Eddie GribbonFilmography

Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle

Actors: Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Lois Hall, Edgar Barrier, Myrna Dell, Robert Coogan

Synopsis: Joe Kirkwood Jr. once more plays Ham Fisher's comic-strip creation Joe Palooka. This time around, Joe's faithful girl Ann Howe is essayed by Lois Hall, while James Gleason replaces Leon Errol in the role of Joe's manager Knobby Walsh. The story gets under way when soft-hearted pugilist Palooka Read More

Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Robert Coogan, Jerome Cowan, Joe Besser

Synopsis: In Ham Fisher's original Joe Palooka comic strip, Joe's pal Humphrey Pennyworth was a blimp of a man. In Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey, Mr. Pennyworth is played by Robert Coogan, a slim, athletic chap who was then starring as TV's Captain Video. At least Joe Kirkwood Jr. was closer to Fisher's visual Read More

Humphrey Takes a Chance

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Lois Collier, Robert Coogan, Jack Kirkwood

Synopsis: This "Joe Palooka" entry concentrates on Joe's porcine pal Humphrey Pennyworth (played by Robert Coogan, the brother of former child star Jackie Coogan). When soft-hearted pugilist Joe Palooka (Joe Kirkwood Jr.) arrives for a bout in Humphrey's home town, everyone gets sucked into a crooked scheme Read More

Triple Trouble

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Richard Benedict

Synopsis: No good deed goes unpunished in the "Bowery Boys" entry Triple Trouble. When Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the rest of the Bowery Boys attempt to stop a robbery, it is they who wind up in prison. Once behind bars, the boys learn of an escape plan, but when they try to relay this Read More

Fighting Fools

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Frankie Darro, Billy Benedict

Synopsis: In this entry in the long running comedy-drama series, the boys get into the world of prizefighting. When one of Slip's pals is killed in the ring, he and the boys plot their revenge against the gangster responsible. They enlist the aid of the late fighter's boozy brother, who was also a fighter. Read More

Joe Palooka in the Big Fight

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Lina Romay, David Bruce, George O'Hanlon

Synopsis: Monogram's low-budget, high-grossing "Joe Palooka" series carries on in this 66-minute entry. Joe Kirkwood plays Joe Palooka, the soft-hearted pugilist created for the funny papers by Ham Fisher. This time, Joe is framed on a bum rap by a group of gamblers who hope to fix the outcome of an Read More

Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Elyse Knox, Marcel Journet, Sheila Ryan

Synopsis: Joe Palooka, comic strip artist Ham Fisher's golden-hearted pugilist, heads South of the Border in The Counterpunch. Actually, Joe (Joe Kirkwood Jr.) goes no further than Monogram's cramped "ocean liner" standing set, but the audience doesn't really mind. The plot concerns a gang of Read More

Fighting Mad

Actors: Virginia Belmont, Paul Bryar, Charles Cane, Roberl Conway, Patricia Dane

Synopsis: Joe Palooka, Ham Fisher's famed comic-strip fighter, risks his life to clear the name of his manager in this series entry. In this episode, Palooka is blinded during a fight. Although surgery restores his vision, the doctors strongly caution him not to fight again for at least a year. Meanwhile Read More

Street Corner

Actors: Joseph Crehan, Marcia Mae Jones, John Treul, Johnny Duncan

Synopsis: This earnest drama warns teenagers of the dangers of having premarital sex by telling the story of a teenage girl who goes "all the way" after her graduation celebration and ends up pregnant. She is terrified to tell her mother. Her boyfriend wants to do the right thing and marry her, but he is Read More

Smart Woman

Actors: Iris Adrian, Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett, Willie Best, Lee Bonnell

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt Read More

Joe Palooka in Winner Take All

Actors: Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Elyse Knox, William Frawley, Stanley Clements, John Shelton

Synopsis: Ham Fisher's comic-strip pugilist Joe Palooka is once more visualized on-screen in Monogram's Winner Take All. In this one, soft-hearted boxer Joe (Joe Kirkwood) is approached by a trio of gamblers, who want him to throw an upcoming bout. Naturally he refuses, but has cause to regret this decision Read More

Smugglers' Cove

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict, David Gorcey

Synopsis: Smugglers' Cover was Number Eleven in Monogram's moneymaking "Bowery Boys" series. Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) receives notice that he's inherited a mansion. Actually, the real owner is another Terence Aloysius Mahoney (Paul Harvey), who is less than delighted when Slip, Sach (Huntz Hall Read More

Mr. Hex

Actors: Jimmy Aubrey, Danny Beck, Billy Benedict, Sammy Cohen, Gabriel Dell

Synopsis: Mr. Hex was the first Bowery Boys epic in which the goofy Sach (Huntz Hall) is given superhuman powers. Hypnotized by a carnival magician (Ian Keith), Sach becomes a powerful boxer. Head Bowery boy Slip (Leo Gorcey) parlays this talent into a lucrative ring career for Sach, culminating in the Read More

Canyon City

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Wally Vernon, Helen Talbot, Twinkle Watts, Morgan Conway

Synopsis: In this western a pugnacious cowboy tries to prevent a city-slicker from conning the local ranchers and the utility company. The hero believes the man is really a murderer. To find out for sure, the hero and his assistant pretend to be cons on the lam. The hero is soon accused of the murder. Now Read More

Sleepy Lagoon

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, a plucky young woman launches a successful campaign and becomes mayor of her tiny hometown. Now she must also rid her town of rampant corruption and get it back on track. Songs include: "If You Are There," "You're the Fondest Thing I Am Of," "I'm Not Myself Anymore" (Ned Washington Read More

Blazing Guns

Actors: Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Cay Forrester, LeRoy Mason

Synopsis: Having functioned as Alvin J. Neitz's assistant director in the first two "Trail Blazers" Westerns, Monogram producer/jack-of-all-trades Robert Emmett Tansey took full charge of the third, Blazing Guns. Aging lawmen Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson are lured out of retirement once again, this time to Read More

Mr. Muggs Steps Out

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict

Synopsis: The East Side Kids come face to face with High Society in Mr. Muggs Steps Out. Ordered by a judge to get a job, Muggs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey) is hired by wealthy Mrs. Murray (Betty Blythe), who has a penchant for picking up trouble-prone servants. At an engagement party for Mrs. Murray's spoiled Read More

Honky Tonk

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Frank Morgan, Claire Trevor, Albert Dekker, Marjorie Main

Synopsis: The marvelous rapport between stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner makes MGM's Honky Tonk seem far more substatianal than it really is. About to be tarred and featherd by an angry mob, frontier con artists Candy Johnson (Gable) and his pal Sniper (Chill Wills) manage to make a quick getaway via Read More

The Big Premiere

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Darla Hood, Mickey Gubitosi

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids unintentionally wreak havoc at the gala Hollywood premiere of the adventure epic Gun Boats. Chased away by the angry authorities, the undaunted kids decide to stage their own movie premiere -- and they even film a movie for the occasion! Alas, the gang's cinematic effort, The Read More

The Leather-Pushers

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Astrid Allwyn, Douglas Fowley, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: In this boxing drama, the trouble begins when a fight breaks out at a local gym. When a boxing promoter sees that Dick, who is training Andy Grogan to wrestle, really packs a wallop, he suggests that Dick try boxing. Slick, the promoter then fixes Dick's fights to ensure that he wins. When Pat, a Read More

The Great Dictator

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert

Synopsis: "This is the story of the period between two world wars--an interim during which insanity cut loose, liberty took a nose dive, and humanity was kicked around somewhat." With this pithy opening title, Charles Chaplin begins his first all-talking feature film, The Great Dictator. During World War I Read More

Idiot's Delight

Actors: Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Edward Arnold, Charles Coburn, Joseph Schildkraut, Burgess Meredith

Synopsis: Robert E. Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Idiot's Delight starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne on Broadway. Set in a lavish alpine hotel bordering an Italian air base, the story throws together several disparate people, each in his or her own way affected by the World War that threatens to Read More

The Maid's Night Out

Actors: Allan Lane, Joan Fontaine, Hedda Hopper, George Irving, William Brisbane

Synopsis: Joan Fontaine was still two years away from full stardom when she appeared in the B-plus comedy Maid's Night Out. Future cowboy star Allan Lane plays Bill, a millionaire's son who, to win a bet with his father (George Irving), sets out to prove that he can succeed without his family's money. While Read More

I Cover Chinatown

Actors: Norman Foster, Elaine Shepard, Theodore Von Eltz, Polly Ann Young, Arthur Lake

Synopsis: A woman is brutally strangled and her body stuffed into a suitcase in this otherwise rather frivolous low-budget thriller. The unfortunate woman is one Myra Duryea (Polly Ann Young), who has discovered that her husband Clark (Theodore von Eltz) and his equally unsavory brother Victor (Edward Read More

On the Great White Trail

Actors: James Newill, Terry Walker, Robert W. Fraser, Richard Alexander, Richard Tucker

Synopsis: On the Great White Trail was the second B-picture inspired by Laurie York Erskine's "Renfrew of the Royal Mounted" books. James Newill is back as Renfrew, who on this occasion tries to solve a robbery and murder. The villains are a gang of fur thieves who've been targeting the trading posts owned Read More

The Spy Ring

Actors: William Hall, Jane Wyman, Esther Ralston, Leon Ames, Ben Alexander

Synopsis: Spy Ring (aka International Spy) was designed as a trial balloon for new Universal contractee William Hall. He is cast as Captain Todd Hayden, star player of an army-camp polo team. What Hayden doesn't know is that some of his polo cronies are enemy spies, anxious to steal the plans for a Read More

You Can't Buy Luck

Actors: Onslow Stevens, Helen Mack, Vinton Haworth, Maxine Jennings, Paul Guilfoyle

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a highly superstitious racehorse owner spends his time off the track helping the less fortunate in any way he can so that he will always have good luck. His ploy works until he is accused of murdering his ex-lover. Fortunately, the real culprit is discovered before he has to Read More

The Big Shot

Actors: Guy Kibbee, Cora Witherspoon, Dorothy Moore, Gordon Jones, Russell Hicks

Synopsis: A veterinarian and his wife leave their small burg and move to the Big Apple after he inherits a million dollars. His social climbing wife insists on the move because she wants her daughter to make a formal debut. Unfortunately for the family, the fortune was earned by a brutal mob boss, the Read More

Feud of the Trail

Actors: Tom Tyler, Harlene Wood, Milburn Morante

Synopsis: Produced back-to-back with Mystery Range (1937), this Tom Tyler Western was the first of Sam Katzman's Victory Pictures productions to be distributed by Monogram. Tyler plays Tom Wade, an agent for the cattlemen's association who bears a striking resemblance to dying outlaw Jack Granger. Tom Read More

Live, Love and Learn

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley, Helen Vinson, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more Read More

Millionaire Kid

The Phantom Rider

Love on a Bet

Actors: Gene Raymond, Wendy Barrie, Helen Broderick, William Collier, Sr., Walter Johnson

Synopsis: Love on a Bet is a lightweight programmer from the "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" school of comedy. Gene Raymond stars as Michael, a fresh young sprout who needs $15,000 to produce a Broadway play. His rich uncle Carlton (William Collier Jr.) agrees to pony up the money, but only on the condition Read More

Cyclone Ranger

Actors: Bill Cody, Eddie Gribbon, Soledad Jiminez, Earl Hodgins

Synopsis: Another of cowboy hero Bill Cody's low-grade horse operas for Spectrum Pictures, Cyclone Ranger casts the white-Stetsoned star as the Pecos Kid. Despite his reputation as a cattle rustler, Pecos is a nice guy underneath. He gets to prove it by saving a blind old woman's cattle stock from falling Read More

Rio Rattler

Synopsis: Directed by producer Bernard B. Ray under his usual nom de cinema of Franklin Shamray, this mild B-Western features Tom Tyler and sidekick Eddie Gribbon befriending a ranger (Tom London), whose murder by a mysterious villain known as "The Rattler" they then seek to avenge. As Tyler and Gribbon Read More

The Shadow of Silk Lennox

Actors: Lon Chaney, Jr., Dean Benton, Marie Burton, Jack Mulhall

Synopsis: Having refused for years to ride on his famous father's coattails, Creighton Chaney was convinced by Poverty Row producer-director Ray Kirkwood to bill himself Lon Chaney, Jr. in a proposed series of 24 action thrillers, of which this very minor gangster melodrama was the second entry. Read More

Rip Roaring Riley

Actors: Lloyd Hughes, Grant Withers, Jack Cowell, Marion Burns, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: Set up essentially to produce cheap westerns, low-budget Puritan Pictures occasionally ground out a contemporary actioner like Rip Roaring Riley. Lloyd Hughes stars as Riley, a two-fisted G-Man who is dispatched to faraway Diamond Island. Riley's mission is to capture the sinister Major Grey (Grant Withers Read More

She Couldn't Take It

Actors: George Raft, Joan Bennett, Walter Connolly, Billie Burke, Lloyd Nolan

Synopsis: When he's shipped off to prison on a tax-evasion charge, millionaire Van Dyke (Walter Connolly) breathes a sigh of relief: at least he'll be free of his dizzy, spendthrift wife (Billie Burke) and spoiled-rotten daughter Carol (Joan Bennett). Once behind bars, Van Dyke strikes up a friendship with Read More

Search for Beauty

Actors: Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Ida Lupino, Toby Wing, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong

Synopsis: Back in the 1930s, the "Search for Beauty" contests were designed to scout the hinterlands of America and England for beautiful girls and handsome men who might qualify as movie contractees -- though most the winners were drawn from the ranks of Hollywood residents. These contests, coupled with a Read More

I Can't Escape

Actors: Onslow Stevens, Lila Lee, Russell Gleason, Otis Harlan, Hooper Atchley

Synopsis: Ex-convict Steve Nichols (Onslow Stevens) may be a free man, but it looks like he'll never be able to escape the onus of his past life. Unable to get a legitimate job, Steve decides to become as crooked as everyone imagines him to be. Before he makes this terrible mistake, however, the truth about Read More

Hidden Gold

Actors: Judith Barrie, Tom Mix, Raymond Hatton, Eddie Gribbon, Donald Kirke

Synopsis: Tom Mix goes undercover as a prison inmate in this Western from Universal. The reason for Tom's masquerade is a bank robbery that wiped out his pretty boss, Nora Lane (Judith Barrie). The perpetrators, Doc (Donald Kirke), Spike (Raymond Hatton), and Big Ben (Eddie Gribbon), were all sent to the Read More

Three Rogues

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Fay Wray, Lew Cody, Eddie Gribbon, Robert Warwick

Synopsis: In this western, three disreputable cowboys begin pursuing a beautiful lady because she possesses a map to a valuable gold mine. All three compete to win her hand because by law a wife must share all her belongings with her spouse. Despite their efforts, the woman falls in love with a decent Read More

Mr. Lemon of Orange

Actors: El Brendel, Ruth Warren, Joan Castle

Synopsis: Mr. Lemon of Orange was advertised as comedian El Brendel's first starring feature, even though he'd previously dominated the proceedings in the lavish musical fantasy Just Imagine. This time, Brendel plays a dual role: in addition to his Dutch-dialect characterization as a dimwitted immigrant Read More

Born Reckless

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen, Lee Tracy, Marguerite Churchill, Warren Hymer

Synopsis: This drama is set during the mid Twenties when gangsters were a bit more genteel than their 1930s counterparts. Based on a true story, it profiles the experiences of a young gangster who, after getting caught during a robbery is given a choice: he can either go to prison or join the military and Read More

Good Intentions

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Marguerite Churchill, Regis Toomey, Earl Foxe, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: In this classy crime drama, the well-spoken, leader of a sophisticated gang of gangsters use their high social status to gain access to the vaults of the local rich people. The suave ring leader smoothly moves through the aristocratic social circles, charming all those who cross his path. He falls Read More

They Learned About Women

Synopsis: Based loosely on Waite Hoyt and Mickey Cochrane, major league baseball players moonlighting as vaudeville entertainers, this early musical comedy starred Gus Van and Joe Schenck, genuine vaudeville headliners famous for their humorous ethnic ballads. On their way to winter practice, Jack Glennon Read More

Dames Ahoy

Actors: Glenn Tryon, Otis Harlan, Gertrude Astor, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: The overall comic tone of Dames Ahoy is implicit in its title. Chubby Otis Harlan is cast as veteran seaman Bill Jones, who while drunk is tricked into marriage by a blonde gold-digger. Waking up the next morning, all Bill can remember is that his elusive bride has a strawberry-shaped birthmark on Read More

Song of the West

Actors: John Boles, Vivienne Segal, Marie Wells, Joe E. Brown, Sam Hardy

Synopsis: 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. Read More

Two Weeks Off

Actors: Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall, Gertrude Astor, James Finlayson, Jed Prouty

Synopsis: Taking Two Weeks Off for the first time in his life, plumber Dave Pickett (Jack Mulhall) spends his savings on a posh hotel suite. During his vacation, he meets and falls in love with pretty Kitty Weaver (Dorothy Mackaill). Hoping to impress the girl, Dave poses as a famous movie star (Jack Mulhall Read More

From Headquarters

Actors: Monte Blue, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Gladys Brockwell, Henry B. Walthall

Synopsis: Most of Monte Blue's talking-picture career was spent in small character roles, but he was still regarded as a bankable leading man when he appeared in the early Warner Bros. talkie From Headquarters. Blue is cast as gutsy U.S. Marine Captain Slappy Smith, assigned to rescue a passel of tourists Read More

Fancy Baggage

Actors: Audrey Ferris, Myrna Loy, George Fawcett, Edmund Breese, Burr McIntosh

Synopsis: In this crime melodrama, Iverson (George Fawcett) is a stockbroker who has been sent to prison for illegally manipulating the market; however, as a matter of honor, he refuses to implicate his partner John Hardin (Edmund Breese), who was responsible for most of the wrong-doing. Iverson's daughter Read More

Two Men and a Maid

Synopsis: In this romance, a husband, believing that his wife had sexual relations before they were married, ends up leaving, joining the Foreign Legion and living in Algeria. There he falls for the lover of the cruel officer in charge. After the illicit romance is revealed, a gun goes off, and the woman is Read More

Twin Beds

Actors: Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller, Armand Kaliz, Gertrude Astor, Knute Erickson

Synopsis: The 1929 comedy Twin Beds was the second of three versions of the 1914 stage farce by Margaret Mayo and Salisbury Field. The original story of a newlywed bride who is briefly lured from her honeymoon suite by a vainglorious opera singer has been realigned as a traditional "backstage" romance. Read More

Stop That Man

Actors: Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake, Eddie Gribbon, Warner P. Richmond, Joseph W. Girard

Synopsis: The success of First National's Harold Teen prompted Universal to cast gangly juvenile Arthur Lake as lead in Stop That Man. The Harold Lloyd-like plot casts Lake as Tommy O'Brien, the spindly younger brother of musclebound Irish cops Bill and Jim (Eddie Gribbon, Warner Richmond). To prove his Read More

Bachelor's Paradise

Actors: Ralph Graves, Eddie Gribbon, James Finlayson

Synopsis: A seriously injured boxer seemingly falls for his pretty nurse, who begins arranging their wedding. In this drama, the trouble begins when the fighter chickens out and jilts her at the altar. Later he re-enters the ring, and when he is once again injured it is then that he sees the light and goes Read More

United States Smith

Actors: Eddie Gribbon, Lila Lee, Mickey Bennett, Kenneth Harlan

Synopsis: A rather muddled prize-fighting melodrama from low-budget company Gotham Productions, United States Smith featured former Keystone comic Eddie Gribbon and 14-year-old Canadian actor Mickey Bennett). Gribbon played a Marine boxing champ and Bennett the young Russian immigrant he takes under his Read More

Buck Privates

Actors: Lya de Putti, Malcolm McGregor, ZaSu Pitts, James Marcus, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: The only relation that the 1928 Buck Privates has to the much-later Abbott and Costello vehicle of the same name is the fact that both films were produced by Universal. Set during WWI, the film focuses on the adventures of American doughboy John Smith (Malcolm McGregor) during a brief stopover in Read More

Gang War

Actors: Lorin Raker, Mabel Albertson, David Hartman, Olive Borden

Synopsis: Gang War stars Jack Pickford as speakeasy musician Clyde Baxter and Olive Borden as Flowers, a dime-a-dance girl. When Clyde falls in love with Flowers, he finds he has a deadly rival in the form of gangster Blackjack (Eddie Gribbon). During an all-out war between two rival gangs, Blackjack proves Read More

Convoy

Actors: Lowell Sherman, Dorothy Mackaill, William Collier, Jr., Lawrence Gray, Ian Keith

Synopsis: The budget-minded "spectacular" Convoy was based on Song of the Dragon, a novel by John Taintor Foote. Lowell Sherman stars as a slick German spy during World War 1. Sherman matches wits with-and pitches woo to-American secret agent Dorothy Mackaill. Most of the footage is cosumed by newsreel and Read More

Night Life

Actors: Alice Day, John Harron, Eddie Gribbon, Walter Hiers, Lionel Braham

Synopsis: While merely a program picture, this drama features an excellent cast and an entertaining story. Before the Great War, Max (John Harron) and his partner, Nick (Eddie Gribbon), had a sleight-of-hand act on vaudeville. After the war's end, the pair find themselves out of work and starving in Vienna. Read More

Streets of Shanghai

Actors: Pauline Starke, Kenneth Harlan, Margaret Livingston, Eddie Gribbon, Jason Robards, Sr.

Synopsis: The scene is Shanghai, where virginal missionary Pauline Garon finds herself the object of lust of the local Chinese crime lords. U.S. Marine Kenneth Harlan falls in love with Garon, while seductress Margaret Livingston sets her sights on Harlan. Once he disentangles himself from the troublesome Read More

The Callahans and the Murphys

Actors: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Sally O'Neil, Lawrence Gray, Frank Currier

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Kathleen Morris, The Callahans and the Murphys was the first of several MGM films costarring veteran comediennes Marie Dressler and Polly Moran. These formidable ladies are cast as Mrs. Callahan and Mrs. Murphy, feuding tenement housewives who spend most of their time keeping Read More

Cheating Cheaters

Actors: Betty Compson, Kenneth Harlan, Lucien Littlefield, Eddie Gribbon, Cesare Gravina

Synopsis: This witty Max Marcin play became an entertaining vehicle for Clara Kimball Young in 1919; in 1927, it became an entertaining program flick for Universal Studios. Here, Betty Compson takes on the part of Nan Carey, the female detective who's out to trap a gang of crooks. The gang is planning to Read More

The Bat

Actors: Charles Herzinger, Tullio Carminatti, Jewel Carmen, Louise Fazenda, Emily Fitzroy, Arthur Houseman, Robert McKim

Synopsis: Long believed lost, the silent thriller-chiller The Bat finally resurfaced in the mid-1970s and proved well-worth the wait. Based on the play by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the plot is set in motion by a maniacal serial killer who dresses in a bat costume and flashes a batlike shadow on the wall just Read More

The Flaming Frontier

Actors: Hoot Gibson, Anne Cornwall, Dustin Farnum, Ward Crane, Kathleen Key

Synopsis: Marking the 50th anniversary of General George Armstrong Custer's famous defeat at Little Big Horn, Universal re-created the battle in their biggest production ($400,000) of the year, The Flaming Frontier. Veteran screen actor Dustin Farnum came out of semi-retirement to play Custer -- to Read More

Tell It to the Marines

Actors: Lon Chaney, William Haines, Eleanor Boardman, Eddie Gribbon, Carmel Myers

Synopsis: A tough-as-nails Marine sergeant sets about training a rag-tag group of boys into men. Though sporting a rough and gruff exterior, the sergeant is really a caring, gentle sort. During training, he is especially rough on a smart-alecky young man, whom he hones into a first rate fighter. More Read More

Man Bait

Actors: Marie Prevost, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Louis Natheaux, Ken Thomson, Sally Rand

Synopsis: The titular "man bait" is svelte shopgirl Madge Dreyer (Marie Prevost), who can't convince her customers and male co-workers to keep their hands to themselves. When she rebuffs the advances of her boss, Madge is fired, whereupon she finds work at a dime-a-dance joint. Here she meets and falls in Read More

Flying Mail

Actors: Al Wilson, Carmelita Geraghty, Harry Von Meter, Eddie Gribbon, Kathleen Myers

Synopsis: Real-life stunt pilot Al Wilson heads the cast of the aerial melodrama The Flying Mail. Hero Wilson gets into trouble early in proceedings when he's convinced by the crooks that he's gotten married while under the influence of a powerful drug. It's all part of a scheme to keep him grounded while Read More

Desert Gold

Actors: Neil Hamilton, Shirley Mason, Robert W. Frazer, William Powell, Josef Swickard

Synopsis: Based on a story by Zane Grey, Desert Gold is a remake of the 1919 film of the same name. Neil Hamilton stars as George Thorne, a U.S. cavalry lieutenant in love with fair senorita Mercedes Castaneda (Shirley Mason). When Mercedes is kidnapped by scurrilous outlaw Snake Landree (William Powell in Read More

Code of the West

Actors: Owen Moore, Constance Bennett, Mabel Ballin, Charles Ogle, David Butler

Synopsis: Shy cowboy Cal Thurman (Owen Moore) falls for sophisticated city girl Georgie May (Constance Bennett) in this, the first of two versions of Zane Grey's story. When Georgie May haughtily rejects the poor cowpuncher, he sets out to stake his claim, gets in trouble with a gang of crooks, and later Read More

Limited Mail

Actors: Monte Blue, Vera Reynolds, Willard Louis, Tom Gallery

Synopsis: This action-packed melodrama was adapted from the stage play by Elmer Vance, the man who did the adapting was future film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who at the time was a mere screenwriter for Warner Bros. When he is jilted by his girl, Ben Wilson (Monte Blue) becomes a hobo. His life takes a turn Read More

Seven Days

Actors: Lillian Rich, Creighton Hale, Lilyan Tashman, Mabel Julienne Scott, William Austin

Synopsis: Mary Roberts Rinehart's story When a Man Marries was made into a successful play, Tumble In, by Avery Hopwood. Biograph filmed a poor version of it as Seven Days, but, in 1925, producer Al Christie -- an expert when it came to comedy -- remade it as this amusing feature. The only downside is that Read More

Jack O'Clubs

Synopsis: Herbert Rawlinson starred in this silent, action melodrama based on Gerald Beaumont's Red Book Magazine serial. A tough neighborhood cop, John Francis Foley loses his nerve when he believes that he almost killed Tillie Miller (Ruth Dwyer), the girl he loves. In reality, Tillie's injuries were Read More

East of Broadway

Actors: Owen Moore, Mary Carr

Synopsis: Owen Moore was a bit long in tooth when he played the brash young hero of East of Broadway. Peter Mullaney (Moore) has one burning desire: to join the New York City police force. Too short--and too stupid--to pass the entrance exam, Mullaney is given a one-night-only chance by the sympathetic Read More

Border Legion

Actors: Antonio Moreno, Helene Chadwick, Rockliffe Fellowes, Gibson Gowland, Charles Ogle

Synopsis: The second of four versions of Zane Grey's story of a dispirited ranch hand who joins a gang of outlaws, this silent western benefitted by the presence of veteran Vitagraph star Antonio Moreno. Moreno plays Jim Cleve, who heads West after being jilted by his girlfriend. He works for a while as a Read More

After the Ball

Actors: Gaston Glass, Edna Murphy, Thomas S. Guise, Miriam Cooper

Synopsis: Arthur Trevelyan (Gaston Glass) spends his life partying and one of his revels ends in a wedding ceremony. His father (Thomas Guise) is fed up with his son's carefree ways and disowns him. So when Arthur is accused of a murder and a jewel theft he has no protection and winds up in Sing Sing. Read More

Hoodman Blind

Actors: Frank Campeau, Gladys Hulette, David Butler, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: While this isn't one of director John Ford's best early efforts, it does feature a thrilling storm and shipwreck. Gladys Hulette has a dual role. John Linden (Marc MacDermott) leaves his wife (Trilby Clark) because of a misunderstanding created by lawyer Mark Lezzard (Frank Campeau). He takes up Read More

Victor

Actors: Herbert Rawlinson, Dorothy Manners, Esther Ralston, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: This mediocre comedy-drama starred Herbert Rawlinson as an impoverished nobleman turned pugilist. Lord Waring (Frank Currier) is broke so he sends his son Cecil (Rawlinson) to America to marry a girl from a wealthy family. Cecil is less than thrilled with the situation, especially after meeting Read More

Crossroads of New York

Actors: Ethel Grey Terry, Robert Cain, Kathryn McGuire, Herbert Standing

Synopsis: This feature-length comedy-melodrama was not one of the best from Mack Sennett, or his talented director, F. Richard Jones. Country boy Michael Flint (George O'Hara) arrives in the city to seek his fortune. He's a bit better off than your average naïve youth because he has a letter of introduction Read More

A Tailor Made Man

Actors: Charles Ray, Thomas Ricketts, Ethel Grandin, Stanton Heck, Edythe Chapman

Synopsis: Although {Charles Ray doesn't play one of his country boy roles in his first picture for United Artists, John Paul Bart could be considered the city cousin -- he's a poor pants presser who believes that clothes really can make the man and sets out to prove it. He "borrows" a dress suit from the Read More

Village Blacksmith

Actors: William Walling, Virginia True Boardman, Virginia Valli, David Butler

Synopsis: Everybody at Mack Sennett's Keystone studios was expected to do a little bit of everything, which is why bassett-faced comedian Hank Mann both directed and co-starred in the 2-reel laughfest The Village Blacksmith. Burly Tom Kennedy plays the title character, while gawky Polly Moran is cast as Read More

Alias Julius Caesar

Actors: Charles Ray, Barbara Bedford, William Scott, Robert Fernandez, Fred Miller

Synopsis: Bumptuous Charles Ray is again a "victim of circumstance" (to quote the immortal Curly Howard) in Alias Julius Caesar. While Ray is showering, his clothes are stolen. He tries to make his way home wrapped in a shower curtain (hence the film's title), and is arrested for his trouble. His cellmate Read More

A Small Town Idol

Actors: Ben Turpin, Phyllis Haver, Charlie Murray, Marie Prevost, James Finlayson

Synopsis: This hilarious slapstick comedy from Mack Sennett finds Sam Smith (Ben Turpin), the resident of a small town, accused of stealing. The jealous villain J. Wellington Jones (James Finlayson) orchestrated Sam's frame-up to keep him from wooing Mary (Phyllis Haver), the prettiest single girl in town. Read More

Molly O'

Actors: Mabel Normand, George Nichols, Anna Hernandez, Albert Hackett, Eddie Gribbon

Synopsis: This comedy-drama marked Mabel Normand's return to producer Mack Sennett after making a number of mediocre films for Samuel Goldwyn. Normand plays one of her typical Cinderella turns, a lower-class Irish girl, Molly, whose father, Tim O'Dair (George Nichols) is a ditch digger. Molly is supposed to Read More

Love, Honor and Behave

Actors: Charlie Murray, Ford Sterling, Phyllis Haver, Marie Prevost, George O'Hara

Synopsis: Marie Prevost and George O'Hara are two newlyweds who go before a judge seeking a divorce in this slapstick comedy. His Honor (Charles Murray) sees photographic evidence from the wife with the husband's arms around another woman. He claims he was only helping the woman over the fence and he is Read More