The Runaway (1926 film)

Last updated

The Runaway
Runaway lobby card.jpg
Lobby card
Directed by William C. deMille
Written byAlbert Shelby Le Vino
Based onThe Flight to the Hills
by Charles Neville Buck
Produced by Famous Players–Lasky
Starring Clara Bow
Warner Baxter
William Powell
George Bancroft
Cinematography Charles P. Boyle
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • April 5, 1926 (1926-04-05)
Running time
69 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

The Runaway is a 1926 American silent melodrama film directed by William C. deMille and starring Clara Bow, Warner Baxter, William Powell, and George Bancroft. The cinematography was by Charles P. Boyle. [1] [2] The plot involves a movie star who erroneously assumes that she has murdered someone and flees to Kentucky.

Contents

Plot

Cynthia Meade (Clara Bow), a wild, high spirited New York movie actress, meets Jack Harrison (William Powell), a wealthy young New Yorker, in a Tennessee city. She is hoping he will be able to help her with her movie career, but he demands a relationship in return. A stray bullet comes through the window and he is dangerously wounded while with Cynthia. Realizes how hard it will be to prove her innocence, Cynthea flees, thinking Harrison dead. On a lonely road, Cynthia, half hysterical and nearly exhausted, appeals to Wade Murrell (Warner Baxter), a young mountaineer on the way back to his Kentucky home. He believes that she is running away from danger and takes her with him. Arriving at his house, he is disgusted when he learns she cannot cook or do any of the daily chores of hill women. However, she finally wins the confidence of his mother (Edythe Chapman). Several weeks later, Harrison, the supposedly dead man, appears, saying he is seeking the person who shot and left him for dead. Murrell does not know at first that Cynthia is the person Harrison suspects, and the two become good friends. The presence of a “painted woman,” as the hill people call Cynthia, arouses a terrific antipathy toward Murrell, and he narrowly avoids being killed by one of their number. In the end, Cynthia is forced to choose between her old and new lover, but not before the three have passed through many crises. [3]

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of The Runaway located in any film archives, [4] it is a lost film.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Bow</span> American actress (1905–1965)

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Baxter</span> American actor (1889–1951)

Warner Leroy Baxter was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film In Old Arizona, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 2nd Academy Awards. He frequently played womanizing, charismatic Latin bandit types in Westerns, and played the Cisco Kid or a similar character throughout the 1930s, but had a range of other roles throughout his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice White</span> American actress (1904–1983)

Alice White was an American film actress. She first came to the public’s attention during the late silent era as a rival to Clara Bow, before starring in First National/Warner Brothers films Broadway Babies, Naughty Baby, Hot Stuff, and Sweet Mama.

<i>Beyond the Rainbow</i> 1922 film by Christy Cabanne

Beyond the Rainbow is a 1922 American silent drama film starring Billie Dove, Harry T. Morey and Clara Bow in her film debut. A 16mm print of the film is in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

<i>The Plastic Age</i> (film) 1925 film

The Plastic Age is a 1925 American black-and-white silent romantic comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Clara Bow, Donald Keith, and Gilbert Roland. The film was based on a best-selling novel from 1924 of the same name, written by Percy Marks, a Brown University English instructor who chronicled the life of the fast-set of that university and used the fictitious Sanford College as a backdrop. The Plastic Age is known to most silent film fans as the very first hit of Clara Bow's career, and helped jumpstart her fast rise to stardom. Frederica Sagor Maas and Eve Unsell adapted the book for the screen.

<i>Mantrap</i> (1926 film) 1926 film by Victor Fleming

Mantrap is a 1926 American silent comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. Mantrap stars Clara Bow, Percy Marmont, Ernest Torrence, Ford Sterling, and Eugene Pallette, and was directed by Victor Fleming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edythe Chapman</span> American actress

Edythe Chapman was an American stage and silent film actress.

<i>The Great Gatsby</i> (1926 film) 1926 film directed by Herbert Brenon

The Great Gatsby is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Herbert Brenon. It was the first film adaptation of the 1925 novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Warner Baxter portrayed Jay Gatsby and Lois Wilson portrayed Daisy Buchanan. The film was produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The Great Gatsby is now considered lost. A vintage movie trailer displaying short clips of the film still exists.

<i>Exit Smiling</i> 1926 film by Sam Taylor

Exit Smiling is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Sam Taylor and starring New York and London revues star Beatrice Lillie in her first film role and Jack Pickford, the brother of star Mary Pickford. The film was also the debut of actor Franklin Pangborn. This film is available on DVD from the Warner Archives Collection.

<i>Aloma of the South Seas</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

Aloma of the South Seas is a lost 1926 American silent comedy drama film starring Gilda Gray as an erotic dancer, filmed in Puerto Rico and Bermuda, and based on a 1925 play of the same title by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemens.

<i>Dancing Mothers</i> 1926 film by Herbert Brenon

Dancing Mothers is a 1926 American black and white silent drama film produced by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon, and stars Alice Joyce, Conway Tearle, and making her debut appearance for a Paramount Pictures film, Clara Bow. Dancing Mothers was released to the general public on March 1, 1926. The film tells the story of a pretty mother, who was almost cheated out of life by a heartless husband and a thoughtless daughter. The film survives on 16mm film stock and is currently kept at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

<i>Synthetic Sin</i> 1929 film

Synthetic Sin is a 1929 American sound comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, based on a play of the same name. 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. Only the soundtrack disc for the last reel is known to survive.

<i>The Drag Net</i> 1928 film

The Drag Net, also known as The Dragnet, is a 1928 American silent crime drama produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures based on the story "Nightstick" by Oliver H.P. Garrett. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg from an original screen story and starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent.

<i>My Ladys Lips</i> 1925 film

My Lady's Lips is a 1925 American silent drama film written by John F. Goodrich and directed by James P. Hogan for B.P. Schulberg and his company Preferred Pictures. The film stars Alyce Mills, and represents an early role for actress Clara Bow. It is the tenth ever film for William Powell, and the first of only two films where Powell and Bow worked together.

<i>Three Week-Ends</i> 1928 film

Three Week-Ends is a 1928 American comedy drama film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Clara Bow and Neil Hamilton. It is believed lost. "Three Week-Ends" is the title given in the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, with alternate titles being "Three Week Ends" and "3 Weekends".

Daughters of Pleasure is a 1924 American silent romantic comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Marie Prevost and Monte Blue. Based on a story by Caleb Proctor, the film features an early appearance by Clara Bow who plays a supporting role.

<i>Anton the Terrible</i> 1916 film by William C. deMille

Anton the Terrible is a 1916 American drama silent film directed by William C. deMille and written by Marion Fairfax, Jules Eckert Goodman and Charles Sarver. The film stars Theodore Roberts, Anita King, Horace B. Carpenter, Harrison Ford, Edythe Chapman and Hugo B. Koch. The film was released on September 28, 1916, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>The Crystal Gazer</i> 1917 film by George Melford

The Crystal Gazer is a lost 1917 American drama silent film directed by George Melford, and written by Eve Unsell, Edna G. Riley, and Marion Fairfax. The film stars Fannie Ward, Jack Dean, Winifred Greenwood, Harrison Ford, Raymond Hatton and Edythe Chapman. The film was released on July 30, 1917, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>On the Level</i> (1917 film) 1917 film

On the Level is a lost 1917 American silent Western film directed by George Melford and written by Marion Fairfax and Charles Kenyon. The film stars Fannie Ward, Jack Dean, Harrison Ford, Lottie Pickford, James Cruze, and Jim Mason. The film was released on September 10, 1917, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Sea Horses</i> (film) 1926 film

Sea Horses is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Becky Gardiner, James Shelley Hamilton, and Francis Brett Young. The film stars Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, William Powell, George Bancroft, Mack Swain, Frank Campeau, and Allan Simpson. The film was released on February 22, 1926, by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by British writer Francis Brett Young.

References

  1. Progressive Silent Film List: The Runaway at silentera.com. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  2. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Runaway. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  3. The Pomona Progress Bulletin (CA), 17 Sep. 1926, p. 10.
  4. The Library of Congress American / FIAF Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Runaway. Retrieved June 23, 2016.