Irene Rich
From Wikipedia
Irene Rich (October 13, 1891 - April 22, 1988) was an American actress who worked in both silent films and talkies, as well as radio.
Rich worked for Will Rogers, who used her in eight pictures, including Water Water Everywhere (1920), The Strange Boarder (1920), Jes' Call Me Jim (1920), Boys Will Be Boys (1921), and The Ropin' Fool (1921). She often portrayed society women, such as in the 1925 adaptation of Lady Windermere's Fan and also in Queen of the Yukon (1940).
In two of her last films she played a frontier wife and mother: She was the mother of Gail Russell's character in John Wayne's Angel and the Badman (1947); in John Ford's cavalry story Fort Apache (1948) she portrayed Mrs. O'Rourke, the wife of Sergeant O'Rourke (Ward Bond).
In the 1930s, Rich did much work in radio. From 1933 to 1944, she hosted a nationwide anthology program of serialized mini-dramas, Dear John (aka The Irene Rich Show). Her leading man was actor Gale Gordon (who later played Lucille Ball's apoplectic boss "Mr. Mooney" on TV).
Rich appeared in stage productions, including Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) which starred George M. Cohan, the creator of the play, and later As the Girls Go in 1948.
Rich has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for her contribution to the motion picture industry at 6225 Hollywood Boulevard and one for her contributions to the radio industry at 6150 Hollywood Boulevard.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 1.0555 |
| Birthday | 1891-10-11 |
| Place of Birth | Buffalo, New York, USA |
| Also Known As | Irene Luther, Irene Frances Luther, |
1940
The Mortal Storm
7.318/96
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided...
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The Mortal Storm
1947
Angel and the Badman
6.423/123
Notorious shootist and womanizer Quirt Evans' horse collapses as he passes a Quaker family's home. Quirt has been wounded, and the kindly family takes...
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Angel and the Badman
1921
Desperate Trails
7/2
Bart Carson is in love with Lou and even goes to jail to save Walter A. Walker, a man she says is her brother but who is really a husband who has dese...
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Desperate Trails
1929
Daughters of Desire
8/1
When widowed attorney Richard Tucker refuses to defend bootlegger Julius Molnar in court, the latter swears revenge. Tucker pays no heed to Molnar, co...
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Daughters of Desire
1919
The Lone Star Ranger
9/1
In this western, William Farnum plays yet another Zane Grey character. Duane Steele (Farnum) is a Texas Ranger who is determined to get the outlaws ou...
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The Lone Star Ranger
1931
The Champ
7.15/60
A broken-down alcoholic prizefighter struggles to keep custody of his adoring son.
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The Champ
1948
Fort Apache
7/403
Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant,...
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Fort Apache
1921
The Poverty of Riches
7/1
John and Katherine Colby decide to put off parenthood until he has become wealthy. Their friends, Tom and Grace Donaldson, decide to start a family ri...
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The Poverty of Riches
1928
The Perfect Crime
9/1
A police inspector 'solves' a crime that, in fact, may not have occurred at all.
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The Perfect Crime
1927
Don't Tell the Wife
9/1
The Carters, a nouveau riche couple from Peoria, Illinois, decide to take a trip to Europe in the company of John Carter's best friend Henry. While in...
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Don't Tell the Wife
1918
The Girl in His House
10/1
When his sweetheart jilts him, wealthy James Armitage leaves his family estate in the hands of attorney Samuel Bordman and heads for Burma. Six years...
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The Girl in His House
1928
Ned McCobb's Daughter
9/1
Carol runs a restaurant out of her house, while her husband George collects the ferry's tolls. Unbeknownst to Carol, George is allowing his bootlegger...
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Ned McCobb's Daughter
1923
Snowdrift
8/1
A Northwest melodrama about a mining engineer who loses his money gambling in the Yukon.
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Snowdrift
1931
Five and Ten
6.071/14
John owns the largest chain of five and ten cent stores in the country. He moves his family to New York from Kansas City and their life, though grand,...
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Five and Ten
1947
New Orleans
6.692/13
A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman,...
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New Orleans
1940
The Lady in Question
6.68/25
When a jury member takes in the defendant he couldn't convict, she has a bad influence on his son.
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The Lady in Question
1919
The Blue Bonnet
0/0
As an infant, Ruth Drake was stolen from her father by her vengeful mother, and then abandoned. She was adopted and raised by a pawnbroker, and as a y...
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The Blue Bonnet
1921
A Voice in the Dark
8/1
The solution to a murder hinges on two witnesses: a deaf woman and a blind man.
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A Voice in the Dark
1942
This Time for Keeps
8/2
A young newlywed (Robert Sterling) finds working for his nasty father-in-law difficult.
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This Time for Keeps
1925
Lady Windermere's Fan
6.841/44
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
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Lady Windermere's Fan
1929
Shanghai Rose
10/1
Shanghai Rose is the proprietress of a gin mill which doubles as a bordello. A murder occurs, and she is put on trial for her life. A series of flashb...
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Shanghai Rose
1924
Beau Brummel
7/16
George Bryan Brummel, a British military officer, loves Lady Margery, the betrothed of Lord Alvanley. Despite her own desperate love for Brummel, she...
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Beau Brummel
1920
Stop Thief
7/1
When Jack Dougan and Snatcher Nell, partners in crime as well as love, decide to purloin the gifts at the wedding of Madge Carr to James Cluney, Nell...
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Stop Thief
1931
Beau Ideal
4.5/12
An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
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Beau Ideal
1947
Calendar Girl
5.636/11
Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They...
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Calendar Girl
1922
The Ropin' Fool
7/3
"Ropes" Reilly shows off his impressive roping skills, then runs afoul of the local townsfolk.
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The Ropin' Fool
1932
Her Mad Night
3.75/4
A woman is accused of murdering a man who molested her young daughter.
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Her Mad Night
1932
Manhattan Tower
6/10
The lives of the residents of a Manhattan apartment building are intertwined with the actions of a crooked investor.
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Manhattan Tower
1924
Captain January
6.792/12
During a tempestuous storm, a lighthouse keeper finds an infant girl who washes ashore tied to some wreckage. He adopts her and they become inseparabl...
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Captain January
1932
Down To Earth
7.5/2
Husband and father Will Rogers tells his spoiled wife and children that they have to economize.
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Down To Earth
1940
Queen of the Yukon
6/4
The owner of an Alaskan gambling boat and her business partner help thwart a crooked businessman who attempts to steal claims from local miners.
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Queen of the Yukon
1939
Everybody's Hobby
6.25/4
A hobby-mad family makes their obsessions pay off.
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Everybody's Hobby
1929
They Had to See Paris
6.375/8
Oklahoma mechanic Pike Peters finds himself part owner of an oil field. His wife Idy, hitherto content, decides the family must go to Paris to get "cu...
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They Had to See Paris
1923
Lucretia Lombard
7/2
Lucretia Morgan has been married to an old man for the past seven years. The marriage is loveless but the whole time Lucretia has been a devoted wife....
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Lucretia Lombard
1938
Hollywood Handicap
4.875/12
A group of stable hands is given a race horse when its owner retires from the business. They raise money to run the horse in the Hollywood Derby at Sa...
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Hollywood Handicap
1928
Craig's Wife
7/1
Harriet Craig, whose obsession with material possessions and immaculate neatness results in misery for all concerned. Harriet's husband remains blind...
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Craig's Wife
1931
Strangers May Kiss
5.182/11
After years of fighting off the advances of her old flame Steve, Lisbeth settles into a steamy, casual romance with journalist Alan. Against the advic...
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Strangers May Kiss
1920
Water, Water, Everywhere
7/1
Cowboy Billy Fortune is in love with Hope Beecher, who prefers Billy's friend Ben Morgan, but resists his advances because of his fondness for drink....
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Water, Water, Everywhere
1920
Jes' Call Me Jim
6/6
Happy-go-lucky Jim Fenton is in love with Miss Butterworth, the town milliner, who is taking care of little Harry Benedict while his father Paul, an i...
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Jes' Call Me Jim
1921
Boys Will Be Boys
8/1
Peep O'Day, an orphan in a small Kentucky town, falls heir to a small fortune and begins to make up for all the lost pleasure of childhood, but Sublet...
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Boys Will Be Boys
1921
A Tale of Two Worlds
6.333/3
A white child is adopted and raised by a Chinese citizen and brought to San Francisco, where no one surmises that she is actually not Chinese.
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A Tale of Two Worlds
1924
Cytherea
8/1
Lee Randon, weary of business duties and a conventional home life, acquires a long-lost sense of excitement and romance with young flapper Claire Morr...
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Cytherea
1927
The Desired Woman
10/1
The beautiful and cultured Lady Diana Whitney marries Captain Maxwell of the British Army. When he is transferred to the Sahara, life at his remote po...
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The Desired Woman
1931
The Mad Parade
7/2
The story of eight women and how they served their country during World War I.
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The Mad Parade
1923
Defying Destiny
6.667/3
Set in the small town of Riverdale, Defying Destiny opens with Jack Fenton (Monte Blue) being scarred while saving the life of his sweetheart Beth Ald...
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Defying Destiny
1926
Silken Shackles
8/1
The wife of an American diplomat falls in love with a young Hungarian violinist.
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Silken Shackles
1940
Keeping Company
6.7/5
Wholesome comedy about newlyweds (and the bride's understanding--but sometimes interfering--parents) discovering married life isn't always bliss.
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Keeping Company
1941
Three Sons o' Guns
7/2
Three reckless brothers dodge the draft then sign up and become men.
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Three Sons o' Guns
1923
Rosita
6.591/11
The King tosses Rosita in jail and when Don Diego, who Rosita loves, tries to defend her, he too is thrown in jail. While Don Diego is sentenced to be...
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Rosita
1925
Compromise
7/1
Compromise is a silent film drama produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Alan Crosland. The film is now thought to be a lost film.
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Compromise
1930
Check and Double Check
5.714/7
Amos and Andy trying to make a go of their "open-air" taxi business while they get caught up in a society hassle, involving driving musicians to a fan...
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Check and Double Check
1922
The Trap
5.778/9
A miner's happiness is destroyed when a rival steals his mine. He becomes obsessed with revenge, and plans a trap for the man who took his mine.
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The Trap
1938
That Certain Age
5.5/8
Dashing reporter Vincent Bullit has just returned from covering the Spanish Civil War. His boss, newspaper magnate Fullerton, has more plans to send h...
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That Certain Age
1930
On Your Back
8/1
On Your Back is a 1930 American drama film directed by Guthrie McClintic and written by Howard J. Green. The film stars Irene Rich, Raymond Hackett, H...
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On Your Back
1918
A Law Unto Herself
9/1
The daughter of a wealthy French vintner, Justine is promised in marriage to German aristocrat Kurt Von Klassner, even though her heart belongs to Ber...
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A Law Unto Herself
1920
The Street Called Straight
9/1
Directed by Wallace Worsley.
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The Street Called Straight
1923
Michael O'Halloran
10/1
Orphan newsboy Michael O'Halloran "adopts" Peaches, a little crippled girl, when her grandmother's death leaves her alone in the world. A chance acqua...
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Michael O'Halloran
1931
Father's Son
9/1
Young Bill Emory is a typical mischievous, rambunctious boy, but his father William is a strict disciplinarian, and Bill is constantly being punished...
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Father's Son
1926
The Honeymoon Express
8/1
The members of the Lambert household do not get along with each other, so Margaret and her youngest daughter Mary leave their home. Margaret becomes a...
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The Honeymoon Express
1928
Women They Talk About
7/1
Women They Talk About is a part-talkie Vitaphone film, with talking, music and sound effects sequences, starring Irene Rich, directed by Lloyd Bacon a...
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Women They Talk About
1920
Godless Men
4/3
On board his trading schooner in the South Pacific, tough sea captain Black Pawl confronts his own son, who has grown up in his father's shadow and re...
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Godless Men
1919
A Man in the Open
10/1
Sailor Jesse, shipwrecked off the Texas coast, naively becomes involved with a cattle rustler. Because the sheriff believes in his innocence, Jesse fi...
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A Man in the Open
1923
Brass
5/2
With her marriage on the verge of breaking up, a young wife attempts to win back the love of her husband and child.
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Brass
1931
Wicked
5.5/4
Margot Rande, a basically decent woman, is led down the path to perdition by her bank robber husband.
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Wicked
1926
My Official Wife
8/1
A glittering drama of Imperial Russia in the days before the Revolution and the reckless life of the aristocracy in the days of the Czar, featuring go...
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My Official Wife
1922
Brawn of the North
8/1
Brawn, played by Strongheart, rescues a young woman from a snowstorm and a human killer.
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Brawn of the North
1930
So This Is London
7/2
Hiram Draper is an all-American self-made man with a profound distaste for everything British. Yet he must travel to London with his family. When Juni...
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So This Is London
1919
The Spite Bride
9/1
Tessa Doyle, an innocent country girl who has come to New York and joined a vaudeville sister act, becomes embroiled in a scheme to earn money at her...
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The Spite Bride
1924
Being Respectable
9/1
Wealthy young Charles Carpenter is pressured by his family to marry Suzanne, even though he is really in love with young "flapper" Valerie. He gives i...
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Being Respectable
1922
One Clear Call
7/1
An outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only friend, a doctor, falls for a married woman.
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One Clear Call
1923
Dangerous Trails
10/1
A mounted police inspector battles not only a gang of opium smugglers but also a haughty society belle
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Dangerous Trails
1928
Beware of Married Men
3.667/3
A press sheet printed in Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World in 1928 put forth the suggestion that “people in the need of a good hearty laugh s...
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Beware of Married Men
1927
The Climbers
9/1
The Duchess of Aragon is wooed by King Ferdinand VII of Spain, much to the displeasure of his mistress Countess Veya, who forces the Duchess out of Sp...
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The Climbers
1939
The Right Way
9/1
A young boy whose father is dead joins a secret society that, unknown to him, has subversive motives. His mother realizes the menace represented by th...
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The Right Way
1925
The Pleasure Buyers
3.667/3
Joan Wiswell, Ted Workman, and wholesome Helen Ripley are among the half-dozen or more suspects, all for good reasons of their own, murdered a high-so...
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The Pleasure Buyers
1925
The Man Without a Conscience
10/1
Ruthlessly determined to succeed at any cost, Amos Mason ( Willard Louis ) comes to New York with his fiancee, Ann Sherman ( June Marlowe ). By unscru...
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The Man Without a Conscience
1923
Boy of Mine
9/1
A wealthy banker is a strict disciplinarian with his nine-year-old son Bill. Finally the day comes when neither Bill nor his mother can put up any mor...
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Boy of Mine
1924
This Woman
9/1
Facing poverty, Carol Drayton is prevented from suicide by Rose, a woman of the streets, who buys Carol a meal in a cafe of questionable reputation. T...
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This Woman
1922
A Fool There Was
10/1
A respectable businessman leaves his wife and daughter for the clutches of a cold, heartbreaking female.
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A Fool There Was
1924
Pal o' Mine
9/1
Opera singer Julia Montfort (Irene Rich) returns to the stage when her husband, Verdugo Montford (Josef Swickard) loses his job...and then gives him w...
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Pal o' Mine
1919
The Silver Girl
10/1
Jefferson Hunter (Frank Keenan) is a Western mining man. Anne Kepple (Catherine Adams) has inherited the mine next to his, but a loan shark steals it...
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The Silver Girl
1925
My Wife and I
8/1
In a wealthy society family, the mother is forced to sit by and watch while her husband and son both compete for the affections of a pretty young temp...
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My Wife and I
1948
Joan of Arc
6.134/86
In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen-year-old farm girl Joan of A...
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Joan of Arc
1927
The Silver Slave
9/1
Bernice Randall, who has forsaken the love of her sweetheart, Tom Richards, to marry for wealth, turns down Richards' proposal after the death of her...
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The Silver Slave
1925
Eve's Lover
7/1
Austin Starfield has his greedy eye on a steel mill belonging to Eve Burnside. He persuades an impoverished count, Leon Molnar to marry Eve so he can...
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Eve's Lover
1920
The Strange Boarder
10/1
Honest Arizona rancher Sam Gardner, goes with his motherless son Billy to the city, where he is cheated out of ten thousand dollars by a band of crook...
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The Strange Boarder
1928
Powder My Back
10/1
Rex Hale, a reform mayor, closes the musical comedy "Powder My Back" because he feels that it is immoral. Indignant, Fritzi Foy, star of the comedy, d...
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Powder My Back
1924
A Lost Lady
10/1
A spoiled young girl manages to snag a wealthy older man as her husband but soon becomes bored. She finally leaves him but doesn't really know what sh...
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A Lost Lady
1929
The Exalted Flapper
8/1
Princess Cecelie of Capra, a small Alpine nation, visits the U.S. with her mother, Queen Charlotte, and becomes enamored with Jazz Age culture. The pr...
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The Exalted Flapper
1924
What the Butler Saw
7/1
Farce centered on a married man, Barrington (Guy Newall), who pretends to be single while his wife, Mrs. Barrington (Irene Rich), is traveling in Amer...
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What the Butler Saw
1919
Wolves of the Night
7/1
Mining engineer and rancher Bruce Andrews marries Eastern visitor Isabel Hollins, stirring jealousy in rival mine owner Edmund Rawn and his partner Bu...
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Wolves of the Night
1919
The Sneak
7/1
Gypsy princess Rhona's love for artist Roger Barrington leads to jealousy from her rejected suitor, Francisco. It all culminates in betrayal, a duel,...
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The Sneak
1919
Diane of the Green Van
9/1
An heiress takes a road trip in a green van. Unbeknownst to her, she has four pursuers.
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Diane of the Green Van
1923
Hearts Aflame
9/1
The son of a retired timber baron meets and falls in love with a Michigan woman who refuses to sell her land unless the buyer promises to replant to r...
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Hearts Aflame
1928
Irene Rich in 'Lead, Kindly Light'
0/0
While conducting a street corner meeting in the slums, a recent Salvation Army convert encounters her crooked former lover.
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Irene Rich in 'Lead, Kindly Light'
1920
Just Out of College
10/1
In order to win the hand of the girl he loves, Ed Swinger creates a phony business to fool her father.
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Just Out of College
1919
Her Purchase Price
9/1
Hamid-Ali, an Arab chieftain and bandit, captures an English baby during a raid on a caravan and, naming her Sheka, puts her in a harem to be prepared...
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Her Purchase Price
The Yosemite Trail
10/1
Cousins Jim and Ned Thorpe are best friends, but that comes to an end when they both vie for the affections of Eve Marsham, and Ned wins her. Jim leav...
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The Yosemite Trail
1925
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
7/1
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted is a lost 1925 American drama film directed by James Flood and written by Bess Meredyth. It is based on the 1923 novel The...
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The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
1922
The Call of Home
8/1
Following a series of misunderstandings, wealthy young aristocrat Gerry Lansing deserts his wife Alix, whom he believes has eloped with his friend Ala...
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The Call of Home
1921
One Man in a Million
8/1
Lupino Delchini, a waiter in a little restaurant, is discharged for giving food to a penniless beggar, and Detective Hartley rewards the Italian by ge...
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One Man in a Million
1923
Yesterday's Wife
10/1
Megan and Gilbert are happily married and expect to be together for life, but an argument over an insignificant issue gets out of control and results...
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Yesterday's Wife
1919
Castles in the Air
0/0
When Fortuna Donnelly gets a position as an usher at the Halcyon Theater, manager Eddie Lintner becomes romantically interested in her and is jealous...
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Castles in the Air
1927
Dearie
8/1
Finding herself in dire circumstances, the widowed Sylvia Darling determines that her son, Stephen, will complete his college education and develop hi...
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Dearie
1924
A Woman Who Sinned
9/1
A minister's wife leaves her husband and child because of the disgrace of being compromised by Wall Street operator George Ransdell aboard his yacht....
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