Antonio Moreno Movies
Spanish actor Antonio Moreno was in films from 1912, and in the pre-1920 years had built himself up into one of the bigger stars of Vitagraph Studios. A beefy, handsome man who could spring into rugged action at the turn of a camera crank, Moreno also appeared in several silents serials, with titles like The House of Hate and Invisible Hands. Like many pioneer movie players, Moreno found his star waning in the early '20s, until the arrival of Rudolph Valentino created a demand in Hollywood for Latin Lover types. Moreno's career was revitalized, and by 1926 he was pitching woo to Greta Garbo and engaging in a bloody bullwhip duel (not with Garbo) in The Temptress. When talkies came in, Moreno was kept busy starring in Spanish-language versions of Hollywood film hits, and continued making films in his native tongue both in the USA and below the border. As an actor, Moreno was rather locked in the declamatory style of his Vitagraph days, as witness his florid performance as an amorous gypsy in Laurel and Hardy's The Bohemian Girl (1936). But he worked often, if not for the high salaries of his silent days, in character roles in such Hollywood costume epics as The Spanish Main (1945) and Captain from Castile (1948). John Ford devotees will be familiar with Moreno for his role as Emilio Figueroa in Ford's influential western epic The Searchers (1955). Antonio Moreno's final film was still another Spanish-language production, El Senora Faron y la Cleopatra (1958). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1916
A Southern gentleman's alcoholism nearly costs him the love of his life in this silent drama set just before the Civil War. Fortunately for the troubled lovers, a wiser, more experienced friend is around to help the young man overcome his addiction and reunite with his lady love. The duo hold an engagement party. Unfortunately, the bride-to-be finds herself threatened by the amorous advances of an inebriated partygoer. To defend her honor and his own, the disgruntled groom challenges the drunken lad to a duel at dawn. The fiance wins, but his father is so angry that he disowns his son. In shame the son, who still loves the girl, moves to the New York home of the wise friend and remains there until his father dies. Surprisingly, he left his son a small inheritance and the young man uses it to head for South America to look for rubies. He finds them and soon becomes extremely wealthy and returns home. There he finds that his old friend has become impoverished. With little hesitation the young man shares his wealth and then gets to marry his true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This story of the Civil War is told in flashback. Some new college students want to know about the bullet hole in Mr. Curtis's old classroom and he relates a story about his own college days, in the 1860s: There was a rivalry between two men, Dick Randolph (Antonio Moreno) and Watkins (Gordon Gray), for the hand of Marian Young (Peggy Hyland). There is a trumped-up duel between the two, and Randolph believes he has killed Watkins but later he discovers it was a hoax. War breaks out and Randolph becomes a cavalry leader for the Confederates, while Watkins fights for the Union. Marian's aunt, a Union sympathizer, betrays Randolph to the Northerners, but Marian saves him with the help of his loyal black servant. He and Watkins meet once again on the battlefield and they die in each other's arms, while Marian, working as a field nurse, tends to them. As their lives end, the two men drink a toast to their alma mater from a canteen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Playboy Jean de Segni Antonio Moreno pays A Price for Folly that is a dear one in this 5-reel Vitagraph melodrama. After an extended drinking binge, Jean picks up a couple of chorus girls and celebrates some more. Meanwhile, his father, the Duke de Segni (Charles Kent), lies on his deathbed, wondering what will become of his beloved wife (Louise Beaudet) when Jean assumes leadership of the family. Ultimately, the Duke rallies long enough to kill his wife rather than allow her to be dragged into the gutter by her no-good son. At this point, Jean realizes that the previous events have all been a horrible dream, whereupon he instantly vows to reform his ways. The only "loser" in the story is Mlle. Dorothy Jardeau (Edith Storey) a gold-digging actress who had very nearly snared Jean as her husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
On Her Wedding Night is when young society bride Helen Carter (Edith Storey) abruptly becomes a widow. In fact, she is on the phone with her new husband Denton (Denton Vane) when he is shot and killed. The sole witness to the crime, Italian immigrant Carlo Picalli (William Dunn), is so shocked by the experience that he loses his memory, at which point he is "adopted" by Denton's best friend Henry Hallem (Antonio Moreno), who also appoints himself Helen's protector. Together, Henry and Denton manage to uncover the murderer's identity, whereupon the grateful Helen agrees to marry Henry, who of course has been in love with her all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Long before he was kindly old Dr. Meade in Gone With the Wind, Harry Davenport was a sort of renaissance man of the American theatre, serving as actor, writer, producer and director. Wearing his director's cap, Davenport helmed the 1915 silent feature Island of Regeneration. Juvenile star (and future Warner Bros. director) Bobby Connolly plays the young gadfly in a group of tourists trapped on a desert island. While Connolly remains pretty much the same from first reel to last, each of the adult members undergoes a life transformation during their enforced stay. A well-handled earthquake sequence climaxes this adaptation of a novel by Cyrus Townsend Brady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Conservative Biograph Studios, having galloped to prominence on the coattails of their star director D.W. Griffith, refused to allow Griffith to make any film longer than two reels. Ignoring this edict, Griffith permitted his Biblical epic Judith of Bethulia to stretch to four reels; Biograph's reprimands were so blistering that the director quit the studio, setting up his own independent operation. While of great historical value, Judith of Bethulia is, truth to tell, not one of Griffith's best efforts. Among other things, the film is hampered by uninteresting exterior locations and a storyline that switched dramatic gears far too often. The basic story of young widow Judith (Blanche Sweet) offering herself to Assyrian leader Holofernes (Henry B. Walthall) in order to kill the man and thus avenge the subjugation and slaughter of her countrymen was strong enough on its own to carry the day. It was hardly necessary for Griffith to concoct a last-minute-rescue subplot involving Bethulian warrior Robert Harron and damsel in distress Mae Marsh. Historians have suggested that Griffith, impressed by the recently released Italian spectacular Quo Vadis, may have conceived Judith as an American "answer" to that film--an ill-advised decision, since the plotlines of the two properties bear precious little resemblance to each other. Still, it is fascinating to watch Griffith experiment with many of the story elements and techniques that he'd later hone to perfection in such films as Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916) and Orphans of the Storm (1916); it's also an enjoyable film-buff exercise to spot such Griffith regulars as Lillian and Dorothy Gish and Harry Carey in minor roles. Biograph--whose fortunes diminished after Griffith's departure--reissued Judith of Bethulia in 1917 in an expanded version titled Her Condoned Sin, using outtakes that Griffith had wisely jettisoned back in 1914. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
