Lee Shumway Movies

In this campus musical, the 1928 big game between USC and Stanford provides the impetus for music and mayhem. The story centers upon two USC teammates, Eddie and Biff, who share just about everything, even their girl friend, Babs. The trouble is, they don't know they are both dating Babs until just before the crucial game. Fortunately, the coach is there to mediate between the two angry men. He reminds them that women are not as important as winning the game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Danny Eagan (Reed Howes) is on trial for his life, charged with the murder of a prominent gangster leader. Danny refuses to defend himself, knowing that it would mean jeopardizing the reputation of his sweetheart Mary Norfleet (Josephine Dunn). Making matters even dicier is the fact that Mary is the daughter of the prosecuting attorney (Lee Shumway). Finally, the girl comes forth to deliver the vital evidence that she was with Danny on the night of murder, and together, hero and heroine uncover the identity of the real killer. Mary Carr, perennial movie mother of the silent era, plays Danny's ma. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his first Western after leaving Fox for poverty row company FBO, Tom Mix once again played a pony express rider rescuing the heroine Sharon Lynn from the ubiquitous runaway carriage. The girl's pa (Tom Lingham) is the survey chief for the telegraph company and in dire need of help. The company is being terrorized by Slade (Duke R. Lee) and his gang, but Mix manages to arrive with the cavalry just in time to prevent wholesale slaughter. The director of this and several other Mix films, Eugene Forde, was the star's brother-in-law. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Beyond London's Lights was filmed entirely at the Culver City, California facilities of FBO studios. Rescued from a masher by handsome Gordon Elliot, dressmaker's model Adrienne Dore has no idea that her savior is a man of wealth and position. Upon finding this out, Dore also learns that Elliot is engaged to snobbish heiress Florence Wix. A few twists of fate brings Elliot, Dore and Wix together under curious circumstances. What begins as a simple romantic-triangle story veers into melodrama in the final reels when hero and heroine are menaced by a gang of toughs. Leading man Gordon Elliot later enjoyed a lengthy career in westerns as "Wild Bill" Elliot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Douglas MacLean, who made his mark during the 1920s as a light comedian, stars as a Marine sergeant in this comedy-drama, which he co-produced with Paramount. The studio must have seen this picture as a sure bet at the box office -- MacLean's first breakthrough picture in 1919 was 23 1/2 Hours Leave and Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton were currently reaping in the bucks in their Army picture, Behind the Front. Let-It-Rain Riley (MacLean) is a devil-may-care Marine sergeant who falls in love with a girl (Shirley Mason) who he assumes to be rich. His rival for the girl's affection is his pal, Kelly (Wade Boteler). The guys find out that the object of their affections is but a modest switchboard operator but she proves to be invaluable when she deciphers a code and discovers that a mail train is about to be robbed. Riley takes care of the crooks, but not before a thrilling climax in which the mail car is cut loose from the train. Riley manages to make good, winning both a promotion to lieutenant and the girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The greatest western star of his day, Tom Mix performed several dangerous stunts without the benefit of a double in The Last Trail. One exciting scene had Mix mounting the front wheels of a crashing wagon, riding them like a Roman chariot. Director Lewis Seiler and cameraman Daniel Clark filmed the scene in a way that left no room for doubt as to whether Mix actually performed the dramatic stunt himself. The story, based on a Zane Grey original, has Mix coming to the aid of an old friend (Lee Shumway), the sheriff of Carson City, Nevada, who is having trouble with a gang of stage robbers. Along for the ride is a small child, (Jerry the Giant, who provides the film with added appeal). Jerry the Giant later changed his name to Jerry Madden and played "Slats" Fogarty in Penrod and Sam (1937) and its sequel Penrod and His Twin Brother (1938). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Real-life college gridiron hero Red Grange heads the cast of the football drama One Minute to Play. Though his father wants him to attend Parmalee College, Red Wade (Grange) opts for Claxton U because the latter school has a better football team. Once he's enrolled, however, he is persuaded by his father (Charles Ogle) not to go out for football, but to concentrate on his studies instead. En route to Claxton by train, Red gets mixed up in a fight, and upon awakening he finds himself at Parmalee. Once he meets cutie coed Sally Rogers (May McAllister), Red decides to stick around -- and it isn't long before he breaks his promise to his dad and joins the football squad. Enraged, the elder Wade threatens to cancel a promised endowment to Parmalee if Red continues to play. Realizing that the college needs the money more than it needs him, Red pretends to go on a drunken binge so that the coach will kick him off the team. But when his football-hating father suddenly develops a love for the game during the annual Parmalee-Claxton confrontation, Red manages to make amends with the coach in time to score the winning touchdown. In addition to Red Grange, University of Washington football star George Wilson also appears in One Minute to Play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

He may have been Maurice B. Flynn on the studio payroll, but to his fans this popular action star was best known as "Lefty" Flynn. In Smilin' at Trouble, Lefty plays Jerry Foster a construction engineer working on a big-time dam project. Our hero gets wind of a plan cooked up by his foreman to sabotage the dam for fun and profit. The finale is a fairly convincing dam-burst sequence, in which Jerry rescues boss' daughter Alice Arnold (Helen Lynch) while the treacherous foreman meets a soggy demise. In Great Britain, the film was more formally shipped out as Smiling at Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Handsome Brute is rookie cop Larry O'Day, played by William Fairbanks. Thanks to his youthful enthusiasm, Larry is removed from the police force and his badge is taken away. Our hero redeems himself by single-handedly capturing a gang of jewel robbers. The head of the crooks turns out to be the same detective who engineered Larry's dismissal. Virginia Lee Corbin, who alternated between "A" and "B" pictures through the silent era, is the ever-loving heroine. Even as early as 1926, Columbia Pictures was financing its more ambitious films with such cheapo potboilers as The Handsome Brute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By using a borrowed medal, Russ Kane, a crook (Warner Baxter), is able to get a job as an air mail pilot. His plan is to steal some valuable cargo, but soon enough the job begins to have a positive effect on him. When his plane has to make a force landing, he meets Alice Rendon (Billie Dove, who was also the wife of director Irvin Willat). His love for Alice encourages him to go straight. When Alice's invalid father (George Irving) needs medicine, Kane flies to get it, but on his return the craft is pursued by two renegade airplanes. Kane's young friend, Sandy (a very fresh-faced Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), saves the valuable cargo by parachuting out of the plane while holding it. On the ground, three escaped prisoners have taken over Alice's home. The sheriff's posse wipes out the bad guys while Kane destroys the outlaw planes, and Sandy achieves his dream by flying the mail to the next station. Back in 1924 and 1925, the concept of air mail was still very novel (it only took three days to get the mail across country instead of six -- an impressive feat in those days). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Richard Talmadge was one of the greatest movie stunt men who ever drew breath. But he was no actor, so his film vehicles were heavier on action than on histrionics. In American Manners, Talmadge plays a wealthy young man who returns to America after an expensive European education. Combining his all-American knowhow with continental sophistication, he hopes to clear his father of a smuggling charge. By film's end, Talmadge has returned to his 100% "Yankee Doodle" status. American Manners was directed by James W. Horne, later most closely associated with Laurel & Hardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide