John T. Neville Movies
The late American screenwriter John Thomas Neville should not be confused with contemporary British actor John Neville. From 1928 onward, John Thomas Neville scripted dozens of low-budget melodramas and Westerns. He spent much of his time at Columbia in the 1930s, then moved onward (if not upward) to Monogram. John Thomas Neville's best-known endeavor was the Bela Lugosi opus The Devil Bat (1940), remade under Neville's imprimatur as The Flying Serpent in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
An early talkie from then-poverty row company Columbia Pictures, Brothers features popular silent screen actor Bert Lytell in a dual-role. Separated at birth, orphaned twins Bob and Eddie grow up on either side of the tracks, one adopted by a washerwoman (Jessie Arnold), the other by a wealthy attorney Naughton (Howard Hickman). Years later, Bob, now a successful but alcoholic attorney in his own right, kills the husband (Francis McDonald) of his mistress (Rita Carlyle) after an altercation in Oily Joe's Saloon. Unbeknownst to Bob, his long-lost twin Eddie works in the saloon and because of their resemblance, Eddie is accused of the crime. When Bob realizes the truth, he clears his brother's name and is institutionalized in a sanitarium. To shield his wife from this sad turn of events, Mr. Naughton persuades Eddie to take Bob's place in the household. He accepts and promptly falls in love with Norma (Dorothy Sebastian), Bob's fiancée. Deciding to leave for his brother's sake, Eddie learns of Bob's death in the sanitarium and declares his love for Norma. A stage matinee-idol who had made a striking screen debut as The Lone Wolf in 1917, Bert Lytell was really a bit too long in the tooth to play leading men at this stage of his career and left films in 1931 in favor of returning to the stage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Lytell, Dorothy Sebastian, (more)
- 1927
Enchanted Island is more than a little beholden to Shakespeare's The Tempest. For 15 years, Tim Sanborn (H. B. Walthall) and his daughter Alice (Charlotte Stevens) have been happily marooned on a desert island. Suddenly, three shipwrecked strangers wash up on shore. Afraid that Alice will be compromised by the male mariners, Sanborn passes the girl off as a boy (now we're into Twelfth Night territory). The nicest of the castaways (Pierre Gendron) proves that his intentions are honorable, but there's a volcano to contend with before a happy (or at least satisfying) ending can be realized. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Stevens, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
