Vadim Uraneff Movies
- 1931
The old bromide about joining the Foreign Legion to "forget," so often parodied by such comedians as Laurel and Hardy, was played straight in 1931's Friends and Lovers. A very young Laurence Olivier plays Lt. Nichols, who has retreated to the desert to get over his affair with Alva Sangrito (Lily Damita). Nichols is befriended by another of Alva's victims, Captain Roberts (Adolphe Menjou). Once back in England, however, the two castaway lovers find themselves rivals once more, leading to a potentially deadly payoff. Erich von Stroheim is delightful in a depraved sort of way as Lily Damita's cynical husband. Based on the novel The Sphinx Has Spoken by Maurice de Kobra, Friends and Lovers represented one of Laurence Olivier's last early-talkie Hollywood films before he returned to England to hone his acting skills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Lili Damita, (more)
- 1930
Jack Benny wasn't even 39 yet when he starred in the maudlin backstage drama The Medicine Man. Benny plays Dr. John Harvey, the worldly and none-too-honest title character, who while passing through a small town falls in love with winsome Mamie Goltz (Betty Bronson), the victim of what one observer described as the most abusive father in movie history (E. Alyn Warren). Our hero puts his larcenous nature on the back burner to champion Mamie's cause when her despicable dad tries to force her into a marriage with an equally odious elderly millionaire. Forced out of town due to a scandal, the doctor is nowhere to be found during the wedding ceremonies, and for several uncomfortable minutes it looks like poor Mamie will have to go through with it. Not a good film by any standards, The Medicine Man is worth having if only to see Jack Benny in a virtually "straight" role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Betty Bronson, (more)
- 1928
Director Howard Hawks never attempted another Valentinoesque melodrama like Fazil. Beautiful Fabienne (Greta Nissen) is wooed and won by Arab sheik Fazil (Charles Farrell, who is a bit on the thin side for this role). He takes her off to his fabulous palace, where he holds her a virtual prisoner, refusing to let her see anyone else. Fabienne can't get over past loves -- nor can they get over her, as evidenced by their elaborate attempt to rescue her. Only when Fazil is mortally wounded by her rescuers does Fabienne realizes she's truly in love with him. She takes poison and dies by his side. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, Greta Nissen, (more)
- 1927
The Magic Flame is little more than a showcase for Samuel Goldwyn's "hottest" screen team, Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky. Based on King Harlequin, a novel and play by Rudolph Lothar, the film casts Colman as a travelling circus clown who happens to bear a startling resemblance to the no-good King of a mythical European principality. The King (also played by Colman, of course), develops a yen for the Clown's sweetheart, trapeze artist Vilma Banky. While trying to rescue the girl from the royal castle, the Clown is forced to kill the King. As inevitably as night follows day, the Clown is then obliged to take the King's place on the throne. As gentle and generous as his "predecessor" was cruel and corrupt, the Clown becomes immensely popular with his subjects, who are more willing to allow him to marry a "commoner" like Banky. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, (more)
- 1926
Produced by poverty-row Gotham Pictures, Silent Power calls upon the talents of two of the studio's busiest employees: character actor Ralph Lewis and director Frank O'Connor. An anti-capital-punishment tract, the film casts Lewis as executioner John Rollins, who treats his work dispassionately, caring little whether his victims are deserving of death. Rollins' chickens come home to roost when his own son Rob (Charles Delaney) is convicted of murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Though it breaks his heart, Rollins insists upon placing duty over love and pulls the switch -- whereupon he promptly faints dead away. Upon recovering, Rollins learns that his son has been spared by the unexpected last-minute intervention of the real murderer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Lewis
- 1926
One of a cycle of late-1920s films dealing with the Russian Revolution, Siberia stars Alma Rubens as idealistic Russian schoolteacher Sonia Vronsky. Enraptured by the communist cause, Sonia runs afoul of the Czarist authorities and is shipped off to Siberia. Here she is protected from harm by her sweetheart, military officer Leonid Petroff (Edmund Lowe). When the revolution finally comes, even loyal Leninists like Sonia are in danger of being trampled by the surging mobs. Leonid rescues the girl from this fate, and together they embark on an exciting escape across the snowy Siberian steppes and tundras. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alma Rubens, Edmund Lowe, (more)
This silent screen adaptation of "Moby Dick" features John Barrymore in action as Captain Ahab Cooley, played against one of the most famous denizens of the deep, Herman Melville's great white whale. At the beginning of the story, Ahab and his step brother Dererk (George O'Hara) compete for the affections of a winsome minister's daughter, Esther Wiscasset (Dolores Costello). Meanwhile, the albino whale has been eluding harpooners, and bears the scars of many failed attacks against him. His fame has reached epic proportions. One day, Ahab and Derek are on the same whaler as the whale hovers into view. With the visual drama enhanced by the water and pitching boat, Ahab raises his harpoon to kill the beast. At that moment, Derek pushes him overboard and Ahab loses a right leg to the whale. In this scene, Barrymore's portrayal of agonizing pain as an antiseptic is poured over what remains of his leg contributed to his fame as a silents actor. Not long after this incident, the shallow Esther rebuffs Ahab as her suitor once she catches sight of his peg leg. Heartbroken at this turn of events, Ahab blames neither Esther nor his brother - instead he transfers blame and an undying hatred onto the whale. The following saga of Ahab's pursuit of the whale takes on the aura of a super-human quest, far beyond the proportions of its first motivation. One of the most popular of Barrymore's films, this version extends the story beyond the final battle of man versus whale in a variation on Melville's book. Adding publicity to the film was a bit of early Hollywood hype, unintentional though it may seem. The actress Priscella Bonner was fired by Barrymore from the role of Wiscasset, and in a curious parallel to Ahab and the mighty whale, she successfully sued the studio and won a considerable out-of-court settlement. Doubtless due to the popularity of this film, another was released in 1930 under Melville's original book title, with Barrymore again in the role of Captain Ahab. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Dolores Costello, (more)
- 1926
A novel by Stephen French Whitman was the source for First National's The Blonde Saint. Lewis Stone stars as Sebastian Maure, a world-famous author and a notorious ladies' man. Well aware of Maure's reputation, heroine Anne Bellamy (Doris Kenyon) refuses to have anything to do with him -- but the audience knows that she's secretly in love with the "bad boy" novelist. Travelling by steamship from Italy to England, there to marry stuffy Brit Vincent Pamfort (Malcolm Denny), Anne can't seem to shake the persistent Maure, who has booked passage on the same ship. In desperation, Maure grabs Anne and leaps off the side of the boat. The two swim to the shore of a tiny Sicilian fishing village, where hero and heroine find themselves at the mercy of homicidal jewel thieves. As if that weren't enough, a plague breaks out in the village, endangering the lives of everyone in the community. Through his selfless ministrations to the sick, Maure proves to Anne that he'd be a worthy husband despite all his faults -- and when her British fiance shows up to rescue her, our heroine steadfastly refuses to be rescued. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lewis Stone, Doris Kenyon, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.