Earl Schenck Movies

Gene Tierney portrays a beautiful but unstable woman who marries successful novelist Cornel Wilde. Tierney wants to spend all her time with her new husband, but finds it impossible to do so thanks to his work and the frequent visits of family and friends. When Wilde's crippled younger brother (Darryl Hickman) comes to the couple's summer house to stay, Ms. Tierney indirectly causes the boy to drown. Later, upon discovering that she's pregnant, Tierney deliberately falls down the stairs, choosing to miscarry rather than share her husband's affections with an infant. When it becomes clear that family friend Jeanne Crain is attracted to her husband, Ms. Tierney commits suicide, making her death appear to be murder and framing Crain for the "crime." In court, Ms. Crain is mercilessly grilled by prosecuting attorney Vincent Price, who happens to be Tierney's ex-lover! Filmed in lush Technicolor, Leave Her to Heaven is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Opening in England during the middle of World War II, A Guy Named Joe tells the story of Pete Sandidge (Spencer Tracy), a tough, devil-may-care bomber pilot who's amassed an enviable record in combat, mostly by taking chances that give his C.O. (James Gleason) the shakes, much as he and the top brass appreciate the results. Pete lives to fly, but he also appreciates the fairer sex, which for the last couple of years means Dorinda Durston (Irene Dunne), herself a hot-shot air-ferry pilot. She's also worried about the chances he takes, even after Pete and his best friend, Al Yackey (Ward Bond), are transferred to Scotland and switched to flying reconnaissance missions. Pete finally agrees to take a training position back in the States, but he must fly one last mission, to locate a German force threatening an Allied convoy. He and Al do the job and have turned for home when the German fighter cover attacks; Pete's plane is damaged and he's wounded, and after his crew bails out he takes the burning ship down and drops his bomb-load on the main German attack ship (a carrier, which is totally inaccurate) at zero altitude. His plane is caught in the blast and destroyed, and that's where the main body of the movie begins.

Pete arrives in a hereafter that's a pilot's version of heaven, including a five-star general (Lionel Barrymore). He doesn't even appreciate what's happened to him until he meets Dick Rumney (Barry Nelson), a friend and fellow pilot who was previously killed in action. It seems that the powers of the hereafter are contributing to the war effort, sending departed pilots like Pete and Dick to Earth to help guide and help young pilots; Pete himself discovers that he benefited from these efforts in peacetime. Pete ends up at Luke Field near Phoenix, AZ, where he takes on helping Ted Randall (Van Johnson), a young pilot who lacks confidence. By the time he's done, riding along while Ted "solos," Ted is a natural in the air and ends up as the star of his squadron when he become operational in New Guinea -- in a group under the command of Al Yackey -- and ends up taking over command when their own leader is shot down. Pete's like a proud teacher, and also enjoys his unheard ribbing of Al and his ex-C.O. to Rumney, over their promotions, but then Dorinda shows up, and suddenly Pete finds all of his unresolved feelings about her recalled, even as he sees that she's never gotten over losing him. And when, with Al's help, she and Ted meet and seem to fall for each other, Pete's jealousy gets the better of him. It's only when he is made to realize just how important life was to him, and how important the future is for those still living, that he begins to understand that he has to let go of his feelings, and let Dorinda and Ted get on with their lives. But first he has to help Dorinda survive a suicide mission that she's taken over from Ted, attacking a huge and heavily defended Japanese ammo dump. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

While living in a Nova Scotia fishing village, soldier William Pennland (Ben Hendricks) marries pretty Chastity (Mae Marsh). Then he goes off to serve and forgets about her. While Chastity patiently waits for him, Pennland becomes embroiled in a number of romances. The last one is with Hagar (Laska Winter), and he commits bigamy by marrying her. When he tries to leave, Hagar maroons him on an island where he suffers from exposure and starvation. Guilt-ridden, she goes back for him, but it is too late and he dies. Chastity discovers his whereabouts and shows up for a last good-bye. She takes Hagar to her home, where the young woman has a baby. Hagar feels badly about what she's done (even though Pennland was a cad), and decides to commit suicide. Chastity, however, saves her. The two women eventually go on to find new mates. Film pioneer J. Stuart Blackton was near the end of his Hollywood career when he made this melodrama, and Mae Marsh, the star, was showing less and less enthusiasm for motion pictures. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Produced and directed by former cameraman Charles R. Seeling, this low-budget silent melodrama starred action hero George Larkin as an American caught up in a Central American revolution. En route to Sevilla, "Central America," Richard Morton rescues lovely Dolores (Billie Dove) from bandits. Morton brings the girl with him to his father's (Arthur Millett) ranch but finds the place overrun with revolutionists led by evil Rodolfo Emanon (Earl Schenk). Allying himself with the counter-revolutionists, Richard saves the life of the country's president, Dominguez (J.L. Powell), Dolores' father. Written by Western specialist George H. Plympton, Yankee Madness also featured serial star Walter Long and Larkin's real-life wife Ollie Kirby. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Although this desert drama was not one of Norma Talmadge's best films, it is notable because the director was screen writer Frances Marion. Part way through the shooting, Marion was hit by a falling arc lamp, and Chester Franklin (brother of director Sidney Franklin) subbed for her until she recovered. Ramon Valverde, a French secret service man (Joseph Schildkraut), is sent to a French-Arab colony to halt a revolt that is brewing. He meets the beautiful Noorma-Hal (Talmadge), who dances at the gambling hall run by her uncle, Chandra-Lal (Hector V. Sarno). He wins her love, then uses her to get information on the plans of Ramlika, the tribal chieftain (Arthur Edmund Carewe). Valverde is captured when the revolt begins and even though Noorma-Hal realizes she has been deceived, she still loves him and wants to save him. She promises to marry Ramlika if he will spare Valverde, then she swallows poison. Reinforcements arrive to stop the revolt, and Noorma-Hal recovers from her suicide attempt. Valverde belatedly realizes that he loves her, and they are united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Seeking to bring High Art to the American hinterlands, silent film star Alla Nazimova sank a great deal of her own money into her 1922 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Salome. Art director Natacha Rambova (notorious as the contentious second wife of Rudolph Valentino) based her set designs on the works of fin-de-siecle artist Aubrey Beardsley. The story remains as always: Salome is coerced by her mother Herodias (Rose Dione) to demand the head of John the Baptist on a platter. She performs an erotic dance around the head, then is crushed to death by Herod's guards. Legend has it that everyone in the supporting cast and production crew of Salome was homosexual--hand-picked by Nazimova, who reportedly believed that only a gay aggregation could do full justice to her bizarre, excruciatingly stylized cinematic vision. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This entertaining little silent comedy stars Earl Schenck and Betsy Ross Clark). The pair play Harlan Carr and his wife, who have inherited a New England homestead, the Jack O' Lantern, from his Uncle Ebenezer. One stipulation in the will is that they must live in the house for six months before they can claim ownership. It isn't long after they've moved in that they're invaded by a passel of obnoxious relatives who have made it a habit of spending every summer at the place. The relatives spend their time taking advantage of the Carrs and complaining that they inherited nothing. Eventually the couple can take it no longer and they summarily eject all the freeloaders. With that, the lawyer arrives and hands them a letter from Uncle Ebenezer, which congratulates them -- he felt the same way they did about his relatives, but he never had the courage to kick them out. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Rest assured that this Buried Treasure is not the notorious animated porn film of the same name. Marion Davies plays a dual role: a dizzy modern debutante and a 17th century Spanish lass. After dreaming about pirate gold, the modern Davies convinces her boy friend Norman Kerry to go on a perilous treasure hunt. Meanwhile, Davies's father Anders Randolf also searches for buried treasure, albeit in the wrong direction thanks to his daughter's chicanery. It's all in fun, of course, as Marion Davies' best vehicles usually were. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This average drama has little to offer, although it does feature a couple of notable up-and-comers in small roles: Rod La Rocque and Tallulah Bankhead. School teacher Jean Carson (Olive Tell) lives in the Yukon and is loved by Ned Fallon, a young prospector (Jere Austin). Ned and Jean's father, Henry (Joseph Burke), are partners, and when they are off on a prospecting trip, Jean becomes lonely and gets involved with Ned's black sheep brother, Steve (Earl Schenck). They marry, but Steve comes home drunk one day and informs her that he is already married to a woman in Seattle. He takes off, never to be seen again. When Ned returns, he deeds half of his claim to Jean, but she explains that she cannot marry him. Word filters down that Steve has died, and when Bruce Graham, a New York broker (Sidney Mason), comes through the village, he falls for Jean. She accompanies him back East and marries him. She never tells him of her marriage to Steve, and years later Doc Sloan (La Rocque) tries to blackmail her. Graham becomes suspicious of Ned's relationship with his wife, but everything is solved when Sloan is shot to death and Ned marries Jean's younger sister, Helen (Bankhead). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Certainly the best-known of the out-and-out WWI propaganda films, My Four Years in Germany is also one of the silliest of the batch. The film was based on the book by James W. Gerard, who from 1913 to 1917 served as the American ambassador to Germany. Gerard, an avowed and somewhat rabid anti-German, also worked on the film; according to historian Kevin Brownlow, the former ambassador helped director William Nigh locate the actors who most closely resembled their real-life German counterparts (Gerard himself was played by Halbert Brown). Concentrating on the most extreme examples of German brutality -- the POW camps, the mass executions, the systematic humiliation of conquered countries -- the film "authenticated" its images by constantly flashing subtitles reading "FACT, NOT FICTION!" Not above resorting to caricature to make its points, the film depicts the Kaiser (Louis Dean) as a leering Devil Incarnate, and his General Staff as a collection of inbred morons. For example, Admiral Triplitz is seen playing with toy battleships, while Chancellor Von Bethmann-Holweig (played by Swedish actor Karl Dane, long before his prominence as a screen comedian) is likewise shown wasting his time in childish pursuits (Conversely, the enthusiastic bayonetting of half a dozen "Huns" by an American soldier, a scene that cannot be watched today without wincing, was treated as perfectly normal behavior!) While the atrocities of WWI were quite real, however, the re-creation of those outrages in My Four Years in Germany were purely the product of the filmmakers' imaginations, notably the scene in which German doctors blithely permit a group of POWs to die of typhus and even help spread the disease. The finished film proved so shocking that Major Metellus Lucullus Cicero Funkhouser, Chicago's official police censor, ordered that several of the more lurid scenes be removed. George Creel, chairman of the U.S. Government Committee of Public Information (popularly known as the Creel Committee), counterdemanded that Funkhouser be asked to resign, stopping just short of calling the Chicago-based censor a "pro-German." As it happened, Funkhouser was eventually removed from office for unrelated reasons (neither he nor Creel were precisely selfless saints), and his replacement, William Ludhardt, restored My Four Years in Germany to its original length. It is this restored version, running well over two hours, that survives today, an often ludicrous but undeniably powerful document of the prevailing national sentiments during the "War to End All Wars." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide