Kathleen Myers Movies

In the tradition of her previous appearance as the title character in Stella Dallas, Belle Bennett suffers her way through all six reels of The Fourth Commandment. Bennett plays Virginia, the selfish wife of Edmund Graham (Leigh Willard), unable to tolerate her amiable but intrusive mother-in-law (Mary Carr). Finally, Virginia delivers an ultimatum: "Either your mother goes, or I go!" Ultimately, what comes around goes around when the aging Virginia is given the boot by her own daughter-in-law. In case there's any doubt, the "fourth commandment" is "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the musical comedy of the same name, Kosher Kitty Kelly stars Viola Dana in the title role. The story is a variation on the Abie's Irish Rose theme, detailing the marriage between an Irish Catholic and a Jew. Much of the humor is of the roughhouse variety, though there are a few touches of tenderness, courtesy of Nat Carr as Moses Ginsburg and Vera Gordon as Mrs. Feinbaum. In fact, "official" heroine Kitty Kelly generally takes a back seat to the wistful middle-aged romance between Carr and Gordon. Handling the directorial reins was James W. Horne, best known today for his collaborations with Laurel and Hardy and his gloriously silly Columbia serials of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

He may have been Maurice B. Flynn on the studio payroll, but to his fans this popular action star was best known as "Lefty" Flynn. In Smilin' at Trouble, Lefty plays Jerry Foster a construction engineer working on a big-time dam project. Our hero gets wind of a plan cooked up by his foreman to sabotage the dam for fun and profit. The finale is a fairly convincing dam-burst sequence, in which Jerry rescues boss' daughter Alice Arnold (Helen Lynch) while the treacherous foreman meets a soggy demise. In Great Britain, the film was more formally shipped out as Smiling at Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With this delightful film, Buster Keaton rivals Charlie Chaplin for comic poetry and pathos. Keaton's character, known only as Friendless, is a Midwestern boy who is down on his luck. After an abortive attempt to get by in the city, he follows Horace Greeley's advice to "Go West, young man!" As a result, Friendless winds up on a cattle ranch and is about the most unlikely cowboy imaginable (in fact, he never does trade in his porkpie hat for a ten-gallon). Various bits of comic business abound; standouts include the milking scene and a card game in which Friendless accuses a player of cheating. The sharpie tells The Great Stone Face "When you say that -- smile!" More importantly, Friendless finds true love -- not with the rancher's daughter (Kathleen Myers) but with Brown Eyes, a cow who seems nearly as out of place in the herd as Friendless does on the ranch. Cow and boy become devoted, but Brown Eyes is headed for the slaughterhouse. Friendless resolves to rescue her, sneaking on the train that's taking her and thousands of other cattle to the Los Angeles station. The herd escapes from the cattle cars at the destination and runs amok through downtown L.A.; it is then up to Friendless to round them up. Look closely during the hilarious stampede scene -- Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle plays a part in drag, and Keaton's father also has a bit in a barber shop. With the help of a costume shop, Friendless saves the day...and his cow. Go West is Keaton's most heartfelt film, and certainly one of his most underrated. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Cowboy ace Tom Mix allowed himself a change of pace with this costume adventure produced by Fox. Mix plays the legendary British highwayman, who after robbing nasty Lord Churlton (Philo McCullough) learns that the nobleman is to be married to innocent Lady Alice Brookfield (Kathleen Myers), a gun-shot wedding, so to speak, as the lady considers Churlton loathsome. With the assistance of Lady Alice's maid Sally (Lucille Hutton), our gallant hero concocts a plan to smuggle the fair maiden to York dressed as a boy. The scheme backfires, though, and Dick Turpin is chased all over creation by the authorities. He arrives in York just in time to save the fair maiden from a fate worse than death and together they find a safe haven in France. A very young Carole Lombard saw most of her footage left on the cutting-room floor but the future star can still be spotted in a crowd scene. And according to at least one report, fellow Fox cowboy Buck Jones joined the ranks of extras in a successful effort to surprise Mix. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This first movie version of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt stars the corpulent Willard Louis in the title role. A middle-aged businessman/blowhard in the small town of Zenith, Babbitt is somewhat naïve in the ways of the world. He allows himself to stray from his long-standing marriage to wife Myra (Mary Alden) when he succumbs to the charms of avaricious Tanis Judique (Carmel Myers). Before he comes to his senses, Babbitt nearly ruins the reputation he has spent a lifetime judiciously building up. Warner Bros. remade Babbitt in 1934, with Guy Kibbee typecast to perfection in the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For a long stretch in the early 1920s, Larry Semon's cinematic adversary of choice was Oliver Hardy. In this two-reeler, Hardy plays a boxer, Dynamite Duffy, who has offered to pay 50 dollars to anyone who is able to spar with him for a full minute. So far nobody has been able to earn the money, but then Larry, who makes a habit of throwing rotten produce at a picture of the fighter, hits the real Duffy instead. Duffy decides that Larry would make a great sparring partner/punching bag, so everyone is surprised when the champ is knocked out. It turns out that Larry had horseshoes in his gloves, and he has to make a hasty retreat. Duffy decides to force Larry's sweetheart (Kathleen Myers) to marry him, but Larry shows up and snatches the girl from the altar. The two ride off on a motorcycle, unsuccessfully pursued by Duffy and his gang. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Because he was Vitagraph's second-string comic, Jimmy Aubrey was forced to film a lot of his comedies out of doors (the studio's main comic, Larry Semon, generally took over the sets). As a result, the slum setting of this two-reeler was a common one for Aubrey. Jimmy gets involved with a gang of street kids who are playing with bows and arrows. One of the arrows hits a cop and Jimmy is blamed. He finds himself pursued by the whole force, but he manages to get away and locks himself in the police station. When the cops accidentally knock out their desk sergeant, Jimmy puts on his uniform and tricks them all into knocking each other out. He goes for a stroll in the cop outfit and a woman tells him to arrest a ruffian (Oliver Hardy). This is easier said than done, and Jimmy gets the worst of it. A millionaire (Jack Ackroyd) enlists Jimmy to help find his granddaughter, who turns out to be the girl the ruffian is holding hostage. In spite of more ill treatment at the hands of the ruffian, Jimmy manages to rescue the girl. A car hits the ruffian and knocks him out. Jimmy drags him to the police station, which impresses the cops to no end. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this two-reel comedy, Jimmy Aubrey's character is referred to as merely "a social error." Down-and-out, Jimmy lusts after the soup that is being dished up at an underground cabaret, called the Thalia. Inside, a bouncer (Oliver Hardy) is kicking out a patron who tried paying his tab with a fake quarter. When a Salvation Army girl (Evelyn Nelson) comes by, the bouncer hands her the counterfeit quarter. She, in turn, hands it to Jimmy so he can feed himself. Jimmy rushes into the Thalia, only to be thrown out by the bouncer because of the fake coin. An innocent young girl (Kathleen Myers) arrives in search of her brother, and Jimmy saves her from the denizens of the rough neighborhood. They arrive at the Thalia, where the bouncer is trying to have his way with the Salvation Army girl. Disaster for Jimmy is averted when it turns out that the bouncer is the brother of the young girl. In the end, both the bouncer and Jimmy join the Salvation Army. The name Kathleen Myers may be familiar to fans of Buster Keaton -- she was his co-star (actually, third in line after the cow) in Go West. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide