Raymond Schrock Movies
The first-known feature-film credit for American screenwriter Raymond L. Schrock was 1915's Judy Forgot. Prior to his film work, Schrock was a playwright: One of his theatrical works was Leap to Flame, which he duly adapted to the screen. During the 1920s, he wrote comedies for performers like George Walsh and Johnny Hines, but also found time for the melodramatic comings and goings of Phantom of the Opera (1925). He spent the first few years of the talkie era at Universal, then resurfaced in 1939 at Warner Bros.' B-unit. From 1943 to 1949, Raymond L. Schrock kept busy at such bread-and-butter operations as Columbia, Monogram, and PRC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1923
Driven out of town by the local bully, Universal's rumpled cowboy star Hoot Gibson hops a freight train, only to be declared a hero for shooting a couple of fleeing bank robbers. The noble deed was actually performed by the train's brakeman, but Gibson is made deputy sheriff. Assigned to bring in a couple of cutthroats, Gibson discovers that their ringleader is actually his new girlfriend's wastrel brother (Harold Goodwin). The film's heroine, brunette Beatrice Burnham, also appeared opposite Buck Jones and Tom Mix. She played "Millie Erne" in the 1925 version of Riders of the Purple Sage before retiring from the screen to marry. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson
- 1923
Universal's crack Western team of director Edward Sedgwick and star Hoot Gibson crafted a fine little silent oater about a returning war veteran who lands in the middle of a range feud. On the train bound for home, Gibson renews his friendship with the daughter of a neighboring rancher (Laura La Plante), only to find that their fathers are fighting over water rights. The returning vet is declared a coward by the citizenry because of his natural reticence when a nasty villain (William A. Steele) threatens to blow up a dam. Gibson overcomes his condition in time to save the girl from the ensuing flood, however, restoring his heroic image for all time. The usually comedy-prone Gibson kept his preference for slapstick to a minimum this time around and Shootin' for Love emerged as one of the star's better vehicles. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Laura La Plante, (more)
- 1923
Hoot Gibson takes off his cowboy gear and dons a naval uniform in this comedy-drama. Sam Pertune (Gibson) is in love with Mae Day (Laura La Plante, who was Gibson's frequent co-star during this period). However, Mae's father Ezra Day (Howard Truesdell) isn't in love with Mae's romance with Pertune. When the young man comes to call, a fight breaks out and Pertune thinks he has killed Day with a poker. He flees and joins the Navy, but when he discovers that the old man wasn't seriously injured, he decides to go home -- only to find out that leaving the Navy isn't all that easy. Nevertheless, Pertune distinguishes himself when he saves Captain Bristol (DeWitt Jennings) from an insane man's attack. When the captain invites him to his home, Pertune discovers that he is Mae's uncle. Not only does he win Mae, he gets a recommendation to the Naval Academy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura La Plante
- 1923
Sinclair Lewis wrote the story to this heartwarming drama. Don Dorgan (George Nichols) has been patrolling his beat in a rough section of town for the past 30 years and has managed to keep the peace through friendship and understanding. One young neighborhood tough, Terry Rafferty (Ralph Graves), has fallen in love with Effie Kugler (Bessie Love), the daughter of a deli owner, Rudolph (George B. Williams). But Rudolph Kugler does not approve of the young man in spite of his efforts to straighten up. In his depression over the father's snubbing, Rafferty gets into a drunken brawl with the district's political boss and is sent to prison for two years. Meanwhile, Manning, a new police commissioner (Melbourne MacDowell), is hired, and he decides it's time to retire Dorgan. Since the new cop favors using his club instead of compassion, Dorgan decides to put on his uniform once again and patrol his beat -- at least when the new cop isn't looking. Rafferty gets out of prison but is almost immediately assaulted by a gang leader. Dorgan takes him under his wing and sends for Effie. The couple are reunited in spite of her father's protests. Manning finds out about Dorgan's "ghost patrol," but instead of upbraiding him, he promotes him to captain. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Graves, Bessie Love, (more)
- 1923
Universal showed off their impressive back lot in this comedy-western starring Hoot Gibson as a cowboy turned movie stunt-man. The plot is something about a visiting Arabian prince (fellow studio western hero William E. Lawrence) but the film mainly functions as an excuse to parade a host of studio stars. Among the Universal contract players playing themselves were Billie Dove, Norman Kerry, King Baggot (the studio's first star), Mary Philbin and Reginald Denny. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Billie Dove, (more)
- 1923
This comedy-drama, based on the play by George M. Cohan, was co-directed by Arthur Rosson and its star, Johnny Hines. Hines is Johnny Jones, an American jockey. The Earl of Bloomsburg (Windham Standing) has Jones come to England with his horse, Yankee Doodle, to race in the Derby. But Robert Amstead (George Webb), another horse's owner, is determined to force him out of the running. First he kidnaps Edith Smythe, Jones' sweetheart (Molly Malone), but Jones rescues her. Jones is almost disqualified from racing, but is reinstated at the last moment. In a last-ditch attempt to get rid of Jones, Amstead has his jockey throw a blinding fluid into Jones' face after the race has started. The scheme doesn't work, and Jones still rides Yankee Doodle to victory. This picture was filmed once again in 1930 by Mervyn LeRoy, this time in its musical form, bringing classic tunes like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" to the screen. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Hines, Wyndham Standing, (more)
- 1923
Although Rin Tin Tin had appeared before in several films, this Northwoods drama was his first starring vehicle. The story line is fairly typical for its genre, and the famed canine is pretty much the whole show. The Wolf Dog (Rin Tin Tin) is raised by a pack of wolves and becomes pals with Gabriel Dupre, a French trapper (Walter McGrail). He proves his loyalty to Dupre when he attacks "The Fox" (Charles Stevens), accomplice to Shad Galloway, the crooked trading post manager (Pat Hartigan). Galloway wants to get rid of Dupre for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he wants the trapper's sweetheart, Felice McTavish (Claire Adams), for himself. When it is mistakenly believed that the dog has killed a baby, Dupre is ordered to shoot him. The broken-hearted dog runs away, but after he is cleared, Dupre finds him once again. Ultimately, the Wolf Dog attacks Galloway and kills him. Not only do hero and heroine get together at the fade-out, we also see the dog with a family of his own. Rin Tin Tin certainly wasn't the first dog to achieve stardom; his immediate predecessor was Strongheart who, like Rin Tin Tin, was a German Shepherd. This picture, incidentally, had some competition -- Hal Roach released Call of the Wild starring Buck, a Saint Bernard, at the same time. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rin Tin Tin, Claire Adams, (more)
- 1923
Bat Shugrue (Rockcliffe Fellows) is a star home-run slugger for the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels. He was formerly known by the criminal justice system as the "gas pipe kid" and served time in San Quinten. Released on parole, he escapes from his hearing at night court and within five years becomes a star ballplayer. His girlfriend Ida Malone (Fritzi Ridgeway) is treated coolly by Bat when he is paroled. After hitting the winning pinch-hit homer to win a crucial game, he turns himself in and faces the judge. Ida's kid brother Jimmy (Buddy Messinger) and a legion of fans wait for judgment to be passed on their home-run hero in this sports drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rockliffe Fellowes, Fritzi Ridgeway, (more)
- 1922
One of the silent screen's prettiest ingenues, Marjorie Daw, plays both mother and daughter in this romantic western directed by the capable Jack Conway and based on a Peter B. Kyne story. Losing her husband to the elements while crossing the desert, Daw and her young child are rescued by a gambler with the proverbial heart of gold (former Griffith star Henry B. Walthall). He promises the dying girl to take care of the baby, a promise that he fulfils years later when the girl's inheritance is threatened by a villainous land grabber. Pulp writer Peter B. Kyne's stock-in-trade was babies endangered by the elements, a plot mechanism that also carried his perhaps best-remembered work, Three Godfathers. That story was filmed at least four times, most famously by John Ford in 1948. The actor playing the dying husband in The Long Chance, Leonard Clapham, later changed his name to Tom London and enjoyed a long career playing mostly villains. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry B. Walthall, Ralph Graves, (more)
- 1921
After making a hit in the Torchy series of two-reelers, Johnny Hines chose this lively picture as his first full-length comedy. It was one of the year's hits. Young Barnes (Hines) is called "Burn 'Em Up" because of his love for fast driving, both on the track and on the street -- much to the annoyance of the local traffic cops. When Barnes shows no interest in business, he gets in an argument with his father, a millionaire car manufacturer (J. Barney Sherry), and leaves home. Almost immediately he is attacked by a gang of thugs who steal his clothes and toss him, unconscious, into a freight car. When he comes to, Barnes meets two tramps (Edmund Breese and George Fawcett) who adopt him as one of their own. The three of them land in a small town where Barnes falls in love with Madge (Betty Carpenter), the daughter of the town's bank president (Richard Thorpe). He has competition for the girl's affection, however, and his rival is glad to see him falsely arrested for kidnapping a baby. But through a series of adventures and misadventures, Barnes manages to prove his innocence and he winds up in a race which wins him a nice sum of money. This picture was remade as both a serial and a feature in 1934. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Hines, Edmund Breese, (more)
- 1919
Surprisingly not based on a Horatio Alger story, Luck and Pluck is nonetheless a loser-makes-good yarn. George Walsh (brother of producer Raoul Walsh) plays a likeable burglar who falls in love with pretty Virginia Lee. Walsh decides to "go straight" when Lee is threatened by German spies. Soundly thrashing the villains, Walsh vows to remain honest for good and all. Fortuitously, an honest job is awaiting him, inasmuch as Lee's dad is head of the Secret Service! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
The only surprise in putting athletic actor George Walsh in a college picture is that it took his studio, Fox, so long to do it. Buck Simmons (Walsh) is a star athlete on Yale's rowing team. He has gained the animosity of Paul Browning (John Leslie) who is out to get him in any way possible. Nothing sticks until Buck is lured to a notorious roadhouse the night before the big Yale-Harvard match. He goes there in order to save Aida Courtlandt (Jane McAlpine), the girl he loves. But he can't explain away his being there without compromising Aida's name, so he loses his place as stroke oar. Aida, however, comes through and gets him reinstated. Just in the nick of time he jumps in the boat. It's a close race, but as things get real tight between the two teams, Buck pulls ahead and wins the match -- and, of course, the girl. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
George Walsh plays Reginald Jones, a man who was born on Friday the thirteenth, has thirteen letters in his name, and suffers a lot of bad luck. After losing big in the stock market, he finds out he's inherited a fortune from his aunt -- providing he attends her funeral. But on the way there, he gets mixed up in a badger game and misses it. Reginald's disgusted uncle (Joe Smiley) throws him out and he goes to work on a sailing vessel, which turns out to be run by a gang of crooks, headed by Captain Zero (William Frederick). Along for the trek are an old professor (Henry Holland) and Helen, his daughter (Florence Dixon). The gang plans to hold the professor for ransom, but Reginald foils this scheme with his fists flying. For once in his life, things go right, and he saves the professor and gets the girl. Even the clever subtitles by Ralph Spence couldn't save this silly story. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Florence Lawrence, the motion-picture industry's first real movie star, was at the tail end of her popularity when she appeared in Elusive Isabel. Lawrence plays a seductive secret agent for an unnamed Latin nation. Her mission is to clear the path for a takeover of the U.S., engineered by the combined South American powers (the film was made at a time when the U.S. and Mexico were at serious odds with one another). She is deflected from her purpose by American spy Hamilton Grimm (Harry Millarde). Elusive Isabel was based on a jingoistic "preparedness" novel by Jacques Futrelle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Avery Hopwood's stage comedy Judy Forgot proved to be a great personal success for actress Marie Cahill, so it was only natural that Cahill would be summoned to Hollywood to repeat her role on the big screen. Judy, a comic-opera star, is a character based loosely on Broadway luminary Cissie Fitzgerald, who was famous for her coquettish wink. In this instance, Judy's winks cause a great deal of trouble for her husband (Sam Hardy), who isn't kindly disposed towards the many young men who are enticed by his wife's optic twitches. Judy promises her husband to stop winking at every man who crosses her path, but while enjoying a vacation in Europe, she forgets her promise all too many times. The film's plotline was loose enough to accommodate a slapstick burglary and a mistaken-identity subplot involving a much-married adventuress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
