Charles Hill Mailes Movies

Silent screen sweetheart Corinne Griffith, who originally wanted to retire when talkies came in, proved the wisdom of her earlier decision when she starred in the clunky musical drama Lilies of the Field. Griffith is cast as Mildred Harker, who loses custody of her child in a messy divorce settlement. Leaving her hometown in disgrace, Mildred heads to New York, where after a crash course in the school of hard knocks she joins the chorus of a Ziegfeld-like musical revue. Now a full-fledged gold-digger, she enjoys the favors of backstage johnnies and elderly sugar daddies, but finally finds true love in the form of Park Avenue socialite Ted Willing (Ralph Forbes). Alas, Mildred is damaged goods, and soon she's back in the gutter whence she came. A remake of a 1924 silent film which also starred Corinne Griffith, Lilies of the Field is distinguished by a bizarre musical number in which the star is dressed (just barely) as an art-deco automobile hood ornament! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a remake of 1923's The Arab, a British cavalry soldier stationed in the Sudan takes the rap for his brother, who had been accused of stealing; the soldier subsequently joins a vaudeville troupe. There he falls in love with a lovely woman only to lose her when she is purchased by a sheik. When the sheik learns she is a white woman, he throws her out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It's a case of mistaken identity in this convoluted comedy that centers around a country bumpkin mistaken for a Chicago hitman. The story begins in Chatham, Illinois as an honest district attorney is about to be elected. This worries the town mob-boss because the new D.A. is sworn to get all the bad apples out of town. To rectify the situation, the kingpin requests the services of the Carnation Kid, Chicago's preeminent hitman. His nickname stems from the white carnation always pinned to his lapel. The hired gun is enroute to Chatham, by train, when he is recognized. When the Kid runs into a passenger who vaguely resembles him, he makes them switch clothes and escapes. The bumpkin, a typewriter salesman, has no idea that he is going to be mistaken for a crook by everyone he meets. He does make it to Chatham though. The D.A. wins the election and is true to his word. The kingpin is cast out of town. The salesman falls for the daughter of the District Attorney. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Veteran serial director George B. Seitz keeps things perpetually on the move in The Great Mail Robbery. Theodore von Eltz stars as Marine lieutenant Donald Macready, assigned by his commanding officer to squelch a train-robbery gang. Going undercover, Macready infiltrates the gang and monitors their every move. When the crooks plan their biggest heist, Our Hero radios the information to his superiors. A huge counter-offensive is mounted, but will Macready be able to avoid being killed by his "pals," who now know his true identity? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thanks to constant exposure in excerpt form in scores of silent-movie compilations, Play Safe is the best-known of the Monty Banks comedies. Banks plays a dapper little doofus who tries to rescue heiress Virginia Cragg (Virginia Lee Corbin) from the evil machinations of crooked estate trustee Silas Scott (Charles Mailes). The film comes to a heart-pounding climax as Virginia is kidnapped by Scott's minions and spirited off to a freight train. Banks mans a fruit wagon, gives chase after the villains, and ultimately boards the train, leading to a spectacular slapstick setpiece in which both hero and heroine narrowly escape death at every twist and turn. The justly famous runaway-train finale was later released separately as the two-reeler Chasing Choo-Choos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This two-fisted Richard Dix vehicle casts the muscular star as virile caterpillar-tractor operator Tom Roberts. It is Roberts' mission to deliver a fragile cargo of dynamite, to be denoted for the purposes of redirecting an anticipated flood. The hero's odyssey is fraught with peril as he burrows his way through a torrential downpour, and at times it seems as if both Roberts and his shipment will "go to pieces" at any moment. Upon reaching his destination, Roberts is nearly engulfed when the dam bursts, but when the sturm und drang has subsided, the audience realizes that it takes more than Mother Nature to wipe out Richard Dix. Mary Brian provides romantic interest, while questionable comic relief is in the hands of black performer Oscar Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made during Hollywood's first "gangster cycle," The City Gone Wild stars Thomas Meighan as an honest prosecuting attorney. Meighan's integrity is compromised when he falls in love with Louise Brooks, the "moll" of gang boss Fred Kohler. Brooks steals the show from Meighan and Kohler, double-crossing both with impunity and paying for her chicanery in a most violent fashion. Who really cared about nominal "nice" heroine Marietta Miller? The City Gone Wild was directed in his usual perfunctory manner by James Cruze. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clara Bow and Donald Keith were teamed in several low-budget romantic comedies of the 1920s, but only Bow made it to the big time. In Free Love, settlement-house clergyman James Crawford (Keith) does his best to reform several paroled convicts. One of these is Marie Anthony (Bow), who isn't as hard-boiled as she pretends to be. When Crawford rescues Marie from the machinations of criminal masterminds Tony (Raymond McKee) and Jack (Hallam Cooley), the grateful heroine instantly falls in love with the minister and embraces the tenets of Christianity. The film was retitled Free to Love in the more prudish communities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This independently produced silent action melodrama starred the husband-and-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte. Bowers played Larry Pond, a young man inheriting an almost bankrupt lumber company. Attempting to save the business, Larry finds himself in trouble with a rival lumberman (Alan Hale), who hires a thug to prevent him from getting his logs to the mill. Fighting back, Larry not only manages to scare off the hired terrorist but ends up marrying his rival's erstwhile fiancee (de la Motte. Director Lloyd Ingraham's young daughter Jean appeared in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Long derided by film historians as a talented but visually unimaginative director, James Cruze made up for any and all past artistic sins with his rousing Old Ironsides. Per its title, this 11-reel silent film is set at the time of Stephen Decatur's defeat of the Barbary pirates in Tripoli. Decatur himself (played by comic actor Johnnie Walker) is a secondary character herein -- most of the screen time goes to the romantic leads, able-bodied seaman Charles Farrell and damsel-in-permanent-distress Esther Ralston. The acting honors go to those inveterate scene-stealers Wallace Beery and George Bancroft, cast respectively as Bos'n and Gunner. The film accommodates everything from outsized sea battles to a daring rescue from the clutches of the lustful pirates. A life-sized replica of "Old Ironsides" (aka the "Constitution") was built for the film; it remained a useful piece of bric-a-brac for many a subsequent Paramount seafaring epic. When originally released, the film utilized a wide-screen technique during many of the battle sequences. The videocassette version of Old Ironsides is, of course, unable to convey this, but it does have the bonus of a rousing musical score by Gaylord Carter. This print, incidentally, is crystal clear, enabling sharp-eyed viewers to spot Boris Karloff in a bit as a menacing Saracen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide