Bernard McConville Movies
American screenwriter Bernard McConville's first known credit was 1915's Missing Links. McConville went on to script a variety of subjects, including the "Fox Kiddies" spectacular Alladin and His Wonderful Lamp (1917), the Mary Pickford vehicle Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921) and the Mabel Normand comedy feature The Extra Girl (1923). One of his most interesting assignments was Charles Ray's The Old Swimmin' Hole (1921), one of the few silent films to completely dispense with subtitles. Briefly out of work at the beginning of the talkie era, Bernard McConville was back on the job in 1932, turning out western after western until 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1920
Charles Ray was almost 30 when he played 19-year-old Andy Cavanaugh, a love-struck country boy. That alone goes a long way to explain why Ray eventually grew weary of playing the young rural characters that were so popular with his fans. Nevertheless, he portrayed them very well, and he pulls off this weak story almost single-handedly. Andy works as a clerk in a store and the object of his affections is Phyllis Laurin (Clara Horton), the daughter of the local judge (Frank Norcross). Andy's rival is the son of his wealthy boss. Along with lots of money, the rival has a car; all Andy has is his talent for dancing and his utter devotion to Phyllis. Devotion wins out, and Phyllis accepts his proposal. At the jewelry store, she picks out a 500 dollar ring. Poor Andy makes but 18 dollars a week, but he puts down a deposit anyway, hoping that he'll figure out a way to come up with the rest. As fate would have it, there is a bandit terrorizing the town and a 1,000 dollar reward has been offered for his capture. On the night that Andy's father (George Nichols) tries to prevent him from attending a dance, he sneaks out the window and falls right on top of the bandit. Andy drags the bandit to the dance and is hailed as a hero. He discovers that the rival has paid cash for the ring Phyllis wanted, but he ties him up and takes it back. Not only has Andy won Phyllis and the reward, he has earned his manhood. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Ray
- 1919
Amy Burke (Mary Pickford) is as spoiled, temperamental and contrary a lass as her grandfather, Alexander Guthrie (Ralph Lewis), is ruthless and cutthroat a businessman. Amy is bored with the privileged life on Riverside Drive, so when her father, John Burke (Dwight Crittenden), returns to New York, she demands that she go with him instead of traveling through Europe with her grandfather. It comes as a shock to Amy that her father, a writer, is living in a tenement and that she has lost all the perks she had as a child of wealth. But soon she adjusts to life in the slums, wearing loud, mismatched outfits and shooting craps with the best of the kids. And through fraternizing with neighbors, such as the ever-battling Pat O'Shaughnessy (Andrew Arbuckle) and Abram Issacs (Max Davidson) and the nice, but mysterious John Graham (Kenneth Harlan), she learns to be a real person. Watching over the transformation is her grandfather, who has come in disguise to keep an eye on her. But his own transformation is not complete until one night, when Amy and John -- who is now her beau -- break into the Guthrie residence in search of papers which were falsely used to send him to prison. Although they are caught, Guthrie not only forgives them, he consents to their marriage. This was the second of three films Pickford made for First National. In spite of the stellar cast, and the help of director idney A. Franklin and screenwriter Frances Marion, this picture -- based on Burkses' Amy by Julie M. Lippman -- is not one of Pickford's very best. Amy is far too nasty at the beginning, and it takes the audience quite a few reels to forgive her ill-tempered antics. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
This film was one of Mary Pickford's attempts to add at least a touch of maturity to her little girl characterizations. She is a Kentucky mountain girl in this romantic adventure film, and Harold Goodwin is the boy who befriends her. Sam DeGrasse was the villain. Future silent-screen idol Jack Gilbert also had a small role. While Heart O' the Hills received politely positive reviews and some interest surrounded Pickford's more mature role (the character was teen-aged; Mary herself was 27), there were no real raves. After this, Pickford firmly returned to the security of her more youthful portrayals -- her next film was Pollyanna. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, John Gilbert, (more)
- 1918
Yes, this is the classic Arabian Nights story, with Ali Baba discovering the treasure in the cave that opens to the magic words, "Open Sesame." But there's a twist here -- all the roles from Ali Baba (George Stone) to his beloved, dancing girl Morgianna (Gertrude Messinger) to Abdulla (Raymond Nye) are played by children. And yes, tiny Gertrude Messinger performed a hootchie-koo dance. Fox filmed a series of classic stories, such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, with kiddie actors, in the hopes of grabbing the child audience. Even in the days of their original release, they were curios. Sidney A. Franklin, who later went on to a distinguished career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed this picture. It is likely that he did not keep it on his resume. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
In a odd bit of casting, the strong-willed, 20-year-old Edith Roberts starts out as a meek, 12-year-old ragamuffin in this drama. Orphan Eleanor Hamlin (Roberts) is living with her grandparents in a Cape Cod village, but they hand her over to wealthy Beulah Page (Winifred Greenwood), who offers to adopt her. Unfortunately, Beulah, a single woman, knows next to nothing about children and has no maternal instincts whatsoever. Her friends, however, are taken with Eleanor, especially Beulah's lover, Peter Bolling (Thornton Church). Because the girl is stealing her thunder, Beulah selfishly ships her off to boarding school. But when Eleanor returns a polished and pretty young woman, Beulah's life takes a turn for the worse because Peter falls in love with her. Upset that she has come between the couple, Eleanor runs back to her grandparents. Peter follows, but she hides from him. Christmas comes and Beulah misses Eleanor after all. The girl returns and offers to simply be her child, not her rival for Peter, and she is welcomed back to the fold -- an unsatisfying end to an unrealistic picture. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winifred Greenwood, Hallam Cooley, (more)
- 1916
The Little School Ma'am is Nan, portrayed by Dorothy Gish. A Southern gal, Nan heads westward to take charge of a classroom in a puritanical frontier village. Though dedicated to her job, she yearns for the companionship of a male over the age of 12. Virginia-born playwright Wilbur Howard (Elmer Clifton) newly arrived in town for a vacation, falls hard for winsome Nan. Their chastely conducted romance stirs up a great deal of gossip, leading to a devastating scandal. In the end, it is Nan's loyal schoolkids who clear up matters so that Nan and Wilbur can be married. Stills exist from The Little School Ma'am showing Dorothy Gish in a pirate costume, suggesting that a masquerade party was somehow woven into the storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Dorothy Gish stars as Gretchen, the daughter of Dutch immigrant Ralph Lewis. Doing her best to adjust to her strange new homeland of the USA, Gretchen falls in love with Italian-American Frank Bennett. The plot thickens when she is kidnapped by gangsters so that her father, an engraver, will be forced to make counterfeit plates. A rousing (and amusing) rescue scene caps this cinemadaptation of Bernard McConville's story Gretchen Blunders In. Curiously, the film is not mentioned in the otherwise thorough 1973 coffee-table book Lillian and Dorothy Gish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Gish, Ralph Lewis, (more)
