Etzel von Oeringen, better known as Strongheart, was a male German Shepherd that was one of the early canine stars of feature films.
Laurence Norwood Trimble was an American silent film director, writer and actor. Trimble began his film career directing Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, the first canine to have a leading role in motion pictures. He made his acting debut in the 1910 silent Saved by the Flag, directed scores of films for Vitagraph and other studios, and became head of production for Florence Turner's independent film company in England (1913–1916). Trimble was most widely known for his four films starring Strongheart, a German Shepherd dog he discovered and trained that became the first major canine film star. After he left filmmaking he trained animals exclusively, particularly guide dogs for the blind.
Theodore von Eltz was an American film actor, appearing in more than 200 films between 1915 and 1957. He was the father of actress Lori March.
The White Desert is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Reginald Barker. The film stars Claire Windsor and Pat O'Malley, with Robert Frazer, Frank Currier, and Sōjin Kamiyama. It is written by Monte M. Katterjohn and Gordon Rigby and adopted from Denver author Courtney Ryley Cooper's novel The White Desert (1922). This B movie was produced to keep the Loew circuit and other cinemas supplied. The title refers to the snow covered Colorado landscape during winter.
Jane Murfin, née Macklem was an American playwright and screenwriter. The author of several successful plays, she wrote some of them with actress Jane Cowl—most notably Smilin' Through (1919), which was adapted three times for motion pictures. In Hollywood Murfin became a popular screenwriter whose credits include What Price Hollywood? (1932), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. In the 1920s she lived with Laurence Trimble, writing and producing films for their dog Strongheart, the first major canine star.
Braveheart is a 1925 American silent contemporary Western film directed by Alan Hale Sr. and starring Rod La Rocque. The story focuses on members of a tribe of Indians who are being intimidated by the owners of a canning company seeking to violate a treaty protecting the tribe's fishing grounds. Braveheart is a remake of the 1914 film Strongheart directed by James Kirkwood Sr. and produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
Paint and Powder is a surviving 1925 American silent drama film produced and released by the Chadwick Pictures. The director of the film was Hunt Stromberg, later be best known as a producer and one of Louis B. Mayer's right hand men over at MGM. The star of this film is Elaine Hammerstein, sister of the music writer and granddaughter of the theatrical impresario, both named Oscar Hammerstein.
The Love Master is a 1924 American silent family drama film starring canine star Strongheart and actress Lillian Rich, directed by Laurence Trimble. The film survives in a French archive.
The Breaking Point is a 1924 American silent mystery film directed by Herbert Brenon and written by Edfrid A. Bingham and Julie Herne. The film, based on the 1922 novel of the same name by Mary Roberts Rinehart, stars Nita Naldi, Patsy Ruth Miller, George Fawcett, Matt Moore, John Merkyl, Theodore von Eltz, and Edythe Chapman. The film was released on May 4, 1924, by Paramount Pictures.
The Winding Stair is a lost 1925 American silent drama film directed by John Griffith Wray and starring Alma Rubens, Edmund Lowe, and Warner Oland. It is based on the 1923 novel of the same name by the British writer A.E.W. Mason.
The Stealers is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Christy Cabanne.
Private Affairs is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Renaud Hoffman with Gladys Hulette, Robert Agnew, and Mildred Harris. The plot was based on a 1922 short story "The Ledger of Life" by George Patullo.
On Thin Ice is a 1925 American silent crime drama film directed by Mal St. Clair and starring Tom Moore, Edith Roberts, and William Russell. It was produced and distributed by the Warner Bros. and based upon a 1924 novel by Alice Ross Colver.
Three in Exile is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Fred Windemere and starring Louise Lorraine, Art Acord, and Tom London.
Ruth Dwyer was an American film actress. She had a number of starring roles in the silent era, most famously as Buster Keaton's leading lady in Seven Chances (1925). Dwyer mostly retired in 1928 and played a number of uncredited roles in sound films, but retired from the film business completely in the 1940s.
North Star is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Paul Powell and starring Virginia Lee Corbin, Stuart Holmes, and Ken Maynard. The film was made as a showcase for Strongheart the Dog, a rival of Rin Tin Tin. Future star Clark Gable appears in a supporting role.
The White Outlaw is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Clifford Smith and written by Isadore Bernstein. The film stars Jack Hoxie, Marceline Day, William Welsh, Duke R. Lee, Floyd Shackelford, and Charles Brinley. The film was released on September 6, 1925, by Universal Pictures.
Thunder the Dog was a male German Shepherd that performed in American silent films from 1923 through 1927. Although Thunder's filmography is rather brief, his six- and seven-reel features were much longer and more elaborate than the films in which many of his fellow canine actors appeared during the silent era. His releases did, though, have to compete in the 1920s with other feature films starring rival German Shepherds such as Peter the Great, Napoleon, Rex, and, most notably, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin. During his career, Thunder worked for Paramount, Gotham Pictures, and Fox Film Corporation; and he shared screen time with Clara Bow, Dorothy Dalton, William Russell, Caryl Lincoln, and other prominent actors of the period.
The Sporting Chance is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Oscar Apfel and starring Lou Tellegen, Dorothy Phillips, and George Fawcett.
Lights Out is a 1923 American silent crime drama film directed by Alfred Santell and starring Ruth Stonehouse, Walter McGrail and Theodore von Eltz. It is based on the 1922 play Lights Out by Paul Dickey and Mann Page, later adapted into the 1938 film Crashing Hollywood. The remake was more light-hearted than the melodramatic tone of the original.
