Estelle Taylor Movies
From typist to movie star: that was the dream of many a female office worker of the early 20th century, and that dream came true for breathtaking brunette Estelle Taylor. It helped, of course, that she was possessed with boundless ambition and a keen business sense. Marrying into wealth at age 14, she divorced her husband at 18 when her modelling career began to flourish. She enjoyed the attentions of many a Stage Door Johnny while working as a Broadway chorus dancer, and caught the eye of not a few well-heeled producers when she decided upon a film career in 1920. Exotically beautiful, Taylor essayed such film roles as Miriam in DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923), Mary Queen of Scots in the Mary Pickford vehicle Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1925), and Lucrezia Borgia (a delightfully wry performance) in John Barrymore's Don Juan. In 1925, Taylor married world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, but the marriage ended in a well-publicized divorce in 1931. Making the switchover to sound with ease, Taylor continued to play good roles in such talkies as Cimarron (1931) and Call Her Savage (1932, as Clara Bow's mother) until she retired in the early 1930s. Taylor made a few short subjects in the late 1930s; her last appearance was in Jean Renoir's 1945 feature The Southerner. In the 1988 TV-movie biopic Dempsey, Estelle Taylor was portrayed by Victoria Tennant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Southerner was Jean Renoir's favorite of his American films. Shot on location, the film stars Zachary Scott as a sharecropper who yearns for a place of his own. On a tiny, scraggly patch of land, Scott tries to make a go of things, along with his wife Betty Field, his grandmother Beulah Bondi, and his children Jean Vanderwilt (aka Bunny Sunshine) and Jay Gilpin. Though a proud, independent man, Scott is forced by circumstance to seek help from neighboring farmer J. Carroll Naish, whose life experience have left him bitter and vituperative. The two men become enemies, but are reunited by their mutual love of fishing. Scott suffers a setback when a rainstorm destroys his cotton crop. He is about to go wearily back to working for others (specifically, factory owner Charles Kemper, who also narrates the film) when he is convinced by his never-say-die family to persevere on his own. Director Jean Renoir also wrote the script for The Southerner--in fluent English rather than French, as mental exercise. Told at a leisurely, unhurried pace, the film is the one American Renoir effort that comes closest to his "slice of life" dramas of the 1930s. The Southerner was not a box office hit, but did win the effusive praise of critics, not to mention the Venice Film Festival "best picture" award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zachary Scott, Betty Field, (more)
- 1941
You Quiero Ser Bataclana translates roughly as I Want to Be Chorus Girl. Popular Latin American radio songstress Nini Marshall plays the heroine who aspires to the titular goal. Managing to land a job with a third-rate musical troupe, Marshall saves her new friends from bankruptcy with her extensive talents. The film's "money number" is a parody of Saint-Saens Dying Swan ballet, with Marshall delivering an abundance of belly laughs. Critics were rough on Yo Quiero Ser Bataclana, but audiences ate it up and asked for more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nini Marshall, Alicia Barrie, (more)
- 1932
In this melodrama with strong racist overtones, Clara Bow attempts to revive her failing career by playing a free-spirited girl whose father is an American Indian and whose mother is Anglo Saxon. For some reason the girl doesn't know of her mixed heritage and constantly fights with her dad. The rebellious girl decides to show her dad who's boss by marrying a man he hates. Unfortunately it's a big mistake and soon after she gives birth to a sickly baby the marriage busts up. He leaves her impoverished and in desperation she turns to prostitution. Eventually, she returns to her homeland and learns the truth. Now at peace she meets a boy with similar heritage and they find marital bliss together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Bow, Monroe Owsley, (more)
- 1932
Western Limited is another of the "Grand Hotel on wheels" films so popular in the early 1930s. Stealing a valuable diamond at a Los Angeles society function, gentleman thief Edmund Burns boards a train bound for Chicago. A murder occurs during the journey, casting suspicion not only on Burns but on every other passenger. Once the gathered suspects get over the surprise that Burns is not a thief, but instead an insurance investigator assigned to protect the jewels, our hero can get down to the business of revealing the murderer's identity. Former silent-screen vamp Estelle Taylor, billed first, plays a more sympathetic role than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Edmund Burns, (more)
- 1931
A clever, slyly self-satirical screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur helps to make The Unholy Garden seem better than it is. The title refers to a Saharan oasis where a group of international crooks have converged, free from prosecution. Ronald Colman stars as gentleman thief Barrington Hunt, who rallies his fellow crooks together in a plan to divest a wealthy baron (Dudley Digges) of his fortune. Part of the scheme requires Hunt to make love to Fay Wray, the baron's lovely daughter, a task that proves pleasurable indeed. But Hunt hadn't counted on falling in love with Wray -- and when he does, it's "reformation and redemption" time, with our hero turning on and turning in his former pals. Among the reprobates within Hunt's orbit are such veteran screen heavies as Warren Hymer, Lucille LaVerne and Lawrence Grant, the latter chewing the scenery as a discredited doctor who keeps the skull of his murdered wife in a jar! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Fay Wray, (more)
Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene was purchased for the screen by producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1931. The entire story takes place on the street in front of a foreboding old New York brownstone, between one evening and the next afternoon. The individual fates of eight neighboring Manhattan families intertwine during this brief stretch of time. Special emphasis is given the Maurrant family: the philandering mother (Estelle Taylor), the drink-sodden husband (David Landau) and long-suffering daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney). When the husband catches the wife "in the act" with bill-collector Russell Hopton, the resulting tragedy is not shown, but reflecting in the wildly varying reactions of neighbors and passersby. Though resisting the temptation to "open up" the play, director King Vidor nonetheless injects his cinematic know-how into the proceedings, by utilizing an entirely different camera setup or angle for each individual "take." The cast of Street Scene includes several carry-overs from the Broadway original, including David Landau, Max Montor, Matt McHugh (brother of Frank), John Qualen, George Humbert, Tom H. Manning, and Anna Konstant (Sidebar: Shirley Kaplan, the role played by Ms. Konstant, was portrayed in the London production of Street Scene by Greer Garson). Unavailable for TV for many years due to legal tangles, Street Scene was freed up for the small screen when it lapsed into public domain in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, William Collier, Jr., (more)
Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, (more)
- 1930
This first film version of Ferenc Molnar's poignant fantasy Liliom was supposed to have reunited the director Frank Borzage and stars Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor of Fox's 1927 box-office smash Seventh Heaven. But Gaynor was enmeshed in one of her periodic contract disputes with the studio, so she was replaced by Rose Hobart. Set in the suburbs of Budapest, the film centers on the rocky romantic relationship between studdish carnival barker Liliom (Farrell) and his working-girl sweetheart Julie (Hobart). Fired by jealous carnival owner Mme. Muscat (Estelle Taylor), the swaggering Liliom is financially unprepared for Julie's pregnancy. Needing plenty of money fast, he agrees to participate in a robbery masterminded by "The Buzzard" (Lee Tracy), a two-bit thief. The hold-up goes horribly awry, whereupon Liliom, rather than face arrest, commits suicide. His soul is whisked by a modernistic celestial train to the outer gates of Heaven where he stands trial before the Court of Judgment. After ten years in Purgatory, he is given the opportunity to visit Earth for one day to make amends for past wrongs. He meets for the first time his daughter, Marie (Mildred Van Dorn), and tries to give her a stolen gift. When she backs off from him in terror, Liliom slaps the girl, just as he had her mother. A failure in death as in life, Liliom wearily returns to Purgatory, while Julie, somehow sensing what has happened, comforts her confused daughter. At present considered a "lost" film, Liliom was faithfully remade three years later in France, with Charles Boyer as the title character and Fritz Lang in the director's chair; this version is still extant. The property was reworked again as the 1945 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel, itself duly filmed by 20th Century Fox in 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, Rose Hobart, (more)
- 1929
Star Lon Chaney Sr. and director Tod Browning bade adieu to the silent-movie era with 1929's Where East is East. His face covered with hideous scars (convincingly applied with nonflexible collodion), Chaney is cast as weather-beaten animal trapper Tiger Haynes, at present living and working in Indochina. Haynes' loving relationship with his nubile half-caste daughter Toyo (Lupe Velez) is threatened by the return of Toyo's scheming mother, Madame Da Sylva (Estelle Taylor). Still harboring a grudge against Tiger, the Madame decides to get even by stealing Toyo's sweetheart Bobby (Lloyd Hughes) away from her. The villainess also intends to destroy Haynes by turning his animal "pets" against him. But the Madame is herself destroyed by Haynes' loyal gorilla, who in a gruesome (but largely unseen) finale tears the viperish woman apart. A typically morbid entry in the Chaney-Browning series, Where East is East may elicit more laughs than chills when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Lupe Velez, (more)
- 1928
In his later interviews, director Allan Dwan seldom had anything to say about his 1928 opus Whip Woman -- and who could blame him? Estelle Taylor, whose tabloid fame as the litigious wife of boxer Jack Dempsey tended to overshadow her acting skills, stars as Sari, a whip-wielding Hungarian peasant girl. After saving Count Michael Ferrenzi from killing himself, Sari becomes the bride of the grateful aristocrat. Ferrenzi's snooty mother (Hedda Hopper) does everything she can to break up the union, but Sari is not a girl to be trifled with. Fifteen-year-old Loretta Young showed up in a small role in Whip Woman, which led to much bigger things when she was spotted by director Herbert Brenon and cast in the Lon Chaney Sr. vehicle Laugh, Clown, Laugh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Antonio Moreno, (more)
- 1928
George O'Brien, Fox Studios' general-purpose leading man, heads the cast of Honor Bound. The story opens in the bedroom of hero John Ogletree (George O'Brien), who is awakened from his slumbers by the unexpected arrival of Evelyn (Evelyn Brent), a total stranger. Claiming that she's fleeing from her brutal husband, Evelyn begs John to protect her. On cue, the husband shows up and in the ensuing struggle is accidentally killed. Arrested for manslaughter, John nobly serves his sentence without ever implicating Evelyn in her husband's death. Our hero subsequently joins a prison work gang, assigned to the coal mines owned by one Mr. Mortimer (Tom Santschi) -- who happens to be Evelyn's new husband. Feeling guilty for John's plight, Evelyn arranges for him to have the relatively cushy job of Mortimer's chauffeur. This naturally arouses the suspicions of Mortimer, who promptly assigns John to "grunge" duty in the mines. A fire set by a fellow convict is blamed on John, but this time Evelyn steps forward to exonerate the long-suffering hero, freeing him to marry his true love, pretty nurse Selma Ritchie (Leila Hyams). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Estelle Taylor, (more)
- 1928
The heavy-breathing Singapore Mutiny owes a great deal to such previous passion-in-the-tropics efforts as Rain and The Hairy Ape. Estelle Taylor plays a shady Broadwayite who books passage on an oil tanker. It isn't long before the all-male crew degenerates into a brawling mob, maddened as they are by Taylor's dazzling beauty. But the girl has eyes only for stowaway Gardner James, who appears to be a spineless jellyfish until he asserts himself during the climactic mutiny. Director Ralph Ince, as usual, has reserved a plum leading role for himself, in this cast the part of the ship's brutish head stoker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Ralph Ince, (more)
- 1928
This Marion Davies vehicle was loosely inspired by the career of Gloria Swanson. Davies plays would-be starlet Peggy Pepper, who arrives at the gates of MGM Studios with her dad Colonel Pepper (Dell Henderson) in hopes of becoming a great dramatic actress. Instead, she a scores a hit as an ingenue in the slapstick comedies starring the effervescent Billy Boone (William Haines). As the audience rocks with laughter during the preview of Peggy's first film (no one is more enthusiastic than her director Harry Gribbon), she sits in sullen silence, insisting to Billy that some day she'll invoke tears instead of laughter. This doesn't seem likely, inasmuch as Peggy can't even cry on cue (her director is forced to peel onions outside of camera range to achieve the desired emotion), but the tenacious young actress finally manages to win favor in dramatic roles. Inevitably, this causes a strain on her budding romance with Billy, and the couple slowly drifts apart. Now the unchallenged Queen of the Cinema, Peggy -- billing herself as Patricia Pepoire -- prepares to marry her oily leading man Andre (Paul Ralli), but mischievous Billy disrupts her fancy wedding. She angrily tosses Billy out of the house, realizing only when it's too late that she's still in love with him. But in the final scene, the hero and heroine are accidentally reunited on the set of a WWI picture directed by King Vidor (who also directed Show People). Two versions of Show People are currently available for TV; the "stretch-framed" Kevin Brownlow-David Gill restoration, with a new orchestral score by Carl Davis, and the original MGM release version, outfitted with a lively music and sound-effects track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, William Haines, (more)
- 1927
Filmed on location in Manhattan, the 1927 silent New York explores themes later developed more fully in such films as Manhattan Melodrama and Once Upon a Time in America. A product of the Bowery, Trent Regan (William Powell) grows up to become a powerful gangster. Regan's girlfriend Angie Miller (Esther Ralston), hearing that her childhood sweetheart (and Regan's lifelong pal) Mike Cassidy (Ricardo Cortez) is about to marry Marjorie Church (Lois Wilson), pays a visit to Mike to offer congratulations. Convinced that Angie is fooling around behind his back, Regan accidentally kills her. When Mike is charged with the murder, Regan, feeling that "justice" has been served, keeps silent. Ultimately, however, Mike is cleared, and Regan is trapped by the testimony of their mutual chum Buck (Skeets Gallegher). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1926
Historically important as the first film to carry a Vitaphone sound track (consisting of music and sound effects, but no dialogue) Don Juan is a first-rate production by any standards, and would have been just as good with or without musical accompaniment. John Barrymore plays the legendary lover Don Juan, raised by his cynical father (also played by Barrymore) to "love 'em and leave 'em", and to never trust any woman. All of this changes when he meets the beautiful Adriana Della Varnese (Mary Astor). When it seems that Adriana has betrayed him in favor of a wealthy marriage to the lecherous Count Donati (Montague Love), Don Juan renounces her and returns to his rakish ways. What he doesn't know is that Adriana is a political pawn, who has been forced into an alliance with Donati by the calculating Borgias (Estelle Taylor and Noah Beery Sr.). By the time Don Juan finds out that his true love is still true, he has been tossed in prison for killing Donati in a spectacular duel. He breaks out, rescues Adriana from the Borgias' torture chamber, and escapes with his beloved to the safety of Spain. The plot is, of course, more complicated than that, but so fascinating is John Barrymore's performance that it's difficult to concentrate on anything else. The film's highlights include the out-sized duel between Barrymore and Montagu Love, capped by Barrymore's spectacular leap from the top of a huge staircase, and the torture chamber sequences, wherein Barrymore sneaks past the Borgia guards by assuming the facial characteristics of fiendish torturer Gustav von Seyfertitz--and this without makeup. "In the know" film historians may read a lot more into the Barrymore/Mary Astor love scenes than is readily apparent, forearmed as they are with the knowledge that John and Mary had once been passionate lovers offscreen. Scenarist Bess Meredyth used the Lord Byron poem Don Juan as a mere stepping stone for this imaginative, exquisitely filmed romantic adventure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1925
This low-budgeter was adapted from A Wise Son, a novel by Charles Sherman. Bryant Washburn plays wealthy wastrel Hal Whitney, who during a "slumming" party decides to adopt shabby old derelict Tim Payne (Alec B. Francis). Hal drunkenly invites Tim on a yachting excursion, only to forget all about the old man when he sobers up. Eventually, however, Hal takes a quick look at his parasitical society chums and realizes that Tim is the only true friend he has. Billed first, Estelle Taylor is given the unenviable task of playing one of the least sympathetic heroines in film history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Alec B. Francis, (more)
- 1925
When a film vehicle was needed for heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, his producers wisely decided to use the story from a 1916 Douglas Fairbanks film. They changed it around, added a lot more fisticuffs, and co-starred the fighter's new bride, Estelle Taylor (the couple, incidentally, would divorce in 1931). The basic story line, however, remains the same -- Steve O'Dare (Dempsey) is called to New York on business, and he wires that he hopes his East Coast friends have some excitement set up for him, because the big city can't possibly compare to the West. On the train to New York, he meets a beautiful and mysterious young woman (Taylor). He sees her again in a cabaret and she tells him that she is in trouble. While trying to come to her aid, he is attacked by a gang and must try to hang onto a curious box that everybody apparently wants. After knocking quite a few people unconscious, O'Dare finds himself in a seemingly deserted house which turns out to have a dining room full of his friends. The whole intrigue was a set up so that O'Dare could have the excitement he was looking for. He outsmarts everyone by taking the girl as his wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Estelle Taylor was at the peak of her career when she made this drama -- her role in The Ten Commandments a year earlier had put her in the public eye, and her romance with boxing champ Jack Dempsey (along with their subsequent marriage) made her a prominent face in the newspapers and fan magazines. Taylor plays Gloria Dawn, who weds James Malvern (Lawford Davidson), a wealthy philanderer who doesn't let his marriage interfere with his love affairs. The couple honeymoons in the Canadian wilds, and Pierre duCharme (Mahlon Hamilton), the caretaker of Malvern's estate, falls in love with Gloria. He rescues her when her canoe is about to go over the falls. Back in town, Malvern lures Anne Cabot (Mary Thurman), the governor's sister, to his home. As a result of his involvement with Anne, Malvern is murdered, but circumstances point to duCharme as the killer. He is sentenced to death, but Gloria tracks down the real killer, and tells the governor (Edmund Breese) about his sister's involvement in Malvern's life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Mahlon Hamilton, (more)
- 1924
Estelle Taylor stars as a stenographer who marries her boss in this maudlin melodrama. When her husband is called away to Mexico on business, his lecherous assistant juggles the books to frame his unsuspecting boss on embezzlement charges. Jean Perry, Tully Marshall, and Ben Daly co-star with Snitz Edwards, Wilfred Lucas, and Fred De Silva in this sentimental sob story. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, Jean Perry, (more)
- 1924
"Derr iss too many qveens and not enough qveens!" That was Ernst Lubitsch's response when he turned down the directing assignment for this costume picture starring Mary Pickford. Pickford assumed that he meant that the subplots involving Queen Elizabeth (Clare Eames) and Mary Queen of Scots (Estelle Taylor) overshadowed the title character. Instead, Lubitsch agreed to do Rosita with the star, who still made Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall with Marshall Neilan directing. Neilan, however, was often absent during the filming (stories of his uncontrolled drinking were rampant throughout most of the 1920s), and Pickford directed a number of scenes herself. Unlike the children's roles for which she was most popular, Pickford's Dorothy Vernon is a grown-up young lady of 18 (keep in mind that "little Mary" herself was 32). Ever since childhood, Dorothy has been betrothed to Sir John Manners (Allan Forrest, who happened to be the husband of Pickford's sister, Lottie, who also had a small role in the film). But when Sir John does not arrive in time for the wedding, Dorothy's father, Sir George (Anders Randolf), insists that she marry her cousin, Sir Malcolm Vernon (Marc MacDermott). The feisty Dorothy blows up at this news and a battle of wills between her and Sir George ensues. Sir John, meanwhile, has brought Mary, Queen of Scotts to Rutland. At the forced wedding, with Queen Elizabeth in attendance, Dorothy reveals Mary's presence, which gets both the Scottish queen and Sir John arrested. Dorothy goes to rescue Sir John and discovers a plot by Sir Malcolm to place the Scottish Mary on the throne. Although Queen Elizabeth refuses to believe Dorothy, she and Sir John still manage to save her from being assassinated by Sir Malcolm. Sir John is ordered to be exiled to Wales for a year and Dorothy goes with him. This was not one of the better costume pictures of the era, and Pickford wisely returned to her little girl persona for her next picture, Little Annie Rooney. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, Anders Randolf, (more)
- 1924
Although the story to this romantic adventure was founded on the Manuel Penella opera El Gato Montes, its utter lack of originality shows that it really could have come from any number of sources. Nevertheless, the performance of Latin lover Antonio Moreno manages to compensate for the material. The Wildcat (Moreno) is a Spanish Robin Hood -- he's a bandit who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. During one of his raids, pretty Marcheta (Estelle Taylor), the daughter of a grandee, is kidnapped. Because he finds himself falling in love with her, the Wildcat softens and he allows her to go free. When her father faces financial ruin, Marcheta agrees to marry Don Ramon (Manuel Camere), the mayor's son. But the Wildcat finds out, and he kidnaps both Marcheta and Don Ramon. The prospective bridegroom proves to be a coward and Marcheta refuses to go ahead with the wedding. Instead, she confesses her love for the Wildcat, and when soldiers arrive to take him away, an old servant reveals that he is really the mayor's son, not Don Ramon. The Wildcat gives up his outlaw endeavors and weds Marcheta. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Moreno, Estelle Taylor, (more)
- 1924
Thomas Meighan single-handedly saves Alaska in this James Oliver Curwood tale of the Northwest, which was shot on-location in British Columbia and Alberta. The Holt family wants to stop big business from destroying Alaska's pristine beauty. The elder Holt is killed, and his son, Alan (Meighan), is left to continue the fight. He heads for Washington to stop John Graham (Alphonse Ethier) from carrying on his dirty dealings in Alaska, but the government won't step in to help. On the ship returning home, he meets Mary Standish (Estelle Taylor), who is being watched over by Rossland, Graham's lieutenant (John St. Polis). Just before the ship reaches the port, Mary leaps overboard. Alan searches frantically for her and finds her at the home of one of his men. She reveals that she is married to Graham, who abuses her mercilessly. Graham insists that Alan give up Mary, and when he refuses, goes after them. Graham and Alan come to blows, and one of Graham's henchmen, in an attempt to shoot Alan, kills his boss instead. Because of Graham's death, Mary is conveniently freed up to marry Alan -- and Alaska is saved. Anna May Wong, who would shortly make her mark in Douglas Fairbanks Sr.'s Thief of Baghdad, has a bit part as Keok, an Eskimo girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estelle Taylor, John St. Polis, (more)
- 1923
Estelle Taylor, the off-screen wife of boxer Jack Dempsey, starred in this silent whodunit from newcomer Columbia Pictures. Taylor played Mrs. Cameron, a society matron blackmailed by her lover's roommate (Philo McCullough. When the lover (Vernon Steele) is found murdered, Mr. Cameron (Wyndham Standing becomes the prime suspect, but the real culprit turns out to be the blackmailer, who conveniently confesses before falling to his death. Forgive and Forget was the sixth feature film released by Columbia's parent company, C. B. C., a poverty row organization humorously nicknamed "Corned Beef and Cabbage." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1923
This adventurous drama of Russia's revolutionary days was based on the stage play by Earl Carroll. Wallace Beery -- at the time one of filmdom's most dependable villains -- has the title of role of Felix Bavu, an illiterate brute who has used the revolution to promote his own power-hungry aims. He encourages the people to pillage the castle of Prince Markoff (Josef Swickard), only because he wants the prince's jewels. Opposing him is Mischka Vleck (Forrest Stanley), an honest revolutionary of less violent disposition. Before the revolution, Vleck worked in the prince's household, and he loves his daughter, Princess Annia (Estelle Taylor). He hides Annia from Bavu, who has decided he wants her for himself. Bavu's efforts to get rid of Vleck are unsuccessful, and Vleck and Annia escape the castle. Bavu follows in pursuit, but the couple manages to escape the strife-ridden country. Now that the revolution has deemed them equals, Annia and Vleck can declare their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Estelle Taylor, (more)
