John Boles

John Boles

Born: October 27, 1895
Died: February 27, 1969
in Greenville, Texas, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Boles (October 28, 1895 – February 27, 1969) was an American singer and actor best known for playing Victor Moritz in the 1931 film Frankenstein. He started out in Hollywood in silent movies, but became a huge star with the advent of talkies. After the war, Boles moved to New York to study music. He quickly became well known for his talents and was selected to replace the leading man in the 1923 Broadway musical Little Jesse James. He became an established star on Broadway and attracted the attention of Hollywood producers and actors.

Boles' Broadway credits include One Touch of Venus (1943), Kitty's Kisses (1925), Mercenary Mary (1924), and Little Jessie James (1923).

He was hired by MGM to appear in a silent film in 1924. He starred in two more films for that studio before returning to New York and the stage. In 1927, he returned to Hollywood to star in The Love of Sunya (1927) opposite Gloria Swanson, which was a big success for him. Unfortunately, because the movies were still silent he was unable to show off his singing ability until late in the decade. In 1929, Warner Brothers hired him to star in their lavish musical operetta The Desert Song (1929). This film featured sequences in Technicolor and was a box-office success. Soon after, Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) selected him to play the leading man in their extravagant production (the last portion of the film was photographed in Technicolor) of Rio Rita, opposite Bebe Daniels. Audiences were enthralled by his beautiful voice, and John Boles suddenly found himself in huge demand. RCA Victor even hired him to make phonograph records of songs that he had sung in his films.

As soon as Rio Rita was completed, Boles went back to Warner Brothers as the leading man in an even more extravagant musical entitled Song of the West (1930) that was filmed entirely in Technicolor. Shortly after this film, Universal Pictures offered John Boles a contract, which he accepted. He starred in a number of pictures for them, most notably the all-Technicolor musical revue entitled The King of Jazz (1930) and a historical operetta entitled Captain of the Guard (1930). In 1931, he starred in One Heavenly Night (1931), which would prove to be his last major musical.

Boles portrayed Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931). He starred with Irene Dunne in a 1934 film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence directed for RKO Radio Pictures by Philip Moeller, and took the role of Edward Morgan in Curly Top (1935), starring Shirley Temple In 1937, Boles starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the King Vidor classic Stella Dallas. In 1943, he co-starred with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker in One Touch of Venus. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Boles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for John Boles...

Babes in Bagdad
Title: Babes in Bagdad
Character: Hassan
Released: December 7, 1952
Type: Movie
The Kadi of Bagdad has harem troubles in this low budget comedy from Edgar Ulmer.
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Thousands Cheer
Title: Thousands Cheer
Character: Colonel Bill Jones
Released: September 13, 1943
Type: Movie
Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a few snags, including disapproval from her father. Eddie's also plagued by fear of having an accident during his family's trapeze act in the army variety show, which also features a gallery of MGM stars.
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Between Us Girls
Title: Between Us Girls
Character: Steven J. Forbes
Released: September 4, 1942
Type: Movie
A 20-year-old stage actress takes on her most challenging role when she pretends to be her own mother's 12-year-old daughter. Comedy.
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Road to Happiness
Title: Road to Happiness
Character: Jeff Carter
Released: December 19, 1941
Type: Movie
A struggling singer, devoted to his young son, fears the child's super-spoiled, unloving but wealthy mother will gain custody of the boy.
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Sinners in Paradise
Title: Sinners in Paradise
Character: Jim Taylor
Released: May 19, 1938
Type: Movie
The survivors from a plane crash are washed up on an island where the only inhabitants are Mr. Taylor and his servant, Ping. The mismatched group must learn to get along and work together if they are to convince Taylor to let them borrow his boat and return to the main land.
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Romance in the Dark
Title: Romance in the Dark
Character: Antal Kovach
Released: March 24, 1938
Type: Movie
A baritone aids a young servant in making her dream of singing professionally come true.
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She Married an Artist
Title: She Married an Artist
Character: Lee Thornwood
Released: November 27, 1937
Type: Movie
Because Thornwood's portraits of comely model Sally Dennis are in such great demand, he is obliged to spend virtually all his time with Sally, which prompts Toni to seek retribution in divorce court.
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Fight for Your Lady
Title: Fight for Your Lady
Character: Robert Densmore
Released: November 5, 1937
Type: Movie
Wrestling trainer puts himself in charge of a singer's love life when the singer is jilted by a rich girl.
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Stella Dallas
Title: Stella Dallas
Character: Stephen Dallas
Released: August 6, 1937
Type: Movie
After divorcing a society man, a small-town woman tries to build a better life for their daughter.
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As Good as Married
Title: As Good as Married
Character: Alexander Drew
Released: May 9, 1937
Type: Movie
When a boss proposes marriage to his secretary, she discovers that the arrangement is solely for tax purposes.
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Craig's Wife
Title: Craig's Wife
Character: Walter Craig
Released: September 25, 1936
Type: Movie
Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material possessions and social status whose behavior makes difficult her relationship with domestic service and family members.
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Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Title: Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Character: Self
Released: September 11, 1936
Type: Movie
Viewers are provided a visit to Ken Maynard's private circus; Bette Davis poses for her portrait; Frank McHugh plays with his children; a visit to the West Side Tennis Club affords glimpses of many stars.
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A Message to Garcia
Title: A Message to Garcia
Character: Lt. Andrew Rowan
Released: April 10, 1936
Type: Movie
A fiery Cuban woman guides an emissary from the U.S. president through the jungles of war-torn Cuba.
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Rose of the Rancho
Title: Rose of the Rancho
Character: Jim Kearney
Released: January 9, 1936
Type: Movie
It is California in 1852 that only recently being surrendered by Mexico to the United States and admitted into the union. Most of the land-owners of California were the descendants of the Dons who had colonized it a hundred years before and whose title deeds bore the signature and seal of a long-dead Spanish king. But, by a loop-hole in the law, the title-deeds of the Dons could not be recognized, and this opened the door of organized gangs of land-grabbers, such as the one led by Joe Kincaid, to operate with a prime excuse for legitimate plunder and robbery. In most cases the law was unable to cope with the situation. Then Rosita Castro, the daughter of Don Pasqual Castro, masked and disguised as a man, organized a band of vigilantes to fight against the tyranny of the outlaws, aided by an undercover federal agent, Jim Kearney.
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The Littlest Rebel
Title: The Littlest Rebel
Character: Capt. Herbert Cary
Released: December 27, 1935
Type: Movie
Virgie Cary's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his dying wife and is arrested. A Yankee officer takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. Virgie and Uncle Billy beg President Lincoln to intercede.
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Starlit Days at the Lido
Title: Starlit Days at the Lido
Character: Self
Released: September 28, 1935
Type: Movie
Basically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon with an orchestra playing, all sorts of stars and would-be stars sitting at tables near the pool alongside paying customers, and bathing beauties parading and diving. The Lido's manager, Reggy Denny, introduces the stars in the audience. He's sometimes interrupted by someone who does a bit, sings a song, or otherwise entertains: most of these are novelty acts. By the end, everyone's having a swell time.
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Redheads on Parade
Title: Redheads on Parade
Character: John Bruce
Released: September 7, 1935
Type: Movie
A film star finds herself in trouble with her co-star when she has to flirt with the backer to prevent him from withdrawing his support.
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Orchids to You
Title: Orchids to You
Character: Thomas Bentley
Released: August 9, 1935
Type: Movie
An unlikely courtroom romance blooms between a flower-shop owner and her unscrupulous landlord's married attorney.
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Curly Top
Title: Curly Top
Character: Edward Morgan
Released: July 26, 1935
Type: Movie
Wealthy Edward Morgan becomes charmed with a curly-haired orphan and her pretty older sister Mary and arranges to adopt both under the alias of "Mr. Jones". As he spends more time with them, he soon finds himself falling in love with Mary.
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Music in the Air
Title: Music in the Air
Character: Bruno Mahler
Released: December 13, 1934
Type: Movie
A songwriter's young daughter (June Lang) begins to dream of stardom when she's offered the lead role in a new operetta.
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The White Parade
Title: The White Parade
Character: Ronald Hall III
Released: November 16, 1934
Type: Movie
The title represents the hopeful, ambitious students at a hospital training school and is primarily a story of the stern discipline and laborious physical and mental toil they endure in order to become nurses and join the White Parade. It is told mainly through the character of June Arden who finds romance with Ronald Hall III on the way, with side stories of the other girls who find failure, success, laughs and tears on the way.
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The Age of Innocence
Title: The Age of Innocence
Character: Newland Archer
Released: September 14, 1934
Type: Movie
An engaged attorney and a divorcee fall for each other in 1870s Manhattan.
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The Life of Vergie Winters
Title: The Life of Vergie Winters
Character: John Shadwell
Released: June 14, 1934
Type: Movie
A small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues the relationship with his true love.
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Wild Gold
Title: Wild Gold
Character: Steve Miller
Released: June 8, 1934
Type: Movie
A young man desperately in love with a nightclub singer sees an opportunity to spend some time alone with her when they're traveling through the Nevada gold country, and he takes the carburetor off her car and throws it in the river, stranding them there. They wind up staying at the cabin of a crusty old prospector, and soon the manager of a nightclub act shows up with his bevy of beautiful showgirls.
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Stand Up and Cheer!
Title: Stand Up and Cheer!
Character: John Boles
Released: May 4, 1934
Type: Movie
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.
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Hollywood on Parade No. B-9
Title: Hollywood on Parade No. B-9
Character: Self
Released: April 28, 1934
Type: Movie
Jimmy Durante asks popular song writing team Mack Gordon and Harry Revel to demonstrate some of their songs. There is interplay with impersonator Florence Desmond, Ben Turpin, Rudy Vallee and many others.
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Bottoms Up
Title: Bottoms Up
Character: Hal Reed
Released: April 12, 1934
Type: Movie
Promoter "Smoothie" King helps a pair of phonies con their way into a movie company. As Wanda heads toward stardom, she turns more and more from King toward the matinée idol. King must decide between his plans and her happiness.
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I Believed in You
Title: I Believed in You
Character: Michael Harrison
Released: April 9, 1934
Type: Movie
an aspiring writer and her boyfriend, a professional agitator head off to the Big Apple in search of good fortune. Unfortunately, the agitator soon finds himself in trouble with the cops. Meanwhile the writer attempts to become a Greenwich Village Bohemian type. She and her new friends are all starving for their art until a kindly gent offers them financial assistant. They refuse on principle. Tragedy pays a call when the writer learns that her boyfriend has been untrue.
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Beloved
Title: Beloved
Character: Carl Hausmann
Released: January 22, 1934
Type: Movie
Story about four generations in a family of musicians.
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My Lips Betray
Title: My Lips Betray
Character: King Rupert aka Captain von Linden
Released: November 4, 1933
Type: Movie
In a make-believe, mittleuropean kingdom, a vivacious but dim country girl sings in a beer garden for her rent money. Meanwhile, the king is facing bankruptcy for his little nation, unless he marries a rich but undesirable queen of another comic opera principality. Eventually he takes in the struggling young singer, and they fall in love, despite possible ruin.
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Only Yesterday
Title: Only Yesterday
Character: James Stanton "Jim" Emerson
Released: November 1, 1933
Type: Movie
On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young business man is about to commit suicide. With the note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices a thick envelope addressed to him at the desk. As he begin to read, we're taken back to the days of WW1 and his meeting with a young woman named Mary Lane.
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Child of Manhattan
Title: Child of Manhattan
Character: Paul Vanderkill
Released: February 11, 1933
Type: Movie
Paul Vanderkill is extraordinarily wealthy because his grandfather happened to buy farmland in what was to become Midtown Manhattan. The Loveland Dance Hall is one of the tenants of the Vanderkill estates. To reassure his aunt Sophie, Vanderkill visits Loveland to determine whether it is as disreputable as Sophie suspects. There he meets a dime-a-dance girl, Madeleine MacGonagal, who charms him with her quaint proletarian accent. They begin a secret affair, which turns into a secret marriage when pregnancy ensues. When the baby fails to survive, Madeleine decides that since he had married her only for the baby's sake, she should make haste to Mexico to secure a divorce. There she meets Panama Canal Kelly, a former suitor who now owns a silver mine. Her plans for divorce and quick remarriage are complicated when Vanderkill arrives to confront her.
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6 Hours to Live
Title: 6 Hours to Live
Character: Karl Kranz
Released: October 15, 1932
Type: Movie
A murder victim is brought back to life by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.
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Back Street
Title: Back Street
Character: Walter D. Saxel
Released: August 4, 1932
Type: Movie
A woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.
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Careless Lady
Title: Careless Lady
Character: Stephen Illington
Released: April 2, 1932
Type: Movie
Innocent Sally Brown thinks men are only attracted to experienced women, so she poses as the wife of an unmarried businessman on a trip to Paris.
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Good Sport
Title: Good Sport
Character: Boyce Cameron
Released: December 12, 1931
Type: Movie
Marilyn Parker decides not to accompany her husband Rex on his business trip to Europe when she receives a surprise visit from her mother.
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Frankenstein
Title: Frankenstein
Character: Victor Moritz
Released: November 21, 1931
Type: Movie
Tampering with life and death, Henry Frankenstein pieces together salvaged body parts to bring a human monster to life; the mad scientist's dreams are shattered by his creation's violent rage as the monster awakens to a world in which he is unwelcome.
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Seed
Title: Seed
Character: Bart Carter
Released: May 14, 1931
Type: Movie
Bart is a clerk for a publishing company; he has written a novel. His wife Peggy and he have five children. Bart's former girlfriend Mildred is manager of the company's Paris office. She manages to get the novel published and talks Bart into marrying her after he divorces Peggy. Initially successful, Bart must turn to writing trash to keep Mildred in money. When he sees how well his four sons and daughter Margaret have grown without his help, he asks Peggy to let them all come live with him and Mildred. Peggy agrees, but the arrival of his beloved children puts Mildred's future in jeopardy. Written by Ed Stephan
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Resurrection
Title: Resurrection
Character: Prince Dmitri Nekhludoff
Released: January 27, 1931
Type: Movie
Katusha, a country girl, is seduced and abandoned by Prince Nekludov. Nekludov finds himself, years later, on a jury trying the same Katusha for a crime he now realizes his actions drove her to. He follows her to imprisonment in Siberia, intent on redeeming her and himself as well.
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One Heavenly Night
Title: One Heavenly Night
Character: Count Mirko Tibor
Released: December 25, 1930
Type: Movie
A poor but basically honest flower woman agrees to impersonate a wicked opera star.
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King of Jazz
Title: King of Jazz
Character: Vocalist ('Song of the Dawn' / 'It Happened in Monterey')
Released: April 20, 1930
Type: Movie
Made during the early years of the movie musical, this exuberant revue was one of the most extravagant, eclectic, and technically ambitious Hollywood productions of its day. Starring the bandleader Paul Whiteman, then widely celebrated as the King of Jazz, the film drew from Broadway variety shows to present a spectacular array of sketches, performances by such acts as the Rhythm Boys (featuring a young Bing Crosby), and orchestral numbers—all lavishly staged by veteran theater director John Murray Anderson.
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Captain of the Guard
Title: Captain of the Guard
Character: Rouget de Lisle
Released: March 28, 1930
Type: Movie
A captain of the king's guards secretly works for the rebels.
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Song of the West
Title: Song of the West
Character: Captain Stanton
Released: March 15, 1930
Type: Movie
Captain Stanton, who because of a misunderstanding over a woman with Major Davolo, has been cited for a court martial. As a scout, he is sent to escort a wagon train which is under military escort. It turns out that this escort is his own former regiment. When he meet Davolo, there is another fight and between Stanton and Davolo in which Davolo is killed.
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Rio Rita
Title: Rio Rita
Character: Capt. Jim Stewart
Released: September 15, 1929
Type: Movie
Capt. James Stewart pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita. He suspects, that her brother is the bandit.
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Scandal
Title: Scandal
Character: Maurice
Released: April 27, 1929
Type: Movie
1929 picture starring Laura La Plante, Huntley Gordon, and John Boles.
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The Desert Song
Title: The Desert Song
Character: The Red Shadow
Released: April 8, 1929
Type: Movie
French General Birabeau has been sent to Morocco to root out and destroy the Riffs, a band of Arab rebels, who threaten the safety of the French outpost in the Moroccan desert. Their dashing, daredevil leader is the mysterious "Red Shadow". Margot Bonvalet, a lovely, sassy French girl, is soon to be married at the fort to Birabeau's right-hand man, Captain Fontaine. Birabeau's son Pierre, in reality the Red Shadow, loves Margot, but pretends to be a milksop to preserve his secret identity. Margot tells Pierre that she secretly yearns to be swept into the arms of some bold, dashing sheik, perhaps even the Red Shadow himself. Pierre, as the Red Shadow, kidnaps Margot and declares his love for her.
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The Last Warning
Title: The Last Warning
Character: Richard Quayle
Released: December 25, 1928
Type: Movie
A producer decides to reopen a theater, that had been closed five years previously when one of the actors was murdered during a performance, by staging a production of the same play with the remaining members of the original cast.
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Romance of the Underworld
Title: Romance of the Underworld
Character: Stephen Ransome
Released: November 10, 1928
Type: Movie
When a gangster's speakeasy is raided by the police, one of the people picked up is the gangster's pretty young girlfriend. A kind-hearted cop takes pity on her and helps her get out of that life. While waitressing to earn money for college, she meets a wealthy and handsome young man and they fall in love--but he doesn't know about her somewhat shady past and her relationship with the gangster.
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Man-Made Women
Title: Man-Made Women
Character: John Payson
Released: September 9, 1928
Type: Movie
The man who loved her showed her how to hold the man she loved. A novel picture story packed with drama, thrills and laughs.
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The Water Hole
Title: The Water Hole
Character: Bert Durland
Released: August 25, 1928
Type: Movie
Judith Endicott, the daughter of a wealthy eastern banker, vamps Philip Randolph, an Arizonan, when he comes east to talk business with her father. Philip proposes and discovers that Judith has only been kidding him along. He returns angrily to Arizona, and the elder Endicott, accompanied by his daughter, follows him west. With her father's permission, Richard "kidnaps" Judith and takes her to a deserted Indian cliff dwelling, where she must cook and care for him. Bert Durland, Judith's fiancé, follows after her, and his Indian guide steals all of the horses. Judith and Bert and Philip start back to civilization across the desert, and Bert goes berserk from the heat. They are rescued by cowboys, and Judith returns east, "kidnaping" Philip and taking him with her.
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Virgin Lips
Title: Virgin Lips
Character: Barry Blake
Released: July 25, 1928
Type: Movie
In a banana republic, way south of the Texas border, a dumb-Dora American girl, Norma (Olive Borden), lets her ruby-red lips promise more than she is willing to deliver, and she finds herself a prisoner in a notorious dance-hall/brothel. But her American aviator boyfriend, Barry Blake (John Boles), is flying to her rescue. He does just that but, alas, they are quickly captured by a gang of outlaws. Possibly the many expensive pieces of jewelry she has gathered from the many male friends she has made along the way, including El Presidente, captured the outlaws' attention.
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Fazil
Title: Fazil
Character: John Clavering
Released: June 4, 1928
Type: Movie
An Arab prince born and raised in the desert and a beautiful Frenchwoman from Paris fall in love and marry, but the tremendous differences in their backgrounds and the cultural differences between their two different societies put strains on their marriage that may well prove irreparable.
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We Americans
Title: We Americans
Character: Hugh Bradleigh
Released: May 6, 1928
Type: Movie
We Americans was based on the Broadway play of the same name. Returning to the "melting pot" themes that he handled so well, director Edward H. Sloman concentrates on the trials and tribulations of three first-generation American families: The Jewish Levines, the German Schmidts and the Italian Albertinis.
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The Shepherd of the Hills
Title: The Shepherd of the Hills
Character: Young Matt
Released: January 1, 1928
Type: Movie
David Howitt, a stranger, comes among the mountain folk of the Missouri hills and, taken in by an Ozark family, becomes known as The Shepherd because of his gentle and kindly ways. Years earlier, his son betrayed a mountaineer's daughter, and The Shepherd hopes to atone for his error. When a continued drought threatens the people with starvation and ruin, they lose faith in the "miracle man" and mock him, though he begs them to keep the faith.
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The Love of Sunya
Title: The Love of Sunya
Character: Paul Judson
Released: March 11, 1927
Type: Movie
A young woman at life's crossroads is granted mystic visions of how her decisions will affect her future life.
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Excuse Me
Title: Excuse Me
Character: Lt. Shaw
Released: January 19, 1925
Type: Movie
A sailor and his would-be bride search their train for a clergyman to marry them.
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So This Is Marriage?
Title: So This Is Marriage?
Character: Uriah
Released: November 26, 1924
Type: Movie
The only known copy of this film copy was reported to have been destroyed in the 1967 MGM Vault fire.
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The Sixth Commandment
Title: The Sixth Commandment
Character: John Brant
Released: June 1, 1924
Type: Movie
John Brant, a devoted minister, is in love with Marian Calhoun, but must keep it a secret because she is engaged to Robert Fields. However is playing around with a variety of different women.