Melbourne MacDowell
1856 - 1941He was born Willet Melbourne MacDowell in Little Washington, New Jersey (now South River, New Jersey).
MacDowell began appearing in silent films in 1917 by which time he was long a stage veteran. His co-stars were such actors as William S. Hart, Lon Chaney, Charles Ray, Enid Bennett and numerous others. Though he lived until the early 1940s, his film career ended in 1928 with the end of silent films. He returned for one sound film short in 1932, A Fool About Women with Andy Clyde and Vernon Dent.
Several films that Melbourne MacDowell appeared in survive today and can be found on DVD, particularly two of his outing with Lon Chaney, Nomads of the North and Outside the Law.
Forsaking All Others
Émile Chautard
Colleen Moore, Cullen Landis
Jealous of her son Oliver's interest in Penelope Mason, Mrs. Newell takes him to a resort where he is easy prey for designing Enid Morton. After some near-disastrous situations with Enid's suspicious husband, Penelope comes to Oliver's rescue at Mrs. Newell's request.
Forsaking All Others
Fighting Courage
Clifford S. Elfelt
Ken Maynard, Peggy Montgomery
Richard Kingsley, son of a financier, trying to aid Marjorie Crenshaw and her sister during a raid on a New York roadhouse, is arrested. His father, enraged by the bad publicity, threatens to disinherit him if he doesn't go to Colorado in search of a mine....
Fighting Courage
Bond of Fear
Jack Conway
Roy Stewart, Belle Bennett
When stern Judge McClure gets into an argument with his younger brother John, a physical fight ensues in which the judge apparently kills John. In fear of the consequences, he runs off to the West and hires guide Cal Nelson to take him far into the desert. Along the way they meet Mary Jackson, and the judge, overcome by heat prostration, babbles out his secret.
Bond of Fear
Geared to Go
Albert S. Rogell
Reed Howes, Carmelita Geraghty
"Hero is son of owner of taxicab company. Learning of injustice toward independents, he becomes independent driver. Heroine inherits half interest in company, and desiring to learn truth, goes to work as telephone operator in independent garage. Together they force a consolidation with the independents, and find happiness in their love."
Geared to Go
There It Is
Charles R. Bowers, Harold L. Muller
Charles R. Bowers, Kathryn McGuire
When a mysterious figure appears to cause a series of disruptions at the Frisbie Home in New York, word goes out to Scotland Yard that the Fuzz-Faced Phantom is at work. Soon, Charley MacNeesha and his assistant MacGregor are sent across the ocean to investigate.
There It Is
Wolves of the Rail
William S. Hart
William S. Hart, C. Norman Hammond
Smoky Gap Railroad president Murray Lemantier is fed up with a bandit gang led by Buck Andrade constantly holding up his train and getting away with it. He hires ace detective David Cassidy to track down and get Buck, dead or alive. However, when Buck goes to see his dying mother she makes him promise to reform, and he does. Cassidy, though, doesn't care about that and tries to arrest him. Buck decides to do something that will once and for all show everyone that he has indeed reformed--especially Faith Lawson, a pretty station agent he's in love with.
Wolves of the Rail
What Happened to Jones
William A. Seiter
Reginald Denny, Marian Nixon
On the night before his wedding, a young man plays poker with friends. When the game is raided by the police, he escapes into a Turkish bath on ladies night, ending up disguised in drag and with difficult explanations to make.
What Happened to Jones
Behind the Front
A. Edward Sutherland
Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton
During World War I a young man joins the army and winds up befriending another young recruit, not knowing that it's the same pickpocket who stole his watch. After finishing basic training, the two are sent to the front lines in France, where they wind up in trouble with the MPs, getting involved with some cute French girls and "volunteering" for a dangerous front-line mission, and their antics result in their endangering the armistice.
Behind the Front
