Synthetic Sin | |
---|---|
Directed by | William A. Seiter |
Written by | Thomas J. Geraghty Tom Reed |
Based on | Synthetic Sin by Fanny Hatton and Frederic Hatton |
Produced by | John McCormick |
Starring | Colleen Moore Antonio Moreno Edythe Chapman |
Cinematography | Sidney Hickox |
Edited by | Alexander Hall |
Music by | Nathaniel Shilkret |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Sound (Synchronized) (English intertitles) |
Synthetic Sin is a 1929 American sound comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, based on a play of the same name. [1] 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. It was released by Warner Bros. and was recorded using the Vitaphone sound system. [2] Only the soundtrack disc for the last reel is known to survive.
Famed playwright Donald Anthony returns home to Magnolia Gap, Virginia, and proposes to Betty Fairfax. She accepts and he offers her the lead part in his next play, but the play is a disaster. Donald tells her that she is unsuited for the role, that it requires someone with more life experience. Rather than return home defeated, Betty stays in New York, in a bad neighborhood where local gangsters adopt her as their own. When Donald comes to visit her, they eject him. There is a gunfight, and in the resulting confusion Donald sweeps in and rescues Betty. After the excitement, Betty gives up her dreams of the stage and devotes herself to Donald.
The film featured a theme song entitled "Betty" which was composed by Nathaniel Shilkret and Harold Christy.
A copy survives at the Cineteca Italiana archive in Milan. Previously it was considered to be a lost film. Colleen Moore had deposited copies of several of her movies with the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), but it allowed the films to decompose before they could be restored. [3]
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack is not printed on the film, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at 33+1⁄3 rpm and typically 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter, are played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film is projected. Its frequency response is 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound".
Sonny Boy is a 1929 sound part-talkie film released by Warner Bros., directed by Archie Mayo. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Davey Lee, Edward Everett Horton, and Betty Bronson.
Glorious Betsy is a 1928 sound part-talkie drama film. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film is based on the 1908 play of the same name by Rida Johnson Young, and it stars Dolores Costello. It was produced by Warner Bros. and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Adaptation in 1929. The film was directed by Alan Crosland with cinematography by Hal Mohr.
Gertrude Astor was an American motion picture character actress, who began her career playing trombone in a woman's band.
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film is based on the 1916 novel of the same name by David Lisle.
Tenderloin is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Dolores Costello. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. Tenderloin is considered a lost film, with no prints currently known to exist.
Smiling Irish Eyes (1929) is a Vitaphone American pre-Code musical film with Technicolor sequences. The film is now considered a lost film. However, the Vitaphone discs still exist.
Irene is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film starring Colleen Moore, and partially shot in Technicolor. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green, produced by Moore's husband John McCormick, and based on the musical Irene written by James Montgomery with music and lyrics by Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy.
Fancy Baggage is a 1929 American sound part-talkie drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and released by Warner Bros.. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The film used the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Audrey Ferris and Myrna Loy.
Why Be Good? is a 1929 American sound comedy film produced by First National Pictures starring Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton. While the film has no audible dialogue, is accompanied by a Vitaphone soundtrack that features a musical score with sound effects and some synchronized singing.
Lilac Time is a 1928 American synchronized sound romantic war film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. The film is about young American aviators fighting for Britain during World War I who are billeted in a field next to a farmhouse in France. The daughter who lives on the farm meets one of the new aviators who is attracted to her. As the flyers head off on a mission, the young aviator promises to return to her.
The Perfect Flapper is a 1924 American romantic comedy film directed by Earl Hudson and starring Colleen Moore. This was Moore's second "flapper film" after Flaming Youth. It was released after Through the Dark and Painted People.
Twinkletoes is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by Charles Brabin and starring Colleen Moore. The film, as with most of Moore's vehicles at this time, was produced by her husband John McCormick with the couple distributing through Moore's resident studio First National. This film is one of Moore's surviving films from the late silent era and is available on DVD.
Oh, Kay! is a 1928 silent film produced by John McCormick and distributed by First National Pictures. McCormick's wife Colleen Moore starred and Mervyn LeRoy directed the film. It is based on the 1926 musical Oh, Kay!, which had music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse.
The Ninety and Nine was a 1922 American silent drama film directed by David Smith and starring Colleen Moore made shortly before she gained fame as a film flapper. The film was presumed lost, although recently a 10 minute condensed 16 mm home movie version was discovered, and has since been released with a music score by Ben Model, in his latest compilation Accidentally Preserved No.4.
Weary River is a 1929 American sound part-talkie romantic drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, and William Holden. The film was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score, singing and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.
Ginsberg the Great is a lost 1927 synchronized sound film starring George Jessel in the period in which he made films with Warner Bros. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process.
Five and Ten Cent Annie is a 1928 American sound part-talkie comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Louise Fazenda, Clyde Cook and William Demarest. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.
Satan in Sables is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by James Flood and starring Lowell Sherman and Pauline Garon. It was produced and released by Warner Brothers.
The Silent Stranger is a 1924 American silent Western film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Fred Thomson, Hazel Keener, and Frank Hagney.
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