Rudolph Cameron Movies
A dark-haired stage actor who had scored a hit on Broadway in Rich Man, Poor Man, Rudolph Cameron appeared in three films in 1917 opposite his then-wife, Metro star Anita Stewart: Clover's Rebellion, The More Excellent Way, and The Message of the Mouse. They were reunited five years later in Rose o' the Sea, in which she was a poor flower girl and he the society roué with whom she falls in love. Concentrating mainly on stage work for the remainder of the decade, Cameron came back to Hollywood after the changeover to sound, playing countless numbers of mostly miniscule bit parts until his retirement in the late '40s. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1948
The positive public response to such productions as Crossfire and Gentleman's Agreement led to a mini-cycle of postwar anti-prejudice films. One of these was The Vicious Circle, based on a true incident which had previously been dramatized in G. W. Pabst's The Trial. In the late-19th century, an anti-Semitic Hungarian baron (Reinhold Schunzel) foments a pogrom against his country's Jews when a 14-year-old servant girl commits suicide. Falsely accused of subjecting the girl to a ritualistic murder, five Jewish farmers are put on trial for murder. Defying the slings and arrows of public condemnation, defense attorney Karl Nemensch (Conrad Nagel) intends to prove the farmers' innocence -- and to expose anti-Semitism for the poisonous scourge that it truly is. The Vicious Circle was based on The Burning Bush, a play by Herald and Geza Herczeg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Alexander, Sam Bernard, (more)
A semi-sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Columbia's Down to Earth is a camp- and kitsch-lover's delight. More beautiful than ever, Rita Hayworth stars as Terpsichore, the Goddess of Dance. From her perch Up Above, Terpsichore discovers that Broadway producer Danny Miller (Larry Parks) intends to put together a musical satire, lampooning herself and her fellow Greek Gods. Eliciting the aid of Heavenly emissary Mr. Jordan (Roland Culver, taking over from the earlier film's Claude Rains), Terpsichore descends to Earth in human form, landing a role in Miller's play. Through her bewitching influence, Miller agrees to abandon his plans for a satire, transforming his production into a portentiously serious "work of art"-which lays a large and noxious egg with the opening-night crowd. Somehow, our ethereal heroine manages to set things right, but there's still one nagging problem: Will she, a goddess, ever be permitted to fall in love with a mere mortal like Miller? Repeating their Here Comes Mr. Jordan roles, James Gleason and Edward Everett Horton appear respectively as the eternally flustered Max Corkle (formerly a fight promoter, now a theatrical agent) and the pompous, rule-bound Heavenly messenger #7013. Silly but immensely entertaining, Down to Earth was remade as the sillier but decidedly less entertaining Xanadu in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Burke, Rita Hayworth, (more)
- 1943
Hoping to achieve a brilliant career as a violinist, Julia Seabrook (Ann Sothern) divorces her husband Jeff (Melvyn Douglas), feeling as though he's holding her back. But Jeff is still in love with Julia, and he's willing to move Heaven and Earth to get her back. Meanwhile, David Torrance (Lee Bowman) and Philip Barrows (Richard Ainley) also ardently pursue the mercurial Julia. And that's about all the plot there is in this wafer-thin MGM formula picture. The stars go through the same paces they've gone through in countless earlier films, filling the requisite 89 minutes with sheer personality and little else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1935
In this romantic comedy, Marilyn David (Claudette Colbert) is a stenographer who has become good friends with Peter Dawes (Fred MacMurray), a newspaper reporter who takes the same subway as she does each morning. While Peter is crazy about Marilyn, she has her eye on Charles Gray (Ray Milland), a wealthy Englishman. Charles is the son of Lloyd Granville (C. Aubrey Smith), a titled British nobleman, which means Charles is rich, good looking, and minor royalty, tipping the scales in his favor. Charles proposes marriage to Marilyn, but after a sudden argument, she turns him down. Peter is ecstatic at this bit of news and publishes an article about the working girl who passed on a chance to marry into money and nobility. Marilyn is suddenly famous as "The No Girl," and is even able to turn her sudden notoriety into a new career as a nightclub performer. Marilyn's fame causes Charles to take a second look at her; he asks her to reconsider, but Marilyn wonders if she might be better off with Peter after all. The Gilded Lily was the first co-starring vehicle for Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, who would go on to make seven movies together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1935
This truly offbeat filmization of Jean Bart's stage drama The Man Who Reclaimed His Head has been misleadingly released to TV as part of the "Shock Theater" package, even though the film is more melancholy than horrific. At the height of WW I, the trembling, near-lunatic Paul Verin (Claude Rains) arrives at police headquarters, carrying an ominously heavy handbag. Before revealing the bag's gruesome contents, he relates his tragic story in flashback. At one time a promising writer, Verin was married to the beautiful and ambitious Adele (Joan Bennett), who pushed and prodded him to advance himself. Accordingly, he sold his "head" -- that is, his integrity -- to powerful publisher Henri Dumont (Lionel Atwill), ghostwriting Dumont's anti-war editorials. By the time he realized that the hypocritical Dumont had himself sold out to the pro-war business interests, Verin had lost his wife and child to the scheming publisher. Driven mad on the battlefield, he made his way back to Dumont's mansion, exacting a horrible but appropriate revenge (hence the film's title). The Man Who Reclaimed His Head was remade in 1945 as Strange Confession -- with the pacifist angle completely removed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rains, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1935
William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions moved from MGM to Warners with Page Miss Glory--along with Cosmopolitan's biggest commodity, actress Marion Davies. The plotline has something to do with a composite photo prepared for a magazine contest: The combined facial attributes of Garbo, Dietrich, Harlow and Kay Francis make up this picture, which wins an award for photographer Pat O'Brien. When pressed to produce his fictional "Miss Glory," O'Brien scours the country in search of the girl whose face matches the composite. And that's where lowly chambermaid Marion Davies comes in. After a dizzying taste of fame and fortune, Davies renounces her new celebrity for the love of Dick Powell. The title song of Page Miss Glory was given a more entertaining showcase in the "art deco" Warner Bros. cartoon Miss Glory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1930
In this musical comedy, two partners in the garter business fight for control and decide to play a round of poker to settle their differences. The winner will get to run the company for a year while the loser will serve as his butler. Meanwhile a pretty girl falls in love with one of their sons. Songs include: "Everything Will Happen for the Best" (B.G. DeSylva, Lewis E. Gensler), "Brother, Just Laugh It Off" (Arthur Schwartz, Ralph Rainger), "It Seems to Me", "I'm Afraid of You" (Dick Howard, Rainger), "I Love the Girls in My Own Peculiar Way" (E.Y. Harburg, Henry Souvain). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Smith, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1930
Based upon an ambitious but unsuccessful stage operetta by Oscar Hammerstein and Vincent Youmans, Song of the West is set in the middle 1800s during the great western Gold Rush. At a fort in Kansas, Lt. Singleton is in love with Virginia, daughter of the fort's Colonel. Singleton encounters Capt. Stanton, who had the misfortune of getting involved in a romantic triangle that produced a bit of a scandal. Stanton quarrels with his rival from that triangle, Davolo, and ends up shooting him. Singleton and the Colonel lock Stanton up and hold him for murder. Stanton escapes, disguises himself as a man of the cloth and hitches up with a wagon train heading for California. As luck would have it, Virginia is part of the wagon train party. Along the way, Stanton and Virginia fall in love. Stanton's guilt over his past haunts him, however, and he worries that he is not good enough for Virginia. He leaves her and is involved in a mishap at a mining camp, after which he re-enlists as a private to avoid deportation and to pay for his sins. Happily, however, he also discovers that Virginia loves him and will always love him, no matter who he is or what he has done. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Boles, Vivienne Segal, (more)
- 1927
Recently fired by comedian Harry Langdon, young director Frank Capra found it difficult to line up any new projects. He was finally afforded the opportunity to direct a New York-based production originally titled Hell's Kitchen, but eventually released as For the Love of Mike. The story is the old bromide about three men -- Irishman O'Malley (Hugh Cameron), German Schultz (Ford Sterling) and Jewish Katz (George Sidney) -- who adopt an orphaned lad named Mike (played as an adult by Ben Lyon) and finance his education. Once he gets into Yale, Mike nearly falls in with a bad crowd but in the end is redeemed by the love of pert coed Mary (Claudette Colbert, in her movie debut). Despite a strong supporting cast and worthwhile production values, For the Love of Mike was sabotaged by distribution problems and ended up a failure -- and worst of all, Frank Capra was never paid for his participation. Completely on the outs in Hollywood, Capra was forced to take a job at bottom-barrel Columbia Pictures, which in the long run turned out to be immeasurably beneficial for both director and studio. As for newcomer Claudette Colbert, she too managed to survive the For Love of Mike debacle, eventually winning an Academy Award for her work in the Frank Capra-directed It Happened One Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1922
This comedy-drama starring Anita Stewart was unusual in that instead of marrying the handsome leading man, the heroine winds up with his father. As an infant, Rose (Stewart) was cast onshore after a shipwreck and taken in by an old sailor. The sailor raises her, and after his death, Rose goes to work in a Fifth Avenue flower shop. The good-looking but dissolute Elliott Schuyler (Rudolph Cameron) meets her there, and invites her out for a ride in his car. She goes, but repulses his amorous advances. Elliott, who has been drinking, hits his head and is knocked unconscious. Rose goes to his millionaire father, Peter Schuyler (Thomas Holding), to tell him of his son's death, but Elliott comes to and arrives home while she is still there. The young man takes up with a chorus girl, and when Peter tries to buy her off, she uses the money to pay one of his son's gambling debts. Rose, meanwhile, is befriended by an elderly lady who tries to start a romance between her and Elliott. The ploy is nearly successful, and the couple go so far as to become engaged. But Elliott decides he is unworthy of her and marries the chorus girl. Peter disinherits him, but Rose helps father and son to reconcile. Along the way, she and Peter fall in love and they marry. This picture was based on the novel by Countess Barcynska. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anita Stewart, Rudolph Cameron, (more)
- 1917
Chrissey Desselden (Anita Stewart) is the ward of John Warburton (Charles Richman), who dearly loves her. She promises to marry him, but then becomes fascinated by Robert Neyland (Rudolph Cameron). She only realizes that Neyland is not worthy of her when he drunkenly insults her. She then goes through with the wedding to Warburton, even though she confesses she does not love him. Neyland's life is quickly going downhill, but Chrissey decides she wants him after all and Warburton allows her to go to Reno to procure a divorce. While she is there, Neyland tries to ruin Warburton in the stock market, but he needs funds from Chrissey to complete the deal. She wires him the money, unaware of its purpose. Warburton's friend, Colonel Taylor (Charles Stevenson), lets her know the truth. She keeps the money from reaching Neyland, who is ruined. He commits suicide, and Chrissey decides to be a real wife to Warburton. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Financier Harry Winthrop (Franklyn Hanna) is tricked by a pair of spies, Varrie (L. Rogers Lytton) and Marcia Elmore (Julia Swayne Gordon), into giving his millions to foreign powers who do not have the United States' best interests at heart. But Winthrop's daughter Wynn (Anita Stewart) knows something is amiss and, with the help of Detective Concord (Robert Gaillard), gathers enough clues to foil the foreign agents' plans. Along the way she falls in love with Adams, one of the enemy camp (Rudolph Cameron). It turns out all right in the end, however, because Adams is actually a member of the U.S. secret service. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Anita Stewart's lovely presence couldn't hide the fact that this drama featured one of the most tired plotlines of the silent era. Clover Dean (Stewart) is orphaned and living with her wealthy uncle, John Childe (Charles Stevenson), and his wife (Julia Swayne Gordon). Childe wants to marry his niece off to Bucky Raine (William Dunn), the son of the influential Peter Raine, while Mrs. Childe wants her to wed Boris (Brinsley Shaw), a duke. Clover, however, has ideas of her own -- she loves Billy Dunn, a young doctor (Rudolph Cameron) who is just getting his start. Meanwhile, the duke's jealous lover, Rita (Eulalie Jensen), is furious that Boris is arranging to marry Clover, and she murders him with a gun belonging to Bucky Raine. Bucky, Clover, and Dunn are all suspected of killing the duke, but when Rita confesses they are all cleared. Clover defies her ambitious relatives by heading for the nearest altar with Dunn. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
