St. Elmo | |
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Directed by |
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Written by | William Jossey |
Based on | St. Elmo by Augusta Jane Evans |
Produced by | William Fox |
Starring |
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Production company | |
Distributed by | Box Office Attractions Company |
Release date |
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Running time | 6 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
St. Elmo is a 1914 American silent drama film produced by the Balboa Amusement Producing Company and distributed by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company. It was the first feature-length film adaptation of Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 novel of the same name. The story follows the life of the title character (played by William Jossey), who kills his cousin (Francis McDonald) over the love of Agnes (Madeline Pardee), falls from grace, and eventually finds redemption and love with Edna (Gypsy Abbott). It is disputed who directed the film; many sources credit Bertram Bracken, while others list St. Elmo as J. Gordon Edwards's directorial debut.
Some reviewers praised the scenery and overall production quality, considering the film an improvement over staged adaptations of the novel. Others found the scenery irrelevant and the story confusing. Despite mixed reviews, the film was financially successful, reportedly setting box office records. The following year, a film adaptation of an unrelated Evans novel, Beulah, was marketed as a sequel. As with most Balboa films, St. Elmo is now believed lost.
St. Elmo Murray and Murray Hammond, his cousin and best friend, are both in love with a young woman named Agnes Hunt. Although Agnes loves Murray, she rejects him for being too poor. Instead, she accepts the wealthy St. Elmo's marriage proposal. St. Elmo's mother holds a ball to celebrate the engagement. After the betrothal is publicly announced, Murray and Agnes meet covertly in the gardens. St. Elmo discovers their affair, challenges Murray to a duel, and kills his cousin with the first shot. The Devil possesses St. Elmo, and he becomes a cruel wanderer, spreading misery and misfortune where he travels.
Twenty years later, the ingenue Edna Earle is traveling by train, hoping to find employment in a cotton mill after the death of her father, the village blacksmith. The train derails, and St. Elmo saves her from the burning wreckage. This act sets St. Elmo on the path to salvation as he and Edna slowly fall in love. Initially planning to depart for distant lands, a vision of Christ leads him to aid the impoverished. Freed from the Devil, he becomes a minister and marries Edna. [1] [2] [3]
Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 domestic novel St. Elmo was one of the best-selling novels of the 19th century, surpassed at the time only by Uncle Tom's Cabin , [5] and later by Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ . [6] With the novel's success came broad cultural impact. Various consumer products, hotels, steamboats, railway carriages, and even several towns were named after the book, and many families named children after its characters. [5] [7] Although there was considerable interest in a theatrical adaptation, Evans was concerned about how the novel's themes would be portrayed on the stage and did not approve the first script for a St. Elmo play until 1909. Other stage versions, many of which were financially successful, were quickly developed after her death later that year. [8] The first film versions of the story followed shortly. In 1910, the Thanhouser Company chose St. Elmo for its second production, and Vitagraph Studios produced its own adaptation the same year. Both were one-reel short films. [9] [10]
In 1914, while working for the Balboa Amusement Producing Company, William Jossey wrote the screenplay for the first feature-length film adaptation. [11] Filming took place in Long Beach, California, [2] where the Balboa studios were located. [12] Footage of an actual church under construction across the street from the studio was used for a scene in which one was built by St. Elmo. [11] Contemporary writers credited Bertram Bracken as director, [13] [14] as do some modern sources, including the American Film Institute. [1] Others consider the film the directorial debut of J. Gordon Edwards. [15] [16] [17] Both men subsequently had long careers directing for Fox Film. [18]
Balboa highlighted the film's production value and artistry in its marketing; [19] its film poster advertises "194 gorgeous scenes". [20] However, Balboa was not a film distributor, [21] so in May 1914 they contracted with William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company to have Fox handle the distribution of all Balboa films, [22] beginning with St. Elmo. [23] Copies of these films were then shown at Fox's theaters or rented out to other theater franchise owners, in what was known as the states' rights distribution system. [24] On 1 February 1915, William Fox incorporated Fox Film, which inherited Box Office's assets. [25] The new company continued to distribute some Box Office films, including St. Elmo, [26] which played in some areas into 1916. [27]
Contemporary reviews were mixed. Writing for Motion Picture News , A. Danson Michell found the film superior to stage adaptations of the novel, and especially praised the photography. [2] Moving Picture World 's Hanford Judson also gave a generally positive review, believing that its production qualities and popular appeal more than compensated for the "artificiality" of a few scenes. [28] Not all critics praised the film. Vanderheyden Fyles of Movie Pictorial felt the Long Beach scenery lauded elsewhere was irrelevant to the plot and the adapted story was a "baffling mix-up". [29] A particularly negative review appeared in Variety , suggesting the film was so bad that its makers "might have got a little profit out of the raw [film] by not ruining it through putting St. Elmo on it." [30] The Chicago Board of Censorship found some scenes objectionable and required that Chicago showings of the film be edited to remove depictions of dueling and Murray's dead body. [31]
St. Elmo was a financial success, [32] reported by The Photoplayers' Weekly as breaking box office records. [33] The following year, Bertram Bracken directed a film adaptation of another Augusta Jane Evans novel, Beulah (1859), for Balboa. Though not directly related to St. Elmo, [34] the 1915 Beulah film was marketed as a sequel. [14] [32] In 1923, Fox Film produced another adaptation of the novel, also titled St. Elmo, which was also a success. [35]
Around 90% of Balboa's films have been lost, [12] probably including the 1914 St. Elmo. [36] The Library of Congress is not aware of any extant copies. [15]
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.
Augusta Jane Wilson, was an American author of Southern literature and a supporter of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Her books were banned by the American Library Association in 1881. She was the first woman to earn US$100,000 through her writing.
Clara Beyers was an American silent film stock actress.
Gypsy Abbott was an American actress of stage and silent film.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1936 American adventure romance western film based on the 1908 novel of the same name. It was the second full-length feature film to be shot in three-strip Technicolor and the first in color to be shot outdoors, with the approval of the Technicolor Corporation. The picture was directed by Henry Hathaway starring Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Much of it was shot at Big Bear Lake in southern California. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine was the fourth feature film adaptation of John Fox Jr.'s 1908 novel, including 1916 and 1923 silent versions. As with the novel, the film makes extensive use of Appalachian English in the dialogue.
Jackie Saunders was an American silent screen actress who was one of the major players and stars of Balboa Films.
St. Elmo is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Jerome Storm. Distributed by Fox Film Corporation, the film is based on the 1867 novel of the same name written by Augusta Jane Evans.
Saint Elmo or St. Elmo may refer to:
St. Elmo is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Rex Wilson and starring Shayle Gardner, Gabrielle Gilroy and Madge Tree. It was an adaptation of the 1866 novel St. Elmo by Augusta Jane Evans. An American adaptation St. Elmo was released the same year.
Bertram Bracken was an American silent screen actor, scenarist, and director who worked on at least sixty-five films between 1910 and 1932.
J. Gordon Edwards (1867–1925) was a Canadian American film director, screenwriter, and producer of the silent era. His oeuvre consists of over fifty feature films made between 1914 and 1924. He is perhaps best known for directing twenty-four films starring vamp actress Theda Bara—including Cleopatra, her most famous role— and also the 1921 epic The Queen of Sheba. Edwards was born in Montreal and educated at a military academy with the expectation that he would pursue a career as a British Army officer. He decided against a life in the military in favor of a future in theater. At the time, the Canadian theater and film industry was limited primarily to repertory theatre, so Edwards became one of many to emigrate to the United States to work in the field. He had a short career as an actor before becoming a stage director. By 1910, he was working for American motion picture producer William Fox, who sent him to Europe to study film production.
Frank Erlanger, also credited as Frank A. Erlanger or Frank Charles Erlanger was a Hungarian-American silent film actor best known for his work with the Balboa Amusement Producing Company.
Life's Shop Window is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Claire Whitney and Stuart Holmes. It is a film adaptation of the 1907 novel of the same name by Annie Sophie Cory. The film depicts the story of English orphan Lydia Wilton (Whitney), and her husband Bernard Chetwin (Holmes). Although Wilton's marriage is legitimate, it was conducted in secret, and she is accused of having a child out of wedlock. Forced to leave England, she reunites with her husband in Arizona. There, she is tempted by infidelity with an old acquaintance, Eustace Pelham, before seeing the error of her ways and returning to her family.
St. Elmo is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The scenario was adapted by Lloyd Lonergan from Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 novel of the same name. Frank H. Crane and Anna Rosemond play the leading roles in the simplified plot that was reliant on inter-titles to tell the story. The film follows St. Elmo who is engaged to his cousin Agnes, being betrayed by his friend Dick Hammond who has an affair with Agnes. St. Elmo challenges and kills Hammond in a duel. A young girl, Edna witnesses the duel and leads Agnes and the sheriff off the trail. St. Elmo disappears and returns five years later to woo Edna. She rejects then accepts his affections only to stop him from committing suicide. The production was met with mixed reviews by critics, but was successful. The film is presumed lost.
The Balboa Amusement Producing Company was a film production company in Long Beach, California, from 1913 to 1918 that produced more than 1000 films, around 90% of which have been lost.
St. Elmo is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Vitagraph.
It Is the Law is a 1924 American silent mystery film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Arthur Hohl, Herbert Heyes, and Mona Palma. It is a film adaptation of the 1922 Broadway play of the same name by Elmer Rice, itself based on a novel by Hayden Talbot. The film depicts the story of Ruth Allen (Palma), who marries Justin Victor (Heyes) over competing suitor Albert Woodruff (Hohl). Seeking revenge for this slight, Woodruff fakes his own death by killing a drifter who resembles him, and frames Victor for the murder. Woodruff attempts to renew his courtship of Allen by using an assumed identity, but she sees through his disguise. Once Victor is freed from prison, he kills Woodruff and goes free because a conviction would constitute double jeopardy.
St. Elmo or Saved At Last is a novel by American author Augusta Jane Evans published in 1866. Featuring the sexual tension between the protagonist St. Elmo, a cynical man, and the heroine Edna Earl, a beautiful and devout girl, the novel was about the agency of women who could save men from apostasy. The novel became one of the most popular novels of the 19th century. The novel sold a million copies within four months of its publication.
The Net is a 1923 American silent melodrama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Barbara Castleton, Raymond Bloomer, and Albert Roscoe. It is a film adaptation of the 1919 Broadway play of the same name, itself based on the novel The Woman's Law by Maravene Thompson. The film depicts the story of Allayne Norman (Castleton) and her husband Bruce (Bloomer). Bruce commits murder and convinces Allayne to help him blame the crime on a man suffering from amnesia (Roscoe). After Bruce dies and the man recovers, he marries Allayne.
Frederick J. Whitman was an American actor during the silent film era.