Charles E. StevensonFilmography

Wallflowers

Actors: Hugh Trevor, Mabel Julienne Scott, Jean Arthur, Lola Todd, Charles E. Stevenson

Synopsis: Wallflowers was based on a novel by Temple Bailey. The central character, a scheming social climber played by Mabel Julienne Scott, intends to force her stepson Hugh Trevor into a marriage of convenience. But Trevor has developed a fondness for shy Jean Arthur, the "wallflower" of the title. How Read More

Passionate Quest

Synopsis: Based on a 1923 novel by Edward Phillips Oppenheim and directed by film pioneer J. Stuart Blackton, this silent society drama featured May McAvoy, Gardner James, and Willard Louis attempting to free themselves from the negative influence of their guardian, De Witt Jennings. In London, McAvoy goes Read More

The Freshman

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict, James Anderson, Hazel Keener

Synopsis: One of Harold Lloyd's best feature-length comedies, The Freshman, features the bespectacled regular guy as Harold Lamb, a naïve young man who heads off to college believing campus life will be just as it is in the movies; he even learns a little dance he saw one of his favorite actors do in a Read More

Hot Water

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Josephine Crowell, Charles E. Stevenson

Synopsis: On his friend's wedding day, disgusted best man Harold Lloyd swears that "I will never give up my freedom for a pair of soft-boiled eyes!" When he (literally) trips over a pretty young girl (Jobyna Ralston), he immediately forgets his words. In the time it takes to read a title card, they are Read More

Girl Shy

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Richard Daniels

Synopsis: In this riotous silent comedy, hilarious bespectacled "everyman" Harold Lloyd plays an introverted, speech-impaired, awkward tailor's assistant who secretly writes a book, The Secrets of Making Love and decides to leave his small-town home to get it published in the big city. While aboard the Read More

Boys to Board

Synopsis: This time out, the Our Gang kids are reluctant boarders at Mother Malone's School, an operation run by an overbearing old termagant (Helen Gilmore) and her submissive husband Pop Malone (Richard Daniels). Forced to do all the chores and eat unappetizing (and nutritionally-suspect) meals, the kids Read More

A Pleasant Journey

Synopsis: Not unexpectedly, the benign title of this silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy is a misnomer. Escaping from the local cop on the beat, the Our Gang kids take refuge in a railway station, where they exchange clothes with a group of runaway boys scheduled to be returned to their home in San Francisco. Read More

Stage Fright

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Davis, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: At the behest of shady professional fundraiser Prince Delmar El Faro (William Gillespie), small-town author Fawn Ochletree (Clara Guiol) stages a charity performance of her latest play -- a Roman epic along the lines of Quo Vadis -- while the local mothers force their kids into playing all the Read More

No Noise

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: When Our Gang member Mickey Daniels goes to the hospital to have his tonsils removed, the rest of the kids decide to pay him a visit. Sure enough, the youngsters cause all sorts of mischief for the hospital staff and the other patients, invading the sanctity of the x-ray room and the operating Read More

Dogs of War

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: Originally released on July 1, 1923, the silent, two-reel Dogs of War may well have been the most schizophrenic entry in the entire Our Gang series. The film begins with an elaborate sandlot recreation of a battlefield, with the Our Gang kids staging an elaborate mock war, complete with such Read More

The Champeen

Synopsis: The first of several Our Gang comedies built around the manly art of self-defense, The Champeen finds Gang member "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison in desperate need of a dollar to pay for some apples he's swiped from the local grocer. Capitalizing on the feud between Mickey Daniels and Jackie Davis over Read More

Lodge Night

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Davis, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: They don't come any stranger than the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Lodge Night. After a brief sequence involving an African-American temperance lecturer, the Our Gang kids sneak away from their respective homes to attend a meeting of their secret organization, the Cluck Cluck Clams. Despite Read More

Why Worry?

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Leo White

Synopsis: Harold Lloyd plays a millionaire who suffers from imaginary illness in this memorable comedy. With the help of a beautiful nurse (Jobyna Ralston) and valet Mr. Phipps (Wallace Howe), he travels to South America to regain his health. Harold arrives during a political uprising and believes the rival Read More

Cheat

Actors: Pola Negri, Jack Holt, Charles de Roche, Dorothy Cumming, Robert Schable

Synopsis: Paramount brought the exotic Pola Negri over from Europe, and then it seemed like they didn't know what to do with her. Bella Donna proved to be a disappointment; nevertheless, the studio teamed their new star with the same director, George Fitzmaurice, for this melodrama, a remake of the 1915 Read More

Safety Last

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, W.B. Clarke

Synopsis: After Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the silent film era's "third genius" was Harold Lloyd, who stars in this Horatio Alger-style story of an average country boy trying to make good in the big city. The Boy (Lloyd) leaves his sweetheart, The Girl (Mildred Davis, later the real-life Mrs. Lloyd) Read More

Doctor Jack

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, John T. Prince, Eric Mayne, C. Norman Hammond

Synopsis: Because it was sandwiched between the exceptional comedies Grandma's Boy and Safety Last, Doctor Jack is one of Harold Lloyd's lesser-known features. Nevertheless, it's quite charming and actually did even better at the box office than Grandma's Boy, which was Lloyd's first true feature. Doctor Read More

Kick in

Actors: Betty Compson, Bert Lytell, May McAvoy, Gareth Hughes, Kathleen Clifford

Synopsis: The Willard Mack stage play Kick In starred John Barrymore on Broadway and was made into a motion picture in 1917, with Ouida Bergere writing the scenario. Bergere was at the typewriter once again when the story returned to the screen in 1922. This production, with its more lavish budget and fine Read More

Grandma's Boy

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Mrs. Anna Townsend, Charles E. Stevenson, Dick Sutherland

Synopsis: This rollicking comedy is Harold Lloyd's second feature film and like the first, A Sailor-Made Man was originally conceived of as a short film. During the shooting, Lloyd and long-time collaborator Hal Roach insisted on continually developing his character and moving beyond pure gags into a real Read More

Young Sherlocks

Synopsis: This time around, the Our Gang kids are anxious to become detectives, forming a secret society called the J.J.J.'s (the "Jesse James Juniors"). Stumbling upon the society's headquarters, youngster "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison brags that he himself is a master detective, then weaves a fantastic story Read More

Fire Fighters

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids form a volunteer fire brigade, with little Jackie Condon appointed Chief because he happens to own a fireman's hat. After constructing a variety of ramshackle firefighting devices, the youngsters get the opportunity to prove their mettle by putting out what they think is a Read More

One Terrible Day

Synopsis: Though not the first Our Gang comedy to be filmed, the silent, two-reel One Terrible Day was the first to be released, on September 10, 1922. It all begins when wealthy Mrs. Van Renssaler decides to improve her social standing by sponsoring a day's vacation for a group of local kids. Unfortunately Read More

A Quiet Street

Synopsis: With the Our Gang kids involved, no street could ever possibly be quiet, despite the title of this silent two-reel comedy. In the early scenes, the gang "initiates" a new member, who happens to be the son of a policeman. Later on, the kids inadvertently capture an escaped convict named Red Mike Read More

Experience

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, John Miltern, Marjorie Daw, Betty Carpenter

Synopsis: In spite of the fact that George V. Hobart's play was merely a trite and overdone story parading as a moralistic allegory, it made loads of money. When it was finally made into a film, it became even more preachy and self-important. Youth (Richard Barthelmess) meets Ambition (E.J. Ratcliffe) and Read More

A Sailor-Made Man

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Noah Young, Dick Sutherland

Synopsis: Although this comedy was hailed as Harold Lloyd's first feature, at four reels, it's really more of a glorified short. It was originally meant to be a two-reeler (the previous film, Never Weaken, was considered an anomaly at three reels), but Lloyd and his crew wound up with too many good gags and Read More

The Passion Flower

Actors: Norma Talmadge, Courtenay Foote, Eulalie Jensen, Harrison Ford, Charles E. Stevenson

Synopsis: Although Raimunda (Eualie Jensen) marries Esteban (Courtenay Foote), he holds a secret passion for his stepdaughter, Acacia (Norma Talmadge). He uses his servant, Rubio (Walter Wilson) to ruin Acacia's romance with Norbert (Harrison Ford). Then, when she becomes engaged to Faustino (Robert Agnew) Read More

The Nightingale

Synopsis: Ethel Barrymore's first starring film was a 5-reel version of her stage success The Nightingale. Already quite matronly-looking, Barrymore nonetheless managed to convey the impression of extreme youth in the role of Isola Franti, aka "The Nightingale." The film was a rags-to-riches affair, with Read More