Margaret Seddon Movies
An established stage actress, Margaret Seddon made the transition to films in 1915. During the silent era, Seddon alternated between motherly roles and haughty matronly types; one of her best parts of the 1920s was Miss Trafalgar Gowes in The Actress, a 1927 adaptation of Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells. Active until 1951, she essayed minor roles in everything from Gone With the Wind (1939) to the Dr. Kildare films. Margaret Seddon earned an honored spot in the annals of film history as Jane Faulkner, one of the two "pixilated" Faulkner sisters, in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); she later toured with her Deeds co-star Margaret McWade in a vaudeville act called "the Pixilated Sisters." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1934
Based on a successful stage drama, this historical romance stars Norma Shearer as Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid largely confined to her bed. Elizabeth has little company beyond her dog and her obsessively protective father, Edward Moulton Barrett (Charles Laughton). Her one great passion and means of emotional escape is writing poetry, to which she devotes a large part of her days. She makes the acquaintance of fellow poet Robert Browning (Fredric March), who pays her a visit. They respect each others' literary abilities and become romantically attracted to each other. Robert asks for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, but Edward refuses to allow it. Elizabeth must battle her father for the right to live her own life, but eventually she is able to wed Robert and bring herself back to health. Director Sidney A. Franklin also helmed a remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957); it was his last film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Fredric March, (more)
- 1933
What isn't Heroes for Sale about? Within its 71-minute time frame, this film (co-written by "professional cynic" Wilson Mizner) tackles such issues as disenfranchised war veterans, misguided hero worship, drug addiction, the Depression, capitalism, labor relations and communism. Richard Barthelmess plays a wounded war hero whose hospital stay has turned him into a morphine junkie. He wanders from town to town looking for work during the Depression, only to be turned away with a "we've got our own to watch out for!" Eventually, Barthelmess befriends millionaire-in-the-making Robert H. Barrat, who has invented a revolutionary washing machine. Becoming Barrat's partner, Barthelmess attempts to quell a strike by workers who've been stirred up by Red agitators. With all this going on, Barthelmess still finds time to romance Loretta Young. Heroes for Sale is very much a product of its time, though its entertainment value has remained solid for well over six decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1933
Broadway Bad stars Joan Blondell as a wisecracking but goodhearted chorus girl whose husband (Ricardo Cortez) is an abusive lout. Blondell's plight makes the headlines, which results in an upswing in her career. Rather than wallow in self-pity, she trades on the publicity to become a star, while hubby mutters dark promises of revenge. This film was based on the real-life relationship between Broadway star Hal Skelly and a promiscuous young actress who assumed several professional names. Though its cast and subject matter might suggest that Broadway Bad is a Warner Bros. epic, the picture was actually produced and released by Fox Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1933
In this romantic comedy, an American art student goes abroad to study and gets a reputation when she marries a wealthy shipping magnate. She eventually returns to her hometown. While en route, a train wreck occurs and she proves herself a heroine by helping out. She then finds herself falling in love with a Kansas school teacher. Romantic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benita Hume, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1933
In this romance, an enrollee at the US Naval Academy finds it difficulty adjusting to the unending rules and regulations. Then he falls in lover with the commandant's daughter and almost loses his chance for a commission. Fortunately, he turns it all around, does well, and becomes an instructor for incoming freshmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1933
This weepie, adapted from a play by Philip Dunning and George Abbott, is a vehicle for Ruth Chatterton as the titular Lilly. Her sufferings begin when she marries a man who later turns out to be a bigamist. She has their baby but marries another man so the child can have a father. The new husband is alcoholic and so Lilly falls in love with someone else, but when her husband breaks his back protecting her, she elects to stay with him. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, (more)
- 1933
Walls of Gold is based on the Kathleen Norris novel of the same name. Sally Eilers stars as Jeanie Satterlee, a level-headed blue-collar gal to becomes the mistress of wealthy J. Gordon Ritchie (Ralph Morgan). This she does to spite her sweetheart, Ritchie's nephew Barnes (Norman Foster), who while stewed to the gills has married Jeanie's younger sister. The sister dies in childbirth, whereupon the elder Ritchie adopts the baby. Suffering a heart attack brought on by a vengeful woman from his past, Ritchie dies, leaving Jeanie in charge of her sister's child. Touched by Jeanie's dedication as a surrogate mother, Barnes begs her forgiveness just in time for a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, Norman Foster, (more)
- 1933
In this grim drama, a conniving young man is brought up on charges of reckless driving. To "prove" his innocence and good character, he goes to a nursing home and adopts an old woman whom he presents as his loving mother. Unfortunately for him, she really gets into her role and when he falls in love with a seductive, shady lady, the old lady does all she can to protect him from her; this includes getting him tossed in jail and shooting the young trollop. Afterward, the old lady must stand trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Knapp, Margaret Seddon, (more)
- 1932
Based on a story by Robert Andrews, If I Had a Million is a multipart comedy-drama employing Paramount's top directorial and acting talents. Refusing to leave his fortune to his grasping relatives, dying millionaire Richard Bennett selects several people at random from the phone book and bestows upon each of them a check for one million dollars. The first recipient is henpecked husband Charlie Ruggles, who cheerily enters his former place of employment, a china shop, and smashes every bit of crockery in the place. Prostitute Wynne Gibson uses her money to escape from her sordid lifestyle and finally sleep in a bed all by herself. Forger George Raft finds that he can't convince anyone that his check is genuine, and ends up handing the check to a flophouse manager--who promptly burns it. Husband and wife W.C. Fields and Alison Skipworth, dismayed that their new car has been destroyed by a "road hog," utilize part of their million dollars to purchase a fleet of cars and then smash up every road hog in sight! Convicted murderer Gene Raymond hopes that his million will help finance a new trial, but the execution is carried out on schedule. Newly rich clerk Charles Laughton calmly makes his way through a series of offices, reaches his boss' desk, and delivers a loud Bronx cheer. Gary Cooper, Roscoe Karns and Jack Oakie play three brawling marines who think the check's a joke and sign it over to an illiterate lunch-counter owner. The last million-dollar recipient is May Robson, an elderly woman confined to a dismal nursing home. She spends her money to turn the home into a joyful resort for old people, forcing the formerly repressive nursing-home staffers to earn their paychecks by sitting all day in rocking chairs. The millionaire who started the plot rolling is given a new lease on life by May Robson's example, and he recovers from his "fatal" illness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1932
Director Sidney Franklin originally adapted Jane Murfin and Jane Cowl's play Smilin' Through for the silver screen in a 1922 silent film starring Norma Talmadge and (the other) Harrison Ford. Remaking his own film, Franklin directed Norma Shearer in this 1932 talkie. Leslie Howard plays John Carteret, an old man whose fiancée (Shearer) was killed on their wedding day by her jilted former suitor (Fredric March). Years later, Carteret is forced to take care of his orphaned niece Kathleen (also Shearer), who looks exactly like his his former betrothed. The niece soon falls in love with Kenneth Wayne (also March), the son of the jilted suitor. Filled with bitterness and resentment about the past, Carteret does all that he can to stand in the way of the blossoming romance. Smilin' Through was once again adapted in a 1941 version directed by Frank Borzage and starring Jeanette MacDonald. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Fredric March, (more)
- 1931
George Morris (James Hall) is madly in love with his wife Helen (Irene Delroy), but rakish bachelor Paul Wilcox (Lew Cody) and glamorous seductress Joan Whitley (Natalie Morehead) get in the way. After a series of petty squabbles, George links up with Joan, while Helen walks off with Paul. The divorced couple tries to maintain a civilized relationship, but they can't hide the pain. George and Helen eventually patch things up, but not before a series of all-too-well domestic confrontations. Lew Cody provides the film's lighter moments, never talking when drinking will do. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Hall, Irene Delroy, (more)
- 1930
One of the most overworked plots of the silent era was the one about an Eastern wastrel who toughens up on a Western ranch. The charismatic Douglas Fairbanks popularized the character in the mid 1910s, but George Duryea, the Eastern snob this time around, was no Fairbanks. Duryea hires out as a ranch hand on a dude ranch, and there is plenty of low comedy as the effeminate Easterner learns the tough ways of the West. There's a girl involved, of course (Lina Basquette) and a couple of rivals among the guests (including veteran movie star Francis X. Bushman), but this early talkie from low-rent Sono Art-World Wide was not worth anybody's while. Leading man Duryea later changed his name to Tom Keene and enjoyed a brief vogue as a "B"-western star. Later still, he became Richard Powers and played character roles. Lina Basquette married one of the Warner Bros., starred in a couple of flops, but was better known for her off-screen antics, all of which she described in salacious details in her often very funny memoirs DeMille's Godless Girl. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lina Basquette, Clyde Cook, (more)
- 1930
Dancing Sweeties is set primarily in a Chicago dance emporium. During a dance contest, Bill (Grant Withers) and Molly (Sue Carol) meet and fall in love. Deciding to go professional, Bill drops Molly when she proves unable to memorize their dance routines. Finally, however, Bill realizes that there's more to life than a syncopated pair of tootsies, and he proposes to Molly. The film's four songs were hummable but forgettable: a fifth, "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes," was cut from the final release print but went on to become a hit thanks to incessant radio and jukebox exposure. The reviewer for Variety at the time of the film's release described Dancing Sweeties as typical of a genre in which the characters' brains were in their feet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grant Withers, Sue Carol, (more)
- 1930
Mary Philbin, best remembered as the heroine of the 1925 Lon Chaney version of Phantom of the Opera, stars in this murky low-budget melodrama. Philbin plays the daughter of truculent lighthouse keeper Russell Simpson. She goes ga-ga over society rake Edmund Burns, which greatly displeases her father. So put out is dead old dad that he goes after Burns with an axe, whereupon Philbin arms herself with a gun. Since most of After the Fog is set in a lighthouse, it is altogether appropriate that it was put together by Beacon Productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Philbin, Russell Simpson, (more)
- 1929
Taxi dancing provides the framework for this romantic drama that chronicles the attempted love affair between a shipping clerk and a taxi dancer. Try as he might, he cannot distract the lovely dancer from her fixation upon a dashing aviator. The pilot seems to return her affection. The shipping clerk finally gets his chance after the aviator crashes while attempting a cross-country flight. The dancer is devastated and the clerk moves in to care for her. He keeps secret his knowledge that the pilot is alive and living with another lady. When the truth is finally revealed, the dancer flies into a rage. She immediately tries to see the pilot, who cruelly rejects her. Chastened, the dancer goes back to the clerk. Together they waltz off to lead a happy life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olive Borden, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1929
In spite of its unbelievable storyline, She Goes to War manages to sustain interest from first reel to last. During WWI, spoiled socialite Joan Morant (Eleanor Boardman) heads to France, hoping to be reunited with her soldier sweetheart Reggie (Edmund Burns). Her presence is resented by Reggie's CO, Lieutenant Tom Pike (John Holland), who endeavors to prove to the heroine that social standing means nothing in the face of war. When Reggie turns coward and refuses to march into battle, the newly-responsible Joan, hoping to save Reggie's honor, dons a uniform and marches off in his place! Through a bizarre turn of events, Joan ends up saving the lives of everyone else in the regiment. Currently available from several public-domain videocassette sources, She Goes to War is worth seeing if only for its brief talkie sequences, in which the voice of actress Alma Rubens (cast as ukelele-plucking Rosie Cohen) was heard for the first and only time; within two years, Rubens would be dead, having lost her ongoing battle with drug addiction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanor Boardman, John Holland, (more)
- 1928
The Actress is a silent-film adaptation of Arthur Wing Pinero's evergreen stage play Trelawny of the Wells. Norma Shearer plays Rose Trelawny, who becomes an accomplished actress only after she learns to "love the players"-that is, to believe in what she's doing. While touring with a second-string company, Rose falls in love with aristocratic Arthur Gower (Ralph Forbes), whose parents frown on show folk. Impressed by Rose's pluck, Arthur's grandfather (O.P. Heggie) changes his mind about the theatre. The old man bankrolls a play that will make Rose a star, paving the way for a happy third-act curtain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Ralph Forbes, (more)
- 1928
The present unavailability of 1928's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is especially frustrating for those who'd like to compare this first version of the classic Anita Loos comic novel to the 1953 Marilyn Monroe-Jane Russell remake. The blonde in question is Miss Lorelei Lee, a dumb-like-a-fox golddigger on the prowl for a rich husband. With her best friend Dorothy Shaw (Alice White), Lorelei takes a trip to Gay Paree, where among other adventures she gets mixed up with roguish old millionaire Sir Francis Beekman (Mack Swain). Eventually she finds that true love doesn't come with a price tag, or does it? Ford Sterling and Holmes Herbert co-star as Lorelei and Dorothy's middle-aged swains. Lorelei herself is played by Ruth Taylor, a onetime Mack Sennett bathing beauty who retired from films upon her marriage to a Manhattan stockbroker (life imitates art!) Incidentally, Taylor was the mother of humorist Buck Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Taylor, Alice White, (more)
- 1927
The "silk legs" of the title belong to star Madge Bellamy, and a fine pair of extremities they are indeed. The story focuses on the rivalry between two travelling lingerie salespersons, Ruth Stevens (Madge Bellamy) and Phil Barker (James Hall). Phil has the slicker sales approach, but Ruth has the advantage of being able to model her wares. The animosity between the two halts abruptly when Phil becomes worried that one of their customers, elderly Ezra Fulton (Joseph Cawthorn) harbors improper attentions towards Ruth. When it turns out that old Ezra's interest in the girl is strictly platonic, the relieved Phil relaxes long enough to declare his love for the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madge Bellamy, James Hall, (more)
- 1927
Though he'd fallen from the upper ranks of directors, James Young was still capable of excellent work in 1927. Young's low-budget Driven From Home recycles one of the oldest plots on record: the cruel father who orders his daughter out of the house when she elopes with the "wrong man." The girl (Virginia Lee Corbin) must not only contend with her father's rejection, but also with the lustful advances of opium-den proprietor Sojin. The blood-and-thunder aspects of the storyline are handled with taste and artistry by Young, who never gives the impression that he's "slumming". Driven From Home was produced by Chadwick films, one of several small companies that was later absorbed by Warner Bros.-First National. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, Melbourne MacDowell, (more)
- 1927
The irrepressible Johnny Hines stars as "White Pants" Willie Bascom, an enterprising garage mechanic and erstwhile inventor. Delivering a repaired auto to the home of millionaire Philip Charters (Henry Barrows), Willie falls in love with Charters' lovely daughter Helen (Leila Hyams). Donning a white dinner jacket to match his white overalls, Willie manages to crash a high-society country club to pay Helen a visit. Our hero wins over the "400" by winning a polo match then secures his marriage to Helen by selling his latest invention for a sizeable sum. Featured in the cast as Willie's comedy-relief Chinese buddy Wong Lee is Japanese actor George Kuwa, better known to film buffs as the screen's first Charlie Chan (in the now-lost 1926 serial House Without a Key). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Hines, Leila Hyams, (more)
- 1927
May McAvoy stars as Sallie Smith, a nightclub cigarette girl who falls in love with Bob Ward (Malcolm McGregor), who's working his way through college as a paid escort. Alas, Sally's head is turned by wealthy cad Tom Mannion (Richard Tucker), who lures the girl to a wild weekend party at his Long Island estate. Once he gets her alone on his yacht, Mannion does his best (or worst) to seduce Sally. A convenient storm capsizes the yacht, whereupon Sally is rescued by her ever-loving Bob. Matinee Ladies was among the first directorial efforts of cinematographer Byron Haskin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- May McAvoy, Malcolm McGregor, (more)
- 1927
A bit more sedate and reserved than the usual Marion Davies vehicle, this 1927 adaptation of James M. Barrie's Quality Street turned out to be one of the star's best and most likeable films. Davies is cast as Phoebe, a pretty young thing who agrees to be faithful to her sweetheart Dr. Valentine Brown (Conrad Nagel) when he marches off to war. He returns several years later to discover that Phoebe has transformed into a prudish "old maid" (after all, she is nearly thirty!) To win back Dr. Brown's love, Phoebe pretends to be her own teenaged niece, with mirthsome results. Quality Street was attractively remade with Katharine Hepburn in 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Conrad Nagel, (more)
- 1927
Ever-smiling Johnny Hines plays a farm boy who supports himself and his mother (Margaret Seddon) by selling canned fruit preserves to tourists. Unfortunately, Hines is despised by his new stepfather (Edmund Breese), who kicks our hero off the farm. Stowing away on a Pullman car, Hines meets and falls in love with pretty heiress Marjorie Daw, who encourages the boy to try his luck in the Big City. Landing a job as a waiter, Hines figures out a method to sell his mother's preserves to the high-society crowd. The story ends up, as expected, at a fancy party held by heroine Daw, where after several hilarious social gaffes Hines scores a big hit with his home-made jams and jellies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Hines, Marjorie Daw, (more)
- 1926
The felicitous star-director combination of Reginald Denny and William A. Seiter served up another moneyspinner for Universal with Rolling Home. Denny plays young businessman Nat Alden, who is fired from his job when one too many of his surefire business schemes fizzles. He is given a lift home by his old pal Dan (Ben Hendricks Jr.), who happens to be the chauffeur of Nat's ex-boss Grubell (E. J. Ratcliffe). When his neighbors see Nat alighting from Grubell's Rolls-Royce, they naturally assume that our hero is a huge success. Thanks to this surge of public confidence, Nat is able to float one more business deal, which turns out to be a financial bonanza for all concerned. As an added fillip, he wins the love of local beauty Phyllis (Marion Nixon) -- but only after convincing the down-to-earth heroine that he's not a millionaire! Incidentally, both of Denny's leading ladies during his Universal period, Laura LaPlante and Marion Nixon, became the wives of director Seiter (though not, of course, at the same time). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Denny, Marian Nixon, (more)
