Sylvia Breamer Movies

William S. Hart plays (what else?) a "good badman" in his first production for Paramount release, The Narrow Trail. While holding up a stagecoach, Hart falls hopelessly in love with a gorgeous, stylishly clothed lady passenger. He follows her to San Francisco, where he discovers to his chagrin that she's little better than a trollop. After venting his spleen on everyone in sight, Hart learns that girl has been victimized by a nasty relative. He rescues her from a life of vice, and together they head off to a better life in the West. Narrow Trail has assumed legendary status in recent years due to an effusive critique of the film's barroom brawl sequence, written by Jean Cocteau. Alas, the "naked bodies slippery with blood" so eloquently described by Cocteau are nowhere to be found in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Missing was co-adapted for the screen by James Young (who is sometimes erroneously credited as the film's director). Thomas Meighan stars as Sir William Farrell, who when WWI breaks out is barred from military services because of a crippled leg. Sir William is in love with Nell (Sylvia Breamer), whose husband Lieutenant George Surratt (Robert Gordon) has been reported missing in action. Nell's older sister Hester (Ola Humphrey), hoping to land the wealthy Farrell as a brother-in-law, keeps secret the fact that Surratt has turned up in a military hospital, very much alive but suffering from amnesia. When Sir William learns the truth, he nobly puts his own feelings aside and arranges for Nell to be reunited with her husband -- then expands his largess by transforming his vast country estate into a home for convalescent soldiers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man who believes he is a murderer travels the world to escape his past in this often confusing crime drama. Richard Dix stars in a double role of twin brothers Paul and Arthur Ellison. Arthur flees New York for South America for help from his brother Paul, an engineer by trade. Paul feels partially responsible for Arthur's behavior after he accidentally shot him in a childhood mishap. Arthur assumed his brother's identity and travels to the Orient. Sylvia (Elsa Chetwood) meets him five years later and assumes he is Paul. Romance between the two lead to marriage plans, but an oily gambler named Craig (Herbert Prior) is on board the ship bound for America. Prior tries to kill Arthur and collect the reward money to cover his debts. Arthur holds a diamond given to him by a grateful native prince after saving people from a plague. A final showdown between Arthur and the gambler reveals Prior was the one who committed the murder that has tormented Arthur the last five years. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In spite of many attempts to bring Will Rogers superstardom in silent films (he was already one on Broadway), it wasn't until sound came in that he found his niche. Here, he and director Clarence G. Badger flounder as they try for pathos a la Charles Chaplin's The Kid. Rogers plays Noah Vale, a penniless inventor who is struggling along trying to support himself and a pair of cute orphans. He toils night and day on an invention that he hopes will make him enough money so that he will be worthy of Miss Fay (Sylvia Breamer, who is wasted here), the daughter of a wealthy man (George Williams). Vale has a relative who's well off, but won't have anything to do with him or his invention; the machine, however, is stolen by the relative's partner. It turns out that the invention is utterly worthless, but Vale winds up ahead anyhow -- he has a few stories, and his relation's secretary markets them. Thus Vale and the kids still manage to become financially solvent. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Stage star George Arliss had been a huge success in the 1906 stage play on which this film was based. Other versions had already been filmed, but nothing could compare to Arliss when he decided to reprise his role on screen. His character, Dr. Mueller, is the devil incarnate, determined to ruin the lives of four young lovers -- Georges, a banker (Roland Bottomly), Marie, his fiancée (Lucy Cotton), Georges' artist friend, Paul (Edmund Lowe), and Mimi, his model (Sylvia Breamer). When Marie insists that truth will always win out over evil, Mueller puts her assertion to the test. He sees that Marie and Paul are thrown together so that they fall in love with each other. Then he encourages Mimi to seduce Paul, who is guilty about betraying Georges. Just as Marie and Paul have decided to be together, Mueller convinces her that Paul is still seeing Mimi. Mueller plays with the young lovers as if they were puppets on a string, and nearly wins out. But Mimi figures out his evil lies and machinations. Before he will admit defeat, Mueller makes an unsuccessful stab at abducting Marie, but he is held at bay by a ghostly cross. The last we see of Mueller, he is smilingly engulfed in hellish flames, waiting for a new opportunity. Though new to screen technique, Arliss is delightful in this -- he turns the role into high camp as only an old ham can do. At 53, this strange looking but charismatic actor became as popular on screen as he was on stage. His wife, Florence Arliss, appears as Marie's mother. Also billed is a certain Frederick Bickel, who would later become more well known as Frederic March. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Virile Jack Holt was perfectly cast as the title character in this brawling South Seas drama. New Yorker Robert Kendall (Holt) inherits a pearl fishery from his uncle. It is located next to another fishing ground, and the men of both fisheries are constantly at odds. Kendall has to make a trip to the South Seas to claim the inheritance and to bring order to the area. As is usual for Jack Holt's characters, Kendall uses his fists to solve nearly every obstacle he discovers, battling two divers, Ricardo (Edwin Stevens) and Nilsson (Clarence Burton), and fighting for his rights. Kendall also falls in love with Rita Durand (Sylvia Breamer), the beautiful daughter of the owner of the adjoining fishery. Rita's father is murdered by a thief who wants to steal his fortune in pearls. Kendall tracks down the killer and brings him to justice. The grateful Rita consents to become Kendall's wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Considering the kind of material he was given, it's no wonder that John Gilbert was not very happy at the Fox studios. This humdrum Northwest melodrama was typical, and it seems especially tired coming right after the flashier Monte Cristo. Here, Gilbert portrays Page Emlyn, who accompanies Jim Calvert (Philo McCullough) to the family home. Calvert's fiancée, Hester Rymal (Sylvia Breamer), breaks up with him and later he dies after he falls off a cliff. Emlyn was in a blackout drunk the night Calvert died, and the widow Crowcroft (Lule Warrenton) tells him that he pushed his friend off the cliff. When he hears Calvert's mother bitterly accusing Hester of driving Jim to his death, Emlyn confesses to murder. He is put on trial but saved at the last minute when the widow admits that it was actually her half-wit son who killed Calvert. Judging from films like this one, the best thing Gilbert did for his career was to leave Fox and sign with MGM in 1924. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This comedy-drama, with its ethnic and mother love themes, was very much of its era. When Dennis O'Neill (Cullen Landis) inherits his uncle's junk business, he has to relocate from Ireland to the States. His uncle's wish is that he take care of his aunt, Delia Bryan (Laura Lavarnie), but unfortunately Delia doesn't want anything to do with Dennis's widowed mother (Mary Alden) and her old-fashioned, Irish ways. In America, Dennis pretends to put his mother on a boat back to Ireland, then sneaks her off and sets her up in an apartment near his. Then he is faced with wrestling his uncle's estate from two swindlers, dealing with one surrogate and one real mother (for example, he has to eat birthday dinner twice), and winning the heart of pretty Claire Mordaunt (Sylvia Breamer). The latter, in a way, is the most difficult, because Claire gets suspicious of the mysterious woman Dennis keeps visiting. It's finally revealed that the "other woman" is his mother, and after a good, healthy fist fight, Dennis gets control of the estate. Paul Bern -- the man behind the megaphone here -- showed quite a bit of talent as a director but later he proved to be an even better producer. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although plastic surgery was still in its early stages when this drama was made, Frank Mayo's ultra-phony nose and beard makes it seem like film make-up was still in its infancy instead. He plays John Morton, a shipmaster who is horribly disfigured when his boat collides with another. The two ships are wrecked, and he saves beautiful Elsie Haynes (Sylvia Breamer). They marry, and eventually he works his way up to become a wealthy ship merchant. But Morton finds that Elsie is losing interest in him, and he's convinced that it's because of his misshapen face. He exchanges identities with a man who has committed suicide and goes off to have plastic surgery. After the operation, he returns, still with the assumed name and convinced that he will be able to win back his supposed widow. But he discovers that she is being wooed by a scheming womanizer, Freddie Needham (a miscast Francis MacDonald). Nevertheless, Morton manages to win Elsie away from the masher, and when his true identity is found out, he and Needham come to blows on a yachting cruise. Needham is vanquished, both in the battle and in love. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Owen Moore has an unlikely dual role in this melodrama. Robert Wells (Moore) is an American born in China who, unbeknownst to him, has an Oriental half-brother (also Moore). Wells' uncle sends him to help Ray Williams (Robert McKim) build bridges in China. Williams is in league with Chinese reactionaries and he discredits Wells by turning him into a drug addict. Wells eventually becomes an outcast and is in a stupor when he is found by his half-brother, Kong Sue, the son of the Lord of Thundergate, a powerful Mandarin reactionary (Tully Marshall). Kong Sue has run off with some money, and he changes clothes with lookalike Wells so he can more effectively disappear. So Wells wakes up to find himself the son of the Lord of Thundergate. He is finally able to expose Williams and his nefarious plot and, along the way, meets Ellen Ainsmith (Virginia Brown Faire), a white girl who has been raised as a Chinese. He saves her from a forced marriage to the Lord of Thundergate, wins her heart and recovers from his addiction. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This Western features all the usual Universal Studios suspects: Frank Mayo as the manly hero, Philo McCullough as the slimy villain, and Sylvia Breamer as the pretty but less-than-distinctive love interest. The story is told in flashback as the Grand Jury calls in rancher Sam Bass (Mayo) to testify in a sheep stealing case. Bass, unaware of why he is wanted, immediately confesses to a murder and relates his long, sad story. Years before, he unsuccessfully pursued a gang of bank robbers and his evil half brother, Will (McCullough) -- who also was in love with Sam's sweetheart, Mary (Breamer) -- accused him of the robbery. Sam was tossed in jail for a year, and while incarcerated, he studied law. He began life anew once he was released, and when he ran for county prosecutor, Will reappeared and exposed him as a jailbird. Sam was run out of town, and when he tried to start all over again, Will attempted to blackmail him. By now, Sam was pretty fed up with the whole situation and a fight broke out, during which he thought he killed Will. But just as Sam is finishing up this incriminating testimony, the sheriff (George A. Williams) shows up with Will, who is alive after all -- and who turns out to be the sheep thief. Will is put behind bars, and Sam is reunited with Mary. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This sentimental rural drama was based on the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. Frankie Lee plays Dick Alden, the barefoot boy of the title. He is abused by his stepfather and his only friends in the village where he lives are his mother, a little girl named Mary Truesdale (Gertie Messinger), and Tom Adams (Tully Marshall), the town drunkard. One day, he has to help Adams out of the cellar of the schoolhouse. Later, when the schoolhouse catches fire because of a careless smoker, Dick is blamed. No one believes his innocence and his father beats him, so he runs away. Many years later he returns (to be played by John Bower), a successful manufacturer who owns the mill that keeps the village alive. He plans to get revenge for his treatment as a boy by shutting the mill down, thus causing a financial disaster. But he's talked out of the scheme by Mary (played as an adult by Marjorie Daw). The mill is blown up anyhow by Dick's enemies, but he becomes determined to build a bigger, better plant in its place. This film, incidentally was released by C.B.C., derisively called "Corned Beef and Cabbage" by its competitors. Later on, the firm would change its name to Columbia and emerge from its Poverty Row beginnings. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide