Cecil B. DeMille Movies

Although this was only Cecil B. DeMille's fifth feature, it shows some of the qualities that would make his work famous in the '20s: sumptuous, high-society settings and a pleasing blend of both humor and drama. Adapted from a Booth Tarkington play, it involves the Simpson siblings, Horace (Jode Mullaly) and Ethel (Mabel Van Buren). They have inherited quite a lot of money, and Daniel Pike (Charles Richman) is appointed as the estate's executor. Horace and Ethel travel to Europe, where some Russian fortunehunters attempt to swindle them out of their money. By the time Pike arrives on the scene, Ethel is about to marry one of the fakers. The Grand Duke Vasill (Theodore Roberts) helps Pike discredit the con artists in time to prevent the marriage. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Producer Jesse Lasky and stage impresario David Belasco teamed up for several films in the mid-teens and this tale of nineteenth-century California was their first project. Originally a Belasco play with Frances Starr, it became a Cecil B. DeMille/Oscar Apfel-directed feature. It opens up with a band of claim jumpers, led by the villainous Esra Kincaid (Dick LaReno), taking over the Espinoza ranch. The bandits kill the ranch's owner (Sydney Deane) and forces the daughter (future scenarist Jeanie MacPherson) to take her own life. Into this strife-ridden land comes Kearney (J. S. Johnston), an agent sent by the government to bring order out of the chaos. He romances Juanita (Bessie Barriscale), daughter of the Castros, then discovers that the Castro rancho is next on Kincaid's list for attack. Kearney calls for the cavalry, then holds off the outlaws long enough for them to arrive. With the battle won, he is able to declare his love for the vivacious Juanita. While there was a lot of potential to this picture -- it was both based and filmed in California, the involvement of Belasco, etc. -- some of it was cheaply shot, and it showed. Other pictures by the Lasky/Belasco/DeMille team -- notably The Warrens of Virginia -- would turn out far better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Betraying its origin, David Belasco's popular stage melodrama The Squaw Man reached the screen in February of 1914, courtesy of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Already an old wheeze by then, the story of miscegenation in the Old West was supposed to have been filmed on locations near Flagstaff, Arizona. Young Cecil B. DeMille, who was to share directorial duties with veteran stage performer Oscar Apfel, and the Lasky crew arrived in the middle of a storm and decided to remain on the train until the final destination. Debarking in sunny Los Angeles, the Lasky people rented half of a barn in the suburb of Hollywood where the Squaw Man finally went before the camera on December 29, 1913. The finished 6-reel-long melodrama thus became the first feature western to be shot entirely in Hollywood. The result is a terribly dull but typical Victorian romance about a English peer (Dustin Farnum) falsely accused of a crime actually committed by his brother. He escapes to the American West and marries an Indian maiden (Red Wing). Years later, on his deathbed, the brother confesses, thus freeing the hero to reclaim title and lands. The Indian wife, meanwhile, has conveniently murdered someone and is herself killed, leaving the Englishman able to return to home and hearth without suffering the embarrassment of being called a "Squaw Man." DeMille remained strangely sentimental about this -- his screen debut -- and filmed the play twice more, in 1918 starring Elliott Dexter, and again in 1931 starring Warner Baxter. The story didn't improve with age. The location of the now-famous Lasky barn, on Selma Avenue near Vine Street, became the headquarters of Paramount when Lasky merged with competitor Adolph Zukor. It remains today as the oldest film company located in geographical Hollywood. Always on the verge of being torn down, the old barn later saw duty as a gymnasium and, later still, was the train depot in the Bonanza television series. In the 1980s, the barn was moved to a new location on Odin Street near the Hollywood Bowl and functioned as a studio museum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This is the first film in which budding filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille received full credit as a director. Set in the wild Canadian North, the adventure yarn centers upon a brave young trader who is one of the few to work independently from the monopolizing Hudson Bay Company. The young trader is looking for the man who killed his father after smearing his good name by claiming that his father slept with the wife of the owner of a trading post. The trouble for the young man begins when he is caught by Hudson Bay thugs and forced to make it through the wilds with neither food nor weapons. Somehow he barely manages to survive the harsh environment. Towards the end, the daughter of his father's killer shows up and helps save him. Later the trading post owner, who is just about to die, tells everyone the truth about the killing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This early Cecil B. DeMille film is surprisingly simple and unpretentious. It's the story of small-town inhabitants Harvey (Max Figman) and Nellie (Lolita Robertson). He's the popular manager of the local soda fountain; she's the baker's daughter. They marry and lead a poor but happy existence until a theater troupe comes to town. Nellie's talents as an actress are discovered, and she goes on tour, with Harvey in tow. Eventually he becomes known only as "what's-his-name," and Nellie is romanced by a wealthy man. Harvey takes their daughter Phoebe (Cecilia DeMille) back home, and Nellie goes to Reno to obtain a divorce. When Phoebe suffers a serious illness, it brings the couple back together again. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although this was Cecil B. DeMille's third directorial effort, it was the first time he attempted it on his own, without the skills of his more experienced co-director Oscar Apfel. Most of the Lasky Company productions were based on either a novel, a stage play, or in the case of The Virginian, a novel (by Owen Wister) that became a stage play. The title character is played by Dustin Farnum and Winifred Kingston is his schoolteacher ladylove, Molly Wood. The setting is Bess Creek, Wyoming. The Virginian's compadre Steve (J.W. Johnston) has gotten himself mixed up with some rustlers. Steve's hanging, in fact, is aided by his former friend. One famous scene -- known by many people who haven't even seen this or any other filmed version of the story -- occurs when the head of the rustlers, Trampas (Billy Elmer), calls the Virginian a vile name. Our hero's steely reply is "When you call me that -- smile." (This line was lampooned hilariously in, among other places, Buster Keaton's 1926 comedy, Go West.) It's a mistake for these cattle thieves to mess with the Virginian -- he vanquishes them and shoots Trampas in a showdown, thus winning Molly's hand. Incidentally, this picture shows how rudimentary DeMille's directorial skills were at the time -- it's technically one of his weakest. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Golden Chance was the last of 12 (!) films directed in 1915 by Cecil B. DeMille. Scripted by DeMille and Jeannie MacPherson, the story concentrates on Mary Denby (Cleo Ridgely) a young wife forced to take a job as a seamstress when her husband Steve (Horace B. Carpenter) spends all their money on booze. Mary's employer, socialite Mrs. Hilary (Edythe Chapman) is busily arranging a society marriage for business purposes. When the prospective bride fails to show up at an important party, Mrs. Hilary persuades Mary to take the girl's place. As a result, wealthy Roger Manning (Wallace Reid) falls head over heels in love with her. But then, Mary's husband Steve emerges from oblivion with blackmail on his mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cecil B. DeMille's The Arab was based on the stage play by Edgar Selwyn, who plays the title role. The headstrong son of powerful sheik Horace B. Carpenter, Selwyn is punished for his foolish pride. The old shiek sells his son's favorite horse, which passes through many hands before ending up in the possession of pretty missionary Gertrude Robinson. Imperiously, Selwyn steals the horse from Robinson, forcing the poor girl to walk through the scorching desert sands. Eventually, he changes his ways, saving her and her father from a massacre. Though now in love with Robinson, Selwyn must reluctantly bid her farewell when he is forced to assume his late father's duties as shiek. Humorist Irvin S. Cobb appears briefly as a bumptuous American tourist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cheat was the picture that "made" the reputation of director Cecil B. DeMille. Broadway star Fannie Ward plays an irresponsible socialite who uses the charity funds entrusted to her to play the stock market. When she loses the money, Ward is afraid to tell her husband Jack Dean, so she arranges to borrow $10,000 from wealthy oriental Sessue Hayakawa. It is understood that, in exchange for the loan, Ward will surrender herself sexually to Hayakawa. When her husband gives her a gift of $10,000, Ward tries to call off her deal with Hayakawa, but the enraged oriental calls her a cheat; wrestling her to the floor, he brands the woman with a symbol signifying that she belongs to him. She responds to this humiliation by shooting Hayakawa. Ward's loyal husband takes responsibility for the shooting, standing trial on an assault charge. To save her husband, Ward confesses all in court, displaying the brand mark on her shoulder. Logically, Ward should now be charged with the crime, but this is 1915: the all-white courtroom spectators pounce upon Hayakawa, nearly killing the poor fellow, and Ward and her husband are exonerated. Depending upon where this film was shown, Sessue Hayakawa's character was either Japanese or Burmese: either way, he was regarded as the villain of the piece almost solely on the basis of his race. Interestingly, Hayakawa was elevated to stardom on the basis of The Cheat, permitting him to play far more sympathetic characters in the future. As mentioned, The Cheat also served as the breakthrough film for Cecil B. DeMille: critics of the time fell over themselves praising DeMille's creative use of low-key lighting and shadow effects to artistically convey his melodramatic yarn. Though The Cheat was remade several times, the 1915 DeMille film remains the definitive version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bowery toughie Chimmie Fadden was the creation of New York Sun journalist E. W. Townsend. Chimmie proved popular enough with Sun readers to spawn a novel, play, and finally, a 1915 4-reeler. Victor Moore stars as the boisterous Chimmie, who decides to mend his ways when he is befriended by a society lady. She hires the Fadden family as servants, leading to a spot of bother when Chimmie's crooked brother (Raymond Hatton) tries to abscond with the silverware. As for Chimmie himself, he inaugurates a romance with French maid Camille Astor, though he's too shy to give her a kiss until the final fadeout. Chimmie Fadden was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who was reteamed with Victor Moore five months later for Chimmie Fadden Out West. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even though Paramount already had a production of Carmen in the works, producer William Fox forged right ahead with his own, starring Theda Bara as the hot-blooded cigarette girl. Fox risked having his film pale in comparison to the other, which had Cecil B. DeMille directing, and opera diva Geraldine Farrar in her screen debut. But he brought in the talented Raoul Walsh to direct and spared no expense when it came to the lavish sets, so his picture pretty much ran neck in neck with Paramount's (with the exception of Bara's performance -- Farrar, who played the role on stage, did better work). Fox's Carmen sticks closer to the Prosper Merimee novel than Paramount's, which relied strongly on the Bizet opera (for obvious reasons). The story here includes Michaela, Don Jose's first love (Elsie MacLeod). But the story is basically the same, no matter the source -Carmen gets into a brawl with another girl at the cigarette factory (Fay Tunis -- this was her only acting credit) and is put under arrest. But her captor, Don Jose (Swedish actor Einar Linden in his first American film), falls in love with her and lets her go, bringing disgrace down on himself. Carmen runs off and joins some Gypsies and finds another lover, bullfighter Escamillo (Carl Harbaugh). Don Jose is furious at being cast aside so callously and stabs Carmen to death outside the bullring. According to Variety's review, Fox's Carmen "just misses being a masterpiece." We'll have to take the critic's word for it, as the film apparently no longer exists. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

1915 was a big year for civil war films -- this powerful five-reeler was released around the same time as D.W. Griffith's landmark Birth of a Nation. The Warrens of Virginia was yet another collaboration between film producer Jesse Lasky and stage producer David Belasco. It had originally been a book, then a Belasco stage play. The playwright was William C. DeMille, who also wrote the screenplay. It was directed by DeMille's younger brother, Cecil, and was one of the best of his early directorial efforts. The story concerns Ned Burton (House Peters), who leaves his Southern girlfriend, Agatha Warren (Blanche Sweet), to fight for the Union forces. He becomes a special agent and Agatha, who is wavering between her loyalty for the Confederacy and her love for Burton, gives him shelter. By the war's end, the couple settles their differences and all is well. Mildred Harris has a bit part here; a few years later, she would have a starring role in the DeMille feature Fool's Paradise. Harris is primarily known as the first wife of comedian Charlie Chaplin. Cecil B. DeMille's continuing faith in her (she worked for him off and on until 1944) suggests that perhaps history has underrated her acting talents. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide