Adolphe Menjou Movies
Debonair and sophisticated, Adolphe Menjou was an impeccably-dressed lead actor with a waxed black mustache. At age 21 he moved to New York with no intention of becoming an actor; three years later he drifted into films as an extra, then got some larger roles before serving as a captain in the Ambulance Corps for three years in World War I. Back in the U.S. Menjou returned to acting, playing supporting roles in a number of major productions. He became a star after playing the lead role in Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris (1923), which established his screen persona: a dapper, suave man of the world. He went on to play this role in more than 100 films, at first as a leading man and later as a character actor. He made the transition to sound easily and received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work in The Front Page (1931). He gained a reputation as one of the world's best-dressed men, a fact alluded to in the title of his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors (1948). Active in politically conservative causes, in 1944 Menjou became a co-founder of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals; later he was a "friendly" witness in the 1947 hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee. From 1928-33 he was married to actress Kathryn Carver, and from 1934 on he was married to actress Verree Teasdale. ~ All Movie Guide- 1916
Douglas Fairbanks stars as "Sunny" Wiggins, who believes in eternal optimism and good spirits. This places Wiggins at odds with his staid, wealthy family, who decide to get even when he blithely invites a group of derelicts to his sister's coming-out party. Wiggins is ordered to go to Skid Row, there to try to spread his cheerful philosophy amongst the dregs of society. Along the way, he "cures" a pessimistic physician, winning the man's pretty daughter (Dorothy West) in the process. Habit of Happiness was another copacetic collaboration between star Douglas Fairbanks and director Allan Dwan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Douglas Fairbanks headlines this fast-paced and funny adventure set in contemporary Manhattan playing a New Yorker who exchanges city life for the excitement of raising horses and cattle in the wild West. One day he returns to the Big Apple to brag about his exciting new life. He gets his friends riled up by claiming that there are no thrills to be found in New York. His buddies promptly bet him $5,000 that he is wrong and so set about teaching their cocky friend a lesson. In the end, he turns the tables and wins the bet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Patience (Louise Huff) is a Quaker orphan, who is hired by Robert Penfield (John Bowers) as a social secretary to his mother (Kate Lester). Patience is in love with Robert, but he doesn't notice. Instead he marries flighty society girl Edith (Lottie Pickford -- yes, sister of Mary). But Edith is bored because her husband spends so much time working in his construction business, and she runs away with an admirer, Paul Dunston (Adolphe Menjou). The yacht on which the wayward pair has escaped is involved in a wreck and they both are drowned, so Patience (who by now has earned her name) winds up with widower Robert. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
A Parisian Romance was originally written as a stage vehicle for the great Richard Mansfield. When time came to film the property, however, Fox was obliged to use a lesser light, H. Cooper Cliffe, in the role of Baron Chevrial. The story is the old saw about a nobleman falling in love with a dancing girl (played by Dorothy Green). While it may have been intensely dramatic on stage, the plotline tended to induce laughter when it was shown on the silver screen. Perhaps this was because the projectionist of the New York theater where the film premiered ran the picture at maximum speed, thereby shortening its running time to a scant 48 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
A handsome, wealthy French WW I fighter-pilot attends a fabulous masked ball to find the girl of his dreams in this frothy silent romantic adventure. During the festivities, he ends up kissing a mysterious beauty who immediately steals his heart. He has no idea that he already knows her as his grandmother's secretary. So smitten is the pilot that he decides that he will stop at nothing to marry her. But first he must make absolutely sure, and so begins kissing every woman in sight. Meanwhile, thieves sneak in and steal jewelry leaving the secretary to take the blame. She flees before the police arrive and an exciting chase ensues. Meanwhile, the pilot, seeing her only as a friend in trouble, leaps aboard a hydroplane and rushes off to save her. He lands the plane near her boat and she jumps into the water. As he tries to bring her aboard he hits his head and loses consciousness. Concerned, the secretary gives him a tender kiss. Suddenly the hero awakens joyful in the knowledge that he has finally found his true love. Meanwhile the jewel thieves are captured. As the film draws to a close the lovers engage in a happy kiss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1916
In spite of his acclaim as a stage actor, during his early motion picture career, John Barrymore generally played lightweight comedic roles. In this film -- another one of those mythical kingdom tales -- he plays a swashbuckler. It begins with an out-of-work actor (Barrymore) glumly contemplating the prospects of future employment. His valet approaches him with a screenplay he has written himself, and as the thespian reads it, the action comes to life: A crown prince (Barrymore again) is supposed to marry the princess of a neighboring principality, but he's in love with a dancer, so he leaves the country and has an American actor, Merriwell (Barrymore once again), take his place. Merriwell has already met and fallen in love with the princess on the voyage across the Atlantic, so the situation promises to be a happy one. But Merriwell is unmasked as an impostor and the Regent orders that he be put to death. However, it just happens to be the princess' birthday, and now that she has reached her majority, the regency is over and the people must do her bidding -- which is to leave her husband, impostor or no, in peace. A brief cut back to the unemployed actor shows that he approves of his valet's work. Whether they can convince a studio to buy the property is never addressed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The Amazons is neither a story of ancient Greece nor a South American travelogue. Instead, it is based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, gently spoofing the "independent woman" then emerging on the social scene. All the ladies in the cast bear masculine names: Tommy, Willie, Noel etc. Marguerite Clark plays Tommy, who decides at the end that she'd sooner be a female in love than a lonely "man-woman". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Based on a novel by William Dana Olcott, this domestic melodrama starred the regal Norma Talmadge as a spoiled heiress whose cheating husband proves not to be the society scion she had imagined. According to surviving reviews, Norma Talmadge looked stunning despite her marital woes, but the film was considered "not the thing to exhibit to audiences of young people." Eugene O'Brien played Miss Talmadge's rescuer, Hassard Short played the cheating husband, and Adolphe Menjou, Donald Hall, and Maude Allen were assorted society leeches. Norma's husband Joseph Schenck produced. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1917
When her guardian gets married, twelve-year-old Marian Morgan (Marguerite Clark) is sent to live with her father (Frank Losee). Mr. Morgan owns a gambling house, and Marian's presence causes him to rethink his lifestyle. He decides to sell the joint, but a former colleague, Joe Winder (Adolphe Menjou), wants to involve him in a bank robbery. Morgan won't have any of it, but Winder manages to place the blame for the crime right at Morgan's feet and he goes to jail. When Marian discovers a Valentine's Day party at a church, she meets a nice young man, Robert Wentworth (Richard Barthelmess) and is adopted by a minister. Marian grows up and becomes engaged to Robert. Morgan is released in jail and reappears in his daughter's life just long enough to cause complications. But Robert hears the whole story and does not care that Marian's father is an ex-con, but Morgan once again slips out of his daughter's life, so as not to impinge on her happiness. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Although Shirley Mason was the star of this feature, she's upstaged by character actor Wilson Hummell, who has a dual role. Queenie (Mason) works as a slavey in a girls' school and wishes for the day when her wealthy aunt, Pansy Pooley (Aggie Herring), will call for her. The day comes, but when Queenie arrives at the mansion she discovers that Pansy is not the owner, but the housekeeper. The real owner, Simon Pepper (Hummell), is a miserly curmudgeon who has been a recluse since the death of his young wife 30 years before. Queenie manages to warm Pepper's heart, along with finding romance with Vivian Van Winkle (George O'Hara), the poetic son of a wealthy manufacturer. One day Pepper mysteriously vanishes and his valet, Abner Quigley, who's a dead ringer for the old man (also Hummell), decides to take his place. He marries Pansy and they enter society. Quigley is about to force Queenie to marry Count Michael (Adolphe Menjou) when the real Pepper, who has been on a voyage, returns. Vivian rounds up both Queenie and the minister and the young couple wed. Quigley and Pansy are once again reduced to servant status. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Mason, George O'Hara, (more)
- 1921
Having nothing to do with the later Greta Garbo vehicle, the 1921 The Kiss was a sentimental melodrama set in Old California. Just as Don Luis Balderama (George Periolat) is about to announce the betrothal of his son André (William E. Lawrence) to the daughter of a neighboring landowner, the irrepressible boy elopes with Erolinda Vargas (Carmel Myers), the pretty offspring of Balderama's superintendent. Believing her reputation to have been sullied, the girl's proud father (J. P. Lockney) hunts down André and shoots him. The wounded boy's vaqueros take umbrage at this turn of events and storm the Vargas home, but Erolinda bravely holds them at bay. A recovering André comes upon the scene, sweeps Erolinda into his arms and with a kiss claims her as his bride. Filmed at Universal City, The Kiss featured blonde actress Jean Acker, the former Mrs. Rudolph Valentino, as the spurned neighbor girl. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This romantic costumed adventure is the film that cemented Rudolph Valentino's reputation as a legendary screen lover. Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan (Valentino) takes Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayers) to his camp when he finds the beauty in the desert. Although drawn to the Sheik, Lady Diana is able to resist his amorous advances. When his former French school chum Raoul de Saint Herbert (Adolphe Menjou) convinces him to let Diana go free, she is kidnapped by the villainous Omair (Walter Long), who promises her a fate worse than death. The heroic Sheik and his army save Diana from suicide, but he is severely wounded in the melee. Diana helps the Sheik regain his strength after he saves her and she vows her everlasting love to her British-educated hero. Reviewers at the time of the film's release were very critical of the film and the performance of Valentino, suggesting the public should ask the film to be censored as it was morally objectionable. Paramount Pictures thought the film would go nowhere fast, but millions of women made Valentino an international heartthrob. Many fainted at the initial showing of the film, and Rudolph Valentino eclipsed Wallace Reid in popularity. Over 70 years after his death, Rudolph Valentino is still remembered as the first male superstar to have a direct and lasting impact on female viewers, and the word "sheik" became as synonymous with Valentino as the word "vamp" was associated with the exotic Theda Bara. Watch for seven-year-old Loretta Young in a bit part. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnes Ayres, Rudolph Valentino, (more)
- 1921
This picture should have been called "What Happened to Mabel?" Mabel Normand's comedy pictures for Goldwyn had slowly been going downhill, and this entry was pretty near the bottom. Mayme Ladd (Normand) leads a drab, lonely life as a shopgirl. One day she goes to a fortune teller, Madame O'Donnelly (Eugenie Besserer), who tells her she is the reincarnation of a Spanish beauty, and if only she can believe that she will find love. So she calls herself Rosa Alvara, dresses up as a Senorita and attends a costume ball on a steamboat. There she meets Dr. Maynard Drew (Hugh Thompson), who she has adored from afar, and he falls for her. She then disappears from the party, and Drew looks all over for her without success. But finally she hurts herself and shows up in his office --this time dressed as a ragged young boy. The couple are reunited, and Drew insists that he loves her for herself. The star and director Victor Schertzinger did what they could with this weak Cinderella story. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
Douglas Fairbanks' longest and most elaborate production up to 1921, The Three Musketeers was Fairbanks' first full-blown costume adventure (his modestly produced 1920 The Mark of Zorro was regarded as an extension of his breezy contemporary comedies). Fairbanks assumes the leading role of D'Artagnan, who after challenging musketeers Athos (Leon Barry), Porthos (George Siegmann) and Aramis (Eugene Pallette--yes, Eugene Pallette) to a duel, joins forces with them in opposition of the scheming Cardinal Richelieu(Nigel De Brulier). Plotting to discredit Queen Anne (Mary McLaren) in the eyes of her husband King Louis XIII (Adolphe Menjou) Richelieu dispatches Milady de Winter (Barbara La Marr) to pilfer the diamond brooch given by Anne to her British lover, the Duke of Buckingham (Thomas Holding). With the help of the lovely Constance (Marguerite de la Motte) D'Artagnan and the Musketeers race against time to retrieve the brooch and save their Queen. The film ends with D'Artagnan emerging victorious, a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips; the actual, darker denouement of Dumas' original Three Musketeers would be dramatized in the opening reels of Douglas Fairbanks' valedictory silent film, The Iron Mask (1929). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Leon Bary, (more)
For her fourth United Artists picture, Mary Pickford once again plays a poor little rich girl. This one, Jeanne, is so neglected that when her mother, Hortense (Gertrude Astor), remarries, she is pawned off on her Belgian nurse. Five years later, when Hortense returns to fetch Jeanne, the nurse has decided to keep her and claims she has died. But then World War I breaks out, and Jeanne is shipped to her mother in America. She is so overwhelmed by the wealth that surrounds her, however, that she can't tell her mother who she is. Instead, she goes to work as a maid. But when some guests at a weekend party plot to fleece Hortense's husband (Wilfred Lucas), Jeanne saves the day and finally reveals her true identity. There is a joyous reunion all around. Mary's brother, Jack Pickford, supposedly co-d irected this picture; more likely she hired him to keep him busy because he was still grieving over the September, 1920 death of his wife Olive Thomas. Through the Back Door and its immediate predecessor, The Love Light, were not notable Pickford films -- although they made money, neither were blockbusters. Her next project, Little Lord Fauntleroy, did markedly better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, Gertrude Astor, (more)
- 1921
Sidney Franklin, formerly the principal director of the "Fox Kidlettes" series, works with grownups in the silent Courage. Sam DeGrasse plays a brooding Scotsman who spends 18 years in prison on a trumped-up murder charge. Only his wife Naomi Childers believes in DeGrasse's innocence. She nobly awaits her husband's return, ever seeking out the opportunity of exonerating him. Northern California proves an excellent substitute for the crags of Scotland in Courage, which was based on a short story by Andrew Soutar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naomi Childers, Sam de Grasse, (more)
- 1921
This dreary drama would never have been made into a motion picture if The Miracle Man had not been such a big hit. Because of his complete trust in a Divine Power, Michaelis, a shepherd (Milton Sills), has acquired powers to heal the sick. One woman he treats, Mary Beeler (Fontaine La Rue), has a niece, Rhoda Williams (Ann Forrest), and Michaelis falls in love with her. But Rhoda is a fallen woman, having lived with a doctor without the benefit of a marriage contract. Throngs of suffering believers gather at Mary's home to be healed, but Michaelis has lost his powers. Rhoda believes that she is the cause because of her sinful past, and she confesses to the crowd. But they think that Michaelis is a fake and he is stoned out of the village. Michaelis -- who also believes that his relationship with Rhoda has sapped him of his powers -- comes to realize the strength of her love for him. He finally figures out that his lack of faith in that love was the problem. His powers return in time to bring an infant back to life, and he and Rhoda reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Sills, Ann Forrest, (more)
- 1922
On the whole, John Gilbert's starring vehicles at Fox were not as beneficial to him professionally as his films at MGM. Arabian Love was an exception, but Gilbert was required to emulate another popular star to make the film "click". Essentially a Valentino picture without Valentino, the film casts Gilbert as a young American who, after killing the man who disgraced his sister, joins a band of Arab thieves. Several convenient coincidences later, Gilbert falls in love with the widow Barbara Bedford of the man he has killed. Though Arabian Love proved an enormous step forward in the career John Gilbert, the painfully self-conscious star steered clear of imitations in his later work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Barbara Bedford, (more)
- 1922
What was Paramount thinking when it cast a capable comedienne like Bebe Daniels in this artificial tragedy? The funny moments here were all created inadvertently. Conrad Nagel, Adolphe Menjou and Ernest Torrence are among the other capable actors who are also wasted. Bonita (Daniels), a Spanish dancer, has a strange allegorical dream -- she is shot by an evil court jester when she gives a rose to her beloved prince. Her grandfather, Don Jose della Guerda (Robert Brower), explains that the dream shows her that she must avoid all lovers. So when Bonita meets handsome Peter Gordon (Nagel), she sends him away for fear that she will be killed by Emilio(Torrence), a strange but worshipful clown who is always near her. Instead she turns her attention to Peter's uncle, Bliss (Menjou). To win back his love, Bliss' wife, Eve (Mabel Trunelle) learns Bonita's dances and impersonates her at a masked ball. This is a fatal mistake, as the jealous clown mistakenly shoots her. In the end, Emilio kills himself, leaving Bonita free to reunite with Peter. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, Conrad Nagel, (more)
- 1922
This melodrama, based on the novel Pink Gods and Blue Demons by Cynthia Stockley, wasted the talents of James Kirkwood, Anna Q. Nilsson, Raymond Hatton, and especially Bebe Daniels, whose forte was comedy, not drama. Lorraine Temple (Daniels) lusts after diamonds, so while her husband, Colonel Pat Temple (George Cowl), is away, she goes after John Quelch (James Kirkwood), who owns a diamond mine. Quelch is a brutal boss who refuses to tolerate theft -- if any of his employees try to steal his diamonds by swallowing them, he has a doctor remove them surgically. Quelch's fiancee, Lady Margo Cork (Nilsson), can't tolerate his hateful acts, so he turns his attention to Lorraine. He courts her in his underground palace, but Jim Wingate (Hatton), a foreman who has undergone Quelch's cruel operation, vindictively dynamites it. The greedy Lorraine dies from injuries she receives in the explosion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, James Kirkwood, (more)
- 1922
Wallace Reid plays against type in this comedy-drama, based on the play by Booth Tarkington. As a matter of fact, he does a fair imitation of Alfred Lunt, who played the title role on Broadway. He even parts his hair in the middle and wears horn-rimmed glasses, just as Lunt did. Clarence Smith (Reid) is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler (Edward Martindel) primarily because he has overheard a family argument. And the Wheeler household is going through quite a bit of turmoil -- Mrs. Wheeler (Kathlyn Williams) feels neglected by her husband and is jealous of Violet Pinney, the governess (Agnes Ayres). Daughter Cora (May McAvoy) is planning to elope with her father's secretary, Hubert Stem (Adolphe Menjou). Son Bobby (Robert Agnew), meanwhile, has been making passes at the maid. Clarence manages to solve the Wheelers' various problems -- he kidnaps Cora back from Stem, repairs everyone's hurts and ends up with Violet. Reid, incidentally, was directed by both DeMille brothers -- Cecil B. and William C. -- at one point or another during his career. Sadly, the star would be dead from drug abuse within six months of this picture's release. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Reid, Agnes Ayres, (more)
- 1922
Western ace Buck Jones had one of his best early roles in this well-mounted silent action melodrama directed by Bernard J. Durning. Jones played Stanley Carson, a cowboy who, while visiting the Deep South, gets in trouble with a gang of crooked gamblers led by Carl Baldwin (Adolphe Menjou in a rare Western role) and the brother (James Mason) of his girlfriend. When the gamblers abduct Virginia (Eileen Percy), Carson takes up the pursuit by boat, train, mail truck, and racecar. The girl and her kidnappers are holed up in a swank hotel which catches on fire. The irrepressible Carson not only manages to rescue Virginia but an entire family trapped by the flames. The Fast Mail was based on an unpublished play by Lincoln J. Carter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles "Buck" Jones, Eileen Percy, (more)
- 1922
The Goldwyn studios had apparently been hanging onto this Mabel Normand comedy for quite a while -- by the time it was released, she was already back making pictures for Mack Sennett. Considering the jumbled mess that reached the theaters, the studio may have had good reason to hide it away. Normand herself appears drawn, which didn't help squash rumors that she had been using drugs (one of the unproven theories concerning the February, 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor was that he had angered a drug peddler who had been supplying the comedienne). There's little that's comprehensible in the plot to this film, which concerns Tina, a little Italian acrobat (Normand) who is discovered in her native country by an American theatrical agent, Sterling (dolphe Menjou, then billed as "Adolphe Jean Menjou"). When she shows up at his U.S. office in homely peasant clothes, Sterling has second thoughts, but press agent Pepper (Rayond Hatton) sends her to a beauty specialist, where her good looks are revealed. Pepper wants to make Tina a movie star, but she has already fallen in love with Lawson (Hugh Thompson), one of the men at Sterling's agency. Lawson wants her to give up her career, but she refuses until she catches him in a fashionable restaurant with another actress. She beats up the woman and then prepares to go back to Italy until Lawson stops her and all ends well. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1922
Joseph Schenck pulled out all the stops in this costume drama starring his wife, Norma Talmadge -- it was adapted from Honore de Balzac's novel, La Duchess de Langeais by Frances Marion, and no expense was spared to bring the Napoleonic era to life. When the Duc de Langeais (Adolphe Menjou) makes a bet with the Count de Marsay (Irving Cummings) on whether his wife, the Duchess (Talmadge) would accept the attentions of any other man, she angrily leaves him. The Duc, who is a solider, goes off to the front, and the lonely Duchess proceeds to cut a swath through all the available men. Ultimately she meets General de Montriveau (Conway Tearle), and when she toys with his affections, he kidnaps her. He is about to brand her for her fickle behavior, but can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he retreats from her and refuses to respond to her letters. The despondent Duchess decides to enter a convent. But before she can take her final vows, the general learns of her whereabouts and comes for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Talmadge, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
