1922

• I am the Law - Director

  Released June 1, 1922

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – James Oliver Curwood, Raymond Schrock

  Cast

  • Alice Lake – Joan Cameron
  • Kenneth Harlan – Cpl. Bob Fitzgerald
  • Rosemary Theby – Mrs. Georges Mordeaux
  • Gaston Glass – Ralph Fitzgerald
  • Noah Beery – Sgt. Georges Mordeaux
  • Wallace Beery – Fu Chang

  Plot

  Not surprisingly, this Northwoods drama was adapted from a James Oliver Curwood novel, The Poetic Justice of Uko San. It features an excellent cast, including both Beery brothers, Wallace and Noah. Brothers Tom and Bob Fitzgerald (Kenneth Harlan and Gaston Glass, respectively) are both members of the Northwest Mounted Police. Bob falls in love with schoolteacher Joan Cameron (Alice Lake) when he saves her from an attack by Fu Chang (Wallace Beery). Tom is not so heroic, and he becomes involved with the wife (Rosemary Theby) of post sergeant George Mardeaux (Noah Beery). Tom kills Mardeaux, and Bob is forced to hunt down his own brother. He tracks him down to Joan's cabin. But Bob falls seriously ill, and on what he believes to be his deathbed, he protects his brother by signing a confession that claims he is Mardeaux's murderer. Tom returns to the post with the news, but Bob recovers, and when he comes back he is faced with a lynch mob who believe him to be a murderer. Joan tries to save Bob but is attacked by Mardeaux's two-timing widow. Finally the truth comes out that Tom is the real killer, and he swallows poison to avoid hanging.
• A Question of Honor - Director

  Released March, 1922

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Producers - Louis B. Mayer, Anita Stewart
  • Writers – Ruth Cross, Josephine Quirk

  Cast

  • Anita Stewart – Anne Wilmot
  • Edward Hearn – Bill Shannon
  • Arthur Stuart Hull – Leone Morse
  • Walt Whitman – Sheb
  • Bert Sprotte – Charles Burkthaler
  • Frank Beal – Stephen Douglas
  • Adele Farrington – Mrs. Katherine Wilmot
  • Mary Land – Mrs. Elton
  • Ed Brady – John Bretton
  • Doc Bytel – Parsons

  Plot

  Although Anita Stewart receives top billing in this action picture, it's Edward Hearn who has the more prominent role. Bill Shannon (Hearn) is building a dam in the mountains of the West. Leon Morse, a Wall Street millionaire and railroad magnate (Arthur Stewart Hull), wants the same land as a right-of-way for his railroad. He travels West to negotiate with Shannon, bringing along his fiancée, Anne Wilmot (Stewart), and her Aunt Katherine (Adele Farrington). The trip proves to be Morse's undoing in several ways -- Anne immediately falls in love with Shannon, who is not terribly cooperative about handing over the land. After his offer to Shannon is turned down, Morse plants a bomb to blow up the dam. Anne is the one who saves the day by disconnecting the bomb's wire. After losing the battle for both the land and his sweetheart, Morse crawls back to his Eastern home. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
• Silver Wings - Director

  Released May 22, 1922

  • Directors – Edwin Carewe, John Ford
  • Writer – Paul Sloane

  Cast

  • Mary Carr – Anna Webb
  • Lynn Hammond – John Webb
  • Knox Kincaid – John
  • Joseph Monahan – Harry
  • Mybeth Carr – Ruth

  Plot

  Character actor Mary Carr was well known for her maternal roles, especially after the success of 1920's Over the Hill. Here Carr plays Anna Webb, whose husband John (Lynn Hammond) invents a new kind of sewing machine. The patent makes the family wealthy, and after Webb dies, Anna takes over the business. She puts her sons John (Percy Helton) and Harry Joseph Striker) in charge of the factory, while daughter Ruth (Jane Thomas) elopes. When Harry steals some money, the blame falls on John, who leaves town. Harry, who has been spoiled all his life, continues his dishonest ways. He draws money out of the family treasury and forges a check for a huge sum. Rather than see her son go to jail, Anna sells everything to cover the bad check and is reduced to working in a sweatshop. Her children are nowhere to be found. When Anna is injured in a car accident which makes the papers, her children reappear to do right by dear old mom. ~ Janiss Garza,

1923

• Mighty Lak' a Rose - Director, Presenter

  Released February 12, 1923

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Curtis Benton

  Cast

  • James Rennie – Jimmy Harrison
  • Sam Hardy – Jerome Trevor
  • Anders Randolf – ‘Bull’ Morgan
  • Harry Short – ‘Slippery Eddie” Foster
  • Dorothy Mackall – Rose Duncan
  • Helen Montrose – ‘Hard-Boiled’ Molly Malone
  • Paul Panzer – Humpty Logan
  • Dora Mills Adams – Mrs. Trevor

  Plot

  Just because movies before the late '20s were filmed without sound recording, it doesn't mean they were truly silent. This "heart interest" drama (an important release for First National in 1923) is a case in point -- Curtis Benton wrote the original story, inspired by the 1901 hit song "Mighty Lak' a Rose," and the tune certainly played an important part of the live score when the picture hit the theaters. Instead of the lively flappers for which she would become famous, Dorothy Mackaill plays a blind orphan, Rose Duncan, who has a special talent with the violin. Jerome Trevor, a famed pianist (Sam Hardy), hears her playing and sends her to an uncle in New York so she can become educated. But the uncle is killed in an accident on his way to meet her and she is taken in by gang leader Bull Morgan (Anders Randolph). Morgan pretends to be her uncle to elude the police, and he sees the value of keeping her around as cover. One of the crooks working under Morgan, Jimmie Harrison (James Rennie), falls in love with Rose and her beautiful music and he balks at using her to pull off a job. After a heated argument in which Rose is accidentally injured, Morgan comes under the girl's positive influence, as do the other gang members. They all decide to go straight -- even Morgan's hardened moll, Molly (Helen Montrose) -- but when they find out that Rose's blindness can be cured, they decide to pull off one last heist. Jimmie is caught and goes to prison. Trevor finally finds Rose and sends her to be trained. She is about to make her debut -- and to promise herself to Trevor -- when Jimmie shows up. Rose, who thought he was dead, is happily reunited with him. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
• The Girl of the Golden West - Director, Presenter

  Released May 3, 1923

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – David Belasco, Adelaide Heilbron

  Cast

  • Sylvia Breamer – The Girl
  • J. Warren Kerrigan – Ramerrez
  • Russell Simpson – Jack Rance
  • Rosemary Theby – Nina Micheltorena

  Plot

  A now forgotten star of the later silent era, Sylvia Breamer took on the old David Belasco stage chestnut in this remake of Cecil B. DeMille's 1915 Western classic. Miss Breamer plays a saloon owner who becomes a pawn between two men, a swashbuckling bandit (played in his usual florid style by J. Warren Kerrigan of The Covered Wagon fame) and a tough lawman (Russell Simpson). The center-piece of the story is, of course, the climactic poker game, in which the stakes are the bandit's life and the girl's virtue. According to contemporary reviews, Sylvia Breamer was sorely miscast as the tough, yet feminine saloon boss and that the film was no improvement over the DeMille original.
• The Bad Man - Director

  Released October 8, 1923

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writer – Porter Emerson Browne

  Cast

  • Holbrook Blinn – Pancho Lopez
  • Jack Mulhill – Gilbert Jones
  • Walter McGrail – Morgan Pell
  • Enid Bennett – Mrs. Morgan Pell
  • Harry Myers – Red Giddings
  • Charles A. Sellon – Uncle Harry
  • Stanton Heck – Jasper Hardy
  • Teddy Sampson – Angela Hardy
  • Thomas Delmar – Capt. Blake
  • Frank Lanning – Indian Cook
  • Peter Vanzuelle – Pedro

  Plot

  The titular character, a Mexican outlaw named Pancho Lopez, bore an undisguised resemblance, both in name and personality, to Pancho Villa, a pre-eminent Mexican Revolutionary general, who was much in the news before and during the play's run and whose assassination on July 20, two-and-a-half months before the film's release, appeared in all the headlines. The plotline has Lopez (Holbrook Blinn) and his band of outlaws living from the proceeds gained as a result of theft and confiscation, which means property belonging to anyone wealthy enough to possess anything of value. One of those is rancher Gilbert Jones (Jack Mulhall), whose cattle losses are pushing him to the edge of bankruptcy. As Lopez is about to deprive Jones of the remainder of his cattle as well as of any valuables he may still possess, and even to kidnap his beloved former sweetheart (Enid Bennett), now married to heartless loan shark Morgan Pell (Walter McGrail), he recognizes Jones as the man who, years earlier, saved his life. Determined to show his gratitude, the powerful bandit robs the rapacious bank which, in cahoots with Pell, cheats and exploits the locals, and gives the money to Jones. When Pell arrives to foreclose on Jones' oil-rich ranch, Lopez, addressing him as "Mr. Loan-Fish", inquires of him whether women in his country inherit their late husbands' wealth, and then, since he considers the despicable corrupter to be an unworthy opponent, tells his top aide to shoot him (intertitle: "Pedro, I do not hunt rabbits—you keel heem"), thus freeing his widow to marry Jones. Finally, he returns all of Jones' stolen cattle and bids the happy couple farewell, thanking them for making him feel good.

1924

• A Son of the Sahara - Director, Producer, Presenter

  Released April 13, 1924

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Assistant Director – Wallace Fox
  • Writer – Adelaide Heilbron

  Cast

  • Bert Lytell – Raoul Le Breton
  • Claire Windsor – Barbara Barbier
  • Walter McGrail – Capt. Jean Duval
  • Rosemary Theby – Rayma
  • Marise Dorval – Annette Le Breton
  • Montagu Love – Sultan Cassim Ammeh
  • Paul Panzer – Cassim Sr.’s Lieutenant
  • Georges Chebat – Raoul, as a boy

  Plot

  By 1924, sheik pictures were old hat, but director Edwin Carewe tried to add a little spice to this one by filming it on-location in the Sahara Desert. When Cassim's father is killed during an attack on a French fort, the boy (George Chebat) swears vengeance on Colonel Barbier (Montagu Love). He grows up to become known as Pierre Lamont (played by Bert Lytell) a polished young man with European manners. He falls in love with Barbara (Claire Windsor) who rejects him when she learns he is an Arab. Cassim discovers that Barbara is Barbier's daughter, so he carries out his oath by kidnapping the two of them, and their friend, Captain Duval (Walter McGrail). He sells Barbara as a slave, but then bids on her himself. When she refuses to marry him, he swears he will take her anyway. Duval escapes and fetches the French troops while Cassim finally admits that he loves Barbara too much to harm her. In the ensuing battle, Duval is mortally wounded, but before he dies, he hands Barbara a letter from Cassim's mother, explaining that he is not an Arab at all -- both of his parents were French. Cassim is pardoned, and he and Barbara are united. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
• Madonna of the Streets - Director, Producer, Presenter

  Released October 19, 1924

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Frank Griffin, Fanny Hatton

  Cast

  • Alla Nazimova – Mary Carlson
  • Milton Sills – Reverend John Morton
  • Claude Gillingwater – Lord Patrington
  • Courtenay Foote – Dr. Colbeck
  • Wallace Beery – Bill Smythe
  • Anders Randolf – ‘Bull’ Morgan

  Plot

  Alla Nazimova had been away from the screen for over a year when she made this drama, and she was paid well under half her former salary. To add box-office value, she was given Milton Sills as a co-star, but even so, the film did not do well either in film receipts or reviews. Reverend John Morton (Sills) is the minister at a fashionable parish, but when his uncle wills him a small fortune, he quits to open up a mission in London's Limehouse district. The uncle's mistress, Mary Carlson (Nazimova), is furious that she was cut out of the will and is determined to get the money any way she can. She finds Morton and vamps him into marrying her, though much to her chagrin, she discovers that he's intent on spending his wealth on the poor. Morton eventually discovers that Mary was his uncle's mistress, so when she runs off he doesn't go after her. Mary's life goes downhill and she takes to the streets. Morton, meanwhile, is attacked by a mob and decides that he is better without his inheritance. He holds onto his ministry, however, and Mary returns to him when she decides to repent. A version of this story was filmed as a talkie in 1930. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

1925

• My Son - Director, Producer

  Released April 19, 1925

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Finis Fox, Martha M. Stanley

  Cast

  • Alla Nazimova – Ana Silva
  • Jack Pickford – Tony
  • Hobart Bosworth – Sheriff Ellery Parker
  • Ian Keith – Felipe Vargas
  • Mary Akin – Rosa Pina
  • Charles Murray – Capt. Joe Barnby
  • Constance Bennett – Betty Smith
  • Dot Farley – Hattie Smith
  • Location - Filmed in Monterey, California
• The Lady Who Lied - Director, Producer

  Released July 12, 1925

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Robert Hichens, Lois Leeson

  Cast

  • Lewis Stone – Horace Pierpont
  • Virginia Valli – Fay Kennion
  • Louis Payne – Sir Henry Kennion
  • Nita Naldi – Fifi
  • Edward Earle – Alan Mortimer
  • Leo White – Valet

  Plot

  During a carnival in Venice, Horace Pierpont, a wealthy American (Lewis Stone), falls in love with Fay Kennion (Virginia Valli). Their romance is derailed when she goes over to his apartment and finds the vampy Fifi (Nita Naldi) there. Fay goes down to Algiers, where she marries a former sweetheart, Dr. Alan Mortimer (Edward Earle). Pierpont goes after Fay and when he discovers she has wed, takes a trip with the Mortimer’s over the desert. Dr. Mortimer is suspicious of the relationship between his wife and the newcomer, and when Pierpont is bitten by a viper, he refuses to treat him if there is a relationship going on. Fay lies so that Mortimer will take care of the wound. Later, she confesses the truth and sends Pierpont away. Eventually Mortimer is killed by an Arab attack, and when Fay runs into Pierpont, he reveals that Fifi was at his apartment that long-ago day to exact revenge. Now that nothing at all stands in their way, the pair reunite. This drama was based on the novel Snake Bite by Robert Hichens, a popular writer of the day.
• Why Women Love - Director, Producer

  Released 1925

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Wilard Robertson, Ralph Spence
  • Location – Filmed in Monterey, California

  Cast

  • Blanche Sweet – Molla Hansen
  • Edward Earle – Ira Meers, the Engineer
  • Robert Frazer – Rodney O’Malley, the Captain
  • Bert Sprotte – Olaf Hansen
  • Dorothy Sebastian – Pearl
  • Charles Murrey – Jerry

  Plot

  Although Blanche Sweet was often busy making films with her then-husband Marshall Neilan, during 1925 and 1926, she also made several films for First National. This one is a melodrama of the sea in which she plays Molla Hansen, the daughter of the captain of an oil schooner (Bert Sprotte). Molla has made plans to marry Captain Rodney O'Malley (Robert Frazer) when she returns from a voyage with her father, but the ship burns at sea. She is saved by a lighthouse keeper who dies from his wounds, and in gratitude, she cares for the man's daughter, Pearl (Dorothy Sebastian). O'Malley, believing Molla to be dead, goes on a two-year voyage. Charley Watts (Alan Roscoe), a rum-runner, seduces Pearl, who tries to blame her pregnancy on an innocent man. Then she learns that Watts is married, and she turns on the gas in the lighthouse, hoping that the explosion will kill them both. It also nearly kills Molla, but O'Malley, returned from his trip, rescues her. This picture was adapted from the play by Willard Robertson.
• Joanna - Director, Producer

  Released December 14, 1925

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Henry Leyford Gates, Lois Leeson

  Cast

  • Dorothy Mackaill – Joanna Manners
  • Jack Mulhall – John Wilmore
  • Paul Nicholson – Frank Brandon
  • George Fawcett – Anthony Eggleson
  • John T. Murray – Lord Teddy Dorminster
  • Rita Carewe – Georgia Leach
  • Dolores del Rio – Carlotta de Silva
  • Lillian Langdon – Mrs. Roxanna Adams
  • Edwards Davis – Grayson

  Plot

  Using her married surname, Dolores del Río made her first film in Joanna 1925. Hollywood first thought of her as a sex siren. Dolores did not like the "Mexicali Rose" image. Despite her small performance in her first film, Carewe arranged for huge publicity for the actress. In her second film High Steppers, del Rio took the second female credit after Mary Astor. These films helped increase del Río's popularity. Carewe's intention was to transform her into a star to match Rudolph Valentino.

1926

• Pals First - Director, Presenter, Producer

  Released August 8, 1926

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Lee Wilson Dodd, Francis Perry Elliott, Lois Leeson

  Cast

  • Dolores del Rio – Jeanne Lamont
  • Lloyd Hughes
  • George Cooper – The Squirrel
  • Edward Earle – Dr. Harry Chilton
  • George Reed – Uncle Alex
  • Alice Belcher – Charley Anderson
  • Alec B. Francis – Dominie
  • Hamilton Morse – Judge Lamont
  • Alice Nichols – Aunt Caroline

  Plot

  Based on a novel by Frances Perry Elliot, Pals First paired film star Harold Lockwood with stage favorite James Lackaye. The story focuses on two hoboes, Danny (Lockwood) and The Dominie (Lackaye). Danny is on the lam from a murder charge, while Dominie, a defrocked minister, is running away from himself. While trying to bum a meal at a Tennessee mansion, Danny is mistaken for Richard Castleman, the long-lost owner of the house. Taking advantage of the situation, the two pals enjoy a luxurious afternoon and evening, culminating with the engagement of Danny to his lovely "cousin" (Ruby De Rehmer). His conscience bothering him, Dominie is all for telling the truth and taking the consequences, when it turns out that Danny really is the missing Richard Castleman! Pals First was directed by Edwin Carewe, who also called the shots on the 1926 remake.
• High Steppers - Director, Producer

  Released March 14, 1926

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Finis Fox, Philip Gibbs

  Cast

  • Lloyd Hughes – Julian Perryam
  • Mary Astor – Audrey Nye
  • Dolores del Rio – Evelyn Iffield
  • Rita Carewe – Janet Perryam
  • John T. Murray – Cyril Buckland
  • Edwards Davis – Victor Buckland
  • Alec B. Francis – Father Perryam
  • Clarissa Selwynne – Mrs. Perryam
  • Charles Sellon – Grandpa Perryam
  • John Steppling – Maj. Iffield
  • Emily Fitzroy – Mrs. Iffield
  • Margaret McWade – Mrs. Clancy

  Plot

  This drama was a hint that perhaps the Jazz Age was beginning to wind down; its characters overcome their wild, wicked ways early in the film. Of course, there is still enough revelry to titillate 1926 audiences. As Julian Perryam, the likable but bland Lloyd Hughes is outclassed by his co-stars. Perryam is going through a round of bad luck; he is thrown out of school and loses at love. In search of a change, he heads for London, where he meets Audrey Nye (Mary Astor), a former Jazz baby who has gotten a responsible job on a newspaper. She helps Perryam get hired as a reporter. Victor Buckland (Edwards Davis) has been leading on Perryam's sister, Janet (Rita Carewe, the daughter of director Edwin Carewe). Victor's father, Cyril (John T. Murray), meanwhile, is stealing from a charitable fund. Perryam is instrumental in exposing these deeds, and a mob dynamites Buckland's building. Victor flees, and Perryam weds Audrey.

1927

• Resurrection - Director, Writer

  Released March 19, 1927

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Leo Tolstoy, Edwin Carewe, Finis Fox, Ilya Tolstoy

  Cast

  • Rod La Rocque – Prince Dimitry Ivanitch Nekhludov
  • Dolores del Rio – Katyusha Maslova
  • Rita Carewe
  • Marc McDermott – Maj. Schoenboch
  • Lucy Beaumont – Aunt Sophya
  • Vera Lewis – Aunt Marya
  • Clarissa Selwynne – Princess Olga Ivanovitch Nekhludov
  • Even Southern – Princess Sonia Korchagin
  • Ilya Tolstoy – The Old Philosopher

  Plot

  Katyusha, a country girl, is seduced and abandoned by Prince Dimitry. Dimitry finds himself, years later, on a jury trying the same Katyusha 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.
• The Heaven Tappers - Director, Co-Producer

  Opened March 8, 1927, Forest Theater, New York, A play in three acts

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – George Scarborough, Annette Westbay

  Cast

  • Charles Abbe – Lafe Kethchum
  • Joseph Allen – Pop Peters
  • Reginald Barlow – Kent Hardy
  • Louis Bennison – Devil Ace Gibson
  • John Benson – Cap Mayhorn
  • Thomas Chalmers – Bud Ketchum
  • Harry Clarens – Dock Tolliver

1928

• Revenge - Director, Producer

  Released October 1928

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Konrad Bercovici, Finis Fox

  Cast

  • Dolores del Rio – Rascha
  • James A. Marcus – Costa
  • Sophia Ortiga – Binka
  • LeRoy Mason – Jorga
  • Rita Carewe – Tina
  • Jose Crespo – Stefan
  • Sam Appel – Jancu
  • Marta Golden – Leana
  • Jess Cavin – Lt. De Jorga

  Plot

  Mexican-born Dolores Del Rio is convincingly cast as a fiery Hungarian lass in Revenge. Yet another variation on The Taming of the Shrew, the film concentrates on the tempestuous relationship between whip-wielding Rascha (Del Rio), the daughter of a bear tamer, and virile Hussar officer Jorga (Leroy Mason). Kidnapping Rascha, Jorga demands that she become his wife -- and a docile, obedient one at that. The more Rascha protests against this set-up (and she puts up quite a fight!), the more Jorga falls in love with her. By film's end, Rascha is as sweet and subservient as any of her daddy's trained bears, but one still wonders how long this will last. A silent film, Revenge was released with a synchronized musical score
• Ramona - Director

  Released April 17, 1928 in Japan

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writer – Finis Fox

  Cast

  • Dolores del Rio – Ramona
  • Warner Baxter – Alessandro
  • Roland Drew – Felipe
  • Vera Lewis – Senora Morena
  • Michael Visaroff – Juan Canito
  • John T. Prince – Father Salvierderra
  • Mathilde Comont – Marda
  • Carlos Amor – Sheepherder
  • Jess Cavin – Bandit Leader
  • Rita Carewe – Baby

  Plot

  The 1928 production Ramona was the third film version of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of the same name, first dramatized (in one reel!) by D. W. Griffith in 1910. Dolores Del Rio plays the title character, the ward of domineering California sheep rancher Senora Moreno (Vera Lewis). Escaping her cruel and judgmental guardian, Ramona sadly resigns herself to the probability that she will never find true happiness because she is -- gasp! -- a half-breed. Though she loves Moreno's grandson Felipe (Roland Drew), Ramona does not want him to bear the stigma of a mixed marriage, so she marries Allesandro (Warner Baxter), an Indian shepherd. Misfortune continues to befall the heroine when her husband is lynched by bigoted white ranchers; shortly thereafter, her baby dies from injuries sustained in a bandit raid because the white doctor refuses to treat an Indian infant. Suffering a total nervous breakdown, Ramona wanders into the woods, having lost all memory of her previous existence. But faithful Felipe rescues the girl, snapping her out of her amnesia by singing her favorite childhood song (courtesy of the Vitaphone soundtrack).

1929

• Evangeline - Director, Producer

  Released August 24, 1929

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writer – Finis Fox
  • Filmed at Big Basin, Santa Cruz, Point Lobos, Monterey and St. Martinsville, Louisiana.

  Cast

  • Dolores del Rio – Evangeline
  • Roland Drew – Gabriel
  • Alec B. Francis – Father Felician
  • Donald Reed – Baptiste
  • Paul MsAllister – Benedict Bellefontaine
  • James A. Marcus – Basil
  • George F. Marion – Rene La Blanc
  • Bobby Mack – Michael
  • Louis Payne – Governor General
  • Lee Shumway – Col. Winslow

  Plot

  In the quiet Nova Scotian village of Grand-Pré lives the fair, beloved Evangeline with her father, Benedict Bellefontaine, a prosperous and honored farmer of the Acadian community. Though she admires and is loved by Baptiste, son of the notary, she is pledged to Gabriel, son of Basil, the village smith. Before they can be married, France and England declare war; the Acadians, bound by allegiance to England and by ties of kinship to France, refuse to take up arms against France, and as a result are ordered deported. As the men are herded aboard a British man-o'-war, the governor-general sets fire to the village of Grand-Pré. Suffering from exposure and broken by the sight, Benedict dies in the arms of Evangeline, who then departs for unknown lands with Father Felician. They arrive at Bayou Têche, Louisiana, where former residents of Grand Pré have established a settlement, just missing Gabriel. Through the wilds of the gulf coast, Evangeline suffers many hardships in search of her beloved, refusing the hand of Baptiste, who has meanwhile become a prosperous land owner. Basil offers to aid her in her search for Gabriel, but they are separated by a storm on the rapids. Traveling alone through unexplored country, Evangeline arrives at a settlement of Jesuits; she becomes a Sister of Mercy, though ever hopeful of finding Gabriel. At the end of the war, Evangeline is sent to Philadelphia to care for the maimed and friendless; there, in an almshouse, she is at last reunited with her long-sought beloved

1930

• The Spoilers The Spoilers - Director, Producer

  Released September 20, 1930

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Rex Beach, Bartlett Cormack

  Cast

  • Gary Cooper – Roy Glenister
  • Key Johnson – Helen Chester
  • Betty Compson – Cherry Malotte
  • William ‘Stage’ Boyd – Alec McNamera
  • Harry Green – Herman
  • Slim Summerville – Slapjack Simms
  • James Kirkwood – Joe Dextry
  • Lloyd Ingraham – Judge Stillman
  • Oscar Apfel – Struve
  • George Irving – William Wheaton
  • Knute Erickson – Capt. Stevens
  • Hal David – Bill Wheaton

  •Fun Fact - Gary Cooper tore his hamstring and wrenched his back during the famous fight scene, and was in severe pain for most of the rest of the film.

  Plot

  While traveling to Nome, Alaska, Roy Glenister (Gary Cooper) meets beautiful Helen Chester (Kay Johnson), who soon becomes his sweetheart. Glenister is one of several owners of a lucrative mine called The Midas. When he arrives in Nome, he discovers that his partners, Slapjack Simms (Slim Summerville) and Joe Dextry (James Kirkwood), are in the middle of a legal dispute with three corrupt officials: United States Marshal Voorhees (Jack Holmes), Judge Stillman (Lloyd Ingraham), and a politician named Alec McNamara (William "Stage" Boyd ). They have been engaged in a racket claiming titles to various mines, ejecting the miners, and then making McNamara owner of the disputed properties. The three corrupt officials lay claim to The Midas. McNamara also steals money from Glenister, Dextry, and Slapjack, preventing them from enlisting legal help from the United States. When Dextry and Glenister plan a vigilante action, McNamara calls in a detail of soldiers to protect "his property". As Glenister and McNamara prepare for a gunfight, they are dissuaded by Helen, who suggests that the courts handle the dispute. Later, after jealous saloon owner Cherry Malotte (Betty Compson) lies to Glennister telling him that Helen and McNamara are conspiring to cheat him again, Glennister and McNamara settle their differences with a spectacular fistfight, with McNamara getting the worst. Afterwards, Glenister wins the hand of Helen.

1931

• Resurrection - Director, Producer

  Released February 2, 1931

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Producers – Edwin Carewe, Carl Laemmle, Jr.
  • Writers – Finis Fox, Leo Tolstoy

  Cast

  • John Boles – Prince Dimitry Ivanitch Nekhludov
  • Lupe Velez – Katusha Maslova
  • Nance O’Neil – Aunt Marya
  • William Keighley – Capt. Schoenbock
  • Rose Tapley – Aunt Sophya
  • Michael Mark – Simon Kartinkin, the Innkeeper
  • Sylvia Nadina – Simon’s Wife
  • George Irving – Judge
  • Edward Cecil – Smelkoff the Merchant
  • Mary Forman – Beautiful Exile
  • Grace Cunard – Olga
  • Francis Ford – Drinker Soldier on Train

  Plot

  •Fun Fact - Two of the bit players, Grace Cunard and Francis Ford (once probably married), had been major stars in big silent serials 15+ years earlier, and Francis Ford had been a major director who had given his kid brother John Ford some of John's first movie jobs. This was Edwin Carewe’s first attempt at an all-talking film.

1934

• Are We Civilized - Director, Producer

  Released 1934

  • Director – Edwin Carewe
  • Writers – Harold Sherman, Finis Fox

  Cast

  • William Farnum – Paul Franklin, Jr.
  • Anita Louise – Norma Bockner
  • Frank McGlynn Sr. – Abraham Lincoln
  • LeRoy Mason – Paul Franklin Jr.
  • Oscar Apfel – Dr. Leonard Gear
  • Stuart Holmes – Col. Salter
  • Alin Cavin – Moses
  • Conrad Seideman – Buddha
  • Sidney T. Pink – Confucius
  • Harry Burkhardt – Caesar
  • Charles Requa – Christ
  • J.C. Fowler – Mohammed
  • Bert Lindley – Christopher Columbus
  • Aaron Edwards – George Washington
  • William Humphrey – Napoleon

  Plot

  Silent-film director Edwin Carewe hoped to stage a talkie comeback with his self-produced Are We Civilized? Set in a fictional European country, the story concerns the rise to power of a Hitler-like despot. A courageous newspaper publisher (William Farnum) challenges the new dictator's oppressive reign of terror, and the resultant brouhaha nearly leads to a Second World War. Overladen with symbolism, Are We Civilized? invokes the ghosts of such past movers and shakers as Abraham Lincoln, Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Julius Caesar, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte and even Jesus Christ to hammer home its pacifistic message (the film wants to be both anti-war and anti-dictators, which history has proven to be an oxymoronic set of circumstances). Director Carewe fleshes out his film with generous stock footage from silent Cecil B. DeMille, D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince historical epics. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi