Neilan was signed to direct the film, but became so rattled by Howard Hughes' interference that he handed the reins to Hughes himself, who was in turn given an uncredited assist by Luther Reed. Also ignored in the film's credits are the dialogue contributions by future Frankenstein director James Whale, who'd been hired as the film's English-dialect coach. Modern audiences expecting a musty museum piece are generally surprised by Hell's Angels' high entertainment content: they are also startled by the pre-code frankness of the dialogue, with phrases like "The hell with you" bandied about with reckless abandon. In recent years, archivists have restored the film's two-color Technicolor sequence, providing us with our only color glimpses of the radiant Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Busy character actor Sam Hardy was afforded a rare starring role when he played the title character in High Hat. Despite his ritzy nickname, High Hat is a mere movie dress extra at First National Pictures (where the film was shot). Even so, he regards himself as the studio pundit, dispensing romantic and financial advice to such stars as John Barrymore and Pola Negri. The plot proper has something to do with a studio seamstress named Millie (Mary Brian), who after losing a string of pearls entrusted in her care vows to work overtime until she can make up their cost. High Hat comes to the girl's rescue, recovers the diamonds, and returns to his full-time "job" as First National's resident sage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide