Nigel de Brulier Filmography

Adventures of Smilin' Jack [Serial]

Synopsis: The 12-episode Universal serial The Adventures of Smilin' Jack is based on the Zack Mosely comic strip of the same name. The title character-minus his trademarked pencil moustache-is played by Tom Brown. Departing radically from the characters and situations of the original funny-paper version Read More

Wrecking Crew

Actors: Richard Arlen, Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Joe Sawyer, Esther Dale

Synopsis: No relation to the much-later "Matt Helm" spy comedy of the same name, Pine-Thomas Productions' The Wrecking Crew serves as a virile vehicle for Richard Arlen and Chester Morris. The stars appear respectively as a demolition-crew boss and his top worker. Morris has earned a reputation as a "jinx" Read More

The Adventures of Captain Marvel [Serial]

Actors: Tom Tyler, Frank Coghlan, Jr., William Benedict, Louise Currie

Synopsis: The Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 12-episode Republic serial based on the comic book character of the same name. Young Billy Batson (Frank Coghlan Jr.) is part of a scientific expedition in a remote section of Siam. Trapped in an ancient tomb, Billy happens upon an ancient shaman acronymically Read More

For Beauty's Sake

Actors: Ned Sparks, Marjorie Weaver, Ted North, Joan Davis, Pierre Watkin

Synopsis: A Clarence Buddington Kelland story was the source for the mildly farcical For Beauty's Sake. If he wants to inherit a fortune, bookish astronomy professor B. E. Dillsome (Ted North) must operate his aunt's beauty parlor for a two-year period. Business is very, very slow, prompting Dillsome's Read More

Viva Cisco Kid

Actors: Cesar Romero, Jean Rogers, Chris-Pin Martin, Minor Watson, Stanley Fields

Synopsis: While Cesar Romero could usually be relied upon to ladle out the charm in his film roles, Romero's handful of appearances as O. Henry's "Cisco Kid" were disturbingly cold and distant. In Viva Cisco Kid, the "Robin Hood of the Old West" and his sidekick Pancho (Chris-Pin Martin) save a stagecoach Read More

The Mad Empress

Actors: Lionel Atwill, Conrad Nagel, Guy Bates Post, Evelyn Brent

Synopsis: In this melodramatic historical drama, the lives of Mexico's Maximilian and Carlotta are chronicled. The story follows their brief reign as figureheads for Napoleon III. The two doomed rulers were terribly naive and had no idea that they were universally despised by the native population. Upon her Read More

One Million B.C.

Actors: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Hubbard, Mamo Clark

Synopsis: Even taking into consideration Of Mice and Men, One Million BC was inarguably the most ambitious feature-film project ever undertaken by producer Hal Roach. Told in flashback, this is the highly fanciful tale of the prehistoric feud between the Rock Tribe and Shell People. Tumak (Victor Mature) Read More

The Tower of London

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Barbara O'Neil, Ian Hunter

Synopsis: Basil Rathbone's real-life son, John Rodion, has his head chopped off early on in this historical melodrama often mistakenly referred to as a horror film. Yes, a second-billed Boris Karloff does stomp about on a club-foot as the Duke of Glouchester's chief executioner, Mord, but Karloff's presence Read More

Mutiny in the Big House

Actors: Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Pat Moriarity, Dennis Moore, William Royle

Synopsis: A frequent visitor to contemporary TV cable services, Monogram's Mutiny in the Big House affords stalwart supporting player Charles Bickford top billing as a prison chaplain, with jailhouse-flick veteran Barton MacLane billed second as a hardened con. The nominal hero, however, is fourth-billed Dennis Moore Read More

Juarez

Actors: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, John Garfield

Synopsis: Juarez was originally designed to concentrate almost exclusively on the tragedy of Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, whose attempts to establish a puppet government in Mexico on behalf of Napoleon III ended in disaster and death. But when Paul Muni decided that he wanted to play Read More

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Actors: Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Wendy Barrie

Synopsis: Though it takes a few liberties with the Arthur Conan Doyle original -- not the least of which is turning Sherlock Holmes into the second lead -- The Hound of the Baskervilles ranks as one of the best screen versions of this oft-told tale. After learning the history of the Baskerville curse from Read More

Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence

Actors: Jean Rogers, Raymond Walburn, Marjorie Rambeau, Glenn Ford, Nicholas Conte

Synopsis: In his feature film debut, Glenn Ford plays a department-store clerk who saves up enough money to buy a small patch of land in Arizona. Unable to afford a car, Ford hitchhikes to his new home, and along the way teams up with a transient (Richard Conte) and an illegal alien (Jean Rogers). The girl Read More

The Man in the Iron Mask

Actors: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Joseph Schildkraut, Alan Hale, Warren William

Synopsis: Man in the Iron Mask is independent producer Edward Small's 1939 edition of the much-filmed Dumas classic. The title character is the rightful King of France, imprisoned by his pretender-to-the-throne twin brother (both roles are played by Louis Hayward, with an uncredited Peter Cushing doubling Read More

Marie Antoinette

Actors: Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Robert Morley, Anita Louise, Joseph Schildkraut

Synopsis: M.G.M.'s opulent costume drama Marie Antoinette marked a return to the screen after a two-year absence for reigning Queen of M.G.M. Norma Shearer. Shearer plays the title role of an Austrian princess who is married off to Louis Auguste (Robert Morley), the Dauphin of France. Marie, by becoming the Read More

Zorro Rides Again [Serial]

Actors: John Carroll, Helen Christian, Reed Howes, Duncan Renaldo, Richard Alexander

Synopsis: Actually it's the great-grandson of legendary 19th century do-gooder Zorro who rides in this 12-chapter Republic serial. Villainous modern-day tycoon Marsden (Noah Beery) supervises the activities of a western outlaw gang from the plush confines of his Manhattan skyscraper. It is Marsden's hope to Read More

The Gentleman from California

Actors: Ricardo Cortez, Marjorie Weaver, Katherine de Mille, Maurice Black, Morgan Wallace

Synopsis: Also released as The Gentleman from California, this budget-conscious swashbuckler is strongly reminiscent of The Mark of Zorro. Nineteenth-century California aristocrat Ramon Escobar (Ricardo Cortez) returns after several years' schooling in Spain to discover that his native land is in the hands Read More

The White Legion

Actors: Ian Keith, Tala Birell, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Rollo Lloyd, Lionel Pape

Synopsis: As the Panama Canal is under construction, a group of doctors try to find a cure for yellow fever, or "Yellow Jack," a deadly disease taking its toll on the canal workers. A pet monkey accidentally frees disease-bearing mosquitoes, resulting in the death of Dr. Fontaine (Ferdinand Gottschalk). Read More

Half Angel

Actors: Frances Dee, Brian Donlevy, Charles Butterworth, Helen Westley, Henry Stephenson

Synopsis: In this murder comedy, a young woman is no sooner acquitted of poisoning her father when she finds herself suspected of poisoning another. A pushy, over-eager reporter attempts to badger her into a confession, but he changes his tune after he falls in love with her. This results in the loss of his Read More

The Garden of Allah

Actors: Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Schildkraut, Tilly Losch

Synopsis: Marlene Dietrich stars as the noble Domini Enfilden in this third film version of Robert Hichens' 1904 novel. After caring for her dying father, Domini is told by her Mother Superior (Lucille Watson) that she should go to the Algerian desert to rest and seek sanctuary. On her way to the town of Read More

Mary of Scotland

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Douglas Walton, John Carradine

Synopsis: Maxwell Anderson's blank-verse play Mary of Scotland was adapted for the screen by Dudley Nichols and directed with a surprising paucity of verve by John Ford. Katharine Hepburn, in one of the "icy" roles that would later earn her the onus of "box office poison", stars as Mary Stuart, who serves Read More

Down to the Sea

Actors: Russell Hardie, Ben Lyon, Ann Rutherford, Irving Pichel

Synopsis: In its first few years of existence, Republic Pictures evinced an eagerness to tackle any sort of offbeat subject. The studio's Down to the Sea has to be one of the only films of the 1930s to concentrate on a pair of Greek sponge fishermen. Played by Russell Hardie and Ben Lyon, the heroes battle Read More

San Francisco

Actors: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: The MGM historical "spectacular" San Francisco was allegedly based on a three-sentence synopsis, submitted verbally to producer B.F. Zeidman by studio troubleshooter Bob Hopkins. The story begins on the Barbary Coast on New Year's Eve, 1906, as rakish but likeable political boss Blackie Norton (Clark Gable Read More

Charlie Chan in Egypt

Actors: Warner Oland, Pat Paterson, Thomas Beck, Rita Hayworth, Stepin Fetchit

Synopsis: As much a horror film as a murder mystery, Charlie Chan in Egypt is one of the best entries in the "Chan" series. The story is motivated by a King Tut-like curse, which has apparently befallen the members of an archeological expedition. Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is brought into the case when a Read More

The Three Musketeers

Actors: Walter Abel, Paul Lukas, Margot Grahame, Heather Angel, Ian Keith

Synopsis: This first talkie version of Dumas' The Three Musketeers had been planned by RKO Radio as a John Ford production, with Francis Lederer as D'Artagnan. By the time the film emerged on screen, Rowland V. Lee was in the director's chair, with the talented but uncharismatic Walter Abel in the Read More

A Tale of Two Cities

Actors: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: It is a tale known well, filmed many times over the years, but never better than this early black and white version from the MGM Studios, David O. Selznick producing. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"-- Charles Dickens juxtaposes England and France, George and Louis, tradition Read More

Viva Villa!

Actors: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Fay Wray, Donald Cook, Joseph Schildkraut, Stuart Erwin

Synopsis: A far from factual filmed biography of Mexican patriot Pancho Villa, Viva Villa! was written by lengendary screenwriter Ben Hecht. We first meet the young Villa when his father is beaten to death after protesting Diaz' seizure of the Mexican peons' land. Pancho exacts a temporary revenge by Read More

Life in the Raw

Actors: George O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Greta Nissen, Francis Ford, Warner P. Richmond

Synopsis: When a man commits a crime, his sister (Claire Trevor) frames the man she loves to free her brother. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Monkey's Paw

Actors: Ivan Simpson, C. Aubrey Smith, Bramwell Fletcher, Betty Lawford

Synopsis: An old man learns the sad truth of the old saw about being careful what you wish for in this horror outing that is based on the enduring cautionary tale. It all begins with an army sergeant who is given a magical monkey's paw while fighting in India. He learns that the paw contains three wishes. Read More

I'm No Angel

Actors: Mae West, Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Ralf Harolde, Russell Hopton

Synopsis: Mae West's second starring vehicle, I'm No Angel casts the divine Miss West as the star performer in a seedy circus. Though she lives with Ralf Harolde, West allows herself plenty of time for other men. When Harolde runs afoul of the law, West secures extra money by becoming a lion tamer. While Read More

Miss Pinkerton

Actors: Joan Blondell, George Brent, Mae Madison, John Wray, Ruth Hall

Synopsis: In this murder mystery, a nurse with an unusual eye for detail solves a puzzling case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Rasputin and the Empress

Actors: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ralph Morgan, Diana Wynyard

Synopsis: It's hard to separate fact and fancy from the many accounts of what happened on the set when all three of the fabulous Barrymores -- Ethel, John and Lionel -- appeared together for the only time in Rasputin and the Empress. As for the end result, John offers the subtlest (!) performance as Russian Read More

Son of India

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Conrad Nagel, Marjorie Rambeau, Madge Evans, C. Aubrey Smith

Synopsis: An young boy is en route to Bombay with his wealthy father when they are ambushed by highwaymen and his father is mortally wounded. Just before he dies, he hands his son a large diamond. The boy then continues on to the city. By the time he gets there he is ragged and dirty. A crooked merchant Read More

Moby Dick

Actors: John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, May Boley, Noble Johnson, Walter Long

Synopsis: Herman Melville's classic novel gets a major revision in this screen adaptation of his seafaring novel - Hollywood's first talkie adaptation of the work. (A silent version, The Sea Beast, had been produced four years earlier). Captain Ahab Ceely (John Barrymore), a crusty and hard-drinking sailor Read More

The Green Goddess

Actors: George Arliss, H.B. Warner, Ralph Forbes, Alice Joyce

Synopsis: In this British adventure, a plane crash results in the capture of the survivors by a despotic Rajah who hates the British. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Golden Dawn

Actors: Vivienne Segal, Noah Beery, Sr., Alice Gentle, Lupino Lane

Synopsis: A failure of near epic proportions when first released and an unintentionally funny disaster today, this bizarre operetta almost single-handedly destroyed the musical genre for years to come. Vivienne Segal stars as Dawn, a white girl presumed to be born among the natives in what was once Dutch Read More

Redemption

Actors: John Gilbert, Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Boardman, Renée Adorée, Claire McDowell

Synopsis: Based on Leo Tolstoy's The Living Corpse, Redemption was originally scheduled as John Gilbert's first talkie, but was held from release until distribution of his second, One Glorious Night. The official reason, as handed down by the MGM publicity hacks, was that Gilbert's efforts to tackle a role Read More

The Wheel of Life

Actors: Richard Dix, Esther Ralston, O.P. Heggie, Arthur Hoyt

Synopsis: In his second talking picture, Richard Dix is cast as British officer Capt. Leslie Yeullat, at present on leave in London. Falling in love with Ruth Dangan (Esther Ralston), the wife of his commanding officer (O.P. Heggie), Yeullat does the gentlemanly thing by suppressing his own emotions for the Read More

The Iron Mask

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Belle Bennett, Nigel de Brulier, Marguerite de la Motte, Dorothy Revier, Rolfe Sedan, Vera Lewis

Synopsis: The Iron Mask was Douglas Fairbanks' sequel to his popular 1921 vehicle The Three Musketeers. Fairbanks returns to his original role of D'Artagnan, while Marguerite de La Motte and Nigel De Brulier briefly reprise their Musketeers roles as, respectively, Constance and Cardinal Richelieu. After Read More

Thru Different Eyes

Actors: Mary Duncan, Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter, Natalie Moorhead, Earl Foxe

Synopsis: A murder trial provides the setting of this drama that presents, via flashback, three very different versions and motives of the killing. According to the prosecution, the deceased's sexy (and very much married) mistress is behind the murder. The defense asserts that the woman's lover killed Read More

Me Gangster

Loves of an Actress

Actors: Pola Negri, Nils Asther, Mary McAlister, Richard Tucker, Philip Strange

Divine Sinner

Actors: Vera Reynolds, Nigel de Brulier, Ernest Hilliard, John Peters, Carole Lombard

Synopsis: A former leading lady for director Cecil B. DeMille, vivacious Vera Reynolds was experiencing somewhat of a career slump when she starred in this romantic melodrama from poverty row producer Trem Carr. She played Lillia, a small town girl who gets involved with the wrong crowd in Paris. Arrested Read More

Two Lovers

Actors: Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Noah Beery, Sr., Nigel de Brulier, Virginia Bradford

Synopsis: Another of Goldwyn's successful pairings of Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, Two Lovers was the last of their co-starring assignments. Set during the 16th-century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the story concentrates on the fiercely patriotic Mark Van Ryke (Colman). Donning the guise of Read More

Noah's Ark

Actors: Dolores Costello, George O'Brien, Noah Beery, Sr., Louise Fazenda, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Paul McAllister

Synopsis: Directed by a young Michael Curtiz, this Warner Bros. epic had aspirations of becoming another Intolerance (1916). In the end, Curtiz' treatise of man's inhumanity to man was ironically sabotaged by the enormous success of yet another studio release, the groundbreaking The Jazz Singer (1927). Read More

Me, Gangster

Actors: June Collyer, Don Terry, Anders Randolf, Al Hill

Synopsis: Me, Gangster was director Raoul Walsh's third 1928 film -- and, according to some historians, the blueprint for such future Walsh crime dramas as Me and My Gal, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat. Told in the form of a diary, the story details the rise and fall of gangster boss Jimmy Williams Read More

Soft Cushions

Actors: Douglas MacLean, Sue Carol, Richard Carle, Russell Powell, Frank Leigh

Synopsis: This spoof of Doug Fairbanks' Thief of Bagdad amusingly combines traditional Arabian Nights melodrama with up-to-date "Roaring 20s" irreverence. Douglas MacLean stars as The Young Thief, who falls in love with The Girl, played by Sue Carol (later a powerful talent agent, as well as the wife of Read More

The Patent Leather Kid

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, Molly O'Day, Arthur Stone, Lawford Davidson, Matthew Betz

Synopsis: Such was Richard Barthelmess' popularity in 1927 that audiences were willing to sit through all 12 reels (approximately 130 minutes) of The Patent Leather Kid. Barthelmess plays a cocky prizefighter who isn't the least bit concerned when America enters World War 1. Doing his best to avoid the Read More

Surrender

Actors: Mary Philbin

Synopsis: While most of director Edward H. Sloman's silent films have vanished, one of the best, Surrender, is happily still in existence. In his only American film appearance, Ivan Mosjoukine stars as an aristocratic Russian officer who falls in love with winsome Jewish peasant girl Mary Philbin. Not Read More

The Beloved Rogue

Actors: John Barrymore, Conrad Veidt, Marceline Day, Lawson Butt, Henry Victor

Synopsis: Beloved Rogue stars John Barrymore as legendary Parisian poet/vagabond Francois Villon. The film follows the basic chronology of all Villon dramatizations (If I Were King, The Vagabond King etc.): To ensure the loyalty of his subjects, crotchety King Louis XI (Conrad Veidt) appoints the waggish Read More

The Gaucho

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Eve Southern, Lupe Velez, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Geraine Greear, Michael Vavitch, Nigel de Brulier

Synopsis: Douglas Fairbanks' The Gaucho is a curiosity: a traditional Fairbanks actioner with decidedly unsavory, unpleasant and uncharacteristic overtones. For the first time in his career, Fairbanks plays what would have been a villainous role in anyone else's film: An outlaw leader who exploits religion Read More

Wings

Actors: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston, Gary Cooper

Synopsis: Wings, the first feature film to win an Academy Award, tends to disappoint a little when seen today. Too much time is afforded the wheezy old plotline about two World War I aviators (Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen) in love with the same woman (Jobyna Ralston), while the comedy relief of El Brendel is Read More

Don Juan

Actors: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis, Estelle Taylor, Warner Oland, Montagu Love

Synopsis: Historically important as the first film to carry a Vitaphone sound track (consisting of music and sound effects, but no dialogue) Don Juan is a first-rate production by any standards, and would have been just as good with or without musical accompaniment. John Barrymore plays the legendary lover Read More

Yellow Fingers

Actors: Ralph Ince, Olive Borden, Armand Kaliz, Claire Adams, Nigel de Brulier

Synopsis: Two alumni from the old Thomas Ince Studios -- director Emmet Flynn and Tom's actor-director brother Ralph -- collaborated on the lurid melodrama Yellow Fingers. Ralph Ince stars as Brute Shane, a South Pacific trader who has adopted native girl Saina (Olive Broden). When Shane rescues English Read More

Greater Glory

Actors: Conway Tearle, Anna Q. Nilsson, May Allison, Ian Keith, Lucy Beaumont

Synopsis: The Greater Glory was adapted by June Mathis from The Viennese Medley, a novel by Edith O'Shaughnessy. Set during WWI, the film focuses on the changes wrought by the war upon a "typical" European family. Specifically, the story zeroes in on the two prettiest family members, Fanny (Anna Q. Nilsson) Read More

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Claire McDowell, Kathleen Key, Carmel Myers

Synopsis: The advertising tag "four years in the making" is usually so much press-agent puffery. In the case of the 1926 silent version of Ben Hur, it was the unvarnished truth--and the filmmakers had the scars to prove it. The story behind the film is now part of Hollywood folklore: the cast and production Read More

A Regular Fellow

Actors: Raymond Griffith, Mary Brian, Edgar Norton, Nigel de Brulier

Synopsis: Breezy Raymond Griffith became a full-fledged screen star with this highly entertaining comedy. Alexis (Griffith), the prince of a European principality, is run ragged by his many duties -- trivialities such as christening ships, kissing babies, reviewing troops, and the like. But when he meets a Read More

The Ancient Mariner

Actors: