Charles Giblyn

Directing

Charles Giblyn

Born — Died

1871-09-06 — 1934-03-14

Place of birth

Watertown, New York, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

57 titles

Charles Giblyn (September 6, 1871 – March 14, 1934) was an American film director and actor of the silent era. He directed 96 films between 1912 and 1927. He also appeared in 23 films between 1914 and 1934. He was one of the founders of the Motion Picture Directors Association. Founded Albion Productions, a film production company, in 1922. He was born in Watertown, New York and died in Los Angeles, California.

Known for

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu poster
6.0

A Chinese doctor vows revenge against the allied troops who killed his wife and child during the Boxer Rebellion.

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu

1929

The Bad Sister poster
5.6

Marianne falls in love with con man Valentine who uses their relation to get her father's endorsement on a money-raising scheme. He runs off with the money and Marianne, later dumping her. Her sister Laura loves Dr. Lindley although she knows he loves Marianne. Marianne returns and marries a wealthy young man, and Lindley turns his love toward Laura.

The Bad Sister

1931

Singing River poster
10.0

Outlaw Sam Hemp attempts to induce homesteader Lang Rush, faced with foreclosure due to drought, to rob the bank as restitution. The exchange escalates into a gunfight leaving Sam and his wealthy friend, Drayton, dead. Fleeing to the mountains and the refuge of a deserted shack near Singing River Lang prospects for silver. Another former homesteader, Bert Condon, trails Lang in the hope of collecting a $5,000 reward, but befriends the fugitive and assists in filing Lang's claim when he strikes ore. On his return to town, Lang rescues the sheriff's daughter, Alice Thornton, from Hemp's gang and defeats their leader, L. W. Bransom, in a fistfight. He then clears himself of the murder charge and wins Alice.

Singing River

1920

The Secret Six poster
5.6

Bootlegger/cafe owner, Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Scorpio to join his gang, masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Newton. Scorpio eventually takes over Frank's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy, and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of six masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair.

The Secret Six

1931

Afraid to Talk poster
6.5

Corrupt politicians resort to murder and blackmail when a young boy accidentally witnesses them taking payoffs.

Afraid to Talk

1932

The Girl Said No poster
5.8

A comedy romance in which breezy Haines, as a young lady killer, tries to capture the heart of Hyams who has turned him down for Bushman. Haines plots dozens of extreme measures to win her over, and finally goes so far as to drag her from the altar, bound and gagged.

The Girl Said No

1930

Film credits

1930s · 14 titles

The Bad Sister poster
5.6

Marianne falls in love with con man Valentine who uses their relation to get her father's endorsement on a money-raising scheme. He runs off with the money and Marianne, later dumping her. Her sister Laura loves Dr. Lindley although she knows he loves Marianne. Marianne returns and marries a wealthy young man, and Lindley turns his love toward Laura.

The Bad Sister

1931

The Secret Six poster
5.6

Bootlegger/cafe owner, Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Scorpio to join his gang, masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Newton. Scorpio eventually takes over Frank's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy, and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of six masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair.

The Secret Six

1931

Afraid to Talk poster
6.5

Corrupt politicians resort to murder and blackmail when a young boy accidentally witnesses them taking payoffs.

Afraid to Talk

1932

The Girl Said No poster
5.8

A comedy romance in which breezy Haines, as a young lady killer, tries to capture the heart of Hyams who has turned him down for Bushman. Haines plots dozens of extreme measures to win her over, and finally goes so far as to drag her from the altar, bound and gagged.

The Girl Said No

1930

Party Girl poster
3.8

Jay Rountree, a young, rising businessman and a son of a wealthy manufacturer gets caught up in a web involving an escort service or 'party girls' and trapped into an unhappy marriage.

Party Girl

1930

What! No Beer? poster
5.7

When Prohibition ends, a barber tries to get in the liquor business only to come up against mobsters.

What! No Beer?

1933

Tugboat Annie poster
7.3

Tugboat, the Narcissus, is owned and captained by Annie Brennan, and among her crew are her alcoholic but good-natured husband, Terry, and her conscientious son, Alec. Annie continually loses business because of Terry's drunken mistakes. Alec wants to quit school to work on the tug full time, but Annie will not sacrifice her son's education. A grown Alec has followed in his mother's footsteps and becomes a mariner, but a more upscale one as the captain of a luxury liner. Alec returns home with his fiancée, Pat - the boss' daughter - with a grand plan to save Annie from the life that drunkard Terry has provided her. But ultimately, it's Annie and Terry that need to be Alec's savior, and by their move show him the meaning of true commitment.

Tugboat Annie

1933

Night World poster
6.8

"Happy" MacDonald and his unfaithful wife own a Prohibition era night club. On this eventful night, he is threatened by bootleggers, and the club's star dancer falls in love with a young socialite who drinks to forget a personal tragedy, among other incidents.

Night World

1932

Prosperity poster
5.8

Longtime friends become feuding mothers-in-law when their children marry.

Prosperity

1932

Let's Fall in Love poster
8.0

A carnival girl pretends to be Swedish in order to win a movie role.

Let's Fall in Love

1933

Only Saps Work poster
6.0

Rubber-legged comedian Leon Errol made his talkie starring bow in Paramount's Only Saps Work. Based on a play by Owen Davis Sr., the film casts Errol as James Wilson, a kleptomaniac who starts with picking pockets and ends up robbing a bank. Wilson's friend Lawrence Payne (Richard Arlen) inadvertently aids our hero during one of his heists, ending up in deep doo-doo with the law. Before Wilson is able to extricate Payne from his dilemma for the sake of heroine Barbara Tanner (Mary Brian), he pauses long enough to pose as a private eye -- and even gives bellboy Oscar (Stu Erwin) tips on how to spot a crook! If only all of Leon Errol's feature films had been as consistently hilarious as Only Saps Work.

Only Saps Work

1930

Alias French Gertie poster
6.2

A safecracker poses as a French maid in order to gain access to wealthy homes. In the midst of a nocturnal search for a cache of valuables, she is interrupted by another safecracker. Narrowly escaping arrest, they decide to pool their talents, but she gets the urge to reform and encourages him to do the same.

Alias French Gertie

1930

Playboy of Paris poster
7.0

Yvonne, daughter of Philibert, a Paris cafe owner, is in love with dreamy, blundering Albert, a waiter, though he pays little attention to her. Philibert plans to marry his daughter to a wealthy Parisian, but upon learning that Albert is to come into a large inheritance, he conspires to place him under a longterm contract, confident that he willingly will pay a forfeit to break it.

Playboy of Paris

1930

No artwork available
9.0

While trying to nab a gang of diamond smugglers, the police are notified by Scotland Yard that the gang's leader, a beautiful Englishwoman who was on her way to the States to take control of the gang, has been caught. Because the American gangsters don't know what their English boss looks like, the police persuade a female impersonator to pretend to be her and infiltrate the gang.

Maid to Order

1931

Behind the camera

Singing River poster
10.0

Outlaw Sam Hemp attempts to induce homesteader Lang Rush, faced with foreclosure due to drought, to rob the bank as restitution. The exchange escalates into a gunfight leaving Sam and his wealthy friend, Drayton, dead. Fleeing to the mountains and the refuge of a deserted shack near Singing River Lang prospects for silver. Another former homesteader, Bert Condon, trails Lang in the hope of collecting a $5,000 reward, but befriends the fugitive and assists in filing Lang's claim when he strikes ore. On his return to town, Lang rescues the sheriff's daughter, Alice Thornton, from Hemp's gang and defeats their leader, L. W. Bransom, in a fistfight. He then clears himself of the murder charge and wins Alice.

Singing River

1920

Peck's Bad Girl poster
NR

Minnie Penelope Peck, the village scamp of Yaptank, accompanies her father to the bank to demand the nine dollars owed him for his work as a night watchman. When the bank president refuses to pay Peck, Minnie posts a sign which states that the bank is insolvent, whereupon all of the depositors immediately demand their money. The fire department is called in to quell the mob, but things get worse when Minnie accidentally turns on the fire hose.....

Peck's Bad Girl

1918

No artwork available
10.0

Richard Barr, who lives in the suburbs of New York, and John Colville, honest directors of a dishonestly managed corporation, are fighting to save their own investments and those of small individual shareholders from ruin. They are holding a very important meeting that will last well into the night.

Thieves

1914

The Price She Paid poster
NR

At the death of John Gower, his widow and daughter, Mildred, find themselves with only a few thousand dollars, as the family lived almost up to the limit of Cower's income. Mildred's mother tells her it is necessary that she marry money. Mildred is fond of Stanley Baird, but her hopes in this direction are shattered by the announcement of his engagement to another woman. Mrs. Gower marries Presbury, an elderly man who thinks she is wealthy, and when he learns the truth he begins taunting Mildred until she is willing to do anything to escape from her humiliating position.

The Price She Paid

1917

Sunshine Nan poster
NR

Nance Molloy's cheerful disposition, in sharp contrast to the slum near the cathedral where she and her parents make their home, earns her the nickname "Sunshine Nan." However, her fights with the cathedral choirboys, led by MacPherson Clark, gets her into trouble. For interfering in a family squabble, she and her pal, Dan Lewis, are sent to reform school for five years, and upon her release, she becomes a stenographer in the elder Clark's shoe factory. Dan meanwhile has taken a job in the factory's chemical department, where he invents a dye process that promises to make him rich.

Sunshine Nan

1918

Let's Get a Divorce poster
NR

A bit too immature for marriage, Cyprienne allows her pretty head to be turned by an egotistical fop. The girl demands that her husband Prunelles grant her a divorce, but he devises a scheme to bring her back into the matrimonial fold.

Let's Get a Divorce

1918

The Mountain Woman poster
10.0

In the hills of Kentucky, Alexander McGivens, known as "the girl in pants," is reared by her father as if she were a boy. When her father, Aaron, is wounded in a fight with Bud Sellers, the girl undertakes to get her father's logs to market with the help of a crew from the lumber camp. Her numerous suitors include a young Irishman, Jerry O'Keefe, roughneck Jase Mallows, and a wealthy young easterner, Jack Halloway. After delivering the logs, she entrusts her money to the repentant Bud Sellers, and on her return trip she is captured by Mallows and his followers. She finally reaches home, where she offers her hand to O'Keefe, the soft-spoken mountaineer.

The Mountain Woman

1921

The Lesson poster
NR

Bored by the slow pace of life in her little home town, Helen Drayton rebels when her friends and relatives assume that she will marry her friend and escort, Chet Vernon. Helen is so anxious to experience life in the big city that she falls in love with visiting New York architect John Galvin almost immediately after his arrival. Several weeks later, the two marry and move to New York, where, after a series of painful experiences, Helen finally realizes John's selfishness.

The Lesson

1918

A Woman's Woman poster
NR

A woman finds herself being a unpaid skivvy to her husband, two daughters and her son.

A Woman's Woman

1922

By the Sun's Rays poster
4.8

The earliest surviving film featuring Lon Chaney in a major role, By the Sun's Ray's was but one of several 2-reel westerns starring the florid Murdock MacQuarrie. MacQuarrie plays a detective investigating a series of gold shipment robberies. Along the way, he falls for a mine superintendent's pretty daughter (Agnes Vernon), much to the dismay of a sullen mine office clerk (Chaney), who is also smitten with the girl...

By the Sun's Rays

1914

No artwork available
9.0

A railroad plant is set afire by striking workmen, and the firemen are prevented from extinguishing the flames by the infuriated strikers. The troops are called out and martial law prevails.

The Seal of Silence

1913

The Price of a Party poster
9.0

An unscrupulous broker discovers his hated business rival has secured a valuable option in Brazil and determines to delay the latter in New York until it expires. He uses a cabaret dancer to use her wiles to keep him there.

The Price of a Party

1924

No artwork available
10.0

Mary Walton finds herself in a dire situation when her first husband falls seriously ill. In a misguided and desperate attempt to secure the resources or help needed to save her ailing husband, she becomes a bigamist by marrying another man. Things do not turn out well.

The Woman

1913

Old Mammy's Secret Code poster
NR

Jim Black, learning that his rival, David Durard, son of Colonel Durard, wealthy Southern wholesale grocers, has won the heart of Marion, plans to separate the lovers before war breaks out.

Old Mammy's Secret Code

1913

No artwork available
NR

The youthful monarch, Edward IV of England, is treacherously advised by Sir Stephen Fitz Allen, who is the King's boon companion, in favor of turning down the offer of Louis XI to cease the controversy that has been pending so long. The King, Edward IV, follows the advice of his companion and the French messenger meets with an insult, returning to the French court in a quandary.

The Higher Law

1914

Know Your Men poster
7.0

Warren Schuyler, a wealthy widower in a small Eastern town, is highly-respected until the citizens are financially ruined by devaluation of the oil stock he sold them. His daughter Ellen's New York socialite fiance' Roy Phelps deserts her after her father dies, but fellow townsman John Barrett comes to her aid, and she marries him out of gratitude. After three years of irritation from her mother-in-law, she again meets Roy and is persuaded to leave her husband and child, but on perceiving Roy's fraudulence, and following a serious illness, she reunites with John.

Know Your Men

1921

No artwork available
NR

Colonel Crewe, in charge of a fort near the Mexican border, receives word that some Chinese are about to be smuggled across the line. He details Lieutenant Hurd to attend to the matter. Hurd, with a few soldiers, succeeds in capturing the Chinese, among whom is a Christianized girl, Moon Chew. She falls in love with Hurd.

The Sign of the Snake

1913

No artwork available
8.0

King Louis XI of France is beset with the idea that his uncle, the aged King Rene, is trafficking with England and Burgundy against the French throne. The fourth installment in The Adventures of Francois Villon.

The Ninety Black Boxes

1914

The Adventurous Sex poster
10.0

A young man spends so much time at work on his airplane that he neglects his girl. She goes out on her own to live the high life, but her reputation is soiled by an adventurer. The young woman resolves to kill herself, and throws herself into the water rushing towards Niagara Falls, but is saved at the last minute by her former sweetheart.

The Adventurous Sex

1925

The Battle of Gettysburg poster
1.0

A young woman's sweetheart fights for the Union Army, while her brother fights for the Confederates.

The Battle of Gettysburg

1913

The Oubliette poster
3.3

Francois Villon, vagabond, poet and philosopher, and his friend Colin, leave the vagabond camp and start for Paris. En route to that city, Villon's heart is touched at sight of the eviction of an elderly couple from their poor home. Whereupon he empties his own and Colin's purse, pays the Beadle, and then resume their journey. Overcome with the pangs of hunger, they "lift " the purses of a couple of corpulent monks. For this breach of law both Villon and Colin are arrested and thrown into prison. This film and By the Sun's Rays are two of Chaney's earliest surviving films.

The Oubliette

1914

The Tiger's Cub poster
10.0

Queen of the serials Pearl White gets herself into plenty of trouble up Klondike way as a young maiden named Tiger's Cub.

The Tiger's Cub

—

The Dark Mirror poster
8.0

New York society member Priscilla Maine is troubled by strange dreams in which she vividly sees members of the underworld involved in a murder. She confides this to her admirer, Dr. Philip Fosdick, who undertakes to solve the mystery.

The Dark Mirror

1920

The Way of a Mother poster
NR

A woman is injured escaping her abusive husband and wanders the forest in a daze but loses her baby. Indians find her baby and rear the child as their own. Years later the mother is now married to an army colonel and living in a fort. A conflict with local the tribe breaks out and the woman discovers that their chief is her lost child.

The Way of a Mother

1913

No artwork available
NR

Prince Tonio of Bothalia, a mythical kingdom in the Balkan Mountains, escapes an arranged marriage to Princess Athalia, the elderly daughter of a neighboring king. Filled with wanderlust, he becomes a sailor and goes to San Francisco where he meets a young singer...

The Vagabond Prince

1916

Black Is White poster
10.0

A man's jealousy of his wife ruins their marriage. She leaves, taking a new name and beginning anew. Years later, they meet, but the husband does not know it is she. They marry, with the wife hoping that time has changed her husband for the better.

Black Is White

1920

Peggy poster
NR

The heroine, Peggy Cameron, is a high-society debutante with a mind of her own. After making a public spectacle of herself once too often, Peggy is bundled off to Scotland, where she is to be looked after by her no-nonsense uncle Andrew Cameron (William H. Thompson). If Peggy's family had hoped that she would straighten up and behave herself in Scotland, they were sorely mistaken. Restored in 2018 by the Academy Film Archive with restoration funding provided by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.

Peggy

1916

The Studio Girl poster
NR

The original play's French locale was changed to New England, where Celia Laird resides with her two overprotective aunts. When artist Frazer Ordway arrives in town, he falls in love with Celia -- much to the dismay of the aunts, who'd intended the girl to marry a local millionaire.

The Studio Girl

1918

The Spite Bride poster
9.0

Tessa Doyle, an innocent country girl who has come to New York and joined a vaudeville sister act, becomes embroiled in a scheme to earn money at her partner Trixie Dennis' insistence.

The Spite Bride

1919

Jane's Declaration of Independence poster
7.0

Emphasizing themes of female independence and the esteem due to the men serving in the armed forces, the plot involves a strong-willed young woman (Agnes Vernon) who defies her father in order to marry a soldier (Hobart Henly) instead of the well-to-do suitor preferred by her father. JANE offers glimpses of soldiers on parade at the then-newly built Fort Winfield Scott and other rare views of the Presidio from a century ago

Jane's Declaration of Independence

1915

Just for Tonight poster
7.0

Theodore Whitney, Sr. asks his son Theodore, "Ted" Jr., to search for a missing stock certificate. During his search Ted meets and falls in love with Betty Blake, the niece of Major Blackburn, whose home was recently robbed. When a detective disguised as British nobleman Lord Roxenham arrives to investigate the case, Ted bribes the officer to let him play the role for one night so that he may be near Betty. As the love-struck young man is romancing his sweetheart, Lady Roxenham suddenly arrives, alienating Betty and throwing Ted into a panic. Lady Roxenham agrees to participate in the deception, but later Ted spies her breaking into the major's safe. After he alerts the household, she and the butler are revealed as notorious thieves. As the dust settles Ted and Betty confirm their love for each other.

Just for Tonight

1918

No artwork available
8.0

A story of Puritan village life. The son of a minister wins a girl away from her devoted fisherman. Orphaned, she is adopted by the minister, and when her child is born refuses to reveal the father's name. She is cast out by the minister and scorned by the people. When her child is dying the fisherman comes back to her with unfaltering love, and the minister's son meets a tragic death at the hands of the Indians.

The Transgressor

1913

Somewhere in France poster
NR

Wicked Frenchwoman Marie Chaumontel is the mistress of Captain Henry Ravignac. She steals some papers from him, which she gives to the Germans. Then she escapes to Berlin while her lover is tried for her wrongdoing. He is found guilty of neglect, and he commits suicide. His brother, Lieutenant Charles Ravignac swears revenge, and he becomes a counterspy by going to work for the Germans.

Somewhere in France

1916

Honor Thy Name poster
NR

The pride of his aristocratic Southern family, a young man shatters his family's hopes by marrying a Broadway vamp known as "The Moth." The young man's father then plots to rescue his unwitting son from "The Moth's" clutches, but at great sacrifice.

Honor Thy Name

1916

No artwork available
3.0

When jealousy and envy lead Mary Vantyne to make a foolish decision and commit an impulsive act she sets off a series of events that nearly bring heartbreak to all those in her circle.

The Thief

1920

A Perfect 36 poster
NR

The plot involves Mabel's clothes being stolen in a mix-up while she was swimming, necessitating her spending most of the time running around clad only in her swimsuit trying to straighten everything out

A Perfect 36

1918

Upstairs and Down poster
7.0

Alice Chesterton is described as a "Baby Vamp" by the social set and engaged to boring Tom Carey. She flirts with many of the male guests idling at the Ives' Long Island house party, then encourages Terence O'Keefe, a playboy polo player from Ireland, to rendezvous with her in the city; they are seen together at the "Midnight Frolic". Because of this, Mrs. Ives convinces Alice's newly-arrived sister Betty to look after Alice.

Upstairs and Down

1919

The Honeymoon poster
NR

Immediately after Susan Lane becomes Mrs. Richard Greer, she grows jealous when she sees her husband talking to Marion Starr, one of her bridesmaids. Susan's brother Phil wishes to marry Marion, but is entangled with actress Maizie Middleton. Consequently, Dick Greer agrees to see Maizie, whose troupe is playing Niagara, and attempts to buy her off.

The Honeymoon

1917

Civilization's Child poster
8.0

After an idyllic mountain life in Russia, Berna goes to live with her uncle in the Jewish section of Kiev, arriving just as Cossacks massacre most of the Jews in the city. Berna escapes to New York and works at a sweatshop controlled by Boss Jim McManus, but he seduces her, then throws her out on the street, and she becomes a prostitute. Berna later marries Nicolay Turgenev, a young musician,

Civilization's Child

1916

Scandal poster
NR

Harmlessly flirting with a worldly artist, Beatrix is outraged when he tries to put the moves on her, and she storms indignantly out of his Greenwich Village studio. Alas, her visits to the lecherous artist have already stirred up gossip, so to allay suspicions Beatrix claims that she has come to New York to visit a family friend, Pelham Franklin.

Scandal

1917