F. McGrew Willis
Writing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia F. McGrew Willis (August 18, 1891 – October 13, 1957) was an American screenwriter of the silent and early sound film eras. Born Frank McGrew Willis on August 18, 1891, in Pleasanton, Iowa, he broke into the film industry writing film shorts in 1914 and 1915 as a freelance screenwriter. His first feature credit came in 1915, with The Quest, the first of three features he would pen in 1915. Over the next fourteen years he would write the scripts or stories for 43 silent films, three of which, The Girl in the Pullman (1927), Annapolis (1928), and A Blonde for a Night (1928), he also produced for either De Mille Pictures and/or Pathé Exchange. He would also produce another three films in 1928. In 1929, and through the next 6 years of the blossoming talking picture era, he would write the screenplays or stories for another 18 films. In the late 1930s he would work in England, where he scripted 6 films during the remainder of the decade. His final screenwriting credit would come on 1941's Sis Hopkins, for which he wrote the story. Willis died on October 13, 1957, in Menlo Park, California, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.
Known For

Director Christy Cabanne's 1933 film dramatizes one year in the lives of four midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Midshipman Jack

Marjorie North, a department store clerk, falls in love and has an affair with the store owner's son, Gordon Trenwith, but realizes when her baby is born without a name that he meant only to use her as a plaything.
Playthings

A London nightclub hostess pretends to fall for the mobster who killed her husband.
Murder in Soho

Three US sailors aboard a decoy ship fight German U-boats in World War I and try to win Sally who works on the Coney Island midway.
Suicide Fleet

An unsophisticated farm girl enrolls in college and stars in the campus musical.
Sis Hopkins

A rancher moves to the city, and finds competition for the affections of an heiress in the form of a doppelganger.
A Stranger from Somewhere

A cross-dressing farce, adapted from "Madame Lucy" by Jean Arlette, in which to help a friend in a lawsuit, Jack Mitchell disguises himself as the mysterious "Madame Brown," a missing witness important to the case of the plaintiff. He attracts the romantic attention of two old roués and one hot Broadway showgirl.
Madame Behave

John Douglas, a high-society playboy, is a cynic concerning the women of his social set, and has a pictured ideal of the girl of his dreams. Wising to avoid the upcoming social season, he hops a freighter bound for the Orient. It sinks in mid-ocean and he, as the sole survivor, is washed upon a island, where he is rescued by Nia, daughter of the tribal chief, Neto.John is puzzled as all of the tribe are white people, but he learns from the tribal chief they are descendant's of English-origin who also are on the island because of a ship wreck a few hundred years ago.
The Quest

Henry Williams, out in Arizona looking for a cure for his imaginary ills, stops at the ranch of Jud Morgan, and decides to stay. Jud's daughter, Sally, attracts his attention, although she is engaged to be married to Sheriff Bob Wells. Henry rides with her to town, where she wants to go shopping for her wedding clothes, but they run out of gas. No, problem' Henry holds up a passing motorist, with a monkey-wrench, and takes gasoline out of his car. They stop at a ranch where the foreman makes them become the cook and dishwasher. Then Jerome Underwood and his daughter, Harriet, arrive and they recognize Henry and Sally as the ones who held them up for gas. The jealous sheriff adds to the complications.
The Nervous Wreck

James Gordon, Sr., owner of the Gordon syndicate, dispatches his roughneck son Jimmy to investigate why production has fallen off in his opal mine on an island off the coast of lower California. After an argument with his fiancée, socialite Lucy Andrews, Jimmy leaves for the island where he is met by Juan, McCool's servant who, along with Jasper Sneedham, has been cheating the company. On the launch, Juan tries to eliminate Jimmy by hitting him over the head, but the lad escapes and swims to shore where he is rescued by Sneedham's stepdaughter Nadine. Nadine takes Jimmy to the hut of mine foreman Fred Haimer, the only honest man on the island.
The Flame of Youth

Fred Prouty and his wife, Nettie, are living happily until the day that his aged father shows up on their doorstep. He immediately begins creating havoc, upsetting the once-orderly household and trying to force his opinions on everyone. Nettie does her best to be patient with the old man, but the day comes when he brings a group of his pals over while she is holding a meeting of a fashionable club.
Welcome Home

Marcia, a pretty young girl, goes to work as a model for a lecherous dress-shop owner. She resists his advances, despite his giving her expensive gifts. One day Mrs. Reilly, a prominent society woman and a customer of the shop, invites Marcia to a party she's throwing. Marcia winds up impersonating a famous writer in order to impress a "duke" for Mrs. Reilly, who doesn't know the "duke" isn't really a duke. Complications ensue.
Almost a Lady
In Paris a leading theatre impresario is murdered on opening night, shortly after replacing his leading lady. A police Inspector in the audience takes over the investigation. The film was shot at Elstree Studios. It was a close remake of the 1937 Austrian film Premiere and re-used a number of musical scenes from the original which were dubbed into English.
Premiere

Produced under the supervision of the U.S. Navy. James Randall, an upperclassman at the Naval Academy, falls in love with Patricia Lawrence, the sister of a plebe. She is engaged to Basil Courtney, a wealthy reprobate who arranges with Rita to discredit James.
The Midshipman

Blanche will inherit her aunt's large estate, providing that she gets married within 24 hours. She chooses to wed John, an old man living at a rest home who is not expected to live much longer.
Her Temporary Husband

Stage actors Della and Julian, while playing a series of one-night-stands, miss their train and the troupe on it. They move into a hotel. A fight breaks out.
Modern Love

A gambler, hopelessly in debt, agrees to pay off his debt by allowing his creditor to take out a life insurance policy on him and collecting once the one-year suicide clause has elapsed.
The Big Gamble

The Llano Kid is robbing stages but only taking money from Montana Slade's Cottonwood Mine. He then gives the money to those cheated by Slade. The Sheriff is after him and eventually obtains a picture and displays wanted posters and is soon after him.
When a Man Rides Alone

Henry Egbert Xerxes' big chance as a cub reporter comes when he is assigned to track down a gang of counterfeiters which gathers regularly at the Red Dog Inn. As he leaves the office, Henry witnesses a girl being dragged into a cab -- the same girl he had seen that morning passing counterfeit money. Henry follows, but on overtaking the cab, he finds it empty. At the Red Dog Inn, he discovers that the girl is being held captive. After a series of rough and tumble adventures with the resident thugs, he and the girl escape, after which he rushes home to write up the story. When it fails to appear in print, Henry storms into the city room only to discover that the entire business was a hoax, intended to test his reporter's instincts.
The Empty Cab

Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney pressure fellow student Fancourt Babberly to pose as Charley's Brazilian Aunt Donna Lucia. Their purpose is to have a chaperone for their amorous visits with Amy and Kitty, niece and ward of crusty Stephen Spettigue. Complications begin when Fancourt, in drag, becomes the love object of old Spettigue and Sir Francis Chesney.