Warner Baxter Movies

Janet Gaynor plays a teenaged orphanage waif who protects the younger children from the harshness of the supervisors. One of the orphanage's trustees is millionaire Warner Baxter, who spots Gaynor while visiting the home, is impressed by her tenacity, and decides to secretly adopt the girl and pay for her education. Baxter is determined not to become emotionally involved with Gaynor, but the exigencies of the plot bring the two of them together. Now that she has grown into a lovely young woman, Gaynor is a more than eligible candidate for marriage. Hoping to wed Baxter, Gaynor must first go to her guardian for consent...and imagine her surprise when she finds out the true identity of her benefactor. Based on a popular novel by Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs was remade in 1935 as the Shirley Temple vehicle Curly Top, then filmed again under its original title as a Fred Astaire/ Leslie Caron musical in 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cisco Kid was to have been the sequel to the pioneering 1929 talkie In Old Arizona, with Warner Baxter repeating his Oscar-winning role as "O. Henry's Robin Hood of the Old West". Unfortunately, Fox Studios temporarily lost the rights to the Cisco Kid character, thus Baxter was starred as Cisco-in-name-only in The Arizona Kid. The rights were then reclaimed, and The Cisco Kid went into production as the third in the Baxter series -- and, by all accounts, the best of the trio, beautifully photographed and blessed with a thrilling musical score. Running just under an hour, the film finds good-hearted Cisco robbing a bank to save pretty widow Sally Benton (Nora Lane) from losing her ranch. Developing a strong affection for the widow's two children, Cisco risks arrest when he mistakenly believes that one of the kids has been injured. The hero's "friendly enemy" Sgt. Mickey Dunn (Edmund Lowe, likewise a carry-over from In Old Arizona) is so touched by this display of devotion that he "accidentally" allows Cisco to escape to new adventures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama an unattractive, dour German businessman leaps out of a flying plane after learning that his wife only married him for his fortune. It appears that he has died, but in reality he has traveled to the Alps where he has his face surgically reconstructed. As he becomes more handsome, he becomes more outgoing and ends up in Paris. The clever fellow made sure that he reserved a hefty chunk of his fortune for himself under his new name and has a fine old time. He even begins wooing his widow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Warner Baxter, who had won an Academy Award for playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1929), is at it again, fake Spanish accent and all, in this fanciful Western filmed on-location at Utah's Zion National Park. Cisco in anything but name, The Arizona Kid loves all the ladies in Rockville, UT, but especially the fiery Lorita (Mona Maris), who sings in the local saloon. Operating a secret mine by day and playing the noble bandit at night, the Kid is only one step ahead of the local sheriff (Walter P. Lewis), who has his suspicions as to his real identity. Said identity, however, is about to be revealed when the carefree bandit falls for a flaxen-haired Easterner, Virginia Hoyt (Carole Lombard), who arrives in Rockville with Nick (Theodore Von Eltz), a handsome crook whom she passes off as her brother, but in reality is her husband. Although contemporary reviewers believed The Arizona Kid to be yet another O. Henry creation, the character was conjured up by screenwriter Ralph Block. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Warner Baxter, sporting a black mustache and a musical-comedy Mexican accent, stars as the Cisco Kid, the "Robin Hood of the Old West" created by O. Henry. Edmund Lowe co-stars as Cisco's "friendly enemy" Sgt. Mickey Dunne, the role that was originally to have gone to Raoul Walsh. Both men are madly in love with dusky beauty Tonia Maria (Dorothy Burgess), and in fact Cisco is so "far gone" that he composes a song in the girl's honor (actually, "My Tonia", first heard during the opening credits, was written by Fox studio tunesmiths Lew Brown, B.G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson). Alas, Tonia ends up betraying Cisco to Sgt. Burke. But the crafty, cold-blooded Cisco arranges for Tonia to be killed in the trap set for him (this plot resolution is faithful to O. Henry's original conception of the Cisco Kid, who wasn't really meant to be a "good guy"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Linda was the final silent directorial effort of Mrs. Wallace Reid (formerly Dorothy Davenport). The title character, played by Helen Foster, is a young mountain girl forced into marriage with the much-older Decker (Noah Beery Sr.) Though outwardly a slovenly brute, Decker is actually a decent sort who will do anything to make his young bride happy. But Linda can't stand her husband, falling in love instead with handsome doctor Paul Randall (Warner Baxter). At long last realizing that her duty lies with her husband, Linda dutifully returns to Decker, remaining a good and faithful spouse until the old guy's death. Long presumed lost, Linda was restored in the early 1990s (albeit minus its original Vitaphone musical score) and made available to collectors by Grapevine Video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A murder trial provides the setting of this drama that presents, via flashback, three very different versions and motives of the killing. According to the prosecution, the deceased's sexy (and very much married) mistress is behind the murder. The defense asserts that the woman's lover killed himself because she would not give into his demands. Unfortunately, neither side is correct. Fortunately, the real culprit confesses in court at the very last minute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The economical Columbia programmer A Woman's Way benefits from the presence of such pros as Margaret Livingston, Warner Baxter and Armand Kaliz. Set in Paris, the story concentrates on the romantic triangle involving cabaret singer Livingston, bon vivant Baxter and petty crook Kaliz. Livingston's liaison with Kaliz ends in tragedy when the law finally catches up with him on the rooftops of Paree. This leaves a clear field for Baxter, but is he the right man for the heroine? Considering that the Columbia back lot was, in the words of one actress, "no bigger than a pie plate," the Parisian atmosphere is quite successfully conveyed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lurid Tod Browning melodrama, boasting a thoroughly creepy performance by Lon Chaney, Chaney plays Phroso, a limehouse magician who is thoroughly in love with his wife Anna (Jacquelin Gadsdon). Also in love with Phroso's wife is ivory-trader Crane (Lionel Barrymore). After a performance, Anna tells Phroso that she is leaving him to go away with Crane to Africa. After Phroso confronts Crane, Crane kicks him down a second-floor landing, crippling him. Months later, Phroso, now known as "Dead Legs" Flint, is now seen to be paralyzed from the chest down, and he gets around by pulling himself forward by his hands. He enters a church where he sees Annie has returned, but she is dead at the altar, leaving her child Maizie, whom Dead Legs assumes to be Crane's child, crying next to her. Hate consumes the soul of Dead Legs, and he swears vengeance on Crane. Years pass. Dead Legs is now lording it over a group of African savages as their god. Maizie (Mary Nolan) has been installed at a brothel in Zanzibar and is now a broken-down alcoholic prostitute. Dead Legs conspires to steal some of Crane's ivory so Crane can appear before Dead Legs, and his revenge can be redeemed. He sends for Maizie and reveals her to Crane. He plans on killing Crane and, due to an African tribal custom that says a man's daughter must be burned at the stake when he dies, have the savages have their way with Maizie. But when Crane arrives and he tells Dead Legs that Maizie is not his daughter but Dead Legs' daughter, Dead Legs is stupefied. Crane leaves and is shot by the savages, his body returned to Dead Legs. Now the bloodthirsty savages want Maizie, so that she can be sacrificed at the stake. Dead Legs, as her father, must now conspire a way to save his daughter from certain death. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Neglected by shallow husband Dick (William Collier Jr.), young bride Paula Wayne (Patsy Ruth Miller) seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon (Warner Baxter). Upon learning of his wife's infidelity, Dick attempts suicide, whereupon the guilt-stricken Paula goes back to him. Ultimately, however, Paula realizes that she can't go on living a lie, and returns to Frank. D.W. Griffith veteran Claire McDowell is seen as Paula's mother, while black comedian Stepin Fetchit provides comedy relief as a lazy porter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Blanche Sweet vehicle was directed by John Griffith Wray, who outside of her own husband Marshall Neilan was Sweet's favorite director. The star is cast as dance-hall girl Dolly Wall, who invests her life savings in an oil well. A gusher comes in, enriching not only Dolly but her ne'er-do-well socialite sweetheart Royce Wingate (Warner Baxter). While Wingate hobnobs with the Upper Crust, poor Dolly is left home alone, stigmatized by her "scandalous" past. Driven to distraction by Wingate's indifference, Dolly threatens to disfigure his face with a vial of acid, but the terror-stricken Wingate shoots the bottle out of her hand, wounding her in the process. Only as Dolly lies bleeding does Wingate realize that he's truly in love with her (and please don't try this at home!) Singed was based on Love O' Women, a story by the celebrated Adela Rogers St. John. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona, this silent Paramount Western was yet another screen adaptation of a story by popular pulp writer Zane Grey. Mustachioed Warner Baxter, who would earn an Academy Award two years later for playing The Cisco Kid in the movie In Old Arizona, stars as John Curry, a friend of the Navajos who fails in his attempts to keep the white man from exploiting the tribe's secret altars. Realizing that there is oil to be found on the reservation, evil Will Newton (Wallace MacDonald) gains entry to the area by posing as a trail guide for Elias Manton (George Irving), an archeologist, and his daughter Mary (Austrian actress Marietta Millner). Curry attempts to gain the villain's trust by being overly cordial and is shot by the Indians. Down but not out, Curry manages to alert the cavalry, and Newton and his henchmen are soon apprehended. Typical of the day, Navajo Chief Brave Bear was played by Bernard Siegel, a Jewish character actor hailing from Lemberg, Poland. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide