The Swellhead
1930 film directed by James Flood

The Swellhead is a 1930 American pre-Code sports film directed by James Flood and starring James Gleason, Johnnie Walker, and Marion Shilling. It is also known by the alternative title of Counted Out.
Cast
James Gleason as Johnny Trump
Johnnie Walker as Bill 'Cyclone' Hickey
Marion Shilling as Mamie Judd
Natalie Kingston as Barbara Larkin
Paul Hurst as Mugsy
Freeman Wood as Clive Warren
Lillian Elliott as Mrs. Callahan
Preservation status
A copy is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
The public source identifies “The Swellhead” as 1930 film directed by James Flood. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Swellhead, film and directed.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Swellhead”, the useful work is to connect “1930 film directed by James Flood” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q54895011. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Swellhead”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Swellhead primary sources, The Swellhead archive and Swellhead research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Swellhead”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Swellhead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.