Milton Brown Movies
A busy supporting player in the silent Westerns of Hoot Gibson and Buck Jones, Milton Brown (aka Milt Brown) was a real-life stage-driver and a veteran of the very last cattle drives. In films from around 1910, Brown could and would play anything from nasty Arab villains (The Arab, 1915) to Senator Pettingill in the 1923 Edward Everett Horton version of Ruggles of Red Gap. But Brown mostly found himself in Westerns and often on the wrong side of the law. Good friend Hoot Gibson made sure that the veteran performer was hired for all his early sound films, and Brown played minor sidekick roles in both Hard Hombre (1931) and The Local Bad Man (1932). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1930
Nearing the end of his long association with Universal, rough-edged silent screen cowboy Hoot Gibson released eight sound Westerns in 1930 before the studio dropped him in favor of the more streamlined Ken Maynard. Mounted Stranger, a remake of Gibson's 1924 The Ridin' Kid From Powder River, certainly broke no new ground and the once so popular entertainer was increasingly criticized for refusing to change with the times. Gibson played Pete Ainslee, who as a child witnessed his father's killing. The adult Ainslee, known as the "Ridin' Kid," locates the killer, Steve Gary (Fred Burns ), whom he wounds in a gun battle. Gary, unfortunately, recovers and seeks revenge. Ainslee manages to stay a couple of steps ahead of the killer, who is subsequently killed by his own disgruntled gang members. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buddy Hunter, Milton Brown, (more)
- 1929
Universal's top western ace, the charming Hoot Gibson, starred in this average oater about a young man who goes undercover as a bandit to infiltrate the gang responsible for his father's death. As always, Gibson uses guile and wit instead of brute force to unmask and apprehend the guilty party (nasty-looking Frank Campeau). The rather commonplace story was concocted by the prolific B.M. Bowers, AKA novelist Bertha Muzzy Sinclair. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson
- 1924
Matt Moore stars as Judson Clark, a wealthy but idle young man who is in love with actress Beverly Carlysle (Nita Naldi). Her husband becomes jealous and he winds up in a fight with Clark. A shot rings out and the husband falls dead. Clark believes he is the murderer and dashes out into a snowstorm. He almost dies, but is found by Dr. David Livingstone (George Fawcett). The doctor takes care of Clark, but though he recovers physically, he has lost his memory. Everyone believes that Clark has died, but actually he is studying to be a physician. Ten years pass and Beverly comes through town with a show. In the audience she sees Clark, and Louis Bassett (Cyril Ring), an ambitious reporter, reopens the long-forgotten murder case. When Clark goes to the scene of the crime, his memory of his prior life returns, but he forgets his present one, including his engagement to Elizabeth Wheeler (Patsy Ruth Miller). When Dr. Livingstone falls ill, however, Clark rushes to his side, and all his memories return. Just as he is about to give himself up for the murder he believed he committed, Bassett discovers the real killer. Clark is left free to marry Elizabeth. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nita Naldi, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1923
Edward Everett Horton, who was still new to film, was perfectly cast as the meek and mild English valet Ruggles in this adaptation of the Harry Leon Wilson novel. Ruggles comes into the life of Cousin Egbert (Ernest Torrence) when he and his wife, Mrs. Effie (Louise Dresser), travel to Paris. The couple, from the western town of Red Gap, are nouveau riche and she is determined to teach him how to be a proper gentleman. But Cousin Egbert proves to be unteachable, even after he wins Ruggles in a poker game. Mrs. Effie hopes that Ruggles will show her husband the ropes, and Ruggles is certainly willing. Back home in Red Gap, however, the two men are more pals than master and servant. In fact, Egbert introduces Ruggles as a colonel, and the town honors him. Ruggles' former employer comes to Red Gap and falls in love with Kate Kenner, one of the bohemian set (Lois Wilson). Ruggles, horrified, wires the man's brother to put a stop to it. The brother does just that by traveling to Red Gap and marrying Kate himself. Ruggles then has a romance with Emily (Fritzi Ridgeway) and opens up a restaurant. This wasn't the first time this story was filmed -- there was a version made in 1918, then again in 1935 and 1950. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Ernest Torrence, (more)
- 1923
Producer-director-star Leo Maloney spared every expense in putting together this very minor western offering about a Texas Ranger (Maloney) tracking down a young man (Chet Ryan) accused of murder. The youngster's father, (Milton Brown), an ex-officer in the Confederate Army, runs the town of King City Judge Roy Bean-style and is all set to hang his own son when the ranger arrives with the real killer. The old man repents and allows the ranger to wed his daughter (Josephine Hill). Maloney shared directorial duties this time with Bob Williamson, offering plenty of footage to a clever pooch, Beans, who played the murdered man's faithful companion. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Horace B. Carpenter, (more)
- 1917
Long thought lost, the 1917 western Straight Shootin' was rediscovered in the vaults of the Czech Film Archive. Thus, and thankfully, was safely preserved the very first feature-length effort of director John Ford. Harry Carey stars as a "good badman" type, slightly emulating William S. Hart without ever sacrificing his own distinct style. A professional gunman, Carey intervenes on behalf of the downtrodden homesteaders during a violent range war. Expanded from its intended two-reel length to five reels during production, the film allowed Ford to invest a great deal of humanity in his characters. The fact that no one is shown as wholly good or wholly evil adds to the overall veneer of realism, as do occasional on-screen "accidents" such as supporting actor Hoot Gibson's obviously unrehearsed tumble from a horse. Many of the locations utilized in Straight Shootin', notably a thin trail through a deep gorge (not a natural formation, as has often been assumed, but a man-made trail created for a never-completed railroad line), would pop up time and again in Ford's silent and talkie films. Though only 22 at the time of Straight Shootin', John Ford directed with the self-assuredness of a man twice his age; the result was a film that looked more like a slick product of the 1920s, rather than an assembly-line star vehicle of 1917. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
The aptly-described title character is Alice Hale, played by Cleo Ridgely. Urged on by her mercenary mother and by her own desire for creature comforts, Alice enters into a loveless marriage with wealthy young Tom Morley (Wallace Reid). Though promised a prestigious job by his businessman father (Charles Arling), Morley prefers to make his own way in the world, and to that end he takes a job as a railroad construction engineer. Morley Sr. then takes Alice into his confidence, promising to pay the girl a cool million dollars if she'll persuade Tom to give up his "lowly" job and sign on with his dad's firm. Resorting to all sorts of dirty trickery -- including fomenting a railway worker's strike -- Alice is nonetheless unsuccessful in changing her husband's mind. Only when she's on the verge of losing Tom forever does Alice realize that she loves him, and not his family fortune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
This is Cecil B. DeMille at his most dressed-down. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine takes place in the Virginia mountains. Jack Hale (Thomas Meighan) is a revenue officer sent to track down some moonshiners. While on his hunt, he meets and falls in love with June Tolliver (Charlotte Walker), the daughter of the very people he's looking for. The Tolliver family see this love affair as their opportunity to outsmart Hale and get him out of their way. Led unwittingly by June, Hale almost falls into their trap, but the girl's father (Theodore Roberts) comes around -- in the end he destroys his still and gives his daughter's hand to Hale. DeMille's handling of this drama with its simple setting won him notices that were nearly as good as the ones he got for the Geraldine Ferrar spectacles he was also making at the time. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Walker, Theodore Roberts, (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
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
- 1915
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
- 1914
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
- 1914
Produced by Famous Players, The Only Son was one of several efforts to bestow movie stardom upon Broadway comic actor Thomas W. Ross. Re-creating his stage role, Ross (who must have been 45 at the time!) played the young, ne'er-do-well son of a millionaire. Refusing to enter the family business, our hero chooses instead the life of a "starving artist." He becomes involved with the wife of an insanely jealous Englishman, whose mid-film murder dictates the pulse-pounding outcome of the story. Running 3 reels, The Only Son was serviceable, but the movie-going public simply didn't warm up to Thomas W. Ross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
