Patsy Ruth Miller
- 1951
In keeping with the postwar trend of on-location shooting, Quebec was actually lensed in Canada, rather than on some Hollywood back lot or other. Set in 1837, the film recounts a skirmish between French and English factions over whether or not Quebec would remain a province, or split off into its own country. Heading the separatist movement is Lafleur (Corinne Calvet). John Barrymore Jr. co-stars as Mark Douglas, a loyal Canadian who discovers that Lafleur is his long-lost mother. Quebec winds up with a well-staged military assault on Lafleur's fortress. Billed eighth in the cast is former silent-screen star Patsy Ruth Miller, making her first screen appearance since 1931. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Drew Barrymore, Corinne Calvet, (more)
- 1932
Jack Mulhall, a silent screen star on the downgrade, delivered one of his last truly memorable screen performances in the 61-minute quickie Night Beat. Mulhall plays Johnny, a gangster who experiences an epiphany while serving in WWI. Returning to New York a changed man, Johnny offers to help his childhood pal Martin (Walter McGail), now a district attorney, break up a gang of crooks. Our hero hadn't counted on falling in love with Martin's fiancee Elinor (Patsy Ruth Miller), but this turn of events only strengthens his resolve to remain a "good guy." Director George B. Seitz later transferred to MGM, where he became the principal helmsman of the Andy Hardy pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
Five characters find themselves playing a lively game of musical beds in this saucy pre-Code comedy. Richard (Edward Everett Horton) is a well-known lawyer who has a rather surprising reputation as a ladykiller. Felix (also played by Horton) is a nightclub impressionist who wants Richard's permission to spoof him in his stage act. Richard tells Felix he'll grant his approval only if he can convince Mrs. Mantel (Maude Eburne) that's he's actually Richard. As Felix sets out to pull the wool over Mrs. Mantel's eyes, Richard is advising Diane (Laura La Plante), one of his clients with whom he's infatuated, that she should file divorce papers against her husband, unaware that said spouse is actually Felix. Meanwhile, while Felix is trying to fool Mrs. Mantel, Richard's wife, Madeline (Esther Ralston), shows up, and she has no trouble at all believing that Felix is her husband -- so much so that Felix ends up in bed with Madeline. Lonely Wives also stars Patsy Ruth Miller and Georgette Rhodes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1930
In this sweet comedy, a meek and clumsy employee of a large firm is filled with useful ideas, but is too shy to present them. He gets involved with the boss's straight-forward daughter who helps get his ideas across. Mayhem ensues and the company's superintendent is fired. The employee's ideas are then implemented. As the frosting on his cake, the mild-mannered fellow also gets to marry the boss's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1930
In this entry in the Lone Wolf series, the first to have a soundtrack, the jealousies of the King and the coquettish Queen are chronicled. When His Majesty learns that his wife has given the ring he gave to her to her lover, the King plans a large ball and demands the she wear the token. As her lover is a military attache, he is not in the palace, and the queen must send her lady-in-waiting to bring it back. En route, the lady meets a thief and they team up. She does not know that he has been dispatched by the King to steal ring from the attache. The King does not know that the thief is more loyal to the queen. The thief and the lady have several adventures before obtaining the ring and returning it to the Queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Lytell, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1929
Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 and Paramount on Parade, due mainly to the film's master of ceremonies, the insufferable Frank Fay. Some of the individual acts seen in Show of Shows were pretty good, notably Winnie Lightner's delightful Singing in the Bathtub (a spoof of Hollywood Revue of 1929's Singin' in the Rain) and John Barrymore's brilliant rendition of Richard III's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry VI. Also easy to take was "Floradora Sextette," featuring such luminaries as Myrna Loy, Patsy Ruth Miller and cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, and "Eight Sister Acts," including such Hollywood siblings as Dolores and Helene Costello, Sally Blane and Loretta Young and Shirley Mason and Viola Dana (also teamed in this number are Ann Sothern and Marion Byron, who were not sisters). But for the most part, the acts are on a par with "Skull and Crossbones," a boring production number showcasing entertainer Ted Lewis, and "Recitations," a one-joke affair in which three different anecdotes (related by Frank Fay, Louis Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Bea Lillie) are melded into one. Show of Shows was originally released in two-color Technicolor but now exists only in black in white, save for the "Chinese Fantasy" number featuring crooner Nick Lucas and Warner Bros. contractee Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1929
Approximately 40 minutes of the 59-minute Whispering Winds were filmed with sound; the rest, to quote Shakespeare, is silence. Malcolm McGregor plays a handsome Maine fisherman who falls in love with local songstress Eve Southern. McGregor in turn is loved by the girl next door, Patsy Ruth Miller. Unable to compete with the saucy Southern, Miller can only sit at home and pine away for McGregor. But this dilemma is solved by Southern, who dumps the boy in favor of a stage career. Whispering Winds exists today only because film-buff John Cocchi found a copy of the film in the attic of his sister-in-law's grandmother; unfortunately, only four of the film's six reels could be preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller, Malcolm McGregor, (more)
- 1929
In this musical comedy, an oddball wife fears that her husband's rich uncle will not like her and therefore disinherit her spouse, so she engages another woman to play her when the uncle comes to call. Songs include: "One Sweet Little Yes," "Clowning," "Beauty Shop," "Am I Blue?," "Let Me Have My Dreams," "My Strongest Weakness is You," (by Grant Clarke, Harry Akst), "Down Among the Sugar Cane" (by Clarke, Charles Tobias), and "So Long Letty" (Earl Carroll). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Greenwood, Grant Withers, (more)
- 1929
In this comedy, a businessman takes his client with a beautiful escort to a fancy nightclub where he plans to close an important business deal. Unfortunately, the client's joins them. The escort must then pretend to be the businessman's wife. Marital trouble ensues when the businessman's real wife, at home and listening to a radio show originating from the club, hears a request sent out by her husband and his "wife." The suspicious woman wastes no time in getting to the club. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller, Ford Sterling, (more)
- 1929
The Aviator is a remake of the silent comedy The Hottentot, filmed only two years earlier. Edward Everett Horton stars as Robert Street, who poses as an aviator to save a press-agent pal from losing his job. Enter heroine Grace Douglas (Patsy Ruth Miller), who's simply ca-razzzy about airplane jockeys. Forced to keep up his charade, Robert manages to talk his way out of several tight situations but ultimately finds himself climbing into the cockpit of a plane. The ensuing wild ride through the air is the best part of the picture, with Robert trying to maintain his equilibrium and dignity throughout. Based on a play by James Montgomery, The Aviator would be filmed again in 1931 as the Joe E. Brown vehicle Going Wild. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1929
The 1929 comedy Twin Beds was the second of three versions of the 1914 stage farce by Margaret Mayo and Salisbury Field. The original story of a newlywed bride who is briefly lured from her honeymoon suite by a vainglorious opera singer has been realigned as a traditional "backstage" romance. Elsie Dolan (Patsy Ruth Miller), accidently finding herself in the office of songwriter Danny Brown (Jack Mulhall), achieves Broadway success with Danny's help. Marrying Danny out of gratitude, she is temporarily enchanted by her egotistical leading man Monty Solari (Armand Kaliz), leading to an evening of misunderstandings, door-slammings and hasty retreats under the bed when the very-married Solari wanders drunkenly into Danny and Elsie's apartment. Previously filmed in 1920, Twin Beds was memorably remade in 1942 with George Brent, Joan Bennett and Mischa Auer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1929
The Sap is Edward Everett Horton, a small-towner with big plans, but lacking the wherewithal to put them in motion. Even worse, Horton allows everyone to take advantage of him, further driving the nails into the coffin of his ambitions. When his brother-in-law gets mixed up with an embezzlement scheme, the Sap loyally takes the rap, going so far as to conspire with a couple of crooks to replace the money. This time, however, things turn out to our hero's advantage -- though just how this happens isn't entirely clear, even when one sees the movie. Co-starring in The Sap is silent-film ingenue Patsy Ruth Miller, an old friend of Edward Everett Horton, who'd previously appeared with Horton's California-based repertory theatre along with such mutual chums as Mary Astor, Laura LaPlante and Franklin Pangborn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Alan Hale, (more)
- 1929
Previously filmed in 1923, the William Collier Sr.-Victor Mapes stage play The Hottentot was exhumed as an Edward Everett Horton vehicle in 1929. An inveterate horse lover, Sam Harrington (Horton) brags to his girlfriend Peggy Fairfax (Patsy Ruth Miller) that he is an expert rider. In truth, Sam hasn't a clue as to which end of the horse to mount, meaning that the script will inevitably require him to put his money where his mouth is. The climax finds poor Sam astride the contentious nag "Hottentot" during an all-important steeplechase. Variations of The Hottentot would be churned out for the next several years by Warner Bros., most of them starring Joe E. Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1928
The popular (if short-lived) screen team of Glenn Tryon and Patsy Ruth Miller were back on the job in the breezy comedy Hot Heels. The two stars play a vaudeville dance team, touring the provinces in a broken-down "mellerdrammer" troupe. After a series of Snub Pollard-like gags involving a gimmick-laden hotel, the plot proper gets under way, as Tryon and Miller pin their hopes -- and their bankrolls -- on a racehorse called Hot Heels. Real-life jockey Tod Sloan appears as himself in the climactic racing sequence. Hot Heels was released a scant few weeks after the running of the 1928 Kentucky Derby (what a tie-in!). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1928
In this, at times, hilarious silent, romantic comedy, love blossoms after a posterhanger has an highway mishap with a Broadway star. Later the hard-working fellow finds out that someone has stolen the actress' jewels from her New York home. Still smitten, he heads for the Big Apple to get them back and win her affection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1928
Marriage by Contract was produced and directed by John M. Stahl for his own Tiffany-Stahl Studio. Although only a part-talkie, the film represented the sound debut of Patsy Ruth Miller, here cast as Margaret, one of the longest-suffering heroines in screen history. Having entered into a contract to marry a young man named Don (Lawrence Grey), Margaret storms out of the honeymoon suite when Don shows up drunk and disheveled, bragging about his various sexual conquests. Despite this appalling experience, Margaret goes through three more contracted marriages, each union leaving her a bit worse off than the previous one. On the verge of committing suicide, an aged and infirm Margaret suddenly wakes up to find herself young and beautiful again. Realizing that she's been just been having a horrible dream, our heroine hastily dons her wedding gown and rushes off to find faithful Don still waiting at the chapel. Marriage by Contract represents an acting tour de force for Patsy Ruth Miller, who in 1928 was better known for her light comedy roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller, Lawrence Gray, (more)
- 1928
After achieving stardom as Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Patsy Ruth Miller developed into a first-rate comedienne. In Beautiful but Dumb, she plays a mousy secretary who couldn't attract a man if she removed all her clothes. Instead, she merely removes her glasses and-presto!--she's beating off the guys with a stick. As a further means of landing a man, the hyper-intelligent Miller pretends to be a dimwit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller, Charles Byer, (more)
- 1928
Neglected by shallow husband Dick (William Collier Jr.), young bride Paula Wayne (Patsy Ruth Miller) seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon (Warner Baxter). Upon learning of his wife's infidelity, Dick attempts suicide, whereupon the guilt-stricken Paula goes back to him. Ultimately, however, Paula realizes that she can't go on living a lie, and returns to Frank. D.W. Griffith veteran Claire McDowell is seen as Paula's mother, while black comedian Stepin Fetchit provides comedy relief as a lazy porter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1928
Some first-rate underwater photography distinguishes this otherwise flat film version of Jack London's A Raid on the Oyster Pirates. Patsy Ruth Miller stars as the romantic bone of contention between pearl divers Malcolm McGregor and Wallace MacDonald. When McGregor's brother is murdered, Miller is arrested for the crime. The actual killer, however, is MacDonald, who does an expert job covering his tracks. The truth comes out, however, when McGregor is obliged to rescue MacDonald from the tentacles of a giant squid (the film's best sequence). A handful of medium shots of underdressed hula-hula girls undoubtedly helped to keep the audience awake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McGregor, Wallace MacDonald, (more)
- 1928
We Americans was based on the Broadway play of the same name. Returning to the "melting pot" themes that he handled so well, director Edward H. Sloman concentrates on the trials and tribulations of three first-generation American families: The Jewish Levines, the German Schmidts and the Italian Albertinis. Most of the footage is devoted to the efforts of pants-presser Mr. Levine (George Sidney) to carve out a decent existence for his family in the teeming garment district of New York. While Levine's daughter Beth (Patsy Ruth Miller) dedicates herself to hard work, his son Phil (George Lewis) prefers to fritter away his time at sports events. Angry that Beth spends too much time at her job and not enough with her housekeeping duties, Levine orders her out of the house -- and when Phil, angry at the treatment afforded his sister, marches off to WWI, Levine and his wife (Beryl Mercer) are left all alone. Their neighbors, the Schmidts and the Albertinis, try to convince the stubborn Levines that they've mishandled their children, but to do this it is necessary to educate the Jewish couple in American manners and mores. Thus, the Levines are encouraged to join their neighbors in attending night school, where they are finally convinced that the ways of the Old World are not necessarily the best. Soon afterward, Phil Levine is killed in the trenches of France while saving the life of the socially prominent Hugh Bradleigh (John Boles). Upon his return to New York, Hugh seeks out Phil's family and promptly falls in love with Beth, now a successful dressmaker. Hugh's parents are initially resistant to their son's romance, until they discover that their boy would not be alive today were it not for Phil Levine's sacrifice. In the film's sentimental finale, the Levines and the Bradleighs meet one another for the first time to exchange pleasantries before the wedding of Hugh and Beth. Edward Sloman had originally wanted Yiddish stage actor Muni Weisenfreund, a specialist in elderly characterizations, to play the role of Levine, but upon discovering that Weisenfruend was only 30 years old, the director opted for middle-aged George Sidney instead. The "rejected" Weisenfreund later attained film stardom under the name of Paul Muni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Ruth Miller
- 1927
Ralph Ince was one busy beaver in 1927, starring in and directing several low-budget programmers. In Shanghaied, Ince plays a burly sea captain who loses his bankroll to a crooked café proprietor. In retaliation, the captain kidnaps the café's hootchy-kootchy dancer Patsy Ruth Miller, spiriting her away to his ship. Assuming that Miller is one of "those girls," Ince is surprised to discover that she isn't to be trifled with. Similarly, Miller is surprised to learn that she enjoys life on the high seas. Still, Ince is disdainful of the girl's former profession and returns her to shore at the earliest opportunity, insisting that she isn't good enough to be on his ship. One year later, however, Miller returns on board, having scrimped and saved to repay the captain for the money stolen from him in Reel One. Touched by her "reformation," Ince finally admits that he's been in love with the girl all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Ince, Gertrude Astor, (more)
- 1927
Glenn Tryon stars as Hiram Hastings, a cabdriver who aspires to be the next Charles Lindbergh. Trouble is, he's never been in an airplane in his life -- but he has learned to fly via correspondence school. Falling in love with Mary Sloan (Patsy Ruth Miller), the daughter of wealthy soap manufacturer Samuel Sloan (Burr McIntosh), Hiram tries to coerce the old man into sponsoring a Transatlantic plane flight. Sloan is resistant, but thanks to a little "prodding" from Hiram's pet monkey Bobbie (a busy simian actor of the period), he agrees to bankroll the flight. One thing leads to another, and by film's end both Hiram and Mary are in the cockpit of a rickety old airplane, bound for Russia! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
