Enid Markey Movies

For committing various infractions-including cooking in his room-Barney is evicted by his landlady Mrs. Mendelbright (Enid Markey). Too stubborn to make amends, Barney temporarily moves into the Sheriff's office, but soon wears out his welcome there as well. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mendelbright is being swept off her feet by her charming new tenant Oscar Fields (J. Pat O'Malley)-but Andy smells a charming rat. Written by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, "Up in Barney's Room" first aired on December 2, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Suffering stoically from the realization that her husband is unfaithful, wealthy Irene Cole (Leora Dana) is ardently courted by two different men during her vacation. One of the suitors is a gentleman named Randall Burnside (Ralph Clanton); the other is a royal prince named Burhan (Jacques Bergerac). The latter claims to be so smitten by Irene that he threatens to kill himself if she doesn't leave her husband for his sake. Shortly thereafter, the prince turns up dead -- and the story goes off on a wholly unexpected new tangent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Young model Jean Dexter is knocked unconscious and drowned in her own bathtub in her Manhattan apartment, and a lot of jewelry that she supposedly owned is missing. The Naked City is actually about six days in the life of New York City that coincide with the murder and the subsequent investigation by Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and Detective James Halloran (Don Taylor). The account of their work, and the workings of the New York City police department, is interspersed with brief vignettes about the life of the city around them, and, especially, the reaction of residents to the murder and the newspaper reports of the progress of the case. Muldoon and Halloran first must determine why she was killed, which may (or may not) have to do with how a woman with a minimal income came by the jewelry -- was it a love affair gone bad (and if so, with whom?), or something more complex and sinister? Retracing the final 18 months of the victim's life, their investigation reaches out to a mysterious "Philip Henderson" with whom she was supposedly linked romantically, and to Frank Niles (Howard Duff), who's a little too fast-and-loose with the truth when he doesn't have to be to make Muldoon comfortable; to make things more complicated, Muldoon determines that there were at least two men involved with the actual commission of the murder. The victim turns out to have led a wild life, filled with men and parties, and was tied up with several sordid figures. Their investigation carries them into the highest and lowest ends of New York's social strata to find the killer, and it turns out there are a lot of interlocking reasons why at least three men might've wanted her dead. In the process, we get glimpses of the private lives of the detectives, which was something new in movies at this time; in the midst of all of this activity, the writers set up a fascinating contrast, in adjacent scenes, between Halloran, his wife, and their young son looking toward the future, with the parents of the dead woman, looking back with bitter regret and recriminations -- no movie ever presented in more subtle fashion the contrast between the zeitgeist of the 1930s and that of the postwar era. The final chase on the Williamsburg Bridge is one of the classic pieces of suspense cinema, as the armed and desperate killer races up the walkway past children playing and adults strolling, while detectives close in on foot from behind and patrol cars come up from ahead, with crowded subways rolling past, and then into the superstructure of the bridge for a stand-off and shootout. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot future character leads Paul Ford, James Gregory, John Marley, Kathleen Freeman, and Arthur O'Connell as well as familiar faces Tom Pedi, John Randolph, Molly Picon, and Walter Burke in the supporting cast. Cinematographer William Daniels and editor Paul Weatherwax won Oscars for their work, but awards might just as easily have been presented to director Jules Dassin, writers Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald, composers Miklos Rozsa and Frank Skinner, and, most notably, to producer/narrator Mark Hellinger, who intoned the closing monologue, which opens with one of the most famous tag lines in movie history: "There are eight million stories in the Naked City." ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Produced by the low-budget Weiss brothers, Leonard and Louis, The Adventures of Tarzan was the first of no less than five jungle serials to be produced in the span of only ten months and by far the most popular. Starring burly Elmo Lincoln, and 16-year-old Louise Lorraine as Jane, the 15-chapter cliffhanger was based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Return of Tarzan and Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Returning to his beloved jungle kingdom, Tarzan spurns the love of Queen la of Opal (Lillian Worth), who in revenge attempts to sabotage the jungle king's efforts to defeat a treasure-hunting Bolshevik, Rokoff (Frank Whitson), and his own cousin, William Clayton (Percy Pembroke), a pretender to the title of Lord Greystoke. The early chapters of The Adventures of Tarzan came in for some criticism from bluenoses and Lincoln's manly chest was quickly covered up. Unbeknownst to the majority of moviegoers, Elmo was doubled by 1918 gymnastic champion Frank Merrill, whose athletic skills did much to ensure success. Merrill would eventually play Lord Greystoke in two Universal serials: Tarzan the Mighty (1928) and Tarzan the Tiger (1929), the last mentioned a partial remake of The Adventures of Tarzan featuring the exotic Kithnou as the evil jungle queen. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Elmo Lincoln became the first actor to play Edgar Rice Burrough's "Lord of the Jungle" on the screen when he replaced the now-forgotten Winslow Wilson in the 1918 8-reeler Tarzan of the Apes. During the first portion of the film, Tarzan -- aka Lord Greystoke -- is portrayed by juvenile actor Gordon Griffith. The earlier reels detail the deaths of Greystoke's British parents in the jungle, and how the boy was raised by female ape Kala. Years pass: a rescue party, including high-born Jane Porter (Enid Markey), arrives in the jungle, in search of the long-lost Lord Greystoke. When Jane gets lost in the foliage, it is Tarzan who rescues her from predatory beasts. He then tries to put the make on Jane, as any good ape would, whereupon she stops him with the gentle remonstration "Tarzan is a man, and men do not force their attentions upon women." His aristocratic breeding thus invoked, Tarzan is at last tamed. By any standards, Elmo Lincoln was an awful actor; in addition, he looked about twenty years too old and fifty pounds too fat for the role of Tarzan. Nonetheless, he had great presence, and Tarzan of the Apes made him a star (at least until the talkies came around). Though crudely directed, the film has a lot of energy, especially in the famous scene wherein Lincoln actually kills an attacking lion with his knife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With American opinion divided over the European war in 1915, no fewer than three major motion pictures were conceived with anti-war messages in mind: J. Stuart Blackton's The Battle Cry of Peace, D.W. Griffith's Intolerance and Thomas Ince's Civilization. Set in the mythical kingdom of Wredpryd, Civilization begins with war spreading through the land. Inventor Count Ferdinand (Howard Hickman), against the wishes of his pacifist fiancee (Enid Markey), agrees to commandeer a submarine against the enemy. When his sub blows up, the Count is rescued from eternal damnation by the spirit of Jesus Christ, whose soul enters Ferdinand's body. Ferdinand returns to life, convincing the King of Wredpryd (Herchel Mayal) that he, the king, has divine powers. But Jesus, using Ferdinand as his vessel, shows the king that no man is above the laws of God--and also gives him an up-close-and-personal tour of the bloody battlefield. The King realizes the error of his ways, and declares an end to the battle. Extremely popular during its first year of release (1916), Civilization disappeared from view the moment that the US declared war against Germany. Though its direction is often credited to producer Thomas Ince, Civilization was actually directed by committee: among its helmsmen were Walter Edwards, Raymond B. West, Jay Hunt, Reginald Barker, J. Park Read and David M. Hartford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lieutenant Danny Ward (William Desmond) has just graduated from West Point and is sent down to the U.S.-Mexican border. He saves Ysobel Ventura (Enid Markey) and her mother (Gertrude Claire) from a group of bandits led by the exceedingly nasty Pedro Lopez (Robert Kortman). The two women return to Mexico and when Ward goes to visit, he proposes to Ysobel and is accepted. But Lopez brings his banditos around and overpowers Ward and the other men. All of them are lined up and shot, and the victorious Lopez forces Ysobel to cook him a meal, after which he intends to have his way with her. But Ward, it turns out, has been saved because the bullet meant to kill him instead hit a religious medal -- a gift from Ysobel. He recovers from the bullet's shock and vanquishes Lopez. Then the young couple head back over the border at sunrise, just as the American flag is being raised -- an effusively patriotic end that did little to save this mediocre picture. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

"Bowie" Blake (William S. Hart) is a gambler in a mining camp. One day, an artist, Van Dyke Tarleton (Robert McKim) comes to town with his wife, Naomi (Enid Markey). He sees Bowie and decides he is perfect as a model for Lucifer in his latest painting. At first he refuses to pose, but Naomi talks him into it. Tarleton sees that Bowie is attracted to his wife, and purposely insults her just to get the right evil look in his eyes. But finally Bowie, whose feelings have become too much for him, quits. He returns to the Tarleton cabin, however, only to find Van Dyke dead and Naomi being attacked by two bandits. He makes short work of the bandits, but Naomi has lost her mind from the attack. It take months for her memory to return, and when it does, she heads for the East, with a promise from Bowie that he will come for her when he has made good. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Movie mogul Thomas H. Ince may well have been the director of The Despoiler as indicated by the credits; but since Ince was known far and wide as a glory-hogger, it's also possible that one of his talented lieutenants wielded the megaphone. A Civil War drama, The Despoiler refuses to take sides, demonstrating that there are heroes and villains in both camps. Capturing a small town, Colonel Charles K. French orders his men to reclaim the funds raised for the enemy by the townsfolk. French's drunken, lacivious second-in-command Frank Keenan intends to extort money from the citizens by threatening the virtue of the town's female population. Enid Markey, the Colonel's daughter, is appalled by the behavior of the soldiers. Enid makes a deal with Keenan; if she'll give herself to him, he'll spare the other women. This done, Enid kills Keenan (shades of the Biblical Judith and Holofernes!) Not knowing the identity of Keenan's murderer, French orders that the girl be shot. Wearing a veil to disguise her identity, Enid bravely faces the firing squad. It seems like heavy, hard-hitting stuff, but remember that Thomas H. Ince's tragic endings were as much a cliché in 1915 as D. W. Griffith's last-minute rescues. Perhaps hoping to avoid a cookie-cutter climax, Ince adds a coda to The Despoiler, indicating that what we've just seen never really happened! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Playwright Willard Mack was never averse to "borrowing" someone else's good idea. In the case of Aloha Oe, Mack's inspiration was obviously the old stage chestnut Bird of Paradise. In Aloha Oe, an alcoholic and drug-dependent attorney (played by Mack himself) journeys to the South Seas to regain his health. Here he falls in love with a gorgeous native girl (Enid Markey), the daughter of an island king. Eventually, the attorney must return to the States to assume his family and professional responsibilities. But the siren song of the island is too strong to resist, thus he heads back to the South Seas, there to spend the rest of his days with his gorgeous tropical princess. The part of Mack's cast-off fiancee was played by Roszika Dolly, of the celebrated Dolly Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide