ZaSu Pitts Movies

From the beginning of her film career, Billie Dove showed a knack for playing chorus girls (it only made sense since she was a former Follies beauty), so in her first starring part for Metro, guess what her role was? Eve Allison (Dove) is that eternal movie cliché, the country girl who comes to New York City seeking fame and fortune. Within a couple of years she works her way up from the chorus to stardom. She doesn't know, however, that her lavish lifestyle has been funded by Brutus Tawney (Noah Beery). When she finds out, and realizes his motives aren't exactly honorable, she runs away from everything and joins a traveling theatrical troupe. When it reaches a small Southern town, she meets Page Brookins, a young farmer (Cullen Landis) and they fall in love. But Tawney, who has finally tracked Eve down, lies to Brookins about her background. Brookins has a hard time believing Eve, who denies that she was ever involved with Tawney. But finally the farmer wrings a confession from the big city man, and the couple are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or another during the film's eight reels. Ironically, nearly all of the lead actors are unknowns (although George K. Arthur would become a noted character comedian). Angela Whitaker (Hope Brown) of Centreville is convinced she has a chance in Hollywood -- all her friends tell her so. So she heads West with her Uncle Joel (Luke Cosgrave) in tow. But Angela has no luck in Tinseltown, while her uncle starts landing roles left and right because of his curious image. Eventually the rest of the family, including Angela's sweetheart Lem Lefferts (Arthur), her grandmother (Ruby Lafayette), and her aunt (Eleanor Lawson) come to Hollywood. All Angela's relatives get movie work because they're character types. Finally a screenwriter tries to help Angela out, but Lem winds up landing a role instead. He becomes a star, which suits Angela just fine because she has married him. The couple have twins, and the babies -- not to mention the couple's pet parrot -- wind up in films, while Angela remains at home. The most notable cameo in this picture is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who had been shunned in motion pictures since the 1921 scandal surrounding a Labor Day party that allegedly resulted in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. Here he returns as a man standing in a casting line. When it's his turn to come up to the window, it is shut in his face and a "closed" sign put out. Unfortunately this gag turned out to be all too true; Arbuckle was not seen in front of a camera again until 1932. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This picture was something of a companion piece to Rich Men's Wives. Claribel (Betty Francisco) drops her sweetheart, cab driver Jim Maberne (David Butler), in favor of the wealthy Richard Smith-Blanton (Richard Tucker). She weds Smith-Blanton while Maberne goes on to marry Laura Bedford (Barbara LaMarr). But even though Laura loves Maberne, she has trouble making ends meet, especially after she gives birth to twins, and she begins to envy Claribel's lifestyle. She doesn't realize that Smith-Blanton is unfaithful and Claribel is miserable. When she is invited to a fancy dress ball, Laura brings home an expensive dress "on approval," but her children destroy it before she can take it back. Because she doesn't have the money to pay for it, she steals the sum from her husband's savings. Maberne finds out that his money is gone and he throws Laura out of the house. But when he hears the whole story, he forgives her and welcomes her back. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This comedy-melodrama, based on the novel by Rupert Hughes (who also directed), blends fiction and reality to tell the story of a young woman's rise in Hollywood; the film uses real stars and productions (even Charles Chaplin filming A Woman of Paris) as its backdrop. Eleanor Boardman plays Remember Steddon, better known as Mem. Mem is a small-town girl who marries slick bad guy Owen Scudder (Lew Cody); Owen insures his brides and then murders them for the money. After the wedding, Mem starts to have her doubts about him and runs away while their train is chugging through the desert. She happens on a film crew and gets work as an extra, later becoming a famous dramatic actress in Hollywood with the help of director Frank Claymore (Richard Dix). Scudder finally tracks her down during a shoot involving a circus tent; when a storm sets the tent on fire, Scudder loses his life saving Mem from a wind machine's propeller. Freed from her marriage, Mem is able to choose between Claymore and her leading man. Boardman, whose first starring role finds her surrounded by a long and impressive supporting cast, wound up at the Goldwyn studios through a "New Faces" contest. Her co-winner, future star William Haines, also had a bit part as the company's assistant director. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

After the spectacular epic The Ten Commandments, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille returns to the drawing room for this pleasingly straightforward drama. King Garnet (Rod La Rocque) is the idle son of factory owner David Garnet (George Fawcett). He is in love with Ann Land (Leatrice Joy), the factory's forewoman, but she turns down his proposal of marriage because she has aspirations to be a singer. When old man Garnet dies, he wills his son the company, providing that he settles down within two years; failing that, it goes to William Silver (Victor Varconi), the factory's manager and King's half-brother via a secret marriage. Two years pass and Garnet is a bum sleeping on park benches, so Silver inherits the company. His new position in life changes him -- where he was once a radical in favor of the workers, he now becomes a snob. Meanwhile, Ann has achieved her dream and become an opera star in Europe, but smoke from a theater fire destroys her vocal chords. She returns to the factory, where Silver courts her. King picks himself up, goes to work at the factory as an employee and works his way up to manager. Silver is the pawn of a group of schemers, and King helps him straighten things out. He is glad to hand over the company to King, who also wins Ann. The good notices this film received prove that DeMille was still capable -- when he wanted -- of making an entertaining film without resorting to a lot of flash. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Frank Norris' powerful Zola-esque novel McTeague was first filmed in 1915. While filmmaker Erich Von Stroheim would insist that he'd been enthralled by the book since it first came out in 1902, it is more likely that he didn't make the novel's acquaintance until seeing that 1915 film. Whatever the case, Von Stroheim vowed that, if he ever had enough Hollywood clout, he'd produce the "definitive" version of McTeague. After scoring an enormous financial hit with Foolish Wives, he had just that clout, and, in 1923, he began work on what he hoped would his masterpiece.

Stripped to its bare essentials, McTeague tells the story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner named McTeague (played by Gibson Gowland), who finds his true calling in life by taking over the practice of a traveling dentist. Setting up shop in San Francisco, McTeague falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts), the daughter of German immigrants. It happens that Trina is the girlfriend of McTeague's best pal Marcus (Jean Hersholt), who is mildly resentful, but ultimately forgiving, when McTeague and Trina are married. Always seeking out an opportunity to better herself, Trina buys a lottery ticket. When the ticket pays off and she wins a fortune, the previously even-tempered Trina undergoes a complete personality change, metamorphosing into a grasping, greedy, miserly shrew, hoarding huge sums of money while her husband must get by on his meager earnings as a dentist. Trina's sudden windfall sparks a change in both McTeague and Marcus, as well; driven to distraction by his wife's avarice, McTeague turns into a violent beast, while Marcus boils with jealousy over losing the now-prosperous Trina to McTeague. Pushed too far, McTeague ultimately murders Trina and escapes to the desert with her money. Appointed a sheriff's deputy, the envious Marcus heads out to bring McTeague in, and the two men catch up with one another in the middle of Death Valley. Their water supply gone, their packhorse dead, McTeague and Marcus begin a fight to the death. McTeague manages to shoot and kill Marcus -- only to discover that Marcus has manacled himself to McTeague. Utterly defeated, he sits benumbed on the scorching rocks, awaiting madness and a horrible death.

Filming at actual locations (the murder scene was shot at a locale where a real murder had occurred, while the sweltering Death Valley sequence was, likewise, made there), Von Stroheim remained doggedly faithful to the Norris original, shooting every page word for word. The end result ran 40 reels, or roughly 10 hours of screen time. Then came the corporate intrigues. Von Stroheim, who had begun the film through the auspices of the old Goldwyn studios, now had to contend with the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer regime. Production head Irving Thalberg argued logically that no audience would sit still for ten hours of unrelenting realism. Von Stroheim reluctantly responded by paring his film down to 20 reels, but it was still far too long and depressing for MGM's taste. The director's friend Rex Ingram weeded out two more reels, warning Von Stroheim that "If you cut out another inch, I'll never speak to you again." At this point, MGM, feeling that too much money had already been spent on the project, took McTeague away from Von Stroheim and ordered June Mathis to whittle the picture down to ten reels. It is this version, retitled Greed, that was released to the public in late 1924.

Far from the financial disaster that MGM always claimed it was (the film actually posted a small profit), Greed was still too overpowering for many observers. Critics and audiences were sharply divided, some hailing the film as a work of unbridled genius, others dismissing as "an epic of the sewer." Von Stroheim, angered that his baby had been "butchered," refused to ever see the ten-reel Greed. When viewed today, the film retains its raw dramatic power; the continuity gaps and clumsy transitional titles that once seemed so unforgivable are generally ignored by contemporary audiences. Still, Greed is not a happy, high-kickin' production. Though a rewarding experience, it remains very rough sledding for those accustomed to traditional, conservative entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Smith (Percy Marmont) comes to Hollywood with dreams of writing a successful screenplay. He rents a room at a boardinghouse where the other residents also have big Hollywood dreams. Mary Brown, a little drudge (ZaSu Pitts), has visions of being a movie star. Smith makes the rounds of the studios, but no one is interested in his screenplay. He runs out of funds, and the landlady (Alice Davenport) tells him that he can only stay for one more week. In despair, he fills seven glasses with wine and puts poison in one. Every day he drinks one glass, and finally on the seventh day, he realizes his life has come to an end. He drinks the glass and almost immediately a friend comes to the door and tells him that his screenplay has finally been accepted. Mary arrives to find Smith in a stupor. She wakes him up to confess that she had broken one of the glasses and replaced it without his knowledge -- obviously the poisoned one. She is about to leave Hollywood and go home, but Smith invites her to stay and share his good fortune. This drama was based on a magazine story by Frank Condon, and was supposedly based on a real event. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Based on the play Mary the Third by Rachel Crothers, Wine of Youth concerns Mary (Eleanor Boardman), a flapper whose mother (Eulalie Jensen) and grandmother (Gertrude Claire) were also named Mary. The first two Marys worked all their feminine wiles to snare their husbands, but the youngest Mary doesn't know if she really wants to be tied down. Two young men vie for her hand: sweet natured Lynn (Ben Lyon) and the charming but aggressive Hal (William Haines, playing the type of character that would later make him famous). Mary can't choose between the two of them, so, after a wild party, she decides to take them both on a camping trip, along with her pal, Tish (Pauline Garon), and Tish's sweetheart, Max (William Collier Jr.). Tish and Max decide to "do the right thing" and get married. It doesn't take long for Mary, meanwhile, to disqualify the pushy Hal, and insist that the party return home. When Mary enters her house she overhears her mother and father (E.J. Ratcliffe) arguing over her escapade, and she believes that they no longer love each other. This revelation causes her to lose all faith in the institution of marriage. Her mother decides to leave. When she faints, her husband believes she has been poisoned. This makes him realize how much he really does care. When Mary sees this she decides to accept Lynn's proposal. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This collection shows Valentino in a number of short films. ~ Rovi

In the more straight-laced era of the 1920s the lack of a marriage license could destroy a young couple's world - that's the only way that modern-day film historians can make sense of the plot to this character study. Adrian Plummer (Ernest Torrence) is a narrow-minded preacher; Charles Chew, the richest man in the town (George Fawcett) is a confirmed atheist. So when Plummer's son, Guy (Broadway star Glenn Hughes) and Chew's daughter, Bee (May McAvoy), fall in love, neither family looks well on the union. Cod Dugan (Riley Hatch), who runs the local poolroom, has gotten fed up with Plummer's lectures, so he decides to get back at the preacher. He takes the young couple to a squire in another town who marries them. Then, Dugan never bothers to pick up the marriage certificate. When Bee is about to have a baby and the couple can't prove they are married, scandal rocks the town. Bee goes away to have the child, but Guy stays behind and braves the taunts, even when his father is forced to resign his pulpit. Guy is instrumental in getting a highway built through town, and when the squire tracks him down with the marriage certificate, all is forgiven. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The mercurial Marshal Neilan warmed the director's chair for the 1925 comedy The Great Love. Robert Agnew plays a small-town doctor who takes care of an ailing circus elephant. Once cured, the pachyderm refuses to leave Agnew's side! Everything turns out OK when the elephant aids in the rescue of Agnew's kidnapped girlfriend Viola Dana. A variation on this yarn, Zenobia, was filmed in 1939, with Oliver Hardy as the doctor and "Miss Zenobia" as "herself". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This light comedy had apparently been shelved for quite a while before it was released in 1926. The name of Edward Everett Horton was starting to draw attention at the box office, which is probably the only reason that this mediocre film saw the light of day. As a lawyer, Edward Burgess (Horton) is a complete failure, and his uncle berates him because of it. Burgess becomes determined to make a man of himself, and he has his opportunity when he meets Martin Block, an old inventor (James Kelly). Block has signed a contract with a shyster lawyer, Scarborough, for a phonograph amplifier that he has invented. The agreement is totally unfair to him -- Scarborough gets the exclusive rights and Block receives less than the cost to manufacture the gadget. Burgess helps Block by going into business with him, but Scarborough does everything he can to ruin them both. In the end, the uncle comes to the rescue and Burgess wins the hand of the girl, Barbara Richmond (Barbara Bedford), who has little to do with the plot. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Harold Bell Wright, a popular author during the silent era, was known for his sentimental and unsophisticated stories. This film, based on one of his novels, was a good representation of his written work. Brian Kent (Kenneth Harlan) regrets stealing money from a Chicago bank and decides to kill himself. He takes poison and sets off in a small boat, which goes ashore on the banks of the Missouri River. Judy, a little drudge (ZaSu Pitts), brings Kent to her mistress, who everyone calls Auntie Sue (Mary Carr). Auntie Sue is a spinster school teacher, and her kindness helps to regenerate Kent, who is going by the name Burns. He writes a novel, which Betty Jo (Helene Chadwick), a friend of Auntie Sue's, types up. A romance blossoms between Betty Jo and Kent. The jealous Judy reveals Kent's true identity to her father, who rushes to Chicago to turn him in and claim the reward. Auntie Sue beats him there, and convinces the bank president -- one of her former pupils -- not to prosecute him. The romance is complicated, however, when Kent's wife (Rosemary Theby) shows up. Mrs. Kent's boat is caught in the rapids and she drowns in spite of Kent's desperate attempts to save her. With his wife now gone, he is able to be with Betty Jo. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi