Margaret Seddon Movies

Set sometime during the 19th century, Blarney deals with the exploits of Irish prizefighter James Carabine (Ralph Graves). Aspiring to become the greatest bare-knuckle boxer in the world, Carabine stows away on a boat bound for America. On the verge of being discovered, our hero is rescued by another immigrant, Peggy Nolan (Rene Adoree), who pays for his fare. Instead of displaying gratitude, Carabine gives Peggy the heave-ho at the first opportunity, the better to dally with vixenish concert singer Marcalina (Paulette Duval). But when Carabine is defeated in his first bout by champion Blanco Johnson (Malcolm Waite), the fickle Marcalina shifts her loyalties to the champ. With the help and support of the still-loyal Peggy, Carabine gets back on his professional feet and defeats Johnson in a return match, whereupon he realizes that Peggy was the right girl for him from the outset. Based on a true story, Blarney more than lives up to its title by playing fast and loose with the facts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this silent Western, popular genre star Fred Thomson was given a new sidekick in six-year-old Billy Butts, a fair-haired boy actor who could ride with the best of them. Fred, as Fred Saunders, rescues little Buddy, an orphan, from being trampled to death by a runaway horse. Saunders soon becomes so attached to the plucky tyke that he "kidnaps" him from the orphanage. The two of them recover money stolen from the collection plate at the local church and Fred falls in love with the minister's daughter, June (Lola Todd). Things turn serious, however, when little Buddy is kidnapped for real, this time by a gang headed by Con Carney (Robert McKim). The Western climaxes in a daring rescue of Buddy, who proves to be June's long-lost kid brother. Billy Butts went on to star opposite Fox cowboy Rex Bell and later replaced Jackie Morgan in the popular "Gumps" two-reeler. His waif-like qualities didn't survive into puberty, however, and Butts retired from films at age 17. Like so many of his FBO Westerns, The Tough Guy was written by Thomson's wife, Frances Marion, under the pseudonym "Frank M. Clifton." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This routine Warner Brothers melodrama was based on the novel by Ruth Cross. Country girl Molly Shannon (Helene Chadwick) wins a college scholarship which was offered by Judge Gregory Cochran (Huntley Gordon). While attending the school, she falls in love with one of the professors, Renfro (Richard Tucker), but on the eve of their wedding, he deserts her. She wanders miserably through the night until she passes out in front of a notorious road house. Before she is taken in, she is seen by Bancroft (Frank Campeau), a politician. Molly's ordeal comes back to haunt her much later, after she and Cochran marry. Bancroft wants to use Molly's presence at the road house to stop Cochran from running for office. To save her husband, Molly disappears and pretends to have committed suicide. Just before the election, Renfro shows up and finds Molly. He is shot in a struggle -- but before he dies, he insists that Molly is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Cochran's career is saved and he and Molly are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Olympe (Betty Compson) is a cabaret dancer who offers her services to France when her country goes to war. She becomes a spy and provides valuable intelligence information during World War I by winning the confidence of a German officer. Hugh Warren (Wallace MacDonald) is the American soldier who falls for Olympe. She allows him to believe she is a simple peasant and reveals nothing of her career as a spy. The two fall in love and are married, but the villainous German agent De Montinrich (Theodore Kosloff) reveals to her husband's family that she is a tawdry club dancer. Unable to reveal her role in espionage, Olympe is ostracized by her friends and family. When the French government honors Olympe for her wartime bravery, her family no longer considers her a blemish on their sterling reputation. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Metro Goldwyn Mayer produced this drama with the cooperation of the Navy Department, and many of the scenes -- including the graduation ceremony -- were actually shot at Annapolis Naval Academy. James Randall (Ramon Novarro) enters the Academy and befriends freshman Ted Lawrence (Wesley Barry). Ted's sister Patricia (Harriet Hammond) turns out to be a beauty, and Randall falls in love with her. The wealthy but idle Basil Courtney (Crauford Kent) also wants Patricia, and he promises to cause difficulty. While Randall is on duty, Courtney has a girl go into the guard room in an attempt to get him expelled. Meanwhile, Ted gets himself in trouble and forges Randall's name on a check, forcing the midshipman to confront the blackmailers himself. Courtney kidnaps Patricia and makes off with her on his yacht, but he is pursued by a warship. Randall helps rescue her, just in time for the graduation exercises -- and their wedding. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although John Gilbert became famous for playing the romantic lover, there was something inside him that occasionally rebelled at his glossy image. He leapt at the chance to play the exceedingly unsympathetic title character in this drama, which was based on the novel by Helen R. Martin. After her father causes a scandal, heiress Nancy Claxton (another fine up-and-comer, Norma Shearer) goes into hiding. Even her sweetheart, Herrick Appleton (Conrad Nagel), can't find her. She winds up teaching school in a Pennsylvania Mennonite community, where she meets fellow teacher Eugene Curry (Gilbert). Curry is extremely ambitious and embarrassed of his Mennonite roots. He and Nancy fall in love, but when he gets a job as a college professor, he becomes much more interested in Dorothy Renzheimer (Phyllis Haver), whose father owns the school. When Nancy becomes ill, Curry marries her only because he thinks she will die. But she lives, and Curry continues to see Dorothy on the sly. Appleton finally tracks down Nancy, only to find that she is Curry's woefully neglected wife. Nancy becomes pregnant and just before she is due to give birth, she finds a letter that her husband has written to Dorothy. The baby is born dead. Finally Nancy shows Curry a newspaper which proves that she is heir to millions. He desperately tries to make up with her, but she refuses to let him come back to her. Instead she insists that she will get a divorce and marry Appleton. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Colleen Moore made this drama before Flaming Youth, it came out later, which wound up being a big help at the box office because it was able to bank on Moore's newfound stardom. She's billed at the top of the credits, but it's really Forrest Stanley who, as Boston Blackie, has the lead. The scenario was based on Jack Boyle's tale, The Daughter of Mother McGinn, part of his series of Boston Blackie stories. Boston Blackie has escaped from San Quentin and when he saves Mary McGinn (Moore) from a runaway horse, she decides to help him out. She finds out through Blackie that her father, now dead, and her brothers are all crooks, something that has been hidden from her by her mother (Margaret Seddon). Mother McGinn has been running a boarding house to pay for Mary's expensive schooling, but when the institution finds out about her background, and that she helped an escaped con, Mary is expelled. Mary has fallen in love with Blackie and will do anything to make him go straight -- even join his gang. Her action wakes him up to his wrongdoing, and Mary convinces him to complete his prison sentence so that there will be nothing standing in the way of their future. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This clever comedy-drama was based on the famed stage play by Avery Hopwood. All the actors gave enjoyable performances, even the star Hope Hampton, who was never known for her histrionic talents. Wally Saunders (Johnny Harron -- brother of Robert Harron) wants to marry chorus girl Violet Dayne (Ann Cornwall). But Wally's wealthy uncle, Stephen Lee (Wyndham Standing), refuses to give the couple his approval since he's convinced that all chorus girls are gold diggers. So Violet enlists the help of fellow chorus girl Jerry La Mar (Hampton). Jerry's no gold digger, but she agrees to vamp Lee until Violet looks like an angel by comparison. But instead of being disgusted by Jerry, Lee falls madly in love with her. When he discovers he has been tricked, he's annoyed, but he finally gives Wally and Violet his blessings. And he heads for the altar himself -- with Jerry. Comedian Louise Fadenza provides comic relief as one of the other chorus girls. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This comedy-drama, based on the play by George M. Cohan, was co-directed by Arthur Rosson and its star, Johnny Hines. Hines is Johnny Jones, an American jockey. The Earl of Bloomsburg (Windham Standing) has Jones come to England with his horse, Yankee Doodle, to race in the Derby. But Robert Amstead (George Webb), another horse's owner, is determined to force him out of the running. First he kidnaps Edith Smythe, Jones' sweetheart (Molly Malone), but Jones rescues her. Jones is almost disqualified from racing, but is reinstated at the last moment. In a last-ditch attempt to get rid of Jones, Amstead has his jockey throw a blinding fluid into Jones' face after the race has started. The scheme doesn't work, and Jones still rides Yankee Doodle to victory. This picture was filmed once again in 1930 by Mervyn LeRoy, this time in its musical form, bringing classic tunes like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" to the screen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A picture featuring orphans was always a good box-office bet in the early '20s, so it's no surprise that the novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin found its way to the screen. Eleven-year-old Joseph Depew (who grew up to direct The Beverly Hillbillies) is Timothy, who lives in an orphanage and takes care of a little girl he calls Lady Gay (Helen Rowland). He runs away with the girl and they set out in search of a mother. Their travels lead them to a ride on a freight train headed out to the country. The children pick out a house that they think would be nice to live in, but its resident, spinster Avida Cummins (Marie Day), has no intention whatsoever of being a "mother" to anyone and refuses to take them in. Needless to say, it's only a matter of a few days before she changes her mind and allows the orphans to become part of her life. Eventually, she is given the opportunity to let Timothy go, but by then she has come to love the little boy. Wiggin's story was filmed as a talkie in 1935. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Lionel Barrymore was miscast as a gunman, he overcame this drawback by giving the role of Boomerang Bill an intensely human quality. The story opens with a young man about to leave the world of the straight and narrow. A detective approaches him and points out a broken-down soul -Boomerang Bill -- and uses his tale to convince the youth that crime does not pay. Bill was a gunman, but when he saved pretty Annie (Marguerite Marsh -- sister of Mae Marsh) from the unwanted attentions of gangster Tony the Wop (Matthew Betts), he fell in love. Because of his feelings for Annie, he decided to go straight. But when her mother (Margaret Seddon) needed to go to the country for her health, Bill did one last heist to get up the needed funds. Tony was responsible for his capture, and Bill went to prison. Annie loyally offered to wait for him, but when her mother's illness continued, he let her go so she could marry a man who would support both her and her mother. When Bill got out of prison he went to see Annie, but as he peered through the window, he saw her happy with her mother and baby. So he went off to spend the rest of his days with a little Chinese girl who once cared for him. The story to this crime drama was based on the book by Jack Boyle, who wrote the Boston Blackie stories. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Esteemed stage actor George Arliss became the screen's unlikeliest star at the ripe age of 53 in 1921. But the odd-looking, very mature Arliss had a rare talent and charisma, and younger, more attractive stars had to work extra hard to make their presence known next to him. In this drama, which was based on a play that came from a Gouveneur Morris story, he even portrays a romantic figure. John Arden (Arliss) is a highly respected musician who marries the much-younger Marjorie Blaine (Ann Forrest). He gives a private concert, and anarchists toss a bomb at a couple of the guests, who happen to be royal family members. The explosion renders Arden deaf, but he learns to lip read, which enables him to discover what others are saying. The words he reads coming out of a friend's mouth lead him to believe that he is a burden to his wife. He resolves to commit suicide, but Carter (Ivan Simpson), the family retainer, distracts him by urging him to look out the window. With the help of binoculars, Arden discovers some people talking and discerns that they are far worse off than he is. He decides to devote himself to helping others, but still he believes that Marjorie has stuck by him purely out of duty. Finally he realizes that she actually loves him very deeply, and a fall brings him back his hearing. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Corny as it may sound now, Gus Edwards' song "School Days" was once a popular sentimental hit. It inspired a vaudeville playlet, which in turn spawned this film. Orphan Speck Brown (14-year-old Wesley Barry) has been adopted by a Deacon (George Lessey), but the boy is a handful. He plays hooky from school, preferring to fish and frolic with his dog. But a stranger (J.H. Gilmore), who turns out to be Speck's long-lost uncle, brings him to New York. The old man had left his small town home and his sweetheart to make it in the big city, but now, decades later, he's lonely. Through his uncle's example, and through several other adventures, Speck learns two things: the value of a good education, and the value of the old homestead. So he returns to the country, his teacher (Margaret Seddon), and his little sweetheart (Arline Blackburn). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide