Cecilia of the Pink Roses | |
---|---|
Directed by | Julius Steger |
Written by | S.M. Weller (scenario) |
Based on | Cecilia of the Pink Roses by Katharine Haviland Taylor |
Produced by | Marion Davies |
Starring | Marion Davies |
Production company | Marion Davies Film Corporation |
Distributed by | Select Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Cecilia of the Pink Roses is a lost [1] 1918 American silent drama film directed by Julius Steger and starring and produced by Marion Davies in her second feature film. It was distributed by Select Pictures. [2] It was based on the novel by Katherine Haviland Taylor. [3]
As described in a film magazine, [4] Cecilia's parents live very humbly in a tenement. The father is an inventive brick layer but can scarcely pay the expenses incident for the illness of the dying mother Mary (Kershaw). After her death all the cares fall on "Celie" (Davies), who tries to mother the brother and care for her father. Father McGowan (Sullivan), priest of the parish, is interested in the family and helps the father to sell an invention to his advantage. Celie is sent to a fashionable school where her crude manners make her unpopular. She meets Harry Twombly (Benham), who becomes interested in her. Her conduct is misunderstood and she becomes unhappy. She goes abroad and develops into a woman of fine ideals and a beautiful understanding of life. She sees in her father the man he wants to be, but is considerably worried about her brother, who drinks heavily. She meets Twombly again, and he wants to marry her, but she insists that he visit her home and meet her people. There she is greatly embarrassed by her brother's behavior and decides to refuse Twombly, but a miserable escapade of her brother's throws him into the hands of blackmailers where Twombly saves him. She is persuaded that happiness can only be found in their marriage and at last consents.
This was the first film collaboration between Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst and the first film made under the Marion Davies Film Company banner. The Santa Cruz Evening News reported on May 14, 1918, that "[a]fter Runaway Romany, Marion Davies has begun her second movie, Cecilia of the Pink Roses." [5] For the film's premiere, Hearst equipped the theater with electric fans that blew the scent of fresh roses into the audience by propping hundred of roses in front of the fans. [6]
Like many American films of the time, Cecilia of the Pink Roses was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 1, the thumbing of a nose and, in Reel 6, the two intertitles "Now sign this" etc. and "Then I will take the law into my own hands". [7]
Marion Davies was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl. As a teenager, she appeared in several Broadway musicals and one film, Runaway Romany (1917). She soon became a featured performer in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Louella Rose Oettinger, known professionally as Louella Parsons, was an American gossip columnist and a screenwriter. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide.
Show People is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by King Vidor. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was a starring vehicle for actress Marion Davies and actor William Haines and included notable cameo appearances by many of the film personalities of the day, including stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and John Gilbert, and writer Elinor Glyn. Vidor also appears in a cameo as himself, as does Davies.
Beyond the Rainbow is a 1922 American silent drama film starring Billie Dove, Harry T. Morey and Clara Bow in her film debut. A 16mm print of the film is in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Harry Benham was an American silent film actor.
Hell Bent is a 1918 American Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. A print of the film exists in the Czechoslovak Film Archive.
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 American silent romantic comedy film starring Mary Pickford that was directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion based upon a novel by Belle K. Maniates.
Beatrice Burton (1894–1983), also known as Beatrice Burton Morgan, was a writer of popular fiction active in the early decades of the 20th century. Burton also had a short career as an actress and later became a newspaper editor with her husband, Victor Morgan.
Lights of Old Broadway is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Monta Bell, produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film stars Marion Davies in a dual role and Conrad Nagel, and is an adaptation of the play The Merry Wives of Gotham by Laurence Eyre (USA). The film has color sequences using tinting, Technicolor, and the Handschiegl color process.
Brown of Harvard, also known as Tom Brown at Harvard, is a 1918 film based on the 1906 Broadway play Brown of Harvard by Rida Johnson Young and the novel by Young and Gilbert Colman. The Washington State University football team and its coach, William "Lone Star" Dietz, participated in filming while in Southern California for the 1916 Rose Bowl.
Little Old New York is a 1923 American silent historical drama film starring Marion Davies and directed by Sidney Olcott that was based on a play of the same name by Rida Johnson Young. The film was produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan production unit.
The Fair Co-Ed, also known as The Varsity Girl, is a 1927 American silent film comedy starring Marion Davies and released through MGM. The film was produced by William Randolph Hearst, through Cosmopolitan Productions and directed by Sam Wood. The film was released in a sound version in 1928 with a synchronized musical score with sound effects.
Rose of the World is a lost 1918 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount Pictures. It is based on the novels of Agnes and Egerton Castle. The film was directed by Maurice Tourneur and stars Elsie Ferguson.
Sporting Life is a lost 1918 American silent drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur. It is the first film for sisters Faire Binney and Constance Binney, from the Broadway stage. Tourneur would re-film this story again in 1925.
Yolanda is a 1924 American silent historical drama film produced by William Randolph Hearst and starring Marion Davies. Robert G. Vignola directed as he had Enchantment (1921) and several other Davies costume films. The film began production as a Metro-Goldwyn film, with the company becoming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 1924.
The Bride's Play is a 1922 American silent romance film produced by William Randolph Hearst as a starring vehicle for Marion Davies. It was directed by George Terwilliger and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is an extant film that is preserved at the Library of Congress.
Just Around the Corner is an extant 1921 American silent drama film produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film is based on a short story, "Superman," by Fannie Hurst and was directed by Frances Marion, a prolific Hollywood scenarist.
Beauty's Worth is a 1922 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies as an unsophisticated Quaker who ventures to a seaside resort, meets a Bohemian artist, and falls in love.
April Folly is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Adrian Johnson and Cynthia Stockley. The film stars Marion Davies, Madeline Marshall, Hattie Delaro, Amelia Summerville, Conway Tearle, J. Herbert Frank, and Warren Cook. The film was released on March 21, 1920, by Paramount Pictures.
Rose of the World is a 1925 American silent melodrama film directed by Harry Beaumont, which stars Patsy Ruth Miller, Allan Forrest, and Pauline Garon. The screenplay was written by Julien Josephson and Dorothy Farnum. Based on the 1924 novel of the same name by Kathleen Norris, the film was released by Warner Brothers on November 21, 1925.