Russell Powell Movies
Burly vaudeville monologist/comedian Russell J. Powell made his first film in 1920. It wasn't until the advent of talkies, however, that Powell's gift for dialects and bizarre vocal sound effects could truly be appreciated. His more memorable screen roles included the Afghan Ambassador in Lubitsch's The Love Parade (1929) and his blackface turn as the Kingfish in the Amos and Andy vehicle Check and Double Check (1930). So far as many film aficionados are concerned, Russell J. Powell achieved immortality as the dockhand in the opening scene of King Kong (1933), who launches into a stream of fluent exposition with the quizzical "Say, you goin' on this craaazy voyage?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The first "epic" western of the talkie era, The Big Trail is motivated by a hero's search for the murderer of his father. Twenty-three-year-old John Wayne, hitherto limited to bit parts, was thrust into the difficult leading role, a young mountaineer put in charge of a huge California-bound wagon train. Over the next several months, Wayne and his fellow pioneers face every imaginable hazard and disaster, from blistering desert heat to blinding snowstorms, negotiating steep cliffs, treacherous rivers, uncharted forests and other such natural obstacles. Meanwhile, Wayne's tentative romance with heroine Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill) is continually thwarted by a charming but duplicitous gambler (Ian Keith), and all-around villain Red Flack (Tyrone Power Sr.) and his henchman Lopez (Charlie Stevens) ceaselessly plot to double-cross the other wagon-trainers for their own financial gain. The Big Trail was a box-office disappointment, a fact which some have attributed its expensive production methods. Each scene was lensed twice, once in 35-millimeter and then in the 65-mm "Fox Grandeur" wide-screen process. And then, each dialogue scene was filmed in French and German, with totally different casts. Even if Big Trail has been a big hit, it would have lost money thanks to the time-consuming shooting and reshooting of virtually every scene. Whatever the case, it was John Wayne who suffered most from the film's failure; instantly demoted to "B"-westerns, it took him nearly a decade to rebuild his stardom. Long believed lost, The Big Trail was made available for exhibition again in the early 1970s -- and in the 1990s the original widescreen version was at last restored for public view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
- 1930
Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, Edward Sutherland and Frank Tuttle. Introduced by masters of ceremonies Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallegher and Leon Errol, the film is a vaudeville-like maelstrom of musical duets, comedy sketches, occasional dramatic interludes, and spectacular production numbers. To mention all the highlights would take a book in itself but among them are Nancy Carroll's rendition of "Dancing to Save Your Sole" (performed inside a giant shoe!); Maurice Chevalier (and chorus) soaring heavenward in "Sweeping the Clouds Away" ; child actress Mitzi Green's dead-on impersonations of Chevalier, George Arliss, Moran & Mack and Helen "Boop-a-doop" Kane; Ernst Lubitsch's witty staging of an Apache dance in the style of a polite boudoir farce, with Chevalier (again) and Evelyn Brent; Clara Bow's saucy "I'm True to the Navy Now" ; the wish-fulfillment sketch "Impulses," in which George Bancroft and Kay Francis delightedly upset a dinner party by saying what's really on their minds; and best of all, "Murder Will Out," a murder-mystery parody wherein Fu Manchu (Warner Oland) bumps off Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook) and Philo Vance (William Powell) when they refuse to give him proper credit for his killing of Jack Oakie. Only the dramatic sketch with Frederic March and Ruth Chatterton truly creaks when seen today. Originally released at 102 minutes, Paramount on Parade is presently available only in an 80-minute version, with all its Technicolor sequences missing: casualties include the elaborate "Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" number, directed by Edmund Goulding and featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Fay Wray, and Harry Green's dialect song "Isadore the Toreodor". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, (more)
Check and Double Check brought radio's highest-rated program to the big screen. Amos 'N' Andy were two black characters played by two white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. Donning blackface, Gosden and Correll are seen as well as heard as A&A, partners in the Harlem-based Fresh Air Taxicab Company. Our heroes spend most of their time helping the white romantic leads (Sue Carol and Charles Morton) try to locate a missing deed to some property owned by Morton's family. Eventually, Amos 'N' Andy unwittingly end up in a haunted house. Virtually the only genuine African Americans in the film are the members of Duke Ellington's Cotton Club orchestra, whose appearance at a high society ball is the device that brings A&A into the plot. Though no other Amos 'N' Andy films would follow, a popular TV series later aired in the 1950s with black actors cast in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freeman Gosden, Charles J. Correll, (more)
- 1930
No one suffered more magnificently in the early-talkie era than the inimitable Helen Twelvetrees. In Grand Parade, the actress is cast as Molly, the sweetheart of minstrel-show performer Jack Kelly (Fred Scott). Rising to the top of his profession, Kelly plummets to the bottom thanks to his fondness for intoxicating beverages. Molly nurses and coddles Kelly back to health, giving nary a thought for her own comfort or happiness. Our hero finally makes a spectacular comeback -- but will he cast off Molly in favor of seductive burlesque queen Polly (Marie Astaire)? In the typical fashion of early talkies, The Grand Parade contains way too many musical numbers, though the title tune is rather pleasant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Fred Scott, (more)
- 1929
Director Ernst Lubitsch's first talking picture, The Love Parade was a witty souffle about a royal "marriage of state." Jeanette MacDonald, the queen of Sylvania, is required to take a husband. Maurice Chevalier is a highborn Sylvanian diplomat called back to his country due to his amorous escapades. It is arranged for Chevalier to marry MacDonald, but though he is ostensibly the "king" of the boudoir, he is not allowed to participate in any affairs of state. Gradually the royal protocol erodes the marriage, as the formerly footloose Chevalier bristles at being a mere consort. After numerous complications and misunderstandings, Chevalier asserts his authority over the secretly willing MacDonald. Counterpointing the main plot is the backstairs romance of servants Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth, who, like the stars, get to cut loose in the occasional musical number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, (more)
- 1929
Circus life provides the framework of this drama that chronicles the love, life, and aspiration of a young circus waif. The aspiring star is learning to walk the high-wire with the young wire-walker she adores. He loves another, his partner, but she is untrue to him. As a result he is almost on the edge of a breakdown. When she abandons him, he takes comfort in drinking too much. The plucky young girl tries to help him return to his former glory. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1929
This romantic drama marks the first talking movie done by popular silent film star Adolph Menjou who plays a philandering concert pianist. After one concert, he meets a pretty lady and begins planning a weekend rendezvous in a mountain cottage. When his wife learns about it, she too, along with the other woman's husband, heads for the mountains. Romantic chaos ensues until everyone decides to stay with their allotted partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Fay Compton, (more)
- 1928
In this, at times, hilarious silent, romantic comedy, love blossoms after a posterhanger has an highway mishap with a Broadway star. Later the hard-working fellow finds out that someone has stolen the actress' jewels from her New York home. Still smitten, he heads for the Big Apple to get them back and win her affection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1928
Director John Ford made his talking-picture debut with the 3-reel (32-minute) Fox "featurette" Napoleon's Barber. Faithfully adapted from a vaudeville sketch by Arthur Caesar, the film is little more than a shaggy-dog story about an anarchistic French barber (Frank Reicher) who regales his customers with stories of his deep-abiding hatred for Emperor Napoleon (Otto Mattiesen). After telling his latest patron of the horrible fate that awaits Napoleon should the emperor ever enter the barbershop, our hero is somewhat taken aback to discover that he's been shaving "the Little Corporal" himself! Napoleon's Barber was used to test the efficiency of the Fox Movietone system in "exterior" dialogue sequences, a test which the equipment passed with flying colors. The sound recording was less effective during the interior scenes, moving one critic to remark that the characters' voices seemed to be emanating from their vest pockets. The film was the first in a series of Movietone short subjects which were ballyhooed by Fox as "feature films in themselves"; the series came to an ignominious end in 1929 with a group of poorly received Clark and McCullough comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Matieson, Natalie Golitzin, (more)
- 1928
All evidence suggests that Riley the Cop was a delightful vehicle for John Ford "regular" J. Farrell McDonald. New York policeman James Riley is asked to retrieve neighborhood boy Joe Smith (David Rollins), who skipped town after being falsely accused of theft and is now living a sinful life in Berlin. It isn't long before Riley himself succumbs to charms of the German metropolis, whereupon he magnanimously allows Joe to stay in Berlin long enough to win the heart of aristocratic Mary Coronelli (Nancy Drexel). Riley himself also finds romance, in the form of gawky German damsel Lena (Louise Fazenda). Little does he realize that Lena is the sister of his hated rival -- police officer Hans Krausmeyer (Harry Schultz). If the synopsis is any indication, the present unavailability of this John Ford comedy is a real loss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Farrell MacDonald, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1927
This spoof of Doug Fairbanks' Thief of Bagdad amusingly combines traditional Arabian Nights melodrama with up-to-date "Roaring 20s" irreverence. Douglas MacLean stars as The Young Thief, who falls in love with The Girl, played by Sue Carol (later a powerful talent agent, as well as the wife of actor Alan Ladd). Alas, the Girl has been sold into the harem of The Wazir (Albert Prisco), forcing the Thief to sneak into the palace to rescue her. The film's highlight occurs when the Girl, fetchingly garbed in a brief harem costume, performs the "Black Bottom" at the behest of the Wazir to save the Thief from losing his head. Sporting a heavy black beard and a baleful expression, Boris Karloff shows up in the supporting cast as "The Chief Conspirator." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas MacLean, Sue Carol, (more)
- 1927
This lavish adaptation of Victor Herbert's operetta The Red Mill proved to be one of Marion Davies' most delightful and best-received silent vehicles. Davies is cast as Dutch barmaid Tina, who falls in love with handsome hero Dennis (Owen Moore). Alas, Dennis doesn't return her affections, whereupon Tina mounts a campaign to win his heart -- while simultaneously smoothing the romantic path for her friends, burgomeister's daughter Gretchen (Louise Fazenda) and army captain Jacob (Karl Dane). There's a bit of comic suspense when Tina -- disguised for plot purposes as Gretchen -- is accidentally locked in the titular mill, which is rumored to be haunted, but she manages to escape in time for a happy denouement. Beyond its romantic trappings, The Red Mill is full of wonderful slapstick moments, notably an opening scene in which the heroine tries her luck on ice skates, only to wind up covered in snow from head to foot. The film was directed by one "William Goodrich", actually a pseudonym for rotund comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose film career had been destroyed five years earlier in the wake of a messy scandal (Davies was endeavoring to help Arbuckle make a comeback -- even though her publisher boyfriend William Randolph Hearst had been largely responsible for his downfall!) It has long been assumed that the public was totally unaware that Goodrich and Arbuckle were one in the same, but contemporary reviews of The Red Mill indicate that William Goodrich's true identity was an open secret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Owen Moore, (more)
- 1924
This so-so Jackie Coogan vehicle was based on the novel, A Dog of Flanders, by Ouida -- and the dog in the film, by the way, is the famed Mack Sennett canine, Teddy. When his mother and grandfather die, little Nello (Coogan) is left all alone in the Dutch village of St. Agneten. The only one who will befriend him is Alois (Jean Carpenter), the young daughter of Baas Cogez (Lionel Belmore), the richest man in the village. Cogez drives Nello away, and he is befriended by canine Petrasche (Teddy). When Cogez's barn burns to the ground, Nello is blamed. He is about to be sent to an orphanage when famed artist Jan Van Dullen (Josef Swickard) comes to town offering a prize for the best sketch done by a child. Nello enters the competition, but his drawing is overlooked and another child wins. The youngster gets lost in a snowstorm, but Van Dullen discovers his drawing and goes looking for him. Petrasche helps him find Nello, who is near death. Cogez comes to respect the lad, and Van Dullen adopts him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josef Swickard, Nigel de Brulier, (more)
- 1923
Driven out of town by the local bully, Universal's rumpled cowboy star Hoot Gibson hops a freight train, only to be declared a hero for shooting a couple of fleeing bank robbers. The noble deed was actually performed by the train's brakeman, but Gibson is made deputy sheriff. Assigned to bring in a couple of cutthroats, Gibson discovers that their ringleader is actually his new girlfriend's wastrel brother (Harold Goodwin). The film's heroine, brunette Beatrice Burnham, also appeared opposite Buck Jones and Tom Mix. She played "Millie Erne" in the 1925 version of Riders of the Purple Sage before retiring from the screen to marry. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson
- 1923
This Alice Calhoun vehicle was one of dozens of desert romances that were made in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik. Calhoun plays Diantha Ebberly who travels to the Sahara with her parents (Otto Hoffman and Adele Farrington). Although the members of her family are conservative Bostonians, she is drawn to the desert and knows that she can never be happy with her fiancé, Herbert Medford (Herbert Heyes), who she hasn't even seen in two years. While walking through a market place she is victimized by some aggressive beggars, but a mysterious and handsome stranger rescues her. She instantly falls in love with him and sneaks off with him to enjoy "one stolen night" -- hence the title. But the couple are attacked by the evil Sheik Amud and Diantha is carried off. Once again her lover comes to the rescue, after which he reveals that he is actually her fiancé. Some cast lists credit Oliver Hardy in the role of Amud, which is entirely possible -- the film was distributed by Vitagraph, which was also producing the comedies of Larry Semon. Semon regularly used Hardy as his foil during this period, so he was well-known around Vitagraph. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Because he was unable to give voice to his earthy wit, Will Rogers' on-film appeal was a bit limited during the silent era. Producers often didn't know what to do with him and, in fact, when Rogers began producing his own films, he didn't know what to do with himself, either. That's about the only explanation for this two-reel feature which is pretty much just a display of his lariat skills. Rogers' ropin' is shown every which way, including slow motion. He lassos a galloping horse. He lassos a rat with a piece of string. He lassos a caterwauling cat. Somewhere in the midst of all this ropin' there's the skimpiest of stories featuring Irene Rich as the girl, John Ince as the stranger, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as the inevitable foreman. But none of them get much screen time -- it's all Rogers' show. After losing quite a bit of money trying to produce and direct himself, Rogers eventually found his screen niche during the sound era. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Irene Rich, (more)
- 1921
This sophisticated light comedy was based on a successful stage play by Herman Bahr. Augustus Martinot (Lewis Stone) is a famed pianist. He is also no great catch, although his wife Mary (Mary Stedman) knows how to handle him. Nevertheless, women are fascinated by Martinot, primarily because of his profession, and the naively romantic Delphine Hart (Mabel Julienne Scott) decides he's her soul mate -- no matter that she's already married to a doctor (Raymond Hatton). Delphine convinces Martinot to take her up to his mountain cabin, and the erring pair are on their way. Their spouses, however, have caught wind of their plans and go in pursuit. But Mary and Dr. Hart have a plan -- when they confront Martinot and Delphine, Dr. Hart explains that they've decided that switching partners is a good idea. This almost immediately causes the adulterers untold jealousy and it isn't long before they return to lawfully-wedded bliss -- or some semblance thereof. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis Stone, Myrtle Steadman, (more)
- 1920
After directing him as the title character in Huckleberry Finn, William Desmond Taylor again used boy actor Lewis Sargent in this picture. His character, known merely as "the boy," has been raised in an orphanage where he has caused as much trouble as possible. He finally can't stand living there anymore and runs away. On the streets he finds a friend in Mike (Ernest Butterworth), a newsboy. Mike teaches him how to survive but inevitably the boy gets hauled into court. However, the judge sees potential in him and hands him over to be adopted by a young politician. The judge, incidentally, is played by Judge Ben Lindsey, who was famous in his day for his efforts to give delinquent boys a decent chance in life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
