The Red Lily | |
---|---|
Directed by | Fred Niblo |
Written by | Fred Niblo Bess Meredyth |
Produced by | Fred Niblo |
Starring | Ramon Novarro Enid Bennett |
Cinematography | Victor Milner |
Edited by | Lloyd Nosler |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn |
Release date |
|
Running time | 81 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Red Lily is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo and starring Ramon Novarro, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. [1] A print of the film exists. [2]
Marise La Noue (Enid Bennett) and Jean Leonnec (Ramon Novarro) are young lovers who elope to Paris; however, they are separated shortly after their arrival, leading to the downward spiral of both their lives: She becomes a prostitute known as 'the Red Lily', and he learns the ways of the underworld from Bo-Bo (Wallace Beery).
The film industry created the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry in 1916 in an effort to preempt censorship by states and municipalities, and it used a list of subjects called the "Thirteen Points" which film plots were to avoid. However, prostitution was not explicitly barred so long as it was not forcible (i.e., white slavery), and aspects of the prostitute’s work were not present in the film. [3]
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his titular role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.
José Ramón Gil Samaniego, known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor. He began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box office attractions of the 1920s and early 1930s. Novarro was promoted by MGM as a "Latin lover" and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino.
The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 American silent Western romance film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery Sr. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro. Based on the 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley, which introduced the masked hero, Zorro, the screenplay was adapted by Fairbanks and Eugene Miller.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.
Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leased facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It was purchased in 1919.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, also known as The Student Prince and Old Heidelberg, is a 1927 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent drama film based on the 1901 play Old Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster. It was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and stars Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer.
Enid Eulalie Bennett was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film.
The Round-Up is a 1920 American silent Western film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Wallace Beery. The movie was written by Edmund Day and Tom Forman, directed by George Melford, and based on Day's play that was a huge hit for Roscoe Arbuckle's older cousin Macklyn Arbuckle and Julia Dean on the Broadway stage in 1907. It was Macklyn in the play who created the famous phrase used in advertisements of the film, nobody loves a fat man.
The Enemy is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo and starring Lillian Gish, Ralph Forbes and Ralph Emerson. The film was thought to have been lost for years until a copy was discovered at the MGM library, now owned by Turner Entertainment. However, the film is still missing its final reel. Actor Joel McCrea made an early appearance as an extra.
The Sea Hawk is a 1924 American silent adventure film about an English noble sold into slavery who escapes and turns himself into a pirate king. Directed by Frank Lloyd, the screen adaptation was written by J. G. Hawks based upon the 1915 Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name. It premiered on June 2, 1924, in New York City, twelve days before its theatrical debut.
Drifting is a 1923 American silent drama film based on the Broadway play Drifting, by John Colton and Daisy H. Andrews. The play had starred Robert Warwick and Alice Brady. The film was directed by Tod Browning and features Priscilla Dean, Wallace Beery, and Anna May Wong. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Trifling Women is a 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Rex Ingram. It is credited with boosting the careers of its leads, Barbara La Marr and Ramon Novarro. It has been described as Ingram's most personal film.
The Pony Express is a 1925 American silent Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze and starred his wife, Betty Compson, along with Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft. Prints of this film survive, and it has been released on DVD.
The Lady is a 1925 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and directed by Frank Borzage. Talmadge's own production company produced the film with distribution by First National Pictures.
Romance of the Underworld is a 1928 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. Directed by Irving Cummings and starring Mary Astor, it was based upon a stage play called A Romance of the Underworld by Paul Armstrong. A previous version of the story was filmed as A Romance of the Underworld in 1918 by director James Kirkwood with Catherine Calvert in Astor's part.
A Son of the Sahara is a 1924 American silent drama film produced and directed by Edwin Carewe and co-directed with René Plaissetty. It stars Claire Windsor and Bert Lytell. First National handled the distribution of the film.
The Lure is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Alice Guy Blaché starring James O'Neill, Fraunie Fraunholz, Kirah Markham, and Claire Whitney. The Lure was an adaptation of a controversial play by George Scarborough that gives a sympathetic depiction of social pressures leading women into prostitution.
Unseen Hands is a 1924 American silent horror film directed by Jacques Jaccard and starring Wallace Beery, Joseph J. Dowling and Fontaine La Rue. This was apparently the only horror film Jaccard directed, although he made over 80 films from 1914 to 1936. It was also producer Walker Coleman Graves Jr.'s only screenwriting credit.