Beyond the Rocks | |
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![]() Poster for the film. | |
Directed by | Sam Wood |
Written by | Jack Cunningham (scenario) |
Based on | Beyond the Rocks: A Love Story by Elinor Glyn |
Produced by | Jesse L. Lasky |
Starring | Rudolph Valentino Gloria Swanson |
Cinematography | Alfred Gilks |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes (2005 alternate version) 76 minutes (DVD edition) |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent with English intertitles |
Beyond the Rocks is a 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Sam Wood, starring Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. It is based on the 1906 novel of the same name by Elinor Glyn. [1] Beyond the Rocks was long considered lost but a nitrate print of the film was discovered in the Netherlands in 2003. The film was restored and released on DVD by Milestone Film & Video in 2006.
Captain Fitzgerald, a retired guardsman on a modest pension, has to support three daughters: Theodora and her older half-sisters. Theodora's sisters pin their hopes on her marrying a wealthy man.
One day, Theodora goes out on a rowboat off the coast of Dorset and falls into the water. She is rescued by Lord Hector Bracondale. He is young, handsome and wealthy, but "not the marrying kind". Out of a sense of duty to her beloved father, she reluctantly agrees to wed the middle-aged, short, stout Josiah Brown, a former grocer's assistant who is now a multi-millionaire.
They honeymoon in the Alps. By coincidence, Bracondale stops at the same inn. Rich American widow Jane McBride persuades the young bride to accompany her on a climbing excursion. Theodora slips and dangles precariously by her safety line over a cliff. Bracondale appears and climbs down to her, but they are too heavy for the others to pull up. Bracondale has them lower him and Theodora to a ledge below. While they wait for more help to arrive, Theodora tells Bracondale (who does not initially recognize her) where they last met.
They meet a third time in Paris, and finally acknowledge their love for each other. However, Theodora refuses to run away with Bracondale.
Bracondale strives to do the right thing. He asks his sister, Lady Anningford, to befriend Theodora. Lady Anningford invites the Browns to her country estate. Bracondale, however, cannot stay away. He tries once again to persuade Theodora to change her mind, without success. Meanwhile, Josiah is persuaded by another guest, renowned explorer Sir Lionel Grey, to fund his dangerous expedition. Bracondale leaves, and Josiah is called away on business. Theodora writes a letter to each; to Bracondale, she declares her love, but stresses once more that it cannot be fulfilled. Morella Winmarleigh, who desires Bracondale for herself, secretly opens the letters and, after perusing them, switches them.
After Bracondale reads the message meant for Josiah, he rushes to stop Josiah from reading his, but is too late. Josiah accuses Bracondale of stealing his wife, but the nobleman denies that Theodora has been unfaithful.
After further consideration, Josiah decides to put his wife's happiness ahead of his own and joins Grey's expedition to Northern Africa. His death makes it possible for the young lovers to be together.
While the book mostly takes place at dinner parties, picnics and balls, the film version changes many of the events to take place during perilous outdoor sports. Relatedly, the book's Bracondale never saves Theodora's life, as there is no particular danger for her to get into. Josiah in the book is chronically ill and dies after a long period of health problems; in the film he dies relatively quickly during an ambush while in Africa. The film also has added historical sequences, inspired by Cecil B. DeMille's work. [2] Director Sam Wood had been an assistant director for DeMille.
Beyond the Rocks was considered a lost film. In the last years of her life Gloria Swanson professed a desire to see Beyond the Rocks with a modern audience primarily because much interest lingered for Valentino especially at the 50th anniversary of his death in 1976. The film was unavailable and considered lost at the time, save for a one-minute portion for the better part of the twentieth century until a print was found in the Netherlands in 2003. [3] Gloria Swanson died in 1983.
The film was restored by the Nederlands Filmmuseum and the Haghefilm Conservation. It turned up among about two thousand rusty film canisters donated by an eccentric Dutch collector, Joop van Liempd of Haarlem. It was given its first modern screening in 2005. [4]
The restored version was released on DVD in 2006. [5]
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella, known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,The Sheik,Blood and Sand,The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik.
Gloria Josephine Mae Swanson was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for her 1950 turn in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which also earned her a Golden Globe Award.
This is an overview of 1922 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Beyond the Rocks is a 1906 novel by Elinor Glyn. The novel was later adapted into a 1922 silent film in which Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino starred together for the only time. The film was directed by Sam Wood and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Hollywood is a British television documentary miniseries produced by Thames Television and originally broadcast on ITV in 1980. Written and directed by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, it explored the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and their cultural impact during the silent film era of the 1910s and '20s. At the 1981 BAFTA TV Awards, the series won for Best Original Television Music and was nominated for Best Factual Series, Best Film Editing and Best Graphics.
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Julia Faye Maloney, known professionally as Julia Faye, was an American actress of silent and sound films. She was known for her appearances in more than 30 Cecil B. DeMille productions. Her various roles ranged from maids and ingénues to vamps and queens.
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Osmond Hudson Borradaile was a Canadian cameraman, cinematographer, and veteran of World War I and World War II.
Thomas Meighan was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading-man roles opposite popular actresses of the day, including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 per week.
Don't Change Your Husband is a 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was the third of six "marriage films" directed by DeMille and the first DeMille film starring Gloria Swanson. A print of the film is stored at the George Eastman House. The film was released on DVD by Image Entertainment with The Golden Chance. A Chinese silent film, Don't Change Your Husband (1929), used the same English title, and a similar plot arc.
For Better, for Worse is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was the second of four "marriage films" directed by DeMille and the second DeMille film starring Gloria Swanson. For Better, for Worse was adapted for the screen by William C. DeMille. Jeanie MacPherson wrote the film's scenario.
Something to Think About is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Elliott Dexter and Gloria Swanson. Prints of the film exist at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, and at the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.
Return to Babylon is a 2013 black-and-white silent film about the silent film era. It was directed by Alex Monty Canawati. It stars an ensemble cast of Jennifer Tilly, María Conchita Alonso, Ione Skye, Debi Mazar, Laura Harring, and Tippi Hedren.
Society for Sale is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring William Desmond and Gloria Swanson. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.
Eyes of Youth is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Albert Parker and starring Clara Kimball Young. The film was based on the stage play Eyes of Youth, performed on Broadway in 1917-18 and starred Marjorie Rambeau. This film also features Rudolph Valentino in a role as a thief/con artist.
A Society Scandal is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan, and starring Gloria Swanson and Rod La Rocque. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film is based on a 1922 play The Laughing Lady, by Alfred Sutro which starred Ethel Barrymore in 1923 on Broadway and originally in 1922 with Edith Evans in UK.
A Trip to Paramountown is a 1922 American short silent documentary film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released through Paramount Pictures, to celebrate 10 years of Paramount's founding. The film runs about 20 minutes and features many personalities then under contract to Famous Players–Lasky and Paramount.