Thomas Meighan Movies

A goodly portion of this boxing drama was filmed on location at the real-life Madison Square Garden. Jack Oakie stars as Eddie Burke, a wise-guy pugilist whose talent is unevenly matched by his ego. Despite his character flaws, Eddie knows the meaning of loyalty. When his manager Doc Williams (William Collier Sr.) is offered the opportunity to stage a match at Madison Square Garden, but only if he gets rid of his stable of fighters, Eddie fabricates an alibi and stages a walkout on Doc. Our hero returns to the fold in time to foil a gang of gambler-bootleggers, headed by Sloane (William "Stage" Boyd) and Roarke (Lew Cody). Thomas Meighan, one of Paramount Picture's most popular silent-era leading men, made his last appearance for his home studio as the leader of the Garden's board of directors. Madison Square Garden includes cameo appearances by such famed athletes as Jack Johnson, Tom Sharkey, Ted Sloan, and Mike Donlin and by such stellar sports reporters as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, Westbrook Pegler, Paul Gallico, Jack Lait and Edward W. Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a wild young punk is assigned to spend time with a man who specializes in helping juvenile delinquents. The boy is a tough nut to crack and the two engage in complex psychological and physical games. At one point, the man sticks the rebellious youth alone in a mountain cabin. Much to the delight of the lad, his girl friend sneaks up for a visit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Despite what you might think by glancing at the title, The Argyle Case has nothing to do with socks. The film's plot is set in motion when the head of the house of Argyle is murdered. In one of his few talking-picture appearances, silent star Thomas Meighan is the detective on the case. Meighan discovers that the culprit is a member of an espionage ring, intent upon stealing valuable state secrets. Based on a play by Harriet Ford, Harvey J. O'Higgins, and William J. Burns, The Argyle Case was previously filmed in 1917. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This solid gangster flick from director Lewis Milestone was based on a stage play and earned a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. Louis Wolheim stars as Nick Scarsi, a tough-guy bootlegger with political connections that enrage a local police captain, McQuigg (Thomas Meighan). In order to get rid of his enemy, Nick use his influence to get McQuigg transferred to an out-of-the-way duty post, which only further inflames the determined cop's animosity. In the meantime, Nick's brother Joe (George Stone) is about to get himself in trouble with a beautiful singer, Helen (Marie Prevost), and Nick tries to prevent a match-up by humiliating her at a party. After Joe kills an innocent pedestrian in a car accident, he's arrested under a phony name. To get even with the brothers, Helen alerts the police that Joe is a big-time gangster's brother, putting Nick, who has also killed a police officer, at the mercy of McQuigg and a district attorney (Sam De Grasse). Tragically, stars Wolheim and Prevost would both be dead by the early 1930's, he of cancer and she of starvation and alcoholism. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Blind Alleys is basic comic material paced like a melodrama by Paramount's workhorse director Frank Tuttle. Thomas Meighan stars as a Merchant Marine captain who returns to New York with his new South American bride Gretta Nissen (a Swede playing a South American-well, it was a silent film). No sooner do they hit dry land than Meighan and his missus are separated during a traffic accident. Meighan spends the rest of the picture combing Manhattan in search of his wife, taking time out for a near-dalliance with Evelyn Brent. Blind Alleys was based on a play by Owen Davis Sr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With a star-director combination like Tommy Meighan and Allan Dwan, how could Tin Gods not succeed at the box office? After the death of his child in an accident, engineer Roger Drake (Meighan) parts company with his politically ambitious wife Janet (Aileen Pringle). Unable to hold onto a job in the U.S., Drake ends up working on a treacherous bridge project in South America. Stricken with fever, Drake is saved through the tender ministrations of native girl Carita (Renee Adoree). But when he recovers, our hero indicates that he may wish to reconcile with his wife, whereupon the heartbroken Carita jumps off the newly-completed bridge to her death. Profoundly affected by this, Drake elects to remain in South America long enough to build a shrine for his lost love. Among the screenwriters for Tin Gods was actor Paul Dickey, who'd previously played Guy of Gisborne in the Allan Dwan-directed Robin Hood (1922). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1917, Thomas Meighan played the lead in a film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's The Land of Promise. Nine years later he essayed the same role, Alberta wheat farmer Frank Taylor, in the remake, now titled The Canadian. When she loses her family fortune, Englishwoman Nora Marsh (Mona Palma) comes to Canada to live with her brother Earl (Wyndham Standing) and his wife Gertie (Dale Fuller). Though she tries to acclimate herself to her new Spartan lifestyle, Nora quickly alienates everyone with her inbred snobbishness. Upon hearing Earl's friend Frank (Meighan) making crude jokes about an "ideal wife," Nora insults not only Frank but also Gertie, who demands an apology. Refusing to give Gertie the satisfaction, Nora desperately seeks a way to escape Earl's household -- and this she does by offering her "services" as Frank's wife. The rest of the story concentrates on the tension-laden relationship between Frank and Nora, with both parties too proud and stubborn ever to admit being wrong about anything. Filmed on location in the Canadian Rockies, The Canadian may well be the best film ever directed by William "One Take" Beaudine, who lived long enough to see the picture lauded as a masterpiece during a screening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Macaulay (Thomas Meighan) and his brother Edwin (Russell Griffin) both hold positions at the bank belonging to their father (Charles Stevenson). Edwin takes forty thousand dollars from the bank to play the stock market, but he loses it all. Lon Morris, a rival banker (Frank Morgan), tips off the state banking commission. To save his brother, Tom takes the blame and is sent to prison. While he is locked up, his sweetheart, Nora Brooks (Virginia Valli) agrees to marry Morris. On her wedding night, Tom breaks out of prison long enough to beat up Morris, and tell Nora that she has married a scoundrel. After he is released permanently, Tom robs Morris' bank in an effort to frame him. Morris has already been misusing funds, and when he sneaks into his own bank to steal more money, he is shot by the night watchman. Tom and the now-widowed Nora are finally united. This drama of finance, prison, and revenge was not one of Booth Tarkington's best stories, and the film was not one of Thomas Meighan's best pictures. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Thomas Meighan plays Tom Clark, who left his home town to make good -- and wound up as part owner of a hapless gas station. On the train back to his old town for "old home week," however, he is mistakenly thought to be a big oil man. Ethel Harmon (Lila Lee), daughter of Judge Harmon (Sidney Paxton), falls in love with him. The town is being swindled by two crooks, Marshall Coleman (Charles Dow Clark) and Townsend Barton (Max Figman). They've planted a phony oil well in the town and have sold stock in it. Because of his high position, Clark is put in charge of the project. When Judge Harmon finds out that Clark is pretty much a failure, he exposes him, but Clark refuses to give up his post. He has already discovered that the oil well is a fake and has set out to salt it and sell it back to the swindlers. His every action is misunderstood until the crooks loudly protest being out-swindled. Clark gains the town's respect once again, and wins the hand of Ethel. This comedy-drama was "suggested by" George Ade's story -- meaning that scenarist Tom Geraghty decided to change everything around until Ade's tale was unrecognizable. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

An attorney (Thomas Meighan) becomes the intermediary between an Indian tribe and the territory's settlers in this fine silent western based on a novel by Peter Clark MacFarlane. Meighan, however, gets in hot water when, upon his advice, the Indians sell their land to an outright crook (Berton Churchill). One of the great stars of the silent era, Thomas Meighan died relatively young in 1936 and has been unfairly forgotten. Following on the heels of The Alaskan, this was Meighan's second action adventure in a row, but the classically trained actor was more popular in society dramas such as DeMille's Male and Female (1919) and Why Change Your Wife?) (1920). Directed by Joseph Henaberry, who had played Abraham Lincoln in The Birth of a Nation, Tongues of Flame became the screen debut of corpulent Berton Churchill, a fine character actor best known for portraying blustery men of means. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Thomas Meighan single-handedly saves Alaska in this James Oliver Curwood tale of the Northwest, which was shot on-location in British Columbia and Alberta. The Holt family wants to stop big business from destroying Alaska's pristine beauty. The elder Holt is killed, and his son, Alan (Meighan), is left to continue the fight. He heads for Washington to stop John Graham (Alphonse Ethier) from carrying on his dirty dealings in Alaska, but the government won't step in to help. On the ship returning home, he meets Mary Standish (Estelle Taylor), who is being watched over by Rossland, Graham's lieutenant (John St. Polis). Just before the ship reaches the port, Mary leaps overboard. Alan searches frantically for her and finds her at the home of one of his men. She reveals that she is married to Graham, who abuses her mercilessly. Graham insists that Alan give up Mary, and when he refuses, goes after them. Graham and Alan come to blows, and one of Graham's henchmen, in an attempt to shoot Alan, kills his boss instead. Because of Graham's death, Mary is conveniently freed up to marry Alan -- and Alaska is saved. Anna May Wong, who would shortly make her mark in Douglas Fairbanks Sr.'s Thief of Baghdad, has a bit part as Keok, an Eskimo girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or another during the film's eight reels. Ironically, nearly all of the lead actors are unknowns (although George K. Arthur would become a noted character comedian). Angela Whitaker (Hope Brown) of Centreville is convinced she has a chance in Hollywood -- all her friends tell her so. So she heads West with her Uncle Joel (Luke Cosgrave) in tow. But Angela has no luck in Tinseltown, while her uncle starts landing roles left and right because of his curious image. Eventually the rest of the family, including Angela's sweetheart Lem Lefferts (Arthur), her grandmother (Ruby Lafayette), and her aunt (Eleanor Lawson) come to Hollywood. All Angela's relatives get movie work because they're character types. Finally a screenwriter tries to help Angela out, but Lem winds up landing a role instead. He becomes a star, which suits Angela just fine because she has married him. The couple have twins, and the babies -- not to mention the couple's pet parrot -- wind up in films, while Angela remains at home. The most notable cameo in this picture is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who had been shunned in motion pictures since the 1921 scandal surrounding a Labor Day party that allegedly resulted in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. Here he returns as a man standing in a casting line. When it's his turn to come up to the window, it is shut in his face and a "closed" sign put out. Unfortunately this gag turned out to be all too true; Arbuckle was not seen in front of a camera again until 1932. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide