Paul Panzer Movies

This musical comedy stars Maurice Chevalier as (what else?) a Parisian playboy with a song and a kiss for every beautiful woman in sight. His libertine ways are stemmed when Chevalier finds himself saddled with an abandoned baby. Because he is perceived to be the father of the infant, Chevalier finds his lovemaking activities severely diminished. At fadeout time, Chevalier finds lasting romance with Helen Twelvetrees, the baby's governess. Though he was probably uncomfortable sharing scenes with a scene-stealing toddler, Chevalier manages to deliver his usual sly, winking performance. A Bedtime Story was the screen debut for Baby LeRoy (later W.C. Field's perennial nemesis), playing (again, what else?) the troublesome baby. The film is based on Roy Horniman's story Bellamy the Magnificent, which had previously been filmed as A Gentleman of Paris (27). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A couple of silent screen "names," Edmund Burns and Molly O'Day flounder badly in this penny-ante shipboard melodrama from Poverty Row producer Larry Darmour. Second-billed Burns plays Richard Charters, a young man imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. Escaping, Richard dons a beard and while hiding out in a dockside dive overhears a plot to steal a sunken treasure after it had been salvaged by Captain McCall (James Donnelly). After a chance meeting with the captain's flirtatious daughter, Ann (star-billed O'Day), and her pet monkey, Richard stows away on McCall's ship. His presence, however, is revealed when he comes to the rescue of Ann, who is being mauled by Johnson (Walter Long), the villainous first mate. Although cornered by the crooks, Richard manages not only to save the day for Captain McCall and Ann but also catch the villain, Killer Lundgren (William F. Moran), who sent him to prison in the first place. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The first of four low-budget Westerns that veteran cowboy star Harry Carey made for poverty row company Artclass Pictures, this film was a sometimes thoughtful, mostly heavy-handed story of a cavalry captain attempting to keep the peace between Indians and settlers. A gang of whites are robbing the local tribe of its gold shipments and framing the Indians in a cattle rustling scheme. The mastermind behind the scheme, as Captain Carey soon realizes, is Lee Burgess (Ted Adams), foreman of the Fernandez Rancho. Like John Wayne would in his later years, Carey sensibly left the necessary romantic interludes to younger cast-members, in this case Kane Richmond, as Carey's handsome younger brother, and Carmen la Roux, as Dolores Fernandez. Five-year-old Elena Verdugo -- later a popular Universal starlet and, later still, Nurse Lopez on television's Marcus Welby, M.D. -- made her screen debut in this film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A cast of silent-film veterans distinguishes the pedestrian crime drama First Aid. Grant Withers stars as a doctor who is forced to operate on a wounded gangster. As if this wasn't enough of a headache, the gangster's rivals converge upon the doc's office, hoping to find out where the patient has hidden a cache of stolen jewels. Unable to contact the police, the crafty hero manages to write a coded plea for help in a drugstore prescription. Things turn out for the best when the doctor falls in love with the gangster's sweet sister. Two-reel comedy stalwarts Marjorie Beebe and Billy Gilbert provide the laughs, while Wheeler Oakman, William Desmond, Paul Panzer and other battle-scarred veterans of the silent era go through their customary paces. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

First filmed in 1926, the venerable stage melodrama Three Faces East was remade as a talkie in 1930. Set during WWI, most of the film takes place in the London home of Sir Winston Chamberlain (sic), First Lord of the Admiralty. What Sir Winston doesn't know is that his faithful butler Erich Von Stroheim is the head of a German espionage ring. What nobody knows are the true loyalties of heroine Constance Bennett, who might be a British agent, a German spy, an innocent bystander, or none of the above. The property would be filmed again in 1940 as British Intelligence, with Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay in the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This adventure serial was the last to team the popular Allene Ray and Walter Miller and the last to be produced by Pathé, the company that more than any other had become identified with the genre. Ray played a girl detective and Miller was her stalwart hero, a rehabilitated former crook. The two go in search of a couple of black books containing information that might lead to a secret uranium mine. Having based her screen career on serials, Allene Ray went on to star opposite Tim McCoy in The Indians Are Coming (1929), which contained one "dialogue scene" in each chapter and thus has gone down in history as the first "talkie" serial. Unfortunately, weight gain and a certain awkwardness in front of a microphone cut Allene's career short. Miller continued to appear in both serials and B-Westerns, but almost always cast as a villain. Interestingly, The Black Book was directed by Spencer G. Bennet who much later would helm the very last American-made chapterplay, Blazing the Overland Trail (1956). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The romance between Jerome Bonaparte and Baltimore debutante Elizabeth Patterson was given the full treatment by Warner Bros., who starred their leading purveyors of cinematic passion, Conrad Nagel and Dolores Costello, both fresh from Tenderloin (1927). Like that crook melodrama, Glorious Betsy was hauled back into the shop to be refurbished with a couple of talking sequences, a necessity after the apparently unanticipated success of the studio's groundbreaking The Jazz Singer (1927). In the end, Glorious Betsy received a full Hollywood opening on April 26, 1928, the first Vitaphone production to be given such "royal" treatment in the hometown. But as with Tenderloin, criticism of the still underdeveloped sound techniques was harsh, the long-suffering Miss Costello once again the most obvious target. Costello's slight lisp was exacerbated by the studio's sound-on-disc system -- not quite as bad as the satirical Singing in the Rain (1952) would later suggest, but enough for the actress to face an uncertain future in
"talkies." The story of Glorious Betsy was based on a 1908 play by Rida Johnson Young, a minor trifle in which Jerome, posing as a schoolteacher, wins the love of Betsy Patterson. Only after their nuptials does he reveal his true identity, but brother Napoleon (played by opera baritone Pasquale Amato) refuses the new Mrs. Bonaparte entry into France and has the marriage annulled. Jerome is instead ordered to wed the vampish Princess of Würtemberg (Betty Blythe), but he instead makes a quick escape and rejoins Elizabeth in Baltimore. To compliment the action, Warner Bros. added a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise" performed by Metropolitan Opera baritone Andre De Segurola. Screenwriter Anthony Coldewaay was nominated for an Academy Award but lost to Benjamin Glazer for Seventh Heaven. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Brass Knuckles opens with a prison break, which is quelled by good-natured convict Monte Blue. As a reward, Blue is pardoned, whereupon he honors a promise made behind bars and visits orphanage resident Betty Bronson, the daughter of a condemned prisoner. Assuming that the girl is a mere adolescent, our hero is pleasantly surprised to discover that Bronson is a fully-grown young lady. He isn't so keen on Bronson escaping the orphan asylum and tagging along with him, but what can one do? The plot takes a sinister turn when escaped con William Russell shows up, claiming to be Bronson's late father. Blue gets there just in time to prevent the heroine from being raped, whereupon he realizes that he's been in love with her all along. Monte Blue is well served by the formula-bound screenplay, but Betty Bronson's unique talents are wasted once more. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the most fondly remembered serials of the late silent era, The Hawk of the Hills became a showcase for Frank Lackteen, the Lebanese character actor who played the title role. When an old prospector (Robert Chandler) hits the mother lode, the vicious half-breed leader of a gang of renegades (Lackteen) concocts a plan to kidnap his pretty blond daughter, Mary (Allene Ray). Kidnapping actually proves one of the lesser of the perils faced by poor Mary in this blood-and-thunder serial filmed at Newhall, CA, by genre specialist Spencer G. Bennet. Happily, stalwart Walter Miller, playing a government agent, was always there to extricate the damsel-in-distress. Customers for this serial were handed a "Movieland Puzzle" courtesy of the Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, MA, just one of the gimmicks used to entice prospective audiences to attend the opening chapter. The Hawk of the Hills did the rest, and most audiences returned for the ensuing nine chapters. A five-reel feature version of this serial was released in 1929. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Sally in Our Alley revives the old bromide about the orphan waif who is unofficially adopted by three men of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds. Shirley Mason plays Sally Williams, who has grown up under the watchful eyes of Scotsman Sandy Mack (Alec B. Francis), Italian Tony Garibaldi (Paul Panzer) and Jewish Abe Lapidowitz (William H. Strauss). Upon reaching maturity, Sally falls in love with a neighborhood boy, plumber Jimmie Adams (Richard Arlen). Enter wealthy Chester Drake (Harry Crocker), who offers to take Sally away from her tenement surroundings and her "low-life" friends. Jimmie and the three surrogate fathers unintentionally embarrass Sally at a party thrown at Drake's estate, whereupon the three old men slink dejectedly back to their old neighborhood, while Jimmie signs on with the merchant marine. But Sally decides to forsake wealth and luxury in favor of those who loved and cared for her throughout her life. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While there were often disasters such as floods, fires, and avalanches in silent films, few of them were actually built around a catastrophic event. This melodrama focused on the Johnstown flood, which destroyed the Conemaugh Valley in 1889, making it an ancestor of modern-day disaster films. Janet Gaynor, in a supporting role, had recently worked her way up from Hal Roach comedies and was clearly headed for stardom. Contractor John Hamilton (Anders Randolph) has built a dam above Johnstown over the protests of his engineer, Tom O'Day (George O'Brien), who is convinced the structure is weak and dangerous. O'Day is in love with Hamilton's daughter, Gloria (Florence Gilbert), and they wed while her father is in Pittsburgh. Right on schedule, the dam bursts. Ann Burger, a little local girl (Gaynor), is drowned while riding on horseback to warn the villagers. O'Day and Gloria manage to make it out alive. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

When rector Daniel Gilchrist (Edmund Lowe) preaches material sacrifice to his wealthy congregation, he is forced out of his parish. His sweetheart, Clare (Brenda Bond), dumps him in favor of Jerry Goodkind (Raymond Bloomer), the son of a wealthy man (George Lessey). Gilchrist goes on to found a mission, while Jerry's constant womanizing tortures Clare. When she returns to her former flame, however, he insists that happiness comes through service. Hennig, a vindictive and misguided miner (A.J. Herbert), incites a mob to attack Gilchrist, but they come to a halt when Mary, a crippled little girl (Anne Dale), is healed by her faith and walks. Jerry's father compares Gilchrist's life to that of his son, and wonders whether the ousted rector has had the more successful life. This drama actually turned out better than the Channing Pollock play on which it was based -- something that doesn't happen often in motion pictures. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi