Dangerous Hours | |
---|---|
Directed by | Fred Niblo |
Written by | C. Gardner Sullivan (screenplay) |
Based on | "A Prodigal in Utopia" by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne |
Produced by | Thomas H. Ince |
Starring | Lloyd Hughes Barbara Castleton Claire Du Brey |
Cinematography | George Barnes |
Production company | Famous Players–Lasky/Artcraft |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Country | United States |
Languages | Silent English intertitles |
Dangerous Hours is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo. Prints of the film survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. [1] It premiered in February 1920. [2]
The film was based on a short story "A Prodigal in Utopia" published in the Saturday Evening Post . The film's working title was Americanism (Versus Bolshevism), which was the title of a pamphlet published by Ole Hanson, the mayor of Seattle who claimed to have broken the Seattle General Strike in 1919.
The film tells the story of an attempted Russian infiltration of American industry, and includes a depiction of the "nationalization of women" under Bolshevism, including "extras on horseback, rounding up women, throwing them into dungeons and beating them." [3]
College graduate John King (Hughes) is sympathetic to the left in a general way. Then he is seduced, both romantically and politically, by Sophia Guerni (Du Brey), a female agitator. Her superior is the Bolshevik Boris Blotchi (Richardson), who has a "wild dream of planting the scarlet seed of terrorism in American soil." [4] Sofia and Boris turn their attention to the Weston shipyards that are managed by John's childhood sweetheart. The workers have valid grievances, but the Bolsheviks set out to manipulate the situation. They are "the dangerous element following in the wake of labor as riffraff and ghouls follow an army." [4] When they threaten John's earlier love, he has an epiphany and renounces revolutionary doctrine. [4]
A reviewer in the movie magazine Picture Play protested the film's stew of radical beliefs and strategies: "Please, oh please, look up the meaning of the words 'bolshevik,' and 'soviet.' Neither of them mean [sic] 'anarchist,' 'scoundrel' or 'murderer' – really they don't!" [5]
Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse (1919), La Roue (1923), and Napoléon (1927).
The Seattle General Strike was a five-day general work stoppage by 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington from February 6 to 11, 1919. The goal was to support shipyard workers in several unions who were locked out of their jobs when they tried to strike for higher wages. Most other local unions joined the walk-out, including members of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The national offices of the AFL unions were opposed to the shutdown. Local, state and federal government officials, the press, and much of the public viewed the strike as a radical attempt to subvert American institutions.
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.
The first Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the Russian 1917 October Revolution and anarchist bombings in the U.S. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of socialism, communism and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern.
Kevin Brownlow is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. Brownlow has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of early mass-entertainment cinema. He received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 November 2010. This was the first occasion on which an Academy Honorary Award was given to a film preservationist.
Bolshevism on Trial is a 1919 American silent propaganda film made by the Mayflower Photoplay Company and distributed through Lewis J. Selznick's Select Pictures Corporation.
Ole Hanson was an American politician who served as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1918 to 1919. Hanson became a national figure promoting law and order when he took a hardline position during the 1919 Seattle General Strike. He then resigned as mayor, wrote a book, and toured the lecture circuit, earning tens of thousands of dollars in honoraria lecturing to conservative civic groups about his experiences and views, promoting opposition to labor unions and Bolshevism. Hanson later left Washington and founded the city of San Clemente, California in 1925.
Claire Du Brey was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films between 1916 and 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey.
The Turn in the Road is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. His first feature film, the production was financed by the Brentwood Film Corporation and the title and the scenario based on a Christian Science religious tract. No print of this film is known to exist, which suggests that it is a lost film.
Poor Relations is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. Produced by the Brentwood Corporation, the film starred Vidor’s wife Florence Vidor and featured comedienne Zasu Pitts.
His Hour is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. This film was the follow-up to Samuel Goldwyn's Three Weeks, written by Elinor Glyn, and starring Aileen Pringle, one of the biggest moneymakers at the time of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer amalgamation.
The Sea Hawk is a 1924 American silent adventure film about an English noble sold into slavery who escapes and turns himself into a pirate king. Directed by Frank Lloyd, the screen adaptation was written by J. G. Hawks based upon the 1915 Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name. It premiered on June 2, 1924, in New York City, twelve days before its theatrical debut.
Two Sisters is a 1929 American drama film directed by Scott Pembroke and featuring Boris Karloff. The film is one of the last produced in the sound-on-film process Phonofilm. The film is now considered to be lost.
The Overman Committee was a special subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee Slater Overman. Between September 1918 and June 1919, it investigated German and Bolshevik elements in the United States. It was an early forerunner of the better known House Un-American Activities Committee, and represented the first congressional committee investigation of communism.
The Drums of Jeopardy is a 1931 American pre-Code horror film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Warner Oland, June Collyer and Lloyd Hughes. It is the second film adaptation of Harold McGrath's novel of the same name, and stars Oland as Dr. Boris Karlov.
A Yankee Princess is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America. It was directed by David Smith and stars Bessie Love, who also wrote the screenplay. It is a lost film.
Photoplay Productions is an independent film company, based in the UK, under the direction of Kevin Brownlow and Patrick Stanbury. Is one of the few independent companies to operate in the revival of interest in the lost world of silent cinema and has been recognised as a driving force in the subject.
The Undercurrent was a 1919 American silent directed by Wilfrid North, produced by Guy Empey, distributed by Select Pictures. It is based on a story by Arthur Guy Empey and though fictional, is considered a sequel to Over the Top which was a 1918 movie loosely based on his autobiographical book of the same name about his own experiences in the British Army in World War I. The New York City premier was held at the Capitol Theatre and was attended by General John J. Pershing who was in New York City for the International Trade Conference of 1919.
A Man and His Money is a 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Tom Moore and Seena Owen. It was produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures.
Madame Spy is a 1918 American silent comedy spy film directed by Douglas Gerrard and starring Jack Mulhall, Claire Du Brey and Wadsworth Harris.