Phillips Smalley Movies
Shortly after the Civil War, the wealthy parents of American actor Phillips Smalley made the first of several sojourns to Europe. The young Smalley went along on most of these trips in the 1880s, meeting such prominent personages as Disraeli, Gladstone, Robert Browning, James McNeill Whistler, and Oscar Wilde. Entranced by the reminiscences of major theatrical talents like Ellen Terry and Sir Henry Irving, Smalley vowed to tread the boards himself after graduating from Oxford University. Having appeared as Hamlet in an amateur production, Smalley continued pursuing acting during his postgrad years at Harvard back in the states. Establishing himself as a leading man (he had the strong jaw and deep-set eyes necessary for such a profession), Smalley decided that the stage was too confining for his ambitions and entered films at the Gaumont Studios in New Jersey, which in the early 1900s was experimenting with talking pictures. When talkies proved impractical for the moment, Smalley nonetheless stayed in films at Universal studios as an actor/director, ever on the outlook for cinematic innovations. Fascinated with camera tricks, Smalley introduced the triptych -- three separate scenes processed on the same frame -- in the 1912 one-reeler Suspense. Smalley's wife Lois Weber was an equally inventive director, and in fact she remained behind the cameras long after her husband had abandoned directing to return as a full-fledged actor. While he made quite an impression as a movie star in the years just before World War I, by 1919 Smalley's career began its decline. He was divorced from Weber by the mid '20s and relegated to character roles, notably as Sir Francis Chesney in Sydney Chaplin's Charley's Aunt (1925) -- a role he repeated in Charlie Ruggles' 1930 talkie version of the Brandon Thomas stage farce. By the mid '30s his career was essentially over, and he survived by picking up bit and extra work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1911
The title emotion of this early silent melodrama belonged to Lois Weber, a married woman discovering that the young man with whom she had been dallying, an artist, is himself married. Phillips Smalley, Weber's real-life husband, co-starred with young Harold Lockwood, in his second screen appearance, cast as the artist. The one-reeler was written, produced, and directed by film pioneer Edwin S. Porter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1914
True to the social consciousness of director Lois Weber, False Colors is an "issue" drama. The issue this time is parental neglect. Feeling sorry for himself when his wife dies in childbirth, a father puts his daughter up for adoption. Eighteen years later, the girl is in the hands of a neglectful foster family. Already soured on life, the daughter is in no mood to have her father re-enter her life. She tells him to get lost, but changes her mind in time for a happy ending (and the silent-movie equivalent of a "curtain speech") Lois Weber also co-wrote False Colors, and co-starred in the film with her husband Phillips Smalley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Country Mouse was one of several pre World War 1 features produced by star Hobart Bosworth. In addition to appearing in the leading role, Bosworth also wrote the script, though curiously he didn't direct: that honor went to another mulitalented silent film personality, Phillips Smalley. In this one, Bosworth plays a small-town politician who is elected to congress. As he fights for his constituents' rights, his plain-Jane wife Adele Farrington sits quietly at home. Only when Bosworth seems to be on the verge of succumbing to the charms of adventuress Myrtle Steadman (actually in the employ of his political rivals) does Adele take a crash course in social graces-and cosmetics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
aka Madcap Betty When convent-bred Betty (Elsie Janis), comes to New York to visit her uncle (Herbert Standing), all signs of sophisticated city living are hidden so she won't be shocked. But Betty is looking for excitement, and even being engaged to Jim Denning (Owen Moore), one of the town's most eligible bachelors, isn't good enough for her. So she runs away and goes to work at a department store. The floorwalker makes a pass at her, so she auditions for a position as a chorus girl but the stage manager comes on to her and she leaves. Next she is fired from a cabaret because she doesn't want to sit on a drunk's lap. Disgusted by all of this, Betty dresses as a boy but gets into even more trouble -- she is accused of murder, fleeced at a gambling table and pursued by police. To her relief she wakes up and finds it has all been a dream. She tracks Jim down and offers to marry him right away. This was stage star Elsie Janis's second feature and, for what it's worth, she also wrote the story. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1915
British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, whose tireless barnstorming during the WWI years earned her the soubriquet "The Sweetheart of the AEF," was aptly cast in the title role of Madcap Betty. Janis also wrote the film's screenplay, which deals with the misadventures of a convent-bred girl during her first foray into the Real World. Betty's boyfriend Jim Denning (Jim Denning) stands by in bemused silence as Betty's behavior alternately elicits hilarity and embarrassment. But in the end, Betty assumes a less zany pose to win back Jim from a beautiful rival. It was a great misfortune that talking pictures had not been perfected in 1915, robbing movie audiences of the opportunity to hear Elsie Janis' splendid singing voice and gift for mimicry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Woman film director Lois Weber was once called "the Belasco of the screen." Although she and her then-husband, Phillips Smalley, were credited as co-directors for many of Weber's films in the 1910s, it was widely acknowledged that she was the brains of the couple. Weber and Smalley also star in this tragic drama which rails against gossip mongering. William Wright (Smalley) completely relies on his private secretary, Daisy Dean (Weber), so when she breaks an ankle, he prefers to take his work to her home instead of trusting it to Susan Gordon (Adele Farrington). This annoys Susan, who starts gossip about Daisy and her boss. It gets back to Wright's jealous wife, who sues him for divorce. Daisy's reputation is ruined, but she still manages to marry Robert Gordon, Susan's brother (Rupert Julian). While Gordon is off on a trip, Daisy runs into an old friend, who is accompanied by his fiancée. The lying Susan wires Gordon and claims that Daisy is seeing an old lover. He rushes home and finds out that Daisy has been out all night. Without hearing the explanation -- she had been out for a drive and the car broke down -- he shoots Daisy's innocent friend. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Sometimes mislabeled a 1913 production, Eye of God was one of a baker's dozen of films co-directed in 1916 by the husband-and-wife team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. In the fine innovational traditional of the Smalley-Weber productions, the film unfolds in literary fashion, as a man on death row writes his multi-chaptered confession. Tyrone Power Sr. plays Olaf, a dirt farmer who yearns for the bright lights of the Big City. When a sophisticated young woman named Renie (Lois Weber) spends the night in Olaf's farm during a rainstorm, he forgets all about his plain-jane wife Ana (Ethel Weber) and begins ardently pursuing the beautiful stranger. Desperate for money, Olaf engineers a double murder, which nets him a huge sum of money. Heading to the City for a rendezvous with Renie, Olaf learns that her sweetheart Paul (Charles Gunn) has been arrested for the crime which he himself had committed. Certain that he will escape detection, Olaf is nonetheless trapped into a confession by Renie, who out of love for Paul has appointed herself "the eye of God." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
When a young man from a socially prominent family commits suicide over his love affair with chorus girl Estelle Ryan (Mary MacLaren), the newspapers pick up the story. Estelle finds herself a star overnight because of the publicity, and soon another society man, Jansen Winthrop (Jack Holt), falls in love with her. His mother (Gerard Alexander) is determined that he will marry someone of his own class and asks her brother Robert (Phillips Smalley, who also directed with his wife Lois Weber) to take care of the matter. Robert kidnaps Estelle and hides her on an island. Jansen starts to believe she is faithless, while Robert discovers that she really is a nice girl and not the sleazy vamp his family assumed her to be. Robert sends for Jansen so that he and Estelle can be reunited. But Estelle now prefers Robert, who believes in her, to Jansen, who doubted her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Tyrone Power Sr., the father of you-know-who, made quite a meal of his dual role in the Bluebird production John Needham's Double. Based on a play by Joseph Hatton, the story concerns dissipated nobleman Lord John Needham (Power), who is appointed guardian of rich young Thomas Creighton (Buster Emmons. It doesn't take long for Lord John to squander the vast fortune which was supposed to go to Thomas when the boy came of age. Desperate to cover his losses, Lord John resorts to murder then tries to pin the crime on his look-alike Joseph Norbury (also played by Power). Husband-and-wife directors Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber did what they could to cover up the logic gaps in this familiar yarn, which had for many years served as a theatrical vehicle for E.S. Willard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Hop, the Devil's Brew was another deft blend of social commentary and entertainment from the husband-and-wife directorial team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. Made with full cooperation of the U.S. Customs Bureau, the story is a case study of how opium is harvested in the Orient then smuggled and distributed to America. Putting a face on the scourge of narcotics is the plight of Lydia Jensen (Weber), the wife of customs agent Ward Jensen (Smalley). While Jensen is out trying to smash a vicious dope ring, poor Lydia becomes an opium addict. The grueling final reels depict Jensen trying to wean his wife off the killer drug, a chillingly graphic sequence which was every bit as powerful as the more celebrated denouement of Otto Preminger's 1955 opus The Man with the Golden Arm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Mina Rogers (Mary MacLaren) is unfairly cast out into the cruel, cruel world by her crotchety old uncle. She searches for a new home, resorting to deception so that she will be taken in. Along the way she meets a doctor, certain mysteries surrounding her are solved, and the doctor asks her to marry him. The husband and wife filmmaking team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber were responsible for this film. Their specialty was socially conscious drama, but occasionally, as they did here, they focused their efforts elsewhere. Unfortunately, this maudlin, melodramatic dreck of a picture didn't do justice to anyone involved in its creation. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Dumb Girl of Portici is famous today as the film in which Boris Karloff made his movie debut. This "fact" is open to debate: Karloff himself had no memories of the film's star, flamboyant dancing diva Anna Pavlova, and that bow-legged extra in the crowd scenes, photographed from behind, may or may not be "our Boris." Whatever the case, it cannot be denied that the film's storyline is based upon Daniel Francois Esprit's opera Masaniello. Anna Pavlova plays Fenella, the surprisingly non-dancing heroine, in this epic romantic tragedy. Fenella rises from rags to riches, but at a great personal price. The central role of Masaniello is played by future director Rupert Julian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Where Are My Children was one of twelve 1916 films co-directed by the husband-and-wife team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. Another of the team's "message" pictures, this one tackled the touchy subject of Birth Control. Set in an unnamed Big City, the story focuses on a district attorney, who loves children, and his socialite wife, who does not. Upon graduating from college, the wife's brother moves in with the couple. Smitten by the brother, the couple's maidservant enters into an affair with the boy, the result being an unwanted pregnancy. Offering to help out, the wife arranges for an illegal abortion. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and the maid dies. The D.A. husband arrests the doctor and sentences him to 15 years in prison -- then makes the startling discovery that among the doctor's clients was his own wife. Investigating further, the D.A. learns that he has never become a father because of his wife's multiple abortions, and that all of his wife's friends have been similarly "serviced" by the doctor. The film ends with a haunting double-exposure sequence, as the repentant wife and her grieving friends conjure up visions of the babies whose lives they have snuffed out because of their own selfishness. Though Where Are My Children may seem naively reactionary in these more enlightened times, the film was undeniably strong and powerful stuff in its day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Walcamp
- 1917
The Double Standard was partially inspired by Dope, a vaudeville sketch by Herman Lieb. As the title indicates, the film pointed in no uncertain terms how there is one set of rules for the rich and powerful and another for the poor and oppressed. And once pointed out, this premise was hammered into the audience's consciousness with the relentlessness of a power drill. Curiously, none of the various subplots in the film were truly resolved, leading viewers to wonder about the purpose of the whole affair. For the record, the principal antagonists in the film were a hard-bitten newspaper editor (Frank Brownlee) and his clergyman brother (Joseph Girard), with the hapless hero and heroine (Roy Stewart) and (Clarissa Selwyn) caught in the crossfire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
The busy husband-wife directorial team of Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber launched their surprisingly brief 1918 production schedule with The Doctor and the Woman. Adapted from K, a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the film starred Mildred Harris as the daughter of a reclusive minister. Hoping to follow in her father's humanitarian footsteps, the girl becomes a trained nurse, and it is in this capacity that she falls in love with Max, the local hospital's chief of surgeons. An inveterate carouser and ladies' man, Max is "tamed" by the stabilizing influence of the practical-minded heroine. She ends up saving Max from being blamed for the tragic surgical mistakes perpetrated by the incompetent Dr. Edwards, and she also prevents her doctor sweetheart from taking the rap for a murder he didn't commit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Mildred Harris plays a poor working girl whose head is turned by the finer things in life. While at the beach with her boyfriend, a simple rather dull guy, a bathhouse catches fire, burning up their clothes. A rich man, who has been lusting after the girl, takes this opportunity to offer his coat and to take her to his home. There, she is introduced to the perks of the wealthy and becomes dissatisfied with what she has at home. She turns down her boyfriend's marriage proposal and goes to the rich man. He asks her to become his mistress, but his former girlfriend finds out and calls the police in an attempt to get the girl in trouble. Although she escapes, the girl goes home to find her family enraged by her actions. It takes amends on the part of the rich man to make things right. The studio that made this picture, Universal, had director Lois Weber add a touch of social consciousness to the plot's sensationalism and then exploited Mildred Harris' status as Mrs. Charlie Chaplin in hopes of making a tidy profit. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Although this wasn't one of Lois Weber's most distinguished films, its star, Mildred Harris (billed at the time as Mrs. Charles Chaplin), was well cast. New Yorker Fred Worthington (Henry Woodward) doubts the sincerity of his sweetheart and his friends, so he plants an item claiming he has become bankrupt. Almost on cue, everyone dumps him, so he leaves the city in disgust. He goes to the country to visit his mother and meets innocent Maddie Irwin (Harris). They fall in love and marry, but only afterwards does Worthington realize that his country wife really wants to be a city girl. His arguments fall on deaf ears, so he throws a party at his country estate and invites his wildest friends. To his surprise, Maddie thoroughly enjoys the revelry instead of being repelled by it. Maddie finally satisfies her lust for city life by running off to Chinatown with a group of strangers. She becomes embroiled with a mysterious Frenchman and winds up in a lot of trouble. After one of her former admirers from the country finally rescues her, Maddie returns home glad to be a country girl -- never realizing that the Frenchman was actually her husband in disguise. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Too Wise Wives was an independent film produced and directed by prominent woman director Lois Weber. It is a pointed soap opera about the state of marriage and women's roles in society in the early 1920s. Two couples are newly married. Marie (Clarie Windsor) and David Graham (Louis Calhern) are rich. She agonizes about doing everything she can to make her husband happy. This just irritates him to no end. The other couple, Sara Daly (Mona Lisa) and John Daly (Phillips Smalley) are very rich. She married him for his money. He dotes on her all of the time. Since he travels a lot, she gets bored. Also, she used to be David's girlfriend, and she want's David back and works hard to make Marie miserable. Real trouble begins when Marie intercepts a note that Sara sent to David asking him to meet for a secret affair. The cinematography is beautiful -- the movie was obviously filmed on some huge estates in Southern California. At the time this film was released, Cecil B. DeMille was famous for his films that were celebrations of materialism. This film is just the opposite. Director Weber shows how "keeping up with the Joneses" can harm a marriage. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide
Lois Weber was generally championing something or someone in her films; this time around it's underpaid white-collar workers. Professor Griggs (Phillip Hubbard) can barely afford to support his wife (Margaret McWade) and daughter, Amelia (Claire Windsor). Amelia works at a library and she has three suitors -- carefree college boy Phil West (Louis Calhern), the boy next door whose father is a well-to-do shoemaker, and a poor minister. When Amelia is taken ill, the doctor advises her mother that she must have nourishing food. Since this is beyond what she can afford, Mrs. Griggs steals a chicken from her next-door neighbor. Because of the theft, Amelia returns to work early so that she can pay for the bird. Although West is loved by a girl of his own social station (Marie Walcamp), he prefers Amelia. She refuses to encourage him until he changes his frivolous ways. Not only does he decide to settle down, he also convinces his father, who is on the college board of trustees, to give Amelia's father a raise. Eventually the couple unite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phillip Hubbard, Margaret McWade, (more)
- 1922
This dramatic Universal programmer was based on the novel by Johann Bojer. Building contractor John Hammond (David Torrance) has been trying to help his friend Richard Burton (Earl Metcalfe) get a foothold in respectable society. Burton, who is engaged to Hammond's sister Betty (Mabel Julienne Scott), really wants to put an end to his wild ways, but some old pals throw him a Bacchanalian surprise party. Hammond inadvertently winds up in the middle of the festivities because he shows up with a bank note which he has endorsed for Burton. The party creates a scandal and Betty dumps her fiancé. Hammond lies to his snooty wife, Joan (Maud George) and says he was never there. As a result, Burton is arrested for supposedly forging the note. Hammond is reluctant to admit that he lied, but he finally confesses. Burton is acquitted, and he and Betty reconcile. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maude George, Mabel Julienne Scott, (more)
