We Americans

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We Americans
We Americans.jpg
Lobby card
Directed by Edward Sloman
Written by Alfred A. Cohn
Edward Sloman
Based onWe Americans
by Milton Herbert Gropper and Max Siegel
Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.
Starring George Sidney
Patsy Ruth Miller
George J. Lewis
Cinematography Jackson Rose
Edited byRobert Jahns
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • March 28, 1928 (1928-03-28)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

We Americans is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sloman and starring George Sidney, Patsy Ruth Miller, and George J. Lewis. [1] [2] An extremely slender young Andy Devine plays an early small role as Pat O'Dougal.

Contents

Plot

Two young couples try to cross the mixed ethnic divide in America, something which is only resolved when World War I reveals the truth of American society's melting pot.

Cast

Production

Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. purchased the film rights to the play We Americans in support of the efforts of Will H. Hays, head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, to further the more rapid Americanization of immigrants within the United States. [3] Hays organized a group of experts to advise director Sloman on the film. [3] The initial outline for the film had immigrants from Russia settling in the United States but maintaining their native language and customs, while their children became assimilated through attended American high school, with the resulting family conflict.

Preservation

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

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References

  1. Erens p. 96
  2. Progressive Silent Film List: We Americans at silentera.com
  3. 1 2 "Aid of Americanization Experts Secured by Hays for Universal's We Americans". Universal Weekly. New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company. 25 (20): 13. 25 June 1927. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  4. Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: We Americans

Bibliography