Alma Rubens Movies
A beautiful but deeply troubled and ultimately tragic Hollywood star of the early '20s, Alma Rubens enjoyed early success opposite Douglas Fairbanks in no less than four of that star's popular films, including the delightful but somewhat prophetic The Mystery of the Leaping Fish. This comedy poked fun at drug addiction, of all things, and addiction to heroin would prove Rubens downfall in real life. She was still beautiful and regal in the early '20s when she signed a contract with newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Although Hearst spent most of his time overseeing the vehicles of his mistress Marion Davies, Rubens was awarded such plums as the costume epic Under the Red Robe (1923). But her heroin habit would have a devastating effect on both health and beauty, and by the middle of the decade she was spending an increasing amount of time at various mental institutions. In 1929, Rubens was surprisingly awarded the tragic role of the mulatto Julie in the first version of Show Boat, but it was a last hurrah. Weakened by her addiction, she succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 33.~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1918
While her sister Felicity (Peggy Pearce) remains back on the farm with her folks, footloose Judith (Alma Rubens) borrows $100 and journeys to the Big City. Establishing herself as a fortune teller named "Zariska," Judith quickly parlays her nest egg into a fortune and is soon residing in a luxurious penthouse. All that is missing from her life is romance, but Judith hopes that she can land wealthy Peter Van Dixon (Lee Phelps) as her husband. When David says "no," the embittered Judith turns to a life of crime. Passing off her sister Felicity as the long-lost daughter of a millionaire, Judith cooks up an elaborate confidence scheme, but the whole things explodes in her face. Broke and discredited, our heroine wearily returns to her home town, where her childhood sweetheart David Strong (Edward Peil) lovingly welcomes her back. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Alma Rubens, at the time still a fresh face in motion pictures, starred in this Triangle melodrama. French artistJules Mardon (Francis MacDonald) travels to Italy for his health. There, he meets the breathtakingly beautiful Felice (Rubens), who is known as the Passion Flower. Mardon paints her portrait and she falls in love with him. But once he has finished the painting, he takes it and leaves, never to return. The painting is hung in a Paris salon, where it catches the attention of wealthy Armande de Gautier (Wheeler Oakman). De Gautier becomes determined to meet the Passion Flower and he travels to Italy and wins her love. They marry and are happy for several years, especially after the birth of their son. But then Mardon shows up and forces Felice to run away with him. De Gautier believes that she has deserted him and their child, and when she returns, he throws her out of the house. The boy has been stricken with the plague, and before she is forced to leave, Felice kisses the germ-infested child. Then she immediately returns to Mardon, feigns passion for him, and plants her plague-ridden lips on his. Mardon dies from the disease. Both Felice and her son survive, and she reconciles with her husband. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Socialism is given sympathetic, if unrealistic, treatment in this Triangle drama. John Warfield (Joe King) has been raised a socialist and after his father dies, he continues speaking out against wealth and luxury. Goldie Shepard (Claire Anderson), a telephone operator, takes an interest in him and becomes his stenographer. She is angry because her father (Jean Hersholt) was hit and killed by a car in which wealthy Lorraine Van Allen (Alma Rubens) was riding. Guido Garcia (Francis MacDonald), who is something of a fanatic, helps Warfield by funding a home for the poor. Lorraine comes by to speak with Goldie, who wants nothing to do with her. After seeing the good work Warfield is doing, however, she decides to stick around and get involved. Warfield, meanwhile, discovers that he has inherited a fortune and sails to England to claim it. He sends for Goldie and they are married. But her sudden plunge into wealth changes her. She no longer cares about the poor and refuses to accompany her husband back to the States. Garcia arrives, and when he discovers how much trouble Goldie is causing, he kills her and then jumps into the Thames. Warfield returns to America to find Lorraine taking care of his mission. A romance develops and they embark on a life together, helping the poor. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
In this typically moralistic silent western, newspaperman "Truthful" Tulliver (William S. Hart) rescues sisters Grace (Alma Rubens) and Daisy (Nina Byron) Burton from lewd remarks and the unwanted attention of rube townsmen, thereby incurring the enmity of dance-hall operator "Deacon" Doyle (Milton Ross). "Truthful" begins a crusade against Doyle, who, it is later revealed, is actually the henchman for Eastern dandy York Cantrell (Norbert Myles). Both men are driven out of town. But not before Cantrell manages to wrong Daisy, who confesses to her sister. Falsely assuming that it is Grace his fiancée who has been wronged, "Truthful" apprehends Cantrell. The cad, however, does the decent thing and marries Daisy, leaving Tulliver and Grace to plan a life together. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The Americano is Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the son of a wealthy mining engineer. Sent by his dad to oversee a mine in South America, he falls in love with Alma Rubens, the daughter of a deposed below-the-border president. With Fairbanks' help, the kindly ex-leader is restored to his former position and the insurgents are sent scurrying back to the hills. Even after eight decades, The Americano retains its exuberant entertainment value; the only drawback is the distressing presence of white actor Tom Wilson in blackface as the traditional "scared darkey". The film was adapted by its director John Emerson and his wife Anita Loos from a novel by Eugene P. Lyle Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, (more)
- 1916
Douglas Fairbanks Sr.'s splendid physique was seen in all its pristine glory in the 1916 western The Half-Breed. In what might have been a movie first, the title character is sympathetically portrayed, despite the "onus" of having Indian blood. Living as an outcast, young Lo Dorman (Fairbanks) is welcomed back into society by pretty preacher's daughter Nellie (Jewel Carmen), who cares not a whit about his mixed parentage. But Dorman's presence in town proves uncomfortable for Sheriff Dunne (Sam DeGrasse) -- who, unbeknownst to anyone himself, is Lo's father. The sheriff does his worst to discredit Lo in the eyes of the townsfolk, whereupon our hero joins a travelling medicine show, finding true happiness with another "outcast," dance-hall girl Teresa (Alma Rubens). In an interview with Kevin Brownlow, director Allan Dwan revealed that The Half-Breed almost didn't get made, thanks to the interference of Fairbank's then wife, who didn't want her husband to appear as an "unwashed" half-breed. To circumvent this, Dwan inserted a scene showing a nearly nude Fairbanks taking a "bath" in a river, then thoroughly scrubbing himself and his clothes with sand. "He was a washed Indian, not a dirty Indian," Dwan explained. "I only put the scene in to satisfy Mrs. Fairbanks." Unfortunately, only the first two reels of The Half-Breed are known to exist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
The lines of demarcation are clearly drawn in the Douglas Fairbanks vehicle Reggie Mixes In. We know that Reggie (Fairbanks) is rich because he's the best-dressed person in the picture. We know that the criminal gang is a criminal gang because of their grimy costumes. And we know that W.E. Lowery is the head of the crooks because he wears a cap and pin-striped jacket. Well, that's the sort of visual shorthand that silent filmmakers had to indulge in. For the record, Reggie Mixes In is all about a millionaire's effort to prove his grit by taking a job as a saloon bouncer. He falls for slum girl Bessie Love, defends her virtue, arranges for her to inherit a fortune, and it's smiles all around at the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
