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- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
