Lionel Barrymore Archives

The Bells (1926)

Rating: ★★★

May 13, 2015Guilt-Haunted Murderer

Classic silent movie about a murderer haunted by his guilty conscience. The film's simplistic morality is rather hard to swallow today but the film is richly directed for its era and creates some wonderfully theatrical effects

Director: James Young

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Boris Karloff, Gustav von Seyffertitz

Category: Horror

13 May 201527 December 2025 by Roog

The Mysterious Island (1929)

Rating: ★★

Jul 5, 2016Underwater Adventures/City of Merpeople

The first film adaptation of Jules Verne's sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The original book is a desert island adventure story; the film throws all that out and has a story about Captain Nemo encountering a race of merpeople

Director: Benjamin Christensen, Lucien Hubbard

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Montagu Love

Category: Science Fiction

5 July 201619 May 2026 by Roog

Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Rating: ★★

Apr 8, 2001Vampires/Whodunnit

Dracula director Tod Browning reteams with Bela Lugosi in a remake of the silent London After Midnight. A vampire film that has much atmosphere but is ruined by a ridiculous ending

Director: Tod Browning

Actors: Bela Lugosi, Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allen, Lionel Atwill, …

Category: Horror

8 April 200110 August 2026 by Roog

The Devil-Doll (1936)

Rating: ★★★

Aug 28, 2001Miniaturised People/Revenge Drama

Tod Browning film in which Lionel Barrymore is an escaped convict who disguises himself as an old woman where he takes revenge using people shrunken to the size of dolls

Director: Tod Browning

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Henry B. Walthall, …

Category: Horror

28 August 200116 October 2025 by Roog

On Borrowed Time (1939)

Rating: ★★★½

Mar 30, 2002Man Captures Death

Unique light fantasy film in which aging Lionel Barrymore manages to imprison Death in a tree in his backyard

Director: Harold S. Bucquet

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Cedric Hardwicke, Beulah Bondi, Henry Travers, …

Category: Fantasy

30 March 200230 December 2022 by Roog

A Guy Named Joe (1943)

Rating: ★★★★

Jan 7, 2000Man Becomes Guardian Angel

Classic 1940s afterlife fantasy with Spencer Tracy as a pilot killed in action who is sent back as a guardian angel. This works fantastically well due to a great character arc and a sharp Dalton Trumbo script

Director: Victor Fleming

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Irene Dunne, Barry Nelson, …

Category: Fantasy

7 January 200015 February 2026 by Roog

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Rating: ★★★★

Nov 21, 2003Angel Presents an Alternate Life Pathway

Sentimental Frank Capra film that had become a Christmas classic where an angel shows depressed everyman James Stewart the alternate world that would happen if he had never been born

Director: Frank Capra

Actors: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers, …

Category: Fantasy

21 November 200328 November 2025 by Roog