Betty Bronson Movies

George Hamilton produced and stars in this appealing bio-pic about real-life stunt daredevil Evel Knievel. Knievel's famous motorcycle stunts and early life are remembered in flashback by the performer in the moments before a big jump. The cast includes familiar drive-in movie faces like Vic Tayback, Sue Lyon, Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith, and Dub Taylor, and much of it was filmed on location in Knievel's hometown of Butte, Montana. Though Hamilton is quite good in the lead, most fans prefer the real thing -- Knievel portraying himself in the later Viva Knievel! (1978). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Kelly (Constance Towers), a prostitute who wants to transform her life, beats up her pimp, takes the 75 dollars he owes her, and leaves town. Winding up in the small town of Grantville, she turns a trick with Griff (Anthony Eisley), who is actually the sheriff. After paying her for sex, Griff tells Kelly that Grantville is a clean town and orders her out, though he refers her to a brothel in a neighboring city. Instead, Kelly makes a final break with her past and becomes a nurse's aide at the local children's hospital. In that capacity, she meets Grant (Michael Dante), who is a benefactor of the hospital, a descendant of the town's founder -- and Griff's best friend. As Grant and Kelly fall in love, Griff viciously accuses Kelly of using her hospital job to hide ongoing illicit activities. When Kelly tells Grant about her past, he seems to accept her without reservation and proposes marriage; however, Kelly soon learns the perverse truth about her fiancée and takes matters into her own hands. Samuel Fuller's raw film noir exposes the hypocrisy of a supposedly proper society. Beneath the veneer of respectability lies an exploitive abuse of power, no different from that of any pimp. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

The prolific Jack Natteford wrote this unusual Gene Autry Western -- or, to be accurate, "Eastern" -- which reportedly suffered cuts after censors found it too violent. Gene, as usual, plays Gene Autry, this time the son of a Georgian cattleman (Charles Middleton) waging a war against the areas "turpentiners," harvesters of pine tree sap. Disowned by his father after siding with the turpentiners, Gene takes up with Colonel Millhouse's (Smiley Burnette) traveling Wild West Show. The show returns to Pine Ridge two years later and Gene discovers that a gang of rustlers is now using the turpentiners as a cover for their crimes. While Gene is occupied with the rustlers, the Wild West Show audience grow restless and Millhouse sends in an imposter (Art Mix), who mimes to a recording of Autry's voice. The leader of the rustlers, Len Parker (LeRoy Mason), takes this opportunity to get rid of his enemy and has the imposter killed. The real Gene, meanwhile, finds his father murdered by what appears to be someone connected by the leader of the turpentiners, Bayliss Baynum (Russell Simpson), and when Autry Sr. is likewise found slain, Gene becomes the natural suspect. The turpentiners demand swift justice, but Gene manages to track down the real culprit with the aid of Baynum's daughter, Milly (Betty Bronson), and the Wild West Show performers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This first of three talkies bearing the title Lover Come Back stars Constance Cummings as Connie, a super-efficient stenographer. Connie would willingly forsake her career if office manager Tom Evans (Jack Mulhall) would propose, but he barely knows she's alive. When Tom marries Vivian (Betty Bronson), the disenchanted Connie weds Tom's boss Yates (Jameson Thomas), a bore and a pest. Things straighten themselves out when Tom finally realizes that Vivian is the wrong girl for him (indeed, she's the wrong girl for anyone). Star Jack Mulhall is afforded the opportunity to sing a forgettable ballad called Cigarette, proving that he was an ideal silent film actor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A custody battle for a little boy forms the basis of this domestic comedy, a talkie that is so early that title cards are interspersed amongst the dialog. The parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce when the boy's mother talks her sister into kidnapping him because she is terrified that her husband will take the boy out of the country after the divorce. The nervy sister takes the lad to the apartment of her sister's husband's lawyer who believes that she has gone away for a time. A merry mix-up ensues when he returns to the apartment with his parents in tow. To maintain appearances, the sister must pose as the lawyer's wife. Eventually she decides to take the boy and flee, but then she realizes that the boy has vanished. It seems he saw an interesting theater marquee, climbed down the fire escape, and went to the movies. The adults arrive just in time to hear a rousing rendition of "Sonny Boy." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a remake of 1923's The Arab, a British cavalry soldier stationed in the Sudan takes the rap for his brother, who had been accused of stealing; the soldier subsequently joins a vaudeville troupe. There he falls in love with a lovely woman only to lose her when she is purchased by a sheik. When the sheik learns she is a white woman, he throws her out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Popular film lore has it that The Jazz Singer was the film that established the talkie as the pre-eminent film medium in 1927. But it was Al Jolson's follow-up film, The Singing Fool that actually introduced the sound film to the general film-going population of the United States and it was the popularity of The Singing Fool that paved the way for the wide-acceptance of sound features. Jolson plays Al Stone, a singing waiter at Blackie Joe's cafe, who writes a hit song and sky-rockets to success as a Broadway headliner. Looking ahead to unlimited success, Al falls in love with scheming golddigger Molly Winton (Josephine Dunn), whom he marries. When Molly gives him a son, Sonny Boy (Davey Lee), Al is beside himself with love for his cutey-pie offspring. But when Molly deserts him for small-time gangster John Perry (Reed Howes) and takes Sonny Boy with her, Al is heartbroken. His spirit shattered, Al becomes a bum and, after a time, regains his singing waiter job at Blackie Joe's. Back at the dive, Grace (Betty Bronson), a cigarette girl secretly in love with Al, convinces him to make a comeback. Al struggles and regains his confidence and hits the stage like a trouper -- even when he hears that his beloved Sonny Boy has died in a hospital ward. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures used the Zane Grey adaptation Open Range as a showcase for its newest western star (and potential Gary Cooper replacement) Lane Chandler. Teamed with winsome Betty Bronson, who three years earlier had starred in Paramount's Peter Pan, Chandler plays an itinerant cowboy who is falsely accused of rustling. For the sake of his sweetheart Bronson, our hero takes it upon himself to track down the real culprits, an outlaw gang headed by half-breed Fred Kohler Sr. Chandler's odyssey takes him to the Indian encampment where Kohler is hiding, leading to a spectacular battle between cowboys and Indians. The story is resolved when Chandler stampedes the cattle stolen by Kohler, dispersing the Indians and saving the settlers from destruction; as a coda, he rescues Bronson and her family from a blazing farmhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's a shame that so many of the silent directorial efforts of the innovational Gregory La Cava no longer exist. LaCava's Paradise for Two certainly sounds interesting, and any film combining the talents of Richard Dix and Betty Bronson can't have been too shabby. In addition, the witty subtitles were provided by renowned New York-wit Robert Benchley, representing one of his first forays into moviemaking. The story concerns a bachelor named Steve Porter (Richard Dix) who must be married within two days to collect his family fortune. Not wishing to tie the matrimonial knot just yet, Steve hires budding actress Sally Lane (Betty Bronson) to pose as his wife. The plot is predictable in the extreme, but surely LaCava and Benchley imbued the story with a clever surprise or two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sentimental comedy begins when four middle-aged actors jointly adopt an orphaned baby girl, raising her in a backstage milieu. The girl grows up to become Doris Poole (Betty Bronson), and it is hoped by her foster daddies that she will become an actress herself. When Doris falls in love with wealthy Ted Potter (Lawrence Gray), her four surrogate parents stage an elaborate charade to convince Ted's snobbish mother Anastasia (Louise Dresser) that Doris is of good breeding. The girl wants no part of the hoax and confesses all to Ted's mom, whereupon Ted is bundled off to Europe "for his own good." But the four adoptive fathers arrange another little "drama" to get Doris on board Ted's ship. Ziegfeld Follies headliner Raymond Hitchcock steals the show (no small task in this ham-infested effort) as a phony butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the unfortunately "lost" films of silent-screen ingenue Betty Bronson, The Cat's Pajamas casts Bronson as a naïve seamstress. Egotistical opera star Ricardo Cortez, tired of being besieged by his doting female fans, marries Bronson so that he'll be safe from his public. Naturally, it's strictly a business arrangement-or so Cortez thinks. But Bronson has every intention of being a bride in fact as well as name. The Cat's Pajamas represents one of the earliest feature-length directorial efforts of William A. Wellman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The advertising tag "four years in the making" is usually so much press-agent puffery. In the case of the 1926 silent version of Ben Hur, it was the unvarnished truth--and the filmmakers had the scars to prove it. The story behind the film is now part of Hollywood folklore: the cast and production crew changes (star George Walsh summarily dumped in favor of Roman Novarro, director Charles J. Brabin replaced by Fred Niblo, writer-supervisor June Mathis-who'd spearheaded the project in the first place-abruptly fired); the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the troublesome location shooting in Italy--money that was lost when most of the footage proved unusable; the extra expenditure of refilming in Hollywood; and the huge chunk of the film's profits eaten up by the 50% royalty deal set up with theatrical producers Klaw and Erlanger, who controlled the rights to General Lew Wallace's novel. The end result reflected the turbulent production conditions: Ben Hur is an extraordinarily uneven experience, with moments of cinematic brilliance and pulse-pounding thrills alternating with long stretches of stagey boredom. The film follows the original Wallace story to the letter: Judah Ben-Hur (Novarro), a wealthy Jew living under the reign of the Caesars, is betrayed by his best friend, ambitious Roman centurion Messala (Francis X. Bushman). Ben-Hur's family is sent to prison, while he himself is condemned to the galleys. During a violent sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of galleon commander Quintus Arrius (Frank Currier). The grateful commander adopts Ben-Hur as his son and bankrolls his desire to become a champion charioteer. Thirsting for revenge, Ben-Hur agrees to race against his old nemesis Messala. The latter is fatally injured during the race; with his dying breath, Messala reveals that Ben-Hur's family, previously reported dead, are actually alive--but living as lepers. The story is subtitled A Tale of the Christ because, at various junctures in his life, Ben-Hur has been touched by the hand of Jesus. Ben-Hur must totally embrace Christ's edict of love and forgiveness before he can be reunited with his family. As Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, Ben-Hur's mother (Claire McDowell) and sister (Kathleen Key), having also embraced the Christian philosophy, are miraculously cured of their leprosy. Most of these plot elements, together with the romance between Ben-Hur and the lovely Esther (May McAvoy), reappeared in the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur--which, fortunately, did not include the ridiculous subplot involving the alluring Iras (Carmel Myers), who attempts to seduce Ben-Hur just before the big race. The film's highlights--the sea battle, the now-legendary chariot race--were produced on a far grander scale than in the 1959 version; unfortunately, both highlights took place in the first half of the picture, leaving the viewers with a rather dreary, drawn out denouement (the remake wisely placed the sea battle in part one, and the race in part two). The Technicolor Nativity sequences were condemned in 1926 as being in poor taste, but when seen today are beautifully handled and restful on the eye (oddly, no one complained about the nude female revellers during a later Technicolor pageant scene!) Ben Hur cost $4 million and grossed $9 million on its first release. The aforementioned royalty arrangement left MGM with only a $1 million take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Paramount bought the rights to the delightful James M. Barrie story, every actress in Hollywood wanted the role of Peter Pan, made famous on the stage by Maude Adams. Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and even Gloria Swanson thought they were perfect for the role, but Barrie's own choice was Betty Bronson, a virtual unknown. The story is familiar to nearly everyone. When Mr. and Mrs. Darling (Cyril Chadwick and Esther Ralston) go to a party, they leave their children -- Wendy (Mary Brian), Michael (Philippe de Lacey), and John (Jack Murphy) -- in the care of their dog, Nana. But Peter (Bronson) shows up with the fairy, Tinker Bell (Virginia Brown Faire), and they take the children to Never Never Land. They have a series of adventures with the Lost Boys and defeat Captain Hook (Ernest Torrence) and his band of pirates. Finally, the children return home to Mrs. Darling, who is overjoyed to have them back. She adopts the Lost Boys and offers to take Peter in too, but he refuses to grow up and flies away after promising to visit Wendy every year. An interesting side note -- although she had no involvement in casting Brian as Wendy, Ralston had discovered her a couple of years earlier while judging a beauty contest. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide