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The Law of Compensation | |
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Directed by | Joseph A. Golden, Julius Steger |
Screenplay by | Edna G. Riley |
Story by | Wilson Mizner |
Produced by | Joseph Schenck |
Distributed by | Selznick Distributing Corporation |
Running time | 72 mins |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Law of Compensation is 1917 American silent drama film based on a story by Wilson Mizner and directed by Joseph A. Golden. The film starred Norma Talmadge, who played a dual role, Fred Esmelton, and Chester Barnett. [1] It was produced by Joseph Schenck, the husband of its star Talmadge.
While her husband (Chester Barnett) is out of town, Ruth (Talmadge) is approached by Wells (Edwin Stanley), a small-time song plugger. He claims that he can make a musical comedy star of her if she will come up with some money. But when she tries to ante up the funds, her father (Frederick Esmelton) takes her aside and tells her the story of her mother (also played by Talmadge) who found herself in a similar situation. Her mother ran off with a man, Trevor (John Charles), who later deserted her; after her death, Ruth's father tracked Trevor down and killed him. With all of this in mind, Ruth wisely decides to send Wells on his way.
While the lives of the mother and daughter interact through their repetition and parellel situations, the story of the mother, while referenced in the first half of the film, is withheld from Flora and the audience until it is told to her in the second half of the film. [2] Although Talmadge is the star with two roles, the men of the film hold all the power and make all the decisions on behalf of the women; the one choice made by a woman, the mother Ruth, has immence consequences for her and her daughter as deviates it from the straight path. [2]
Prints of The Law of Compensation are held at the Library of Congress (incomplete) and the Museum of Modern Art, 35mm. [1] [3]
Norma Marie Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.
Camille is a 1926 American silent film based on the play adaptation of La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in French as a novel in 1848 and as a play in 1852. Adapted by Fred de Gresac, George Marion Jr., Olga Printzlau, and Chandler Sprague, Camille was a directed by Fred Niblo and starred Norma Talmadge as Camille and Gilbert Roland as her lover, Armand. It was produced by the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation and released by First National Pictures. The film's score was composed by William Axt.
Fred Esmelton was an Australian-born American film actor, as well as a stage actor and director. He appeared in 30 films, usually in supporting roles, between the years 1916 and 1931. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria and died in Los Angeles, California.
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Dulcy is a 1923 American silent comedy film directed by Sidney A. Franklin and starring Constance Talmadge. The film was adapted from the Broadway production of the same name written by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. The play opened in New York in August 1921 and ran for 241 performances.
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Silence is a 1926 American silent crime drama film directed by Rupert Julian and starring Vera Reynolds, H.B. Warner, and Raymond Hatton. Reynolds plays a dual role of a mother and, at a later date, her daughter. Long thought lost, a print was rediscovered in 2016.