George Siegmann Movies

Newspaper magnate and movie producer William Randolph Hearst created this massive epic about the American Revolution to showcase the talents of his mistress Marion Davies. The results were far better than anyone could have imagined, given these circumstances; both film content and Marion were artistic successes. The story literally covers the whole Revolution and has Davies' character, Janice Meredith, playing a key part -- in Hearst's world, Marion/Janice is the one ultimately responsible for sending Paul Revere on his famous ride! However, America's fight for freedom (including the Boston tea party, Valley Forge, etc.) shares space with the picture's love story: Janice, who comes from a family of wealthy Tory sympathizers is in love with a servant named Charles Fownes (Harrison Ford). Fownes, of course, is a rebel and joins George Washington's (Joseph Kilgour) staff. Their love survives through many political and war intrigues until the day Fownes insists that Janice cut ties with all British associates, including her father (Maclyn Arbuckle). She refuses and goes home to marry Philemon Hennion (Olin Howland), but Fownes leads a rebel raid that thwarts the wedding. The Meredith lands are taken by the rebels and Hennion is arrested for his work with the British. Finally, as the Revolution nears its triumphant end, Janice and Fownes wind up together. W.C. Fields, as a British sergeant, provides a small bit of comic relief from all this drama. While Janice Meredith received honestly enthusiastic reviews (not just from the Hearst papers), its negative cost of nearly a million dollars -- a fortune in those days -- prohibited it from making a profit. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Even though this Western used the convenient "dream" premise, it still managed to please audiences. Cowboy Tod Musgrave (Charles Jones, who hadn't yet added "Buck" to his stage name) and his pal Del Hawkins (Maurice Flynn) steal a ride on a train after being kicked out of a saloon. The conductor (George Siegmann) throws them off when he discovers they have no tickets, and the two men swear revenge. While waiting on a station bench for the train to return, Musgrave and Hawkins both fall asleep. The train arrives and Musgrave and Hawkins board it. As Musgrave is giving the conductor a sound thrashing, Hawkins robs the train. When Musgrave protests, Hawkins knocks him unconscious and plants some of the money on him. As a result, Musgrave is arrested as the thief and sentenced to prison. He proves to be a model inmate, helping to quell a riot, which earns him the admiration of Dorothy Owen, who is friends with the warden's daughter (Ruth Clifford). Through reading a newspaper, Musgrave finds out that Hawkins has bought a ranch and is engaged to Dorothy. He escapes from prison to warn Dorothy of Hawkins' true nature. She goes with him to a mountain cabin and Hawkins follows. The three of them are then buried in an avalanche. Hawkins confesses, and when the sheriff (Charles K. French) digs them out, Musgrave makes him go to prison in his place. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Early silent screen matinee idol James Kirkwood starred in this romantic Western, which also offered a good role for veteran D. W. Griffith actress Mary Alden. Miss Alden plays a bossy female rancher who hires a war veteran (Kirkwood) as a ranch hand. She falls in love with him, of course, but he has eyes only for the woman's pretty niece (Elinor Fair). Enraged, Alden forces Kirkwood and Fair off her land but reconsiders her rash decision once the outcasts vanish in a blinding blizzard. Mary Alden is known in film history, not for this quickly forgotten Western, but as the mulatto housekeeper in Griffith's masterpiece The Birth of a Nation (1915). A smooth leading man type of the early 1910s, Kirkwood was the father to James Kirkwood, Jr., the songwriter-creator of the Broadway hit A Chorus Line. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

People do all kinds of nutty things in this silent melodrama from producer/director Maurice Tourneur. Take Ramon Martinez (Earle Williams) for example: When Ramon's wife Alice (Jane Novak) is accused of adultery, the jealous husband simply hands over their young son Bobbie (Ben Alexander) to a band of gypsies -- to spite the presumably faithless wife, who was actually only trying to protect Ramon's sister Carmen (Carmelita Geraghty), a victim of blackmailer Harvey Clegg (Carl Miller). Ramon and Alice separate, and Carmen perishes in a shipwreck. Bobbie, now known as "Spuds," takes matters into his own hands, however, and successfully proves his mother's innocence, paving the way for forgiveness. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

While this fast-paced action picture from cowboy star Tom Mix was a little lighter on the Western scenes than normal (a good portion of it takes place on a tramp steamer and in China), it otherwise has all the typical elements of Mix's work: He beats up bad guys left and right, Tony the Wonder Horse shows off a few tricks, and he doesn't get overly cozy with leading lady Claire Adams ("smushy stuff" did not appeal to Mix's youthful male fans). Mix is Grant Malvern, a rancher who befriends scientist Quentin Durant (Tom S. Guise) after rescuing him from a trio of Chinese crooks. The crooks want to find Durant's Arizona gold mine, and the map to the location is contained in a pair of rings. After the crooks track down Durant and kill him, one of the rings winds up with Durant's daughter, Helen (Adams), and the other falls into Malvern's hands. As a result, Malvern finds himself pursued by the same men who throw him into the San Francisco bay. A tramp steamer picks him up, and he works his way across the Pacific until he lands in China, where the battle for Durant's mine picks up again. Malvern and Helen have to fight their way out of a Chinese den and make their way back to the States to claim the mine. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Best known today as the film which cost director Erich Von Stroheim his job at Universal Studios, Merry Go Round contains enough Von Stroheim touches to suggest that "official" director Rupert Julian merely tied together the film's loose ends. The titular merry-go-round is owned by the unspeakable George Siegmann, who inflicts all sorts of casual cruelties upon organ-grinder Mary Philbin. In addition to enduring Siegmann, Philbin must decide whether or not Austrian-count Norman Kerry truly loves her, or is merely toying with her in the months before his arranged marriage with countess Dorothy Wallace. The latter seems to be the case when Kerry goes through with his marriage. While fighting in the Franco-Prussian war, Kerry fortuitously comes across Philbin's dying father (Cesare Gravina), who roundly chastises the count before expiring. After the war, an impoverished and widowed Kerry tries to make amends to Philbin, who by now is herself engaged to hunchbacked circus performer George Hackathorne. A happy ending is in store for all concerned except the villainous Siegmann (remember him?), who suffers an appropriately grisly demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly a vehicle for Jackie Coogan, the 1922 Oliver Twist refuses to realign the Charles Dickens novel to accommodate the personality of its star. This Frank Lloyd-directed silent film is one of the most faithful of all cinematic adaptations of the Dickens work. The orphaned Oliver, labelled a "troublemaker" because he dares to ask for more food, is farmed out to work as an undertaker's assistant. Escaping his cruel master, Oliver falls in with a gang of pickpockets, headed by the colorful Fagin (played by Lon Chaney Sr., who steals a lot more than a few watches and wallets in the course of the picture). Kindly Mr. Brownlow (Lionel Belmore), Oliver's real grandfather, tries to help the lad, but the evil Bill Sikes (George Siegmann) complicates matters. While Jackie Coogan may seem a bit too well-fed and self-sufficient to play Oliver, he was certainly more suited to the role than the star of the 1916 filmization of Oliver Twist--actress Marie Doro! Long believed to be a lost film, Oliver Twist was painstakingly restored in the early 1970s, using bits and pieces from various foreign prints and negatives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Humoresque (1920) spawned a large number of human interest films featuring Jewish immigrant mothers in the style of Vera Gordon. This picture's mother was played by Rosa Rosanova. Russian immigrants Abraham and Hannah Levin (E.A. Warner and Rosanova) bring their family to America. Like many others, they are in search of a better life, but Levin is not a great businessman and the other family members are forced to find employment. The Levins' eldest daughter Sara (Helen Ferguson) falls in love with lawyer David Kaplan (Bryant Washburn), the nephew of the tenement's greedy landlord Benjamin Rosenblatt (George Seigmann). When Hannah dresses up her kitchen by painting its walls white, Rosenblatt raises the Levins' rent. Infuriated by his action and frustrated by the harshness of life, Hannah wrecks the kitchen, and Rosenblatt takes her to court. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This eight-reel Fox feature is a blatant example of the rampant racial prejudice that existed in the early part of the 20th century. Even the Photoplay review, which pans the film, smacks of racism. "When the hero of Shame hears that his mother was Chinese, he immediately dashes to the mirror and sees himself reflected with almond eyes, long nails, and a Chinese laundry. The thought drives him almost insane so he goes to Alaska and fights a wolf." Although the plot isn't quite as ludicrous as Photoplay implies, it doesn't make for a quality film. Even so, it brought John Gilbert to the attention of the powers-that-be at Fox, and they offered him a three-year contract. He signed, but only reluctantly. William Fielding (Gilbert), a young widower, is living in Shanghai with his little boy, David (Mickey Moore). A young Chinese woman looks after the child, and Foo Chang (George Siegmann), a trader, lusts after her. Because he believes she is David's mother, he kills Fielding. Fielding's faithful secretary, Li Clung (William V. Mong), takes the boy to San Francisco to be raised by his grandfather (George Nichols). As an adult, David (also played by Gilbert) fights against opium trafficking with Li Clung's help. Foo Chang, who is himself smuggling opium, tries to blackmail David into stopping his crusade by threatening to expose the fact that he is half Chinese. David is so upset at this unexpected information that he runs away from his wife and goes to Alaska, taking their infant child with him (and yes, he fights a wolf there). Li Clung follows after him, as does Foo Chang. The two Chinese men battle it out, and Foo Chang is killed. David, it turns out, is pure Caucasian, so he avoids whatever disgrace he thought he would have. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Douglas Fairbanks' longest and most elaborate production up to 1921, The Three Musketeers was Fairbanks' first full-blown costume adventure (his modestly produced 1920 The Mark of Zorro was regarded as an extension of his breezy contemporary comedies). Fairbanks assumes the leading role of D'Artagnan, who after challenging musketeers Athos (Leon Barry), Porthos (George Siegmann) and Aramis (Eugene Pallette--yes, Eugene Pallette) to a duel, joins forces with them in opposition of the scheming Cardinal Richelieu(Nigel De Brulier). Plotting to discredit Queen Anne (Mary McLaren) in the eyes of her husband King Louis XIII (Adolphe Menjou) Richelieu dispatches Milady de Winter (Barbara La Marr) to pilfer the diamond brooch given by Anne to her British lover, the Duke of Buckingham (Thomas Holding). With the help of the lovely Constance (Marguerite de la Motte) D'Artagnan and the Musketeers race against time to retrieve the brooch and save their Queen. The film ends with D'Artagnan emerging victorious, a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips; the actual, darker denouement of Dumas' original Three Musketeers would be dramatized in the opening reels of Douglas Fairbanks' valedictory silent film, The Iron Mask (1929). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a serialized novel by Courtney Riley Cooper, Christmas Eve at Pilot Butte, this sentimental silent Western was one of 26 collaborations between director John Ford (still known as "Jack Ford") and veteran stage actor Harry Carey. Drifter Bart Carson (Carey) becomes so infatuated with the beautiful but treacherous Lady Lou (Barbara La Marr) that he is easily persuaded to assume responsibility for a crime actually committed by the lady's brother, Walker (Edward Coxen). In prison, Bart learns that Walker is not Lady Lou's brother at all, but her lover. Escaping from prison on Christmas Eve, a furious Carson heads straight to Walker's home -- only to find the man's wife (Lillian Rich) and teenage son (Georgie Stone, later George E. Stone) alone and abandoned. Taking pity on the woman, Bart gives himself up to the sheriff so she may claim the reward. Happily, Lady Lou has confessed her perfidy, and Bart is once again a free man. Shortly after making Desperate Trails, Ford and Carey had a falling out, and the director transferred to the Hoot Gibson unit. Ford, however, never forgot the veteran star, and Three Godfathers (1948), which co-starred Harry Carey, Jr., was dedicated to his memory. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Actress Yvonne Leclaire (Fontaine La Rue) has been abused one too many times by her husband, a leading man, and she shoots him dead in his dressing room. Member of the chorus Billy Jordan (Harry Springler) is a witness to the killing, but since he is in love with Yvonne, he keeps quiet. However, Billy's sister, Alma (Fritzi Brunette) is a reporter, and her managing editor Mac (George McDaniels) assigns her the case. When Yvonne accepts a marriage proposal from a wealthy man, Billy angrily goes to the paper and reveals that she killed her husband. Alma is sent to get a confession, and only then does she realize her brother's involvement in the case. The film ties things up neatly (a little too neatly, really) -- the paper gets its story, Yvonne is taken away, and Mac proposes to Alma. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide