Seena Owen Movies
Dark-eyed American actress Seena Owen was praised by virtually every cameraman of the silent era as being one of the greatest natural beauties, impossible to photograph badly. She started her film career at the old Kalem Studios, then moved to D.W. Griffith's company, where she appeared as the Princess Beloved in Griffith's multipart "film fugue" Intolerance (1916). It was on the set of this picture that Ms. Owen met her future husband, actor George Walsh, with Griffith himself allegedly playing cupid with the cuddly couple. Twelve years later she played another monarch, the insane Queen Regina, in Von Stroheim's Queen Kelly; the highlight of this performance was the scene in which, dressed only in a filmy nightgown, Owen flogged Gloria Swanson throughout the marbled halls of her palace. When talkies revealed a flat and listless voice, Seena Owen quit acting to become a prolific screenwriter; while working at Paramount, she cowrote two of Dorothy Lamour's biggest hits, Aloma of the South Seas (1941) and Rainbow Island (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1922
Writer Jack Boyle created a timely adventure for the character of Boston Blackie Dawson in this mystery (at least it was timely in 1922) -- here the reformed crook gets tangled up in the affairs of a Grand Duchess who has escaped from Soviet Russia with some of the Romanoff jewels. A blind beggar gives Blackie (Lionel Barrymore) the jewels, which are wanted by the United States government. He knows that he is also being followed by a gang of terrorists who want to get their hands on the gems. Until he can get them to their rightful owner, he places the jewels in a safe that's wired with electricity. Petrus (Louis Wolheim) and his associate trace the booty to Blackie's home and a vicious fight breaks out. But when Petrus tries to open the safe, he is electrocuted. The crooks are rounded up and Blackie returns the valuables to Grand Duchess Tatiana (Seena Owen). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Seena Owen, (more)
- 1921
This simple tearjerker, based on the novel by Myrtle Reed, was very much of its era. Mary Ainslie (Marguerite Snow) has a romance with Jimmy Ball, a sea captain (James Corrigan). He leaves and she promises to be true to him until his return. She holds to this for the next thirty years as life passes her by. Other women in the little New England Village where she lives acquire beaus and get married, including Mary's lifelong friend, Jane Hathaway (Lillian Elliott). After Mary has turned into a gray-haired old lady, still faithful, she's visited by Jane's niece, Ruth Thorne (Seena Owen). She is engaged to a young writer, Carl Winfield (Louis Bennison), and Mary invites him to her home. She discovers that Carl's father, who died when he was five, was Jimmy Ball. Realizing, several decades too late, that she's been jilted, Mary dies of a broken heart. Gray-haired old ladies in their early fifties just don't exist now like they apparently did in the 20s! If Mary were alive today, she probably would have picked herself up (if she had bothered waiting at all), gone to the mall and bought a few new outfits, then gone out with her divorced friends in search of someone new. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This crime drama begins when Anna (Seena Owen) gives up her career as a dancer to become the mistress of the wealthy playboy Alastair De Vries (Henry Sedley), but he soon tires of her and takes up with another floozie. In a rage, Anna tracks the couple down at a local restaurant and shoots Alastair to death then flees into hiding in Tahiti. Thomas McCarthy (E.K. Lincoln) is the New York detective assigned to the case who goes to the island to bring back the murderess. On the return trip, the ship sinks, and the couple swims to a remote desert island where they remain for two years. Anna falls in love with Thomas during their time alone, and she flags down a ship over Thomas' objections. The two return to New York where Anna must face trial for murder. To the judge, the jury recommends leniency for Anna by virtue of the obvious moral awakening she has experienced. The story opens in the courtroom and flashbacks are used to deliver the events that led to the trial. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seena Owen, E.K. Lincoln, (more)
- 1921
Silent matinee idol William Russell has a dual role in this drama. He plays twin brothers, minister Luther McCall and Lefty, a crook. Thomas Edinburgh (Sam de Grasse) wants to get rid of his wife and woo the minister's spouse, Carol (Seena Owen). He tries to convince Carol that her husband was once an embezzler, and even offers photographic proof, since Lefty and Luther are dead ringers for each other. Luther is about to leave for Cleveland when Lefty shows up. The crook is trying to elude the police and he borrows one of his brother's suits. The two men leave together. The train they are on wrecks and Luther is killed. Lefty winds up in the hospital and takes on his brother's name. Carol brings him home to convalesce and he calls on his former associate, Buster (Jack Bramall). Lefty makes Buster the church sexton, and even goes so far with his ruse as to give a sermon. His surroundings ultimately have a positive influence on both him and his friend, and they reform. Edinburgh is revealed as the owner of a chain of brothels. Lefty finally confesses the truth to Carol, who is ready to forgive him and accept him into her life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Russell, Seena Owen, (more)
- 1919
H.B. Warner takes a break from his usual heavy dramas to star in this light comedy. Stephan Van Courtlandt (Warner) belongs to the most exclusive of society circles and is the most eligible bachelor in New York. He is also the most elusive, having traveled all over Europe in an attempt to keep any woman from tying him down. A nouveau riche family, the Riggs, moves into the mansion next to his estate, and the wife (Adele Farrington) desperately wants Van Courtlandt to marry her daughter, Barbara (Seena Owen). When Van Courtlandt unexpectedly arrives home, he interrupts an escaped convict (John Gough) who is prowling around. After hearing the con's sad story, Van Courtlandt exchanges clothes with him and sends him on his way. To evade the guards who are searching for a man in a prison uniform, Van Courtlandt crawls into the window of Barbara Riggs' bedroom. Instead of panicking, she's intrigued and wants to reform this supposed criminal. Eventually Van Courtlandt's true identity is revealed and, predictably, wedding bells sound for him and Barbara. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) is taught bitter lessons by his father -- that pity is contemptible and sympathy is useless. So the young man intends to exile himself to an island, but he winds up bringing along Alma (Seena Owen), who he has saved from unhappy circumstances. Even more complications arise when hotel proprietor Schomberg (Wallace Beery), who is jealous of Heyst, sends a group of crooks after him. The arrival of these evil characters, led by Ricardo (Lon Chaney), inspires Heyst to drop his father's philosophies and save the girl. This story was based on the novel by Joseph Conrad, but -- as is all-too common in the world of cinema -- instead of the book's tragic ending (both Alma and Heyst died), the pair live happily ever after. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Legendary director John Ford began his long, eventful screen career helming Harry Carey westerns for Universal. He got that job courtesy of big brother Francis Ford, but the youngster quickly established himself as the Ford to watch. He was not quite there yet, but Riders of Vengeance was a harbinger of things to come. Carey witnesses his family murdered by a gang of outlaws and tracks down each of every one of the gun men. Along the way, he finds time to save Seena Owen from an Indian attack, much to the chagrin of the girl's fiancee, the local sheriff Joseph Harris. Leading lady Seena Owen (née Signe Auen) had previously played the Princess Beloved in D.W. Griffith's masterpiece, Intolerance.The Danish-American actress was the sister of screenwriter Lilie Hayward (Aloma of the South Seas, etc.) ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Boss rider "Careless" Carmody (William S. Hart) is made sheriff of an Arizona frontier town by Chicago swindler Prentice (Bert Sprotte). The naive Carmody actually believes Prentice to be on the up and up and vouches for him in a land deal with Ruth Fellowes (Seena Owen). Taken to the cleaners, so to speak, Ruth blames Carmody, who, in love with the girl, follows Prentice back to Chicago. Rounding up Prentice's enemies among the cow men at the stockyards, "Careless" finally gets the goods on the swindler. Not one of Hart's better vehicles, Breed of Men, in the words of critic Louis Reeves Harrison, "lacked that essential element of drama -- suspense." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Intolerance, D.W. Griffith's towering achievement interlocking four stories of intolerance throughout the ages, has been bowdlerized by the Master himself in this 1919 re-tread utilizing the Babylon sections of that mammoth film. In an effort to recoup some of his disastrous personal losses incurred upon the initial release of Intolerance, Griffith re-edited both the Babylon sequences and the modern section (retitled The Mother and the Law) and distributed them as separate films. The lasting appeal of Intolerance has always been the spectacularly extravagant Babylon story and here it is without "the cradle endlessly rocking." In the story, Babylon is ruled by Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) a kindly king. A true democrat in respect to religion, he earns the enmity of his chief priest, the High Priest of Bel (Tully Marshall). When Cyrus (George Siegmann), the king of the Medes and Persians, attacks Babylon's fabled walled city, the High Priest betrays Belshazzar to Cyrus. The city rallies to Babylon's defense -- including a plucky mountain girl (Constance Talmadge) who secretly loves the king -- but Cyrus's immense forces overpower the beleaguered city. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tully Marshall, Constance Talmadge, (more)
- 1918
Drunk and disorderly cowpoke Robert Sands (William S. Hart) is banished from an Arizona frontier town and hops on a freight train heading for New York. Arriving in Manhattan, the rough-and-tumble cowboy obtains a position as "physical guardian" to a spoiled member of the social register (Arthur Shirley). Charged with recovering a series of compromising letters from the young wastrel to a female restaurant owner (Seena Owen), the Westerner falls in love with the girl himself. Realizing that he is a duck out of water among the city swells, Sands magnanimously resolves to put his employer's happiness ahead of his own and bring the two youngsters together. Branding Broadway was a refreshing departure for the usually so forbidding western star and critic Louis Reeves Harrison, of Moving Picture World, found it "a pleasure to see Hart in a completely new role." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, (more)
- 1916
Norma Talmadge, already a star but not yet a STAR, played the eponymous heroine in 1916's Martha's Vindication. To protect the reputation of her best friend Dorothea (Seena Owen, Martha claims that she is the mother of the friend's illegitimate baby. Even though she is ostracized and condemned by the community in general and fire-and-brimstone preacher Hunt (Ralph Lewis) in particular, Martha refuses to tell the whole story, nor will she permit her friend -- now happily married and the mother of a legitimate child -- to speak up. Only Martha's sweetheart William (Charles West) stands by her in her hour of need, and even he has his doubts. But as indicated by the film's title, Martha is eventually proven to be as pure as the driven snow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Though its script is credited to D.W. Griffith, The Lamb is actually a film adaptation of Winchell Smith's Broadway play The New Henrietta. In his screen debut, Douglas Fairbanks plays a wealthy wastrel who is framed in a stock swindle. To prove his innocence, Fairbanks is plunked into several situations requiring him to display both his athletic and intellectual prowess. Seena Owen plays the girl who knew Fairbanks was a stalwart fellow all along. The Lamb was remade in 1921 as The Saphead, with Buster Keaton assuming the Douglas Fairbanks role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The ever-increasing popularity of Wallace Reid was given an additional boost with the four-reel Mutual production Yankee From the West. Reid plays Billy Milford, a Harvard graduate whose fondness for booze loses him several prestigious jobs. On the bum in the West, Milford reluctantly agrees to help his unsavory pal Jim Dorsey (Tom Wilson) steal a mining payroll. Milford is arrested, but the loot disappears thanks to the elusive Dorsey. At this point, Swedish immigrant Grunhild (Signe Auen, later billed as Seena Owen) takes it upon herself to reform the troublesome Billy. After his release from jail, he marries Grunhild, and together they take up farming in a faraway village. Just when Billy is certain that his criminal past is dead and buried, who should reappear but Jim Dorsey, now a ham actor with a third-rate travelling troupe. Taking a liking to Grunhild, Dorsey threatens to expose Billy's past unless she agrees to leave Billy and run off with Dorsey. Fortunately, Billy shows up in time to beat Dorsey senseless -- and even more fortunately, Billy and Grunhild's farmer friends are willing to forgive and forget his previous indiscretions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
This Reliance feature bore a striking resemblance to the previous IMP release Driven By Fate. Deserted by her husband, a pregnant chorus girl finds herself stranded in a backwater town. She gives up her baby to a Quaker family then disappears into the night. Flash-forward several years: The child, now grown up into a beautiful young woman (and now played by Dorothy Gish) begins to develop unexplained yearnings to go on the stage. With the help of a benevolent theatrical manager, she quickly rises to the heights of success on Broadway. If only Gish knew that her personal maid is actually her long-lost mother.... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Based on a controversial novel by Robert Ellis Wales, The Penitentes was inspired by a real-life religious cult which thrived in 17th-century Mexico. A group of fanatical Roman Catholics were so dedicated to their beliefs that they staged actual crucifixions on Good Friday. Not all of the victims of this practice were willing ones, which is why the film ends with a "race to the rescue" not unlike the climax in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Indeed, The Penitentes was directed by Griffith assistant Jack Conway, who did an excellent job of emulating "The Master." Some have suggested that The Penitentes was written to stir up animosity against such present-day religious sects as the Mormons, but chances are that most viewers accepted the film on face value as a rip-roaring adventure yarn (with the requisite dash of romance, of course). Unfortunately, this film is sometimes confused with the much-later exploitationer Lash of the Penitentes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
