Lights of Old Broadway | 1925 | Drama, Romance

Title: Lights of Old Broadway by Monta Bell | 1925 | Drama, Romance Director: Monta Bell Studio: Cosmopolitan Productions Starring: Marion Davies, Conrad Nagel, Frank Currier, George K. Arthur, Julia Swayne Gordon Based on: The Merry Wives of Gotham by Laurence Eyre Release Date: November 1, 1925 Runtime: 77 Format: Silent; black-and-white with color sequences ; 35mm, 1.33:1 Country: United States Language: Silent Genres: Drama, Romance --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Immigrant arrival and separation 00:15:00 Tenement life and vaudeville 00:32:00 Society world and courtship 00:49:00 Street unrest and family rift 01:04:00 Electric light and reconciliation --- Summary: Twin sisters are separated upon arrival in New York when their mother dies at sea: Anne is adopted by a wealthy family, while Fely is raised in the tenements and finds work on the vaudeville stage. Years later, Fely meets Dirk, Anne’s adopted brother, and the two fall in love despite class divisions and family objections. Against a backdrop of Gilded Age New York and the coming of electric light, the story follows mistaken identities, social upheaval, and reconciliation as Fely’s courage helps bridge the gap between the city’s streets and salons. --- Background: Produced by William Randolph Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn, Lights of Old Broadway adapts Laurence Eyre’s 1924 Broadway play The Merry Wives of Gotham. The film is notable for early color use: stage and street-illumination sequences employ two-color Technicolor and the Handschiegl process alongside tinted footage. After initial production, MGM ordered retakes overseen by Marshall Neilan; premieres followed in late October in Los Angeles and on November 1, 1925 in New York. --- Trivia: Marion Davies plays a dual role as the separated twins, a showcase for her contrasting comic and dramatic personas. Historical figures and show-business pioneers appear as characters, including Tony Pastor, Weber and Fields, and Thomas A. Edison; there is also a depiction of a young Theodore Roosevelt. The film integrates color to serve narrative contrast: Technicolor for the vibrant stage and selective Handschiegl coloring for the American flag during the electric streetlighting scene. The production marked one of Davies’s early collaborations with MGM leadership Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg following Cosmopolitan’s integration with the new studio. A restoration screened at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2019 highlighted the survival of its early color material. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: November 1, 1925 Original Studio / Distributor: Cosmopolitan Productions / Metro-Goldwyn Distributing Corp. Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: No --- Hashtags: LightsOfOldBroadway MarionDavies MontaBell SilentFilm 1925 Technicolor PublicDomain MGM CosmopolitanProductions Source page: https: //commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lights_of_Old_Broadway_(1925)_by_Monta_Bell.webm Direct media URL: https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Lights_of_Old_Broadway_%281925%29_by_Monta_Bell.webm