Jean Hersholt Movies

Isobel Ludani (Mary Philbin) supports herself and her father -- an unsuccessful artist (Josef Swickard) -- by working at a modiste's shop. When she is pressed into service as a mannequin, she gets into a knock-down, drag-out fight with one of the other models and ruins her dress. The modiste threatens to throw her in jail unless she pays for the expensive dress. To save her, her father tries to steal a valuable painting and is arrested himself. But all is not lost for Isobel. She has caught the eye of art dealer Francis Doran (Norman Kerry), who pays for the dress and hires her as his secretary. Isobel doubts that his love for her is honorable, but Doran proves himself when he helps out her father. Mr. Ludani has created a masterpiece while in jail, and Doran offers to show it. Ludani becomes a success overnight, and Doran wins Isobel's love and gratitude. This romance was based on a Saturday Evening Post story, "The Best in Life", by Muriell Hine. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

F.B.O. was primarily known for its Westerns and low-budget programmers, but the film company did make an attempt at creating some prestige pictures -- this society drama, with a story by C. Gardner Sullivan, was one of them. Eleanor (Belle Bennett) has married Joe Woodbury (Clive Brook) only for his wealth. Now she's bored and carrying on with Gene Deering (Donald McDonald), a "parlor polecat" (that's what Motion Picture News called him). One day, the Woodburys visit Nadia, a popular fortune teller (Jacqueline Logan), and she becomes attracted to Woodbury. The hypocritical Eleanor refuses to tolerate her husband's friendship with Nadia, so she has a private meeting with the fortune teller and confesses that she is pregnant. Apparently, %Nadia's psychic powers were failing her that day, because she believes this false claim and agrees to give up Woodbury. Not much later, Nadia and her friend, Dr. Mallini (Jean Hersholt), discover Eleanor and Deering escaping from a roadhouse raid. They take Eleanor, who is injured, to Nadia's, and the doctor discovers that Eleanor is not pregnant at all. Woodbury divorces his wayward wife and marries Nadia. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

One of the silent era's most popular tearjerkers, this soapy melodrama was adapted by legendary screenwriter Frances Marion from the 1923 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. Belle Bennett stars as Stella Dallas, a small town girl who is devastated by her father's death and quickly marries the upper class Stephen Dallas (Ronald Colman), with whom she has nothing in common. After the birth of a daughter, Laurel, the Dallases go their separate ways, Stephen returning to New York. As Laurel (Lois Moran) grows into a spirited young woman, Stella realizes that Stephen can provide their daughter countless opportunities she'll never have while living with a destitute single mother, and so Stella makes a selfless sacrifice and sends Laurel to live with Stephen and his new family. Stella Dallas (1925) would later be remade at least twice, its most beloved and famous version being the 1937 King Vidor classic starring Barbara Stanwyck in the title role. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

With its racy title and emphasis on jazz parties and youth, this romantic drama was a typical mid-'20s release. But being an early release from the newly formed MGM, it also featured a great cast, headed by the suave Adolphe Menjou. Menjou plays Arthur Merrill, whose fast lifestyle has made him old before his time. Through Dr. Eustace (Jean Hersholt) and the miracles of modern medicine, he is able to obtain a rejuvenation treatment which restores his lost youth. Merrill has met thoroughly modern flapper Penelope Stevens (Eleanor Boardman) and wants to win her. After he lures her to his apartment and discovers that she's a "nice girl," he can't help but give her a fatherly lecture for her behavior. Then it turns out he really is a father; Brock Farley (Conrad Nagel) arrives from Ohio with a letter proving that he is Merrill's son. Penelope and Farley fall in love, and Merrill decides he's better off acting his own age. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Pert comedienne Constance Talmadge is virtually the whole show in Goldfish. A newly married husband (Jack Mulhall) and wife (Talmadge) make a curious agreement: should either party want to terminate the relationship, that party will present the other one with a bowl of goldfish (there has to be some justification for the film's title, hasn't there?) One bowl and two husbands later, the wife is at the pinnacle of social respectability, while her songwriter ex-husband is still struggling away in poverty. Eventually, her first husband achieves success, whereupon the woman presents her latest fiance with a bowl full of fish and returns to hubby number one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Norris' powerful Zola-esque novel McTeague was first filmed in 1915. While filmmaker Erich Von Stroheim would insist that he'd been enthralled by the book since it first came out in 1902, it is more likely that he didn't make the novel's acquaintance until seeing that 1915 film. Whatever the case, Von Stroheim vowed that, if he ever had enough Hollywood clout, he'd produce the "definitive" version of McTeague. After scoring an enormous financial hit with Foolish Wives, he had just that clout, and, in 1923, he began work on what he hoped would his masterpiece.

Stripped to its bare essentials, McTeague tells the story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner named McTeague (played by Gibson Gowland), who finds his true calling in life by taking over the practice of a traveling dentist. Setting up shop in San Francisco, McTeague falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts), the daughter of German immigrants. It happens that Trina is the girlfriend of McTeague's best pal Marcus (Jean Hersholt), who is mildly resentful, but ultimately forgiving, when McTeague and Trina are married. Always seeking out an opportunity to better herself, Trina buys a lottery ticket. When the ticket pays off and she wins a fortune, the previously even-tempered Trina undergoes a complete personality change, metamorphosing into a grasping, greedy, miserly shrew, hoarding huge sums of money while her husband must get by on his meager earnings as a dentist. Trina's sudden windfall sparks a change in both McTeague and Marcus, as well; driven to distraction by his wife's avarice, McTeague turns into a violent beast, while Marcus boils with jealousy over losing the now-prosperous Trina to McTeague. Pushed too far, McTeague ultimately murders Trina and escapes to the desert with her money. Appointed a sheriff's deputy, the envious Marcus heads out to bring McTeague in, and the two men catch up with one another in the middle of Death Valley. Their water supply gone, their packhorse dead, McTeague and Marcus begin a fight to the death. McTeague manages to shoot and kill Marcus -- only to discover that Marcus has manacled himself to McTeague. Utterly defeated, he sits benumbed on the scorching rocks, awaiting madness and a horrible death.

Filming at actual locations (the murder scene was shot at a locale where a real murder had occurred, while the sweltering Death Valley sequence was, likewise, made there), Von Stroheim remained doggedly faithful to the Norris original, shooting every page word for word. The end result ran 40 reels, or roughly 10 hours of screen time. Then came the corporate intrigues. Von Stroheim, who had begun the film through the auspices of the old Goldwyn studios, now had to contend with the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer regime. Production head Irving Thalberg argued logically that no audience would sit still for ten hours of unrelenting realism. Von Stroheim reluctantly responded by paring his film down to 20 reels, but it was still far too long and depressing for MGM's taste. The director's friend Rex Ingram weeded out two more reels, warning Von Stroheim that "If you cut out another inch, I'll never speak to you again." At this point, MGM, feeling that too much money had already been spent on the project, took McTeague away from Von Stroheim and ordered June Mathis to whittle the picture down to ten reels. It is this version, retitled Greed, that was released to the public in late 1924.

Far from the financial disaster that MGM always claimed it was (the film actually posted a small profit), Greed was still too overpowering for many observers. Critics and audiences were sharply divided, some hailing the film as a work of unbridled genius, others dismissing as "an epic of the sewer." Von Stroheim, angered that his baby had been "butchered," refused to ever see the ten-reel Greed. When viewed today, the film retains its raw dramatic power; the continuity gaps and clumsy transitional titles that once seemed so unforgivable are generally ignored by contemporary audiences. Still, Greed is not a happy, high-kickin' production. Though a rewarding experience, it remains very rough sledding for those accustomed to traditional, conservative entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the plot to this heavy-handed drama sounds like typical Hollywood hokum, it actually came from a very successful stage play by Bernard K. Burns. The conniving George Wayne (Lew Cody) entices Betty Brown (Sylvia Breamer) to accompany him to his cabin with promises of marriage. Only after keeping her there for a few weeks does he reveal he never intended to wed her. Betty starts life all over again (her reputation being ruined by Wayne's actions and the mores of the era), not knowing that Wayne, under the name of Montgomery, is doing the same thing to another girl, Grace Pierce (Bessie Love). Eventually, Betty marries a very moral, upstanding man, Fred Masters (Frank Mayo), but, on the advice of his sister (Myrtle Steadman), does not reveal her past. Both Betty and Masters are called to serve on the jury that is hearing the case against Grace Pierce, who is accused of Montgomery's murder. Betty soon figures out that Montgomery was Wayne, and when everyone wants to convict the girl, she is forced into a dilemma -- should she keep quiet, or should she reveal her sordid past to save the girl, but possibly ruin her own marriage? Betty opts to speak out and Grace is acquitted. The understanding Masters forgives Betty her past. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

With a screenplay by Howard Hawks and direction by Jack Conway, this Mexican border tale couldn't possibly have been anything less than a vigorously rugged production. The all-star cast, including some of the best-known villains of the day (Noah Beery and Walter Long among them), adds to the film's manly tone. Richard Dix stars as a first lieutenant working under Colonel Patterson (J. Farrell McDonald), who is on the trail of some drug smugglers on the Mexican border. Colonel Patterson has been keeping watch over a cantina, where the goings-on seem to be particularly suspicious. The first lieutenant is in love with a girl (Helene Chadwick), whose father (Hardee Kirkland) works for the U.S. government. At the cantina, the lieutenant finds himself strangely attracted to a sultry Mexican girl, but when he finds her outfit hidden away in a deserted cabin, he realizes it was the Farrell girl. His discovery leads him to believe she is part of the smuggling ring. It turns out that she was actually helping her father, but both she and the lieutenant are captured by the smugglers. The U.S. cavalry comes to the rescue in a exciting climax. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This fluffy Mae Murray vehicle was dressed up with a Graustarkian veneer, but in reality it was merely an excuse for the star to wear exotic costumes and perform a few of her famous dance numbers. Jazzmania is a mythical kingdom devoted to dancing and revelry. But the country takes a darker turn when Queen Ninon (Murray) refuses to marry Prince Otto, the pretender to the throne (Jean Hersholt). He begins a revolution and Queen Ninon flees the bombs for the United States, accompanied by a handsome American newspaper reporter, Jerry Langdon (Rod La Rocque). She proceeds to enthrall New York with her dances, but she decides to return to her country and take care of Otto. After soundly deposing him she turns the nation into a republic, introducing it to modern conveniences -- Model Ts, for example (but she wisely leaves out the latest American innovation -- prohibition). Now that the crown is but a fond memory, Ninon gladly weds Langdon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

After the success of the 1919 picture The Miracle Man, producers made quite a number of films about faith-healers in hopes of duplicating its box office returns. This one is no classic -- considering the weak plot, it's a surprise that it came off so well. Joe Laird (Carl Gantvoort) is a hardworking young businessman who works his way up in the company, eventually becoming the private secretary of boss Adam Breed (Robert McKim). But life at home isn't so sweet -- he has a cynical, ungrateful wife, Gladys (Betty Brice), who is less than thrilled when Laird's mother, May Caroline (Claire McDowell), moves in. Gladys laughs at May's claim that she is a faith healer, but then she cures grandson, Bobbie (Frankie Lee), who is crippled. And when the boss's daughter Vivian (Claire Adams) injures her back while trying to rescue Ella, the Lairds' little girl (Mary Jane Irving), from a tree, May gets down to praying once again and heals her. None of this has any effect on Gladys, who runs off with a lover, leaving a note that says, "If my going wounds you, get your mother to heal it." In a way, that's just what happens because after Vivian's recovery, she and Laird fall in love. Gladys is killed, which conveniently gets her out of the way so that the couple can marry. This picture was based on the story by Clara Louise Burnham; the directing credit went to Benjamin B. Hampton "and associates" -- whatever that meant. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although this drama, "suggested by" the book by Stewart Edward White, takes place in the lawless post-gold rush San Francisco of the 1850s, its theme is pretty typical: a political boss runs rampant and makes things difficult for the upstanding district attorney. Nevertheless, much attention was given to period detail and the cast was well chosen, even though none of them were big stars. District attorney Milton Keith (Carl Gantvoort) is trying to convict gangster Charles Cora (Omar Whitehead) on a murder charge. However, Ben Sansome (Robert McKim, in yet another villain role), a powerful a political boss, makes sure that he gets off. When the acquittal comes through, a vigilante committee comes together but before they can take justice into their own hands, another murder is committed. This time, suspicion falls on Calhoun Bennett (George Hackathorne), the brother of Keith's fiancee, Nan (Claire Adams). But Keith has an ally in Kraft, a small time underworld character who is in his debt (the tiny, funny-faced Snitz Edwards). With Kraft's help, Calhoun is cleared and Sansome is caught before he is able to set sail for Mexico. Sansome and Keith come to blows, and after Keith wins the fight, he brings the boss and his men to justice. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide