Wesley Ruggles
Director · 1889 – 1972 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. He was born in Los Angeles, a younger brother of actor Charles Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a dozen or so silent films, on occasion with Charles Chaplin. In 1917, he turned his attention to directing, making more than 50 mostly forgettable films — including a silent film version of Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence (1924) — before he won acclaim with Cimarron in 1931. The adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel Cimarron, about homesteaders settling in the prairies of Oklahoma, was the first Western to win an Academy Award as Best Picture. Although Ruggles followed this success with the light comedy No Man of Her Own (1932) with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, the comedy I'm No Angel (1933) with Mae West and Cary Grant , College Humor (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Bolero (1934) with George Raft and Carole Lombard, few of his later films were in any way memorable (an exception is Arizona). His career was on the downslide when he teamed with the Rank Organisation in 1946 to produce and direct London Town with Sid Field and Petula Clark, based on a story he wrote. The film — British cinema's first attempt at a Technicolor musical extravaganza — is notable as being one of the biggest critical and commercial failures in that country's film history. Ironically, Ruggles had been hired to helm it because as an American, it was thought, he was better equipped to handle a musical — despite the fact that nothing in his past had prepared him to work in the genre. It was his last film. An abridged version was released in the U.S. under the title My Heart Goes Crazy by United Artists in 1953. Ruggles died in 1972 in Santa Monica and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wesley Ruggles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Movies16
Movie6.0ComedyA shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The daughter stows away to follow Charlie. Charlie assists in the galley and attempts to serve food during a gale.
Shanghaied
1915 · 67 votes
Movie5.0ComedyAs Colonel Nutt is experimenting with explosives, a new janitor is joining his household. The inept janitor proceeds to make life difficult for the rest of staff.
Triple Trouble
1918 · 48 votes
Movie6.5ComedyRomanceDuring the troubled shooting of several movies, David, the prop man's assistant, meets an aspiring actress who tries to find work in the studio. Things get messy when the stagehands decide to go on strike.
Behind the Screen
1916 · 100 votes
Movie6.2ComedyTwo disruptive theater patrons, the wealthy drunk Mr. Pest (played by Charlie Chaplin) and the rowdy working-class Mr. Rowdy (also played by Chaplin), attend a live vaudeville theater production. Their constant antics, seat-hopping, and physical altercations quickly overshadow the acts on stage and plunge the entire theater into absolutely hilarious chaos.
A Night in the Show
1915 · 93 votes
Movie6.3ComedyCharlie is released from prison and immediately swindled by a fake parson. A fellow ex-convict convinces Charlie to help burglarize a house.
Police
1916 · 84 votes
Movie6.7ComedyA pawnbroker's assistant deals with his grumpy boss, his annoying co-worker and some eccentric customers as he flirts with the pawnbroker's daughter, until a perfidious crook with bad intentions arrives at the pawnshop.
The Pawnshop
1916 · 121 votes
Movie6.4ComedyAn impecunious customer creates chaos in a department store while the manager and his assistant plot to steal the money kept in the establishment's safe.
The Floorwalker
1916 · 116 votes
Movie5.7ComedyMr. and Mrs. Gussle get up to some hijinks in this Keystone comedy.
A Lover's Lost Control
1915 · 3 votes
Movie5.8ComedyA stage-struck young woman becomes an heiress, and hopes to use her new-found wealth to fulfill a fantasy.
Her Painted Hero
1915 · 4 votes
Movie5.0ComedyGussle (Syd Chaplin) comes home with a cute little dog but doesn't want the wife to see it--leading up to a rather funny bit you'll have to see for yourself. The marriage, at first, seems ideal and Gussle and his wife seem devoted. However, it soon seems that this is an act for Syd and it's obvious he's quite the philanderer. Eventually, the wife catches on and sets out to catch him--leading to a rather cute and unexpected ending.
Gussle's Wayward Path
1915 · 1 votes
Movie5.0ComedyA wealthy invalid tries to add his hard-working cook to his will, but the conniving butler gets in the way.
Her Torpedoed Love
1917 · 2 votes
Movie5.0ActionAdventureBeatrice Fairfax, the original advice-to-the-lovelorn reporter and her friend and not-so-secret admirer Jimmy Barton investigate calls for help and escape exotic perils and dangers. Episodes include exciting and fun stories of baby-napping, blackmail, jewel thievery, disguise, counterfeiting, and the long-unseen episode featuring entrancing cult starlet Olive Thomas and the real New York Yankees and Giants playing a game in the Polo Grounds.
Beatrice Fairfax
1916 · 1 votes
Movie4.9ComedyA waiter tricks his way into command of a sub in order to rob a ship carrying gold bullion.
A Submarine Pirate
1915 · 5 votes
Movie6.0DocumentaryA Trip Through the World's Greatest Motion Picture Studios (1920) presents a fascinating glimpse into the Thomas H. Ince studios at Culver City.
- Movie5.0
Featuring Charlie Chaplin's half-brother as The Husband, Phyllis Allen as The Wife, Slim Summerville as The Boy Friend, Cecile Arnold as The Girl Friend, and Mack Swain as The Bartender.
Caught in a Park
1915 · 1 votes
- MovieComedy
Gussle Rivals Jonah is a silent comedy