Victor Fleming Movies
An assistant cameraman for director Allan Dwan in the early teens, Victor Fleming was a director of photography by 1915, and worked under D.W. Griffith's supervision as well as for Dwan on several films with Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks also starred in Fleming's first two films as a director: 1919's When the Clouds Roll By, co-directed by Theodore Reed, and his solo effort of the following year, The Mollycoddle. Fleming helmed several rugged actioners in the 1920s, and became a reliable craftsman of impersonal but handsome films at MGM in the 1930s. Skilled at films for young audiences--Treasure Island, Captains Courageous, The Wizard of Oz--Fleming was also a favorite director of actor Clark Gable, and having guided him in Red Dust (1932) and Test Pilot (1938), was brought in to take over the direction of Gone with the Wind (1939). His most notable films of the '40s were the Spencer Tracy films Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1941), Tortilla Flat (1942), and A Guy Named Joe (1944), and his final film, Joan of Arc (1948), starring Ingrid Bergman. ~ All Movie Guide- 1916
The Good Bad Man is at once a straight western and a gentle spoof of the genre. Douglas Fairbanks plays a fellow who calls himself "Passin' Through." Orphaned at birth, Our Hero grows up to be a Robin-Hood-like bandit, robbing the rich so that he can finance a home for unwanted children. In this guise, he meets Bud Fraser (Sam DeGrasse), the man who killed his father. Bessie Love plays the obligatory heroine, who frankly hasn't much to do in the proceedings. The Good Bad Man was directed by frequent Fairbanks collaborator Allan Dwan; it was photographed by Victor Fleming, who later became an excellent director in his own right (one of his 1930s films was a little something called Gone with the Wind). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Douglas Fairbanks Sr. stars as Ned Thacker, who is born during a Kansas cyclone (coincidentally the same manner in which Fairbanks' real-life contemporary Buster Keaton came into the world!) and is thus imbued with the spirit of adventure. Having been virtually weaned on Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers, Ned grows up dedicated to old-fashioned chivalry. Alas, his well-meaning efforts to emulate his Musketeer idols nearly always backfire in a hilariously disastrous fashion. Ultimately, however, he is afforded an opportunity to rescue heroine Dorothy Moran (Marjorie Daw) in a true D'Artagnan-like manner. Unfortunately, only the first three reels of A Modern Musketeer are known to exist. Happily, however, this fragment includes a delightful dream sequence in which Fairbanks imagines himself to be a 16th-century swashbuckler -- a fascinating (and arguably more enjoyable) precursor to his own 1921 screen version of The Three Musketeers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
This was only one of many films that proved that the team of silent star Douglas Fairbanks, director John Emerson, and scenarist/wit Anita Loos was unbeatable when it came to comic adventure. Teddy Rutherford (Fairbanks) goes on a bender when he discovers that his sweetie (Helen Greene) loves another man (Homer Hunt) -- and the guy is a pacifist to boot (not a virtue admired in the days of World War I)! After this binge, Teddy wakes up in jail to the ministrations of Janie (Arline Pretty), the sheriff's daughter. In due course, he is released, but he wants nothing more than to go back to the lock-up and to Janie. His attempts to break into the jail are hilarious but unsuccessful. Finally, he gets arrested again for impersonating a man who has plotted to dynamite a munitions factory. The sheriff's assistant -- Teddy's rival for Janie's affections -- tries to get rid of Teddy once and for all by instigating a lynching. But Teddy uses his impressive athletic abilities to escape the mob, leave the jail, and capture the real bomber. Erich vonStroheim was art director on this picture, but his Prussian persona caused trouble when he tried to order some explosives for one of its scenes. The Secret Service rushed to Fairbanks' studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and as a result of this incident, the star fired vonStroheim. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Rancher Warren Bronson (Herbert Standing) is plagued by cattle rustlers, so he gets Western detective Fancy Jim Sherwood (Douglas Fairbanks) on the case. Fancy Jim disguises himself as an Eastern wimp and easily discovers that Bull Madden (Frank Campeau) is the head of the rustlers. Jim also falls in love with Jane Forbes (Eileen Percy), a school teacher who has been harassed by Madden. Before rounding up the rustlers and getting the girl, Fairbanks gives full reign to his usual stunts -- climbing up the sides of buildings, mounting a dashing horse, and other leaps and bounds. This wasn't a stand-out vehicle for the athletic star, but according to reviews of the day it was entertaining nevertheless. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Daydreaming clerk Douglas Fairbanks discovers that he's of royal blood. In fact, if his information is correct, he's next in line for the throne of Vulgaria. Leaving his job behind, Fairbanks travels to the home of his forefathers to quell a takeover attempt by villainous nobleman Frank Campeau. He saves the day with his usual eye-popping athletics...and then screenwriters John Emerson (who also directed) and Anita Loos pull a fast one on the audience. Among the bit players in Reaching for the Moon are Erich von Stroheim and Douglas Fairbanks' friend and "mascot" Charlie "Injun" Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Douglas Fairbanks recalls James M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton in the 1917 silent Down to Earth. Billy Gaynor (Fairbanks) takes over an asylum where his girl, Ethel (Eileen Percy), is resting after a supposed nervous breakdown. "Doctor" Gaynor realizes that Ethel is perfectly healthy; all that's wrong with her is that she has become soft and spoiled thanks to modern living and too-rigid adherence to passing fads and foibles. He arranges for Ethel and the rest of the hypochondriac patients to take an ocean voyage, then stages a shipwreck, forcing these pampered creatures to fend for themselves on a "desert island" (actually a wooded glade just off a main California highway). Sunshine and hard work does more good for the patients than all the psychiatrists and so-called experts in the world. Having proven his point, Billy claims his girl and bids the other patients a jaunty farewell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
When Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith formed United Artists, they had a dilemma -- only one of them was contractually free to make a film for the fledgling studio -- and that was Fairbanks. But he came through with this winning picture, playing his usual character (at least for his pre-swashbuckling days) -- a young man with too much energy and vigor for his own good -- in a Prisoner of Zenda-like backdrop. William Brooks (Fairbanks) lives in Manhattan on a mysterious but sizable income. He apparently has no family either. When following the New York Fire Department around begins to pall, he goes to Mexico and tangles with bandits. All this is only preparation for his next adventure -- he is called to a tiny European country where a revolution is going on. It turns out that he is heir to the throne and he manages to squelch the plotters and win the girl (Marjorie Daw) in short order. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
After finishing his first costumer swashbuckler The Mark of Zorro, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. reverted to his standard formula with the contemporary action comedy The Mollycoddle. Doug plays the title character, a dandified American who returns to his home in the Wild West after being educated in England. Suspected of being little more than a pantywaist, Doug proves his grit by capturing notorious desperado Wallace Beery. Fairbanks and Tom Geraghty co-adapted The Mollycoddle from a short story by Harold McGrath. He followed this picture with another modern comedy, The Nut, then devoted the rest of the 1920s to such period pictures as Robin Hood, The Thief of Baghdad and The Gaucho. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1920
This lively silent romantic comedy was the second film made by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. for the new United Artists company. Much of the film is a satiric broadside aimed at the then-innovational field of psychiatry. Wealthy young bachelor Fairbanks allows a pompous head-shrinker to influence his romantic pursuit of Greenwich Village artist Katherine Williams. There's action, athletics and laughs aplenty, topped by a terrific climactic flood sequence. The film's highlight is Fairbanks' therapy-induced dream, a triumph of special effects which is still capable of amazing audiences "jaded" by Spielberg and Lucas. When the Clouds Roll By comes to a hilariously ironic conclusion when the "psychiatrist" is revealed to be an escaped mental patient. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Eve Orrin (Constance Talmadge) is at the mercy of her possessive mother (Effie Shannon), who has a case of "nerves" every time her daughter tries to show a mind of her own. Mrs. Orrin and her friend, Mrs. Marchant (Katherine Kaelred), have determined that Eve will marry Mrs. Marchant's milquetoast son, Henry (George LeGuere), and Eve is willing to go along with it just to placate her mother. But Eve herself finally has an attack of nerves, and she falls in love with Doctor Harmon, the physician called in to care for her (Kenneth Harlan). In spite of the manipulations of Henry and her mother, Eve manages to get the man she wants. The screenplay to this Constance Talmadge vehicle, like many others, was written by John Emerson and Anita Loos. It was based on a Harvard prize-winning stage play by Rachel Barton Butler, and for once Miss Talmage's vibrant personality was buried under the plot -- in fact, Effie Shannon (who played the role of the mother on Broadway, too) practically stole the whole show. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This picture had three things in its favor right from the start -- its star, Constance Talmadge; the fact that women had recently won the right to vote; and its release date, which was shortly before the November elections. The Women's Political League decides to find a female candidate for mayor and their choice is Kay Gerson (Talmadge) who, they figure, will win votes from the men because of her looks. But the town's political boss, Jim Bradley (Kenneth Harlan), counters with his own good-looking candidate, Freddy Bleeker (Hassard Short), who he thinks will get the women's vote. Kay and Bleeker just happen to be engaged. Naturally, the race does nothing for their relationship and Kay loses the election because the men's wives are jealous of her beauty and refuse to let them vote for her. But all is not lost -- Kay and Bradley have fallen in love and after the election, he goes to work for the Women's League and marries Kay, with the tacit agreement that she will be running things from now on. The story and scenario to this comedy are credited to the crack writing team of John Emerson and Anita Loos, but judging from her later work as a novelist (she penned the best-selling Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), it's a pretty good bet that this picture is primarily Loos' work. Considering the tone of this picture, it's no wonder that it would be several decades before women's lib could make any real headway. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Talmadge, Kenneth Harlan, (more)
- 1922
Victor Fleming was still a relatively new director when he helmed this melodrama, an adaptation of the stage play by Harry Chapman Ford. Alice Brady starred on Broadway, and she stars here, too, as Anna Ayyob, a Syrian immigrant living in New York and working at a coffee house owned by Siad Coury (Edouard Durand). The place is really a front for a group of smugglers. This information filters down to Howard Fisk (Robert Ellis), the reporter son of a newspaper publisher. He earns Anna's trust, but just when she is about to tell Fisk what she knows, she is attacked by a member of the gang known as the Baron (David Powell). They struggle and Anna thinks she has killed him. She goes into hiding and three years later reemerges as the anonymous author of a best seller called Anna Ascends. Howard's father (Frederick Burton) assigns him the duty of tracking down the writer and interviewing her. So he and Anna are reunited once again. It turns out that the Baron didn't actually die, and the smugglers are eventually rounded up. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Brady, Robert Ellis, (more)
- 1922
This fast-paced comedy came from the pen of husband and wife screenwriting team Anita Loos and John Emerson. After his father's death, Roland Stone (Basil Sidney) learns that his will stipulates that he must go to the South American country of Bunkonia and sell life insurance. Stone doesn't find this too terrible a task, considering that Colonel Cassius Byrd (Edward Connelly) has been appointed consul to Bukonia, and Stone is in love with Byrd's daughter, Anna Mae (Mae Collins). It turns out, however, that he has a rival. The rival convinces him to insure all of the cabinet of King Caramba the 13th (Frank Lalor) -- knowing full well that a revolution is breaking out and that they've all been marked for death. Not only does Stone have to save himself and his girl from the revolutionaries, he also has to save the lives of all the policy holders, too. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Basil Sydney, Henry Warwick, (more)
- 1922
Paramount starred Agnes Ayers for the first time in this tragedy, adapted from the novel by Sir Gilbert Parker. Unfortunately, it wasn't a terribly auspicious debut -- the picture was morbid and depressing. A French Canadian pair, Madelinette (Ayers) and Louis Racine (Theodore Kosloff) wed. One of Racine's relative dies, and he supposedly inherits an estate. But one of his enemies questions his right to the inheritance and a fight breaks out. Racine is thrown against a tree, spurring a growth on his back, something which runs in his family. The new husband sends his wife to Europe to pursue a career as an opera singer. Back home he works hard to become a power in the community in the hopes that she will stick by him in spite of his growing deformity. But his doubts seem to be unfounded, since Madelinette returns from Europe and drops everything to take care of him. He winds up losing everything anyway -- a rival usurps his power, and George Fournel (Mahlon Hamilton) shows up to contest the inheritance. Madelinette herself finds the will that gives Fournel the estate. Finally, Racine shoots himself, and Fournel wins the widow's heart. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnes Ayres, Theodore Kosloff, (more)
- 1923
Dorothy Dalton stars in this colorful gypsy tale. Co-starring is Charles de Roche, in his first American film (later in the year, De Roche would be seen as Rameses in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments). Tartar girl Sahande (Dalton) is auctioned off to help pay the debts of her father, Osman (Fred Huntley). Her fiancé, Sender (Theodore Kosloff), is outbid by a gypsy chief, Costa (de Roche). Sahande is furious at this turn of events, and after their wedding that night, Costa makes a deal with her: she has ten days to return his love, or to have Sender fight him. Sender turns out to be something less than honest, and he enlists the help of a crowd of men to capture Costa. They imprison the gypsy in a tower, which catches fire. Sahande comes to his rescue, and she acknowledges that he is really a better man than Sender. With that, the couple is united. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Theodore Kosloff, (more)
- 1923
As might be expected, director Victor Fleming, who always did well with outdoorsy material, deftly handles this adaptation of Zane Grey's novel. Glenn Kilbourne (Richard Dix) was gassed during the war. When he comes home to New York he discovers that his fiancée, Carley Burch (Lois Wilson), has not only fallen in with a jazzy, wealthy crowd -- she's one of their leaders. Kilbourne can't cope with this and he has a relapse. A doctor recommends that he go to Arizona to recuperate, but once he has been there for a while he falls in love with the place and becomes a rancher. Carley goes out to see him, but she's disgusted by the rough life and goes back to New York. After visiting a hospitalized friend of Kilbourne's, however, Carley realizes that she's a quitter and she returns to Arizona. It's not a moment too soon -- Kilbourne is about to marry Flo Hutter (Marjorie Daw), a rancher's daughter. Flo knows that Kilbourne still loves Carley, so she willingly gives him up and returns to Lee Stanton (Leonard Clapham), who has been patiently waiting for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1923
Leading lady Lois Wilson considered this fine western her favorite of six films she starred in opposite virile leading man Richard Dix. (The others were The Call of the Canyon, 1923, Icebound, 1924, The Vanishing American, 1925, Let's Get Married, 1926, and the talkie Lovin' the Ladies, 1930.) Wilson had reached stardom as the girl in the first true western epic The Covered Wagon (1923), and To the Last Man was seen as a follow-up. She felt very comfortable opposite Dix, and their on-screen romance carried over into real life, at least until her family's disapproval, according to the actress, put a stop to the romance. The plot was the usual one about feuding ranchers and sheepherders, but Wilson and Dix's Romeo & Juliet-like quality made the film a box-office winner. An especially well-staged barroom-brawl only added to the film's popularity. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1923
The plot to this routine Paramount drama was apparently inspired by current interest in the work of Emile Coue, a hypnotist and pioneer in autosuggestion (he's the one responsible for the quote, "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better"). The talents of lively Dorothy Dalton are pretty much wasted. As society girl Ruth Rutherford, she gets to display her spirited willfulness early on by defying her fiancé, Lord Wallington (Robert Ellis), and riding a powerful Arabian horse he has given her. But when she is thrown from the horse and confined to a wheelchair, she is left without very much to do. Mohamed Ali, a mystical Egyptian physician (Jose Ruben), offers to cure her if she agrees to marry him. Ruth backs out on the agreement once she is ambulatory again, and Ali attacks her. Biskra, Ruth's massive manservant (Pat Hartigan), kills Ali, who, with his last breath, damns her back to the wheelchair. In the meantime, Lord Wallington has been drowning himself in alcohol and Ruth helps to regenerate him. Eventually she figures out that her inability to walk was completely mental in nature and had nothing to do with Ali's curse. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dalton, Robert Ellis, (more)
- 1924
The story to this sea melodrama was written by Byron Morgan. Morgan was best known for the fast-paced auto tales he wrote for Wallace Reid, so this was quite a departure for him. When Bruce McDow (Rod LaRocque) refuses to go aloft to fix a rigging during a storm, and he is branded a coward. McDow believes his lack of courage is hereditary because many years before his father had taken his lightship into harbor during a storm instead of aiding a passenger liner; as a result, the liner wrecked. Because of this, Captain Hayden (George Fawcett) hates the name McDow. Hayden's daughter, Jenny (Jacqueline Logan), however, has faith in Bruce. She helps him get a job as mate on a lightship and once again a storm blows. Captain Hayden loses a propeller while bringing his ship in. Jenny, meanwhile, has come to meet him in a yacht which goes on the rocks. Both Bruce and Hayden get the wire from the yacht, and Hayden tells Bruce to save Jenny. Bruce sets out in a launch and he reaches the boat. Everyone is saved except him when the boat goes down. He is washed ashore clinging to a spar, and that's how Jenny finds him the next day. His bravery proven, Bruce is hailed as a hero. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod La Rocque, Jacqueline Logan, (more)
- 1924
Claire Endicott (Norma Shearer) throws a wild party and her father (Charles Clary) walks in to find her flirting with the very married Milt Bisnet (Ward Crane). In an attempt to straighten her out, Endicott sends Claire to the Canadian northwoods, where his field engineer, Grimshaw (Jack Holt), is working. While fishing, Claire is swept over the rapids and Grimshaw tries to rescue her. Both of them wind up in a remote gorge, and Grimshaw goes about building a hut as a shelter. Although Grimshaw is strongly attracted to Claire, he turns her down when she offers to make love to him. An airplane finally rescues them, and when they return to New York, Claire finds herself named corespondent in the Bisnet divorce case. A scandal sheet prints a rumor that she is marrying Grimshaw to avoid the divorce scandal. As a result, Claire turns down Grimshaw's proposal, but he won't take no for an answer. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Norma Shearer, (more)
- 1925
Almost 30 years before the Peter O'Toole picture, Joseph Conrad's novel was first filmed as a silent. It was directed in typically virile manner by Victor Fleming, starred Percy Marmont as Jim, and was actually truer to the novel than the 1964 version. Jim is a seaman under the despicable Captain Brown (Noah Beery). When his ship, carrying a load of Muslims on their way to Mecca, collides with a derelict vessel, the captain and his crew -- Jim included -- desert. As a result, Jim loses his mate's certificate. Eventually a sympathetic merchant finds him work in a Malay settlement. He works his way up in the hierarchy, eventually taking over the management of the trading post after Cornelius (Raymond Hatton), and sharing leadership with the Rajah's son. Jim also comes to love Cornelius' daughter, Jewel (Shirley Mason). Brown and his crew, also blacklisted, have become pirates, and they attack the village. Although they are captured, Jim orders them to be released. They kill the Rajah's son, and Jim pays for their act with his own life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Percy Marmont, Shirley Mason, (more)
- 1925
The subject matter to this Victor Fleming-directed drama is typically virile -- it takes place in Sacramento during the Gold Rush days of 1849. And the star who stands out the most is also the most manly: big Wallace Beery. John Joyce (William Collier Jr.) arrives in Sacramento with his sister, Martha (Claire Adams), and aunt to become the editor of a newspaper. He is determined to clear the town of the low-down mining camp types who are flaunting their freewheeling ways. When Joyce meets Faro Sampson (Pauline Starke), he falls in love, believing that she is the daughter of a minister. Actually she's the daughter of the man who runs a gambling den, "Square Deal" Sampson (Emmett C. King). Joyce tries to forget her, but he can't. Soon the same vigilante committee he has aligned himself with finds him in a compromising position with her. Joyce, Faro, and the other "undesirables" are forced onto a river boat. Ben, a fireman (Beery), takes over command, but when he tries to attack Martha, Joyce springs into action. Ben is vanquished and demoted to peeling potatoes on the ship that rescues everyone. Joyce and Faro, meanwhile, reaffirm their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Pauline Starke, (more)
- 1925
Based on a story by Harold Bell Wright, this average silent western starred Warner Baxter as the son who almost loses his ranch to cover his late father's debts. Star-billed Bessie Love had little to do other than looking pretty as Baxter's Irish romantic interest. A former leading man with the Oliver Morosco stock company, the handsome, dark-haired Baxter was treading water in programmers before earning a 1929 Academy Award for playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona. Today, however, Baxter is mainly remembered for playing the Crime Doctor in a series of popular whodunits produced by Columbia in the 1940s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bessie Love, Warner Baxter, (more)
- 1925
Adventure was an appropriate title for a book by Jack London, and when his tale of the South Seas was made into a film, the virile Victor Fleming was the right man to direct it. David Shelton, a plantation owner (Tom Moore), is faced with ruin because some of his native workers are sick and the healthy ones are about to revolt. Morgan (Wallace Beery) and Baff (Raymond Hatton), a pair of crooked money lenders, are about to foreclose when Shelton falls ill with fever. Joan Lackland, a female soldier of fortune (Pauline Starke), shows up (with her Hawaiian bodyguards, no less) to save the day. She nurses him back to health while her bodyguards get the natives under control. Joan turns down Sheldon's offer of marriage, but she reconsiders when he rescues her from a trap that Morgan and Baff have set for her. Twenty years later, Fleming made another film by the same name starring Clark Gable. That picture, however, was not based on the Jack London book, but on The Anointed by Clyde Brion Davis. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Moore, Pauline Starke, (more)
- 1926
Clara Bow plays an inveterate flirt who impulsively marries much-older mountain man Ernest Torrence. When city lawyer Percy Marmont shows up on a camping trip, Bow can't help but lead the poor fellow on. He resists her advances, but finally succumbs, leading to disaster. Very typical of the silent films that catapulted jazz-baby Clara Bow to stardom in the late 1920s, Mantrap benefits immeasurably from Bow's boundless vivacity and from the breathtaking location photography by James Wong Howe. One nagging question: what does twentysomething Bow see in either of her superannuated leading men--particularly the cadaverous Percy Marmont? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernest Torrence, Clara Bow, (more)
