The Aryan

Last updated

The Aryan
Aryan poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by William S. Hart
Reginald Barker
Clifford Smith
Written by C. Gardner Sullivan
Produced by Thomas H. Ince
Starring William S. Hart
Bessie Love
Louise Glaum
Charles K. French
Gertrude Claire
Cinematography Joseph H. August [1]
Production
company
Release date
  • April 9, 1916 (1916-04-09)(U.S.)
Running time
50 minutes; 5 reels
CountryUnited States
Languages Silent
English intertitles
Budget$13,500 [2]

The Aryan is a 1916 American silent Western film starring William S. Hart, Gertrude Claire, Charles K. French, Louise Glaum, and Bessie Love. [2]

Contents

Directed by William S. Hart and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan.

Although Hart was assisted by Reginald Barker and Clifford Smith, he mostly directed the film by himself. Hart's combined salary as actor and director was $150 per week (equivalent to $4,000in 2023). [3]

A partial print of the film survives in the Library of Congress, [4] [5] which was restored at the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [5] [6]

Plot

Denton (Hart) and Mary Jane (Love) Hart-william-the-aryan-1916.jpg
Denton (Hart) and Mary Jane (Love)

A hard working miner, Steve Denton (Hart), has become rich from years of prospecting. He takes his fortune and leaves to visit his ill mother, Mrs. Denton (Claire).

In the town of Yellow Ridge, however, he is detained by a seductive dance hall girl named Trixie (Glaum). Also known as "the firefly," Trixie not only cheats him out of his gold, but also conceals a message that was wired to him by his dying mother.

Learning the next day that his mother is dead, Denton is infuriated about being cheated and betrayed by Trixie, who pretended to be good, and other false friends. In his rage, he kills Trixie's lover, Chip Emmett (Mayall), and kidnaps her. Dragging her by the hair of her head, he takes her into the desert. Enslaving Trixie in his desert hideaway, Denton turns his back on "white civilization." He hates all white men and women and assumes the leadership of a band of Indian and Mexican bandits.

Two years later, a wagon train of Mississippi farmers who are lost and dying in the desert appeal to Denton for help. He refuses to assist them. He is secretly visited that night by Mary Jane Garth (Love), an innocent and virtuous young woman among the migrants who bravely confronts the Indians and Mexicans.

She pleads their cause and expresses her belief that no white man would refuse to protect a woman in distress. Deeply moved, Denton is redeemed. He guides the wagon train out of the desert and then resumes his wanderings. [7] [8] [9]

Cast

Cast notes

Hart made these observations on his role as Steve Benton:

I think the most disagreeable part I ever had was in The Aryan. It was hard for me to really feel it, being that of a white man, forswearing his race, makes outlaw Mexicans his comrades and allows white women to be attacked by them. It is difficult to put all one's decent instincts aside and live and think as such a despicable character must have done. But by allowing myself only to think of the terrible wrong that the white race had done me—pure imagery—I settled into it, and I am sure Bessie Love at the time believed I was the typical brute.

"Living Your Character" in Motion Picture Magazine , May 1917 [10]

Production

Hart was given a screenplay by the screenwriter C. Gardner Sullivan in which the hero had, according to Hart, "no motive for his hardness." He argued that the audience needed an explanation. Sullivan preferred the idea that his ruthless personality was simply a given, but eventually accepted Hart's wishes.[ citation needed ]

Although it was made during the silent era, Sullivan wrote long speeches for the actors to perform, which were filmed and later edited down. [11]

Love as Mary Jane Garth Bessie Love in the 1916 silent film The Aryan.jpg
Love as Mary Jane Garth

Hart wanted Mae Marsh for the role as Mary Jane, but Marsh was working on a D. W. Griffith movie at the time. Griffith recommended a new actress, Bessie Love. [12]

The movie was made at the height of Hart's career, but was unusual because he played a ruthless individual described as "hard as flint." As the title suggests, the movie draws on racial ideologies of the era. Hart stated that the central character, Steve Denton, was "a white man, who, foreswearing his race, makes outlaw Mexicans his comrades and allows white women to be attacked by them." [13]

The film was made at Inceville [14] and Sulphur Canyon. [11]

Reception

Magazine advertisement Magazine advertisement for the film The Aryan (1916).jpg
Magazine advertisement

Contemporaneous reviews of the film were glowingly positive. [8] [9] [15] The photography, acting, and direction were all positively reviewed. [8] [9] Hart himself believed this movie to be "one of the best Westerns ever made." [16]

However, later assessments of the film have been critical of its treatment of race. Of the film, Andrew Brodie Smith wrote, "Racism was not new to the western but it had never been articulated in such a sophisticated fashion." [17] Other scholars have labeled this as "perhaps the first film to openly proclaim the doctrine of White supremacy over Native American Indians". [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Hells Hinges</i> 1916 film

Hell's Hinges is a 1916 American silent Western film starring William S. Hart and Clara Williams. Directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith, and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bessie Love</span> American actress (1898–1986)

Juanita Horton, better known as Bessie Love, was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned nearly seven decades—from silent film to sound film, including theatre, radio, and television—and her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Glaum</span> American actress (1888–1970)

Louise Glaum was an American actress. Known for her roles as a vamp in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited in her early career with giving one of the best characterizations in such parts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Gardner Sullivan</span> American screenwriter (1884–1965)

Charles Gardner Sullivan was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was a prolific writer with more than 350 films among his credits. In 1924, the magazine Story World selected him on a list of the ten individuals who had contributed the most to the advancement of the motion picture industry from its inception forward. Four of Sullivan's films, The Italian (1915), Civilization (1916), Hell's Hinges (1916), and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), have been listed in the National Film Registry.

<i>The Wolf Woman</i> 1916 film by Raymond B. West

The Wolf Woman is a 1916 silent era drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, Howard C. Hickman, and Charles Ray.

<i>Dynamite Smith</i> 1924 silent film by Ralph Ince

Dynamite Smith is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and written by C. Gardner Sullivan. The film stars Charles Ray, Bessie Love, and Wallace Beery, and was distributed through Pathé Exchange.

<i>Wagon Tracks</i> 1919 film

Wagon Tracks is a 1919 American silent Western film written by C. Gardner Sullivan, produced by Thomas H. Ince and William S. Hart, and directed by Lambert Hillyer. Upon its release, the Los Angeles Times described it as Hollywood's greatest desert epic.

<i>The Return of Draw Egan</i> 1916 film

The Return of Draw Egan is a 1916 American silent Western film starring William S. Hart, Louise Glaum, Margery Wilson, Robert McKim, and J.P. Lockney.

<i>Sahara</i> (1919 film) 1919 American dramatic film directed by Arthur Rosson

Sahara is a 1919 American dramatic film written by C. Gardner Sullivan and directed by Arthur Rosson. The film starred Louise Glaum and told a story of love and betrayal in the Egyptian desert.

<i>The Toast of Death</i> 1915 film by Thomas H. Ince

The Toast of Death is a 1915 silent era drama/romance motion picture released by Mutual Film Corporation starring Louise Glaum, Harry Keenan, and Herschel Mayall.

<i>The Leopard Woman</i> 1920 film by Wesley Ruggles

The Leopard Woman is a 1920 American silent adventure romance drama film starring Louise Glaum, House Peters, and Noble Johnson. Directed by Wesley Ruggles and produced by J. Parker Read, Jr., the screenplay was adapted by H. Tipton Steck and Stanley C. Morse based on the novel The Leopard Woman (1916) by Stewart Edward White.

<i>Golden Rule Kate</i> 1917 film

Golden Rule Kate is a 1917 American silent Western film starring Louise Glaum, William Conklin, Jack Richardson, Mildred Harris, and John Gilbert. It was directed by Reginald Barker from a story written by Monte M. Katterjohn and produced and distributed by the Triangle Film Corporation.

<i>Reggie Mixes In</i> 1916 silent film by Christy Cabanne

Reggie Mixes In, also known as Facing the Music, is an American 1916 silent action/comedy-drama film starring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Christy Cabanne. The film was produced by Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film is extant and in the public domain.

<i>The Eternal Three</i> 1923 film

The Eternal Three is a 1923 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures. It was directed by both Marshall Neilan and Frank Urson. Hobart Bosworth, Claire Windsor, and Bessie Love star.

<i>Stranded</i> (1916 drama film) 1916 silent film by Lloyd Ingraham

Stranded is a 1916 American silent drama film produced by Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film stars DeWolf Hopper with newcomer Bessie Love in a supporting role. The film is considered lost.

<i>A Sister of Six</i> (1916 film) 1916 film

A Sister of Six is a 1916 American silent Western film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film was directed by brothers Chester M. and Sidney Franklin. This was Bessie Love's first starring role.

<i>The Midlanders</i> 1920 silent film by Joe De Grasse

The Midlanders is a 1920 American silent drama film starring Bessie Love and directed by husband and wife duo Joseph De Grasse and Ida May Park. It was produced by Andrew J. Callaghan Productions and distributed by Federated Film Exchanges of America. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Charles Tenney Jackson, published by Bobbs-Merrill Company.

<i>The Great Adventure</i> (1918 film) 1918 silent film by Alice Guy-Blaché

The Great Adventure, also known as Her Great Adventure and Spring of the Year, is a 1918 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Alice Guy-Blaché, and starring Bessie Love.

The Reward is a 1915 film by Reginald Barker starring Bessie Barriscale, Arthur Maude and Louise Glaum. Barriscale plays a moral chorus girl whom Maude's character attempts to entice to a wild party life for a bet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William S. Hart filmography</span>

William S. Hart (1864–1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity." During the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was one of the most consistently popular movie stars, frequently ranking high among male actors in popularity contests held by movie fan magazines.

References

Citations
  1. Love, Bessie (1977). From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love. London: Elm Tree Books. p. 148. OCLC   734075937.
  2. 1 2 Bennett, Carl (May 5, 2012). "Progressive Silent Film List: The Aryan". Silent Era.
  3. Erickson, Hal. "The Aryan (1916)". AllMovie Guide. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  4. "[The Aryan—excerpts]". Library of Congress.
  5. 1 2 "Hallazgo y Restauración de "The Aryan"". Asociación de Amicos del Museo del Cine.
  6. Rohter, Larry (May 4, 2010). "Footage Restored to Fritz Lang's Metropolis". The New York Times.
  7. Johnston, Will H. (May 1916). "The Aryan". Picture-Play Magazine. Vol. 4, no. 3. pp. 234–245.
  8. 1 2 3 Cooper, Oscar (April 8, 1916). "Screen Examinations". Motion Picture News. Vol. 13, no. 14. p. 2064.
  9. 1 2 3 Harris, Genevieve (April 1, 1916). "Current Releases Reviewed". Motography. Vol. 15, no. 14. p. 766.
  10. Koszarski 1976, pp. 47–48.
  11. 1 2 Love, Bessie (May 9, 1962). "An Aryan in Sulphur Canyon". The Christian Science Monitor . p. 8.
  12. Hart, William (1929). My Life – East and West. Houghton Mifflin Company. p.  220.
  13. Davis 2003 , p.  84
  14. "The Picture Oracle". Picture-Play Magazine. Vol. 5, no. 1. September 1916. p. 156.
  15. Variety 1916-03-24: Vol 42 Iss 4. Internet Archive. March 24, 1916.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. Davis 2003 , p.  83
  17. Smith, Andrew Brodie (2003). Shooting Cowboys and Indians: Silent Western Films, American Culture, and the Birth of Hollywood. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. p.  166. ISBN   978-0-87081-746-5.
  18. Wilson, Clint C. III; Gutierrez, Felix; Chao, Lena (2013). "'Bamboozling' Stereotypes Through the 20th Century". Racism, Sexism, and the Media: Multicultural Issues Into the New Communications Age. SAGE Publications. p.  69. ISBN   978-1-4522-1751-2.
Works cited