Herbert Brenon

Birth : 1880-01-13, Dublin, Ireland

Death : 1958-06-21

History

Irish filmmaker.

Movies

The Flying Squad
Director
Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London.
Black Eyes
Director
Ivan Petrov has one weakness in his life, and one love: his little black-eyed daughter, Tania. In fact, his entire career is devoted to her future happiness, though Tania remains ignorant as to his vocation. Done with cool deliberation, Petrov's all-consuming fear is that one day his lovely daughter will discover his true profession, and despise him for it...
Housemaster
Director
Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.
Spring Handicap
Director
A wife tries to prevent her husband, a miner, from gambling away the money he receives as an inheritance.
The Dominant Sex
Director
A mature comedy based on the hit stage play in which a loving but strained marriage is put to the test!
Someone at the Door
Director
When Sally inherits a country house, her young brother Ronald, an aspiring journalist, hits on a sensational way to make his first big scoop: Sally will 'disappear', and he will be arrested for her murder! At his trial she will reappear, his acquittal will follow, and he will be able to supply his paper with an exclusive story. Sally and her fiance, Bill, fall in with the scheme. However, there are complications which they had not foreseen.
Living Dangerously
Director
The dramatic story of a normal, intelligent man of good principles driven to contemplate thoughts of murder.
Honours Easy
Director
Unhinged art dealer William Barton seeks revenge on a man who ruined his career years ago. He does so by attempting to frame the man's son for the theft of $2,500 from the safe in his gallery. However the son has an alibi in Barton's wife, with whom he is having an affair.
Royal Cavalcade
Director
Made in commemoration and celebration of the Jubilee of King George V, this is the story of the first twenty-five years of his reign, told through the many travels of a penny that was minted in the year of his accession: 1910. Through a series of individual stories, Royal Cavalcade covers a period of striking change in every area of life – from the suffragette movement to the trenches of World War One, the effects of the Depression to single events such as the first ever Royal Command Performance, featuring Anna Pavlova and George Robey.
Wine, Women and Song
Director
The story of aging chorus girl Frankie Arnette, who'll do anything for publicity. Fiercely ambitious, Frankie even promises that if she is given a leading role in an upcoming Broadway musical, prominent producer Morgan Andrews will be allowed to enjoy the "attentions" of her own daughter Marilyn. But Marilyn is in love with likeable Ray Joyce, and wants no part of her mother's intrigues.
Oliver Twist
Production Supervisor
An orphan boy in 1830s London is abused in a workhouse, then falls into the clutches of a gang of thieves.
Girl of the Rio
Director
Girl of the Rio finds the gorgeous Dolores del Rio as a cabaret dancer in the employment of slick gambler, Leo Carrillo, who has his eye on the beauty. When she falls for Norman Foster, Carrillo has him locked away. Del Rio must use her smarts to ensure her man is safely freed.
Transgression
Producer
When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.
Transgression
Director
When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.
Beau Ideal
Producer
An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
Beau Ideal
Director
An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
The Case of Sergeant Grischa
Director
This film earned an Oscar nomination for Sound Recording. It is the only film nominated in this category that is among the lost. No negative or print material is known to have survived. Contemporary reviews were scathing, describing the film as a vastly overlong and boring talk-fest.
Lummox
Director
Lummox is a 1930 American Pre-Code sound film directed by Herbert Brenon, released through United Artists, and based on a 1923 novel by Fannie Hurst. The story of Bertha, a young immigrant woman who cleans the homes of the rich and is largely ignored by them, except for a young poet who considers her a muse.
The Rescue
Director
The English adventurer Tom Lingard gets involved with islanders on a South Seas island, and he also gets involved with Lady Edith and Mr. Travers, a sailing English couple. Tom has an unexpected love affair with Edith and while they are having this affair, Lady Edith husband's boat is destroyed and he is killed.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
Producer
A despairing clown suffering a broken heart and a self-indulgent count who uncontrollably laughs learn to help each other with their problems, but both fall in love with the same young woman.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
Director
A despairing clown suffering a broken heart and a self-indulgent count who uncontrollably laughs learn to help each other with their problems, but both fall in love with the same young woman.
Sorrell and Son
Writer
Stephen Sorrell, a decorated war hero, raises his son Kit alone after Kit's mother deserts husband and child in the boy's infancy. Sorrell loses a promising job offer and is forced to take work as a menial. Both his dignity and his health are damaged as he suffers under the exhausting labor and harsh treatment he receives as a hotel porter. But Sorrell thrives in the knowledge that his son will benefit from his labors. Sorrell has allowed the boy to believe his mother dead, but when the mother shows up, wanting to re-enter the young man's life, Sorrell must make hard decisions.
Sorrell and Son
Director
Stephen Sorrell, a decorated war hero, raises his son Kit alone after Kit's mother deserts husband and child in the boy's infancy. Sorrell loses a promising job offer and is forced to take work as a menial. Both his dignity and his health are damaged as he suffers under the exhausting labor and harsh treatment he receives as a hotel porter. But Sorrell thrives in the knowledge that his son will benefit from his labors. Sorrell has allowed the boy to believe his mother dead, but when the mother shows up, wanting to re-enter the young man's life, Sorrell must make hard decisions.
The Telephone Girl
Director
Telephone operator Kitty O'Brien can't help but get involved in the problems of her customers. Right now she is concerning herself with the well-being of Tom Blake, the honest son of crooked political boss Jim Blake.
The Great Gatsby
Director
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
God Gave Me Twenty Cents
Director
The story concerns the misadventures of sailor Steve Doren, who tries his best to support his wife Mary on his piddling income. But like seafaring men everywhere, Steve is constitutionally unreliable, especially when hip-swinging temptress Cassie Lang sashays into view.
Beau Geste
Writer
Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs.
Beau Geste
Director
Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs.
Dancing Mothers
Director
An unfaithful husband and his daughter go on nightly club outings, leaving the mother at home. The mother rebels against her lonesome life and attempts to prevent a man from pursuing her daughter.
The Song and Dance Man
Director
Song and Dance Man was based on the play of the same name by George M. Cohan. Tom Moore plays vaudevillian Happy Farrell, who gives up show biz to take a "civilian" job. Finding success in the business world, Happy tries to go back on stage, only to find that it isn't quite so easy the second time around. Meanwhile, our hero's former vaude partner Leola Lane (Bessie Love), now a headliner at the Palace, gives it all up to become the bride of artist Joseph Murdock
A Kiss for Cinderella
Director
An adaption of a novel by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie.
The Street of Forgotten Men
Director
Easy-Money Charley, the best fake crippled beggar in New York, loses his beloved dog and adopts a dying prostitute's daughter to fill the empty place in his heart. But his fellow crooks and dissemblers mock him for sentimentality, and he disowns the child in order to bring her up secretly in the safety of a distant suburb. He brings her up as a young lady in ignorance of her true history or of his; but when he discovers that her affections have taken an unexpected slant, it brings about an end to their tranquil life, a crisis of conscience, and an opportunity for the sinister 'White-Eye' to take a hand...
Peter Pan
Producer
Peter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads them off to Never Never Land, where they meet the nefarious Captain Hook.
Peter Pan
Director
Peter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads them off to Never Never Land, where they meet the nefarious Captain Hook.
The Alaskan
Director
An Alaskan defies robber barons intent on corrupting the new state.
The Side Show of Life
Director
An English circus clown finds he's lost his touch after returning from war.
Shadows of Paris
Director
A young woman rises from an apache dancer to become a wealthy woman in post-WW1 Paris.
The Spanish Dancer
Producer
The Spanish Dancer is the story of Maritana, a gypsy girl who dances in courtyards and even tells people's fortunes. Despite her gypsy occupation, Maritana wishes to be a Countess. Her ambitions are realized when she meets the handsome Count Don Cesar de Bazán, if only the King of Spain would stay out of their way!
The Spanish Dancer
Director
The Spanish Dancer is the story of Maritana, a gypsy girl who dances in courtyards and even tells people's fortunes. Despite her gypsy occupation, Maritana wishes to be a Countess. Her ambitions are realized when she meets the handsome Count Don Cesar de Bazán, if only the King of Spain would stay out of their way!
The Woman with Four Faces
Director
The woman with four faces is a movie about a woman who happens to be both a thief and a con artist and who cannot be arrested because she is faceless.
The Rustle of Silk
Director
Lola de Breze loves Lord Arthur Fallaray from afar, though there seems to be no way to bring them together -- he is England's Colonial Secretary and married, while she is merely a working class maiden. But when she is given a maid's position in his household, it brings her that much closer to her idol. She puts on a fancy gown and heads to the Ritz in hopes of getting a formal introduction. After being fired from the household, she follows Fallaray to his country home and nurses him when he falls ill. Lord Fallaray's wife Lady Feo doesn't love him and is having an affair with Paul Chalfont. When it looks like he will be faced with scandal, Fallaray contemplates giving up politics and marrying Lola.
The Custard Cup
Director
Mrs. Penfield, better known as Penzie, is one of the inhabitants of a tenement neighborhood known as "the Custard Cup" because of its oval shape. Penzie is a widow who lost both her husband and son in the influenza epidemic of 1918 and 1919. She has found fulfillment by taking in three orphans. One of the Custard Cup's other residents is a counterfeiter, and when the police are too hot on his trail, he leaves a package with Penzie and sets a boat aflame when he tries to destroy some phony bills. When the gang is rounded up, Penzie -- who has been looking for one of her adopted children -- is found at the hideout and arrested.
Moonshine Valley
Writer
Ned Connors, a prospector, has a happy marriage with his wife, living in the hills, until fate brings a sick visitor to their shack. The guest, Dr. Martin, is cared for by Connors' wife, who falls in love with him. When Connors returns to the shack after striking it rich, he finds his wife and Martin together.
Moonshine Valley
Director
Ned Connors, a prospector, has a happy marriage with his wife, living in the hills, until fate brings a sick visitor to their shack. The guest, Dr. Martin, is cared for by Connors' wife, who falls in love with him. When Connors returns to the shack after striking it rich, he finds his wife and Martin together.
Shackles of Gold
Director
Gibbs is a laborer at the docks who, through his hard work and good judgment, becomes a millionaire on Wall Street. He becomes acquainted with the Van Dusens, who have lost their fortune. Mrs. Van Dusen pushes her daughter Marie into a loveless marriage with Gibbs so that the family can retain its social standing. Gibbs realizes, however, that his money cannot buy his wife's affection.
Any Wife
Director
The Wonderful Thing
Writer
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Wonderful Thing
Director
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Sign on the Door
Screenplay
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
Beatrice
Writer
A silent film directed by Herbert Brenon
Beatrice
Director
A silent film directed by Herbert Brenon
The Sign on the Door
Adaptation
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Sign on the Door
Director
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Passion Flower
Screenplay
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Passion Flower
Adaptation
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
The Passion Flower
Director
A 1921 film directed by Herbert Brenon.
Little Sister
Director
A silent film directed by Herbert Brenon
The Mysterious Princess
Writer
A silent drama film directed by Herbert Brenon
The Mysterious Princess
Director
A silent drama film directed by Herbert Brenon
12.10
Director
Louis Fernando fails to sell a patent upon which he has spent the better part of his life and drowns himself. His orphaned child Marie is adopted by Lord Chatterton. Geoffrey Brooke, who is in the employ of Lord Chatterton, falls in love with Marie. Chatterton's general manager Arthur Newton also loves Marie and formulates a scheme whereby he hopes to win her and also acquire the Chatterton fortune. Chatterton becomes suspicious and by a ruse traps Newton and exposes his plot. Marie and Geoffrey are made happy in the end.
Beatrice
Director
It tells the story of Dante Alighieri's love to Beatrice Portinari, loosely based on Dante's poetry.
Victory and Peace
Director
'Nurse saves captain from invading Germans and is saved herself when he leads counter-attack.' (British Film Catalogue)
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Director
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Writer
The Invasion of Britain
Director
A depiction of German airships attacking Great Britain.
The Fall of the Romanoffs
Producer
The overthrow of Czar Nicholas II in Russia was such big news that the then-fledgling art of cinema couldn't help but jump on it immediately and create a couple of dramatizations.
The Fall of the Romanoffs
Director
The overthrow of Czar Nicholas II in Russia was such big news that the then-fledgling art of cinema couldn't help but jump on it immediately and create a couple of dramatizations.
The Lone Wolf
Director
Based on a character created by Louis Joseph Vance
A Daughter of the Gods
Story
A sultan agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.
A Daughter of the Gods
Screenplay
A sultan agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.
A Daughter of the Gods
Director
A sultan agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.
The Marble Heart
Writer
Therese Roger, daughter of a West Indian planter, whose parents are murdered while she is a baby, becomes the adopted daughter of her aunt, Madame Roger, keeper of a haberdashery shop in one of the smaller villages in southern France. She grows up with Camille, Madame Roger's son, a sickly, sexless creature, whom she ultimately marries in deference to her aunt's wishes.
War Brides
Screenplay
Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.
War Brides
Scenario Writer
Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.
War Brides
Director
Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.
The Soul of Broadway
Scenario Writer
Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, meaning nothing to her that since his release from prison, he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threatens to expose his past life.
The Soul of Broadway
Story
Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, meaning nothing to her that since his release from prison, he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threatens to expose his past life.
The Soul of Broadway
Director
Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, meaning nothing to her that since his release from prison, he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threatens to expose his past life.
Sin
Writer
Italian peasant girl deserts her fiancé for wealthy gangster and departs for America.
Sin
Director
Italian peasant girl deserts her fiancé for wealthy gangster and departs for America.
The Two Orphans
Pierre
This picture is based on the same story that became D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in 1921. This version, made by the Fox Studios, stars famous "vamp" actress Theda Bara in the role that Lillian Gish later made famous
The Two Orphans
Scenario Writer
This picture is based on the same story that became D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in 1921. This version, made by the Fox Studios, stars famous "vamp" actress Theda Bara in the role that Lillian Gish later made famous
The Two Orphans
Director
This picture is based on the same story that became D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in 1921. This version, made by the Fox Studios, stars famous "vamp" actress Theda Bara in the role that Lillian Gish later made famous
The Clemenceau Case
Scenario Writer
This was Theda Bara's third starring film, and the first which she carried all on her own, with no other name actors in the cast. Based on the Alexander Dumas story, The Clemenceau Case involves Iza, a vampire-wife (Bara), whose wicked ways scandalize her husband, Pierre (William E. Shay).
The Clemenceau Case
Director
This was Theda Bara's third starring film, and the first which she carried all on her own, with no other name actors in the cast. Based on the Alexander Dumas story, The Clemenceau Case involves Iza, a vampire-wife (Bara), whose wicked ways scandalize her husband, Pierre (William E. Shay).
Kreutzer Sonata
Director
Based -- loosely -- on Leo Tolstoy, this film starred feted stage star Nance O'Neil but is rather better remembered as Theda Bara's follow-up to the sensational A Fool There Was (1914).
Kreutzer Sonata
Writer
Based -- loosely -- on Leo Tolstoy, this film starred feted stage star Nance O'Neil but is rather better remembered as Theda Bara's follow-up to the sensational A Fool There Was (1914).
The Great Universal Mystery
Himself
A promotional one-reel film promoting the stars of Universal Pictures.
Neptune's Daughter
Director
The daughter of King Neptune takes on human form to avenge the death of her young sister, who was caught in a fishing net. However, she falls in love with the king, the man she holds responsible.
Absinthe
Director
Melodrama about an artist who finds out in time about the personal and social damage that his alcohol addiction causes.
Ivanhoe
Isaac of York
Wilfred of Ivanhoe (played by King Baggot), son of Sir Cedric (played by Wallace Bosco), returns to England from the Crusades in the Holy Land. As Ivanhoe, disguised, discovers that his beloved Lady Rowena (played by Evelyn Hope) has remained faithful, two weary travelers, Isaac of York (played by Herbert Brenon) and his pretty daughter Rebecca (played by Leah Baird), are admitted to Sir Cedric's castle, but after the knights learn that Isaac has money they abduct the visitors to the Norman stronghold of Torquilstone Castle.
Ivanhoe
Director
Wilfred of Ivanhoe (played by King Baggot), son of Sir Cedric (played by Wallace Bosco), returns to England from the Crusades in the Holy Land. As Ivanhoe, disguised, discovers that his beloved Lady Rowena (played by Evelyn Hope) has remained faithful, two weary travelers, Isaac of York (played by Herbert Brenon) and his pretty daughter Rebecca (played by Leah Baird), are admitted to Sir Cedric's castle, but after the knights learn that Isaac has money they abduct the visitors to the Norman stronghold of Torquilstone Castle.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Writer
Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Director
Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
Shamus O'Brien
Scenario Writer
Based on JS Le Fanu's 1850 poem "Shamus O'Brien." Copies of this short film survive at the Library of Congress and British Film Institute.
Shamus O'Brien
Tim Mooney
Based on JS Le Fanu's 1850 poem "Shamus O'Brien." Copies of this short film survive at the Library of Congress and British Film Institute.
Over the Hills
Screenplay
For Her Brother's Sake
Writer
A lost film. Hiram Flint, a young gambler and horseman, loves Madge, the daughter of James Spotwood but she repulses him. He buys a mortgage on the farm of Spotwood. The interest on the mortgage is due to be paid but Owen, Spotwood's son gambles and loses the money at roulette. James Spotwood has given to Owen a thoroughbred and they enter it in a race at the county fair in an effort to get back the money lost. Flint also has a horse entered and drugs the Spotwood rider on the eve of the race.
The Dream
Scenario Writer
A loutish husband neglects his patient, loving wife to enjoy a night on the town. When he comes home drunk and irritable, he mistreats her. Then he falls asleep, and has a dream that causes him to reconsider the way that he treats his wife.