Warner Baxter Movies

Accurately described as "a beautiful job" by novelist John O'Hara, this 1926 silent version of F. Scott's Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby stars Warner Baxter in the title role. Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby lacks only one thing in life: the love of the beautiful, impulsive Daisy Buchanan (Lois Wilson). Gatsby's carefully laid scheme to announce his intentions to take Daisy away from her cloddish husband Tom Buchanan (Hale Hamilton) goes horribly awry, setting the stage for the inexorable tragedies that follow. Georgia Hale, previously seen as Chaplin's vis-a-vis in The Gold Rush, is cast as Buchanan's pathetic low-life mistress Myrtle Wilson, while Neil Hamilton exudes dependability from every pore as Gatsby's loyal friend Nick Carraway. Among Fitzgerald adaptations, the 1926 Gatsby was actually filmed during the historical period it depicts (which wasn't historical at all back then). The property was remade in 1949 with Alan Ladd, then again in 1974 with Robert Redford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of her first Paramount vehicles, Clara Bow stars as Cynthia Meade, a movie actress on location in the hills of Tennessee. Convinced that she's accidentally killed her fiance Jack Harrison (William Powell), Cynthia escapes across the state border where she is given aid and shelter by Kentucky mountaineer Wade Murrell (Warner Baxter). In the midst of a bloody mountain feud, Wade is rescued from certain death by the sudden reappearance of Harrison, who isn't dead after all. Harrison asks Cynthia to return to civilization with him, but by now she's fallen in love with her mountain man. Directed by William C. DeMille (the less-flamboyant but arguably more talented brother of Cecil B. DeMille), Runaway was successful enough to convince Paramount executives that Clara Bow was superstar material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gilda Gray, best-known for inventing the shimmy, shows off her talents as a Hawaiian dancer in this South Seas drama, based on the play by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemens. Percy Marmont plays his usual role -- a man, who, after having his heart broken, degenerates into a drunken mess. Bob Holden (Marmont) travels to a South Sea island, where he saves Aloma (Gray) from the unwanted attentions of another white man. Aloma is more than grateful -- she falls in love with Holden and spends the better part of the film trying to seduce him. This does not please her native lover Nuitane (Warner Baxter). Just when Holden has succumbed to Aloma's charms and is about to marry her, Sylvia, his old sweetheart (Julanne Johnson), comes to the island with her nasty new husband, Van Templeton (William Powell). Aloma comes to realize that Holden is still deeply in love with Sylvia. Meanwhile, Nuitane drowns Templeton during a storm. Aloma returns to Nuitane, and Holden is reunited with Sylvia. This picture made a fortune for Paramount. A version of the story was filmed again in 1941, with Dorothy Lamour in the role of Aloma. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The first film version of Arthur Richman's stage comedy The Awful Truth was produced in 1925. A series of misunderstandings between flirtatious Agnes Ayres and sober-sided Warner Baxter lead inexorably to the divorce court. A year after the separation, she hatches a scheme to win her husband back. Perhaps the proceedings would have been funnier had Agnes Ayres possessed any sort of comic timing. The Awful Truth was remade in 1929, 1937, and 1953, the last time as a musical retitled Let's Do It Again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Harold Bell Wright, this average silent western starred Warner Baxter as the son who almost loses his ranch to cover his late father's debts. Star-billed Bessie Love had little to do other than looking pretty as Baxter's Irish romantic interest. A former leading man with the Oliver Morosco stock company, the handsome, dark-haired Baxter was treading water in programmers before earning a 1929 Academy Award for playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona. Today, however, Baxter is mainly remembered for playing the Crime Doctor in a series of popular whodunits produced by Columbia in the 1940s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Esther Ralston, who plays a nice chorus girl in this comedy-drama, is upstaged by Margaret Livingston, who has a much-flashier role as her not-so-nice friend. Ralston is Alice O'Neil, who is in love with Bertie Lenox (Joseph Striker), the son of a nouveau riche family. His sister Marian (Margaret Morris) loves the chauffeur, a down-to-earth young man by the name of Henry Morgan (Warner Baxter). Their parents (Edwards Davis and Kathlyn Williams) naturally are less than thrilled with Bertie and Marian's choices -- after all, Alice wants Bertie to give up his money and go to work! And they've picked out Arthur Rockmere (William Austin) as a mate for Marian. Rockmere sets up a meeting with Alice in an attempt to buy her off, which angers Bertie. A fight outside of a supper club results and everyone lands in jail -- except for Alice's friend Millie (Livingston), who bails them all out with the bribery money. In the end, both Bertie and Marian wed their sweethearts, while Millie weds their uncle, George Grafton (Larry Steers). This picture is based on the play by David Grey and Avery Hopwood. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

By using a borrowed medal, Russ Kane, a crook (Warner Baxter), is able to get a job as an air mail pilot. His plan is to steal some valuable cargo, but soon enough the job begins to have a positive effect on him. When his plane has to make a force landing, he meets Alice Rendon (Billie Dove, who was also the wife of director Irvin Willat). His love for Alice encourages him to go straight. When Alice's invalid father (George Irving) needs medicine, Kane flies to get it, but on his return the craft is pursued by two renegade airplanes. Kane's young friend, Sandy (a very fresh-faced Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), saves the valuable cargo by parachuting out of the plane while holding it. On the ground, three escaped prisoners have taken over Alice's home. The sheriff's posse wipes out the bad guys while Kane destroys the outlaw planes, and Sandy achieves his dream by flying the mail to the next station. Back in 1924 and 1925, the concept of air mail was still very novel (it only took three days to get the mail across country instead of six -- an impressive feat in those days). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of Kathleen Norris' best-selling novel came out just weeks before its producer, Thomas Ince, mysteriously died while on a cruise on William Randolph Hearst's yacht, the Oneida. The drama was a tour de force for Florence Vidor, who played the title character, Christine Madison. Christine weds Stuart Knight (Warner Baxter) only to discover he prefers the high life to married life. When Dr. Alan Monteagle (Clive Brook) comes along, Christine is drawn to him. But, still determined to stick to her wedding vows, she runs from him, only to get in a car accident with her husband, who happened to be riding by with one of his floozies. Nursed back to health by Dr. Monteagle, she marries him, but soon discovers that his devotion to his work is as all-consuming as Knight's devotion to alcohol and women. As a result, she runs off with Ivan Vianney (Ian Keith), only to discover that he, too, cares more about his work than he cares about her. Meanwhile, Dr. Monteagle takes custody of Christine's child (Dorothy Brock). Christine leaves Vianney and nurses Knight through a terminal illness. Dr. Monteagle realizes that his wayward wife has reformed, and offers to reconcile. Comic actor Walter Hiers has a small role that has little to do with the plot, but the Moving Picture World critic remarked that he "floats through the story like an amiable Zeppelin hovering over a friendly city." ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This melodrama was personally supervised by producer Thomas Ince, and, depending on how one looked at it, it was either anti-alcohol, or against the Volstead Act, which caused the bootlegging of bad liquor. Mary Kane (Lucille Ricksen) is killed during a wreck when the boy driving the car in which she is riding is blinded by bathtub gin. Her brother, Robert (Warner Baxter), swears to fight the bootleggers and becomes a prohibition officer. Meanwhile, Ruth Jordan (Blanche Sweet) comes to town, searching for her brother, Matt (Robert Agnew). Matt is working for rumrunner Red Carney (Matthew Betz). Revenue officer Blaney (Frank Campeau) is in league with Carney, and when another agent is killed, the two crooks frame Matt and see that he is convicted, though Ruth is determined to prove her brother innocent. She meets Kane and convinces him to pretend to be her sweetheart and together they gather enough evidence to save Matt. Carney discovers the ruse, but before he can kill Kane, a group of revenue officers arrive. Matt is freed, and Ruth and Kane discover they really do love each other. This picture was remade as a talkie in 1930. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Madge Bellamy and Warner Baxter (in that order -- Bellamy was the bigger star at the time) have the leads in this improbable but well-done melodrama. When David Allen (Baxter) is reported killed during World War I, his fiancée, Corinne McRea (Maude Wayne), is willed all his property. Though the report was wrong and Allen is really alive -- he is shell-shocked and has lost his memory. His nurse, Suzanne (Bellamy), doesn't know who he is, so she gives him the name of a dead man, John Rolfe. They get married and come to America, finding work as the butler and maid of a mansion that just happens to be Allen's old home. Although the servants and Corinne recognize him, he doesn't know them. Finally the estate's trustee, Judge Henry (Tom Guise), comes to the conclusion that Rolfe is Allen and makes attempts to recover the estate, though Corinne wants to keep it and attempts to do so by taking the securities from the bank. Suzanne chases after her and gets them back, and Allen has an operation that restores his memory prior to the War, but he doesn't remember Suzanne -- until Corinne tries to have her arrested. When he sees his forgotten wife in trouble, Allen's memory of her returns and the couple is reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Starring New Zealander Shayle Gardner in the title role, this British screen version of Augusta J. Evans-Wilson's sentimental novel and stock company perennial was often mentioned when citing the poor state of British filmmaking in the 1920s. Gardner played the title role, a man who killed his romantic rival in a brawl. Travelling the world as a confirmed misogynist, St. Elmo returns to home and hearth only to fall in love with the daughter (Gabrielle Gilroy) of the local blacksmith. An equally poor Hollywood version of the story was filmed that same year starring John Gilbert, Barbara La Marr, and Bessie Love. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In the 1920s, chauvinism and pride overrode economics, and most men would rather have perished than relied on any money their wives may have had. That was the theme to this routine drama, which Warner Baxter falsely claimed was his film debut (he has credits in prior pictures). After five years of marriage, Mildred (Ethel Clayton) comes to the realization that her husband, Lew (Baxter), is going nowhere in the real estate business. Mildred, however, has managed to squirrel away two thousand dollars from the household budget -- enough in 1922 to buy a home. But it turns out that Lew needs just that sum to avoid a financial disaster. Mildred knows that it would be an embarrassment if he had to take the money from her, so she arranges to "borrow" the money from a neighbor. This makes matters even worse, because Lew assumes that his wife and his neighbor are having improper relations. The couple argues, and Mildred leaves and goes back to work as a secretary. Eventually, of course, Lew realizes that Mildred's a gem and begs her forgiveness. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Vitagraph shot this melodrama, based on the stage play by Ramsay Norris, once before, in 1916. The newer version seemed to belong to the earlier decade, and ironically, its star was Colleen Moore, who would wind up making a name for herself by becoming the 1920s ultra-modern, quintessential flapper. Phil Bradbury (Warner Baxter) is engaged to marry society girl Kate Van Dyck (Gertrude Astor). But while he is away, Kate falls in love with Mark Leveridge (Lloyd Whitlock). There is a murder in Kate's home, and Bradbury becomes a suspect, so he runs far away to the town of Marlow. Under the assumed name of Tom Silverton, he falls in love with the town belle, Ruth Blake (Moore). Kate and Leveridge show up in Marlow and recognize him. Silverton is now also suspected of robbery and Ruth is ostracized because she tries to shield him. Silverton prepares to leave town, but a raging forest fire breaks out. It is only through Silverton's heroics that the town is saved. He is exonerated of the crimes he was thought to have committed, so he is able to settle down with Ruth. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide