Picture Brides
Cast & Crew
Phil Rosen
Dorothy Mackaill
Regis Toomey
Alan Hale
Dorothy Libaire
Harvey Clark
Film Details
Synopsis
At the Stand Diamond Mine in Lotograsso, South America, the half-breed Mataeo pours milk into the sleeping mouth of her drunken father Doc Rogers. The white men at the mine, all escaped criminals, await the arrival of white women, "picture brides" coming in on the next boat. Brownie, an ex-prizefighter, heads off to pick them up. On the boat, the "brides" discuss their new husbands. Mary Lee, a young innocent, thinks she is going to the mine to work as a hostess, but Mame informs her otherwise. At the mine, Dave Hart, a partner in the mine, gets word that the women are on the way. Dave is marrying one of the women based on a bet he made with his partner, the sadistic Van Luden. As the women travel with Brownie through the jungle, the car breaks down, forcing them to walk the last few miles. At the mine office, Van Luden fires one of the natives, and when he talks back, Van Luden shoots him and orders him thrown into the swamp. Dave arrives and tells Doc to take the native back to his hut. Mame, realizing the kind Dave is her husband-to-be, switches cards with the shanghaied Mary and tells Brownie all. Inside the office, Van Luden tells Dave that American detectives are looking for him, giving him his wanted poster. The women then are brought in to be matched to their husbands, with Van Luden thinking innocent Mary is for him. Mame tells him otherwise, and Van Luden rejects her. Dave decides to send Mary back, but changes his mind and marries her along with the others. At the wedding reception, Van Luden learns that he has been deceived and has his henchman, Castro, trick Mary into his bedroom. As he tries to rape her, Mame hears her screams and awakens Dave, who rescues her. Brownie, falling for Mame, offers her his room in Dave's house. Van Luden, as revenge, sends for the American detectives to take Dave and Brownie away. Dave learns of Mary's true plight, and she his, as they genuinely become man and wife. Brownie, meanwhile, proposes to Mame, giving her a fifteen-carat raw diamond engagement gift. Dave tells Van Luden that he and Mary are leaving on the next boat and asks for his $250,000 share of the mine. Van Luden agrees, knowing the detectives will be on that boat. While Mataeo celebrates her eighteenth birthday with a new dress and hairdo, courtesy of Mame and Mary, Van Luden tricks her into his bedroom, then rapes and kills her. The next day, the natives bring Mataeo's body back from the swamps to her father, who discovers cloth from Van Luden's bed in her hand. As the detectives prepare to take Dave and Brownie away, Doc arrives and kills Van Luden. Dave gives the detectives the $150,000 he had embezzled, plus the reward money. Brownie, his new partner in the mine, is told to sell the mine and he hopes that Dave will be able to get him probation as well, as "a wedding gift." As they leave for America, Mame asks Dave and Mary to send her "a baby buggy with bumpers."
Director
Phil Rosen
Cast
Dorothy Mackaill
Regis Toomey
Alan Hale
Dorothy Libaire
Harvey Clark
Will Ahern
Mary Kornman
Esther Muir
Mae Busch
Gladys Ahern
Fred Malatesta
Viva Tattersall
Al Hill
Michael Visaroff
Brooks Benedict
Franklin Parker
Larry Mcgrath
Jimmy Aubrey
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although Fred Malatesta's character name in the onscreen credits is "Portega," in the film itself, as well as the Variety review, he is called "Castro." According to the Variety review, the film was set in a Brazilian diamond outpost, though this was not stated in the film.
