Mantrap | |
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Directed by | Victor Fleming |
Written by | Ethel Doherty Adelaide Heilbron George Marion Jr. (titles) |
Based on | Mantrap by Sinclair Lewis |
Produced by | B.P. Schulberg Hector Turnbull |
Starring | Clara Bow Percy Marmont Ernest Torrence Ford Sterling Eugene Pallette |
Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
Edited by | Adelaide Cannon |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Mantrap is a 1926 American silent comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. Mantrap stars Clara Bow, Percy Marmont, Ernest Torrence, Ford Sterling, and Eugene Pallette, and was directed by Victor Fleming. [1]
Ralph Prescott (Marmont) is a New York divorce lawyer tired of his clientele. Woodbury (Pallette), who runs a ladies hosiery business across the hall, suggests that they get away from the city and camp in Mantrap, Canada. Bachelor Joe Easter (Torrence) runs a dry-goods store in Mantrap. Joe, wanting female company, goes to Minneapolis. In a barbershop there, backwoods Joe meets flirtatious manicurist Alverna (Bow), who agrees to meet Joe for dinner.
Prescott and Woodbury fight while camping. Joe separates them by taking Prescott back to Mantrap—where Prescott meets Alverna, now married to Joe and bored with backwoods life. Alverna throws a party and flirts, especially with Prescott, who is attracted to her but honorable enough to leave the next day. Alverna waits for Prescott's outbound canoe, stops him, and tells him that she's leaving with him. Alverna insults their Native American guide, who takes the canoe, leaving Prescott and Alverna on their own in the woods. They flag down a passing float plane, which lands in the lake. Alverna flirts with the pilot, angering Prescott. The pilot leaves them some food.
Joe tracks them and, after a few days, catches them. Prescott tells Joe he will marry Alverna if Joe grants a divorce; Joe counters by telling Prescott that Alverna will never stop flirting. Alverna, shut out by the men who are planning her future, takes the canoe and leaves them both.
Prescott returns to his law practice, refreshed by his time in the woods. Joe, lonely in his Mantrap store, defends Alverna to his prudish neighbors—and Alverna returns to Joe, but keeps flirting.
Lewis himself was not a fan of the 1926 adaptation. In the introduction to their 1985 edition of Claude Lewis' journal of their Saskatchewan trip, John J. Koblas and Dave Page recount that while Sinclair Lewis was writing Elmer Gantry , he and his brother and Claude's wife went to the small theatre in Pequot Lake, where Sinclair was writing. The only film playing was Mantrap. The editors continue:
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first author from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." Lewis wrote six popular novels: Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935).
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.
The Black Watch is a 1929 American Pre-Code adventure epic film directed by John Ford and starring Victor McLaglen, Myrna Loy, and David Torrence. It was written by James Kevin McGuinness and based on the 1916 novel King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy. The film features an uncredited 21-year-old John Wayne working as an extra; he also worked in the arts and costume department for the film. This was director John Ford's first sound film.
Topper is a 1937 American supernatural comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Constance Bennett and Cary Grant and featuring Roland Young. It tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple.
The Plastic Age is a 1925 American black-and-white silent romantic comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Clara Bow, Donald Keith, and Gilbert Roland. The film was based on a best-selling novel from 1924 of the same name, written by Percy Marks, a Brown University English instructor who chronicled the life of the fast-set of that university and used the fictitious Sanford College as a backdrop. The Plastic Age is known to most silent film fans as the very first hit of Clara Bow's career, and helped jumpstart her fast rise to stardom. Frederica Sagor Maas and Eve Unsell adapted the book for the screen.
Ernest Torrence was a Scottish film character actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, including Broken Chains (1922) with Colleen Moore, Mantrap (1926) with Clara Bow and Fighting Caravans (1931) with Gary Cooper and Lili Damita. A towering figure, Torrence frequently played cold-eyed and imposing villains.
Lord Jim is a 1925 American silent drama film starring Percy Marmont, Noah Beery, and Duke Kahanamoku. The film was directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.
Brown of Harvard is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Jack Conway, and starring William Haines, Jack Pickford and Mary Brian. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is based on the successful 1906 Broadway play Brown of Harvard by Rida Johnson Young, who also co-wrote the popular music for the play along with Melvin Ellis. The film is best known of the three Brown of Harvard films. It was John Wayne's film debut. Uncredited, Wayne played a Yale football player. Grady Sutton and Robert Livingston, both of whom went on to long and successful careers, also appear uncredited. The 1918 film included future Boston Redskins coach William "Lone Star" Dietz and the only Washington State University football team to win a Rose Bowl.
Gino Corrado was an Italian-born film actor. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1916 and 1954, almost always in small roles as a character actor. From 1916 to 1923, he was known as Eugene Corey, which was an Anglicized version of his name.
David Torrence was a Scottish film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1913 to 1939. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the brother of actor Ernest Torrence. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died in Los Angeles.
Percy Marmont was an English film actor.
The Unholy Night is a 1929 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Lionel Barrymore and starring Ernest Torrence.
Miss DuPont was an American film actress and fashion designer. She is perhaps best known for her roles in Foolish Wives (1922) and for a supporting role in the Clara Bow vehicle Mantrap (1926).
Maytime is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Ethel Shannon, Harrison Ford, and William Norris. The film also features one of Clara Bow's earliest cinema roles. The film is based on the musical of the same name composed by Sigmund Romberg with a book by Rida Johnson Young. A different film with the same name was made in 1937 also based on the musical.
Fascinating Youth is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Sam Wood. It starred Charles "Buddy" Rogers, along with Thelma Todd and Josephine Dunn in supporting roles. Many well-known personalities made guest appearances in the film, judging a beauty contest in one scene, and Clara Bow makes a cameo appearance in her second film for Paramount Pictures.
Mantrap is a 1926 novel by Sinclair Lewis. One of Lewis's two unsuccessful novels of the 1920s, the other being The Man Who Knew Coolidge. Mantrap is the story of New York lawyer Ralph Prescott's journey into the wilds of Saskatchewan, and of his adventures there. The novel spawned two separate film adaptations, Mantrap (1926), and Untamed (1940).
Untamed is a 1940 American Technicolor adventure film directed by George Archainbaud and starring Ray Milland, Patricia Morison and Akim Tamiroff. It is based on the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel Mantrap.
The Enemy Sex is a 1924 American silent drama film starring Betty Compson and directed by her husband James Cruze. It was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It is taken from the 1914 novel The Salamander by Owen Johnson.
Strangers on Honeymoon is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Constance Cummings, Hugh Sinclair and Noah Beery, based on the 1926 novel The Northing Tramp by Edgar Wallace. Much of the film takes place in Canada. It was made by Gainsborough Pictures at the Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ernö Metzner. Wallace's son also contributed to the film's screenplay, along with 5 other writers.
Idle Tongues is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Lambert Hillyer and produced by Thomas H. Ince, one of his last efforts before his death that year. It starred Percy Marmont and Doris Kenyon and was distributed by First National Pictures.