Wallace Beery Movies

Although Universal billed this tense drama as a "Super Jewel," there's nothing epic about it -- it's a straightforward, well-told story about a signal-man and his family. David Tolliver (Rockcliffe Fellowes), his wife Sally (Virginia Valli), and their little boy Sonny (Frankie Darro) live near the mountain tower where he works. When the relief tower man (James O. Barrows) is pensioned, Joe Standish (Wallace Beery) takes his place. Standish boards with the Tollivers, and Sally's cousin Gertie (Dot Farley) makes a play for him, though Standish is more interested in Sally, a fact that is revealed as he tries to kiss her. Tolliver angrily sends him away, and on the next night he shows up drunk and late for work. Tolliver has to stay on the job and when a freight train breaks in half and runs loose, he has to derail it before it collides with the oncoming Limited. While Tolliver is busy, Standish goes after Sally and tries to force himself on her. Sonny rushes to his father for help, but Tolliver sticks to his work, knowing that many lives on the Limited are at stake. Sally, it turns out, takes care of the situation on her own -- she points what she believes to be an unloaded pistol at Standish, though it is loaded and goes off, hitting him. Both the Limited and Sally's honor are saved. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

After the death of her father, Marise La Noue (Enid Bennett) can find no safe haven, so she runs off to Paris with Jean Leonnec, the mayor's son (Ramon Novarro). Before they can be married, however, they are separated. Marise sinks from working as a waitress to toiling as scrubwoman to the ultimate degradation as a woman of the streets. Leonnec, meanwhile, falls in with a gang of thieves. While he is being chased by gendarmes, he finds Marise and is horrified at what she has become. Even though he knocks her down in his frenzy, Marise nurses him through his breakdown. The police finally catch up with him and he serves a prison term. While he is incarcerated, Marise turns her life around. Leonnec emerges from prison a changed man and reunites with Marise. Director Fred Niblo was married to leading lady Enid Bennett. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Real-life husband and wife James Kirkwood and Lila Lee play Mr. and Mrs. in Another Man's Wife. Neglected by her husband, Lee pretends to desert him in order to win him back. This she does, but not before she and Kirkwood have gotten themselves entangled with various and sundry antagonists, including a gang of rumrunners. The film really comes to life during its rescue-at-sea finale. Wallace Beery, a few years away from full stardom, plays the glowering, grimacing villain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 12-reel silent adaptation of The Sea Hawk is far more faithful to the Rafael Sabatini original than the 1940 Errol Flynn version. Milton Sills stars as Sir Oliver Tressilien, a wealthy English baronet who is framed for the murder of his fiancée's brother. The instigator of this outrage is Sir Tressilien's covetous half brother, who also arranges for Tressilien to be shanghaied and carried off to sea. When his ship is attacked by Spaniards, Tressilien is put to work as a galley slave. Escaping, he becomes the leader of a gang of Moorish pirates. Despite his now-fearsome reputation, Tressilien is able to win back the love of his fiancée, Lady Rosamund Godolphin (Enid Bennett), who has been compelled to marry his half brother. A thrilling climactic duel to the death brings this sure-fire audience pleaser to a rousing conclusion. The Sea Hawk may well be the best film ever made by the popular Milton Sills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This mystery starring Elaine Hammerstein was based on the novel by Harold McGrath. The story centers around two small statuettes containing valuable emeralds, which are said to project a sinister influence on the possessor. The czar of Russia gives the statuettes to a grand duke, who, in turn, gives them to his secretary, John Hawksley (Jack Mulhall). Hawksley sends them to America in a friend's possession and follows after. But Gregor Karlov (Wallace Beery), one of the members of Russia's new regime, wants to get his hands on the statuettes, and he too travels to America. Back in the U.S., Hawksley falls in love with Dorothy (Hammerstein), the daughter of his banker, Barrows (Eric Mayne), who is holding onto the statuettes. When Barrows is found killed, Hawksley becomes the prime suspect. Cutty, a member of the secret service (David Torrence), helps tracks down the real killer who is -- guess who? -- Karlov. Cutty kills Karlov in a fight and Hawksley marries Dorothy. This story was remade as a Poverty Row feature in 1931, with Warner Oland in the villain role. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Thirty years after its release, Buster Keaton admitted that his first feature film was essentially three two-reel comedies strung together. Perhaps this was a way for the comic filmmaker to play it safe; he had achieved success for his short films and if Three Ages wasn't going very well, its trio of storylines could have been chopped up into separate films. The picture was a send-up of D.W. Griffith's 1916 masterpiece Intolerance. But instead of following greed and hatred through the ages, Keaton focused on love. His settings were the Stone Age, the Roman era and 1920s America, with Margaret Leahy as the girl and Wallace Beery as the villain in each segment. The stories are intercut, but they're basically the same: the villain uses either brutish or dishonest means to get the girl and Buster must somehow overcome him. Although they're the most crude-looking, the Stone Age scenes often offer the funniest moments: Buster flirts with a cavewoman who turns out to be twice his size; when a foe throws a rock at him, Buster hits the rock with a club, baseball-style, and squarely knocks out his opponent. The modern era offers the most thrilling scene -- Buster tries to jump between two tall buildings, but misses and falls. The fall was unintended, but instead of retaking the shot, he used it to create a series of events that led his character to the back of a moving fire truck.

While this picture ultimately didn't rate among Keaton's most classic work, it was a solid success when it first came out. Keaton did exactly what he'd set out to do, which was establish himself as a feature filmmaker. But it hadn't been all smooth going -- Margaret Leahy was pretty but had no talent for acting whatsoever. The girl was an English beauty-contest winner, and the prize was supposed to be a role in a Norma Talmadge film. She was so bad that Talmadge's director threatened to quit. So the star's producer/husband, Joseph Schenck (who was also Keaton's producer) put her in Three Ages instead. Keaton couldn't really complain -- because of his marriage to Natalie Talmadge, he was Norma's brother-in-law. So he made the best of it, although he later complained that Leahy caused him to throw away many scenes. Leahy eventually left the movie business and found a happier career working as an interior designer. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The rights to Don Cesar, the novel by Vicente Blasco-Ibanez, were originally purchased by Paramount as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino. When he and the studio had a parting of the ways, the story was rewritten for Pola Negri, with Gypsy dancer Maritana as the lead. This was Negri's third film for Paramount, and it was released around the same time as Rosita, which starred Mary Pickford and had a very similar plot (in addition, Rosita was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who Negri had wanted for her own film). While Rosita has managed to survive the ages, The Spanish Dancer was considered the better film at the time it came out, and no wonder -- Negri was totally believable as the exotic, temperamental dancer, whereas such a role was quite a stretch for the still-girlish-at-30 Pickford. Don Cesar de Bazan (Antonio Moreno) is about to be seized for his debts, but Maritana helps him to escape. When King Philip (Wallace Beery) gets a look at the beautiful dancer, he wants her for himself and sends his soldiers after her. Don Cesar tries to rescue Maritana, but he violates a royal edict and is sentenced to death. The double-dealing Don Salluste (Adolphe Menjou) takes Maritana to Don Cesar for a secret wedding, but after the ceremony, takes her to the king. Don Cesar, meanwhile, is saved from execution with the help of Lazarillo, a boy he has befriended (Gareth Hughes). Don Cesar winds up in a duel with the king, but the arrival of Queen Isabel (Kathlyn Williams) brings things to a head. Maritana stirs up her jealousy, which so pleases the king that he gives her and Don Cesar his blessings. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This adventurous drama of Russia's revolutionary days was based on the stage play by Earl Carroll. Wallace Beery -- at the time one of filmdom's most dependable villains -- has the title of role of Felix Bavu, an illiterate brute who has used the revolution to promote his own power-hungry aims. He encourages the people to pillage the castle of Prince Markoff (Josef Swickard), only because he wants the prince's jewels. Opposing him is Mischka Vleck (Forrest Stanley), an honest revolutionary of less violent disposition. Before the revolution, Vleck worked in the prince's household, and he loves his daughter, Princess Annia (Estelle Taylor). He hides Annia from Bavu, who has decided he wants her for himself. Bavu's efforts to get rid of Vleck are unsuccessful, and Vleck and Annia escape the castle. Bavu follows in pursuit, but the couple manages to escape the strife-ridden country. Now that the revolution has deemed them equals, Annia and Vleck can declare their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Priscilla Dean made a name for herself at Universal by playing charming female crooks in a number of films. The character of Cassie Cook is not so charming, however, and this unsympathetic role lost her a few points. Cassie is a mercenary opium smuggler, plain and simple. She is in China with Jules Repin (Wallace Beery) to make a killing in the drug business. Captain Jarvis (Matt Moore) is also in China on account of opium, only he's a government agent who is trying to put a halt to the smuggling. Cassie and Repin try to get him out of the way, but when Cassie falls in love with him, she decides to go straight. She is caught between Jarvis and her confederates and when the crooks manage to obtain some secret information, Jarvis loses his faith in her. A battle between the government men and the smugglers results in the burning of a village. Cassie, who has finally proved her honesty, wins Jarvis' trust once again. This picture was based on the stage play by John Colton which starred Alice Brady on Broadway. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This is not the 1919 Swedish picture, but an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, That Lass o' Lowrie's. It takes place in the English coal mines of the 1870s and revolves around Joan Lowrie (Priscilla Dean), who works as a pit girl. Fergus Derrick (Robert Ellis) is the son of the mine's owner, but instead of leading an idle life, he prefers to actually work in the mines himself. Joan's cruel father Dan (Wallace Beery) also works in the mines, and he often beats his daughter, who has inherited his strength of will but not his temper. Although Derrick has fallen in love with Joan, he is compelled to fire Lowrie. Lowrie leaves town, and Joan is finally able to relax and enjoy her life and Derrick. But her father returns, bent on revenge, and goes into the mines to kill his former employer. He lights a cigarette, causing an explosion, but Joan doesn't think twice about braving the flames to rescue her lover. Derrick in turn throws away any class-conscious concerns and unites with Joan for good. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Not surprisingly, this Northwoods drama was adapted from a James Oliver Curwood novel, The Poetic Justice of Uko San. It features an excellent cast, including both Beery brothers, Wallace and Noah. Brothers Tom and Bob Fitzgerald (Kenneth Harlan and Gaston Glass, respectively) are both members of the Northwest Mounted Police. Bob falls in love with schoolteacher Joan Cameron (Alice Lake) when he saves her from an attack by Fu Chang (Wallace Beery). Tom is not so heroic, and he becomes involved with the wife (Rosemary Theby) of post sergeant George Mardeaux (Noah Beery). Tom kills Mardeaux, and Bob is forced to hunt down his own brother. He tracks him down to Joan's cabin. But Bob falls seriously ill, and on what he believes to be his deathbed, he protects his brother by signing a confession that claims he is Mardeaux's murderer. Tom returns to the post with the news, but Bob recovers, and when he comes back he is faced with a lynch mob who believe him to be a murderer. Joan tries to save Bob but is attacked by Mardeaux's two-timing widow. Finally the truth comes out that Tom is the real killer, and he swallows poison to avoid hanging. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

aka Hell's River Just about every actor has to work his way up from supporting roles and this even includes Rin-Tin-Tin. Known only as Rin Tin in 1922, he made a stunning debut in this drama of the Northwest, based on the James Oliver Curwood novel, The God of Her People. Pretty Maballa (Eva Novak) lives at a small French-Canadian trading post with her father. While her sweetheart Pierre, a Mountie (Irving Cummings, who also directed), is off capturing bad guys she finds herself at the mercy of Gaspard, an evil character also known as the Wolf (no, not Rin-Tin-Tin, but Wallace Beery in high villain mode). Gaspard knows that Maballa's father is wanted for a murder (which, of course, he did not commit) and threatens to have him arrested unless she marries him. Maballa has no choice, and is betrothed to Gaspard by the time Pierre returns to the post (here is where Rin-Tin-Tin appears, as the pilot dog of Pierre's team). Maballa cannot explain the situation to her Mountie boyfriend, but a priest finally tells all. Gaspard tries to take Maballa away, but Pierre follows and a fight to the death ensues. Just when things look bad for Pierre, his faithful pilot dog leaps on Gaspard and sends him flying over the cliff. Pierre and Maballa are finally reunited and Rin-Tin-Tin takes his place in movie history alongside another dog star of the silent era, Strongheart. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide