Russell Simpson Movies
American actor Russell Simpson is another of those character players who seemed to have been born in middle age. From his first screen appearance in 1910 to his last in 1959, Simpson personified the grizzled, taciturn mountain man who held strangers at bay with his shotgun and vowed that his daughter would never marry into that family he'd been feudin' with fer nigh on to forty years. It was not always thus. After prospecting in the 1898 Alaska gold rush, Simpson returned to the States and launched a career as a touring actor in stock -- most frequently cast in romantic leads. This led to a long association with Broadway impresario David Belasco. Briefly flirting with New York-based films in 1910, Simpson returned to the stage, then chose movies on a permanent basis in 1917. Of his hundreds of motion picture and TV appearances, Russell Simpson is best known for his participation in the films of director John Ford, most memorably as Pa Joad in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1919
Here, the eternal theme of a feud between two families is brought out to the West by author Bret Harte and adapted to the screen by scenarist Fred Myton and director Robert Thornby. Hiram McKinstry (Russell Simpson) and old man Harrison (Frank Lanning) have been battling over their property line for years, but McKinstry's daughter Cressy (Blanche Sweet) falls in love with one of Harrison's aides, Joe Masters (Pell Trenton), when he saves her from the amorous attentions of school master John Ford (Edward Peil). When one of her father's men shoots Masters, she hides him in a barn and guards it -- and him -- until the feud is ended. This wasn't one of Harte's most inspired stories. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
This topical drama stars Charles Eldridge as a hillbilly youth who is drafted when American enters World War 1. While in boot camp, Eldridge is mercilessly taunted by bullies. He deserts and heads back home, only to be returned to camp by his All-American girlfriend Zena Keefe. Finally learning to fend for himself, Eldridge makes up for past misdeeds by rounding up a surly gang of draft dodgers. Challenge Accepted was immediately rendered obsolete on November 11, 1918. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Another of a successful string of Metro features directed by the vastly underrated John H. Collins, Riders of the Night was set in Kentucky hill country. Collins' wifeViola Dana stars as Sally Castleton, a country girl in love with a brooding and idealistic aristocrat. When her sweetheart joins a night-riding vigilante organization, Sally is temporarily dismayed but resolves to hide the man from the authorities. Ultimately she gives up her own life for the sake of her lover. Though clearly inspired by Birth of a Nation, the film never resorted to mere imitation and was capable of standing up on its own dramatic and aesthetic merits. Unfortunately, like most of the Collins/Dana collaborations, Riders of the Night has apparently long since disappeared. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
For years, it was a "given" that no director of merit ever emerged from the old Edison studios. This assertion was disproved when several of the films directed by Edison alumnus John H. Collins were rediscovered in the late 1970s. One of the best of Collins' efforts (and, sadly, one of his last) was the six-reel Metro drama Blue Jeans. Based on an old stage play, the film was set in Hill Country, where a long-standing family feud causes trouble for feisty heroine June (played by Collins' talented wife Viola Dana. The climax is that old "meller-drammer" standy, the Hero Strapped to a Log in the Sawmill. Despite the silliness of the situation, Collins plays it dead straight, and the scene is almost unbearably suspenseful (incidentally, the heroine comes to the rescue, thereby reversing the usual cliché). Blue Jeans was exceptionally well cast, with several familiar faces (including John Ford stock-company perennial Russell Simpson) performing above and beyond the call of duty. Alas, John H. Collins would soon fall victim to the influenza epidemic of 1918, robbing the screen of one of its most potent pioneering talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The hoary old David Belasco stage operetta is given the full DeMille treatment in this classic silent western starring Mabel Van Buren as the saloon hostess who loses her heart to a notorious highwayman (House Peters). The Lasky Company's wonderful character man Theodore Roberts played sheriff Jack Rance, who loves the girl and instigates the climactic card game that will determine the fate of all three of them. If she wins, the girl's lover will go free; if she loses, she belongs to Rance. DeMille was called the Belasco of moving pictures, and the story was a natural for his flamboyant talent. It was also an enduring success, and there were three remakes: in 1923 (starring Sylvia Breamer), 1930 (starring a miscast Ann Harding) and, finally, the lavish 1938 musical starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
