Frank Beal Movies

After he is released from prison, Red Durkin (Harry Mestayer) is determined to go straight. Detective Schulte (Al Filson) is just as determined to catch him screwing up. He follows Durkin constantly, meddling in his life and causing him to lose job after job. Durkin becomes romantically involved with May Vernon (Vivian Reed), and in spite of Schulte's interference they lead honest lives. But then Bill Avery, an old associate of Durkin's (Wheeler Oakman) is arrested for a hold-up and he pins the job on Durkin to protect his real partner. Durkin and May, who he has married, run to South America, where they finally are able to prosper. But Schulte eventually finds out their whereabouts and goes after Durkin once again. But when the two men come face to face, they discover that they are both about to become fathers, and the sentimental Schulte decides to drop the chase. This picture, incidentally, was made four years before Jack Webb was born and, of course, has nothing to do with the TV series. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Selig's first attempt at a railroad drama (a common theme in the 1910s) did not give the athletically-inclined Kathlyn Williams enough stunt work. Williams play Marion Culmer, who goes to visit her mean-tempered uncle, Daniel Culmer (Fred Hearn) on his farm. Culmer is constantly at odds with the railroad and his latest complaint is that they are responsible for the death of three of his cows. Orson Kimball, the telegraph operator (Guy Oliver) thinks Culmer is a petty annoyance, but that night he receives a desperate message to hold train number 13 -- the Limited at Milford has gone through and there will be a collision unless the train is stopped. The crossing point is right in front of the Culmer farm, so Kimball phones them up. Marion is the only one home -- her uncle and aunt (Lillian Hayward) are at a church festival. Kimball urges her to flag the train down and she does, falling unconscious on the track just a few feet from where it stops. The Culmers come home and when they find Marion gone, they believe she has eloped with a young man and call the sheriff. He finds Marion and Kimball together and throws Kimball in jail. Marion is taken to the sheriff's home, but she escapes with his keys and releases Kimball. She swears she will never go back to her uncle's, so the couple runs off and gets married. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this drama, Madaline Traverse plays Lola Dupre, a famed opera singer with a less than virtuous past. She marries dignified widower Senator Fitzmaurice (Thomas Holding), thus moving up the social ladder. But Lola's past catches up with her when Phillip Whitney (Edward Cecil) begins romancing the Senator's daughter, Marie (Fritzie Ridgeway). Lola is quite familiar with the good-for-nothing Whitney -- they were lovers some years back and he has been blackmailing her to keep it a secret. Marie foolishly falls in love with Whitney, but on the night they are to elope, Lola finds him hiding in her room, a struggle ensues, and she kills him. Marie discovers the dead man, and she is accused of the murder. To save Marie, Lola has to confess. She is put on trial, but acquitted because she was trying to protect her honor (the defense could get away with such an excuse in the early part of the twentieth century!). With the shadow of Whitney erased, Lola and Fitzmaurice can begin life anew. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This domestic melodrama, released by Fox, was a typical vehicle for Gladys Brockwell. After an argument with her sweetheart, telephone operator Eleanor Burton (Brockwell) turns her attention to Jim Drake (Francis McDonald), a millionaire's son. She marries Jim, and his father, Daniel (Herschel Mayall), disinherits him. Eleanor expects Jim to prove his true worth, and he does. Unfortunately, his value is pretty close to worthless and he decides he wants a divorce. To get it without having to pay alimony, he enlists the help of a couple to show that Eleanor has been unfaithful. They convince her that Jim is ill in a hotel room, but when she goes up there, she finds another man. Jim and a witness walk in on them and divorce proceedings on the grounds of adultery begin. Eleanor's old sweetheart is working for the divorce lawyer, and he quits his job to defend her. He finds evidence that she was framed, and the divorce is granted in her favor. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Western star Tom Mix enjoyed doing comedy as much as performing daring stunts on his horse, Tony, and this film, about a cowboy with temper tantrum problems, was played almost solely for laughs. Mix portrays Tom Steele, who after a great many scrapes finally learns how to control his temper. A rich uncle (Frank Beal) sets out to test the young man's resolve by promising him a huge reward if he can control his bad disposition for 30 days. After surviving -- barely -- a month's worth of insults, Mix receives his reward, only to destroy everything in sight in a fit of pent up frustration. Billie Dove, by many considered one of the most beautiful women ever to appear in films, co-starred as Mix's long suffering girlfriend. "The Dove," as she was called, later became the first of many Hollywood actresses to be romantically involved with legendary tycoon Howard Hughes. Tom Wilson, billed in the parlance of the day as "The Colored Butler," was Mix's man-servant off-screen as well. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This melodrama from Fox stars William Russell. Jack Arnold (Russell), the secretary of a mining syndicate, is sent to the South Sea Island of Pago Tai to land an option on a black opal mine. He just manages to make the same steamer that is carrying the members of a rival company to the same destination. Clive Langdon (Frank Beal), representing the other company, is accompanied by his niece Caroline Peyton (Dorothy Devore) and her fiancé, Neal Travis (Lloyd Whitlock). Caroline pays Jack's fare and he begins to fall in love with her. Both Langdon and Travis use the pair's growing affection to trap Arnold. But they're still not able to prevent him from getting to the mine. He makes friends with its owner and is able to get the option. Caroline, meanwhile, has come to realize that she doesn't care for Travis at all, so she throws him over for Arnold. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The always entertaining Hoot Gibson starred in this unusual silent western in which the hero saves the fire chief's daughter from both a lecherous politician and a dangerous fire. Gibson excelled in this kind of fairy tale where his character's innate bashfulness is countered by furious action. Gibson rarely used violence in his films and hardly ever wore a gun-belt. Playing the heroine's father in this film is Frank Beal, a veteran director who worked for Selig and Fox in the 1910s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This very average silent western starred John Gilbert right before MGM made him an international superstar as the doughboy in King Vidor's The Big Parade (1925). Gilbert had already come a long way, from travelling stock companies to playing western villains and starring opposite Mary Pickford in Heart o' the Hills (1919). Along the way, he changed the informal "Jack" to "John" and starred in programmers like Romance Ranch. Gilbert plays Carlos Brent, a young Easterner who inherits a ranch when a long-lost will resurfaces. An evil uncle does everything he can to stop Gilbert from claiming what is rightfully his, but, as always, justice triumphs in the end. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Based on Peter B. Kyne's 1925 magazine story "Thoroughbreds", this silent cavalry melodrama starred Kenneth Harlan as a West Point graduate commissioned to a cavalry outpost near the Apache reservation. Cheated out of their supplies by crooked Indian agent Major Gaynes (Lawford Davidson), the tribe goes on the warpath. Losing his nerve at the last moment with disastrous results, Harlan is thrown out of the service, and his fiancée, Dixie Dennison (Madge Bellamy), breaks their engagement. After a heart-to-heart talk with his father (Hobart Bosworth), a veteran cavalry man, Harlan returns to his post, unmasks the evil Gaynes, and regains the trust of both his soldiers and Dixie. A true film pioneer who has been credited with starring in the first film to be produced in Hollywood in 1909, Hobart Bosworth received top billing in this fanciful Fox Western despite the relatively brief nature of his role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Visiting his vast properties incognito, Hugh Nichols (Tom Mix) discovers that his land agent (Cyril Chadwick) is forcing Peggy Swain (Clara Bow) and her dad (Frank Beal) off their neighboring ranch. When decent-minded Nichols demands that the agent cease harassing the farmers, the nasty villain blows up the nearby dam, flooding the valley. Nichols heroically saves the lives of Peggy and her father and also manages, in the nick of time, to rescue his own priceless steed, Tony the Wonder Horse. Silent screen star Mix was at the height of his career and Clara Bow at the beginning of hers when the dynamic duo appeared together in The Best Bad Man. The result, alas, proved merely routine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The "stolen bride" of the title is Sari (Billie Dove), a Hungarian countess. During WWI, Sari falls in love with Franz Pless (Lloyd Hughes), an American-educated soldier in the Hapsburg army. Unable to marry Sari because of the differences in their "stations in life," Franz is forced to kidnap the countess, who doesn't seem all that put out over being an abduction victim. Of interest only as the first American film of European producer-director Alexander Korda, The Stolen Bride lacks the spark and vivacity of Korda's later efforts. Still, he got along just fine with Billie Dove, and went on to direct three more of the actress' vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rare surviving melodrama from small-scale Gotham Productions, The Final Extra features Grant Withersas Pat Riley, a newspaper reporter enviously watching as a colleague, Tom Collins (Frank Beal), is awarded the choice assignment of covering a breaking bootlegging story. Pat, meanwhile, is given the potentially less enthralling job of covering the opening of a new Broadway musical produced by Mervin Le Roy (John Miljan), an impresario with a rather tattered reputation. When Tom is found murdered, Pat discovers that the two stories are connected. Marguerite de la Motte, whose career had been waning ever since she played Douglas Fairbanks' leading lady in The Three Musketeers (1921), was awarded star-billing as Tom's chorus girl daughter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide