Bernard McConville Movies

A typical Gene Autry everything-but-the-kitchen-sink musical Western, The Old Corral featured the spectacle of Autry getting robbed at gunpoint by his future rival, Roy Rogers. Rogers, who was then known as Dick Weston, and his fellow highwaymen (the singing group the Sons of the Pioneers) go about their illegal activities like true gentlemen, of course, refusing to rob female passengers Nora Cecil and Hope Manning. The latter, playing Eleanor Spencer, is wanted by both the authorities and the Chicago mob after witnessing gangster Mike Scarlotti (John Bradford) murder rival Tony Pearl (Buddy Roosevelt). En route to Los Angeles by Greyhound bus, she hooks up with small town saloon owner Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe) who offers her a job singing in his Turquoise City establishment. Both Simms and Turquoise City sheriff Gene Autry, however, recognize Eleanor as the key witness in the Pearl murder case and the former is quick to notify Scarlotti. Arriving to silence the girl for good, the Chicago mobsters are met by Sheriff Autry, Deputy Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), and their erstwhile prisoners, the O'Keefe brothers (Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of the Pioneers, the brothers having taken a break from harmonizing in their cell). The outcome, of course, is a given and the entire gang is soon behind bars. Milburn Morante, a veteran silent screen comedian who was rarely very funny, is actually amusing this time around as a farmer with car troubles, and Lon Chaney Jr. is well cast as Simms' lumbering henchman. Leading lady Hope Manning later signed with Warner Bros., changed her name to Irene Manning, and starred as Fay Templeton opposite James Cagney's George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Aside from all the aforementioned pleasures, The Old Corral is probably the only chance to see silent screen cowboy star Buddy Roosevelt playing a tuxedo-clad mobster. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

An airborne serial killer terrorizes a group of war veterans in this ultra-cheap but fairly engrossing whodunit produced by one of Hollywood's few women executives, Fanchon Royer. Assigned to investigate a series of flight disasters committed by a phantom aircraft bearing only the legend "X," veteran test pilot Jerry Blackwood (John Carroll) learns from Dr. Norris (John Elliott) that the killer in all likelihood is a veteran of the last war suffering from "battle neurosis." Jerry gathers a group of fellow veterans at the plant operated by aircraft manufacturer Henry Goering (Henry Hall), an assembly consisting of Baron Von Guttard (John Peters) of the German Luftwaffe, the French pilot René LaRue (Gaston Glass), the British Captain Saunders (Pat Somerset), and American Douglas Thompson (Wheeler Oakman), late of the famous Lafayette Escadrille. Also present is the mysterious Lieutenant Ives (Reed Howes) and Carl (Leon Kent), Goering's son, who seems to know a great deal about Von Guttard. The German, however, is the first to die during an airborne patrol, closely followed by LaRue. Saunders, meanwhile, seems to come completely unhinged and remains the obvious suspect when Dr. Norris is found murdered. The real "Pilot X," however, is someone completely different, as Jerry and Goering's ward, Helen Gage (Lona Andre), learn the hard way. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Produced by one of Hollywood's few women executives, Fanchon Royer, this inexpensive "Zorro" rip-off features future Cisco Kid Duncan Renaldo as identical twins separated in childhood by an Indian raid. The remaining twin, Kenneth, later graduates from West Point and falls in love with beautiful Dorothy Brandon (Edwina Booth). Traveling in Mexico with her aunt (Dot Farley), the latter is abducted by lecherous bandit Lopez (Manuel Paris). She is rescued in the proverbial nick of time by El Zorro, a notorious masked outlaw who bears a striking resemblance to Kenneth. When Dorothy pays too much attention to El Zorro, a jealous Kenneth trails the outlaw to his remote hacienda. The ranch is attacked by Lopez and during the struggle to save it, Kenneth realizes that El Zorro is his long-lost twin. Together, the brothers defeat Lopez and Dorothy agrees to marry El Zorro/Johnny, who promises to give up banditry in favor of mining. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Though Will Rogers was still packing 'em in on Broadway, he was considered a Hollywood has-been when he starred in the independently produced A Texas Steer. Rogers also wrote the screenplay of this "topical comedy," in which he plays Texas rancher Maverick Brander, who is maneuvered into politics by his status-seeking wife Ma (Louise Fazenda). Unfortunately, Maverick finds himself at the mercy of a trio of corrupt political hacks who want our hero to use his influence to push through a piece of questionable legislation. The opponents of the bill contrive to abduct Maverick, but he escapes in time to strike a blow for honesty in Washington. The level of humor in the film can be gauged by such character names as "Bossy Brander," "Dixie Style" and "Fairleigh Bright." A Texas Steer had its moments, but Will Rogers would have to wait until talkies arrived to fully blossom as a film star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Fox production was only one of a seemingly endless stream of flapper pictures that came out during the 1920s. In this one, the mother out-flappers her daughters. Katherine Manners (Ethel Clayton) has three daughters who are away at boarding school. She doesn't quite believe that they are the studious girls they claim to be, so she pays them a visit and discovers a wild party going on. Betty (Marian Harlan) and Madelyne (Madge Bellamy) swear they are going to marry their sweethearts, Jimmie (George Stewart) and Lucien (Freeman Wood), while Gwendolyn (Katherine Perry) insists that Grantland Dobbs (Douglas Gerrard) will wed her -- just as soon as he gets a divorce. Mrs. Manners urges them to wait for a little longer, and she goes off on a cruise to Europe. She comes back with a man in tow and acting far more outrageously than any of her daughters. Her behavior makes her notorious, and she even steals Lucien away from Madelyne -- Jimmie, however, proves to be true to Betty. The girls are completely disgusted with their mother and tell her so. Only then does she reveal that it was all an act to show them the error of their ways. Madelyne and Betty tone down their wild ways. Gwendolyn is not so impressed, but eventually she comes around, too. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Mary Philbin, whose performance in The Merry-Go-Round had earned her critical raves, stars in this rather lightweight Universal "Jewel." William Tudor (Joseph J. Dowling) is so overloaded with debt that he is forced to give up the family castle, Pencarreg. After selling it to John Kershaw (Dewitt Jennings), a war millionaire, he goes to London with his granddaughter, Irene (Philbin). Owen (William Haines), Tudor's nephew and Irene's sweetheart, travels to South Africa to oversee his father's mines. Irene finds work as a chorus girl at the Gaiety Theatre, and Christopher Kershaw (Freeman S. Wood), John's womanizing son, falls in love with her. She refuses to have anything to do with him, but then her grandfather falls ill and she hears that Owen has been killed in South Africa. Tudor's doctor suggests that a return to the family castle may prolong the old man's life, so Irene accepts Christopher's marriage proposal. Just after the wedding, Owen (who clearly wasn't dead after all) shows up at Pencarreg. The castle bears a curse, which falls upon Christopher when a huge chandelier crashes down on his head. He is killed, so Irene and Owen are able to reunite. Owen buys the castle back from John Kershaw, and Irene's grandfather returns home. This drama was based on the novel The Inheritors by L.A.R. Wylie. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Mabel Normand's last feature-length film is also one of her most entertaining. Sue Graham (Normand) lives in the tiny hamlet of River Bend. When her parents (George Nichols and Anna Hernandez) refuse to let her marry her sweetheart, Dave Giddings (Ralph Graves), she enters a movie contest and wins. But Sue finds stardom in Hollywood very elusive and winds up working in the wardrobe department at a studio. She convinces her parents to sell everything they have to join her in Hollywood, but they are taken in by a swindler and lose all their money. Giddings comes out to help Sue get a better job, but she is determined to track down the swindler and get the money back. Eventually she is successful and everyone returns to River Bend. Normand has one of her most memorable comic moments when she leads a lion around on a leash, fully convinced it is a dog in disguise. Shortly after this picture was released, Normand was involved in a scandal in which her chauffeur shot a male friend with whom she had been drinking. After the 1921 murder scandal involving her colleague Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and the unsolved killing of her good friend, director William Desmond Taylor in 1922, this was the last straw. A number of states banned her from the screen (Ohio's attorney general remarked, "This film star has been entirely too closely connected with disgraceful shooting affairs.") Producer Mack Sennett released Normand from her contract and her career never recovered. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

While this fast-paced action picture from cowboy star Tom Mix was a little lighter on the Western scenes than normal (a good portion of it takes place on a tramp steamer and in China), it otherwise has all the typical elements of Mix's work: He beats up bad guys left and right, Tony the Wonder Horse shows off a few tricks, and he doesn't get overly cozy with leading lady Claire Adams ("smushy stuff" did not appeal to Mix's youthful male fans). Mix is Grant Malvern, a rancher who befriends scientist Quentin Durant (Tom S. Guise) after rescuing him from a trio of Chinese crooks. The crooks want to find Durant's Arizona gold mine, and the map to the location is contained in a pair of rings. After the crooks track down Durant and kill him, one of the rings winds up with Durant's daughter, Helen (Adams), and the other falls into Malvern's hands. As a result, Malvern finds himself pursued by the same men who throw him into the San Francisco bay. A tramp steamer picks him up, and he works his way across the Pacific until he lands in China, where the battle for Durant's mine picks up again. Malvern and Helen have to fight their way out of a Chinese den and make their way back to the States to claim the mine. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Based on the popular novel of rural life by Charles Felton Pidgin, this motion picture featured most of the star names that Paramount had in 1922. After meeting a pretty girl in the park, Quincy Adams Sawyer, a young, up-and-coming lawyer, is called to the village of Mason's Corners by his father's friend, Deacon Pettengill (Edward Connelly). An older woman, Mrs. Putnam (Claire McDowell), is being swindled by her lawyer, Obadiah Strout (Lon Chaney, who was a master villain with or without makeup). The woman's daughter, Lindy (Barbara LaMarr), tries to vamp Sawyer, but he discovers that the girl he met, Alice (Blanche Sweet), is Pettengill's niece, and she has gone blind since the time they met. A romance develops between Alice and Sawyer nevertheless. Strout, afraid of being exposed, convinces the village blacksmith, Abner Stiles (Elmo Lincoln), that Sawyer means him no good, so Stiles offers his aid. Lindy leads Alice onto a ferry, and Stiles cuts the rope and sends the little boat adrift. Lindy, however, repents her actions and tells all to Sawyer, who goes to Alice's rescue. He saves her just before the ferry goes over the falls. In the excitement, Alice's eyesight returns. Stiles, discovering that he has been duped, kills Strout. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

With the onslaught of the Roaring Twenties, there was a backlash instigated by people who were nostalgic for simpler times. This attitude could very well be summed up in the James Whitcomb Riley poem on which this Charles Ray vehicle was based. There isn't a title card to be had in the whole picture -- but none are needed, since there's really no plot. It's all just Ray doing what he did best -- acting the part of a bare-footed Indiana boy. Ezra (Ray) is the prototypical rural youth -- he's frequently late for school and would just as soon skip it altogether in favor of fishing at the "old swimmin' hole" with his pals. He proves his manliness by puffing on a pipe filled with corn silk -- and gets ill for his efforts. Ezra and a fat boy named Skinny (Lincoln Stedman) are rivals for Myrtle (Laura LaPlante, in one of her first notable roles). Myrtle favors Skinny, which results in various battles between the two boys. When the farmers' picnic comes around, Ezra gets Myrtle to accompany him in a boat ride, but she dumps him in the water and goes off with Skinny. Ezra, however, still manages to find romance with the kindly Esther (Marjorie Prevost), who has loved him from afar. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Story has it that Douglas Fairbanks was approached for the role of the Yankee, Martin Cavendish. It certainly would have made interesting casting, but Harry Myers (who, a decade later, would appear as Charles Chaplin's rich, boozy friend in City Lights) does a fine job in the part. This spectacular production was a big release for the Fox studios in 1921. Wealthy Martin Cavendish is in love with Sandy, his mother's secretary (Pauline Starke). His mother (Adele Farrington), however, wants him to marry Lady Grey Gordon (Rosemary Theby). One night, a burglar breaks into the mansion and attacks Cavendish with a spear belonging to a suit of armor. Cavendish is knocked unconscious and he wakes up in a dream where he is being poked by a knight, Sir Sagramore (George Siegmann). Sagramore takes Cavendish to King Arthur's court, where he saves himself from being tortured to death by claiming a solar eclipse was his doing. Cavendish is made a knight with the title Sir Boss, and he brings the modern-day luxuries of 1921 to medieval times, including tin lizzies, plumbing, and telephones. He rescues Lady Alisande la Cartelone (Starke) from the wicked Queen Morgan Le Fay (Theby). When he goes to battle Sir Sagramore at a tournament, he shows up dressed as a cowboy and lassos him off his horse. Then he has the king (Charles Clary) dress as a peasant to make him understand that "all this nobility stuff is bunk." When Cavendish finally awakens from his dream, he goes to Sandy and they elope. Mark Twain's famous tale has been filmed numerous times; other notable Yankees have been Will Rogers and Bing Crosby. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide