Carroll Nye Movies

Land of the Silver Fox was one of the last silent starring vehicles for celebrated canine star Rin Tin Tin. In this one, Rinty heads to the Canadian Northwest, where he befriends likeable fox trapper Carroll Nye. The "human" hero is in love with Leila Hyams, the ward of duplicitous trading-camp operator John Miljan. In league with all-around bad guy Tom Santschi, Miljan tries to dispose of Nye so that he can have Hyams all to himself. But the villains haven't reckoned with Rin Tin Tin, who can be a mighty tough customer when he's got his fur up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Canine star Rin Tin Tin topped the cast of Warner Bros.' A Race for Life. The combination of star and title was in itself enough to pack theaters, but Warners insisted upon adding a plot, if only to appease the critics. In this one, Rinty becomes the best pal of juvenile "human" hero Danny O'Shea (Bobby Gordon). Their devotion to one another is proven beyond doubt when Danny is threatened by kidnappers. For those uninterested in the boy-and-dog angle, a romantic subplot was wedged into the proceedings involving Virginia Calhoun (Virginia Brown Faire) and Robert Hammong (Carroll Nye, who later played Frank Kennedy in 1939's Gone with the Wind). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of Hollywood's true professionals, Irving Cummings showed little of his later directorial sophistication in this terrible silent comedy-Western about a con man (Monte Blue) trying to fleece a group of wealthy but gullible Indians out of a fortune in oil. Along the way, Blue and his Runyonesque pals (Clyde Cook, Carroll Nye and Paul Nicholson) rescue a pretty lass (Leila Hyams) from a brutal saloon owner. Part Cherokee-Indian himself and a fine comic actor, Blue should have known better than to star in this racist drivel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The plot to this underworld drama, based on a story by Arthur Somers Roche, sounds more like something from the 1930s than from the silent era. It's an early starring vehicle for Myrna Loy. Southern girl Mary Carlton (Loy) finds out that her brother, Bob (Carroll Nye), is going to the electric chair for a crime he says he didn't commit. In order to get her brother exonerated, Mary travels to New York and pretends to be a Chicago gun moll. She wins the love of two gangsters, Handsome Joe (Conrad Nagel) and Big Steve Drummond (William Russell). Joe, it turns out, isn't a gangster at all, but an undercover detective. He attempts to help Mary prove her brother's innocence, and the two of them are caught in a fierce gun battle between the crooks and the cops. They make it through alive (although Drummond gets his due), and Bob is released at the last minute. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This obscure, locally-lensed silent Western starred became a minor cause célèbre for a scene in which the villain punched the heroine several times in the face! Carroll Nye and Rex, the Dog save the girl (Rada Rae) from her brutal father (Sam Allen). Young Nye's only memorable role came more than a decade later when he played Scarlett O'Hara's second husband in Gone With the Wind (1939). Death Valley was written and produced by supporting actor Raymond Wells. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Adele Fenway (Pauline Frederick) is Her Honor the Governor in this complex silent drama. Upon winning the gubernatorial election, Adele discovers that her campaign was a sham: Crooked senator Jim Dornton (Stanton Heck) intends to go on running the state as he's always done, using Adele as a mere figurehead. But she's a lot more savvy than he suspects, as she proves when she successfully blocks a bit of underhanded legislation engineered by Dornton. He, in turn, threatens to reveal that, due to a legal technicality, Adele's son Bob (Carrol Nye) is illegitimate in the eyes of the law. Infuriated, Bob rushes to Dornton's home, demanding an apology -- and the next morning, the Senator is found dead. Desperately trying to save her son from a murder conviction, Adele faces imminent impeachment, but all ends happily when the actual killer is reveled. Boris Karloff appears in a small but showy role as a dope addict. ~ 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

This comedy was based on a novel by author Edna Ferber. Although she is merely a classified ads employee, Babs Comet (Corinne Griffith) is determined to have the finer things in life. She spends all her money on clothes and eschews the subway, preferring instead to entice wealthy young men into driving her home -- of course, if any of them get fresh, she lets them have it. One man, however, won't play her game and he turns out to be garage mechanic Lloyd Whiting (Jack Mulhall). Naturally, Babs falls for him. But first she lands herself in trouble when a wealthy man puts her in a compromising position. His car "breaks down" and she is forced to spend the night walking home. Her parents (Edythe Chapman and Charles Murray) are scandalized, but the man offers to marry her. Babs turns down his offer, preferring to wed Whiting instead. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide