Alice Brady Movies
American actress Alice Brady first came to prominence in the silent films produced by World Studios, which was owned and operated by Brady's father, the influential theatrical producer William H. Brady. A star from her first film, As Ye Sow (1914), onward, she was applauded for her acting skills, though critics at the time noted that her somewhat offbeat facial features would be better suited to character roles than to ingenues. Brady devoted the 1920s to motherly and matronly portrayals on stage - which, as it turned out, were far more rewarding professionally than the heroines she'd played at World. Making her talking-picture debut in 1933's When Ladies Meet, Brady rapidly became one of Hollywood's most prolific portrayers of addlebrained society matrons and world-weary matriarchs. Her comic skills won her roles in such classics as My Man Godfrey (1936) and Three Smart Girls, but it was for her dramatic portrayal of the resilient, much-maligned Mrs. O'Leary in In Old Chicago (1938) that she won an Academy Award. Shortly after completing her work on John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Brady passed away at the age of 46. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1914
In this convoluted drama a chauffeur falls in love with his boss's daughter and marries her, causing his aged father to suffer a fatal coronary. She quickly becomes pregnant and after the child's birth finds out that her husband is an abusive drunk. She tries to force him to stop drinking, but this only causes him to take all their money, and the baby. He heads back for his native New England, leaves the baby with his mother, and then becomes a merchant seaman. The abandoned wife ends up coming to the Cape Cod village where he left the baby and staying in his mother's boarding house without realizing her identity. Things really get tangled up when she falls in love with her husband's brother, an upstanding minister. Unfortunately, the day she is to marry the minister, a terrible shipwreck nearby brings a most unwelcome visitor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Holbrook Blinn repeated his stage role in this feature-length adaptation of the Broadway hit The Boss. In the early scenes, Blinn is hardly bosslike: A waterfront derelict, his only "assets" are his fists. Putting his pugilistic skills to practical use, Blinn becomes a prizefighter, accumulating a fortune and purchasing a prosperous saloon in the process. He then buys his way into a freight-contracting business, and before long he's one of the most powerful businessmen in town. His next step is to marry into society, which he does by marching down the aisle with pretty heiress Alice Brady. Unfortunately, for "the boss," Brady's brother, a union activist, calls a strike which brings the "hero's" despotic control of the waterfront to a screeching halt. Only when reduced to his former pauper status does Blinn realize that he's genuinely in love with Brady, who has stood by him through thick and thin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
In this rather ludicrous morality play, Alice Brady plays Hope, who has inherited the fickle ways of her mother, Estelle. Estelle runs out on her second husband, Jack Evans (George W. Howard), when Hope is only four. She grows up to play Circe in an opera and meets Jack at a resort. She doesn't remember her stepfather, and he doesn't recognize her, so they fall in love and marry. But Hope quickly gets bored with married life and reacquaints herself with her old love, her theatrical manager. Jack catches them together and pours poison into one of two glasses of wine. At gun point he forces Hope to serve both himself and her lover without knowing which is getting the poison. The theatrical manager is the recipient and Jack walks out as Hope collapses over his dead body. Much later, Hope is recuperating at the shore and encounters Jack once again. Jack refuses to forgive her until she shows him a picture of herself as a child. He then realizes she is his long-lost stepdaughter. But before he can say anything her wheelchair rolls off a cliff, killing her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
As Viola Donizetti, a woman who apparently has more sex appeal than she can handle, Alice Brady somehow manages to rise above a feebleminded story. Although Viola is in love with Tony (William Raymond), her father (George D. Melville) insists that she marry a wealthy man of his acquaintance. The man's brutal nature repels her, and she follows Tony to America. She is met at the docks by Tony's cousin (John Warwick) who takes her to a room and tries to have his way with her. She fights him off and runs away. Eventually, she becomes a maid for Mr. Sharpless (Tom McGrath), but then his son Gowfrey (Bert Rooney) tries to force himself on her. When she resists, she is fired. Viola meets a lawyer, Collingswood (Eric Blind) who gives her an apartment and fancy clothes and treats her nicely. She then finds out that there's also a Mrs. Collingswood (Lillian Concord). At last, she and Tony meet up again and they obtain a hotel room, number 47, as their bridal suite. While Tony goes off to find a priest, Collingswood, who has fallen on hard times, rents out room 48. He leaves a suicide note saying that the woman in 47 can explain why he died and then shoots himself. This causes a big scandal, and a reporter shows Tony the suicide note. But the priest convinces him to forget about it and marry Viola anyway. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This comedy-drama, based on a popular play of the era by George Broadhurst, is the classic story of a poor girl who marries a millionaire. But the millionaire, Robert Stafford (Montagu Love), is an alcoholic who, after one of his nights of heavy drinking, asserts that he "bought and paid for" Virginia, his wife (Alice Brady). Virginia finds his inebriation unbearable and decides her comfortable life isn't worth the suffering, so she leaves him. It takes a lot of effort on the part of Virginia's brother-in-law James (Frank Conlan) and his wife Fanny (Josephine Drake) to get the couple back together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Actress Alice Brady was the star player at the World Film Studios, which was as much due to her versatility as to the fact that her father William Brady ran the studio. In Ballet Girl, she plays a carnival performer who aspires to better things in life. Her big break in the ballet world finally arrives, but it's at the expense of her romance with Robert Frazer. Brady rises to fame as prima ballerina "La Syrena," and it isn't until the very last scene that we know the outcome of her "career vs. love" dilemma. Ballet Girl was based on Compton MacKenzie's novel Carnival; its director was George Irving, later a busy movie character actor of the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Long before she became a top character actress, Alice Brady was the in-house ingenue for the World Film Manufacturing Company. The fact that Brady's father, theatrical producer William H. Brady, was the head man at World might have been a contributing factor to the actress' prolific output for the studio. In The Gilded Cage, Alice plays Princess Honore, who falls in love with a handsome prince who doesn't know her true identity (nor does she know his). Scripted by Frances Marion from a story by J. I. Clarke, the film was sort of a distaff version of The Prisoner of Zenda. If Gilded Cage ever becomes available again, it might be interesting to find out why Clara Whipple's character was named "Lesbia the Goose Girl"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Dwight Tilton's novel Miss Petticoats was visualized on-screen by director Harley Knoles, a British expatriate briefly working at World's New Jersey studios. Alice Brady played the titular heroine, whose real name is Agatha. The film's storyline accommodated a rich variety of contrasting types, ranging from a wealthy matriarch, to a capricious minister, to a humble mill worker, to a salty sailor. "Miss Petticoats" takes her sweet time but eventually chooses the "right" man from a crowd of candidates. Reportedly, the film was an improvement over the stage version of Tilton's novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Taking the rap for her sister, who spent the night with a lecherous travelling salesman, Jane Lawson (Alice Brady) is booted out of her family home. She relocates to New York and takes a job at the very store where the troublesome salesman is employed. Catching the eye of the boss' son, Jane marries him, only to find out that her new husband is a drink-sodden jellyfish. He heads to Alaska for a "rest cure," with the salesman -- who turns out not to be such a bad guy -- financing the trip. Unable to straighten himself out, Jane's husband ends up as the guest of honor at a lynching party. Though understandably upset by her hubby's demise, our heroine is comforted by the fact that the salesman is now in love with her, an affection she willingly reciprocates. "Tangled" is right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This film, based on the popular novel by Larry Evans, pits brute force against high finance. Railroad engineer Steve O'Mara (Jack Sherrill) has grown up around the lumber camps and finds he has to battle, both in love and business, against Archie Wickersham (Leo Gordon). The girl in the triangle is Barbara Allison (respected stage and screen star Alice Brady, whose father was the head of the film's releasing studio, World). The catch is that Barbara can't stand the sight of fisticuffs, and Wickersham keeps sending henchmen to beat up O'Mara. But in the final battle, involving yet another Wickersham hireling, Barrigan (George Kline), O'Mara -- and his might -- prove victorious over the villain's underhanded tactics. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
A Self Made Widow begins conventionally enough as farm girl Sylvia Smith (Alice Brady) is lured to the city by a smooth-talking gentleman, only to discover that said gentleman is already married. Too proud to return home and admit her foolishness, Sylvia remains in the Big City to face an uncertain future. But fortune smiles upon Sylvia when she comes across an apparent suicide note written by heartbroken millionaire Fitzhugh Castleton (John Bowers). With this note in hand, Sylvia poses as the Castleton's widow, thereby sidestepping the disgrace of being seduced and abandoned -- and incidentally falling heir to her "husband's" fortune. Inevitably, Castleton returns very much alive, but rather than eject Sylvia from his family mansion he falls in love with the pretty impostor and offers to become her husband for real. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Alice Brady was the biggest star on the World Studio lot, and small wonder: her father, theatrical impresario William H. Brady, owned the place. But Alice was talented enough to survive in showbiz without the added boost of nepotism, as she proves in 1917's The Divorce Game. As indicated by the flippant title, this is a comedy, revolving around the marital misadventures of airheaded Alice and her French nobleman husband John Bowers. When wifey spends every penny in the house and then some, Bowers is forced to make a few momentous decisions. Frances Marion, later MGM's top scenarist, adapted The Divorce Game from Leo Dietrichstein's Gallic farce Mlle. Fifi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
In reflection of the patriotic fervor attending America's entry into WWI, the World Film Corporation felt emboldened to serve up this filmed biography of legendary flagmaker Betsy Ross. Alice Brady, daughter of studio head William A. Brady, played the title role, while Betsy's mentor George Washington was portrayed by George MacQuarrie. Inasmuch as the story of Betsy Ross was largely a fabrication to begin with, the screenwriters had no qualms about concocting a romantic triangle involving Betsy, her sister Carissa (Lillian Cook), and their mutual sweetheart Clarence Vernon (Frank Mayo). Joseph Ashburn (John Bowers), who has a crush on Betsy, challenges Clarence to a duel and apparently kills his opponent, whereupon Ashburn adopts an assumed name and joins General Washington's army. Meanwhile, Clarence recovers from his wounds and rejoins his regiment in the British army. What happens next is eminently predictable, though one has to admit that it is heaps more exciting than watching Betsy Ross sewing the Stars and Stripes together for six reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The "Maid of Belgium" is sad-eyed Adoree, played by Alice Brady. When her town is destroyed by the invading Germans during WWI, the shock causes Adoree to completely lose her memory. The girl is rescued from the rubble by Mr. and Mrs. Hudson (George MacQuarrie and Louise de Rigney), a wealthy American couple. Despite her newfound happiness, Adoree does not snap out of her near-catatonic amnesia and sits silently in her room pathetically clutching an old doll. It soon turns out that the heroine is expecting a baby. Upon the child's birth, it is promptly appropriated by the barren Mrs. Hudson, who claims that the baby is hers. Not wishing to be deprived of the only thing she genuinely loves, Adoree steals the baby and hides away on a remote island. Believing the child has been drowned, the grieving Hudsons arrange to dynamite the river in hopes of recovering the body. The sound of the explosion shocks Adoree back to her senses, and at long, long last she remembers that, just before the Germans marched in, she had been married to a prominent Belgian nobleman -- thereby "legitimizing" her baby and paving the way for a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
A young Russian woman rises to become one of the world's most famous ballet dancers in this romantic silent drama. Her story begins as she, the lead dancer of the Imperial Ballet, becomes the love object of Russia's Grand Duke. They marry, but because the government disapproves of the union she is exiled to France, forcing her to leave her little daughter in the academy where she is raised by the head mistress. Under her loving guidance, this girl becomes world famous and begins touring. While dancing in Paris, she is kidnapped by a would-be suitor. Just as he is about to forcibly steal her virtue, the girl's mother appears and shoots the cad dead. When the Grand Duke learns of the shenanigans he rushes over before the police arrive and takes the rap for the murder. Fortunately, all is righted by the end, and the family finally comes back together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Compiled by the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry and distributed to theaters across the United States, National Association's All-Star Picture, features selected scenes from various popular films, offering glimpses of many of the biggest stars of the day. Included are clips of Charlie Chaplin, Francis X. Bushman, Douglas Fairbanks, and many others. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1917
Although Ellen Franklin (Alice Brady) consents to marry John Locke (David Powell), she's reluctant to have a family since, for three generations, the women in her family have died in childbirth. Because of her attitude, she and Locke become estranged and he renews contact with an old flame, now a widow with a young daughter named Constance (Madge Evans). One day Constance meets Ellen when she is looking for Locke. Ellen drives the little girl towards home, but gets in an automobile accident. Both of them wind up in a hospital, which catches fire. Ellen risks her life to save Constance and return her to her mother. After that, her attitude about motherhood softens and she is reunited with Locke. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Alice Brady plays a farm girl who marries the son of her next-door neighbor. Her dreams of a gay social whirl are shattered when her husband takes a job as a railway station agent in a lonely prairie outpost. Desperate for companionship, she begins an affair with the railroad president's son, unaware at first that her lover is likewise married. Leaving her husband, Brady heads to Chicago, hoping that her new sweetheart will find her a job. He does, but only so he can keep her "in reserve" whenever his wife is out of town. Upon discovering that her protector is a philanderer, Brady tries to escape his clutches, but he refuses to let her go. The heroine is rescued by the unexpected appearance of her own husband, who thoroughly trounces the lover and forgives his wife all past indiscretions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Because of her father's death at the hands of Russian soldiers, Ilda Barosky (Alice Brady) carries a grudge against the government. Her brother, Ivan (Norbert Wicki), has more than a grudge -- he's a revolutionary. He secretly marries Olga (Lillian Cook), the daughter of Constantine Karischeff, the minister of police (J. Herbert Frank). Meanwhile, Alexis Nazimoff (John Bowers) romances Ilda. Olga and Alexis's parents, unaware of all these happenings, try to arrange a marriage between them, but when they ask Ilda to play "God Save the Czar" on her violin at the betrothal party, she refuses and is whipped in front of the gathering. All hell breaks loose; Alexis, Ilda and Olga wind up being accused of being in league with the revolutionaries and sent to Siberia. Ilda gets a pardon, but since she wants to stay with Alexis, she has Olga leave in her place. The couple are about to be shot when they, too, are pardoned. They come home, and their families are all reconciled. This picture (based on a play by H. Grattan Donnelly and Sidney R. Ellis) came out just as the overthrow of the Russian government was reaching its full completion, and as a result, it was out of date almost upon its release. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Alice Brady plays the lead in this adaptation of Frou Frou. Frou Frou (Brady) agrees to marry the man chosen by her father, the Marquis de Sartorys (George MacQuarrie), even though she knows her sister Louise (Gerda Holmes) loves him. But Frou Frou is a frivolous girl, and when Louise comes to visit, she ultimately takes her sister's place. Finally Frou Frou sees the error of her ways, but when her husband won't take her back, she runs off with the Comte de Valreas (Edward Langford). Eventually de Sartorys follows and kills de Valreas in a duel. Then Frou Frou comes back home to beg her husband's forgiveness before she dies. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Alice Brady stars in this screen adaptation of Fannie Hurst's novel, Golden Fleece. Shopgirl Lola Gray (Brady) is having a romance with Charlie Cox (David Powell), the son of a wealthy man. While Charlie sincerely loves Lola, he doesn't have much sense. He refuses to work as long as his father (Hardy Kirkland) supports him, and he spends his nights whooping it up at road houses. When he asks Lola to marry him, she turns him down. But when Lola's sister Ida (Gloria Goodwin), who is secretary to Charlie's father, finds out that Charlie is being cut out of his dad's will, she lords this over Lola, and this information inspires her to accept Charlie's proposal. They quickly get married, and the next day, they get word that Cox, Sr. has died. Charlie is already starting to count his fortune when Lola reveals that he has been cut out of the will, and that was one of reasons she agreed to marry him -- that way no one could accuse her of wanting his money. So the couple goes to the Midwest and they start life anew on a farm. This was Charles Maigne's first jump from screenwriting to directing. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
This drama was based on the Miriam Michelson novel Michael Thwaite's Wife, and it gave Alice Brady the chance to play a dual role (something that was practically de rigueur for nearly every star in the 1910s). Although Louise and Trixie (both Brady) are identical twins, their temperaments couldn't be more different -- Trixie is flighty and frivolous while Louise is a dutiful homebody. Both of them love the same man, Michael Thwaite (David Powell). Thwaite is dazzled by Trixie's sparkle and marries her, but soon she grows bored with him and starts up a flirtation with Hendrick Thurston (Crauford Kent). While Trixie runs off with Thurston, Thwaite is beaten by thugs and blinded. To save him from suffering the shock of his wife's loss, Louise steps in and takes his wife's place. She happily takes care of Thwaite, but then Trixie shows up once again. Louise's place by Thwaite's side is threatened, but in pictures of the 1910s, the bad girl never came out on top, so by the last frames of the final reel, Trixie is out of the picture and Louise becomes Mrs. Michael Thwaite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Even though her father, William Brady was head of World Film, actress Alice Brady occasionally got stuck with a few clinkers; this picture is one of them. Sybil Drew (Alice Brady) is told by her aunt that before she inherits her fortune, she must work for a year -- in other words, "earn her spurs." So she goes to New York, where she encounters a handsome doctor, Ross Alger (handsome John Bowers). Ross, however, suspects she's a crook. After much difficulty she lands a job as a companion to the eccentric and elderly Miss Berwick (Eugenie Woodward). But she loses her position when Miss Berwick's ne'er-do-well nephew Paul (John Davidson) flirts with her. Sybil then proceeds to get herself in all kinds of trouble, from getting in an auto accident to being held hostage in a gambling den. Ross comes to her rescue with the police and finally discovers to his relief that she is not a crook. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
