Darby and Joan (1920 film)

Last updated

Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan (1920) -3.png
Derwent Hall Caine, as Patrick Gorry, shows Leal Douglas, as his mother, the cup he won
Directed by Percy Nash
Written by Hall Caine
Produced by Maurice Elvey
Starring Derwent Hall Caine
Leal Douglas
Ivy Close
Meggie Albanesi
George Wynne
Production
company
Master Film Company
Release date
  • September 1920 (1920-09)
Running time
10 reels
6000 feet 180 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

Darby and Joan is a 1920 British drama film directed by Percy Nash and starring Derwent Hall Caine, Leal Douglas, Ivy Close, Meggie Albanesi and George Wynn. [1] The screenplay was written by the novelist Hall Caine and set on the Isle of Man.

Contents

Plot

Sir Patrick and Lady Gorry sit by the fireside, and turning the pages of an old album, recall their past life. As a boy Patrick's mother, a widow, kept the mill in a small village in the Isle of Man. Sayle Moore, a large landowner, diverted the mill stream to create an artificial lake in his grounds, robbing the widow of her means of earning a living and bringing poverty to the Gorry's house. Mrs. Gorry and her son Patrick were left nearly destitute and in her heart there grew a great bitterness. She opened a small shop and earned enough for her son's education. One night Mrs. Gorry made her son kneel down and swear vengeance on Sayle Moore. Moore had a daughter of whom he was fond. Patrick Gorry and Sheila Moore fell in love. Their parents would not agree to the marriage, particularly as Patrick has to stand trial on a charge of manslaughter, of which he is acquitted. The young couple married without consent and moved to London where Patrick reads for the bar to which he is called. After a long struggle with poverty he rises in his profession, becoming a judge.

Moore came to see Patrick, and wanted to adopt his little son, but the parents would not consent. Later the little boy was accidentally killed by his grandfather's carriage. The years passed on and Patrick was made a Judge. As a Judge he had to try the case of the man who in his early years had victimised the Gorry family. Patrick has the opportunity of securing the acquittal of the youth to whom his daughter is engaged, who like himself, has to stand in the dock to answer a charge of murder. They are only reconciled to their parents at the end of Sayle Moore's life, but have the satisfaction of assisting Mrs. Gorry in her declining years. [2] [3]

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall Caine</span> British novelist and playwright

Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during his lifetime was unprecedented. He wrote fifteen novels on subjects of adultery, divorce, domestic violence, illegitimacy, infanticide, religious bigotry and women's rights, became an international literary celebrity, and sold a total of ten million books. Caine was the most highly paid novelist of his day. The Eternal City is the first novel to have sold over a million copies worldwide. In addition to his books, Caine is the author of more than a dozen plays and was one of the most commercially successful dramatists of his time; many were West End and Broadway productions. Caine adapted seven of his novels for the stage. He collaborated with leading actors and managers, including Wilson Barrett, Viola Allen, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Louis Napoleon Parker, Mrs Patrick Campbell, George Alexander, and Arthur Collins. Most of Caine's novels were adapted into silent black and white films. A. E. Coleby's 1923 18,454 feet, nineteen-reel film The Prodigal Son became the longest commercially made British film. Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 film The Manxman, is Hitchcock's last silent film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramsey, Isle of Man</span> Human settlement on the Isle of Man

Ramsey is a coastal town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,845 according to the 2016 Census. It has one of the biggest harbours on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of the main points of communication with Scotland. Ramsey has also been a route for several invasions by the Vikings and Scots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Hancock</span> British actress (born 1933)

Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in theatre - plays and musicals in London, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Play.

<i>Mrs Danes Defence</i> (play) Society play by Henry Arthur Jones

Mrs. Dane's Defence is a society play in four acts by the British playwright Henry Arthur Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur William Moore</span> Manx antiquarian, historian, linguist and folklorist

Arthur William Moore, CVO, SHK, JP, MA was a Manx antiquarian, historian, linguist, folklorist, and former Speaker of the House of Keys in the Isle of Man. He published under the sobriquet A. W. Moore.

SS <i>Ellan Vannin</i> (1860)

SS (RMS) Ellan Vannin was built as an iron paddle steamer in 1860 at Meadowside, Glasgow for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was originally named Mona's Isle - the second ship in the company's history to be so named. She served for 23 years under that name before being rebuilt, re-engined and renamed in 1883. As Ellan Vannin she served for a further 26 years before being lost in a storm on 3 December 1909 in Liverpool Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall Caine Airport</span> Airport in Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hall Caine Airport, also referred to as Close Lake Airfield, was an airfield on the Isle of Man located near the town of Ramsey. It was named after the author Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE by his sons Gordon Hall Caine and Derwent Hall Caine, who initiated the project, and was the first airport in the British Isles to be named after a person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derwent Hall Caine</span> British actor, publisher and Labour politician

Sir Derwent Hall Caine, 1st Baronet was a British actor, publisher and Labour then National Labour politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effie Adelaide Rowlands</span> British novelist

Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson was a British novelist, better known under the pen names Effie Adelaide Rowlands, E. Maria Albanesi and Madame Albanesi. She was the author of more than 250 romance novels and short-stories for magazines and newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Hall Caine</span> British publisher and politician (1884–1962)

Gordon Ralph Hall Caine CBE was a British publisher and Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Dorset East between 1922 and 1929, and again between 1931 and 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meggie Albanesi</span> British actress

Margherita Cecilia Brigida Lucia Maria Albanesi was a British stage and film actress.

<i>The Master of Man</i>

The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin was a best-selling 1921 novel by Hall Caine. The fictional story is set on the Isle of Man and is concerned with Victor Stowell, the Deemster's son, who commits a romantic indiscretion and then gives up on all of his principles in order to keep it a secret. However, in the face of the mounting consequences, Victor confesses publicly to his crime and is punished, but redemption comes through a woman's love. The penultimate of Caine's novels, it is romantic and moralistic, returning to his regular themes of sin, justice and atonement, whilst also addressing "the woman question." It was adapted for a film entitled Name the Man in 1924 by Victor Sjöström.

Oscar Garden was a Scottish-born Antipodean aviator and horticulturist.

<i>The Deemster</i>

The Deemster is a novel by Hall Caine published in 1887, considered to be the first 'Manx novel'. It was Caine's third novel, the second to be set in the Isle of Man and it was his first great success. The plot revolves around the reckless actions of Dan Mylrea and the exile and atonement that follow.

<i>The Bondman</i> (novel) 1890 novel by Hall Caine

The Bondman is an 1890 best-selling novel by Hall Caine set in the Isle of Man and Iceland. It was the first novel to be released by the newly established Heinemann publishing company. It was a phenomenal success and was later adapted into a successful play and two silent films.

A Family Secret is the fourth episode of the third series of the British television series, Upstairs, Downstairs. The episode is set in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leal Douglas</span> English-Australian silent film actress

Leal Douglas was a British-Australian actress, mainly of the silent film era.

<i>The Deemster</i> (1917 film) 1917 American film

The Deemster is a 1917 American drama silent film, released by Arrow Film Corporation, directed by Howell Hansel, starring Derwent Hall Caine and Marian Swayne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peel Lifeboat Station</span> RNLI lifeboat station on the Isle of Man

Peel Lifeboat Station is located in the shadow of Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle in the town of Peel in the Isle of Man. A lifeboat was first stationed here by the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS) in 1828.

References

  1. "Darby and Joan (1920)". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020.
  2. "Amusements". Darling Downs Gazette . No. 9318. Queensland, Australia. 10 March 1921. p. 3. Retrieved 6 January 2018 via National Library of Australia.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. "Darby and Joan". The Bioscope supplement. 23 October 1919. p. xiii.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .