Five Silent Films Premiere on the NFPF Website: Starring Clara Bow, Richard Barthelmess, Corinne Griffith, and Hank Mann
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Clara Bow is unlucky at cards but lucky in love in Poisoned Paradise (1924).
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To celebrate Silent Movie Day the National Film Preservation Foundation is proud to present five new silent films in our online screening room. All were preserved with NFPF support and all but one are appearing online—and on video—for the very first time. The HD videos are presented with notes and new scores by Michael Mortilla and Ben Model, two of the finest silent film accompanists working today. The titles include three features—Poisoned Paradise (1924), a melodrama starring Clara Bow; The Fighting Blade (1923), a costume drama starring and produced by Richard Barthlemess; A Virgin’s Sacrifice (1922), a frozen north saga starring Corinne Griffith—and two shorts: the Hank Mann comedy Way Out West (1920) and Oakland Newsreels (1914–21), a compilation of rare surviving footage from Bay Area newsfilms.
Poisoned Paradise: The Forbidden Story of Monte Carlo marks Clara Bow’s first leading role in Hollywood. Made for B.P. Schulberg’s low-budget independent studio Preferred Pictures, the film proved Bow could easily carry a feature with her vivid, emotional performance. She plays a young woman cleaned out at Monte Carlo’s card tables, who becomes housekeeper to an artist with a formula for beating the odds. Among the villains pursuing her is Martel “the Rat,” played by the great silent comedian Raymond Griffith (Hands Up!, 1926). Handling cinematography is another major talent on the way to the top, Karl Struss (Sunrise, 1927). Poisoned Paradise was preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Stanford Theatre Foundation, with funding through Saving the Silents, a collaborative project organized by the NFPF and supported by the Save America’s Treasures program. Ben Model provides the score, along with that of Way Out West.
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Richard Barthelmess seeks vengeance in The Fighting Blade (1923).
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Also preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive is The Fighting Blade. Set in the 1640s, during the English Civil War (though actually filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a former rival to Hollywood), the film stars Richard Barthelmess as a Dutch soldier of fortune in England on a mission of vengeance. He finds himself dueling with the Royalist guardians of a cross-dressing heiress (played by Dorothy Mackaill) and enlisted by Oliver Cromwell to infiltrate a castle of Cavaliers. The Fighting Blade was produced by Inspiration Pictures, the production company Barthelmess co-founded to produce Tol’able David (1921); it was one of 18 features he starred in and produced. Handling direction is John S. Robertson, whose credits range from the John Barrymore Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) to the religious drama Captain Salvation (1927). The new score is by Michael Mortilla, who also scored A Virgin’s Sacrifice and Oakland Newsreels.
A Virgin’s Sacrifice features “the orchid lady of the screen” Corinne Griffith, who Gloria Swanson considered the only truly beautiful star in Hollywood. Griffith was also a skilled businesswoman, who would later form a production company of her own and make an even bigger fortune (along with several bizarre headlines) after leaving Hollywood. Made in 1922 by the Vitagraph Company, itself founded in 1897, A Virgin’s Sacrifice exemplifies the sort of vehicle that brought Griffith to stardom. Directed by her husband Webster Campbell and set in the Arctic Circle, the film has Griffith playing a rifle-toting woman who convinces a government researcher to pose as her husband, to protect her from a villainous poacher claiming to be the father of her child. “Beautiful snow scenes, plenty of good action, attractive star. What more could you want?” asked one reviewer. A Virgin’s Sacrifice was preserved by George Eastman Museum, with funding from Saving the Silents.
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Corinne Griffith prepares to make A Virgin's Sacrifice (1922).
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Way Out West (1920) stars Keystone-alumnus Hank Mann, “the comedian’s comedian of the silent era,” instantly recognizable by his brush mustache and bowl haircut. The film was part of a series of Mann comedies made for the Arrow Film Co., which would eventually become Monogram Pictures. Vernon Dent plays “A Rip-Roaring Bad Man” who must be apprehended by “Tenderfoot” Mann. The director is Charles Parrott, who four years later would reinvent himself as the great comic star Charley Chase. Way Out West was preserved by the Library of Congress through an NFPF preservation grant. The film note is by film historian and silent slapstick expert Steve Massa.
Oakland Newsreels compiles six stories, from approximately 1914 to 1921, produced by three newsreel companies that operated in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the News Weekly, produced by the Oakland Tribune newspaper, comes “A minute with Jack Dempsey” showing the world heavyweight boxing champion in a home purchased by his manager, Jack “Doc” Kearns. Another story, about a fire escape at the California Institute for Deaf and Blind that could eject 150 students a minute, is a rare surviving item from the Golden Gate Weekly, a newsreel produced by The California Motion Picture Corporation. Based in San Rafael, north of San Francisco, the independent studio produced the early feature Salomy Jane (1914), but most of its output was lost in a vault fire.
Put all those films together and you have nearly five hours of moving images to help you enjoy your Silent Movie Day. Be on the lookout for more films in the months ahead!
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Hank Mann finds himself out of funds Way Out West (1920)
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Founded in 2021 and registered with National Day Archives, Silent Movie Day is an annual celebration of silent movies that anyone can take part in. Advocating for the presentation and preservation of silent film, Silent Movie Day has grown into an international movement. Consult its website to learn more about silent film screenings near you.