Tom Tyler Movies

Aileen Pringle plays the Queen of Sardalia (one of your average, everyday mythical European principalities), who is unhappily married to the brutish King Constantine II (John Sainpolis). She takes a break from her duties to vacation in Switzerland, where she meets Englishman Paul Verdayne (Conrad Nagel). They become passionately infatuated with each other and wind up making love over a period of three weeks -- on a tiger skin, a bed of roses and where ever else they can manage. The Queen heads for Venice and Verdayne follows, but the King's emissaries try to do away with him. The Queen heads home without ever revealing her identity while Verdayne returns to England to perform "good deeds." Three years later, the Queen sends for him and he comes to Sardalia. The King discovers Paul's presence and murders the Queen just after she sends Verdayne away. One of her loyal servants, in turn, kills the King. Verdayne returns just in time for the Queen to die in his arms. A couple of years later, his child by the Queen (Alan Crosland, Jr. -- it's an easy bet that this is the director's son) is crowned king of Sardalia. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The advertising tag "four years in the making" is usually so much press-agent puffery. In the case of the 1926 silent version of Ben Hur, it was the unvarnished truth--and the filmmakers had the scars to prove it. The story behind the film is now part of Hollywood folklore: the cast and production crew changes (star George Walsh summarily dumped in favor of Roman Novarro, director Charles J. Brabin replaced by Fred Niblo, writer-supervisor June Mathis-who'd spearheaded the project in the first place-abruptly fired); the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the troublesome location shooting in Italy--money that was lost when most of the footage proved unusable; the extra expenditure of refilming in Hollywood; and the huge chunk of the film's profits eaten up by the 50% royalty deal set up with theatrical producers Klaw and Erlanger, who controlled the rights to General Lew Wallace's novel. The end result reflected the turbulent production conditions: Ben Hur is an extraordinarily uneven experience, with moments of cinematic brilliance and pulse-pounding thrills alternating with long stretches of stagey boredom. The film follows the original Wallace story to the letter: Judah Ben-Hur (Novarro), a wealthy Jew living under the reign of the Caesars, is betrayed by his best friend, ambitious Roman centurion Messala (Francis X. Bushman). Ben-Hur's family is sent to prison, while he himself is condemned to the galleys. During a violent sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of galleon commander Quintus Arrius (Frank Currier). The grateful commander adopts Ben-Hur as his son and bankrolls his desire to become a champion charioteer. Thirsting for revenge, Ben-Hur agrees to race against his old nemesis Messala. The latter is fatally injured during the race; with his dying breath, Messala reveals that Ben-Hur's family, previously reported dead, are actually alive--but living as lepers. The story is subtitled A Tale of the Christ because, at various junctures in his life, Ben-Hur has been touched by the hand of Jesus. Ben-Hur must totally embrace Christ's edict of love and forgiveness before he can be reunited with his family. As Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, Ben-Hur's mother (Claire McDowell) and sister (Kathleen Key), having also embraced the Christian philosophy, are miraculously cured of their leprosy. Most of these plot elements, together with the romance between Ben-Hur and the lovely Esther (May McAvoy), reappeared in the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur--which, fortunately, did not include the ridiculous subplot involving the alluring Iras (Carmel Myers), who attempts to seduce Ben-Hur just before the big race. The film's highlights--the sea battle, the now-legendary chariot race--were produced on a far grander scale than in the 1959 version; unfortunately, both highlights took place in the first half of the picture, leaving the viewers with a rather dreary, drawn out denouement (the remake wisely placed the sea battle in part one, and the race in part two). The Technicolor Nativity sequences were condemned in 1926 as being in poor taste, but when seen today are beautifully handled and restful on the eye (oddly, no one complained about the nude female revellers during a later Technicolor pageant scene!) Ben Hur cost $4 million and grossed $9 million on its first release. The aforementioned royalty arrangement left MGM with only a $1 million take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is yet another costume drama written and supervised by the eccentric Elinor Glyn, who was a Hollywood tastemaker during the silent era. Harry Vane, the Duke of Chevenix (Conrad Nagel), travels from England to the mythical kingdom of Chekia, where he falls in love with Princess Thyra (Eleanor Boardman). Thrya, however, is duty-bound to marry the king (Edward Connelly), even though he is old, ugly, and ill-tempered. When she refuses Vane's suit, he is determined to win her anyway, even after her wedding. A revolution rises in Chekia and the king is assassinated. Revolutionary leader Gigberto (Arthur Edmund Carewe) then carries Thyra away. When the people jail Gigberto, Vane disguises himself as the rebel so that he and Thyra will be tied together. The two of them are thrown into the bay, but Vane is able to free himself from his bonds and rescue Thyra. They escape to his yacht and she finally confesses her love for him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The popular screen team of cowboy hero Tom Tyler and diminutive child athlete Frankie Darro was back in Out of the West. As much a baseball picture as a Western, the story is motivated by the rivalry between two neighboring ranchers, John O'Connor (Alfred Hewston) and Jim Rollins (L.J. O'Connor). Their mutual animosity spills over onto the baseball field, with O'Connor's star player and top cowhand, Tom Hanley (Tom Tyler), proving a formidable foe for Rollins' team. Another of O'Connor's players, Bide Goodrich (Ethan Laidlaw), has been bribed to throw the next game, and when Tom finds out about it, he and O'Connor's daughter Bernice (Bernice Welch) are kidnapped by Rollins' minions and hidden in a cave. Rescued by his young pal Frankie (Darro), Tom shows up in time to win the game. A major-league scout, who happens to catch Tom in action, offers him a contract, but our hero would rather stay on the ranch with the beautiful Bernice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Poverty-row studio Film Booking Office (the later RKO) had a winning combination in the strapping Tom Tyler and freckle-faced boy actor Frankie Darro (later Darrow), whose pleasant westerns were favorites with the small fry. This time around, a movie company arrives at Tyler's ranch. Tyler's naive girlfriend (Doris Hill) is quickly under the spell of the movie company's lecherous leading man (favorite western villain James Mason), and the cowboy retaliates by flirting with movie femme fatale Helen Lynch. Only fair entertainment as westerns go, Tom and His Pals offered the audience a rare insight into the woolly world of low-budget filmmaking. The "pals" of the title were the aforementioned Darro plus two clever canines. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This minor oater was the penultimate silent western starring the strapping Tom Tyler. Produced by poverty-row company Syndicate, the film came complete with a synchronized music score and sound effects but was mainly shown in rural theaters not yet wired for sound. Having fallen in love with the pretty Inez (Sheila LeGay), rustler Dave Brandon (Tyler) decides to lead a law-abiding life. The leader of the rustlers, Slug Slagel (Bud Osborne), abducts both Inez and her pa (Tom Forman) in order to persuade Brandon not to defect. The reformed outlaw, however, has been arrested for his previous crimes but manages to escape to the gang's hidden canyon. With the posse right behind him to pick up fleeing bad guys, the hero saves the girl and her father from the nasty Slagel. Having thus redeemed himself, the former outlaw is placed in the custody of his girlfriend. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Strapping Tom Tyler starred as a rancher coming to the aid of some European refugees in this unusual silent western from grind-house company FBO. His nation of Roxenburg having fallen to usurpers, young kid Alexis (the utterly American Frankie Darro) hightails it to Arizona where he hides out at the Potter ranch. Jealous neighbor Cynthia Storme (female wrestler Ruby Blaine), infatuated with the king's protector Tom Potter (Tyler), betrays the young king because of Potter's friendship with lovely Janet Holbrooke (Dorothy Dunbar). It all ends well, naturally, with the villains (including the avaricious Cynthia) getting their comeuppance. Hollywood westerns flirted several times with Ruritanian themes likes this, most notably in My Pal the King (1932) starring Tom Mix and Mickey Rooney. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Tall, strapping Tom Tyler was poverty-row studioFBO's final silent western hero. A better actor than most of his contemporaries, Tyler was awarded above-average production values, solid scripts and a fine sidekick in young Frankie Darro. In this fine little western, rancher's daughter Peggy Montgomery loves Tom, the handsome foreman. Unfortunately, she is betrothed to a nasty city-slicker type (Bruce Gordon); until, that is, the fellow is shown for the cad he really is.Tom Tyler's career survived the changeover to sound, and he even played in several notable non-westerns. In 1940, Universal surprisingly chose the tall actor to play the title-role in The Mummy's Hand. Tyler might have gone a lot further as a character actor had not an arthritic condition curtailed his screen career. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The prolific Adele Buffington supplied the story for this above-average Tom Tyler silent western. Buffington didn't open any new doors with her story of two disparate people inheriting a ranch, but the strapping Tyler was one of the better actors in westerns at the time, and little Frankie Darro made a pleasant sidekick. Tyler and Florence Allen, an Eastern snob, are the protagonists who inherit the ranch. They don't get along at first -- she invites her retinue of Eastern society friends, none of whom he can tolerate -- but they nevertheless join forces when it appears that the previous owner was murdered. Among the suspects in the murder case are crooked ranch foreman Al Ferguson, the sheriff (Bob Fleming), and wealthy playboy Arthur Thalasso. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

One of the late silent era's better screen cowboys, Tom Tyler, and his juvenile sidekick Frankie Darro starred in this well-mounted FBO oater about a stranger who comes to the aid of a beleaguered rancher (Frank Whitson), his daughter Ellen (Nora Lane) and foster-son Buddy (Darro). The Briscoe family is about to lose their potentially oil-rich lands to nefarious Bill Latimer (Jack Anthony), but Tom King (Tyler) comes through in the nick of time, taking over the ranch. But when old man Briscoe is found shot, Tom finds himself accused of murder by Latimer and thrown in jail. Briscoe, however, recovers and points to the real assassin, Latimer. Returning the ranch to the Briscoe family, Tom reveals himself to be the long-lost uncle of the orphaned Buddy. The Texas Tornado was directed by its screenwriter, Frank Howard Clark and edited by future RKO production chief Pandro S. Berman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this one of his many well-made but routine FBO Westerns, Tom Tyler played a federal agent impersonating "The Raven" (Harry Woods), a dying outlaw, in order to infiltrate a notorious gang. Allowing the local parson (Charles Thurston) to conduct services at a tavern, Tyler incurs the wrath of crime lords Harry O'Connor and Bill Nestel, who frame him in a holdup. The lawman, however, gets out of the jam with the assistance of pretty Jane Reid and her plucky kid brother (Frankie Darro). Tyler and Darro made a fine team and were paired many times by the studio, whose Westerns always appealed mainly to the young at heart. When the Law Rides was written by future director Oliver Drake. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

FBO's handsome New York-born cowboy Tom Tyler plays a pacifist lawman who only uses his fists and a dangerous-looking whip to battle the bad guys in this pleasant western. Along the way, Tyler's sheriff goes undercover as a bandit to infiltrate the gang that framed pretty heroine Duane Thompson's father Tom Lingham in a murder. As always, the forbidding Tyler is helped immeasurably by the presence of boy actor Frankie Darro and a clever pooch, Beans. Playing Darro's dying father is one Vester Pegg, a veteran supporting player who had been the second actor to portray that endurable sagebrush hero, the Cisco Kid. The vehicle was Border Terror (1919). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide