H.B. Warner Movies

Such were the ways of Hollywood that the dignified H.B. Warner, who played Jesus in 1927's King of Kings, found himself in such low-budget fare as Cross-Examination a scant five years later. Warner makes the best of the situation in the role of Gerald Waring, defense attorney in a sensational murder trial. Depsite the badgering of prosecutor Dwight Simpson (Edmund Breese), Waring is determined to clear his client David Wells (Donald Dillaway) of the charge that David murdered his millionaire father. The case comes to a head when the Wells family's housekeeper makes a startling statement from her deathbed. Cross-Examination would seem to have been inspired by the 1925 legal drama The Goose Woman, itself based on the notorious Hall-Mills murder case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Crusader was one of the earliest efforts from Majestic Pictures, for many years the most ambitious of the independent production firms. H.B. Warner plays the title character, incorruptible district attorney Phillip Brandon. Hoping to silence Brandon, a gang of crooks uncover some unsavory information about his wife Tess's (Evelyn Brent) past. The villains further lure Brandon's daughter Marcia (Marceline Day) into a compromising situation, in which Joe Carson (Walter Byron) clearly intends to deflower the girl against her will. When all of this intrigue results in murder, it is Tess's former sweetheart, amiable bootlegger Jimmie Dale (Lew Cody), who comes to the rescue of the good guys. Modern audiences will likely be astounded by the liberal use of profanity in The Crusader, notably the moment in which unscrupulous reporter Eddie Crane (Ned Sparks) shouts "Hot damn! What a story!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dolores Costello spent the twilight months of her Warner Bros. contract in such trifles as Expensive Women. The star is cast as wealthy society girl Constance Newton, a "girl of whims" who flits from one man to the next like a butterfly. After a couple of desultory affairs with Bobby Brandon (Joe Donahue) and Neil Hartley (Warren William), she finds true love in the form of Arthur Raymond (Anthony Bushell). Even so, she's hesitant about making a lifetime commitment -- and besides, Arthur is already married. A few days later, Constance is back with the reckless Bobby, a reunion that ends in disaster when Arthur kills Bobby in a fight. Not wishing to ruin two lives, Constance takes the blame for the killing, which is ruled by the jury as a suicide. Having learned her lesson, Constance is consoled by Neil Hartley, who returns from nowhere to make her his wife. It was supposed to be a heavy drama, but audiences tended to laugh in the wrong places. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this dramatic adventure a shady lady becomes a spy for the Austrian intelligence agency and ends up involved with a man suspected of being a German spy. She only pretends to love him to discover the truth. The man she really loves is a young naval officer, but in order to serve her country, she must end her love affair. Later the counter-spy commits suicide to avoid detection, while at the same time, the woman is wounded. Though she only has a few months left to live, the officer marries her. His family objects because they think she has a venereal disease. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The plays of Zoe Akins were so stilted and mannered that one critic referred to watching them as "the curse of an Akins heart." The film versions of Akins's efforts were slightly better, as proven by The Furies. Lois Wilson stars as attractive Mrs. Sands, who despite her married status is ardently pursued by several libidinous bachelors. When Mr. Sands (Montague Love) is poisoned to death, each of Mrs. Sand's two most fervent suitors suspects the other of committing the crime. Complicating matters is the fact that Mrs. Sands' defense attorney (H.B. Warner) is also crazy about her. The identity of the actual killer is never in doubt, inasmuch as the actor playing the role had "done it" in several previous films and would continue "doing it" in subsequent murder mysteries. The best scenes occur towards the end, when Mrs. Sands's loyal servants are coached in their testimony by their attorney -- and have trouble remembering their "lines." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a man and woman have been corresponding through a "personal" column under the names Lord Strawberries and Lady Grapefruit. When the man's neighbor is found dead upstairs, he and the lady are the prime suspects of a police inspector, who has his own very good reason for blaming them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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

In this drama, a New York dressmaker struggles to make it big so she can provide a good life for her beloved son. As her son enters college, she opens a Fifth Avenue boutique. When her son falls in love with a chorus girl, the mother is appalled. Later, the girl finds herself a wealthy benefactor and runs up a large tab at the dress shop. The dressmaker's son has no idea that his true love is messing around. When he returns from college, still deeply in love, the mother attempts to blackmail the chorine into breaking up by forcing her to pay her bill or else. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Despite what you might think by glancing at the title, The Argyle Case has nothing to do with socks. The film's plot is set in motion when the head of the house of Argyle is murdered. In one of his few talking-picture appearances, silent star Thomas Meighan is the detective on the case. Meighan discovers that the culprit is a member of an espionage ring, intent upon stealing valuable state secrets. Based on a play by Harriet Ford, Harvey J. O'Higgins, and William J. Burns, The Argyle Case was previously filmed in 1917. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Lloyd both produced and directed The Divine Lady, a Hollywood slant on the 19th century romance of Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. American film star Corinne Griffith, decked out in a blonde wig, is decorative but otherwise unconvincing as Lady Emma, while Hungarian-born Victor Varconi brings an inappropriate continental air to the veddy British Lord Nelson. Both stars found themselves playing second fiddle to Marie Dressler, mugging to her heart's content as Lady Emma's ambitious mother. The scandal surrounding the leading characters' illicit affair is secondary to the film's exciting reconstructions of Nelson's celebrated sea battles. Technically a silent, Divine Lady was released with a Vitaphone musical score and sound effects. Lost in the shuffle during the switch over to talkies in 1929, Divine Lady is forgotten today, totally eclipsed by the immensely successful 1941 film Lady Hamilton, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

H.B. Warner, so convincing as Jesus Christ in DeMille's The King of Kings, does a complete about-face in the early talkie Conquest. Warner plays James Farnham, a no-good rat who deserts his best friend during an expedition to the South Pole. He then accepts military honors for bravery that should have gone to his deceased friend, capping his misdeeds by claiming the dead man's sweetheart Diane Holden (Lois Wilson). When good-guy Donald Overton (Monte Blue) confronts Farnham with evidence of his skullduggery, Farnham tries to do the younger man in with a hammer. This time, however, Farnham pays for his perfidy -- undoubtedly to the dismay of the audience, who realized early on that H.B. Warner was the best actor in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this well-executed courtroom drama, a Broadway chorine is accused of stabbing her wealthy boy friend to death. The girl is defended by her good friend. During the trial, the lawyer refrains from cross-examining the witnesses. This enrages the dancer's younger brother, who has just passed the bar exam. Her friend suddenly drops her case and allows her little brother to take over. In the end, it is discovered that the girl was a golddigger who used the money from her affairs to finance her brother's expensive education. This does not stop the younger brother from building his case and eventually proving her innocence. Thanks to him, the real killer is exposed and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide