John Bowers Movies

On the strength of his previous hits The Jazz Singer (1927) and The Singing Fool (1928), Al Jolson was Hollywood's hottest star in 1929. Jolson's cinematic offering for that year was Say It With Songs, a characteristic blend of music, comedy and treacly sentiment. The star is cast as Joe Lane, a radio star who hits it big then begins neglecting his wife Katherine (Marian Nixon) and his dewy-eyed son "Little Pal" (Davey Lee, Jolson's co-star in Singing Fool) in favor of the gaming tables. Joe is brought down to earth when his manager and "best friend" begins putting the moves on Katherine. Accidentally killing the manager in a fight, Joe heads off to prison, extracting a promise from Katherine that she will wait for him. During his incarceration, however, Katherine makes the acquaintance of a handsome surgeon (John Bowers), and it looks as if their friendship will blossom into love. When "Little Pal" is struck by a car on the same day that Joe is paroled, the young surgeon saves the kid's life, thereby bringing Joe and Katherine back together again. A few amusing opening bits aside (most of them Jewish-dialect jokes, a Jolson specialty), Say It With Songs is awash with bathos, making the film quite a chore to sit through today. It cannot be denied, however, that Al Jolson is a dynamic presence, especially when belting out such standards as "Back In Your Own Backyard" and "Little Pal". Long unavailable for reappraisal, Say It With Songs was reissued on laserdisc in the late 1980s through the Herculean efforts of the Al Jolson Society. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Bowers, the actor whose roller-coaster career and tragic death allegedly inspired the movie A Star is Born, heads the cast of 1927's Ragtime. Bowers plays Ted Mason, a tin-pan-alley songwriter who composes a love ballad dedicated to debutante Beth Barton (played by Bowers' real-life wife Marguerite de la Motte). Alas, before Mason can get the song published, the sheet music is stolen by ambitious vaudeville hoofer Goldie Martin (Rose Dione), who in turn gives it to her dancing partner-husband Slick Martin (Robert Ellis). When the song becomes a hit, Beth is banished from her high social circles for stirring up "disgraceful" publicity. But not to worry: Mason writes another song that puts Beth back in the good graces of her friends, whereupon the grateful heroine marries the hero on the spot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Priscilla Dean made a name for herself in the silent era by playing lady crooks for Universal. By the mid-'20s, however, her star was fading fast and she was acting in low-budget independent films. Here she plays Margarita Sloane, a book agent who discovers that she is heir to her uncle's estate. She goes to his rancho and finds it is next door to a graveyard. From that moment on, a number of strange things happen. An Indian squaw (Marie Percivale) shows up with a chest containing the dead man's "legacy." Lawyer Maclyn Mills (John Bowers) arrives to inform Margarita that there is a mortgage on the property, but he is able to translate a piece of parchment she finds. It's a map to some buried treasure on an island. The map is promptly stolen by a tattooed man named Pedro (Walter Long). Margarita and Mills arrive at the island to find that Pedro and his cronies are already there. The men find the treasure, and Pedro tries to double-cross them. Margarita takes the jewels herself and Pedro goes after her. Both of them fall off a cliff into the shark-infested waters. A shark devours Pedro, while Mills rescues Margarita. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Heroes in Blue is predicated on the rivalry between two Irish-American clans. Sally Rand, the daughter of one family, falls for John Bowers, the policeman son of the other family. Their relationship is sorely strained when Rand's stepbrother Gareth Hughes turns out to be the pyromaniac whom Bowers has been ordered to seek out and arrest. Hughes ends up killing Bowers' father and brother, sparking a "retribution" climax in which Rand's fireman dad is forced to kill Hughes while the latter is setting fire to a tenement building. Heroes in Blue includes a cute "inside" gag in which Sally Rand and John Bowers attend a movie -- in which the stars are Sally Rand and John Bowers! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three Hours was based on the short story Purple and Fine Linen. Corinne Griffith stars as Madeline, the freshly-divorced wife of elderly Jonathan Durkin (Hobart Bosworth). Left penniless by her vengeful husband, Madeline is forced to become a pickpocket to pay for a new wardrobe. One of her victims is a Mr. Finlay (John Bowers), who threatens to turn her over to the police -- until he hears Madeline's woeful tale of her cruel, possessive husband. Touched by her sincerity, Finlay pulls strings to wrest Madeline's baby from the clutches of Durkin, then marries the girl himself. Like most of Corinne Griffith's silent vehicles, Three Hours has apparently vanished from the face of the earth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gaunt, aristocratic-looking character-actor H.B. Warner was slightly miscast as author Frank Hamilton Spearman's popular railroad detective Whispering Smith. The detective had earlier been played by J.P. McGowan in a 1916 serial version starring McGowan's wife Helen Holmes which was itself remade in 1927 starring Wallace MacDonald. A George O'Brien "B"-western variation came in 1935 and the durable detective was portrayed by Alan Ladd in 1948. (A cheap 1952 version set in, of all places, London, and a 1960s television series are not even worth mentioning.) In 1926, however, the property was in the hands of Cecil B. DeMille's company, PDC, who not only cast the less-than-heroic-looking Warner, but teamed him with the extremely modern Lilyan Tashman, a clotheshorse more at home in the boudoir than in a rough-and-tumble action melodrama. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This independently produced silent action melodrama starred the husband-and-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte. Bowers played Larry Pond, a young man inheriting an almost bankrupt lumber company. Attempting to save the business, Larry finds himself in trouble with a rival lumberman (Alan Hale), who hires a thug to prevent him from getting his logs to the mill. Fighting back, Larry not only manages to scare off the hired terrorist but ends up marrying his rival's erstwhile fiancee (de la Motte. Director Lloyd Ingraham's young daughter Jean appeared in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Prominent Viennese stage star Rudolph Schildkraut (Joseph's father) heads the cast of Pals in Paradise. Schildkraut plays a Jewish storekeeper who sets up shop in a small desert gold-rush village. When time comes to elect a sheriff, Schildkraut wins the appointment by default. Though he's determined to rule the town with an iron hand, the old sheriff proves to be a softie at heart by helping along the romance between young miner John Bowers and pretty heiress Marguerite de la Motte (the real-life Mrs. Bowers). He also prevents the girl from marrying an oily crook, who in the end turns out to be the murderer of the heroine's father. Pals in Paradise was based on a story by Peter B. Kyne, of "Broncho Billy" fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This standard underworld meller was dressed up with good performances and an entertaining approach. Nancy Preston (Marguerite de la Motte) and her sweetheart Mike Horgan (John Bowers) are former jailbirds who would really like to go straight. But they are forced to stay undercover to escape the watchful eye of "Gloomy Gus" Cole (Ed Kennedy) of the Tierney Detective Agency, who is doing his best to get something, anything, on them. The beleaguered couple is finally able to escape to a small town, where they settle down, and Horgan establishes a medical practice. Tierney (Alphonz Ethier), the head of the detective agency, gets on their trail, but Nancy ends up nursing him through a serious illness. Cole arrives with a warrant for Nancy's arrest, but he confesses that she is actually innocent. Horgan, meanwhile, is cleared of a burglary charge, so the couple is finally able to start life anew. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Chickie Bryce (Dorothy Mackaill) is a stenographer, who, encouraged by her mother (Gladys Brockwell), longs to marry a millionaire. This doesn't stop her, however, from flirting with Barry Dunne, a young lawyer from a neighboring office (John Bowers). Chickie and Dunne become involved, but finally a millionaire, Jake Munson (Paul Nicholson), comes into her life. He takes her out to dinner, and then to his apartment. Dunne is angry about this, and makes plans to go to London. Before he leaves, though, he makes up with Chickie. Ila Moore (Olive Tell) follows Dunne to London, which Chickie doesn't like one bit. Ila, who is trying to win Dunne, wires Chickie that he has married her. Chickie has a baby, and her father (Hobart Bosworth) is convinced it belongs to the millionaire. Chickie admits it is Dunne's. When Dunne returns from London, Mr. Bryce tries to shoot him. Chickie stops him, and Dunne reveals that he is not married after all -- but that he wants to be married to Chickie. This drama was based on the novel by Eleanore Maherin, which was serialized in newspapers across the country. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The popular husband-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte starred in Flattery. Bowers plays civil engineer Reginald Mallory, who having been reared in the lap of luxury has turned into an insufferable wastrel. Extremely susceptible to flattery (hence the film's title), Reggie is sweet-talked into purchasing substandard material for his latest building project. Before disaster can strike, however, Reggie is redeemed by the love of a good woman (De La Motte). John Bowers' later fall from popularity and his suicide by drowning is said to be the inspiration for the 1937 and 1954 versions of A Star is Born. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Colleen Moore may have been The Perfect Flapper, but as an actress she longed to spread her creative wings. She insisted on portraying the lead character in this adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel -- a 19th century girl doomed to a life of drudgery, who ages over 30 years throughout the course of the film. While So Big made a credible show at the box office (and Moore received accolades for her performance) it didn't compare to the block-busting sales of her flapper comedies. Selina Peake (Moore) lives a privileged existence until the death of her father (Sam DeGrasse). The girl is shocked to discover that he was killed in a gambling den, and she is left without a dime. She goes to work as a school teacher in a Dutch colony at High Prairie and marries Purvis DeJong (John Bowers), a farmer who is none too bright. The one light of her life is a son, Dirk. After Purvis' death, Selina is forced to sell vegetables door to door. She is finally given aid by the father of an old school chum and after much hard work she manages to make the farm turn a profit, which enables her to send Dirk (Ben Lyon) to school. He becomes an architect and has a romance with Dallas O'Meara (Phyllis Haver), an artist. But Pauline Storm (Rosemary Theby), a married woman who has helped him, convinces him to run off with her. Selina discovers the plan and begs the illicit pair to reconsider. Pauline's husband (Henry Herbert) walks in and threatens to name Dirk as corespondent in a divorce suit. Selina talks him out of it and Dirk returns to Dallas. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide