THE ROAD TO RUIN - 1934 - HELEN FOSTER - RARE DVD
Product Description
Dorothy Davenport grew up in a family of actors. She had an aunt that was one of the greatest Broadway actresses of her time, and her father was also a Broadway star. When movies were first created, her father got into motion pictures, and daughter Dorothy followed, acting in 140 pictures from 1910 to 1934. Dorothy was one of the first group of actors to leave the New York and New Jersey film companies to make motion pictures in Hollywood.
In 1913, at the age of 18, Dorothy Davenport married a young actor/director named Wallace Reid. Five years later, while she and her husband were working on location in Oregon, her husband, Wallace Reid, was injured badly during a train wreck scene. As the pain from his injury grew worse, he was given ever-larger doses of morphine, leading to his death from an overdose in 1923. Dorothy never remarried, and for the next eleven years devoted her talents to making great entertaining movie stories with a social moral, ususally under the name, Mrs. Wallace Reed.
Her first ‘movie fan, beware’ story was about narcotics addiction, and she went on to make films about prostitution, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, bigamy, arranged marriages, and other social ills that she saw in 1920’s and 1930's America. Dorothy not only acted in this, her final motion picture, as the city police crime prevention officer, but also wrote and directed this movie. Because of her motion picture and acting experience, she was able to film complex and entertaining stories with A-list actors, unlike the quickly made exploitation films that used less-talented performances, and poor dialogue.
In this adventure, actress Helen Foster is school girl Ann Dixon, and we watch as her school chum and a couple of teenage boys introduce her to smoking, drinking alcohol, and romantic encounters. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.
Directors: Dorothy Davenport, Melville Shyer
Stars: Helen Foster, Nell O'Day, Glen Boles
62 minutes.
In 1913, at the age of 18, Dorothy Davenport married a young actor/director named Wallace Reid. Five years later, while she and her husband were working on location in Oregon, her husband, Wallace Reid, was injured badly during a train wreck scene. As the pain from his injury grew worse, he was given ever-larger doses of morphine, leading to his death from an overdose in 1923. Dorothy never remarried, and for the next eleven years devoted her talents to making great entertaining movie stories with a social moral, ususally under the name, Mrs. Wallace Reed.
Her first ‘movie fan, beware’ story was about narcotics addiction, and she went on to make films about prostitution, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, bigamy, arranged marriages, and other social ills that she saw in 1920’s and 1930's America. Dorothy not only acted in this, her final motion picture, as the city police crime prevention officer, but also wrote and directed this movie. Because of her motion picture and acting experience, she was able to film complex and entertaining stories with A-list actors, unlike the quickly made exploitation films that used less-talented performances, and poor dialogue.
In this adventure, actress Helen Foster is school girl Ann Dixon, and we watch as her school chum and a couple of teenage boys introduce her to smoking, drinking alcohol, and romantic encounters. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.
Directors: Dorothy Davenport, Melville Shyer
Stars: Helen Foster, Nell O'Day, Glen Boles
62 minutes.