We Americans

Last updated
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] A 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 considered a lost film.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patsy Ruth Miller</span> American actress

Patsy Ruth Miller was an American film actress who played Esméralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) opposite Lon Chaney.

<i>The Mayor of Hell</i> 1933 film

The Mayor of Hell is a 1933 American pre-Code Warner Brothers film starring James Cagney. The film was remade in 1938 as Crime School with Humphrey Bogart taking over James Cagney's role and Hell's Kitchen with Ronald Reagan in 1939.

Harold Frank Kress was an American film editor with more than fifty feature film credits; he also directed several feature films in the early 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for How the West Was Won (1962) and again for The Towering Inferno (1974), and was nominated for four additional films; he is among the film editors most recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He also worked publicly to increase the recognition of editing as a component of Hollywood filmmaking.

<i>The Impatient Maiden</i> 1932 film

The Impatient Maiden is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by James Whale, starring Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke, and released by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Schayer and Winifred Dunn, based on the novel The Impatient Virgin, by Donald Henderson Clarke.

<i>His People</i> 1925 film directed by Edward Sloman

His People is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sloman about a young, Jewish boxer growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. According to film historian Lester Friedman, “Sloman portrays immigrant life in America.”

<i>The President Vanishes</i> (film) 1934 film by William A. Wellman

The President Vanishes is a 1934 American political drama film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Walter Wanger. Starring Edward Arnold and Arthur Byron, the film is an adaptation of Rex Stout's political novel of the same name.

<i>A Yankee Princess</i> 1919 silent film by David Smith

A Yankee Princess is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America. It was directed by David Smith and stars Bessie Love, who also wrote the screenplay. It is a lost film.

<i>Alias the Deacon</i> (1927 film) 1927 film

Alias the Deacon is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sloman and starring Jean Hersholt, June Marlowe, and Ralph Graves. It was produced and released by Universal Pictures. Based on a stage play of the same name, it was directed by Edward Sloman and is preserved at the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation. It was remade as the sound film Alias the Deacon in 1940.

<i>Gas House Kids</i> 1946 film by Sam Newfield

Gas House Kids is a 1946 American comedy-drama film directed by Sam Newfield and starring Billy Halop, Robert Lowery, Teala Loring, and Carl Switzer. It was inspired by the Dead End Kids, even casting erstwhile Dead End ringleader Billy Halop in a leading role.

<i>Marriage for Convenience</i> 1919 American film

Marriage For Convenience is a 1919 silent film drama directed by Sidney Olcott and starring Catherine Calvert.

<i>My Old Dutch</i> (1926 film) 1926 film by Laurence Trimble

My Old Dutch is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Laurence Trimble and starring May McAvoy and Pat O'Malley. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Trimble had directed a 1915 British version of My Old Dutch that was also released by Universal.

<i>Hot Heels</i> 1928 film

Hot Heels is a lost 1928 American silent comedy film directed by William James Craft and starring Glenn Tryon and Patsy Ruth Miller. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

<i>The Fighting Edge</i> 1926 film

The Fighting Edge is a 1926 American silent action film directed by Henry Lehrman and written by Edward T. Lowe Jr. and Jack Wagner. It is based on the 1922 novel The Fighting Edge by William MacLeod Raine. The film stars Kenneth Harlan, Patsy Ruth Miller, David Kirby, Heinie Conklin, Pat Hartigan, and Lew Harvey. The film was released by Warner Bros. on January 8, 1926.

<i>Head Winds</i> 1925 film

Head Winds is a surviving 1925 American silent drama film directed by Herbert Blaché and starring House Peters and Patsy Ruth Miller. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

<i>Black Diamonds</i> (1940 film) 1940 film, directed by Christy Cabanne

Black Diamonds is a 1940 American drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, and Kathryn Adams. The film was released on July 19, 1940.

<i>Painting the Town</i> 1927 film

Painting the Town is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by William James Craft and written by Vin Moore and Albert DeMond based on a story by Harry O. Hoyt. The film stars Glenn Tryon, Patsy Ruth Miller, Charles K. Gerrard, George Fawcett, Sidney Bracey, and Max Asher. The film was released on August 7, 1927, by Universal Pictures.

<i>Daughters of Today</i> (1924 film) 1924 film

Daughters of Today is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and starring Patsy Ruth Miller, Ralph Graves, and Edna Murphy.

<i>My Man</i> (1924 film) 1924 film

My Man is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by David Smith and starring Patsy Ruth Miller, Dustin Farnum, and Niles Welch.

<i>Clay Dollars</i> 1921 film

Clay Dollars is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by George Archainbaud and starring Eugene O'Brien, Ruth Dwyer and Frank Currier. It was shot at studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

<i>The Greatest Love</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

The Greatest Love is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Henry Kolker and starring Vera Gordon, Bertram Marburgh and Sally Crute. The film follows the fortunes of an Italian immigrant family the Latinis who arrive in New York around the turn of the century. It built on Gordon's previous role as a long-suffering Jewish mother in Humoresque.

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. 25 (20). New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company: 13. 25 June 1927. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  4. Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: We Americans

Bibliography