Bob Perry Movies
Character actor Bob Perry made his film debut as Tuxedo George in 1928's Me Gangster. For the rest of his Hollywood career, Perry popped up in brief roles as bartenders, croupiers, referees, guards, and the like. Many of his characters were on the wrong side of the law, and few of them spoke when shooting or slugging would do. Bob Perry kept busy in films until 1949, when he retired at the reported age of 70. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
In this convoluted drama, the jolly painted face of a circus clown is but a mask for an avaricious, ruthlessly ambitious, and deceitful man. Hap is performing in small New Orleans clubs when he saves the life of the starving Gardino, a member of a distinguished family of European clowns. Though impoverished and unemployed, Gardino is determined to avoid the family slapstick and become a "serious" performer of high-class clowning. Hap suggests they team up, but thanks to Gardino's refusal to do slapstick, their act is a dud. Gardino leaves in a huff. Later Hap finds his former partner performing Hap's proposed act with a new partner. He is doing quite well, and when he sees Hap, Gardino apologizes and they again team up. This time Gardino insists on star billing. To make matters worse, he steals Hap's girl and they marry. The honeymoon is barely over before Gardino is playing around with other women and gambling away all of their money. After his latest affair goes bust, Gardino grows despondent and so walks into the sea, never looking back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Skelly, William Powell, (more)
- 1930
This M.F. Hoffman production released through Grand National featured Ken Maynard as Friendly Fields, a mama's boy whose hat is stolen by lookalike bandit Blackie Burke (also Maynard). Obtaining a job on Patty Blair's (Lona Andre) ranch, Friendly scares the girl's enemies into submission by playing up his resemblance to Blackie. Patty gets a bit worried when she begins to believe that he really is Blackie, but the cowboy continues his masquerade until his true identity is revealed by his mother (Grace Wood). By then, however, all the wrongs have been righted and Friendly and Lona agree to meet the future together. Maynard, who fancied himself a crooner, sings -- badly -- "Oh! Susannah" by Stephen Foster, accompanied by fellow Grand National cowboy hero Tex Ritter's backing group. Producer Hoffman quickly had enough of the difficult and often tardy Maynard and sold his contract to the Alexander brothers, low-budget producers who also released through Grand National. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, (more)
- 1930
Those Who Dance is not so much a film as a "class reunion" for several former silent-screen favorites. Monte Blue stars as Dan Hogan, a cop who poses as a Detroit gangster, the better to ferret out the murderer of his brother. He does this as much for himself as for his sweetheart Nora Brady (Lila Lee), whose own brother Tim (William Janney) has been accused of the crime. The real villain is Diamond Joe Jennings (William "Stage" Boyd), who is ultimately betrayed by his mistress Kitty (Betty Compson). The title, of course, is derived from the old proverb that ends "must pay the piper." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monte Blue, Lila Lee, (more)
- 1929
Bearing no relation to the popular torch song of the same name, The Man I Love is a prizefight picture, courtesy of Paramount production exec David O. Selznick. Richard Arlen stars as Dum-Dum Brooks, a tank-town boxer who journeys to New York in hopes of cracking the Big Time. Along for the ride is Dum-Dum's long-suffering but ever-faithful wife Celia (Mary Brian). After licking Champ Mahoney (Charles Sullivan) in an exhibition bout, Dum-Dum is given a chance to win the title for real. His road to success is temporarily blocked off by seductive Sonia Baranoff (Olga Baclanova), giving poor Celia even more to worry about. Among the real-life pugilists seen in The Man I Love is ubiquitous stunt man and bit player Sailor Vincent, who remained in films well into the late 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, (more)
- 1929
Only three minutes of the 74-minute Noisy Neighbors contains any dialogue; the rest of the film has hardly any noise at all. Written for the screen by F. Hugh Herbert (of Kiss and Tell and The Moon is Blue fame), the story focuses on a family of second-string vaudevillians, played by genuine vaudeville trouper Eddie Quillan and his real-life family. Inheriting a Southern plantation, Quillan and his brood land in the middle of a raging hillbilly feud. One of the mountain patriarches is played by old DeMille reliable Theodore Roberts, in his final screen appearance; he died shortly before the film's release. Also in the cast is pert ex-Sennett bathing beauty Alberta Vaughan (who appeared in a swimsuit in the film's production stills, but not on screen), and bombastic comedian Billy Gilbert, in his movie debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberta Vaughn, Theodore Roberts, (more)
- 1928
Me, Gangster was director Raoul Walsh's third 1928 film -- and, according to some historians, the blueprint for such future Walsh crime dramas as Me and My Gal, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat. Told in the form of a diary, the story details the rise and fall of gangster boss Jimmy Williams, played by future serial favorite Don Terry. Shown to be a layabout and ne'er-do-well in his youth, Jimmy falls in with a gang of petty thieves, working his way up the professional ladder through a combination of brains and cold-blooded ruthlessness (not unlike the characters played by frequent Raoul Walsh collaborator James Cagney). He finally comes acropper when he tries to pull off a $50,000 heist by himself, which earns him a stiff jail term. The death of his beloved mother Lizzie (Stella Adams), combined with the good influence of heroine Mary Regan (June Collyer), prompts Jimmy to try to turn over a new leaf upon his arrest. Alas, he must now contend with his former gangland buddies, who don't cotton to "turncoats" and begin drawing up plans to put Jimmy "on the spot" for keeps. On the whole, Me Gangster is a bit more sentimental than one might expect from Raoul Walsh, but at least it's honest sentiment and doesn't weaken the picture as a whole. Filmed silent, Me, Gangster was released with a Fox Movietone music score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Collyer, Don Terry, (more)
- 1928
Wallace Beery appeared in this silent film with intertitles, a dark drama of hobo life. Jim (Richard Arlen), a wanderer, comes upon young Nancy (Louise Brooks), who has just killed the guardian who was trying to rape her. Disguised as a boy, she takes off with Jim and rides the rails to a hobo camp led by Arkansas Snake (Robert Perry). When Oklahoma Red (Beery) takes over the camp, he begins to pursue Nancy, but before he can take her from Jim, the detectives show up to arrest her. He escapes with Nancy and Jim, and when he sees how much they love each other, Red helps them escape by creating a diversion, during which the detectives kill him. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks, (more)
- 1927
Charlie Chaplin's talented brother Sydney enjoyed moderate box-office success as star of a series of Warner Bros. features in the late 1920s. Sydney's Fortune Hunter was based on a play by Winchell Smith, which had starred John Barrymore on Broadway and which had previously been filmed in 1914 with William Elliot in the lead. Chaplin plays Nat Duncan, an impoverished socialite who hopes to land a rich spouse. His partner in "crime" is his pal Handsome Harry West (Duke Martin), who intends to share the monetary rewards of Nat's marriage. The plan is scotched when Nat falls for just-getting-by soda shop owner Josie Lockwood (Helene Costello). The film's best bit finds the lovestruck Nat subbing for Josie at the soda fountain; when a customer asks for a cigar, the absent-minded hero begins peeling the stogie like a banana. The Fortune Hunter was directed by Charles Reisner, who cut his cinematic teeth as an actor/assistant with Charlie Chaplin's First National unit in the late teens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Chaplin, Helene Costello, (more)
- 1922
The real draw of this suspenseful drama was the yacht race and the motor boat chase, which included a hydroplane. No one cared much about the plot, but here it is anyway: Wealthy Lawrence Bradbury (a miscast Dustin Farnum) owns a transatlantic line which is being plagued by silk thieves. When he weds his fiancee, Constance (Ethel Gray Terry), he doesn't realize that her brother Ned (Maurice "Lefty" Flynn) is a detective who's on the case (as a matter of fact, the audience isn't apprised of this, either). Constance can't tell him because she is duty bound to keep Ned's profession secret. Bradbury comes to suspect that both his brother Jim (Fred Thomson) and Constance are part of the gang, but finally after a load of complications the truth comes out. The small role of Helen Palmer is one of Aileen Pringle's first appearances in a major studio film. In fact no one seemed to get the name of the future star of Three Weeks correct -- it ranges from Adele Pringle (Motion Picture News) to Eileen Pringle (Film Daily). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Farnum, Ethel Grey Terry, (more)
- 1921
When the brutal Captain Briggs (a miscast Dustin Farnum) destroys a Malay idol, a native witch (Evelyn Selbie) puts a curse on him. From there on in, death follows him. He marries, but his wife dies when their son is born. The son reaches adulthood and weds, but the couple catch a fever and die, leaving Briggs with an orphaned grandson. The boy, Hal (Bernard J. Durning, also the film's director), grows up to be as violent and mean-tempered as his grandfather. He gets into a brawl and is stabbed by a poison dagger. Briggs, who had once had his own encounter with a poison dagger, has both the poison and the antidote -- unfortunately, he doesn't recall which is which. But he risks his life by tasting one of the powders. It turns out to be the antidote, and he gives it to Hal, who recovers. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Farnum, Virginia Valli, (more)
