Henry Roquemore Movies

According to the trade-paper Variety, this "educational" exploitation melodrama was "possibly the strongest and most daring of so-called hygiene and sex warning pictures ever made." That was certainly the intention of roadshow entrepreneur S.S. Millard, who combined a rather tawdry white slavery melodrama with inserted footage depicting ravaged victims -- including children -- of venereal disease. The film's alternate title being The Girl in the Glass case, Millard advertized his film by having a woman posing in a glass construction outside the theater. The film industry's self-governed censorship board, the MPPDA, refused to give the film its seal of approval, making Millard's little melodrama even more exploitative. Like most late-silent exploitation films, Is Your Daughter Safe? had much more in common with the white slavery dramas of the early 1910s than the more enlightened fare emanating from the major studios, its moralistic views belonging to the "uplift" movement of pre-World War I. Vivian Winston eschews her virtuous boyfriend (Jerome Young) in favor of dallying with a libertine (William Dennis). She is saved in the nick of time from a fate worse than death by refusing to follow the example of a friend (Bernice Breacher), who is led down the garden path to a life of prostitution and venereal disease. Leading lady Winston, who appeared in the B-Western Land of the Lawless that same year, joined a semi-professional cast that also included rotund Henry Roquemore as a character depicted as The Beast; Palmer Morrison as a doctor; Hugh Saxon as a gambler; Joe Bonner, as a seducer of young women; Georgia O'Dell as a madam, and, to insure the film's acceptance by the strict censorship board of Chicago, Mayor William Hale Thompson of that city's Vice Commission, as himself. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Law and the Man is based on a story by Roy Octavus Cohen, then popular for his magazine yarns about "Negro" life. This time, however, the audience is spared Mr. Cohen's outrageous approximations of "authentic" African American dialects and customs. Instead, the story concerns crooked small-town politician Dan Creedon (Thomas Santschi), who decides to reform for the love of a good woman, namely lady lawyer Margaret Grayson (Gladys Brockwell). He does such a thorough job of cleaning up his act that he is nominated for the office of district attorney. But while Margaret is gratified by Dan's turnaround, she does not love him, reserving her affections for headstrong architect Ernest Vane (Robert Ellis). Though his heart is broken, Dan vows to protect Margaret's interests at any cost -- and this includes covering up for Ernest when the latter turns out to be a forger and thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John R. Freuler's highly misnamed Big Productions released this modest oater starring stolid silent screen hero Bob Custer as a cowboy ambushed by a gang of outlaws and later falsely accused of being one himself. Custer ultimately proves his innocence by displaying a tattoo depicting the state of Oklahoma! The film contained a couple of furious slug-fests but the overall effect, according to trade-paper reviews, was that of inertia. A mildly popular also-ran Western star, Custer founded his own production company in 1927. A reputed inability to remember lines sealed his fate in talkies, however, and he retired in the mid-1930s to become a building inspector. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

"Robert J. Horner," wrote film historian Don Miller, "was a man with one leg, small resources and his artistic pretensions were forthrightly nonexistent." In addition to his missing limb, Horner was also sans one eye, both handicaps the results of a car accident. Despite these physical setbacks, Horner was one of the most prolific producer-directors in what was then called Gower Gulch, the ramshackle companies inhabiting the netherworld of Hollywood filmmaking. Among Horner's stars were former luminaries such as Art Acord, Ted Wells, Fred Church, Jack Perrin and boy actor Buzz Barton. The latter three, along with Perrin's wife, Josephine Hill, headed the cast of this ramshackle western affair in which a former outlaw (Perrin) eludes the authorities by masquerading as a cowboy. The ancient plot hadn't improved with age, and Horner's parsimonious production methods were no help. The Apache Kid's Escape is only notable for having the hero lose the leading lady to another man (Church). In fact, throughout the film Perrin pays more attention to heroine Hill's teenage sister (Virginia Ashcroft)! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Penny-pinching producer-director J.P. McGowan splurged on canned music and special effects for this otherwise standard Bob Custer Western in which a couple of drifters (Custer and comedian Bobby Dunn) search for a missing millionaire (Henry Roquemore). The rotund capitalist has been kidnapped by nasty a rustler (Tom Bay), but Custer, without too much trouble, manages to return him to the loving arms of his pretty daughter (Vivian Ray). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a woman is utterly bored by her nice life and devoted husband, so she decides to find a lover. She chooses her husband's best friend, and together they plan to elope to a mountain cottage. But unbeknownst to her, the best friend is more loyal than he looks for soon after they arrive to their retreat, the husband appears and begins wooing her in earnest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Poor Marion Shockley finds herself the victim of both a robbery and a kidnapping in this obscure but quite well-made Poverty Row Western starring the diminutive Bob Steele. After saving Jane Rankin (Shockley) from her kidnappers, Johnny Day (Steele) is elected Cactus town marshal but what at first appears to be a breezy job proves highly dangerous when local bully Bart Morgan (Hooper Atchley) not only claims Jane as his but engages in a bit of cattle rustling on the side. Fortunately, Johnny is spared more trouble when Morgan is killed in a fight with another of Jane's pursuers, Red Thompson (Jay Morley). Near the Trail's End was the last of eight Westerns Steele did for low-budget company Tiffany and the only feature film to co-star Marion Shockley, a 1932 WAMPAS Baby Star better known for her work in comedy shorts and on radio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Although dismissed in its day as just another cheap Western, God's Country and the Man proves to be a surprisingly well-made sagebrush thriller, whose fiddling master villain, Al Bridge, is a revelation. Bridge, who co-wrote the scenario with director J.P. McCarthy and Wellyn Totman, plays Livermore, the gun-running boss of De Vina, a border town inhabited by cutthroats. Strapping Tom Tyler, as Texas lawman Tex Malone, arrives in Da Vina with his latest bounty, Irish-brogued Stingaree Kelly (George Hayes, long before he earned the nickname "Gabby"), there to infiltrate Livermore's gang of smugglers. Malone, using the alias of Steve Rollins, falls for the villain's French mistress, Rose (Betty Mack), and together they set a trap for the bandits. Rose proves to be yet another investigator in disguise -- and not French at all -- and in the final shootout, Stingaree Kelly sacrifices himself so that she and Malone can plan a future together. The surprising demise of the comic relief, and a boss villain who initiates every one of his crimes by playing a sad dirge on his fiddle, are just a few of this strange Western's many breaks with tradition. Produced by Trem Carr for the low-rent Syndicate Pictures Corp., God's Country and the Man remains a startling, well-acted example of a near-Gothic B-Western. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Filmed on-location at Lone Pine, CA, and thus looking a lot better than the average cheapie Western, Cheyenne Cyclone was the second of eight sagebrush thrillers produced by Willis Kent and starring former Paramount cowboy Lane Chandler and his horse Raven. Chandler and Connie Lamont played travelling stock company actors who find themselves stranded in a Western town. A former cowpuncher, Chandler obtains a job at the failing Lost River Ranch and helps the owner and his granddaughter (Marie Quillan) fight off a gang of cattle rustlers. Lamont switches sides and becomes the mistress of one of the rustlers, but Chandler manages to bring the entire gang to justice in the final reel. Chandler, who always considered producer Willis Kent "a prince," never quite made it as a B-Western star. Increasingly gaunt-looking, he made the switch to villainy with ease and enjoyed a career that lasted well into the television era. Cheyenne Cyclone was later reissued under the rather more appropriate title Rustler's Ranch. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Production for MGM, this well made Grand Hotel clone was based on a 1931 novel by Faith Baldwin. Warren William stars as David Dwight, a building and bank magnate who not only attempts to double-cross his backers but is two-timing both his wife (Hedda Hopper) and devoted secretary/mistress (Verree Teasdale). Threatened with losing his conglomeration in general and the 100 stories Dwight Building in particular to Hamilton (Arnold Lucy), David's cynical manipulations end up backfiring with unforeseen tragedy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This Depression-era romantic drama, which offers a surprisingly potent and unsentimental view of the economic hardships of the time, stars Spencer Tracy as Bill, a rough-hewn laborer struggling to get by and sleeping in a Hooverville shack. Bill meets Trina (Loretta Young), a sad and desperate young woman with no prospects and nowhere to go; her plight touches his heart of stone, and he allows her to stay with him. Bill picks up work where and when he can, while Trina tries to turn their hovel into a home. Bill soon makes the acquaintance of Fay LaRue (Glenda Farrell), a brassy showgirl whose career is on the way up and wouldn't mind if Bill tagged along. But Bill learns that leaving Trina behind won't be as simple as he thought. Trina is pregnant with his child, so he ends up planning a dangerous robbery in hopes of raising enough money to provide a proper home for Trina and the baby. Dealing with tough material in an adult manner, A Man's Castle was considered quite daring in its day. A year after its release, Hollywood adopted the Production Code that prohibited the depiction of unwed cohabitation and premarital pregnancy (among many other things), which would have made this a very different film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide