Eddie Boland Movies

In perhaps their most unusual Western adventure, the Three Mesqueteers -- Stony (Bob Livingston), Tucson (Ray Corrigan), and Lullaby (Max Terhune) -- go in search of Professor Marsh (John Van Pelt), an archeologist who vanished while searching for the lost city of Lukachukai. Along for the ride are Marsh's daughter, Betty (Mary Russell); Rutledge (Roger Williams); and an Indian guide, Otah (Yakima Canutt). The expedition heads straight for the Whistling Skull, a huge rock formation in the "nostril" of which the Mesqueteers discover the missing scientist, gaunt but alive among several mummies. Both Rutledge and Otah prove to be less than helpful, however, and at one point Betty and Stony go missing and are feared lost. As Tucson learns, the natives are under the influence of a fanatical white man, but who is he? Oliver Drake and John Rathmell's screenplay was later reworked into a latter-day Charlie Chan thriller The Feathered Serpent (1949), which featured Bob Livingston as the villain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Harold Lloyd plays Ezekial Cobb, a missionary's son who has spent his entire life in China. Cobb is sent to his father's home church in California, where it is hoped he will find a wife. A true babe in the woods, Cobb is befriended by politician Jake Mayo (George Barbier). Mayo is a cog in a crooked political machine whose bosses plan to set up a "reform" candidate for mayor, so that they can continue their underhanded activities unmolested. The candidate drops dead, so Mayo sets up the innocent Cobb as the mayor-to-be--a "cat's paw" to deflect attention from the system's corruption. But once elected, Cobb takes his duties quite seriously and begins to clean up the town. The machine frames Cobb with planted evidence of wrongdoing, destroying the lad's political career. Undaunted, Cobb remembers the story of an ancient Chinese leader, who, similarly disgraced, took the law in his own hands and executed all known criminals in his last days of power. Cobb orders that every crook in town be rounded up and brought to a dark cellar. He insists that they confess their crimes or face instant death--and backs up his words by "beheading" two of the crooks on the spot! Actually, these executions are cleverly designed magical illusions, and no one is really killed; but the terrified criminals are so hoodwinked by Cobb's apparent cold-bloodedness that they literally climb over one another to confess. Cobb is exonerated, and honesty is restored to his administration. While not Harold Lloyd's best feature film, The Cat's Paw is definitely his most unorthodox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While Tonart Studios is filming a gangster movie, one of the actors is killed in a shooting accident. After several other incidents occur, police begin to think of sabotage. Their list of suspects includes the studio chief (Alexander Carr), his manager (Bela Lugosi), the director of the film (Edward Van Sloan) and an actress (Adrienne Ames). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A judge investigating two Wall Street brokers accused of stock manipulations learns of a mysterious invention, a "DXL Accumulator" with which its inventor, Prof. Farrington, plans to harness solar power. The judge decides to visit the professor at his mountain hideaway. When he arrives, he finds that the professor's daughter and her boyfriend are there, along with the professor's mysterious housekeeper, her creepy son and a strange couple the daughter and her boyfriend brought along. As the judge is questioning the professor, someone turns off the lights, and when the daughter and her boyfriend rush into the room, the judge is found murdered and the professor has disappeared! Mischa Auer and Martha Mattox, the twin menaces in the "classic" horror cheapie The Monster Walks, play approximately the same roles here. The sputtering laboratory equipment and the electronic special effects were the handiwork of Kenneth Strickfaden, of Frankenstein fame. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

In this crime thriller, a suicidal writer is saved by a helpful newspaper editor who gives her a much-needed job. Later she finds herself entangled in a plot to smuggle Chinese laborers into the country. She follows up on the many clues and ends up in the middle of Chinatown where she is eventually able get her story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

William Shakespeare's classic tragedy Romeo & Juliet is loosely adapted and modernized in director Rowland V. Lee's Guilty Generation. Set in 1930's New York, rival gangster families the Palmero's and the Ricca's play Lee's version of the infamous Montagues and Capulets. The two mobs had once co-existed peacefully, but split after a terrible argument, causing a long-standing and deadly rivalry. Maria Palmero (Constance Cummings), the daughter of gangster Mike Palmero (Leo Carillo), meets and falls in love with a young architect played by (Robert Young). Though Young's character goes by the name of John Smith, his true identity is none other than Marco Ricca--the son of Mike's (Carillo) rival. Due to the war waged by their families, Maria and Marco try to keep their affair and ultimate marriage to one another secret. Unfortunately, Maria's father realizes the two have married and vows to kill Marco, who had earlier killed Maria's brother. Tragically, the Palmero family patriarch is only stopped with a bullet from his own mother's (Emma Dunn) gun. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Though one would never know it from the title, Wings of Adventure is essentially a western. Rex Lease stars as aviator Dave Kent, who crash-lands in Mexico with his comedy-sidekick mechanic Skeets Smith (Clyde Cook). Here he is captured by a band of rebels, whose captain La Panthera is in love with heroine Maria (Armida). Begging Dave to rescue her from La Panthera's clutches, Maria leads our hero out of the bandit's headquarters, whereupon they board his repaired plane and fly off to the nearest U.S. Cavalry camp. This results in yet another crash, albeit one played for laughs by the ubiquitous Skeets Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a aging illusionist falls in love with his comely young assistant. Unfortunately, she is enamored with the young thief who has become the magician's student. Another assistant gets jealous of the affair and tells the master. In retaliation, the thief kills the snitch and then himself at his trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Considered by many to be the finest silent film ever made by a Hollywood studio, F.W. Murnau's Sunrise represents the art of the wordless cinema at its zenith. Based on the Hermann Sudermann novel A Trip to Tilsit, this "Song of Two Humans" takes place in a colorful farming community, where people from the city regularly take their weekend holidays. Local farmer George O'Brien, happily married to Janet Gaynor, falls under the seductive spell of Margaret Livingston, a temptress from The City. He callously ignores his wife and child and strips his farm of its wealth on behalf of Livingston, but even this fails to satisfy her. One foggy evening, O'Brien meets Livingston at their usual swampland trysting place. She bewitches him with stories about the city -- its jazz, its bright lights, its erotic excitement. Thrilled at the prospect of running off with Livingston, O'Brien stops short: "What about my wife?" Drawing ever closer to her victim, Livingston murmurs "Couldn't she just...drown?" (the subtitle bearing these words then "melts" into nothingness). In his delirium, the husband agrees. The plan is to row Gaynor to the middle of the lake, then capsize the boat. Gaynor will drown, while O'Brien will save himself with some bulrushes that he'd previously hidden in the boat; thus, the murder will look like an accident. The next day, the brooding O'Brien begins slowly rowing his unsuspecting wife across the lake. Halfway to shore, he makes his intentions clear, but is unable to go through with it. As his wife cringes in terror, O'Brien rows to the other side of lake. Once ashore, she runs away from him in terror, as he stumbles after her, trying to apologize.

Gaynor boards a streetcar bound for the city, with O'Brien climbing aboard a few seconds afterward. Upon reaching the city (a renowned set design), O'Brien continues trying to make amends to his wife. They sit disconsolately at a table in a restaurant, unable to eat the plate of cake that is set before them. Slowly, Gaynor begins overcoming her fear. The couple wander into a church, where a wedding is taking place. Breaking down in sobs, O'Brien begins repeating the wedding vows, thereby convincing Gaynor that she has nothing to fear. Together again, the couple embraces in the middle of a busy street, oblivious to the honking horns and irate motorists. Anxious to prove to each other that all is well, the husband and wife spend a delightful afternoon having their pictures taken and "dolling up" in a posh barber shop. They cap their unofficial second honeymoon at a joyous festival in an outsized amusement park. More in love with each other than ever before, O'Brien and Gaynor head back across the lake in the dark of night. Suddenly, a storm arises. Pulling out the bulrushes with which he'd planned to save himself, O'Brien straps them onto Janet, telling her to swim to shore. The storm passes. Washing up on shore, the unconscious O'Brien is brought home. But Gaynor is nowhere to be found, and it is assumed that she has died in the storm. Half-insane, O'Brien strikes out at Livingston, the instigator of the murder plan. Just as he is about to throttle the treacherous temptress, he is summoned home; his wife is alive! As Livingston stumbles out of the village, O'Brien and Gaynor cling tightly to one another, watching the sun rise above their now-happy home. Together with Seventh Heaven, Sunrise earned Janet Gaynor the first-ever Best Actress Academy Award, while Charles Rosher and Karl Struss walked home with the industry's first Best Photography Oscar. The film itself was also in the Oscar race, but lost out to the more financially successful Wings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Mix plays an Eastern dandy who finds himself banished to a Western ranch in this routine silent Western which boasted of an above-average supporting cast. The sophisticated Helene Chadwick, a discovery of producer Samuel Goldwyn, is the rancher whom Mix constantly provokes, while William E. Lawrence, a former Universal series star, portrays a rival ranch hand. There is a conspiracy to part Miss Chadwick from her fortune, but Mix, of course, manages to save the day -- and Miss Chadwick. The film also featured performances from such popular silent screen players as sour-faced Emily Fitzroy, comedian Spec O'Donnell, Phyllis Haver, a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty, and Ethel Grey Terry, who later played Calamity Jane in Wild Bill Hickock (1923). Hard Boiled was based on the short story Ridin' with Youth by Shannon Fife. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This is the second time Bayard Veiller's play made it to the silent screen (it would be made one more time in 1939 as a talkie). This version is a run-of-the-mill Norma Talmadge vehicle -- lots of high drama, with no expense spared, but in the end nothing much without its excellent cast. Talmadge plays Mary Turner, the shopgirl working for slave wages who winds up in prison for a theft she did not commit. Mary is bitter over her ruined life and swears vengeance on her former employer, Edward Gilder (Joseph Kilgour). When she gets out of prison and cannot find work, she teams up with Aggie Lynch (Eileen Percy) and they extort money out of elderly men -- but somehow manage to keep their tactics within the law. Eventually Mary meets Gilder's son, Dick (Jack Mulhall), and she makes him fall in love with her. He proposes, and after she accepts she makes her identity known to his father. Edward Gilder, desperate to get rid of her, tries to have her framed for burglary. Thief Joe Garson (Lew Cody), who loves Mary himself, falls for the plan. When he realizes he has been duped, he kills the stool pigeon, English Eddie (Ward Crane). Mary tries to have Dick accused of the murder and they are both arrested. Finally, Garson confesses to the crime, and the girl who originally stole the items that sent Mary to prison reveals that she was the culprit. Mary realizes that she really loves Dick, and the couple is united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide