Victor McLaglen Movies
A boy soldier during the Boer War, British actor Victor McLaglen later worked as a prizefighter (once losing to Jack Johnson in six rounds) and a vaudeville and circus performer. He served in World War I as a captain with the Irish Fusiliers and as provost marshal of Baghdad. In the early '20s he broke into British films. He soon moved to Hollywood, where he got lead and supporting roles; his basic screen persona was that of a large, brutish, but soft-hearted man of action. He appeared in many John Ford films, often as a military man. McLaglen made the transition to sound successfully, and for his work in Ford's The Informer (1935), he won the Best Actor Oscar. He remained a busy screen actor until the late '50s. Five of his brothers were also film actors: Arthur, Clifford, Cyril, Kenneth, and Leopold. He was the father of director Andrew V. McLaglen. ~ All Movie Guide- 1923
In this silent British boxing drama, a conniving woman frames her stepson into entering the squared circle in place of his manager father's best fighter. Real life heavyweight champ Victor McLagien plays the title role. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1922
In this star-studded British mystery, the title refers to a band of blackmailers who have marked a group of important people for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Color cinematography was in its very early infancy when filmmaker J. Stuart Blackton made this period drama with an all-British cast. The process used at the time was Prizma, and while the effect was stunning -- primarily because it was such a novelty -- it had a lot of flaws. Red and green predominated in this picture, and movement -- especially in the long shots -did not register very well. Considered a special effect at the time, color served as a backdrop for a tale about the days of King Charles II (William Luff) and the great London fire. Lady Beatrice Fair (Lady Diana Manners, in a not very distinguished debut) has always been in love with her childhood sweetheart, Hugh Argyle (Gerald Lawrence). But when she is conned at the gambling table, she runs into massive debt and pledges to marry a murderer so he will take over her debts before his execution. But then the London fire breaks out and all the prisoners are released. He comes to claim his wife, but she wants to reunite with Argyle. The murderer tries to kill his rival, but then has a change of heart and saves him -- and Lady Beatrice -- instead. The childhood sweethearts are together once more, while the murderer's real wife tracks him down. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Silvio Steno (Matheson Lang) is an actor who also manages the theater company that includes his wife Simonetta (Hilda Bayley). While Silvio buries himself in his work, his wife feels neglected. Silvio's best friend Andrea (Ivor Novello) takes a liking to the lonely wife, but Simonetta only wishes to be friends. When her brother Lelio (Clifford Gray) sees his sister and Andrea together on the Grand Canal, he threatens to tell Silvio if she does not give him money. Silvio is called to the deathbed of his mentor when he and Simonetta attend a carnival ball. The husband learns of his wife's alleged indiscretion, and a worried Simonetta flees on the next train. During the staging of Othello Simonetta plays Desdemona and Silvio takes the murder scene too seriously. The curtain goes down and stagehands must wrestle him away from his wife to prevent her strangulation. After the play, Simonetta asks to be alone with her husband and begs Silvio's forgiveness ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheson Lang, Ivor Novello, (more)
- 1921
In this British silent film, future Hollywood star Victor McLaglen played a jockey whose winnings pay for a young woman's (Phyllis Shannaw) charity work among the poor. The film was produced by Granger-Davidson, a company that also released programmers featuring Anglo-Chilean actor Adelqui Millar and American Evelyn Brent. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Comedy was not the forte of great character actor Lionel Barrymore, and this picture, based on the novel by Arnold Bennett, suffers as a result. When his valet, Henry Leek (Thomas Braidon) dies, famed English artist Priam Farll (Barrymore) takes on his identity to escape the grasping romantic clutches of Lady Sophia Entwistle (Octavia Broske). He attends his own funeral but escapes before the tearful Lady Sophia can see him. Later Farll, as Leek, meets widow Alice Challice (Doris Rankin, Barrymore's real-life wife), who had answered a matrimonial ad of the valet's. They fall in love and marry, but to Farll's dismay, he is forced to return to painting to make money. Even though he is recognized through his work he is loathe to admit his real identity until it develops that Leek already had a wife and two children. Finally he proves that he is Farll, but only if he is allowed to officially remain dead so that Lady Sophia will stay away. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Diana Manners, (more)
