Campbell Gullan Movies

The Black Tulip may sound like an action-packed swashbuckler, but is in fact a low-key melodrama set in long-ago Holland. Campbell Gulan plays a merchant whose desire to cultivate black tulips turns into an obsession. Only horticulturalist Patrick Waddington knows the secret behind the creation of black tulips. Gulan frames Waddington, forcing him to reveal his secret. The film was based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Winding up his Hollywood film career in 1935, venerable British stage star George Arliss returned to his homeland for his last movie assignments. In East Meets West, the 68-year-old Arliss dons turban and monocle to portray an Eastern sultan who is inordinately proud of his son. The young man bids fair to break his father's heart by conducting an affair with the wife of a notorious criminal. Arliss exercises his usual third-act prerogative of tying up all loose plot ends and providing confusion unto his enemies. East Meets West was based on an old George Arliss stage vehicle, Edwin Greenwood's The Lake of Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legendary Scots entertainer Harry Lauder makes one of his rare screen appearances in End of the Road. Lauder plays John Macgregor, a travelling song-and-dance man who manages to remain chipper and upbeat despite the worst that life has to offer. Among the woes and travails facing Macgregor in the course of the film is the death of his beloved daughter and stage partner Jean (Ethel Glendinning). Some of the characters in the film are afforded a happy ending through Macgregor's intervention, but he himself must walk off into the horizon alone, a la Chaplin. Patchily produced, End of the Road at least affords an opportunity to watch one of the world's most beloved entertainers in action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jew Suss was a well-worn stage drama based on an old novel by Lionel Feuchtwanger. The story involves an enterprising Jewish businessman (Conrad Veidt) who gains power and influence in the European community of Wurttemburg. He does this to help his people, who have suffered persecution under the Gentile burgomeisters. To his horror, Suss discovers that he is actually not Jewish at all. The question: Was his own suffering on behalf of the community's genuine Jews worth it, and will he continue to act in their best interest? Filmed as a protest against the rising tide of Anti-Semitism in Germany, Jew Suss (released in the U.S. as Power) was far from subtle, but its heart was in the right place. There would be a reprehensible 1940 German remake of Jew Suss, this time filmed under the aegis of Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels, wherein the story was perverted into an anti-Jewish tract and Suss was portrayed as a drooling rapist! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the best of Michael Powell's low-budget "quota quickies" -- essentially British B-movies made on ultra-low budgets under the government-imposed quota system for British-made movies in British theaters -- Red Ensign was also one of the more intelligent thoughtful dramas of its kind. Set amid the massive economic disruptions of the worldwide depression of the mid-'30s, it tells the story of David Barr (Leslie Banks), the managing director of an idled Scottish ship-building company, who has devised a revolutionary new design for cargo vessels using arcform hulls, which permits them to operate more cheaply and efficiently than any ships currently in service. He can revolutionize the merchant shipping industry, but Barr wants more than that -- he sees that as only the first step to reviving the entire British economy. Barr, who worked his way up from the shipyards (starting as a riveter) to the boardroom, is able to see this larger picture, from the top down to the vantage point of the lowest yard worker, and from the bottom up to the management suites, and he is driven by the breadth and clarity of what he perceives. But before he can do that, or get even one ship built, he has to overcome the resistance of the other directors, upper-class all, who admire Barr's brilliance but can't understand his passion, content as they are to ride out this worldwide depression in cautious comfort. Their leader is the recalcitrant board chairman, Lord Dean (Frank Vosper), who not only doesn't believe in taking risks but also resents Barr's successful wooing of the company's principal shareholder, June Mackinnon (Carol Goodner), the daughter of the company's late founder.

Barr is single-minded in his vision and certain enough of his cause that he is willing to withhold information from the other directors to get what he wants, and even commit forgery if there's no other way to get the first ship built. Lord Dean, meanwhile, wants to sign a contract for the new ships with Manning (Alfred Drayton), the unscrupulous owner of a shipping line notorious for its use of foreign registries, poorly paid and trained foreign crews, and safety violations, which would solve the shipyard's problems for a time but do nothing for British shipping or the economy. And Manning, desiring these new ship and faced with Barr's opposition, is not above putting spies and saboteurs into the shipyard, and setting fires and explosions to undermine Barr's work. Amid the corporate maneuvering and the threat of strikes (fomented by Manning's paid agitators) and arrest, the script keeps the pacing brisk and the focus tight on the fate of Barr and his ideas, in what was one of the more cerebral and diverting dramatic thrillers of its day. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a woman's dead husband is dug up for an inquest and it is discovered that the man did not die of a heart attack--he was shot. Immediately, the wife becomes the prime suspect. Fortunately, the wife is proven innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Pleasure Crazed was adapted from the less luridly titled stage play The Scent of Sweet Almonds. Nora Westby (Marguerite Churchill) is in love with Captain Anthony Dean (Kenneth MacKenna) but keeps her mouth shut about it out of respect for Dean's marriage to Alma (Dorothy Burgess). Alas, Alma is not so honorable, cheating on her husband at every opportunity. Dean finally awakens to Alma's deceit and Nora's sincerity when he tries to bail Nora out of an unfortunate entanglement in a crooked business transaction. Donald Gallegher, director of the original stage play, was brought to Hollywood by Fox Studios to helm the screen version, while Charles Klein "blocked" the action for the benefit of the multiple cameras, and also directed the auto-chase finale. Oddly enough, Kenneth MacKenna, who reportedly retreated to the production end of the business because of his ineptitude as a talking-picture actor, delivered the film's best performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Written and directed by Henry Edwards and starring Mrs. Edwards, Chrissie White, this silent British melodrama about the wife of a coffee salesman who dreams that her husband (Edwards) goes blind and is killed in a tragic fire was filmed completely without subtitles more than one year before F.W. Murnau attempted the same feat with the German Der Letzte Man (1924). British trade papers, however, although awarding Mr. Edwards an "A" for effort, complained that the lack of sub-titles led to "some rather farfetched ways of conveying simple ideas." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This murder mystery was based on the novel At the Mercy of Tiberius by Augusta J. Evans Wilson, an author who had been popular in the latter half of the 19th century. Although the title was changed for the better, the title cards depended heavily on the book, which was unfortunate -- by 1921, the language sounded unnatural and stilted. Because her mother (Dorothy Gordon) is seriously ill, Beryl Bretano (Peggy Hyland) resolves to ask her grandfather for money even though he disowned his daughter for marrying against his desires. Beryl shows up at her grandfather's Southern mansion and gets the money, but the next day he is found dead. Beryl is arrested and since she doesn't offer any defense -- she has promised her mother to protect her black sheep brother, who she is sure is involved -- she is convicted. Later on, however, Beryl is freed and she tracks down her brother, who has become a priest. He reveals that he had quarreled with his grandfather that night, but that the old man had been struck down by lightning. The prosecuting attorney, who had tried to help Beryl while she was on trial, now forges a romance with her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The title is the same as director George Stevens' 1951 drama, but this picture has nothing to do with Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, the basis for the Stevens film. Instead, it's adapted from the farcical stage play by Cyril Harcourt -- the only problem being that it was made into a melodrama for the screen, and its entertainment value suffered as a result. Rosie Blair (Margaret Blanche) and her brother, Dick (Malcolm Sherry), live on the estate of Sir John Capel (Lynston Lyle). Sir John's children, Stuart (Reginald Owen) and Marjorie (Lydia Billbrooke]), begin romances with the Blair siblings, but Stuart especially is afraid of his father's disapproval. Although his love affair with Rosie turns physical, he is reluctant to marry her because he thinks he will be disowned. Dick, meanwhile, has gone to London and he becomes a successful author. When he finds out that his sister has been wronged, he storms over to the Capels, but Sir John won't hear of a marriage. Marjorie, however, decides to teach her father and brother a lesson and puts herself in a compromising position with Dick. Stuart sees through her trick but it doesn't matter since he intended to propose to Rosie anyhow. And Sir John finally relents and gives Stuart and Rosie his blessings. This British-made picture was produced in 1916, but it didn't appear in the States until 1919, after the end of World War I. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The British The Great Adventure was based on a play by Arnold Bennett. Henry Ainley heads the cast as Liam Carve, a famous artist who hopes to escape his fame by assuming the identity of his dead valet. In this guise, he falls in love with Janet Cannott (Esme Hubbard), a woman of humble means. The future happiness of the middle-aged couple is threatened when it turns out that the deceased valet had a wife and children secretly tucked away. The Great Adventure was remade in 1933 with Roland Young and Lillian Gish as His Double Life, then again in 1943 with Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields as Holy Matrimony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide