E.H. Calvert – MRQE

The Silent Partner

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Leatrice Joy outshines the trite material and the rest of the cast in this Paramount release. Although it was adapted from Maximillian Foster’s Saturday Evening Post serial, it’s hard to tell how the author dragged the story on for more than a couple of installments (it was certainly a stretch to get it to run a scant six reels). Lisa Coburn (Joy) is thrilled, but cautious when wealth comes to her and her husband, George (Owen Moore, a wonderful silent farceur who is wasted here). Coburn has made a killing on Wall Street and as the money rolls in, he showers Lisa with extravagant gifts. Lisa is concerned that he’s not saving anything for the future, so for her birthday, she convinces him to give her 50 thousand dollars; she says it’s for a necklace, but she actually puts the money aside. This is a smart move, because Coburn’s enemy, Ralph Coombes (Robert Edeson), is determined to ruin him and steal Lisa away while he’s at it. Although he fails with Lisa, he manages to put Coburn in a tough financial bind. Lisa comes up with the 50 thousand and saves the day.

The Border Legion

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Cowhand Jim Cleve is wrongly accused of murder and rescued by Jack Kells, leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. But when the Legion takes Joan Randall prisoner and leaves Cleve to guard her, he realizes that he cannot remain part of an outlaw band and decides to rescue Joan.

The Wizard

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A mad doctor sews human head onto gorilla’s body.

Death from a Distance

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

While a distinguished astronomer is giving a lecture in a planetarium, a shot rings out and one of the audience members is found dead. A tough detective and a brassy female reporter lock horns as they both try to break the case.

The Widow from Chicago

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A woman infiltrates a criminal mob to avenge her brother’s death.

A Man from Wyoming

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A story about a man from Wyoming who enlists in the Army and is sent to the front during World War I. There he saves the life of an American society girl working in the Ambulance Corps. Afterwards at a rest camp, they meet again, fall in love, and are secretly married.

The Social Lion

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Marco Perkins is a garage mechanic and a would-be-prizefighter who gets a place on the ritzy country club’s polo team because he is the town’s most proficient mallet-wielder, having learned to play polo while serving in the U.S. army. His hobnobbing with the town-elite and social upper-crust at the polo-matches gives him an inflated idea of his social position, and he decides he is is moving on up. He breaks off with his girl-friend, true-blue Cynthia Brown, and hits on débutante Gloria Staunton, who appears to have an interest in being hit upon. Gloria’s interest lies mostly in showing Marco that hired-hands who can play polo still aren’t to the manor born.

The Benson Murder Case

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there; he decides to find out who killed him.

Behind the Make-Up

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown’s act and his girlfriend, whom he marries.

Darkened Rooms

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Phony spiritualists were given a good going-over in the early talkie melodrama Darkened Rooms. Evelyn Brent stars as Ellen, a fraudulent medium working in cahoots with genuine clairvoyant Emory Jago (Neil Hamilton). The plotline is secondary; the film’s main purpose was to emulate the methods of such professional “de-bunkers” as Mrs. Harry Houdini by exposing the various tricks of the spiritualist’s trade.