Herbert Blaché Movies

Universal's ruffled cowboy star Hoot Gibson and brunette Virginia Browne Faire played feuding ranchers in this average silent Western co-directed by Henry McRae and Herbert Blaché. The two ranchers get together to fight a common enemy, however, and fall in love. Based on William McLeod Raine's A Daughter of the Dons, this film is remembered only for Boris Karloff playing one of the thugs. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A typical silent programmer, this Universal "Jewel" production features House Peters as a millionaire yachtsman whose girlfriend (Patsy Ruth Miller) falls for a fortune hunter (Richard Travers). Peters arranges for the girl to be brought aboard his yacht where, swathed in bandages, he manages to convince her that he is Travers. A wedding ceremony is performed but when she learns the truth, Patsy accuses Peters of kidnapping. Attempting to flee in a decrepit rowboat, the girl is rescued in the nick of time by Peters' Chinese crew members (Togo Yamamotoand George Kuwa) and returned to the yacht. Near death from exposure, Patsy is nursed back to health by Peters, whom she forgives. Head Winds was directed by Herbert Blaché, the former husband of pioneering female director Alice Guy-Blaché. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Based on a 1918 magazine serial by Fred Jackson, this typical silent-action melodrama from Universal starred Herbert Rawlinson as Hi Moreland, a handsome athlete battling with a wealthy but insipid rival for the attention of pretty Marjorie Holbrook (Carmelita Geraghty), the daughter of a bank president. The loathsome rival, Dick Farrell (Bert Roach), attempts to frame Moreland, but he manages to wiggle out of the situation and win the girl. The suave Herbert Rawlinson, from England, was one of many actors attempting to rival the era's great swashbuckler, the inimitable Douglas Fairbanks. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Herbert Rawlinson is Jimmy Dorgan, the spendthrift son of a wealthy man. John "Pick-Handle" Dorgan (Tully Marshall) earned his fortune through hard work. He's incredulous when Jimmy flips a 20-dollar gold piece, loses a car and 5,000 dollars, and then doesn't even pick the coin up off the ground. The old man takes the gold piece and buries it in the country along with a will giving his son half the estate. But when Dorgan dies, the only will Jimmy can find leaves him a paltry 5,000 dollars. Before he is able to find the real will, he is swindled out of what he does have and finally learns the real value of money. He also wins the hand of Dorgan's pretty little ward, Nellie Blye (Katherine Perry). ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Gladys Walton plays an inept newspaper reporter in this mediocre farce comedy. Leslie Adams (Walton) is secretary to the city editor of a newspaper, but she longs to write. She begs her boss for a chance, so he sends her out to cover a crowd of society people who throw wild parties. Her assignment takes her to the home of an author who goes by a nom de plume. Unfortunately, in her attempt to be creative, Leslie gets all her facts wrong. She has the writer (Robert Ellis) pegged as the man who is having an affair with the married Blanche Cartwright (Dolores Revier). The result is a libel suit against the paper. The furious city editor threatens to fire Leslie unless she can prove her story is true. Her attempts end up in the usual farcical fare -- various people in pajamas making quick entrances and exits, with general mayhem ensuing. Leslie fails at her mission, but it doesn't matter since she ends up winning the writer. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This comedy-drama starring Gladys Walton used the stale premise of the suddenly-wealthy working class family who are trying to move into society. Nora Schultz (Walton) is a manicurist in a Greek barber shop run by Standuppolus Kornpoppulus (Harry Mann). Her father, Herman (Otis Harlan), is a butcher who invents a sausage machine that makes the family rich overnight. The Van Bibbers (Emmett King and Henrietta Floyd) are a prominent family with financial troubles. They meet up with Schultz and his wife (the always-dependable character comedienne, Kate Price), and decide that Nora should be engaged to their son, Basil (Jerry Gendron). The young couple agree to the plan only for their parents' sake. Much to their surprise (but not the audience's), they fall in love. They try to hide their growing affection for each other, and Basil fakes being drunk in an attempt to get Nora to break the engagement. But eventually they confess their love and marry. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

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, Rovi

The Saphead was based on the tried-and-true Winchell Smith stage comedy The New Henrietta, previously filmed in 1915 as The Lamb. Buster Keaton, at the time a popular 2-reel comedy attraction, makes his feature-film debut in the role of the addlepated son of Wall Street lion William H. Crane. In an effort to make something worthwhile of his unprepossessing offspring, Crane gives Keaton $100,000 to buy a seat on the stock market. Keaton gets mixed up in a seemingly worthless stock, but proves at the end that he's got more business sense than all the other brokers combined. Surprisingly, The Saphead is almost bereft of slapstick, until Keaton forces the issue in a riotous stock-exchange climax. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Alla Nazimova went from heavy-handed dramatic spectaculars to light comedy-drama with this picture, based on a hit play by Maude Fulton. The Brat (Nazimova) is a crude little chorus girl who has just been fired from a Broadway show. She is rescued by Mac Millan Forrester (Charles Bryant, Nazimova's partner, both business and personal), an author looking for material for his next book. He takes her home, to the horror of his mother (Amy Veness) and sweetheart Angela (Bonnie Hill). But she wins over the family when Forrester refines her rough exterior and she saves his brother Stephen (Darrell Foss) from disgrace. This Pygmalion-like story was too much of a stretch for the Russian star and it was not well-received by her fan base. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This film marked a turn in the life and career of Viola Dana. Its scenario was being prepared by her husband, director John Collins, just before a brief illness resulted in his death. The character Dana portrays here, Diana Ardway, takes a wide left turn from her former, meeker roles. Diana is a feisty, untamed creature, kind of a cross between Constance Talmadge and Dorothy Gish. She has her cap set for playwright Paul Worden (Milton Sills), but he only sees her as a silly, unruly child. This, naturally, does not sit well with Diana, and she uses all her wiles to make Worden see her as a woman. This playful comedy added new dimensions to the types of roles Dana played. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Hortense Troutt (May Allison) attends a "Bull-Shevik" lecture and is won over to their cause. The next day she quits her job as a stenographer because her boss, Saul Shilpick (Alfred Hollingsworth), is a capitalist. She goes to the woman who gave the lecture and offers her services. The woman promptly puts her new "comrade" to work as a maid -- without pay, of course. The work becomes harder and more grueling, and in whatever spare time she has, Hortense is expected to type up speeches. She is romanced by an old "Bull-Shevik," but has to give him forty-nine dollars to purchase a suit in which he can wed her. At this juncture, a new convert happens along -- Saul, Jr., the son of Hortense's former boss (Pell Trenton). He loves her and has been looking for her ever since she quit her job. It turns out that her old "Bull-Shevik" suitor already had a wife, so Hortense dumps him and the maid work and becomes a convert to the cause for capitalism and an honest man. This satire was adapted from a Saturday Evening Post story by Wallace Irwin. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Adapted from a play by Rachel Crothers, A Man's World starred Emily Stevens as Frankie Ware, an American novelist living in Paris. Entrusted with the care of an orphaned boy, Frankie is upset that the child's mother died in shame, shunned by "polite" society because her baby was born out of wedlock. In protest, Frankie writes a book entitled "The Beaten Path," in which she condemns the Double Standard that punishes sinful women while giving sinful men a pass. Frankie's feistiness earns her the admiration of her publisher -- who, as it turns out, is the father of her foster child. This entertaining feminist manifesto was directed by Herbert Blache, who none too coincidentally was the husband of Alice Guy Blache, one of Hollywood's handful of woman directors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi