John G. Adolfi

Directing

John G. Adolfi

Born — Died

1881-01-19 — 1933-05-11

Place of birth

New York, New York, U.S

Known for

Directing

Credits

47 titles

Entering films as an actor in 1910, John G. Adolfi soon switched careers and became a director. He turned out numerous, mostly low-budget films for minor companies, but every so often got a chance to work at a big studio like Fox.

Known for

No artwork available
NR

Ruy Blas, one of Don Salluste's lackeys, falls in love with the young Queen of Spain, Maria de Neubourg. Spurned by the Queen, Don Salluste takes revenge by introducing her to his bright young valet, Ruy Blas, whom he has disguised as his noble cousin Don Cesar. When the queen falls in love with Blas, Don Salluste humiliates them both by revealing the handsome young man as his lackey. Blas kills Don Salluste to save the honor of the queen, then drinks poison and dies.

Ruy Blas

1909

College Lovers poster
10.0

Romance on a college campus.

College Lovers

1930

The Working Man poster
6.5

A successful shoe manufacturer named John Reeves goes on vacation and meets the grown children of his recently deceased and much-respected competitor; they're on the verge of losing the family legacy through their careless behavior. Reeves takes it upon himself to save his rival's company by teaching the heirs a lesson in business.

The Working Man

1933

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

Robin Hood poster
5.0

Robin Hood is a 1912 film made by Eclair Studios when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie's costumes feature enormous versions of the familiar hats of Robin and his merry men, and uses the unusual effect of momentarily superimposing images different animals over each character to emphasize their good or evil qualities. The film was directed by Étienne Arnaud and Herbert Blaché, and written by Eustace Hale Ball. A restored copy of the 30-minute film exists and was exhibited in 2006 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Robin Hood

1912

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee poster
4.5

Mr. and Mrs. Warner Bros. Pictures and their precocious offspring, Little Miss Vitaphone, host a dinner in honor of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, attended by most of the major players and song writers under contract to WB at that time.

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee

1930

Film credits

1910s · 4 titles

Robin Hood poster
5.0

Robin Hood is a 1912 film made by Eclair Studios when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie's costumes feature enormous versions of the familiar hats of Robin and his merry men, and uses the unusual effect of momentarily superimposing images different animals over each character to emphasize their good or evil qualities. The film was directed by Étienne Arnaud and Herbert Blaché, and written by Eustace Hale Ball. A restored copy of the 30-minute film exists and was exhibited in 2006 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Robin Hood

1912

Saved from the Titanic poster
4.8

A young woman tells her parents and fiance (in flashback) about the recent sinking of the Titanic and her experiences as a passenger during the disaster. Her intended marriage now faces a new hazard because her fiance is a sailor and her parents have just been reminded of the dangers of the sea. Premiering in the United States just 29 days after the event, it is the earliest dramatization about the tragedy.

Saved from the Titanic

1912

No artwork available
7.0

Carl Wagner's good wife was dying. His heart bled at the thought of losing her, his life-long loyal helpmate. And his opera was almost completed, after spending months of weary hours to make it perfect. A pretty daughter tried in vain to brighten the overhanging gloom. Finally the composer, after a superhuman effort, and with a soul filled with sorrow, finished the last act of his score and hurried away to the impresario for a hearing. Here he was assured of an immediate reading and the return to his humble tenement was made with a much lighter heart. The doctor paid another visit to his patient and left a prescription to be filled. Carl reached home and realized how much depended upon the medicine ordered to possibly save a life most dear. Taking his cherished violin, the only article of value remaining, he rushed off to the pawnbroker and negotiated a loan.

The Musician's Daughter

1911

No artwork available
10.0

The young owners of a California orange grove loved each other, but they were unhappy because their lives were so narrow and circumscribed. Each dreamed of wealth and prayed continually that it might come. Sometimes dreams come true and in this particular case they did. Wealth came to the couple and they were in a position to gratify their every fancy.

When Dreams Come True

1913

1900s · 3 titles

Behind the camera

College Lovers poster
10.0

Romance on a college campus.

College Lovers

1930

The Working Man poster
6.5

A successful shoe manufacturer named John Reeves goes on vacation and meets the grown children of his recently deceased and much-respected competitor; they're on the verge of losing the family legacy through their careless behavior. Reeves takes it upon himself to save his rival's company by teaching the heirs a lesson in business.

The Working Man

1933

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee poster
4.5

Mr. and Mrs. Warner Bros. Pictures and their precocious offspring, Little Miss Vitaphone, host a dinner in honor of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, attended by most of the major players and song writers under contract to WB at that time.

An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee

1930

The Man Who Played God poster
7.2

While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, concert pianist Montgomery Royle is deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler. With his career over as a result of his injury, Royle returns to New York City with his sister Florence, close friend Mildred Miller, and considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair. After abandoning thoughts of suicide, Montgomery discovers he can lip read, and he spends his days observing people in Central Park from his apartment window. As he learns of people's problems, he tries to help them anonymously and becomes absorbed in his game of "playing God".

The Man Who Played God

1932

The Millionaire poster
7.6

A millionaire automaker retires upon the advice of his doctor, but becomes so bored he buys half interest in a gas station and works it on the sly.

The Millionaire

1931

The King's Vacation poster
5.7

The king of an unnamed European country abdicates and tries to recapture the happiness with the wife he had to give up for the throne.

The King's Vacation

1933

The Sphinx poster
NR

Unbeknownst to each other, Charles Macklin and his widowed father Arthur are having an affair with an exotic dancer called The Sphinx. When both come to see her at the same time, Charles gets upset, denounces the Sphinx, and is knocked out by Arthur. Arthur then decides to marry the Sphinx, while Charles then resumes his affair with Frances, to whom he was engaged before he met the Sphinx.

The Sphinx

1916

The Stolen Jools poster
5.6

Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)

The Stolen Jools

1931

Evidence poster
8.0

Lord Cyril Wimborne, a barrister, divorces his wife, Myra, and takes custody of their child, Kenyon, when he finds her name linked with the profligate Major Pollock. Myra goes into seclusion while Pollock, intending to conceal Myra's innocence, goes to Burma. A few years later Myra sees Kenyon in the park with Mrs. Debenham, a widow with designs on Wimborne. Noting the resemblance between the lady in the park (whom he calls his "princess") and a photograph of his mother, Kenyon invites Myra to dinner at a time when his father, who has curtailed the visits to the park, plans to be away. At the same time Harold Courtenay, an old family friend, sees an opportunity to reunite the estranged couple.

Evidence

1929

The Scarlet West poster
9.0

Cardelanche, the son of an Indian chief, returns from the East to find himself rejected by his own people. He is made captain of the U.S. army when he saves a detachment of cavalry from a group of renegade Indians, and further removes himself from his race when he develops a relationship with Miriam, the daughter of the Fort Remmington commandant. Lieutenant Parkman (Walker) gets into a fight with Cardelanche when Parkman is demoted, while General Custer's troops are slaughtered by Cardelanche's people. Cardelanche decides that his true allegiance is to his own race, and gives up Miriam to return to them.

The Scarlet West

1925

What Happened To Father poster
8.0

William Bradberry, an absent-minded Egyptologist, turns from a henpecked husband to a dominating one who, unknown to his daughter Betty and wife, writes theatre musical comedy on the side. And saves his daughter from the unsavory millionaire, Victor Smith she almost marries before she marries the decent man Tommy Dawson. A lost film.

What Happened To Father

1927

Alexander Hamilton poster
4.4

The founding father has an extramarital affair and meets with the likes of Thomas Jefferson.

Alexander Hamilton

1931

A Successful Calamity poster
5.6

Henry Wilton is an elderly millionaire saddled with his selfish young second wife Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton and a pair of spoiled grown children, Peggy and Eddie. To test his family's mettle, Henry pretends to have gone broke. Just as he suspected they would, his children rally to their father's side and change their ways: Peggy forsakes the fortune hunter George Struthers for the nice young man she's really in love with, the polo coach Larry Rivers, while Eddie applies for a demanding job and performs admirably. Only Sweetie seems to desert Henry.

A Successful Calamity

1932

Central Park poster
5.8

Two destitute New Yorkers meet cute in Central Park and then separate and independently get tangled up with some gangsters only to be reunited again in the end.

Central Park

1932

Prowlers of the Sea poster
5.0

Carlos De Neve, a young Spanish military officer, is given an important post to prevent gun-smuggling in Cuba. He was chosen because he has the reputation of not being susceptible to women. However, Mercedes, a lovely Cuban senorita, makes her entrance, Carlos falls for her, and unexpected things, to the Spanish officials, begin to happen.

Prowlers of the Sea

1928

Who's Your Brother? poster
8.0

The story of Jewish financier Stephen Field and his daughter Esther. Having survived a European massacre years before that claimed his wife and son, Stephen takes immense pleasure in philanthropic work at a community service center in the U.S. while Esther entertains returning soldiers in a canteen. At the canteen, Esther meets Robert Graham, who because of a war wound suffers from fainting spells, and he falls in love with her. William Morris, a brilliant Jewish surgeon also courts Esther; and the men vie for her affection. When Graham loses control of his car due to a fainting spell suffering grave injury, Morris is the only person who can save his life.

Who's Your Brother?

1919

What Shall I Do? poster
9.0

Under the name of Jack Nelson, Don McLean goes to work in his father's factory. He meets a restaurant cashier, Jeanie; they are married and have a child. Stricken by amnesia as a result of an accident, Jack forgets his family and returns to his former life. Eventually his memory is restored, and he is reunited with his wife and child.

What Shall I Do?

1924

Dumb-bells in Ermine poster
5.7

In a small town in Virginia, Faith Corey, daughter of a socially prominent family, meets and falls in love with Jerry Malone, a prizefighter, though her straitlaced mother wants her to marry Siegfried, a spellbinding "missionary reformer." Though Grandma Corey promotes the romance with the prizefighter, Mike, the fighter's hardboiled, wisecracking manager, tries to keep them apart; following a quarrel, Faith reconciles herself to marrying Siegfried, but when he invites a group of "weak sisters" to a revival meeting, he is disgraced when one accuses him of her downfall. Finally, with Mike's advice, Jerry wins back Faith and they are united with the family's blessings.

Dumb-bells in Ermine

1930

The Devil's Skipper poster
10.0

The Devil's Skipper was based on Demetrios Contos, a seafaring yarn by Jack London. Effectively cast against type, Belle Bennett plays a wronged woman who becomes the most brutal and feared slave-ship captain on the Seven Seas.

The Devil's Skipper

1928

No artwork available
10.0

George Cantor and Tom Johnson love the same girl; one wins the girl from the other and the loser leaves swearing revenge on his successful rival. A few years later, the two marry. George is a successful doctor; Tom is an unemployed laborer with a wife, a sick baby, and little food at home.

Turned Back

1914

The Little 'Fraid Lady poster
10.0

Cecelia Carne, dubbed "the little 'fraid lady" because she shuns society, seeks the solitude of the forest in order to perfect her talents as a painter. By chance one day, Cecelia wanders into the estate of Judge Peter Carteret where she meets Saxton Graves, who is assisting the judge in decorating his house. Recognizing her talent, Saxton hires Cecelia and soon falls in love with the artist.

The Little 'Fraid Lady

1920

No artwork available
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

A Man and His Mate

1915

Compromised poster
4.0

Poor working-class girl Stella marries wealthy Sidney Brock, recently jilted by his fiancée and social equal Connie. The two go through contentious times with the Brock patriarch, but when Stella becomes a mother, she seems to becomes accepted, although it's used as a way to shift Sidney's and the child's affections from her. Connie comes back into their lives, now seeking to reclaim Sidney, and manipulates the situation to convince Stella that he's been seeing her. So Stella decides to get a divorce, but fortunately, Sidney becomes aware of the deception in time.

Compromised

1931

Recaptured Love poster
6.0

In this drama, a 50-year-old married man (played by John Halliday) goes with his wife (Belle Bennett) and son (Junior Durkin) to a nightclub in a fancy hotel in Detroit. He meets a gold-digger (Dorothy Burgess) there, singing the theme song of the picture, and eventually ends up going out with her on a subsequent occasion and falls in love with her. His wife finally finds out and this leads to her leaving him and getting a divorce in Paris. He is married to the gold-digger but finds life with her and her "jazz friends" to be too much for him. He begins to long for his old wife when he finds her in a nightclub with another man and becomes jealous.

Recaptured Love

1930

The Woman the Germans Shot poster
NR

The true story of Edith Cavell, a British nurse who served with the underground in Belgium during the First World War.

The Woman the Germans Shot

1918

Queen of the Sea poster
NR

Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimming star of the early 1900s, made a number of films, most of them in the 1910s, which displayed her athletic skills. Most of these films were underwater fantasies, and this one was no exception. Here, Kellerman is Merilla, a mermaid who is the "Queen of the Sea." Not satisfied with being a mermaid, she wants a mortal human body with an immortal soul. She discovers she can achieve this if she saves four human lives.

Queen of the Sea

1918

The Mischief Maker poster
NR

Effie Marchand refuses to marry a man she has never met, but who has been picked out by her mother, is exiled to boarding school Then, when sculpting teacher Jules Gerard asks her to pose for him, an always impulsive Effie quickly consents. During one of the modeling sessions, however, Jules tries to seduce her, and Effie is saved only when Al Tournay, a visitor to the studio, fights off the sculptor. Later, when Jules' latest nude statue looks just like Effie, who really only posed for the head, an outraged principal expels her. Effie then begins a romance with Al, and when they get married, Effie's mother takes the wedding as just one more sign of her daughter's impulsiveness. Mrs. Marchand soon finds out, however, that her new son-in-law is the man she had chosen for Effie long before, and so mother and daughter are quickly reconciled.

The Mischief Maker

1916

Sinners' Holiday poster
6.3

Ma Delano runs a penny arcade in Coney Island, living upstairs with her sons and daughter. Story involves rum-running, accidental murder and a frame-up.

Sinners' Holiday

1930

The Wonder Man poster
7.0

French Secret Service agent and boxer Henri D'Alour uncovers a plot to con the government out of millions of francs in its purchase of machinery.

The Wonder Man

1920

Voltaire poster
6.2

Writer and philosopher Voltaire, loyal to his king, Louis XV of France, nonetheless writes scathingly of the king's disdain for the rights and needs of his people. Louis admires Voltaire, but is increasingly influenced against him by his minister, the Count de Sarnac.

Voltaire

1933

What a Life poster
NR

A musical parody on prison reform in which a prison warden gives his cellblocks the look of a summer resort in order to stave off reformers.

What a Life

1930

No artwork available
NR

Wealthy playboy Jack Edmunds spends some time in a small mountain town, where he makes the acquaintance of local girl Caprtice Talbert and invites her to his apartment. When Caprice's father finds out about it--although nothing happened--he forces the two to marry, and the newlyweds move to Jack's home in the city. Tensions arise between the two as Jack is still resentful over the "shotgun wedding" and Caprice finds that she can't bear living in the big city and wants to return home.

Caprice of the Mountains

1916

In the Headlines poster
10.0

A tough newspaper reporter and his pretty assistant are investigating a double murder, and soon find themselves the targets of the as yet unknown murderer.

In the Headlines

1929

Fancy Baggage poster
10.0

In order to get back some very important papers from her father's business rival, a young woman pretends to be the rival's new secretary. Complications ensue.

Fancy Baggage

1929

The Burden of Proof poster
NR

Elaine Brooks marries Robert Ames, a junior member of the Department of Justice. Mrs. Durand, a spy uses underhanded means to steal important papers from Ames, which she gives to her superior, Dr. Kemp. Although she is innocent, Elaine becomes implicated in this plot.

The Burden of Proof

1918

No artwork available
7.0

The "Cannon Ball" express train is running late, so the station agent has the opportunity to play seven up with a waiting passenger who turns out to be not only his old pal but his enemy too!

The Tardy Cannon Ball

1914

The Little Snob poster
8.0

May Banks (May McAvoy) is a working-class girl who gets ideas above her station in life when her father, Colonel Banks (Aleck B. Francis), a Coney Island employee, save enough money to send her to an expensive, snobby all-girl finishing school.

The Little Snob

1928

Chalk Marks poster
7.0

Young Herbert Thompson, wanting to attain wealth and social status, marries Ann Morton, who comes from a rich and prominent family, throwing over pretty young Angelina Kilboure, who really loves him. Years later Herbert has become the local District Attorney and has two children, Bert and Virginia. One night Bert, a patron at a seedy roadhouse, defends his sister's honor from a ruffian and winds up killing the man. Angelina persuades Herbert to leave his post as D.A. to defend his son in his murder trial. Herbert wins the case, but it turns out to have unexpected consequences.

Chalk Marks

1924

No artwork available
7.0

Wallace MacDonald as a car mechanic who invents a revolutionary new carburetor. To prove the efficiency of his creation, MacDonald enters an important auto race. It soon develops that our hero is in direct competition with a car owned by Lionel Belmore, the father of his girl friend Elaine Hammerstein.

The Checkered Flag

1926