Cecil Blount DeMille was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City.
The following is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Mae Murray was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen".
The Man from Home is a 1914 American drama film based on a play written by Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. In 1922, the story was remade in the UK by George Fitzmaurice as The Man From Home, and released by Famous Players–Lasky. The stage play was a big hit for actor William Hodge in the role of Pike in the 1908 Broadway season.
The Unafraid is a 1915 American drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Extant at George Eastman House. Rita Jolivet completed this film just before boarding the Lusitania on its final voyage. The film survives and is preserved in the film archive at George Eastman House.
The Captive is an American silent-era film released on April 22, 1915. It was released on five reels. The film was written, directed, edited, and produced by Cecil B. DeMille. Jesse L. Lasky was another producer and Jeanie MacPherson worked with DeMille to write the screenplay. The film is based on a play written by Cecil B. DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson. The Captive grossed over $56,000 on a budget of $12,154. Blanche Sweet stars as Sonia Martinovich, alongside House Peters who stars as Mahmud Hassan. The film details the romantic war-era plight of Sonia and her lover Mahmud.
The Wild Goose Chase is a 1915 American comedy-drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film was written by DeMille's brother William and starred Ina Claire. The Wild Goose Chase is now considered a lost film.
The Arab is a 1915 American silent adventure film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Edgar Selwyn wrote and starred in the Broadway play version of the story in 1911, and this film is based on that play. Selwyn reprises his role from his play. This film was refilmed by Metro Pictures in 1924 as The Arab. The film is now lost.
Chimmie Fadden is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed, written and edited Cecil B. DeMille. The film starred Victor Moore in the title role and is based on the play and short story of the same name by Edward W. Townsend. It was followed by a sequel Chimmie Fadden Out West. It is a surviving film formerly thought lost for decades. A print is kept at Cinemateket-Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm.
Carmen is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film is based on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. The existing versions of this film appear to be from the re-edited 1918 re-release.
Temptation is a 1915 American silent romantic drama film directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille. The film starred Geraldine Farrar and Theodore Roberts and was written by and based on an original story by Hector Turnbull. Additional writing was done by DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson, who did not receive screen credit. Temptation is now considered a lost film.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is based on the 1908 novel and the 1912 play of the same name by Eugene Walter. Charlotte Walker reprised her role from the Broadway production. A copy of the 1916 film survives in the archives of George Eastman House.
Joan the Woman is a 1916 American epic silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar as Joan of Arc. The film premiered on Christmas Day in 1916. This was DeMille's first historical drama. The screenplay is based on Friedrich Schiller's 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans. This film was considered to be the "first cinematic spectacle about Joan of Arc."
The Devil-Stone is a 1917 American silent romance film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, co-written by his mother Beatrice deMille and Jeanie MacPherson, and starring Geraldine Farrar. The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process. Only two of six reels are known to survive, in the American Film Institute Collection at the Library of Congress. This was the last of Farrar's films for Paramount Pictures.
For Better, for Worse is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was the second of four "marriage films" directed by DeMille and the second DeMille film starring Gloria Swanson. For Better, for Worse was adapted for the screen by William C. DeMille. Jeanie MacPherson wrote the film's scenario.
Why Change Your Wife? is a 1920 American silent comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson.
Saturday Night is a 1922 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Leatrice Joy, Conrad Nagel, and Edith Roberts. It was Leatrice Joy's first film with DeMille.
Feet of Clay is a 1924 American silent drama film directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Vera Reynolds and Rod La Rocque, and with set design by Norman Bel Geddes. The film is based on the 1923 novel by Margaretta Tuttle, and Beulah Marie Dix's one-act 1915 play Across the Border.
The Sea Urchin is a 1913 American silent short romantic drama film directed by Edwin August and starring Jeanie MacPherson and Lon Chaney. The film was the earliest known character role by Lon Chaney and the first screenplay by MacPherson. The story follows a hunchback fisherman who finds a young girl and raises her into womanhood with the intention of marrying her. The film was released on August 22, 1913, and was played across the United States. The film is presumed lost.
To Have and to Hold is a 1916 American silent adventure/drama film directed by George Melford. Based on the 1899 novel of the same name, the film starred Wallace Reid and Mae Murray in her film debut.
