His Double Life | |
---|---|
Directed by | Arthur Hopkins William C. deMille (associate director) |
Written by | Clara Beranger Arthur Hopkins |
Based on | the novel Buried Alive and the play Great Adventure by Arnold Bennett [1] |
Produced by | Eddie Dowling Arthur Hopkins |
Starring | Roland Young Lillian Gish Montagu Love |
Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
Edited by | Arthur Ellis A. Pam Blumenthal |
Music by | James F. Hanley Karl Stark John Rochetti |
Production company | Eddie Dowling Pictures |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
His Double Life is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy drama film directed by Broadway theatrical impresario and first time film director Arthur Hopkins with directorial input from the experienced William C. deMille, Cecil's older brother. It stars Roland Young and Lillian Gish.
It had been filmed before in 1921 in the silent era as The Great Adventure with Lionel Barrymore, and was remade again in 1943 as Holy Matrimony with Monty Woolley. The story had also been adapted previously in Britain in 1915 by Laurence Trimble. [2]
It is preserved at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and is available on DVD. This film is now in public domain (in the USA).
Priam Farrel is England's most renowned painter. A recluse who hates fame, he has been away from England; his longtime agent has never even met him. When Lady Helen mistakenly believes he has proposed to her, he hastily returns to London with his valet Henry Leek. After Leek dies soon after of pneumonia, the attending doctor mistakes him for Priam and informs the press. The real Priam is glad to be mistaken for his valet by everyone, even his cousin Duncan (who has not seen him since he was 12). After several attempts to clear up the misidentification, he gives up.
He goes to a hotel, where he meets Alice Chalice, who was put in touch with Leek through The Matrimonial Times and, by chance, was to meet Leek for the first time there. Leek had sent her a photograph of him and Priam together, so she makes the same mistake. Priam finds her very pleasant to be with. He has qualms when he learns that "he" is to be accorded the great honor of being interred in Westminster Abbey, but once again he is unable to convince anyone, including Alice, that he is the painter.
He is happy to marry Alice and live a quiet country life. Then Alice's income from brewery shares disappears, along with the brewery, but Priam assures her that he can provide for her by selling some of his paintings. She is skeptical, however. Nonetheless, she sells some of his paintings, mainly for the frames. One painting passes through several hands and ends up with Oxford, Priam's old agent, who recognizes the artist's style. Oxford buys all of Priam's new paintings and resells them, guaranteeing that they are genuine Farrels.
Oxford tracks Priam down and asks him to reveal he is still alive. It turns out that one of the paintings Oxford sold had a date on the back, 1932, two years after Priam's "death", and the buyer has taken Oxford to court. Priam strenuously refuses, so Oxford takes another approach, placing an advertisement asking for information about Henry Leek.
Leek's widow shows up, accompanied by her clergymen sons John and Henry. Her husband deserted her about 25 years before after the birth of their twin sons. She identifies Priam as him. Priam bolts at the first opportunity, but Alice is more than up to the challenge. She portrays her "Henry" as violent and not entirely sane and points out that there would be a scandal. The Leeks hastily depart.
Even so, Priam is brought into court. In the course of testimony, his cousin Duncan recalls that he has two moles on his neck. Priam stubbornly refuses to show them, but Alice convinces him to do so. Afterward, Priam and Alice sail away to recover their privacy.
Mordaunt Hall, critic for The New York Times , described the film as "a highly intelligent type of comedy, one that arouses amusement rather than loud laughter." [1]
"Someday, Sometime, Somewhere" and "Springtime in Old Granada", written by James F. Hanley and Karl Stark
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl, often referred to simply as Broken Blossoms, is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It was the first film distributed by United Artists. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights. In 1996, Broken Blossoms was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
The Wind is a 1928 American synchronized sound romantic drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. 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 movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the 1925 novel of the same name written by Dorothy Scarborough. Featuring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson and Montagu Love, it is one of the last films released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer without audible dialogue and is considered to be among the greatest "silent" films.
Lillian Diana Gish was an American actress. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", and is credited with pioneering fundamental film performance techniques. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gish as the 17th greatest female movie star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American stage and screen actress. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great success on the stage, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Dorothy Gish was noted as a fine comedian, and many of her films were comedies.
Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish is an American actress. She has played roles in films Shag, Hiding Out, Mystic Pizza, SLC Punk!, The Last Supper and Double Jeopardy. On television, she played Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin on The West Wing, Diane Gould on Halt and Catch Fire, Eileen Caffee on Brotherhood, Charlotte Millwright on The Bridge and Sheriff Althea Jarry on the seventh and final season of Sons of Anarchy.
Warning Shot is a 1967 American crime-thriller film directed and produced by Buzz Kulik and starring David Janssen, Joan Collins, Keenan Wynn, Ed Begley, Stefanie Powers, Sam Wanamaker, George Grizzard, Carroll O'Connor, Steve Allen, Eleanor Parker, Walter Pidgeon, George Sanders and Lillian Gish. The screenplay concerns a police sergeant who kills a man while on a stakeout, then must prove that it was self-defense. The screenplay by Mann Rubin was based on the 1965 novel 711 - Officer Needs Help by Whit Masterson.
Henry Brazeale Walthall was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915).
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play of the same name by Lottie Blair Parker. There were two earlier silent versions and one sound version in 1935 starring Henry Fonda. Griffith's version is particularly remembered for its climax in which Gish's character is rescued from doom on an icy river.
Buried Alive is a 1908 comedy novel by the British writer Arnold Bennett. In 1913 Bennett adapted it as a play The Great Adventure. This later provided the basis for the 1968 musical Darling of the Day.
Holy Matrimony is a 1943 comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the 1908 novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.
The Valet is a 2006 French-language comedy film written and directed by Francis Veber and starring Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film is about a parking valet who is enlisted to pretend to be the lover of a famous fashion model in order to deflect attention from her relationship with a married businessman. The film enjoyed box office success in France and the United States.
The Painted Lady is a 1912 American short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. A print of the film survives.
La Bohème is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor, based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini. Lillian Gish and John Gilbert star in a tragic romance in which a tubercular seamstress sacrifices her life so that her lover, a bohemian playwright, might pen his masterpiece. Gish, at the height of her influence with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, asserted significant control over the production, determining the story, director, cast, cinematography, and costume design. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.
The Mothering Heart is a 1913 American short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art.
The Great Love is a 1918 American silent war drama film directed and written by D. W. Griffith who, along with scenario writer Stanner E.V. Taylor, is credited as "Captain Victor Marier". The film stars George Fawcett and Lillian Gish. Set during World War I, exterior scenes were shot on location in England. The Great Love is now considered to be a lost film.
The Greatest Thing in Life is a 1918 American silent drama film about World War I, directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, and David Butler. The film is now considered lost as no prints are known to exist.
True Heart Susie is a 1919 American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the British Film Institute. The film has seen several VHS releases as well as a DVD issue.
The White Sister is a 1923 American silent drama film starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman, directed by Henry King, and belatedly released by Metro Pictures. It was based on the 1909 play of the same name by Francis Marion Crawford and Walter C. Hackett. It is the second of four adaptations of the play, preceded by a 1915 production and followed by a 1933 sound film, starring Helen Hayes and Clark Gable, and a 1960 Mexican production.
Remodeling Her Husband is a 1920 American silent comedy film that marked the only time Lillian Gish directed a film.
The Great Adventure is a 1921 American silent romantic comedy film produced by Whitman Bennett and distributed by First National Pictures, then called Associated First National. The film was directed by Kenneth Webb and starred Lionel Barrymore. Fredric March made his screen debut in this film. The film is based upon the 1908 novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. It was remade in 1933 as His Double Life starring Lillian Gish. The Great Adventure is a surviving feature film held by the Library of Congress.