George MacQuarrie Movies
- 1921
This independently made drama starring Marguerite Clayton was touted as a "modern version of Cain and Abel." Harold Van Zandt (Creighton Hale) and his brother, Peter (George MacQuarrie), live in a little New England fishing village. Both of them are in love with Eileen Arden (Clayton). Harold is extremely shy, so Peter offers to approach her on his behalf. Instead, he convinces Eileen that Harold is not worthy of her. When Eileen is cold to him, Harold is hurt and he leaves the village. Eileen goes on to marry Peter. Several years later, the Van Zandt father, John (Thomas Cameron), decides to retire from fishing, and calls for Harold to return. Eileen and Peter's daughter, Anne (Ivy Ward), inadvertently reveals the lies told about Harold. As a result, Eileen begins to pull away from Peter. Anne becomes ill and the doctor warns that her weak heart cannot bear excitement. When Peter picks a fight with Eileen, the little girl dies. Now realizing that Eileen knows the truth, Peter heads to the lighthouse where Harold works. The brothers fight it out, and Peter falls over the railing to his death on the rocks below. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Clayton, Creighton Hale, (more)
- 1921
Jim Montgomery (Thomas Meighan) is the country mechanic who comes to New York to seek his fortune. The naive rube is talked into accompanying some prospective employers to a bank. The men are crooks, and Jim is framed for the murder of a guard. Sent to Sing Sing prison, he is befriended by Old Bill (Paul Everton), a kindly long-time prisoner. After Old Bill helps him to escape, ravels to California Jim takes a new name and prospers. He even makes plans to marry a local girl. Unfortuneatly, New York detective Mike Kearney (George MacQuarrie) has diligently tracked him down and arrives on Jim's wedding day. Jim thrusts his hands into a machine, mangling them to avoid fingerprint identification. The hard-boiled gumshoe is inclined to let Jim go free. Old Bill arrives after his release from prison with information about the real killers in this implausible crime drama. Kate Bruce is Jim's mother, with Lois Wilson his fiancee and Guy Oliver as her father. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Meighan, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1920
A more exotic story than 1920s audiences had come to expect from D.W. Griffith, The Love Flower nonetheless adheres to Griffith's usual Dickensian approach to storytelling. There's an early outrage (the murder of a man), a child with a clouded past (the murderer's daughter), a decades-long vendetta (a detective devotes his life to tracking down the murderer) and a last minute struggle to the death (this one expertly filmed underwater). The film's locale is a remote tropical island, permitting leading lady Carole Dempster to go through her gamine paces with less clothing than she'd be required to wear in an urban or rural setting. Richard Barthelmess plays the "outsider" who falls in love with island girl Dempster. Her father George MacQuarrie, wanted by the law for killing his wife's lover, is himself presumably deep-sixed at fadeout time. But since MacQuarrie is essentially a sympathetic character, detective Anders Randolph looks the other way when evidence of MacQuarrie's survival presents itself. Based on a story by Ralph Stock, The Love Flower and Griffith's earlier The Idol Dancer were both conceived during the director's 1919 business-and-pleasure visit to Nassau (where the exteriors for both films were shot). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Even though this is a lesser D.W. Griffith film, the casting is intriguing. Richard Barthelmess, who usually played a "good boy," portrays Dan McGuire, a lazy beachcomber who likes his gin. The girl is Clarine Seymour, whose spirit was far earthier than Lillian Gish's, and whose talent was far more spontaneous than Carol Demptser, the star of most of Griffith's later films. Unfortunately, Seymour died later in the year (1920) at the age of 21, so her talent was never fully realized. The real problem with this film was its South Seas setting, which was very foreign territory for Griffith, since his brand of sentiment just didn't mix with primitive backgrounds. On this particular South Seas island lives Mary (Seymour) a dancing girl who has a French father and Javanese mother. Two men come along who vie for her heart: McGuire, the drunken bum, and Walter Kincaid (Creighton Hale), the invalid nephew of an island missionary (George MacQuarrie) who has come to the tropics for his health. Natives from a nearby island attack, and the nephew is heroically and conveniently killed. Mary confesses that she loves McGuire, who promises to reform. She, in turn, agrees to become civilized and which brings them together for the fade out. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Captain Jim Craig (William Russell) is not pleased that his foster brother Lieutenant Ralph Harrison (James Morrison) is carrying on a flirtation with the wife of Major Marston (George MacQuarrie). He goes to the woman's home to argue it out and a fight ensues between him and Harrison. Harrison is shot through the shoulder. Later the Major kills the Lieutenant, and to cover up the scandal, the wife convinces Craig that he is the killer. So Craig deserts, believing that he is preserving the wife's honor. He winds up as a bum in the city and meets Madge Summers (Agnes Ayres), whose mission it is to urge deserters to return to the army. But when she hears Craig's story, she tells him to keep running. Nevertheless Craig decides to allow himself be captured. Meanwhile, the Major has become fed up with his wicked wife and strangles her. Then he goes to the Colonel (Tom Brooke) and confesses to both her murder and that of the Lieutenant, whereupon Captain Craig is set free and he marries Madge. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Thanks to his wife Betty's (Kitty Gordon) addiction to bridge, Blair Carlton (Irving Cummings) is eternally overdrawn at the bank. He finally puts his foot down and forbids her to touch another card, but she pays him no heed and ends up even further in debt. When the financial well finally runs dry, Betty turns to a wealthy Chinese mandarin named Li Sung (Warner Oland) for a loan. Li Sung agrees to extend her the money, but only on the understanding that Betty will become his concubine. Before Betty can compromise herself, however, she is led to believe that her husband Blair is dallying with Li Sung's pretty daughter Cherry Blossom (Virginia Lee) Only upon the death of Li Sung does the truth come out, permitting Betty and Blair to pick up the pieces of their nearly wasted lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
From its title, one would think this picture was a light comedy, but it isn't -- it's a World War I spy drama, a subject which was growing increasingly stale by early 1919. Carlyle Blackwell plays Charles Conant, a young, wellto-do man who is masquerading as a muleteer on a tramp steamer. He quits the boat in England to look up some distant relatives, Lord and Lady Dartridge. Lady Dartridge's daughter, Lady Joan Templar (Evelyn Greeley) helps him out by giving him work on the estate, but his behavior is suspicious. There are several workers who are secretly plotting to smuggle titanium on board a German submarine, and Conant is quite interested in their activities. Of course by the end of the film, he has proved himself a true-blue American by capturing these bad men -- it turns out that the titanium belongs to his father's company and was inadvertently sold to the Germans. Before Conant goes off to join the Lafayette Squadron in France, Lady Joan has decided to throw away her title and marry him. This convoluted film was originally a Saturday Evening Post story by Kenyon Gambier with an equally convoluted title: "A Huge, Black One-Eyed Man." Some of the English countryside in the picture looks an awful lot like Fort Lee, New Jersey, where World Pictures had its studio. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
The wheels begin turning in Joan of the Woods when big-city lawyer Philip Wentworth (George MacQuarrie) impulsively marries a mountain girl, only to immediately neglect and betray her. When the woman dies, her daughter Joan is adopted by an elderly pawnbroker (Dore Davidson), while Wentworth callously takes a second wife. Years pass: Wentworth's grown stepson Norman (John Bowers) strolls into Travers' pawnshop, where he meets Joan, now a lovely young woman (played by June Elvidge). Falling in love, Norman and Joan marry but keep their marriage a secret so as not to cause friction with Norman's snooty family. When Joan's baby is born, the pawnbroker suspects the worst and kicks her out. Eventually the baby dies, whereupon Joan is accused of killing the child. She is hauled into court, where her fate rests in the hands of her own father, now a district judge. An eleventh-hour plot development straightens the whole mess out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
June Elvidge is legally married to Douglas Redmond Jr., but no one in her small town believes this. Thanks to a jealous rival, a rumor is spread that Elvidge is living in sin with her husband. She'd like to prove the validity of their union, but all court records have been conveniently lost. Elvidge is on the verge of having her child taken from her when the story takes a wholly unexpected twist. Appearance of Evil was one of the last features produced by the World Film Organization, which collapsed after executive Lewis J. Selznick withdrew in favor of independent production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Even though the plot to this World Film programmer was slight, the cast included some of the studio's most well-known names. After the death of her grandfather (Captain Charles), Helene (June Elvidge), a singer, finds work as a model at a studio belonging to four artists -- Jeffrey Darrel (Montagu Love), Ned Lorrimer (Carlyle Blackwell), Dick Turner (John Bowers) and Stanley Sargent (George MacQuarrie). Naturally all the artists fall in love with her, but Ned stirs things up with his intense jealously. Because the studio is no longer a happy place to be, Helene quits and heads for a career on the stage. She works her way up to stardom, while three of the painters get their pictures accepted at an exhibition. Jeffrey is the one exception, since he refused to sell out and become commercial. The three successful artists ask Helene to help them celebrate, but she turns them down in favor of Jeffrey. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Given the ludicrous nature of The Iron Ring, it is little wonder that Charles Stokes Wayne, the author of the story upon which the film was based, elected to use the pseudonym of Horace Hazelton. Though she loves her husband Aleck (Edward Langford), Bess Hulette (Gerda Holmes) cannot pass up the opportunity to "fool around" with handsome Jack Delmore (Arthur Ashley). Likewise inclined to wander astray from her marriage vows is Mrs. Georgie Leonard (Alexandria Carewe). While Bess realizes the error of her ways before it is too late, Georgie does not, and the sorry result is the suicide of Mrs. Leonard's husband Ellery (Herbert Frank). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Alice Brady plays the lead in this adaptation of Frou Frou. Frou Frou (Brady) agrees to marry the man chosen by her father, the Marquis de Sartorys (George MacQuarrie), even though she knows her sister Louise (Gerda Holmes) loves him. But Frou Frou is a frivolous girl, and when Louise comes to visit, she ultimately takes her sister's place. Finally Frou Frou sees the error of her ways, but when her husband won't take her back, she runs off with the Comte de Valreas (Edward Langford). Eventually de Sartorys follows and kills de Valreas in a duel. Then Frou Frou comes back home to beg her husband's forgiveness before she dies. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Child actress Madge Evans plays the title role in The Adventures of Carol. One of those sugary miss-fixit types, Carol spreads a little sunshine wherever she goes. By film's end, she has straigthened out her selfish and insensitive family, through the simple expedient of running away to join the circus. Yes, this is the same Madge Evans who matured into a slim and lovely MGM leading lady in the 1930s. Adventures of Carol is based on a short story by Julia Burnham. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
In reflection of the patriotic fervor attending America's entry into WWI, the World Film Corporation felt emboldened to serve up this filmed biography of legendary flagmaker Betsy Ross. Alice Brady, daughter of studio head William A. Brady, played the title role, while Betsy's mentor George Washington was portrayed by George MacQuarrie. Inasmuch as the story of Betsy Ross was largely a fabrication to begin with, the screenwriters had no qualms about concocting a romantic triangle involving Betsy, her sister Carissa (Lillian Cook), and their mutual sweetheart Clarence Vernon (Frank Mayo). Joseph Ashburn (John Bowers), who has a crush on Betsy, challenges Clarence to a duel and apparently kills his opponent, whereupon Ashburn adopts an assumed name and joins General Washington's army. Meanwhile, Clarence recovers from his wounds and rejoins his regiment in the British army. What happens next is eminently predictable, though one has to admit that it is heaps more exciting than watching Betsy Ross sewing the Stars and Stripes together for six reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The "Maid of Belgium" is sad-eyed Adoree, played by Alice Brady. When her town is destroyed by the invading Germans during WWI, the shock causes Adoree to completely lose her memory. The girl is rescued from the rubble by Mr. and Mrs. Hudson (George MacQuarrie and Louise de Rigney), a wealthy American couple. Despite her newfound happiness, Adoree does not snap out of her near-catatonic amnesia and sits silently in her room pathetically clutching an old doll. It soon turns out that the heroine is expecting a baby. Upon the child's birth, it is promptly appropriated by the barren Mrs. Hudson, who claims that the baby is hers. Not wishing to be deprived of the only thing she genuinely loves, Adoree steals the baby and hides away on a remote island. Believing the child has been drowned, the grieving Hudsons arrange to dynamite the river in hopes of recovering the body. The sound of the explosion shocks Adoree back to her senses, and at long, long last she remembers that, just before the Germans marched in, she had been married to a prominent Belgian nobleman -- thereby "legitimizing" her baby and paving the way for a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Like virtually all of Theda Bara's starring vehicles, The Eternal Sappho is a lost film. Contemporary historians, however, have been able to piece together its plot from publicity releases and the studio's cutting continuity. In this one, Bara plays a contemporary woman who imagines that she's under the spell of libertine Greek poet Sappho. Her quest for eroticism rather than true love proves disastrous. The film's script was taken (as far as possible, it seems) from the best-selling novel by Alphonse Daudet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Not to be confused with the 1918 Harry T. Morey vehicle of the same name, the 1916 western All Man was adapted by Frances Marion from a story by Willard Mack. The title refers to hero Jim Blake, played by Robert Warwick. To prove his worth to his highly judgemental father, socialite Blake heads to Montana, Where Men are Men (and women, presumably, are very happy). In his efforts to make good, Blake befriends sisters Ethel and Alice Maynard (Gerda Holmes, Mollie King), adding a dash of romantic intrigue to the stew. Though set in the Wide Open Spaces, All Man was all too obviously filmed in New Jersey, headquarters of the World Film Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
