Cecil B. DeMille Movies
An actor and general manager with his mother's theatrical troupe since the mid-1900s, Cecil B. DeMille formed a filmmaking partnership in 1913 with vaudeville artist Jesse L. Lasky and businessman Samuel Goldfish (soon to be known as Samuel Goldwyn). Their first venture was The Squaw Man (1914), which DeMille co-directed, co-wrote and co-produced with Oscar Apfel. This successful and elaborate six-reeler launched DeMille on a lifelong career in films. His first solo effort was the Western The Virginian (1914), which he also co-scripted. He edited and wrote (or co-wrote) almost all his successful films, with the notable exception of the popular melodrama The Cheat (1915). Writer Jeanie Macpherson began working for DeMille in 1914 with The Captive (1915), and wrote most of his later silent films: hits that included witty romantic farces (Don't Change Your Husband); epic morality tales that combined modern dramas with visions of history (Joan the Woman [1916]) or the Bible (The Ten Commandments [1923]); and perhaps DeMille's greatest artistic success, the handsome and moving life of Christ, The King of Kings (1927). Macpherson also wrote the director's first three talkies, ending their collaboration in 1930 with the bizarre comedy Madam Satan (1930). DeMille continued to score hits in the '30s with epics (Sign of the Cross [1932], Cleopatra [1934]) and Westerns (The Plainsman [1937], Union Pacific [1939]). His output became more sporadic during the '40s, but he still pleased the public with his rugged action films Northwest Mounted Police (1940) and Reap the Wild Wind (1942). DeMille's last three films -- Samson and Delilah (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956), a remake of his 1923 movie of the same name -- were the most successful releases of their respective years. DeMille's final directorial effort, The Ten Commandments was also the decade's box-office champ. He died in 1959 at the age of 77; his memoir, The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, was published posthumously later that year. ~ All Movie Guide- 1917
Reportedly, director Cecil B. DeMille and leading lady Mary Pickford did not see eye to eye during the making of this lavish Western melodrama filmed on location among the giant redwoods in northern California. "Little Mary" actually plays a female her own age this time (maybe that was the trouble) as a young woman whose father is killed in an Indian raid. Pickford falls for a dashing outlaw (Elliott Dexter), whom she later frees after his inevitable capture by persuading the sheriff (Walter Long) that she is pregnant. Amazingly, the ruse works and they are allowed to plan a future together in freedom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1923
No, this society drama is not related in any way, shape or form to the 1949 Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy comedy. It's one of Cecil B. DeMille's most critically savaged pictures. At 34, Anna Q. Nilsson was a bit young to play the neglected middle-aged wife of business man Michael Ramsay (Milton Sills). The deposed King of Morania (Theodore Kosling) begins to draw Mrs. Ramsay's attention away from her marriage and she makes plans to run off with him. Ramsay, meanwhile, is trying to keep his marriage intact by spending his fortune in an attempt to get the king back on his throne. All this is viewed with disgust by the Ramsay's flapper daughter, Mathilda (Pauline Garon). Although she is engaged to professor Nathan Reade (Elliott Dexter), Mathilda makes a play for the king, just to keep him away from her mother. She winds up saving her mother but ruining her own reputation and destroying Reade's trust. Ramsay makes himself a new fortune and reconciles with his wife, who writes a confession for Mathilda to hand to Reade. She takes it down to him in the tropics, where he is working, but he decides to believe her and destroys the letter without reading it. The last part of the film contains a sequence shot on color film. DeMille was famous for his fantasy sequences and this one, which takes place in caveman days, is one of his worst. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Sills, Elliott Dexter, (more)
- 1914
Brewster's Millions, a stage play by Winchell Smith and Byron Ongley (itself adapted from a novel by George Barr McCutcheon) would be filmed no fewer than seven times over a seventy-year period. This 1914 version was the first; it starred Edward Abeles, who previously headlined the stage version. Abeles plays Monty Brewster, who inherits a multimillion-dollar estate. There's only one catch: Brewster must spend a million dollars within a year if he is to earn his legacy. If that sounds simple, then you don't know your three-act stage farces. Often incorrectly credited to Cecil B. DeMille, Brewster's Millions was actually directed by DeMille's Famous Players-Lasky colleague Oscar Apfel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Abeles, Winifred Kingston, (more)
- 1915
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
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
- 1915
This 5-reel sequel to the popular comedy Chimmie Fadden reunited star Victor Moore with director Cecil B. DeMille. This time around, brash Bowery boy Chimmie gets mixed up in a publicity stunt staged by a railroad. With a bag of gold in hand, he is shipped out to Death Valley, where he is supposed to stir up a phony gold rush. He is then slated to reboard the train and head back to New York. It's all to promote the planned breaking of the transcontinental speed record. While the railroad's best-laid schemes go agley, Chimmie comes out of the experience smelling like a rose. Like the earlier Chimmie Fadden, Chimmie Fadden Out West is based on a character created by New York Sun columnist E. W. Townsend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Film historian William K. Everson once observed that the secret to the success of Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 Cleopatra is that DeMille subtly reshaped the known historical events into a contemporary "gold-digger makes good" scenario. Exhibiting the same determination with which Barbara Stanwyck sleeps her way to the top in 1933's Baby Face, Queen Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) uses her feminine wiles to become sole ruler of Egypt. By turns kittenish and cold-blooded, Cleopatra wraps such otherwise responsible Roman worthies as Julius Caesar (Warren William, who wittily plays his role like one of his standard ruthless business executives) and Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxon) around her well-manicured little finger. To emphasize the "contemporary" nature of the film, DeMille adds little modernistic touches throughout: The architecture of Egypt and Rome has a distinctly art-deco look; a matron at a social gathering clucks "Poor Calpurnia...well, the wife is always the last to know"; and, after Caesar's funeral, Mark Anthony is chided by an associate for "all that 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' business!" Cleopatra's barge scene and her suicide from the bite of a snake marked two of the most memorable sequences in DeMille's career. Remarkably, for all the enormous sets and elaborate costumes, Cleopatra came in at a budget of $750,000 -- almost $40 million less than the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Warren William, (more)
- 1926
Produced by none other than Cecil B. DeMille, this riotous silent comedy stars Rod La Rocque as Jerry Cleggert, a descendant of a notorious family of pirates forced to marry on the deck of the rotting "Jasper B." or forfeit a large inheritance. Jerry finds the perfect would-be spouse in pretty Agatha Fairhaven (Mildred Harris but the couple are waylaid en route to the important nuptials by a gang of bandits. The highlight of the comedy was a wild spree in a driverless taxi cap pursued not only by the gangsters but by local, state and Federal authorities as well. Needless to say, the exasperated couple manages to say their "I dos" right before the deadline. Leading lady Mildred Harris was the first wife of comedy star Charles Chaplin, a fact she reportedly never let anyone forget. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1919
This was Gloria Swanson's first film for director Cecil B. DeMille and it went a long way in establishing her as a star. Considered deliciously racy in its day, Don't Change Your Husband is an amusing battle between the sexes that takes place in the sumptuous upper-class society of the post-WWI era. The romantic Leila Porter (Gloria Swanson) is frustrated by her neglectful husband, James (Elliot Dexter). James is a glue magnate who is more concerned with making money than he is about keeping Leila happy. So she divorces him and marries the flashy, stylish Schuyler Van Sutphen (Lew Cody). It doesn't take long before Leila discovers that Sutphen is a gambling, two-timing rat, and she returns to the more prosaic Porter, who -- luckily for Leila -- is happy to have her back. This is a classic example of DeMille's drawing-room side, and the combination of humor, luscious sets and costumes, and brilliant casting (especially of Swanson and Cody), made this film a solid winner. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1925
While on leave of absence in Paris, American Air Force officer Billy Brent (Allan Forrest) meets Fifi (Leatrice Joy), a midinette, or dressmaker's apprentice. Although they are attracted to each other, Brent is suddenly called to the front and they lose touch. Years later, Brent is back home in Clarion, IL, and is the junior partner in the store owned by Angus McGregor (Ernest Torrence). He is engaged to McGregor's daughter, Joan (Mildred Harris), not realizing that she prefers Allan Stone (Larry Gray). While McGregor is out of town, Brent decides to stage a huge sale and a fashion show. When Fifi's company, now based in Chicago, receives the offer she accepts only because she sees Brent's picture on the letterhead. Brent is surprised to find the girl he knew in Paris in his small town. Trouble brews when some of the models wind up at a roadhouse and are the cause of a brawl. In the end, Brent discovers that his fiancée loves someone else, leaving him free to be with Fifi. The flimsy plot to this romance seems to exist purely for the opportunity to have a fashion show in mid-picture. This is too bad, considering some of the names attached to the production: Howard Hawks was one of the writers, Paul Bern directed, and the whole production was overseen by Cecil B. De Mille. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Ernest Torrence, (more)
- 1930
Filmed in 1929 and released early in 1930, Dynamite was Cecil B. DeMille's first all-talking feature. As one observer has noted, this 128-minute opus has enough plots for seven pictures. The basic storyline here involves spoiled heiress Cynthia Crothers (Kay Johnson) who will lose her fortune if she isn't married right away. Her love Roger Towne (Conrad Nagel) isn't interested in marriage, so Crothers decides to wed convicted murderer Hagon Derk (Charles Bickford). Her plan: Derk will die, then she'll be a millionaire, free to chase after Towne without benefit of clergy. Unfortunately for Crothers, Derk is pardoned at the last minute when the real killer (Leslie Fenton) confesses. Crothers tries to drive Derk out of her life by humiliating him at a fancy party, only to discover that the conditions of her inheritance require that she live with her husband for a set period of time. She swallows her pride and heads for Derk's home town, a grimy mining village. Touched by Crother's inept efforts to keep house and cook dinner, Derk eventually falls in love with her--though he makes it clear that he wants no part of her money. Crothers, in turn, falls genuinely in love with her brutish but basically decent husband. It must needs be that fortune-hunting Towne arrives in the mining village, leading to a powerful climax wherein Derk, Crothers and Towne are trapped in a mine cave-in. Though the dialogue is occasionally quite silly (after the killer commits suicide in a crowded restaurant, one of the patrons is heard to complain "It's ruined my dinner!") and the performances overripe at times, Dynamite actually holds up better than you'd expect. DeMilles' utilization of sound is both innovative and imaginative, especially during the noisy climactic sequences. The film was a success, paving the way for DeMilles' camp classic Madame Satan (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, (more)
- 1924
While this Cecil B. DeMille production has many of the elements common to his pictures -- lavish, expensive sets and costumes, a high falutin' society background, and domestic turmoil -- it doesn't quite hit its mark. Part of the reason for this is the dream sequence. Instead of something spectacular and historical, DeMille took his characters into the afterworld, which was a bit morbid for the audiences of 1924. Plus, DeMille was lacking a strong female star here -- Vera Reynolds and Julia Faye just weren't Gloria Swanson or Leatrice Joy. There's an accident during a surfboard race off the coast of Catalina Island, and Kerry Harlan (Rod LaRocque) rescues Amy Loring (Reynolds). Harlan's foot has been mangled by a shark, and he is told by Dr. Fergus Lansell (Robert Edeson) that he must not walk for a year. Amy and Harlan marry, and she goes to work as a model. Dr. Lansell's wife, Bertha (Faye), becomes infatuated with Harlan, and she begins pestering him. One day when she comes over to his home, her husband shows up. Bertha climbs out on a windowsill to hide, but falls to her death. A scandal ensues and Amy walks out on Harlan. Distraught over their separation, Harlan tries to gas himself. Amy returns to find him and decides to die, too. They wind up in the afterworld together and meet up with Bertha, who takes the blame for their unhappiness. The couple are told that their time has not come. Meanwhile, on the more earthly side of things, Dr. Lansell finds their inert bodies, and, in spite of his feelings towards Harlan, he saves the pair's lives. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Reynolds, Rod La Rocque, (more)
- 1921
Although this expensive drama was "suggested by" a short story, The Laurels and the Lady, by Leodard Merrick, one can't help but think filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille would not be satisfied until he made it completely his own. After returning from World War I, Arthur Phelps (Conrad Nagel) meets Poll Patchouli, a cantina girl (Dorothy Dalton), in a Mexican border town. She falls in love with him and it pains her to see that he has become infatuated with another dancer, Rosa Duchene (Mildred Harris). Phelps is blinded by an exploding cigar and Poll impersonates Rosa so he will marry her. A surgeon restores his sight, and when he sees that he has wed Poll, he angrily leaves her in search of Rosa. Phelps goes halfway around the world and finds Rosa in Siam, where she has won the admiration of Prince Talaat-Noi (John Davidson). She callously tosses her glove into a pit of alligators and bids the man who really loves her to fetch it. The Prince dives in and is injured; Phelps saves him from being eaten. Both men realize that Rosa is faithless, and Phelps returns home to Poll. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Mildred Harris, (more)
- 1919
Director Cecil B. DeMille tones down his usual elegance and instead focuses on the drama of America during the Great War. Sylvia Norcross (Gloria Swanson) is being courted by two men, Edward Meade (Elliot Dexter) and Richard Burton (Tom Forman). Both Edward and Richard have enlisted, but Edward, a children's surgeon, is asked to stay home by his boss. Thinking him a coward, Sylvia decides to marry Richard. Only after her husband has left for France does she realize the sacrifice that Edward made in staying home. When she is informed of Richard's death, she agrees to marry the surgeon. But Richard isn't dead after all -- he returns home, his face horribly scarred. Husband and wife stay together, but Richard can tell that Sylvia no longer loves him. However, a girl (Wanda Hawley), has been pining away for him all along, battle scars and all. So Richard finds happiness with the girl, leaving Sylvia and Edward free to marry. While not one of DeMille's landmark films, the romance of For Better, For Worse, along with its timely material, helped him (and star Gloria Swanson) keep a high public profile. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Mary (Agnes Ayres) works as a seamstress for the wealthy Mallory family to support herself and her worthless husband Steve (Clarence Burton). James Mallory (Theodore Roberts) seeks to seal a deal with millionaire oilman Nelson Rogers (Forrest Stanley). When the millionaire is left without a dinner date, Mary is recruited to take her place and charms the wealthy Nelson. Steve takes the $20 from her that Mrs. Mallory (Kathlyn Williams) had given her for her services, thinking she earned the money through prostitution. Steve kills Mary's songbird when the bird keeps him from sleeping, and Mary returns to the Mallory household. When the butler conspires with Steve to blackmail Nelson and steal some jewels, Mary screams when she is awakened by her villainous husband. Soon the butler and Steve gamble over the money. The butler is killed by Steve, and he sets his sights on eliminating Mary, but Nelson hears the scream and comes to the rescue of the troubled seamstress. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnes Ayres, Clarence Burton, (more)
- 1934
Cecil B. DeMille's least characteristic sound feature, Four Frightened People is a character study about a quartet of castaways whose fates are permanently altered by spectacular circumstances. Four coastal steamer passengers jump ship when a deadly bubonic plague breaks out. They steal a lifeboat and land on a remote Malayan island. The frightened people are a wealthy, married rubber chemist (Herbert Marshall), a mousy schoolteacher (Claudette Colbert, with requisite eyeglasses), a tough news correspondent (William Gargan) and the supercilious wife of a British official (Mary Boland). As the four adapt themselves to the rigors of jungle life, the lady teacher sheds her glasses and becomes more attractive by the day--and is subsequently fought over by the two men in the party. Their native guide (Leo Carrillo) dead, the castaways are captured by hostile Islanders. The newsman dies, the chemist and the teacher are thrust together in peril, and the official's wife becomes the unofficial queen of the island thanks to her diplomatic skills. Upon rescue, the married chemist nobly parts with the schoolteacher, but eventually escapes his loveless marriage and is reunited with his new love--even as her young pupils look on in adolescent fascination. As entertaining as any of DeMille's "big" pictures, Four Frightened People did disappointing business, prompting DeMille to return to historical spectacles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1925
This was Cecil B. De Mille's last film for Paramount (at least for a few years). Irene Rich plays Flora Lee Peake, a cool beauty who, like Lorelei, lures men to death and destruction. Flora Lee weds the Marquis De San Pilar (Theodore Kosloff) and saves the old homestead. The Marquis finds her with the Duc de Savarac (Robert Cain), and the two men fight it out on a cliff. Both fall to their deaths, and Flora Lee returns to the States. Her childhood friend, Admah Holtz (Rod La Rocque), has become wealthy through his candy firm and, even though her sister, Margaret (Vera Reynolds), loves him, Flora Lee snares him. Her extravagance ruins Holtz and he goes to jail for embezzlement. Margaret buys his old candy store and gets it going once again. Flora Lee, meanwhile, runs off with Bunny O'Neill (Warner Baxter), who eventually casts her off. Her life and her beauty destroyed, she returns to the family homestead, which is now a boarding house, and crawls into her crumbling golden bed, an overly elaborate symbol of her former days. Holtz is released from jail and finds her there just before she dies. The ever-faithful Margaret is waiting for him, and they marry. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Rich, Vera Reynolds, (more)
- 1925
Judy Nichols (Leatrice Joy), a poor girl from Chicago, has decided she cannot marry without money. Her sweetheart, Ronald McKane, a struggling civil engineer (Edmund Burns), is encouraging her to join him in New York, but she only goes when she is bequeathed an inheritance. Unfortunately, the amount adds up to less than ten dollars a week. When she meets banker Sanford Gillespie (Robert Edeson), she convinces him to help McKane out financially. Once McKane has become a success, Judy marries him, but then he becomes interested in another woman. Judy seeks revenge and asks Gillespie to ruin her estranged husband, offering him anything he wants in return. Gillespie destroys McKane in short order, and the ruined man storms over to his home. Judy has already arrived to make good her end of the bargain. When McKane finds her there, he furiously attacks her. Gillespie stops him and, rather surprisingly, the couple make up and reconcile. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Edmund Burns, (more)
- 1923
The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or another during the film's eight reels. Ironically, nearly all of the lead actors are unknowns (although George K. Arthur would become a noted character comedian). Angela Whitaker (Hope Brown) of Centreville is convinced she has a chance in Hollywood -- all her friends tell her so. So she heads West with her Uncle Joel (Luke Cosgrave) in tow. But Angela has no luck in Tinseltown, while her uncle starts landing roles left and right because of his curious image. Eventually the rest of the family, including Angela's sweetheart Lem Lefferts (Arthur), her grandmother (Ruby Lafayette), and her aunt (Eleanor Lawson) come to Hollywood. All Angela's relatives get movie work because they're character types. Finally a screenwriter tries to help Angela out, but Lem winds up landing a role instead. He becomes a star, which suits Angela just fine because she has married him. The couple have twins, and the babies -- not to mention the couple's pet parrot -- wind up in films, while Angela remains at home. The most notable cameo in this picture is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who had been shunned in motion pictures since the 1921 scandal surrounding a Labor Day party that allegedly resulted in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. Here he returns as a man standing in a casting line. When it's his turn to come up to the window, it is shut in his face and a "closed" sign put out. Unfortunately this gag turned out to be all too true; Arbuckle was not seen in front of a camera again until 1932. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luke Cosgrave, George K. Arthur, (more)
A sweeping chronicle of the life and death of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orlean, this epic stands as one of director Cecil B. DeMille's finest works and offers film buffs a fascinating look into the early years of one of Hollywood's greats. The story of the valiant French martyr is framed by the modern tale of a British soldier who, while fighting WW I, digs up a rusted 15th century sword. Soon afterward he falls asleep and begins dreaming that he is a soldier in Joan's army. With a cast of 1,400 extras, full-sized sets, spectacular battle scenes and hand-tinted prints, DeMille spared no expense with his epic and though the $300,000 seems paltry by today's filmmaking standards, it was a fortune in 1916. It was money well spent for Joan the Woman stand's times test as an exceptional example of the epic film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Director Cecil B. DeMille adapted the screenplay for Kindling from a play by Charles A. Kenyon. Charlotte Walker plays Maggie Schultz, a young wife and mother-to-be. Through no fault of her own, Maggie becomes the dupe of a gang of burglars. Having already run the gamut of sorrow and misfortune, she despairs at the possibility that her child will be born in prison. Fortunately, the compassionate victim of the burglars takes pity on Maggie and refuses to prosecute, allowing her to return to her husband Heine (Thomas Meighan). In addition to being one of the last WWI-era films to feature sympathetic German characters, Kindling also represented one of the first starring assignments for popular leading man Thomas Meighan. Director DeMille would soon abandon the "naturalistic" style of this film, preferring instead to indulge himself in slick sex farces and overly opulent spectacles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1939
Originally designed for exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair, Land of Liberty is a 137-minute compendium of filmclips from past American historical epics. The project was sponsored by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc. and supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, who also edited the film with the assistance of his crack Paramount production staff. The narration was written by old DeMille hands Jeannie MacPherson and Jesse Lasky Jr. and spoken by a talented team of uncredited announcers (one of whom sounded suspiciously like old C. B. himself). Clips from such Hollywood productions as America (1924), Abraham Lincoln (1930), Alexander Hamilton (1931), Show Boat (1936), Man of Conquest (1939) and DeMille's own The Plainsman (1936), The Buccaneer (1938) and Union Pacific (1939) are woven together into a chronological continuity, tracing American history from the Revolutionary War to the "present," which is largely represented by newsreel footage of President Roosevelt, the TVA project, and other current personalities and events. In later years, Land of Liberty was redistributed on the classroom circuit, with new footage added from historical dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Walter Crane makes a bet with a group of his fellow women-hating clubmen that he can take a pretty girl and cultivate her so as to inspire any of them to propose marriage. His choice turns out to be a newsgirl named Cinders (Marie Doro). He sends her to college and, when she returns, all the men do fall in love with her. But Crane has lost his fortune and is forced to work as a bank teller, so one of the men, Gage, tells Cinders that her benefactor can no longer afford her. As a result, she vanishes. But when Crane is accused of stealing 20,000 dollars from the bank, she returns to help him clear his name. Through her efforts she discovers that Gage took the money to buy a necklace for his mistress (Maym Kelso). All bets are still off, however, because Crane's the one who gets Cinders.
~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Longtime collaborators Cecil B. DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson penned the screenplay for this Wallace Reid feature. Reid plays sheriff Dan Deering, who is in love with an independent young lady, Kate Kenner (Cleo Ridgley). Although Kate does find gold, her claim is jumped. The jumpers attack Deering, who is trying to help the girl, but he is saved by the notorious bandit, Silver Spurs (Earle Foxe). Kate disguises herself as Silver Spurs in an attempt to get her gold back. Deering captures her and, believing that she really is the bandit, reluctantly puts her on trial. The real Silver Spurs comes in and saves Kate but again eludes capture. This action adventure from the teens shows that not all female characters of the day were sweet, reticent things. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
