Pauline Starke Movies

In this drama, a suave playboy gets jealous when his lover falls for a new man. Then the mistress' sister comes to town and real trouble begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Technicolor "spectacular" The Viking was loosely based on the exploits of Norwegian explorer Leif Ericsson. Using O. A. Liljencrantz' highly fanciful novel Leif the Lucky as its guide, the film weaves a delightfully inaccurate account of Ericsson's bold journey from Scandinavia to the coast of America. Sporting a Snub Pollard mustache, Donald Crisp stars as Ericsson, while the love interest was left in the hands of Pauline Starke. The villainy was handled by Anders Randolf, cast as Ericsson's treacherous first mate. Highlights include the Vikings' attack on England, with raping and pillaging aplenty; a mutiny fomented by the villain, which is thwarted through sheer force of will by Ericsson; and the Viking captain's sudden conversion to Christianity. Although the improved Technicolor process was stunning and the production values first-rate, The Viking was an expensive flop -- precisely the sort of picture MGM didn't need during the chaotic switchover to talkies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dance Magic was one of the earliest directorial efforts of Victor Halperin, of White Zombie fame. Hoping to make it big as a dancer, small-town girl Pauline Starke storms into the office of a Manhattan theatrical agent, demanding an interview. Impressed by her spunk, the producer arranges for Starke to work in the chorus of a major musical production. One night, the star gets sick, and our heroine goes on in her place. By rights, she should be able to return to her hometown in triumph, but this is not to be. Back home, dancing is considered sinful, and Starke is regarded as a Jezebel. Only by renouncing her "sins" in the pulpit is our heroine absolved and allowed to marry the hero (Ben Lyon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Perfect Sap was based on Not Herbert, a popular stage farce of the period. Ben Lyon stars as Herbert Alden, a wealthy but hopelessly nerdish would-be detective. Herbert gets his chance to prove his deductive skills when a robbery is committed at a costume party. His pursuit of the crooks leads Herbert and his sweetheart Polly Stoddard (Pauline Starke) too a crumbling old mansion, where the villains do their best to convince the couple that the joint is haunted. Featured in the cast were two long-time cronies of W.C. Fields, character actors Sam Hardy and Tammany Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Colonel Tim McCoy had worked as an advisor on Indian sign languages and other things western during the making of James Cruze's The Covered Wagon in 1923. The newly founded MGM was the only major studio without a western line-up and tested the well-known war hero for a proposed series. McCoy proved just as good an actor as he was handsome, and the studio signed him to a star in a series of medium-budgeted westerns beginning with War Paint. W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke, a genial director who could create exciting screen fare without fuss and on time, helmed the inaugural McCoy feature which naturally dealt with Indians vs. the White Man. McCoy often expressed deep sympathy for Native Americans, and there are both good and bad Indians in his films. In this instance, a brave is humiliated in a fight with McCoy and vows vengeance on the White Man in general. McCoy saves the day, however, and without the usual stereotyping of his Native American cast. The film was made back-to-back with the second entry in the McCoy series, Winners of the Wilderness. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The subject matter to this Victor Fleming-directed drama is typically virile -- it takes place in Sacramento during the Gold Rush days of 1849. And the star who stands out the most is also the most manly: big Wallace Beery. John Joyce (William Collier Jr.) arrives in Sacramento with his sister, Martha (Claire Adams), and aunt to become the editor of a newspaper. He is determined to clear the town of the low-down mining camp types who are flaunting their freewheeling ways. When Joyce meets Faro Sampson (Pauline Starke), he falls in love, believing that she is the daughter of a minister. Actually she's the daughter of the man who runs a gambling den, "Square Deal" Sampson (Emmett C. King). Joyce tries to forget her, but he can't. Soon the same vigilante committee he has aligned himself with finds him in a compromising position with her. Joyce, Faro, and the other "undesirables" are forced onto a river boat. Ben, a fireman (Beery), takes over command, but when he tries to attack Martha, Joyce springs into action. Ben is vanquished and demoted to peeling potatoes on the ship that rescues everyone. Joyce and Faro, meanwhile, reaffirm their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Nolan (Edward Hearn) is an American Army Lieutenant who is exiled when he refuses to arrest Aaron Burr (Richard Tucker) is this historical fiction drama taken from the novel by Everett Hale. Nolan receives a court martial for his actions and never wishes to hear of the United States again. His sweetheart Anne Bissell (Pauline Starke) tries for 60 years to have him pardoned, finally succeeding with Abraham Lincoln (George Billings). Albert Hart plays Thomas Jefferson, with Emmett King as James Monroe and Edward Martindel as Admiral Decatur. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Charles Ray's career had been declining for some time when he made this comedy-drama. Unfortunately, this attempt to return to the characterization that brought him fame -- that of an unsophisticated country boy -- didn't win him back the fans he had lost. Actress Pansi Delaney (Pauline Starke) is tired of the big city and its flashy, phony men, so she's glad to return to the farm back home and visit her mother. She meets a country boy, Tom Corbin, and his naive, wholesome ways win her over. Tom, however, feels out of place amongst Pansi's city friends -- he doesn't realize that the qualities that make him appear awkward are just what she likes. When he visits Chicago and sees one of the slick city types trying to make time with Pansi, Tom decides to make himself over. But instead of being cool and sophisticated, he comes off as a jerk and Pansi is disgusted. One of her friends tips Tom off, so he returns to his country boy demeanor, and wins back his girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Bearing only a tenuous connection to Dante Alighieri's epic poem, the 1924 Dante's Inferno bears more resemblance to A Christmas Carol. Hard-hearted businessman Ralph Lewis drives a former friend to contemplate suicide. Just before disappearing into the night, the friend gives Lewis a copy of Dante's Inferno as a cautionary gesture. Lewis reads the volume but ignores its message and continues in his standard ruthless vein. As a result, everyone and everything he cares about is destroyed. Making a last-minute gesture to save his friend from suicide, Lewis is not only too late, but is accused of the man's murder. Executed in the electric chair, Lewis is dragged into Hell, where the horrified man is forced to witness the various methods of Eternal Damnation described in Dante's tale. Suddenly, Lewis finds himself back in his study; the whole horrible episode has been a nightmare. In fine Scrooge tradition, Lewis vows to mend his ways. Many historians are of the opinion that the Hell sequences in Dante's Inferno have been lifted from a long-lost European epic, title unknown. Certainly there is a radical difference in quality between the narrative and the nightmare scenes, but as of yet no one has determined whether or not the film was in fact a hybrid. Dante's Inferno has become one of the most oft-requested silent films among casual movie fans, chiefly because of a tantalizing production still showing an apparently naked Pauline Starke being flogged by a hulking demon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Star Pola Negri and director Ernst Lubitsch, who created an international sensation with the German superproduction DuBarry, Woman of Passion, were reunited in the frothy Hollywood comedy/drama Forbidden Paradise. Negri is cast as Catherine, the Czarina of an unnamed but very Russian-looking country. Rescued from revolutionaries by dashing Captain Alexis Czerny (Rod LaRocque), Catherine "repays" the Captain in the boudoir. Czerny falls madly in love with the Czarina, only to discover that he is the latest in a long line of royal consorts. Angrily, he joins the rebellion, vowing to topple the monarchy (but promising that Catherine will remain unharmed). When the revolution fails, Czerny is sentenced to death, but Catherine rescinds the order and allows him a happily-ever-after with his true love, lady-in-waiting Anna (Pauline Starke). Adolphe Menjou, a favorite of Lubitsch's, has all the film's best scenes as a rakish chancellor. Based on a play by Lajos Biro and Melchoir Lengyel, Forbidden Paradise was remade in 1945 as A Royal Scandal, with Tallulah Bankhead as Catherine; the 1945 film was produced by Ernst Lubitsch, who fell ill during shooting and was forced to relinquish the directorial responsibilities to Otto Preminger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Little Church Around the Corner is important as the first major financial success for the fledgling Warner Bros. studios. Kenneth Harlan plays a mining-town clergyman who falls in love with his benefactor's daughter. He is about to settle into a life of cozy complacency when a group of miners come to his doorstep, asking that the minister plead to the owners for better living conditions. To prove himself to be "one" with the miners, Harlan moves into their shanty community. This causes a rift with his sweetheart's father, who happens to be one of the owners. A cave-in, an angry mob and a supposed miracle are part and parcel of this 1923 adaptation of the war-horse Marion Russell play, which is directed with a sure, subtle hand by William A. Seiter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide