Gloria Swanson Movies
Gloria Swanson may not have been the world's best actress, but she was certainly one of the screen's greatest personalities. The daughter of a peripatetic army officer, she was educated in public schools from Chicago to Puerto Rico. While visiting Chicago's Essanay studios in 1913, the 15-year-old Swanson was hired as an extra and it was in this capacity that she met her first husband, Wallace Beery, then starred in the studio's Sweedie comedies. Not long after making a brief appearance in Charlie Chaplin's first Essanay starrer His New Job (1915), she accompanied her husband to Hollywood, where he'd been signed by Mack Sennett's Keystone studios. Often teamed with diminutive leading man Bobby Vernon, Swanson earned a measure of fame as the deadpan heroine of such comedies as Teddy at the Throttle (1916) and The Pullman Bride (1916) (she later claimed that she had no sense of humor at the time and thus played her roles seriously, which made them all the funnier to the audience). Divorced from Beery in 1917, Swanson also left Keystone that same year to accept an offer to appear in dramatic roles for Triangle Pictures. She then went to work for Cecil B. DeMille, who admired her courage and tenacity and cast her as the glamorously (and provocatively) garbed heroines of such lavish productions as Don't Change Your Husband (1918), Male and Female (1919), and The Affairs of Anatol (1920). A full-fledged superstar by the early '20s, Swanson carefully controlled every aspect of her career, from choosing her leading men and directors to approving her publicity layouts. She also remained in the public eye via her succession of high-profile husbands, including the Marquis de la Falaise de Coudray. Though at her best in tear-stained romantic dramas, she could still deliver a top-notch comedy performance, as witness her portrayal of a dowdy, gum-chewing working girl in Allan Dwan's Manhandled (1924). In the late '20s she set up her own production company with the sponsorship of her then-lover, financier Joseph P. Kennedy. After a successful start with 1928's Miss Sadie Thompson, Swanson's company went bankrupt as a result of her benighted association with the Erich Von Stroheim-directed fiasco Queen Kelly (1929). Contrary to popular belief, she made a successful transition to sound, displaying her fine singing voice in films like Tonight or Never (1931) and Music in the Air (1934). But the public had adopted new favorites and no longer flocked to Swanson's films as they once had. She retired in the mid-'30s, briefly returning in 1941 to star with Adolphe Menjou in the undistinguished comedy Father Takes a Wife. Her next film appearance in 1949 turned out to be one of the finest achievements in anybody's career: Her Oscar-nominated virtuoso performance as faded, self-delusional silent screen star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder's vitriolic Hollywood melodrama Sunset Boulevard. So convincing was Swanson in this role that many of her fans believed that she was Norma Desmond, though nothing could have been further from the truth. Unfortunately, her attempts to follow up this triumph proved unsuccessful, prompting her to turn her back on filmmaking for the third time in her career. She did rather better on television in the 1950s, emceeing her own local New York TV talk show and hosting the syndicated anthology Crown Theatre Starring Gloria Swanson (1954). She also dabbled in scores of business enterprises, with mixed but generally satisfying results. Her most successful business venture was a line of organic cosmetics, "Essence of Nature;" she was also very active in the burgeoning health food movement of the 1960s, her ageless beauty and boundless energy serving as the best arguments in favor of proper nutrition. In the 1970s, she appeared on Broadway and on tour in Butterflies Are Free, and made her final screen appearance in Airport 74 (1974), more or less playing herself. Still active right up to her death, Gloria Swanson was survived by her sixth husband and several grandchildren. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1997
Though many fans will always fondly recall Judy Garland's wonderful portrayal of young Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Garland herself was apparently most proud of the role she played in A Star Is Born. In this film, which opened in 1954, Garland portrayed an actress who sees her career blossom as her husband's declines. This video features clips from the film's glamorous premiere held on September 29, 1954, at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. Viewers will see a vast array of other stars arriving at this event that foreshadowed Garland's Academy Award nomination for this role. An added segment features Garland and Ken Murray, who was well-known for his "Hollywood Home Movies." ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Produced for Britain's Thames television in 1979, Hollywood is a 13-part overview of the silent film era, lovingly assembled by historian Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Each episode runs one hour, and each concentrates on a separate aspect of the art of the silent cinema. Chapter titles include "The Pioneers," "Single Beds and Double Standards," "Swanson and Valentino" and "Comedy: A Serious Business." In addition to interviews from such silent-movie veterans as Lillian Gish, Allan Dwan, Viola Dana, William Wellman, Karl Brown, Colleen Moore, King Vidor and Blanche Sweet, each episode of Hollywood is distinguished by rare, lengthy filmclips, many in pristine condition. The symphonic background music by Carl Davis superbly evokes the 1910s and 1920s without ever stooping to tinkly-piano cliches. The release of Hollywood was accompanied by the publication of a coffee-table book, also the handiwork of Brownlow and Gill. In 1988, a feature-length version of Hollywood was made available for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
"Ballyhoo" is an Irish noun that became a verb in the United States, where carnival barking evolved into sensational, showy advertising. As this program shows, Hollywood during the Jazz Age of the 1920s perfected the art of ballyhoo. This is the first installment in the 13-volume American Documents documentary series, which features programs that present United States history in an entertaining, yet well-researched manner. American Documents, Vol. 1: The Age of Ballyhoo is hosted by Hollywood star Gloria Swanson, who achieved her greatest fame and success in the era of silent films. Highlights of this program include archival newsreel footage. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
In the wake of the 45-million-dollar gross of the original Airport (1970), Universal was all but required by an act of Congress to produce Airport '75. Charlton Heston heads the all-star cast as Alan Murdock, the former test pilot who must keep a disabled 747 from crashing in flames. The crisis begins when a businessman (Dana Andrews), flying his small private plane, suffers a fatal heart attack and the plane smashes into the cockpit of the 747. Following Murdock's radioed instructions, stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes over the controls. The special-guest passenger lineup includes Helen Reddy as a singing nun (a character wickedly satirized in the 1980 parody Airplane!), Myrna Loy as an alcoholic, and Sid Caesar as a garrulous passenger. While Airport '75 yielded only 25 million dollars at the box office, the franchise continued, spawning Airport '77 a few years later and Airport '79 two years after that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Karen Black, (more)
- 1974
Killer Bees a made-for-TV thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington, is the story of a strong willed woman with a curious power. Madame von Bohlen (Gloria Swanson) matriarch of a family and controller of the family wine business rules her family with an iron hand. What is becoming increasingly obvious, after a series of mysterious bee attacks, is that she also has psychic control over a swarm of bees that reside in her vineyard. This silly, fun thriller has a great cast including Kate Jackson, Craig Steven and Edward Albert, and they all seem to be having as much fun with their roles as Gloria Swanson. Swanson attacks her role with the same feline energy that make her a star. She is outstanding as the controlling, iron-willed woman who will stop at nothing to get her way. A fun time is had by all in this outlandish, well-acted thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
This biographical documentary examines the early life and career of Charlie Chaplin. A repeated feature of American Public television, the film is narrated by Gloria Swanson. Some of Chaplin's early short films are shown in excerpt, but they are taken out of context so that the roles can be grouped into categories which show Chaplin's dramatic range. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this drama, a teenager discovers that an old woman may actually be his long-lost mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Silent screen star Gloria Swanson received $2500 for her guest appearance in this episode -- a mere bagatelle by today's standards, but a veritable fortune back in 1966. The premise: Seeing Swanson moving her valuables out of her Beverly Hills home (she's planning to move to an even bigger mansion), the Clampetts mistakenly believe that she's being evicted. To save the actress from the poorhouse, the hillbillies cast Swanson in a "new" silent movie, filmed at Jed's own Mammoth Studios. "The Gloria Swanson Story" originally aired on November 30, 1966, as the 150th episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
One subject that has always been popular in the movies -- and is likely to stay that way for a long time to come -- is beautiful women, and this 1965 documentary explores the history of the Hollywood sex symbol, from the earliest days of Thomas Alva Edison's first silent films to such then-contemporary bombshells as Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor. Along with celebrating some of the most beautiful women to grace the silver screen, including Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, Ingrid Bergman, and Greta Garbo, The Love Goddesses discusses the shifting attitudes about the onscreen portrayal of love and sex, and how some actresses found their images changing as they went from ingenues to pinups, and sometimes vice-versa. Actor Carl King serves as narrator; Percy Faith composed the score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Wealthy Mrs. Daniels (Gloria Swanson) is convinced that Dave Snowden (James MacArthur), the current boyfriend of her daughter, Bonnie (Lynn Loring), is just another fortune hunter, even though Dave insists upon marrying Bonnie after Mrs. Daniels disinherits her. But when Dave runs out of money, he cooks up a scheme to persuade Mrs. Daniels to loosen the purse strings -- a scheme that involves Bonnie faking suicide. Alas, tragedy ensues, but this is only a prologue to the episode's macabre climax, in which the inquisitive Mr. Snowden finally learns what is "behind the locked door" in the deserted mansion on the Daniels' estate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, James MacArthur, (more)
- 1960
Originally aired as an NBC special on Sunday, January 10, 1960, this program went head-to-head with the hit Ed Sullivan Show and had the star power to garner decent ratings. This video features gossip columnist Hedda Hopper interviewing some of the top entertainers of the day. Highlights include Hopper's interview with Lucille Ball at her Desilu Workshop shortly before her divorce from Desi Arnaz. Other stars and showbiz powerhouses seen in this show include Anne Bauchens, Stephen Boyd, Francis X. Bushman, John Cassavetes, Gary Cooper, Ricardo Cortez, Bob Cummings, William Daniels, Marion Davies, Walt Disney, Janet Gaynor, Bob Hope, Hope Lange, Anthony Perkins, Debbie Reynolds, Teddy Rooney, Venetia Stevenson, James Stewart, Liza Minnelli, and Gloria Swanson. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
Robert Youngson's second feature-length compilation of silent comedy highlights (the first was The Golden Age of Comedy), When Comedy Was King covers the years 1914 to 1929. Using snipettes from the 1929 Charley Chase 2-reeler Movie Night as a framing device, Youngson offers vintage clips from the silent era's greatest clowns. The film's first section is devoted to Charlie Chaplin's formative Keystone comedies, notably Kid Auto Races at Venice and His Trysting Place (the humor in this sequence is slightly dampened by the narrator's sanctimonious comments concerning Chaplin's political views). We are next regaled with Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand in the riotous Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1915), followed by top-hatted Wallace Beery chaining 17-year-old Gloria Swanson to the railroad tracks in Teddy at the Throttle (1916). From Sennett, we move to the studios of Hal Roach, where wacky inventor Snub Pollard holds court in It's a Gift (1923) and Edgar Kennedy, Stu Erwin, Anita Garvin and Marion Byron try and fail to purchase four ice cream cones in A Pair of Tights (1928). Baby-faced Harry Langdon is next on the docket, dealing with aggressive kitchen help, unwelcome old pals and a mysterious spy in The First Hundred Years (1925). Next up, Buster Keaton inadvertently lays waste to a police parade in the brilliant 2-reeler Cops (1922). Brief snippets of such mid-1920s Mack Sennett stars as Billy Bevan, Andy Clyde and Ben Turpin follow Langdon and Keaton. The closing sequence of When Comedy Was King consists of the 1929 Laurel and Hardy tit-for-tat classic Big Business, virtually in its entirety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Mio Figlio Nero boasts one of the most eccentrically diverse casts in motion picture history. Silent movie queen Gloria Swanson hams it up as Agrippina, the mother of infamous 1st-century Roman emperor Nero. Her little boy grows up to become Alberto Sordi, who plays the notorious lyre-plucker and firebug for laughs. Nero's milk-bathing paramour Poppea is portrayed as a doe-eyed nymphet by Brigitte Bardot, while Roman statesman Seneca is given a satirical slant by Vittorio de Sica. It goes without saying that historical accuracy is not the strong suit of Mio Figlio Nero, which was released in the US as Nero's Big Weekend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Gloria Swanson, (more)
- 1952
An aging movie star and her precocious daughter hide out in the train berth of a scientist during a cross-country journey from New York to LA in this romantic comedy. The whole mess begins when the actress receives an urgent wire demanding that she immediately return to Hollywood to star in a new film. She cares little about the project, but still obeys. Unfortunately, the train is full so she has no choice but to stow away in a sleeping compartment. The berth belongs to an introverted, scholarly biochemistry professor from Harvard who boards in Chicago. Creating more havoc upon the speeding train is the actress's eternally patient agent. As the train chugs westward, romance and comedy ensues. The leading lady, Gloria Swanson, made this farce right after making her classic Sunset Blvd. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, James Warren, (more)
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard ranks among the most scathing satires of Hollywood and the cruel fickleness of movie fandom. The story begins at the end as the body of Joe Gillis (William Holden) is fished out of a Hollywood swimming pool. From The Great Beyond, Joe details the circumstances of his untimely demise (originally, the film contained a lengthy prologue wherein the late Mr. Gillis told his tale to his fellow corpses in the city morgue, but this elicited such laughter during the preview that Wilder changed it). Hotly pursued by repo men, impoverished, indebted "boy wonder" screenwriter Gillis ducks into the garage of an apparently abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. Wandering into the spooky place, Joe encounters its owner, imperious silent star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Upon learning Joe's profession, Norma inveigles him into helping her with a comeback script that she's been working on for years. Joe realizes that the script is hopeless, but the money is good and he has nowhere else to go. Soon the cynical and opportunistic Joe becomes Norma's kept man. While they continue collaborating, Norma's loyal and protective chauffeur Max Von Mayerling (played by legendary filmmaker Erich von Stroheim) contemptuously watches from a distance. More melodramatic than funny, the screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett began life as a comedy about a has-been silent movie actress and the ambitious screenwriter who leeches off her. (Wilder originally offered the film to Mae West, Mary Pickford and Pola Negri. Montgomery Clift was the first choice for the part of opportunistic screenwriter Joe Gillis, but he refused, citing as "disgusting" the notion of a 25-year-old man being kept by a 50-year-old woman.) Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical version has served as a tour-de-force for contemporary actresses ranging from Glenn Close to Betty Buckley to Diahann Carroll. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Gloria Swanson, (more)
- 1949
Down Memory Lane is a pastiche film comprised of old comedy footage from the Mack Sennett studios. The vintage clips are tied together by a thin continuity wherein TV host Steve Allen hopes to boost his ratings by screening excerpts from Sennett's silent and talkie two-reel comedies. Among the films represented are The Singing Boxer with Donald Novis, Blue of the Night with Bing Crosby, and The Dentist with W.C. Fields. Mack Sennett himself shows up at the end for an explosive punch line to this chaotic collection of comedy clips. Down Memory Lane is a mess, but a funny mess; auteur theorists are advised not to search for a thematic connection between this film and director Phil Karlson's later "cult" classics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Allen, Bing Crosby, (more)
- 1941
Silent screen queen Gloria Swanson returned to films after a seven-year absence in RKO Radio's Father Takes a Wife. Adolphe Menjou costars as a middle-aged widowed shipping magnate known as Senior, who falls in love with celebrated actress Leslie Collier (Gloria Swanson) and marries her after a whirlwind courtship. Now Senior must break the news to his strait-laced son Junior (John Howard), who disapproves of show people. Junior is convinced that Leslie will leave his father the moment a younger, handsomer man enters the scene-a prediction that seems to come true when the honeymooning couple make the acquaintance of South American singing hearthrob Carlos (Desi Arnaz). Meanwhile, Leslie's jealousy is aroused when she sees Senior in the company of gorgeous young Enid (Florence Rice), unaware that the girl is Senior's daughter-in-law. All misunderstandings are forgotten when it turns out that both Leslie and Enid are about to become mothers-legitimately! Though Gloria Swanson was in fine fettle, Father Takes a Wife failed to draw a crowd, posting a loss of $104,000; eight years later, Swanson staged a real comeback in the classic Sunset Boulevard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Swanson, (more)
- 1934
The 1932 Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Broadway hit Music in the Air was brought to the screen two years later by Fox Studios. Temperamental Bavarian prima donna Frieda (Gloria Swanson) and equally volatile lyricist Bruno (John Boles) spend half their time quarrelling and the other half making love. To arouse each other's jealousy, Frieda and Bruno pair off respectively with music teacher Lessing's (Al Shean) virginal daughter Sieglinde (June Lang) and her schoolmaster fiancee Karl (Douglass Montgomery). The impressionable young couple respond to the attentions heaped upon them until they realize they're being used, whereupon the tables are turned upon the main characters. Though boasting such lilting tunes as "The Song is You" and "I've Told Every Evening Star" and the stylish direction of Joe May (perhaps his best American film), audiences didn't respond to Music in the Air; as a result, star Gloria Swanson vowed for the millionth time to "permanently" retire from pictures, a promise she kept to herself for a whole seven years. Incidentally, one of the screenwriters of Music in the Air was Billy Wilder, who later co-wrote and directed Swanson's 1949 "comeback" feature Sunset Boulevard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, John Boles, (more)
- 1933
Star Gloria Swanson also co-produced this British film, a romantic comedy/drama that teamed her with a young Laurence Olivier. Judy Rogers (Swanson), an American vacationing in England, meets aristocrat Nicholas Randall (Olivier) and the two fall in love. They agree to marry but insist they'll never have any disagreements -- while both intending to maintain their independence. After an idyllic honeymoon, they are separated briefly and Nicholas strays with Lady Stephanie Fitzmaurice (Nora Swinburne). After he confesses to Judy, she decides to date the eligible Ivan Ronnson (John Halliday), but keeps the encounter a flirtation only. Their marriage becomes shaky, but Judy and Nicholas weather their doubts and come to love each other all the more. Note the film's co-writer: Michael Powell, who would later direct, write, and produce Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes (in collaboration with Emeric Pressburger). ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Laurence Olivier, (more)
Though frequently credited to impresario David Belasco, the play upon which Tonight or Never is based was actually penned by Lili Havatny. Gloria Swanson stalks through the proceedings as an opera prima donna who goes through men like tissue paper. While on holiday in Venice with her elderly fiance Ferdinand Gottschalk, Swanson becomes intrigued by one of her admirers, Melvyn Douglas (in his film debut). One evening Douglas manages to corner the heroine in her lavish apartment, whereupon she becomes convinced that he's merely a gigolo interested in her money. But -- ha-ha -- the last laugh is on Swanson when Douglas reveals that he's a representative of the Metropolitan Opera, determined to sign her to a contract. Produced by Sam Goldwyn, Tonight or Never represented the end of the first phase of Gloria Swanson's talkie career; she subsequently announced her "retirement" but was back before the cameras two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Ferdinand Gottschalk, (more)
Divesting herself of her own production company, silent-screen queen Gloria Swanson entered into a two-picture deal with producer Joseph M. Schenck, which paid her a straight (and very hefty) salary for both productions. The first film completed under this arrangement was the trivial romantic comedy- musical Indiscreet, scripted and scored by songwriters Buddy G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson, and Lew Brown and directed by the matchless Leo McCarey. Swanson plays Geraldine "Gerry" Trent, a worldly socialite who endeavors to protect her sister Joan (Barbara Kent) from the lecherous machinations of Jim Woodward (Monroe Owsley). But when Joan discovers that Jerry and Woodward were once lovers themselves, she mistakenly believes that Jerry's attempts to break up her romance is motivated by jealousy. In fact, Jerry is completely committed to Joan's brother Tony Blake (Ben Lyon). One of the more successful of Gloria Swanson's talkies, Indiscreet posted a much-needed profit for financially strapped United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1930
The widow in question is wealthy Tamarind Brooks (Gloria Swanson), who flits from one man to another with the rapidity of a butterfly. Beginning in New York and ending in Paris, Tamarind collects men like some people collect stamps. Among her most ardent suitors are lawyer Gerry (Owen Moore), violin virtuoso Baslikoff (Gregory Gaye), opera baritone Alvarado (Herbert Braggiotti), and cabaret dancer Victor (Lew Cody). After playing the field with gay abandon, Tamarind finally returns to square one (in a manner of speaking) and marries Gerry. Gloria Swanson is given opportunity aplenty to display her splendid singing voice, and even gets to hark back to her Keystone Comedy days by indulging in some gratuitous slapstick. In a sense, What a Widow was filmic valentine to Swanson from her sponsor-lover, producer Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK's father). Audiences, however, were not quite as smitten as "Papa Joe," and the film was a box-office bust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Owen Moore, (more)
