Sapho | |
---|---|
Directed by | Hugh Ford |
Screenplay by | Hugh Ford Doty Hobart |
Based on | Sappho by Alphonse Daudet |
Produced by | Daniel Frohman |
Starring | Pauline Frederick Frank Losee John St. Polis Pedro de Cordoba Thomas Meighan |
Cinematography | Ned Van Buren |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 50 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Sapho is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Hugh Ford and written by Hugh Ford and Doty Hobart. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Frank Losee, John St. Polis, Pedro de Cordoba, and Thomas Meighan. It is based on the novel Sappho by Alphonse Daudet. [1] [2] The film was released on March 11, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives. [1]
Beautiful and poor, Fanny tries to escape from a life of hardship and her drunkard father. She earns her living selling flowers but, one evening, while looking for customers in a restaurant, her beauty catches the attention of Caoudal, a famous sculptor who takes her as his model. Having become his mistress, the young woman begins to love that luxurious life. A poet, a friend of Caoudal and even more famous than him, is inspired by her for his poems. Greedy for success and admiration, Fanny also leaves her new lover, too old for her, for the young engraver Flamant. The latter, mad with love for the woman, wants her to be surrounded by the luxury he loves so much and to make her happy, he breaks the law and ends up in prison.
At a great ball, where she introduces herself as Sapho, Fanny meets Jean, a young provincial unaware of his past. The woman falls deeply in love with him and the two are happy together. But, when Jean finds out who Sapho really is, he leaves her to return to his abandoned girlfriend. In church, during the wedding ceremony, Fanny decides to leave the past behind and start a new life. From that moment, she will join the Red Cross where she will work as a nurse, dedicating herself to her fellow men.
Like many American films of the time, Sapho was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the view of Jean pointing at the bed and accusing Sapho. [3]
Sapho is a pièce lyrique in five acts. The music was composed by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on the novel (1884) of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. It was first performed on 27 November 1897 by the Opéra Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris with Emma Calvé as Fanny Legrand. A charming and effective piece, the success of which is highly dependent on the charisma of its lead soprano, it has never earned a place in the standard operatic repertory.
Bucking Broadway is a 1917 American silent Western film directed by John Ford, probably his sixth feature film. Long thought to be lost, along with about 60 of Ford's 70 silent films, it was found in 2002 in the archives of the CNC. It was subsequently restored and digitized and is available on the Criterion Blu-Ray of John Ford's Stagecoach.
The Secret Man is a 1917 American silent Western film, directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. Two of the five reels of the film survive at the Library of Congress film archive.
The Mystery Ship is a 1917 American adventure film serial directed by Harry Harvey and Henry MacRae. The film is considered to be lost.
The Forbidden Path is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Theda Bara. The film is now considered lost.
The Secret of the Storm Country was a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Charles Miller and starring Norma Talmadge. The film is described as not a direct sequel but a "continuation" of the 1914 film Tess of the Storm Country, starring Mary Pickford. The film is now considered lost.
Sapho was a 1900 American play by Clyde Fitch, based on an 1884 French novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet and an 1885 play by Daudet and Adolphe Belot. It was at the center of a sensational New York City indecency trial involving the play's star and producer/director, Olga Nethersole. The play was not an exceptional success but the incident is considered a notable step in the transformation of American society's attitudes regarding gender roles and public depictions of sex in the 20th century.
The Mysterious Miss Terry is a 1917 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film stars Billie Burke, who at the time was a famous stage actress, married to Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. This particular story was adapted special to the screen for Burke by writer Gelett Burgess. It is a lost film.
Barbary Sheep is a 1917 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Maurice Tourneur and stars Elsie Ferguson in her motion picture debut. This picture is said to have George M. Cohan in his film debut as well. It is an adaptation of the 1907 novel Barbary Sheep by British writer Robert Hichens. It was thought to be a lost film until an 8-minute clip or fragment was found in the Gosfilmfond archive.
One Law for Both is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Ivan Abramson.
Her Better Self is a 1917 American silent drama film starring Pauline Frederick and Thomas Meighan and directed by Robert G. Vignola. It was produced by Famous Players Film Company and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is now considered lost.
The Love That Lives is a 1917 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players Film Company and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film stars Pauline Frederick and was directed by Robert G. Vignola. The film is based on the story "Flames of Sacrifice", by Scudder Middleton.
Double Crossed is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola and starred Pauline Frederick and Crauford Kent. Produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film's story was written by Hector Turnbull and the scenario by Eve Unsell. This film is now considered lost.
Civilian Clothes is a surviving 1920 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It stars Thomas Meighan and was directed by Hugh Ford. This film is based on the 1919 Broadway play, Civilian Clothes, by Thompson Buchanan. Thurston Hall played Meighan's part in the play.
Outcast is a lost 1917 American drama film directed by Dell Henderson and starring Ann Murdock. It was based on the play Outcast by Hubert Henry Davies. It was produced by Empire All-Star Corp., a production unit of the late Charles Frohman who had produced the play starring Elsie Ferguson. Ferguson would reprise the role in a 1922 Paramount film.
On the Level is a lost 1917 American silent Western film directed by George Melford and written by Marion Fairfax and Charles Kenyon. The film stars Fannie Ward, Jack Dean, Harrison Ford, Lottie Pickford, James Cruze, and Jim Mason. The film was released on September 10, 1917, by Paramount Pictures.
The Hungry Heart is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by Charles Maigne based upon the novel of the same name by David Graham Phillips. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Howard Hall, Robert Cain, Helen Lindroth, and Eldean Steuart. The film was released on November 5, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives, and it may be a lost film.
Madame Jealousy is a 1918 American silent allegorical drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by George V. Hobart and Eve Unsell. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Thomas Meighan, Frank Losee, Charles Wellesley, Isabel O'Madigan, and Elsie MacLeod. The film was released on February 4, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.
Sapho is a lost 1913 silent film feature drama directed by Lucius Henderson and is based on the novel by Alphonse Daudet and its stage adaptation by Daudet and Adolphe Belot. It stars stage actress Florence Roberts and Shelley Hull. It was produced by the Majestic Motion Picture Company and released by World's Special Films. As with Queen Elizabeth (1912) and Resurrection (1912), the film was one of the first features to star a major actress known by name. It competed with a four-reel French film that same year, 1913.
Sappho: Parisian Manners is an 1884 novel by the French writer Alphonse Daudet. It was serialised in L'Écho de Paris in 1884.