Jack Mower Movies
Silent film leading man Jack Mower was at his most effective when cast in outgoing, athletic roles. Never a great actor, he was competent in displaying such qualities as dependability and honesty. His best known silent role was as the motorcycle cop who is spectacularly killed by reckless driver Leatrice Joy in Cecil B. DeMille's Manslaughter (1922). Talkies reduced Jack Mower to bit parts, but he was frequently given work by directors whom he'd befriended in his days of prominence; Mower's last film was John Ford's The Long Gray Line (1955). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1918
Norah McDonald (Margarita Fisher) and Paul Howell (Jack Mower) meet because of a misunderstanding -- while traveling by train, wealthy young Norah is loathe to leave her dog in baggage, so she dresses it up like a baby and boards the train with it in her arms. Paul sees her and her bundle of joy and notes that she's awfully young to be married. To his horror, she tells him she's not married and doesn't plan on it. When she gets off the train to meet her guardian, Paul is convinced that he is the man who has "disgraced" Norah and he offers her a job at his settlement house. Norah takes the job but finds the organization overrun with red tape, and when she tries, against company policy, to help out starving young mother Anna Houlahan (Louella Maxam), Paul fires her. In retaliation she sets up a settlement house right across the street from Paul's. Eventually Paul sees that Norah has a better handle on how to run things. They discuss the Houlahan case, which ends in Paul attempting to beat up the drunken Mr. Houlahan (Gordon Russell). But Mrs. Houlahan, to protect her rotten husband, lets Paul have it. With Norah's intercession, the situation clears up, and she and Paul decide to joins forces. Only then does he find out that Norah's "baby" is her pet pup. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
It is hard to describe the plot of Ann's Finish, since even the filmmakers didn't seem to know what was going on. As near as can be determined, Ann (Margarita Fisher), daughter of a lumber baron, is packed off to boarding school in the Big City. Here she meets a wealthy young man (Jack Mower) who appears to be an amateur burglar. When the cops show up, Ann saves the young fellow by claiming to be his wife. It takes several reels, and a thrilling episode in which the heroine is captured by real burglars, before Ann learns the real name and the true motives of her "instant husband." At one point, a subtitle is flashed on the screen, asking the filmgoers if they could guess what would happen to Ann next. More than likely, the answer was a resounding "Darned if we know!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Fair Enough stars Margarita Fisher, who spelled her last name "Fischer" until America went to war with Germany. The plot revolves around a nouveau riche family trying to crash society. Daughter Ann (Fisher) chases after a handsome fortune hunter, with the assistance of likeable cop "Happy" Flanigan (Bull Montana). She finally settles for Flanagan's fellow officer Carey Phelan (Jack Mower), a poor-but-honest type--who, fortunately for Ann's family, turns out to be an incognito millionaire. Like most of director Edward Sloman's silent effort, Fair Enough is considered a lost film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Margarita Fisher -- who'd dropped the "c" in her last name as part of the "de-Germanization" policies of WWI -- played the title role in the Pathe five-reeler Molly of the Follies. Heroine Molly Malone (Fisher) is a sideshow dancer at a carnival where the star attraction is underwater acrobat Joe Holmquist (Jack Mower), aka "The Human Submarine." Molly falls in love with Joe, only to find herself in competition with her own mother, fortune teller Kate Malone (Lulu Warrenton). The story's finale had a decidedly Houdiniesque quality, with hero Joe nearly coming to grief while trying to extricate himself from a water tank. Molly of the Follies was evocatively lensed on location at Coney Island by the always fascinating Edward Sloman -- and, like most of Sloman's silent efforts, the film has apparently vanished without a trace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
After showing off her comedic skills in Peggy Does Her Darnedest, May Allison wound up playing an heiress in this banal melodrama. She's kidnapped and held captive on an island until she is saved by hero Jack Mower. Even silent-film audiences, who were used to melodrama, found this plot too much to take. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Bill Reid (Jack Mower) finishes college at the head of his class and goes to work at a bank headed by William Stuyvesant (J.H. Gilmore). The banker's daughter, Ruth (Arline Pretty), is in love with Reid, but one of the other employees, Tom Burnett (Rod LaRocque), wants her for himself. He passes his old girlfriend, Grace Andrews (Nita Naldi), off to Stuyvesant's son, Ralph (Leeward Meeker), who promptly puts her up in style in a pricey Riverside Drive apartment. When Ralph forges his father's name on a check, Burnett tries to pin the deed on Reid. Then he kills Stuyvesant and has Reid convicted of the crime. Ruth, who has married Reid, convinces the detective that her husband is innocent. She helps him escape from Sing Sing on the morning he is to be executed. Burnett, meanwhile, has discovered that the murder was seen by Dutch Joe, and kills him, too. The detective is able to gather enough evidence to prove that Burnett is a murderer and he and Ruth go in search of Reid. They find him out West in the desert, half-dead from exposure. He is rescued, and he and Ruth look forward to a happier future. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hubert Druce, Nita Naldi, (more)
- 1921
This Universal programmer features Mary Philbin, who was still fairly new to the screen and not yet the star of The Merry-Go-Round and Phantom of the Opera. Tressie Harlow (Philbin) lives with her Uncle Nate (George Bunny) and Aunt Deborah (Minna Ferry Redman) in a little fishing village. Because of financial reverses, they are compelled to take in boarders for the summer. The first ones are Mrs. Minot and her son, Norman (James Morrison), from the Boston social set. Tressie falls in love with Norman, but the fortune-hunting Della Mayhew (Emily Rait) comes to board, and she tries to force her own daughter, Dora (Helene Caverly), on the young man. Meanwhile, artist Robert Kitteridge (Jack Mower), a friend of Norman's, makes a play for Tressie himself. He manages to bring her to his studio in Boston, where he tries to have his way with her. But Tressie is saved by the arrival of his ex-girlfriend, an athletic vaudeville performer. In an unlikely climax, this muscular young lady proceeds to give Kitteridge a sound thrashing. Norman finally tracks Tressie to the studio and he fetches her. Back at the Harlows', they announce their engagement. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Philbin, James Morrison, (more)
- 1921
A strong supporting cast that included blond flapper Betty Francisco, veteran supporting player J. Farrell McDonald and smooth-looking action leading man Jack Mower elevated Riding with Death above the average Buck Jones western. Texas Ranger Steve Dorsey (Jones) searches for the villain who murdered his partner Val Nelson (Mower). The killer, it turns out, is Dorsey's romantic rival, sheriff Pat Garrity (McDonald). The crooked lawman ships Dorsey off to jail, but our hero manages to get word to the Rangers, who ride to the rescue. The trade-paper Motion Picture News took Jones to task for changing his first name from plain "Buck" to "Charles" in this film but lauded him for "executing a 'Mix' or two by doubling for himself in stunts." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Seventeen-year-old flapper Natalie Smith (Gladys Walton) is fed up with being treated like a child, so she flirts with an older man, Lance Christie (Jack Mower). Unfortunately, Natalie's mother is working for -- and engaged to -- Wallace Brewster (Edward Martindel), who is running for mayor, and Christie's brother, Woodward (William Welsh) is his opponent. Lance isn't really interested in her -- he's just using her to get information on Brewster. Natalie naively steals some papers for Lance before discovering that he's already married and being sued for divorce. Brewster, meanwhile, had the real papers that the Christies wanted all along. Eventually Natalie is forgiven for her rash behavior. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
In a little fishing village, an infant is discovered by Captain Dan Purcell (Rex de Roselli). He and his wife (Anna Hernandez) take the baby in and raise it as their own. The child, Kit, grows up to be a lively tomboy (Gladys Walton) who often gets involved in the affairs of her neighbors. One night, she goes on board one of the fishing boats to break up a poker game and makes one of the players go home to his wife. Captain Burt Kincaid (Jack Mower) detains her and tries to force himself on her. The spunky Kit puts a quick-enough end to that, and Kincaid comes to admire her instead. A locket reveals that Kit is actually part of a very wealthy family and she goes to live in luxury with her two newfound maiden aunts. She is not happy with her new life, however, and longs to go back to the humble fishing village and to Kincaid. She gets her chance when the rich woman who is supposedly her mother reveals that Kit was actually the maid's daughter. Kit is more than happy to return to the Purcells -- and, of course, to Kincaid. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Compelled to marry a notorious gambler (Harry Van Meter) in order to cover her father's gambling debts, pretty Molly Hanlon (Grace Darmond) almost loses her life when the saloon goes up in flames. She is saved by handsome Miles Rand (Jack Mower), with whom she falls in love. Mistakenly believing her villainous husband to have perished in the blaze, the two arrange to begin a new life in New York. The husband, alas, survived and tracks down the couple. Once in Manhattan, Miles kills the irate gambler in self defense and is convicted of murder. A former associate of the villain surfaces to tell the whole sorry story, leaving Molly and Miles free to marry. Leading lady Grace Darmond was a popular serial star of the 1910s (The Shielding Shadow, The Hawk's Trail), who also appeared in the first official Technicolor feature, The Gulf Between (1918). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1922
Even with its share of sumptuous sets and domestic mixups, this comedy-drama was not typical for director Cecil B. DeMille. Plus, the class-conscious attitude reflected the attitudes of the pre-World War I era -- mores started changing during the 1920s. A young society couple, Iris Van Suydam (Leatrice Joy) and Dick Prentiss (Conrad Nagel), are engaged to be married. But when the Van Suydam chauffeur, Tom McGuire (Jack Mower), saves Iris when her car is stuck on a railroad track, she impulsively marries him. Likewise, Prentiss falls for Shamrock O'Day (Edith Roberts), the daugh ter of his family's laundress (Sylvia Ashton). The two couples, however, are woefully mismatched -- Prentiss can't cope with Shamrock's love for Coney Island and McGuire's Saturday night bathing ritual (the only night he scrubs down) gives Iris pause. A tenement fire breaks out in which Prentiss saves Iris and McGuire saves Shamrock and everyone realizes they are happier with those of their own class. The result is two divorces and two weddings. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Conrad Nagel, (more)
- 1922
Veteran silent-screen vamp Dorothy Dalton starred in this commonplace western based on Vingie E. Roe's story, Tharon of Last Valley. Dalton's Tharon Last is a plucky rancher out to avenge the murder of her father (Will R. Walling). As it turns out, the girl is up against a conspiracy that also includes the local judge and sheriff. Tharon learns how to handle a gun or two, however, and manages to nail the murderer (Frank Campeau). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Jack Mower, (more)
- 1922
This Cecil B. DeMille morality play came at just the right time -- the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle scandal and William Desmond Taylor murder were both still fresh in the public's mind. Leatrice Joy plays Lydia Thorne, a rich society girl who is addicted to thrills. Because of her reckless driving, she is responsible for the death of a motorcycle cop and is brought to trial. The prosecutor is none other than her fiancé, Daniel O'Bannon (Thomas Meighan). Feeling that prison is her only means of mending her ways, he guarantees her conviction by making a speech in which he depicts the decadence and downfall of Rome (this gave DeMille the opportunity for one of his historical fantasy sequences). After Lydia is found guilty, the miserable O'Bannon becomes an alcoholic, but Lydia does learn from the experience and when she is released she searches out O'Bannon. Her new outlook on life brings him around, and they are together once again. This film is, perhaps, the epitome of the DeMille formula of the '20s -- as long as the characters paid for their sins by the last reel, DeMille could show all the debauchery he wanted. This pleased both the Hayes office's need for censorship and filmgoers' hunger for sensation. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Meighan, Leatrice Joy, (more)
- 1923
Steve Cline (Milton Sills) returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the paper that his brother Tom (Jack Mower) was arrested for safecracking. Tom escapes and runs to the home of Sadie McCall (Carmel Myers), whose father Reever (Alec Francis) heads a forgery ring. Steve rushes to meet his brother, but Tom is killed in a police raid. Reever gets away and Steve falls for Sadie, but Steve takes the blame for the murder and faces death by hanging. Only a pardon from Governor Logan (Eric Mayne) can save him from execution in this crime drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Sills, Carmel Myers, (more)
This tale of a crook's reform takes place in the San Francisco of the early 1900s. Predictably, Lon Chaney plays a crook and a misshapen cripple (the type of role almost expected of him at this point in his career). Anne Vincent, better known as "Queen Anne" (Christine Mayo), sends Wilse Dilling (Chaney) to a small town to keep an eye on Mischa Hadley (William Welsh), an embezzling banker who is her lover. Dilling falls in love with Hadley's daughter, Gertrude (Virginia Valli), and blows up the bank's safe to destroy incriminating records. The blast, however, leaves Gertrude a cripple, and Dilling uses his savings to restore her to health. Queen Anne, whose greed knows no end, has told Hadley that he will either give her more money or give her his daughter. Ultimately, she has Gertrude kidnapped and taken to a Chinese den. Dilling rescues her and she helps in his regeneration. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake shakes everything up, and Dilling's reform is complete. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney
- 1923
Based on novelist William McLeod Raine's A Texas Ranger, Pure Grit starred the now completely forgotten Roy Stewart as a Texas lawman aiding a schoolmarm (Esther Ralston) who is being victimized by an imposter posing as her long-lost brother. The gallant ranger manages to get the goods on the crook (Jack Mower), helped along the way by tow-headed Verne Winter, a pupil in the local school. Stewart, once a competitor of William S. Hart, was nearing the end of his starring days with this film, while Ralston had just begun hers. The blonde actress would later emerge as one of the silent era's loveliest leading ladies, starring in 1926 alone in such major productions as A Kiss For Cinderella, Old Ironsides and The American Venus. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Stewart, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1924
The "Golden Age" of silent movies had its share of cheap potboilers, as witness Robes of Sin. Sylvia Breamer plays Ruth Rogens, the wife of detective John Rogens (Jack Mower). Bored by marriages, Ruth begins keeping time with bootlegger Cyler Bryson (Bruce Gordon). This puts John in quite a pickle, since he's forsworn to bring Bryson to justice. Incredibly, Ruth never catches on that her boyfriend is a crook until she's put wise by Bryon's cast-off mistress (Gertrude Astor). Evidently filmed several years before its release, Robes of Sin was old-fashioned the moment the director shouted "Cut! That's a wrap!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Breamer, Jack Mower, (more)
- 1925
Handsome action star Reed Howes, the former "Arrow Collar Man," starred in this low-budget silent melodrama as an adventuresome Yankee who saves the duly elected president of a South American republic from being overthrown by his unscrupulous secretary. Having fallen in love with Rosita Gonzales (Carmelita Geraghty), the daughter of the president of Costa Blanca, Ted Clayton accidentally overhears El Diablo (Jack Mower) discussing a scheme to illegally take control of the government. Braving a series of perils, Ted manages to get an audience with the president (Eric Mayne) and later helps defend the palace from El Diablo and his gang of cutthroats. Produced by Harry Joe Brown for small-scale Rayart Pictures, Cyclone Cavalier was a fast-paced yarn with more than a passing resemblance to the average low-budget B-Western. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmelita Geraghty, Wilfred Lucas, (more)
- 1927
Jobyna Ralston, perennial leading lady in the Harold Lloyd pictures, is afforded star billing in Pretty Clothes. When Marian Dunbar (Ralston) falls in love with wealthy young Russell Thorpe (Johnny Walker), Thorpe's father (Charles Clary) decides to break up the romance. The elder Thorpe arranges for Philip Bennett (Lloyd Whitlock) to present Marian with a gorgeous gown. The girl innocently accepts the gift, whereupon Thorpe Sr. triumphantly informs Russell that Marian is a gold-digger who "paid the price" for the gown. Only in the final few minutes does Russell realizes that he's been duped, whereupon hero and heroine are reunited. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jobyna Ralston, Johnny Walker, (more)
- 1928
The Columbia programmer Sinner's Parade stars studio utility player Victor Varconi as shady dance-hall proprietor Al Morton. Schoolteacher Mary Tracy (Dorothy Revier) goes to work for Al to support her family. When Bill Adams (John Patrick), the son of anti-vice campaigner Mrs. Adams (Clara Selwynne), falls for Mary, she tries to quit her job, but Al won't let her. The girl's resentment for Al intensifies when the joint is raided and she loses her teaching job as a result. Amazingly, however, Al turns out to be the hero of the piece when the "respectable" Bill Adams reveals himself to be a gangster boss, whereupon Mary saves Al from being taken for a ride by Adams' hired goons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Revier, Victor Varconi, (more)
- 1928
Mower helps Logan find her brother, the victim of pirates. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1928
Based on Zane Grey's 1905 Collier's short story, this fine Paramount Western starred the underrated Nancy Carroll as an Eastern socialite vamping Arizona rancher Philip Randolph Jack Holt, in town to discuss business with her father (C. Montague Shaw). When the smitten young man proposes, he discovers that Judith Endicott has been kidding him all along. With her father's permission, the Arizonian "kidnaps" the spoiled girl to teach her a much needed lesson. A jealous suitor (John Boles) is trailing them, however, and has an Indian accomplice steal their horses. They survive a trek through the desert and after reaching safety, a grateful Judith "kidnaps" Philip for good. A former director of 2-reel comedies, F. Richard Jones graduated to features in the 1920s but left the screen during the changeover to sound. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Nancy Carroll, (more)
- 1928
Real-life flyboy Al Wilson starred in a string of successful silent aviation epics, of which Air Patrol was typical. Wilson is cast as special agent Al Langdon, at present pursuing elusive gem smuggler Michael Revere (Jack Mower). Going undercover, Langdon joins Revere's gang, and in this capacity is obliged to rescue their beautiful hostage, Mary Lacy (Elsa Benham). When his ruse is discovered, our hero is bound hand-and-foot and locked in a shack, while Revere escapes by air with Mary still in his clutches. But Langdon escapes in time to give chase to Revere, leading to a thrill-packed conclusion high above the clouds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Wilson, Elsa Benham, (more)
- 1928
A typical Poverty Row potboiler, this minor silent action melodrama featured Jacqueline Logan as a young woman searching for her wayward brother (Arthur Rankin), who is falsely accused of murder and on the lam. Along the way, Miss Logan encounters untold dangers from a maniacal Chinese warlord (the always watchable Sojin) and falls in love with a handsome ship's captain (Jack Mower). A 1922 WAMPAS Baby Star, the beautiful Jacqueline Logan had played a very alluring Mary Magdalene in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), after which her career inexplicably went into a free fall. A late entry in the "yellow peril" cycle, Ships of the Night was penned by prolific genre specialist Arthur Hoerl. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Logan, Jack Mower, (more)
