Charles Morton Movies

A long lost silent comedy-drama, Colleen was a great success for Madge Bellamy, whose popularity reached its zenith in the mid-1920s. According to the Motion Picture News, Bellamy played a debutante who falls in love with the son (Charles Morton) of an impoverished nobleman. "Their love making under difficulties and constant squabbles form the basis of the action," the trade-paper stated rather tersely. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Failing miserably in the business world, a college hero becomes a lifeguard and falls for a pretty concessionaire in this breezy comedy which greatly benefitted by incorporating a beauty pageant filmed in Technicolor. Two of Fox studios' newest contract players, Charles Morton and Sally Phipps, starred as the lifeguard and concessionaire, respectively. Although throwing an obstacle race to aid an injured competitor, Morton emerges the winner when it comes to romance. A 1927 WAMPAS Baby Star, Sally Phipps was quite popular in the late '20s, especially in campus comedies, but left films in 1929 to marry department store heir Benedict Gimpel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The circus provides the backdrop for this melodrama that chronicles the lives of four children raised within the big top. Two of them have grown to be lovers. Though they appear inseparable, trouble ensues when a usurper takes the girl away. The picture is considered a lost work -- no copies are known to have survived. It was nonetheless regarded as an excellent film upon release (hence the 3.5 star rating); a 1928 Variety review proclaimed it "an elegantly produced, photographed, and directed picture by Fox, of high value regular release quality, and missing the super height class only because it is missing any one big kick." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an unemployed young woman who must support her younger brother pays a visit to a gambler who wants her body. However, he is murdered during her visit, and she is charged with the crime. But, the real killer is unmasked and dies in an accident, and her old flame shows up to romance her once again. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Check and Double Check brought radio's highest-rated program to the big screen. Amos 'N' Andy were two black characters played by two white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. Donning blackface, Gosden and Correll are seen as well as heard as A&A, partners in the Harlem-based Fresh Air Taxicab Company. Our heroes spend most of their time helping the white romantic leads (Sue Carol and Charles Morton) try to locate a missing deed to some property owned by Morton's family. Eventually, Amos 'N' Andy unwittingly end up in a haunted house. Virtually the only genuine African Americans in the film are the members of Duke Ellington's Cotton Club orchestra, whose appearance at a high society ball is the device that brings A&A into the plot. Though no other Amos 'N' Andy films would follow, a popular TV series later aired in the 1950s with black actors cast in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This early talkie is the third version of the popular Booth Tarkington play. It is set in the mid 19th-century and centers upon a good-hearted riverboat gambler who takes on a group of criminals in New Orleans during Mardis Gras when he rushes in to save a young woman from ruination. But she is a tough cookie and doesn't even thank him. Instead, she runs away. Later he meets her again after he wins her daddy's cotton plantation in a card game. None of the locals are pleased by the gambler's presence and he is nearly lynched. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Former silent-screen star Frank Mayo plays a big-city bootlegger at odds with gangster chieftain Tom Santschi, the man who's been hijacking his shipments. The cops decide not to get involved but instead remain on the sidelines, hoping that Mayo and Santschi will knock each other off. But young newspaper reporter Charles Morton insists upon getting into the thick of the action -- causing no end of consternation for Santschi, who happens to be Morton's older brother. When Morton is "taken for a ride" by Mayo, he is saved by the bootlegger's cast-off mistress Dorothy Revier. Produced independently, The Last Ride was released by Universal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marlene Dietrich stars as Helen Faraday, a German cabaret singer in the States whose husband, Ned, falls ill and his only hope is to receive expensive medical treatment at a clinic in Europe. Struggling to afford his care and to support their son Johnny, she works at a nightclub and succumbs to the advances of wealthy playboy Nick, whose gifts assist in her husband's recovery. Soon Ned recovers and returns, but when he discovers that Helen has been unfaithful, he divorces her, threatening to take their son. After running with little Johnny, she ends up a prostitute in New Orleans, where she is found by the detective hired by Ned. The boy is taken from her and Helen flees to Paris where she becomes a cabaret sensation. Upon witnessing a performance, Nick begins seeing her again and when the show moves to NYC, he secures a meeting between her and her ex -- who is finally made aware of the motivation behind her affair years before. This is the feature containing the well-known scenes where Dietrich performs stage numbers in an ape-suit and a white tuxedo (complete with top hat). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Though it bears the same title as an earlier Gene Autry western, Roy Rogers' The Man from Music Mountain isn't a remake. Rogers is appropriately cast as a cowboy who's hit it big as a radio singing star. Returning to his hometown for a special remote broadcast, Roy finds himself in the middle of a deadly feud. Nothing will be settled so long as cattleman Victor Marsh (Paul Kelly) resorts to villainy to achieve his goals. Fortunately, the newly deputized Roy figures out a way to straighten out the mess without undue bloodshed. Rogers' leading lady this time out is the multitalented Ruth Terry, who was in just about every other Republic B-picture of the mid-1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bill Elliot is back as Red Ryder in Cheyenne Wildcat. Also back are Ryder's perennial cohorts Little Beaver (Bobby Blake, later Robert Blake of Baretta fame) and the Duchess (Alice Fleming). When not pummeling the bad guys, Ryder is the reluctant apex of a love triangle. It's formula stuff all the way, socked across with ingenuity by director Leslie Selander. Cheyenne Wildcat is especially fun to watch during the finale, when Republic's battery of stunt experts take over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, an innocent saddletramp is blamed for killing a man. Fortunately he finds the real culprit before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this convoluted western, a sickly cowboy sidekick gets into a terrible fix when he is mistaken for a notorious bank robber and tossed in the clink. There is a huge bounty on the villain's head, and the sheriff happily anticipates the arrival of that bounty on the next stage, unaware that the real crook is waiting in ambush to steal the money. Meanwhile the sidekick's heroic compadre convinces the sheriff that he has the wrong man. Unfortunately, the robbery takes place before they can free the sidekick. The sheriff and the hero ride off to capture the crook. Unfortunately, by this time, the villain has snuck into the jail and has exchanged places with his doppleganger so when the sheriff and the hero bring the outlaw into prison they once again have the wrong man. The hero is then left to try to figure out which of the look-a-likes is really his partner and save him before hanging day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide