Sam Taylor
Directing
Biography
Sam Taylor (August 13, 1895 – March 6, 1958) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, most active in the silent film era. Taylor is best known for his comedic directorial work with Harold Lloyd and Mary Pickford, and also later worked with Laurel and Hardy. He was born in New York City. A notorious cinematic legend over the decades has suggested that Taylor's 1929 adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew had the screen credit "additional dialogue by Sam Taylor". However, no extant prints of the film contain this credit, and there is no documentary evidence that it ever existed. Taylor directed eight feature films with Lloyd as star, with a number of them being co-directing with Fred C. Newmeyer. Taylor also directed Pickford in her first "talkie" feature with Coquette (1929), which garnered the latter an Academy Award. Taylor died at the age of 62 in Santa Monica, California.
Known For
Harold Meadows is a shy, stuttering bachelor working in a tailor shop, who is writing a guidebook, The Secret of Making Love, for other bashful young men. Fate has him meet rich girl Mary, and they fall in love. But she is about to wed an already married man, so our hero embarks upon a hair-raising daredevil ride to prevent the wedding.
Girl Shy
When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.
Safety Last!
Country doctor Jack Jackson is called in to treat the Sick-Little-Well-Girl, who has been making Dr. Saulsbourg and his sanitarium very rich after years of unsuccessful treatment.
Dr. Jack
A hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead.
Why Worry?
An ambitious coat-room checker impersonates an English nobleman.
Among Those Present
A young Frenchwoman is determined to get into and stay in show business, no matter what. Then she's determined to win a recently divorced man's heart... again, no matter what.
Kiki
A young man schemes to drum up business for his girlfriend's employer but after seeing her being intimate with another man, he attempts to commit suicide.
Never Weaken
Lloyd's look at married life and the issues of the in-law. Adventures include a ride on a crowded trolley with a live turkey; A wild spin in a new auto with the in-laws in tow. Finally, a sequence in which Hubby accidentally chloroforms his mother-in-law and becomes convinced that he's killed her!
Hot Water
Comic adventures of newlyweds and children.
I Do
A Southern belle's flirtation with a working man leads to tragedy.
Coquette
An unathletic college freshman ridiculed by his peers for his mannerisms strives to become popular by making the football team.
The Freshman
An irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.
For Heaven's Sake
Josephine Spiggins is thinking of marrying John Spear, the stuffed-shirt son of a department store owner. When John's free-spirit brother Tony returns from touring the South Seas in his boat, the "Vagabond Lady," Jo is attracted to him instead.
Vagabond Lady
Intricate, soapy drama of romance, heartbreak, and murder amongst a diverse group of sweepstakes winners visiting a newspaper tycoon's estate.
Devil's Lottery
The travails of a third-rate traveling theatre company and its wardrobe lady / maid who dreams of stepping in as their melodramatic production's (Flaming Women) female lead.
Exit Smiling
Skyline is a 1931 drama film directed by Sam Taylor and starring silent film veteran Thomas Meighan. It is based on a novel, East Side, West Side by Felix Riesenberg. It was produced and released by Fox Film Corporation.
Skyline
Two bumbling servants are hired by a dizzy society matron to cook and serve a meal for visiting royalty.
Nothing But Trouble
Jeannette Vaubernier, an impulsive shopgirl en route to deliver a hat, dreams of luxury and position as she saunters through the woods, and attracted by a pool of water, she disrobes and plunges in. Cosse de Brissac, a handsome private in the King's Guards, comes to her rescue and they become sweethearts. Meanwhile, Jean Du Barry, a shrewd roué, takes note of her at the millinery shop and tricks her into staying at La Gourda's, where she soon becomes a favorite among the men.
Du Barry, Woman of Passion
In the final days of Czarist Russia, a peasant is raised from the ranks to Lieutenant. The other officers, aristocrats all, resent him, and make his life difficult. He falls in love with a princess, who spurns him. When he is caught in her room, he is stripped of his rank and thrown into prison. Then comes the Red Terror, and the tables are turned.
Tempest
A meek young man must find the courage within when a rogue tramp menaces his hometown.