I watched this little low-budget film last night and just loved it, in no small part because of the terrific performance by Neil Hamilton. This was filmed in the mid-20s and again in the 40s. I'd never heard of it in any form.
Hamilton plays a WW I vet who's been in a hospital for 3 years. He's given 6 months to live so he bails and heads out into the world. Hitchhiking along a California backroad he decides to change direction and head toward the sea (the path not taken and all) and comes upon a little seaside farm (those were the days) where he finds Hobart Bosworth on the ground. He calls a doctor and they haul Bosworth away to the hospital but not until he makes Hamilton promise to tend his bees. Having nothing better to do, he agrees. He settles in with Emma Dunn as the housekeeper whose daughter (Betty Furness) is running away. There's also a know-it-all kid nearby (Edith Fellows). The storyline takes a few surprise twists. Old fashioned and effective story well done by Monogram.
This was one of several literary adaptations made by the "old" Monogram studio, which flourished from 1931 to 1935. Their films weren't big productions, but certainly on a par with what other second-echelon studios like Columbia and Tiffany were turning out. In 1935, the "old" Monogram was absorbed into the new Republic studios. The Monogram that re-emerged in 1937 was a far lower-budget operation than the earlier studio bearing that name, but it had to be in order to maintain an assembly-line product schedule.
Hamilton plays a WW I vet who's been in a hospital for 3 years. He's given 6 months to live so he bails and heads out into the world. Hitchhiking along a California backroad he decides to change direction and head toward the sea (the path not taken and all) and comes upon a little seaside farm (those were the days) where he finds Hobart Bosworth on the ground. He calls a doctor and they haul Bosworth away to the hospital but not until he makes Hamilton promise to tend his bees. Having nothing better to do, he agrees. He settles in with Emma Dunn as the housekeeper whose daughter (Betty Furness) is running away. There's also a know-it-all kid nearby (Edith Fellows). The storyline takes a few surprise twists. Old fashioned and effective story well done by Monogram.
This was one of several literary adaptations made by the "old" Monogram studio, which flourished from 1931 to 1935. Their films weren't big productions, but certainly on a par with what other second-echelon studios like Columbia and Tiffany were turning out. In 1935, the "old" Monogram was absorbed into the new Republic studios. The Monogram that re-emerged in 1937 was a far lower-budget operation than the earlier studio bearing that name, but it had to be in order to maintain an assembly-line product schedule.