In 1898, John Carteret is standing by the grave of Moonyean Clare (1849–1868). At home in his garden, he calls to her, and her spirit comes to him, wearing a wedding dress. He does not see her, but he sometimes hears her. She tells him to be patient and the years will pass quickly.
John, a wealthy man, has become a virtual recluse since Moonyean’s death. His lifelong friend Dr. Owen brings Moonyean's orphaned niece Kathleen to see him, hoping that John will adopt her. Years later, the three of them are celebrating Kathleen's birthday on June 7, 1915. John tells her that she resembles Moonyean. She knows that John mourns her aunt, but nothing more.
Caught in a violent thunderstorm with her hapless and lovelorn childhood friend Willie, Kathleen breaks into the long-deserted Wayne mansion. They find an invitation for Moonyean’s wedding. A man enters who introduces himself as Kenneth Wayne, Jeremy Wayne’s American son.
A romance between Kathleen and Kenneth develops quickly, but when Kathleen tells John of the meeting, he reacts with speechless fury. Kenneth’s father is John's long-dead mortal enemy, and John has been deprived of his vengeance. In the garden, he tells Kathleen the whole story, shown in flashback.
At a party on the night before their wedding, John only wants to listen as Moonyean sings "Smilin’ Through," ignoring Owen as he tries to warn John that his rival Jerry Wayne has been drinking heavily. Jerry comes to the back gate to talk to Moonyean, desolate and raging that she should be his. He leaves when John comes out, and the lovers share some blissful moments in the garden. In the church the next day, Jerry, drunk, stops the ceremony and tries to shoot John. Moonyean rushes forward and the bullet strikes near her heart. She dies in John’s arms as he places the ring on her finger.
When John finishes his story, Kathleen is on her knees weeping. John makes her promise never to see Kenneth again. Kenneth insists on knowing why, but he understands. However, their love proves too strong and for weeks they meet in secret at Mrs. Crouch’s tea shop, the windowpanes shaken by the guns in France.
Kathleen asks Kenneth to take her to Dover with him when his leave ends. But when John says that he will not take her back if she marries, Kenneth knows that he cannot leave Kathleen alone and without John, so they part at the station. Kathleen returns home devastated, but John has no pity because he wishes Kenneth dead. Moonyean comes to him, but his hate stands between them. She tries to make him realize that unless he can right this wrong, he can never come to her.
With World War I ending, Kathleen meets a troop train but cannot find Kenneth. Owen tends to the wounded and finds Kenneth among them. Both his legs are badly injured, but Kenneth makes Owen promise that he will not tell Kathleen. He has been discharged and plans to sail for America the next day. However, Owen does tell John of Kenneth's plan. Kathleen notices a light at the Wayne mansion and runs over. Kenneth hides his crutches and pretends that he no longer cares for her. After she leaves, he breaks down.
Finally discarding his hatred and desire for revenge, John tells Kathleen the truth and asks her to bring Kenneth back with her. On her way, she sees Owen and sends him to John. The old friends sit down to play chess, but John dozes off. Amused, Owen leaves him to his nap. But John has died; young again, he is reunited with Moonyean. They watch as Kathleen helps Kenneth walk to the house, and then the ghostly lovers drive off in a spectral carriage, feted by the spirits of their wedding guests.
Cast
Norma Shearer as Kathleen (credited)/Moonyean (uncredited)
Fredric March as Kenneth Wayne (credited)/Jeremy Wayne (uncredited)
Significant differences exist in the story in comparison with the 1922 silent film.[examples needed] The 1941 version, though not a shot-for-shot remake, does incorporate several key scenes from the 1932 film verbatim, while adding material that focuses more on World War II, including patriotic songs performed by Jeanette MacDonald.
The song "Smilin’ Through" was first published in 1919 at the time when the original play was written. The song is heard in the play and in all three film adaptions, including as musical accompaniment in the 1922 silent version. Norma Shearer's singing voice was dubbed by Georgia Stark.[2]
Stewart said he got the job as "having acquired a reputation as a humorist because of my books" the film "wasn’t exactly a laugh riot. Irving Thalberg needed some help with the dialogue there; they had shot half of it, I think, and I rewrote some of the scenes. That was my first real introduction to Hollywood."[3]
The film was rereleased in 1935. According to the MGM "Campaign Book”, it was brought back "by public demand."[4]
Box office
The film grossed a total (domestic and foreign) of $2,033,000: $1,004,000 from the U.S. and Canada and $1,029,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $529,000.[1]
↑ Eyles, Allen; Gillet, John (1986). "David Ogden Stewart: Politically Conscious". In McGilligan, Patrick (ed.). Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age. p.340.
Smilin' Through is a 1919 play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin, written under a pseudonym, Allan Langdon Martin. Cowl also starred in the play in a double role and co-directed it with Priestly Morrison. Smilin' Through was produced by The Selwyns and opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway on December 30, 1919. It included in the cast Orme Caldara as Kenneth and Jeremiah Wayne, Henry Stephenson as John Carteret and Ethelbert D. Hales as Dr. Owen Harding. Scenic design was by Joseph Urban. The play was a popular hit and ran for 175 performances. It also played for a long run on the road, and was one of Jane Cowl's greatest commercial successes.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1934 American romantic drama film directed by Sidney Franklin based on the 1930 play of the same title by Rudolf Besier. It depicts the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, despite the opposition of her abusive father Edward Moulton-Barrett. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Shearer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was written by Ernest Vajda, Claudine West, and Donald Ogden Stewart, from the successful 1930 play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier, and starring Katharine Cornell.
The Divorcee is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film written by Nick Grindé, John Meehan, and Zelda Sears, based on the 1929 novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, and won Best Actress for its star Norma Shearer.
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated women. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'Neill, and William Shakespeare, and was the first five-time Academy Award acting nominee, winning Best Actress for The Divorcee (1930).
A Free Soul is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film that tells the story of an alcoholic San Francisco defense attorney who must defend his daughter's ex-boyfriend on a charge of murdering the mobster she had started a relationship with, who he had previously gotten an acquittal for on a murder charge. Directed by Clarence Brown it stars Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March, who plays a possessed doctor who tests his new formula that can unleash people's inner demons. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac.
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 American historical drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette. Based upon the 1932 biography of the ill-fated Queen of France by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, it had its Los Angeles premiere at the legendary Carthay Circle Theatre, where the landscaping was specially decorated for the event.
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.
Side Street is a 1929 American Pre-Code film featuring the only screen teaming of all three Moore Brothers, each of them major silent film stars. George Raft also makes an uncredited appearance as a professional dancer — which Raft was at the time — dancing to the song "Take a Look at Her Now", sung by June Clyde. Side Street was directed by Malcolm St. Clair with a screenplay by George O'Hara and Jane Murfin, based on a story by St. Clair, which was adapted by John Russell.
Lady of the Night is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell. The film stars Norma Shearer in a dual role.
A Slave of Fashion is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Hobart Henley. The film stars Norma Shearer and Lew Cody, with William Haines. A young Joan Crawford had an early uncredited role as a mannequin.
A Lady of Chance is a 1928 synchronized sound film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with singing and sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is based upon the story "Little Angel" by Leroy Scott and is Norma Shearer's last silent film. Although the film was released with added dialogue scenes, Shearer had no lines. The film's copyright was renewed, so it did not enter the public domain until January 1, 2024.
Smilin' Through is a 1941 American Technicolor musical film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne, Gene Raymond and Ian Hunter. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it is based on the 1919 play of the same name by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin. The film was a remake of a previous 1932 version by MGM and was the third and final film version of the play. It was filmed in Technicolor and was remade as a musical for MacDonald with several older songs interpolated into the story.
Smilin' Through is a 1922 American silent drama film based on the 1919 play of the same name, written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin. The film starred Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Wyndham Standing. It was co-written and directed by Sidney Franklin, who also directed the more famous 1932 remake at MGM. The film was produced by Talmadge and her husband Joseph M. Schenck for her company, the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation. It was released by First National Pictures. Popular character actor Gene Lockhart made his screen debut in this film.
Smilin' Through may refer to:
Let Us Be Gay is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film produced and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and stars Norma Shearer. It was based on and filmed concurrently with the 1929 play by Rachel Crothers which starred Tallulah Bankhead and ran for 128 performances at London's Lyric Theater. Critics generally preferred Tallulah's rendition to Shearer's.
Riptide is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic drama film starring Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery and Herbert Marshall, written and directed by Edmund Goulding, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Cora Susan Collins is an American former child actress who appeared in films during the Golden Years of Hollywood, and although she did not make the transition to adult star, and her career in Hollywood ran a brief 13-year tenure, she appeared in 47 films.
We Were Dancing is a 1942 MGM romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, written by Claudine West, Hans Rameau and George Froeschel, and starring Norma Shearer and Melvyn Douglas. It is based loosely on Noël Coward's 1935 play of the same name, together with ideas from Ways and Means, another play in Coward's Tonight at 8.30 play cycle, and Coward's Private Lives.
Grand Larceny is a lost 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Wallace Worsley and starring Elliott Dexter, Claire Windsor, and Lowell Sherman. It was produced and released by Goldwyn Pictures.
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