Carl Stockdale Movies
- 1920
Celebrated prize fighter Jack Dempsey was a natural for serials, and industry leader Pathé dutifully cast him in this 15-chapter Western adventure co-starring cowgirl Josie Sedgwick and directed by a young W.S. Van Dyke. The story was the usual chapterplay predicament: A dying father gives his young daughter, Glory (Sedgwick), a bracelet with a gem that contains a partial direction to an underground lake of oil. The other half of the secret is in the possession of James Meeney (Frederick Starr), a gangster who may or may not be working with the girl's greedy stepfather (Herschel Mayall) and brother (Albert Cody). Enter Jack Derry (Dempsey), whose father (Carl Stockdale) is wrongfully imprisoned for a crime actually committed by Royce Rivers (Lon Chaney), a desert rat in league with Meeney. Everything, of course, is cleared up in the final chapter, "The Triple Chase," as Jack not only proves his father's innocence but also wins the affection of the newly oil-rich Glory. Promised a bonus if he could complete each chapter within a week, director W.S. Van Dyke earned a lifelong reputation for speed and efficiency (as well as the nickname "One-Shot Van Dyke") by working his cast and crew furiously but without skimping on quality. On the verge of major stardom, Lon Chaney did double duty in Daredevil Jack as a supporting player and as Dempsey's makeup man, and according to Dempsey, performing the latter duties with "a feather-like touch." Daredevil Jack was a major hit for both Pathé and Jack Dempsey, whose fame skyrocketed as a result. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Joan Hope (Mary Miles Minter) is the bored daughter of a chewing gum magnate. When her father goes away on business, she goes in search of some excitement. She takes a train ride during which she meets Kent Standish (Alan Forrest), an amateur detective. He is, in fact, searching for the passenger sitting next to Joan -- the "Countess of Crex" (Margaret Shelby, Minter's sister in real life). The Countess is really a notorious European thief, and has in her possession a stolen necklace. As a way to avoid detection, she convinces the naive Joan to exchange identities with her for a week. When they are exchanging purses and identification, somehow the box containing the necklace gets switched with Joan's box of chewing gum. Joan registers at the hotel where the Countess is supposed to be staying, and the other criminals who are there indicate to Joan that they want the necklace. Joan, of course, has no idea what they want. Meanwhile, Kent has followed her and he finds himself falling in love with her, even though he knows that the Countess is an evil woman who already has a husband. Eventually, Joan's father come to the hotel in search of Joan, the Countess comes looking for her necklace, and everything gets cleared up at the police station. Kent is happy to know that the girl he loves really is innocent, and single to boot. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Intolerance, D.W. Griffith's towering achievement interlocking four stories of intolerance throughout the ages, has been bowdlerized by the Master himself in this 1919 re-tread utilizing the Babylon sections of that mammoth film. In an effort to recoup some of his disastrous personal losses incurred upon the initial release of Intolerance, Griffith re-edited both the Babylon sequences and the modern section (retitled The Mother and the Law) and distributed them as separate films. The lasting appeal of Intolerance has always been the spectacularly extravagant Babylon story and here it is without "the cradle endlessly rocking." In the story, Babylon is ruled by Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) a kindly king. A true democrat in respect to religion, he earns the enmity of his chief priest, the High Priest of Bel (Tully Marshall). When Cyrus (George Siegmann), the king of the Medes and Persians, attacks Babylon's fabled walled city, the High Priest betrays Belshazzar to Cyrus. The city rallies to Babylon's defense -- including a plucky mountain girl (Constance Talmadge) who secretly loves the king -- but Cyrus's immense forces overpower the beleaguered city. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tully Marshall, Constance Talmadge, (more)
- 1919
Carmelita (Hedda Nova) is the daughter of bandit Don Salvador (Carl Stockdale), who meets his end at the hands of the law. But before he dies, he insists that Carmelita choose one of his lieutenants, Pedro (Leo Malone) or Leonardo (Robert Gray) as a husband. Carmelita picks Pedro, but before they can be wed, she meets American artist Kent Staunton (Thurston Hall). He paints her portrait, and when a storm breaks out, she seeks refuge in his cabin. Pedro goes after Staunton in a jealous rage, but the artist has him arrested. While in jail, the bandit tells Carmelita that Staunton is in league with the lawmen who killed her father. So Carmelita decides to kill Staunton, but she can't because she has come to love him. Then she finds out that Staunton is not a spy for the law. Pedro, however, still insists on vengeance. The girl is torn over what to do, so the outlaws kidnap her and take her to the hills. There is a battle between warring bands of outlaws, and Pedro is killed. Leonardo tells Carmelita that she is free to marry Staunton, which she does. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Produced for the American Company in Santa Barbara, California, this quaint melodrama is one of only two or three Mary Miles Minter films to have survived. Minter was the breathtakingly beautiful but somewhat inert actress, whose name will forever be linked to that of murdered director William Desmond Taylor, with whom she was reportedly in love. Minter's Julia Deep, however, is surprisingly potent, and the actress is actually quite good as the supervisor of a department store's exchange department who falls in love with a handsome but irresponsible playboy (Allan Forrest). The girl's all consuming passion is so strong that it literally prevents the young man from committing suicide. It has long been accepted that Mary Miles Minter was forced out of films because of her connection with Desmond Taylor's 1922 murder; in reality, however, the likely reason for Mary's disappearance was probably that she had turned 21 and was thus free of her (stage) mother's iron grip. She herself once said that she was only in films for the money. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Reading the official studio synopses of such films as In Bad makes one wish that more of director Edward Sloman's silent films had survived. William Russell plays a ne'er-do-well who is forced to work his way back into the good graces of his family and his sweetheart (Francella Billington). Russell heads westward, where he spends the next several reels prospecting for gold. His full regeneration comes about when he defeats a band of outlaws and discovers a valuable treasure "South of the Border." Though obviously filmed nowhere near the Yucatan (where most of the story was set), In Bad was redeemed by director Sloman's acute sense of pictorial composition and his ability to conjure up suspense where none really existed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The Americano is Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the son of a wealthy mining engineer. Sent by his dad to oversee a mine in South America, he falls in love with Alma Rubens, the daughter of a deposed below-the-border president. With Fairbanks' help, the kindly ex-leader is restored to his former position and the insurgents are sent scurrying back to the hills. Even after eight decades, The Americano retains its exuberant entertainment value; the only drawback is the distressing presence of white actor Tom Wilson in blackface as the traditional "scared darkey". The film was adapted by its director John Emerson and his wife Anita Loos from a novel by Eugene P. Lyle Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
With this lineup -- the star was Dorothy Gish, the director was George Siegmann, who got his training under D.W. Griffith, and the screenwriter was another Griffith protégé, Tod Browning -- one would assume this picture might have something special to offer. But, in spite of Gish's lighthearted charm, it fell flat, primarily because the story was so musty. In fact, it can pretty much be guessed by its title -- there's the horse race (actually there are two), the mortgage held in balance by Atta Boy's ability to win, causing the damsel much distress, etc., etc. The film's one bright moment -and perhaps this is where the Griffith influence comes in to play -- is when the camera, instead of shooting the horse race from a static position, keeps pace with the running horses as Atta Boy comes up from behind. In the mid-1910s, something as simple as a moving camera added spice to a motion picture. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, (more)
- 1916
Although this classic Charles Dickens tale was filmed at least twice previously, this Lasky version was the first to really do it justice. Perhaps casting 25-year-old actress Marie Doro as the orphan Oliver Twist was questionable, but then, this was the era where Mary Pickford played children into her mid-thirties. The rest of the casting was utterly solid, with great silent character actor Tully Marshall as Fagin and stage and silent star Hobart Bosworth as Bill Sykes. As much attention was paid to the smaller roles, with James Neil putting in a crusty, yet tender portrayal of Grimwig, the churlish pal of the kindly Mr. Brownlow. London's sordid nineteenth century slums are well-depicted too -- in fact, some critics of the 1910s felt the scenery too unpleasant to appeal to film patrons of the era. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
In this silent tragedy a bright, creative young woman from the slums gets into considerable mischief and lands in jail. While languishing there, the girl begins to write down her thoughts and observations. She then sends them to the warden who recognizing her talent, helps get her hired onto the local newspaper. When he succeeds, he and a reporter rush down to her cell to tell her the great news. Unfortunately, they are too late for she has committed suicide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's last one-reeler (with the exception of The Bond), is an impromptu film shot on the beach at Crystal Pier in Los Angeles, his first film shot there since leaving Keystone. It is superior to similarly made Keystone's in that the timing and gag ideas are much better realized. The film opens with couple Billy Armstrong and Margie Reiger at the beach on a windy day. Margie goes off, telling Billy to stay put. Charlie comes walking down a seaside street eating a banana and, after tossing the peel away, he slips on it. He encounters Billy when both men's hats, attached to them by elastic, get blown off and entangled. This causes a fight between them in which Charlie gets Billy in a headlock and knocks him unconscious, but fleas from Billy's head jump onto Charlie's arms, at which point Charlie performs a precursor of the flea circus routine that is featured in Limelight and the never released The Professor.
Just then Edna Purviance passes by and Charlie flirts with her. She is amused by his antics despite herself. She goes off and sits down by her boyfriend, Bud Jamison, who has been waiting for her on a nearby bench. Charlie and Billy make up, and Billy offers to buy them refreshments at a nearby ice cream stand operated by Snub Pollard. They again begin to fight as Billy refuses to pay. During the fight Bud gets hit by flying ice cream and joins the fray. The fight is broken up by a cop, who drags Billy off. Escaping, Charlie sits down next to Edna, bouncing her up and down by sitting down heavily. He's chased off by the returning Bud and joins Margie (who has been looking for Billy) on another bench until all the others arrive, whereupon Charlie tips over the bench and makes his getaway. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Just then Edna Purviance passes by and Charlie flirts with her. She is amused by his antics despite herself. She goes off and sits down by her boyfriend, Bud Jamison, who has been waiting for her on a nearby bench. Charlie and Billy make up, and Billy offers to buy them refreshments at a nearby ice cream stand operated by Snub Pollard. They again begin to fight as Billy refuses to pay. During the fight Bud gets hit by flying ice cream and joins the fray. The fight is broken up by a cop, who drags Billy off. Escaping, Charlie sits down next to Edna, bouncing her up and down by sitting down heavily. He's chased off by the returning Bud and joins Margie (who has been looking for Billy) on another bench until all the others arrive, whereupon Charlie tips over the bench and makes his getaway. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Billy Armstrong, (more)
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's 10th Essanay film marks a further development for him in story construction, gag development and the use of pathos along with physical comedy. Chaplin enters the bank importantly, strolls down a staircase and opens a large safe. He emerges carrying a mop and bucket and dons his janitor's uniform. He wanders into the lobby/reception area and accidentally puts his soaking mop into the top hat of a bond salesman, (Lawrence A. Bowes) who's waiting for the arrival of the Bank President. Hitting the salesman and a bank worker (Leo White) with the wet mop, he's chased away to the back office where he finds fellow janitor Billy Armstrong with whom a series of minor battles occur.
Edna Purviance, a stenographer, arrives at work with a birthday present, a tie, for a cashier whose name is also Charles, Carl Stockdale. She types a note: "To Charles with love from Edna." Chaplin finds the note and tie and assumes they're for him, and it's clear he loves Purviance. He brings her a bouquet of flowers and leaves a note "To Edna with love, Charlie." The bank president arrives and rejects the bond salesman's pitch and the angry salesman vows revenge. As the salesman stands dazed, Chaplin, told to mail a letter, indicates that he doesn't look well, takes his pulse and tells him to stick out his tongue, on which Chaplin moistens the postage stamp. The Cashier comes in to thank Purviance for the tie and tells her that it wasn't he who left the flowers, but Charlie the Janitor. Angry, Purviance calls Chaplin a fool and, unaware that he's watching through the door, throws the flowers into a trash basket. Crushed, Chaplin retrieves the flowers, goes back downstairs to the vault and sits down to rest.
Shortly afterward, the bond salesman along with four seedy crooks enter the bank. Two of them go upstairs and see the president, Purviance and the Cashier counting money. When Purviance and Charles head downstairs to the vault, they hold up the president. The other three intercept Charles and Purviance downstairs. At the first opportunity, Charles pushes Purviance over and runs away, but he's held at gunpoint by one of the crooks as the other tussles with the president. Meanwhile her screams have awakened Chaplin and he rescues her, kicking three of the crooks into the safe and locking it as Purviance collapses. Carrying her over one shoulder, he climbs the stairs and rescues the cashier by disarming the crook. He then takes care of the other thief, rescuing the president. When the police have the robbers in custody, Chaplin is congratulated by the president. He wanders into the office and takes the flowers out of his coat. Purviance enters and picks up the flowers, smiling, and the look of love and hope on Chaplin's face is truly angelic. They embrace, but just then the camera crossfades -- it was all a dream, and Chaplin awakens in the vault kissing a mop. As the picture fades, he wanders off screen holding the flowers. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Edna Purviance, a stenographer, arrives at work with a birthday present, a tie, for a cashier whose name is also Charles, Carl Stockdale. She types a note: "To Charles with love from Edna." Chaplin finds the note and tie and assumes they're for him, and it's clear he loves Purviance. He brings her a bouquet of flowers and leaves a note "To Edna with love, Charlie." The bank president arrives and rejects the bond salesman's pitch and the angry salesman vows revenge. As the salesman stands dazed, Chaplin, told to mail a letter, indicates that he doesn't look well, takes his pulse and tells him to stick out his tongue, on which Chaplin moistens the postage stamp. The Cashier comes in to thank Purviance for the tie and tells her that it wasn't he who left the flowers, but Charlie the Janitor. Angry, Purviance calls Chaplin a fool and, unaware that he's watching through the door, throws the flowers into a trash basket. Crushed, Chaplin retrieves the flowers, goes back downstairs to the vault and sits down to rest.
Shortly afterward, the bond salesman along with four seedy crooks enter the bank. Two of them go upstairs and see the president, Purviance and the Cashier counting money. When Purviance and Charles head downstairs to the vault, they hold up the president. The other three intercept Charles and Purviance downstairs. At the first opportunity, Charles pushes Purviance over and runs away, but he's held at gunpoint by one of the crooks as the other tussles with the president. Meanwhile her screams have awakened Chaplin and he rescues her, kicking three of the crooks into the safe and locking it as Purviance collapses. Carrying her over one shoulder, he climbs the stairs and rescues the cashier by disarming the crook. He then takes care of the other thief, rescuing the president. When the police have the robbers in custody, Chaplin is congratulated by the president. He wanders into the office and takes the flowers out of his coat. Purviance enters and picks up the flowers, smiling, and the look of love and hope on Chaplin's face is truly angelic. They embrace, but just then the camera crossfades -- it was all a dream, and Chaplin awakens in the vault kissing a mop. As the picture fades, he wanders off screen holding the flowers. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
The Champion, Chaplin's third film for Essanay, is easily one of the funniest and is his most advanced film to date in plotting and characterization. We meet Charlie and his bulldog sharing a found hot dog, which the dog won't eat until it is salted. They pass a gymnasium advertising for sparring partners. Charlie finds a lucky horseshoe and after witnessing the condition of the previous sparring partners, he decides to employ it in his left boxing glove. He thereby kayos the club champ and becomes the new golden boy. He begins to train for the big championship fight against Champ, Bud Jamison. The beautiful daughter of the Gym owner, Edna Purviance gets his interest and seems taken with him. A shady character Leo White, a slimy betting tout, oozes into camp and tries to bribe Charlie into throwing the big fight, but while Charlie takes his money, he treats him with total contempt. On the day of the fight, Charlie says an emotional goodbye to his dog and enters the ring. In the audience are cowboy-star Bronco Billy Anderson, one of the founders of Essanay (whose initials, along with partner George K. Spoor's are the source of its name), and Ben Turpin as the vendor. The hilarious slapstick prizefight is pretty even at first, but by the fourth round Charlie's getting the worst of it. Seeing the trouble his master is in, the bulldog jumps into the ring and restrains the opponent by the seat of his pants while Charlie delivers a series of coup-de-grace punches. Charlie is hoisted on the shoulders of his cornermen as the new Champion. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The title of Charlie Chaplin's fifth comedy for Essanay refers to the popular term for a Model T Ford, a jitney. Its theme of impersonation was one Chaplin had used before in Caught in a Cabaret and Her Friend the Bandit, and would use again in The Count and other films. Chaplin's girlfriend Edna Purviance is about to be forced by her father to wed the wealthy Count de Ha-Ha (Leo White), whom neither has met. Chaplin, dropping by for a visit, stands below her bedroom window whistling for her. She tosses him a note from the Count, announcing his visit and pleads to be rescued. Chaplin impersonates the Count and is welcomed by her mercenary father. He's given drinks and cigars and sits down to lunch with Purviance and her father. Chaplin performs a bit that he had done in one of the Karno sketches, that of carving a loaf of bread into a spiral and using it as an accordion. Although his table manners are decidedly not upper class, Chaplin pulls off the impersonation until the real Count arrives. The enraged father kicks Chaplin out of the house, then goes out for a spin with Purviance and the Count in the latter's car. They drive to a park where father hopes the Count can sweet-talk Purviance into marrying him. At first horrified by his intentions, she breaks out into gales of laughter at the sight of the tattered seat of his pants. Chaplin happens by and steals Purviance away, dispatching Count and father, along with a couple of cops. The fleeing couple steal the Count's jitney, and lead Count, father and cop, now following in a car they've taken, on a merry chase. The chase leads them to a pier, where in a clever stop-motion photography scene, the cars jockey about until Chaplin bumps the other car off the pier and into the water. A happy Chaplin and Purviance are about to kiss as the film fades out. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1914
G. M. Anderson, best known to his fans as "Broncho Billy," briefly drops his traditional cowboy character in The Good-For-Nothing. This time, Anderson plays the worthless son of a stockbroker (Carl Stockdale). After disgracing himself in business, the son heads westward, where he "finds himself" and becomes a man's man. After striking it rich as a gold miner, our hero returns home to rescue his family from financial ruin. The Good-For-Nothing ran a compact 4 reels, or approximately 50 minutes. Anderson remained the principal attraction of Essanay Studios until 1915, when he hired up-and-coming comedian Charlie Chaplin for a series of short subjects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
