Tongues of Flame

Tongues of Flame
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Directed by	Joseph Henabery
Screenplay by	Townsend Martin
Based on	Tongues of Flame by Peter Clark MacFarlane [1] [2]
Produced by	Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky
Starring	Thomas Meighan Bessie Love
Cinematography	Faxon M. Dean [3]
Production company	Famous Players–Lasky
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 15, 1924 (1924-12-15)(U.S.)
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Tongues of Flame is a 1924 American silent melodrama produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a novel by Peter Clark MacFarlane and was directed by Joseph Henabery. The film starred Thomas Meighan and Bessie Love. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Plot

The Native American Siwash people have been displaced from their land and live on a reservation. Wealthy Boland (Churchill) attempts to buy the reservation from the Siwash, who consult honest attorney Harrington (Meighan) for advice. Harrington looks into the contract and advises the Siwash to accept it. However, after the sale goes through, Boland drills for oil on the land, violating the contract. This angers Harrington, who exposes Boland's fraud. In retaliation, Boland has Harrington arrested on false charges.

A local court looks into the surveys associated with Boland's contracts, and returns all the Siwash native lands to them. Harrington is released from prison, and falls in love with the Siwash schoolteacher Lahleet (Love). ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Cast

• Thomas Meighan as Henry Harrington
• Bessie Love as Lahleet
• Eileen Percy as Billie Boland
• Berton Churchill as Boland
• John Miltern as Scanlon
• Leslie Stowe as Hornblower
• Nick Thompson as Adam John
• Jerry Devine as Mickey
• Kate Mayhew as Mrs. Vickers
• Cyril Ring as Clayton
• Chief Henry Red Eagle as Indian sergeant ^{[6] [10] [11]}

Production

The picture was filmed at Great Neck and Manhasset Bay on Long Island, New York.

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews, ^[7] although Bessie Love's performance was praised. ^[7]

Preservation

With no prints of Tongues of Flame located in any film archives, ^[12] it is a lost film.

See also

• Whitewashing in film

References

1. MacFarlane, Peter Clark (1924). Tongues of Flame. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation. OCLC   818810989.
2. "Casts of Current Photoplays". Photoplay Magazine. 1925. p.  120.
3. Love, Bessie (1977). From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love. London: Elm Tree Books. p. 152. OCLC   734075937.
4. "Tongues of Flame (1924)". American Film Institute. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
5. Bennett, Carl (May 4, 2014). "Progressive Silent Film List: Tongues of Flame". silentera.com. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
6. Munden, Kenneth W., ed. (1971). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930 . New York: R.R. Bowker Company. p.  819. ISBN   978-0-520-21521-4. OCLC   664500075.
7. "Tiresome Movie That Paramount Should Be Ashamed to Sell". Wid's Weekly. December 25, 1924. p.  10.
8. Hilger, Michael (1986). "The Silent Films—1924". The American Indian in Film. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p.  41. ISBN   0-8108-1905-8.
9. Langman, Larry (1992). A Guide to Silent Westerns. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 459–460. ISBN   978-0-313-27858-7.
10. "Meighan Makes Picture with Indians Watching". Pittsburgh Press . Pittsburgh, PA. December 12, 1924. p. 113.
11. "What the Stars Are Doing". Motion Picture Magazine. Vol. 28, no. 11. December 1924. p.  99.
12. "American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Tongues of Flame". The Library of Congress. 1924. Retrieved July 3, 2025.

External links

• Tongues of Flame at IMDb
• Tongues of Flame at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Tongues of Flame at the TCM Movie Database (archived version)
• Tongues of Flame at the British Film Institute
• Posters and film stills