The Films of Alan Crosland - by Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television Home Page (with many articles on directors) | 1910's Articles

Alan Crosland

Alan Crosland is a Hollywood film director. He spent much of career on "romantic melodramas": non-comedy films about the struggles of characters to find romance. They often have to fight villains' schemes and terrible obstacles. Alan Crosland also made other kinds of films, such as mystery thrillers, and social commentary dramas.

Alan Crosland made two key early sound films that led to the birth of "talkies": Don Juan (1926) and The Jazz Singer (1927).

Some common subjects in the films of Alan Crosland:

Trysts (secretly married couple: Why Announce Your Marriage?, Three Weeks, hero and heroine shipwrecked on island: Sinners in Heaven, week in Paris garret: When a Man Loves)
Kidnapping of adult women (heroine kidnapped, sold in slave market: The Prophet's Paradise, crusading newspaperwoman kidnapped by bootlegging gang: Contraband, heroine kidnapped by nobleman: The Beloved Rogue, villain locks heroine in apartment: The Furies, black man saves white woman from kidnappers: Big Boy, heroine kidnapped to prevent court testimony: Massacre, attempt to kidnap heroine on beach: The White Cockatoo, heroine kidnapped and gangster framed: King Solomon of Broadway) related (hero kidnapped: Kidnapped, hero kidnapped from yacht by seductress: Compromise)
Yachts and romance (yacht-owner hero: Shadows of the Sea, hero kidnapped from yacht by seductress: Compromise, rich heroine: The Silver Lining)
Mutinies (Shadows of the Sea, When a Man Loves)
Men on horseback (heroine has crush on older man on horseback: The Flapper, hero is stunt rider: Massacre)
Women good at sports (golf champion: The Apple-Tree Girl, fencing: The Little Chevalier)
Doubles (genie magically impersonates student in class: Chris and His Wonderful Lamp, spy thriller: The Great Impersonation)

Society:

Non-Christian religions glorified (Judaism: The Jazz Singer, Native American religion: Massacre)
Social protest films (Marine learns brotherhood of man: The Unbeliever, idealist Captain smuggles arms: Shadows of the Sea, hero steals food and gives to poor, insults nobility: The Beloved Rogue, mutiny on convict ship: When a Man Loves, evils of slum lords: The Silver Lining, Native American rights: Massacre)
Social class issues (poor hero works his way through college to be doctor: The Apple-Tree Girl, German officer torments enlisted men: The Unbeliever, poor aristocrat heroine pretends to be maid: Room and Board, poet hero versus nobility: The Beloved Rogue, poor woman forced to marry rich man: Captain Thunder, officers versus enlisted men and romance: Viennese Nights, marriage threatened between rich boy and poor girl, cook impersonates upper class lady: Lady Tubbs) related (slum youth gang reformed by Boy Scouts: Knights of the Square Table)
Working class people become social benefactors (stage doorman backs Broadway show: On With the Show, butler turns speakeasy owner after stock market crash, helps heroine: Week Ends Only)

People in the arts:

Musicians, often classical (aspiring woman opera singer, violinist-opera composer: Greater Than Fame, heroine's brother: The Point of View, hero as cantor and jazz singer: The Jazz Singer, aspiring woman opera singer: Children of Dreams, violinist hero, composer grandson: Viennese Nights, pianist: Mister Dynamite)
Poets (heroine's father: The Point of View, poet Francois Villon as hero: The Beloved Rogue)
Artists (illustrator heroine: Why Announce Your Marriage?, boyfriend: Week Ends Only)

Technology:

Technology equipment, used in thrillers (Boston Blackie uses high tech equipment to fight crime: The Face in the Fog, tracing phone call, death trap: Mister Dynamite, radio used by German spies: The Great Impersonation, radio used to warn of danger: King Solomon of Broadway)
Technology and vehicles (Florida canals with boats: The Flapper, aviator hero: Sinners in Heaven, cab driver hero buys garage: It Happened in New York, railroad construction camp: Lady Tubbs)
Other (Boy Scouts save life with artificial respiration: Knights of the Square Table, hero works as typewriter salesman: Is Life Worth Living?)

Settings:

New York City (society spongers: The Country Cousin, Fifth Avenue scenes: The Flapper, slums. workhouse: The Silver Lining, Broadway nightclub: King Solomon of Broadway, cab driver hero: It Happened in New York)
Russian Revolution (Romanov jewels brought to USA: The Face in the Fog, Revolution in background of tale: The Enemies of Women, woman revolutionary and prince: The Scarlet Lady, woman revolutionary and prince: Song of the Flame, American hero just back from three years' engineering project in Russia: The White Cockatoo)
Westerners go East (Ohio farmers go to New York: The Country Cousin, Western millionaire boards with Eastern family: The Point of View, Native American rights and Washington DC: Massacre, railroad construction people visit Long Island Society: Lady Tubbs)
Waterways (riverfront slum: Knights of the Square Table, Florida canals with boats: The Flapper, Shadows of the Sea, convict ship at sea: When a Man Loves, ocean shore: The White Cockatoo)

Architecture:

Outdoor staircases on buildings (Barrymore's palace: The Enemies of Women, hotel: The White Cockatoo)
Eroticized interiors (Barrymore's throne room: The Enemies of Women, bed of roses: Three Weeks)
Thrones where women sit (heroine sits on Barrymore's throne: The Enemies of Women, heroine with hero kneeling before her: Three Weeks)

Costumes:

White tie and tails (best friend Pedro de Cordoba: The Enemies of Women, hero Conrad Nagel: Three Weeks)
Boots (Barrymore's aristocrat: The Enemies of Women, gendarmes: The White Cockatoo)

The Flapper

The Flapper (1920) stars the once famous Olive Thomas.

Massacre

Massacre (1934) is a ferocious social protest movie, about Native American rights. It should be better known.

Massacre recalls silent films supporting Native American rights, such as The Vanishing American (George B. Seitz, 1925) and Redskin (Victor Schertzinger, 1929).