Alice Brady Movies

The credibility of this northwoods melodrama strains at the seams and even the usually excellent Alice Brady in the starring role can't do much to give it life. Annette Leroux (Brady) is the daughter of fur trader Gaston Leroux (Mario Majeroni). Annette and the sheriff, Andre Porel (Maurice B. "Lefty" Flynn), are in love, but their romance is interrupted by a murder. Indian Charlie (Nick Thompson), an unscrupulous fur trader, gets into a fight with Leroux and is killed. Paul Gerard (Jack Baston), a slimy alcoholic who has witnessed the murder, tells Annette that unless she marries him he will tell all. Annette agrees to the marriage, but plans to take poison before the wedding. Gerard accidentally gets his hands on the potion and drinks it instead. When he dies, Annette is accused of his murder and sentenced to the gallows. As she is led to the scaffold by Porel, Leroux confesses to Charlie's murder and claims he is responsible for Gerard's death. An avalanche conveniently destroys the gallows, and the townsfolk decide this is God's way of saying that Annette is innocent. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Victor Fleming was still a relatively new director when he helmed this melodrama, an adaptation of the stage play by Harry Chapman Ford. Alice Brady starred on Broadway, and she stars here, too, as Anna Ayyob, a Syrian immigrant living in New York and working at a coffee house owned by Siad Coury (Edouard Durand). The place is really a front for a group of smugglers. This information filters down to Howard Fisk (Robert Ellis), the reporter son of a newspaper publisher. He earns Anna's trust, but just when she is about to tell Fisk what she knows, she is attacked by a member of the gang known as the Baron (David Powell). They struggle and Anna thinks she has killed him. She goes into hiding and three years later reemerges as the anonymous author of a best seller called Anna Ascends. Howard's father (Frederick Burton) assigns him the duty of tracking down the writer and interviewing her. So he and Anna are reunited once again. It turns out that the Baron didn't actually die, and the smugglers are eventually rounded up. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Missing Millions was inspired by "A Problem in Grand Larceny", one of the many "Boston Blackie" stories by Jack Boyle. David Powell plays Boston Blackie, a reformed criminal. Blackie is hired by society thief Alice Brady (who receives top billing) to square accounts with the man (Frank Losee) who sent her innocent father to prison. The two team up to ruin the scoundrel financially. In true pre-production code fashion, the miscreant avoids scandal by taking his own life. None of the Boston Blackie B-pictures of the 1940s were quite this coldblooded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Chorus girl Flo Maddie (Alice Brady) turns down the attentions of the womanizing Ned Ormsby (Charles Gerard) in favor of Ross Von Beekman (Vernon Steele), the only son of an ambitious, nouveau riche couple (Bigelow Cooper and Emily Fitzroy). Flo and Ross wed and his disapproving parents are determined to cause a rift between them. Fola, another chorus girl (Edith Stockton), convinces Mrs. Van Beekman to introduce Flo into society, since her lower-class manners will be revealed. Mrs. Van Beekman takes her advice, but instead of being ostracized, Flo makes such a hit that Ross' mother tells him he has married a flirt. Next, this wicked mother-in-law brings Ormsby back into Flo's life. His pursuit of her comes to a head when he follows her up to her room and locks himself in a closet. Ross comes home and, finding the closet door locked, becomes suspicious and shoots through the door. Flo convinces him to come downstairs and Ormsby, who is wounded, escapes. When he makes it home, an enemy of his is there to kill him. Ross believes he is the one who murdered Ormsby and is put on trial. Before he can be convicted, the real murderer confesses. Ross finally realizes the depth of Flo's devotion and the couple are firmly united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This little human interest drama was not set in New York's Little Italy district, but at a settlement of Italian truck farmers near Stamford, CT. Alice Brady, at the time a spirited young star, plays the lead role of Rosa Mascani. The Mascani clan has had an ongoing feud with the Tumullos and Rosa's father, Marco (George Fawcett), has passed his hatred onto his daughter. After serving five years on the Italian front during the World War, Antonio Tumullo (Norman Kerry) returns to the settlement and falls in love with Rosa. Although Rosa repulses his advances, she can't help noticing that he's very attractive. She toys with all her suitors, much to the annoyance of her father. He picks out a mate for her -- the wealthiest man in the settlement -- but she turns him down. Finally she vows to wed the first man she meets -- who happens to be Antonio. Once the ceremony is over, however, she insists that she still hates him. In spite of their frequent arguments, Rosa manages to get pregnant. Not wanting to raise her child under her husband's roof, she runs away, but once she becomes a mother, she has a change of heart and the couple are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Like all small town girls in the movies, Mary Horton (Alice Brady), has to make a go of it in the big city. She can't find work, but she does find a good friend in a young woman of questionable morality. Mary makes a life with her friend and her compatriots until the straightlaced Horace Worth (W.P. Carleton) comes around to tell her that her mother (Agnes Everett) is very ill. So Mary goes home, but she is followed by all her "sinning" friends because one of them, Bob Merrick (James L. Crane), has fallen in love with her. There are the typical conflicts between the prim country folk and the brazen city dwellers, but Mary points out that her city friends were the ones who offered her help when she needed it. This film was based on a play of the same name by Owen Davis. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Jim Carson (Fred Burton) supposedly runs Society Chatter, a scandal sheet, it is Maxwell Stone (Frank Losee) who is the publisher and real power behind the paper. There is talk of a juicy scandal going on at a posh Italian resort, and Stone goes to check it out, combining the trip with a visit to his daughter, Sylvia (Alice Brady). At the resort, Sylvia has become friends with Laura Hill (Edith Stockton), the flighty Milly Sayres (Nora Reed), and Milly's brother, Oliver Ellis (Richard Hatteras), who owns a New York morning newspaper. Sylvia also has become infatuated with Ettare Forni, a lusty tenor (Harry Mortimer). They plan to run off together, but Sylvia changes her mind when she discovers he does not plan to marry her. Stone unearths a scandalous tidbit surrounding Laura, and runs it in the paper. Laura is devastated by this and commits suicide. Sylvia returns to New York with Milly and Ellis, intent on avenging Laura's death. Carson tries to stop them by looking for dirt on Ellis. An attempt to link Milly with Forni is unsuccessful, and Carson is revealed as a blackmailer. Sylvia is shocked to discover that her father is the owner of Society Chatter, but he promises to close down the paper and reform, so she forgives him. She and Ellis wind up together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Stage and screen luminary Alice Brady stars in this unusual take on the story of The Taming of the Shrew. Charlotte Ordway (Brady) has boundless energy, and her new husband, Jim (Saxon Kling), can't even begin to keep up with her. On their honeymoon, she is "three cities ahead of him" the whole time. Back home, she hikes 20 miles in the morning, goes for a bike ride before lunch, swims and golfs in the afternoon, and dances all night. Jim asks his friends for help in wearing her out, but they are all unsuccessful. Then Brandon (Roy Adams), a "physical culture instructor," tries to win Charlotte away from her husband with his machismo. When Jim discovers this, he spirits his wife to an island cabin and plays rough with her. As generally happens in silent films, his "cave man" tactics win her over and she becomes suitably tamed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This fluffy picture was probably not too taxing on the talents of its formidable star, Alice Brady. By the time it was released, Brady was off performing in Forever After on Broadway. Dazie Mellows, otherwise known as "Redhead" (Brady), works as a dancer in a cabaret. Matt Thurlow, a wealthy but not particularly ambitious young man (Conrad Nagel), is at the cabaret with a group of his friends. They are all getting drunk and they invite Dazie to sit down with them. One of the crowd, Roland Gard (Robert Schable), is a justice of the peace, and he marries Thurlow and Dazie. They wake up to the reality of what they've done the next morning. She wants to make it work, while he insists he doesn't love her. He goes to work to support her, but shows no real enthusiasm towards the marriage, even after her parents (Charles Eldridge and May Brettone) pay the couple a pleasant visit. Dazie does everything she can to prove her worth to Thurlow but he only learns to appreciate her when she inadvertently makes him jealous. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Alice Brady manages to make this predictable drama more interesting than it otherwise might have been. Although Rita Charles (Brady) works as a secretary, her real career is as a "tinpanner" -- a young lady who spends her time in search of excitement and the high life. She is involved with the wealthy Harrison Chalvey (Earl Metcalfe), a man-about-town who isn't wholly convinced he wants to spend his life with her. She isn't all that sure about him, either, so when she meets up with her boss' son, T.J. Olverson Jr. (Robert Schable), and settlement worker Doctor Varian (W.P. Carleton Jr.), she pursues romances with both of them. When Chalvey finally does propose marriage, she turns him down. Olverson, it turns out, is already married and Rita just barely avoids being named in the couple's subsequent divorce trial. That leaves Varian and, as was easily guessed from the start, he marries Rita. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

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

The Whirlpool was based on the novel of the same name by Victoria Morton. Alice Brady stars as Belle Cavello, the mercenary sweetheart of moonstruck Arthur Hallam (William B. Davidson). In order to keep Belle in the manner to which she is accustomed, Arthur resorts to robbery and as a result is accused of a murder he didn't commit. Sobered by this turn of events, the covetous Belle decides to henceforth live a virtuous life, and to that end she marries the highly respectable Judge Reverton (H.E. Herbert). Inevitably, however, Belle's past catches up with her, and her bad traits resurface. The heroine's multitude of personal problems are straightened out -- if such a thing is possible -- by a prominent "brain specialist" (W.E. Williams), who tries to purge the heroine of her inbred wickedness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide