Earle Williams

The ubiquitous J. P. McGowan warmed the director's chair for Red Signals. Though onetime matinee idol Earle Williams is starred, the film's real protagonist is Wallace McDonald, cast as a dishevelled hobo. When a series of train wrecks occur, railroad superintendent Williams is held responsible, but the real culprit is a crooked foreman who lusts after Williams' job. All of this is proven in due time by the superintendent's indigent brother McDonald -- who turns out to be a railroad detective in disguise. Some laughs are provided by Billy Franey and Frank Rice, usually cast as cowboy sidekicks but here playing McDonald's hobo companions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Skyrocket was a vehicle for non-actress Peggy Hopkins Joyce, a former Ziegfeld dancer who managed to get herself into the headlines by romancing and marrying a series of millionaires. Here Ms. Joyce plays Sharon Kimm, a girl of tenements who through a combination of luck and determination becomes a movie star. Unfortunately, once she's made it to the top, Sharon sabotages her career with her prima donna behavior. Plummeting to obscurity, Sharon realizes that there are more important things in the world than fame or fortune, so she settles for middle-class security as the wife of her childhood sweetheart Mickey Reid (Owen Moore) -- who happens to be the screenwriter of the film which made Sharon a star in the first place! Contemporary reviews indicate that Peggy Hopkins Joyce was as endearingly awful in Skyrocket as she was opposite W.C. Fields in 1933's International House. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a play by Victor Sardou, Diplomacy was another collaboration between actress Blanche Sweet and her then-husband Marshall Neisan. Most of the action takes place along the Riviera, where heroine Dora de Zares (Sweet) comports herself in a most mysterious fashion. The audience is encouraged to think that Dora is a spy of some sort or other, especially when a packet of important diplomatic papers is stolen from her husband Julian Wentworth (Neil Hamilton). But there's plenty of intrigue and surprises before the plot is explained and the truth is revealed. Viewers in 1926 were advised to keep their eyes on "silly ass" Englishman Robert Lowry (Matt Moore), who like Dora wasn't all that he seemed to be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This overwrought program drama was given a racy title to promote the up-and-coming Clara Bow, but all it really did for her career was keep her face in the public eye. Patricia Webster (Bow) feels that she is being neglected by her boyfriend, Rodney Adams (Herbert Rawlinson), who spends more time with his airplanes than he does with her. Since Patricia is a lively young flapper (in other words, a typical Bow character), she takes out her frustrations by attending a wild party held by Victor Ashley (Earle Williams). The partygoers encourage Patricia and another flapper to put on boxing gloves for a match just as Adams walks in. As a result, the couple breaks up and Patricia runs away from home. She goes to a roadhouse where she is disgraced when it is believed she is rooming with Ashley. Distraught, she throws herself into the Niagara Falls rapids. Adams leaps in to save her, and his fellow aviators fly over with a rope ladder to rescue them both. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This confusing maritime drama is divided into four parts; the ages of stone, iron, barbarism, and civilization. As the story begins, Dick Halpin (Cullen Landis) takes the blame for stealing the school's athletic funds to protect the real culprit, the brother of his sweetheart Mabel (Alice Calhoun). The sailor decides to become a civilian and is followed by his friend Lieutenant Breen (Earle Williams). Dressed as civilians, the two go to a saloon where Breen tries to dissuade Dick from deserting. In the saloon, Dick and Breen are given knock-out drops and shanghaied. After he regains consciousness, Dick informs the captain he is a member of the United States Navy and demands to be put ashore. Breen refuses to acknowledge Dick is a sailor, revealing himself to be in league with Captain Bilker (Jack Curtis). Further distaff interest is provided by Wanda Hawley, who appears with Martin Turner, Dick Sutherland, and Jack Curtis. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Earle Williams, known for his manly, often dignified, characters, was well cast in this mystery, which keeps the audience guessing until the very end. Someone in India is deciphering secret codes and passing information from London's Downing Street to the natives, so Captain Robert Kent (Williams) comes down from London to investigate. He disguises himself as a Rajah, and Colonel Wentworth (Charles Hill Mailes) introduces him to the colony. There are several suspects, including Captain Graves (Herbert Prior) and his wife, Norma (Kathryn Adams), who is having an affair with Maharajah Jenan (future horror icon Boris Karloff). When Norma commits suicide, Wentworthis quick to put the blame on her. But unbeknownst to all involved, Kent has made up a couple of fake messages. This is where Wentworth trips himself up and reveals that he is the guilty party. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Earle Williams stars in this unusual comedy-drama. Austin Crane (Williams) is the author of several detective novels which feature a character named Hammond Knox. During a dinner party, the host, Webb Standish (Henry Barrows), and the other guests agree that Crane's stories are impossible. The only one who stands up for the author is Standish's daughter, Eve (Elinor Fair). Craig sets out to prove the naysayers wrong. He gets a job working for the Morning Clarion as a reporter and the editor, Byron Tingley (William McCall), assigns him to investigate some unscrupulous business doings. Just like the character in his books, Crane goes about searching for evidence and finds out that Standish really is bilking the public. He tries to pull out of the assignment but Tingley won't let him. With the help of Spike Dawson, a former crook (Alfred Aldridge), he sneaks into the Standish home to find some documents. Dawson also decides to take the Standish jewels. Standish calls the police, who trace Dawson to Crane's home. Crane reveals to Standish that all his actions were meant to prove that the stories of his books could happen, and he returns the documents to him on the condition that he reform. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Earle Williams, a major star of the 1910s, both co-directed (with Robert Ensminger) and played the leading role in this silent Northwest melodrama from Vitagraph. Williams starred as Dr. John Hood, whose nightmare of killing gambler Canby (Ernest Van Pelt) seems to have come horribly true when he awakens to find the man dead in his living room. With Sgt. McKenna of the Northwest Mounted (Robert Gordon) trailing him, Hood escapes into the Canadian wilderness. The two men, however, become fast friends when the doctor, unaware of his identity, saves his pursuer from drowning. McKenna is about to bring his prisoner in when Mary Mackay (Fritzi Ridgeway) confesses that her weakling brother slew Canby in a quarrel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Popular action star Earle Williams thrills his fans in the 1920 5-reeler The Purple Cipher. The plot centers around a Tong war in Chinatown. When one of the warlords expresses an interest in Williams' girl friend (Vola Vale), the chop suey hits the fan. In the tradition of everything but the kitchen sink, the climax of this otherwise landlocked thriller takes place in a submarine. Venerable Vitagraph studios may have been considered "the morgue of the movies" by 1920, but every once in a while the company was still able to churn out a winner like The Purple Cypher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

World War I is raging when Englishman Hawtry Burke (Earle Williams) comes to America. Because of his horsemanship and classy demeanor he becomes a hit in society. He is popular with everyone except Elinor Warden (Grace Darmond). She has just returned from Belgium and seen the horrors there, so she can't countenance someone who appears to her to be a slacker. Burke does have a reason for his presence in the States but he does not reveal it, even when Elinor calls him a coward. Meanwhile her brother, Dudley (Charles Spear) comes home on furlough and hooks up with Eric Werner (Edward Cecil), supposedly a German expatriate. There is a murder and Dudley is accused of the crime. At the trial, Werner testifies against him, and Dudley leaps from his chair in anger. Just then the lights conveniently go out and when they come on again, the young man is dead and a pistol lies beside Burke. A fingerprint test, however, proves his innocence. Shortly thereafter he disappears. The U.S. gets into the war, and it is discovered the Burke is part of the British Commission. He captures Werner as a German spy, and as the perpetrator of the crime for which Dudley Warden was tried. Elinor now knows she misjudged Burke, which is just as well because in spite of it all, she really loved him all along. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Originally a novel and then a stage play, Arsene Lupin should have made an intriguing film, but something in its suave spirit was lost. Perhaps this is due, in part, to Earle Williams' shallow interpretation of the arch criminal. Arsene Lupin (Williams) revels in outwitting the Parisian police with his slick masquerades. Lately he has been impersonating the "Duke of Charmerace" so as to get his hands on some valuables. But Lupin isn't as smoothly cold-hearted as he appears -- he falls in love with Sonia (Ethel Gray Terry), the secretary of one of his marks. But he is dismayed when he discovers that his lifestyle has inspired her to become a thief, too. Detective Guerchard (Brinsley Shaw) is determined to capture Lupin, but at the last minute the crook entraps him in a secret elevator, grabs Sonia, and takes off to lead a better, more honest life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide