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Gerald Cranston's Lady

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Gerald Cranston's Lady
Lobby card
Directed byEmmett J. Flynn
Written byEdmund Goulding
Based onGerald Cranston's Lady
by Gilbert Frankau
Produced byWilliam Fox
StarringJames Kirkwood
Alma Rubens
Walter McGrail
Production
company
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • October 19, 1924 (1924-10-19)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Gerald Cranston's Lady is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Emmett J. Flynn and starring James Kirkwood, Alma Rubens, and Walter McGrail.[1] It is based on the novel of the same title by Gilbert Frankau published the same year as the film was released.[2]

Plot

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As described in a review in a film magazine,[3] wealthy Englishman Gerald Cranston (Kirkwood) makes a bargain with Lady Hermione (Rubens) to marry her. Love is not to enter into the affair as he is marrying for social prestige and she to secure financial independence for herself and young son. Gordon Ibbotsleigh (McGrail), who loves Hermione, goes on a venture to Africa which unknown to him Gerald finances. Before going, Gordon taunts Hermione with being a purchased woman and endeavors to make love to her. Hermione respects Gerald and is jealous of the way her little son loves him. So she goes to the country. Angela (De La Motte), her cousin who loves Gerald, makes love to him and uses all her powers to win him, even following him to Paris in an airplane. Hermione returns, realizing she has begun to love Gerald, but this is turned to disgust when she learns of his trip to Paris. She taunts him with it. Just then, a discontented mob from Gerald’s factories attacks him and he is badly beaten. Angela comes to Hermione and tells her that Gerald is true to her. When he is brought in the house helpless, Hermione, who has repulsed all of Gerald’s previous advances, tells him she loves him. She offers the entire fortune he has settled on her and the child in order to save him from threatened financial ruin.

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Cast

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Production

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Gerald Cranston's Lady was filmed in London, England, by Fox Film.[4] Although adopted from a novel in which a sexual theme was paramount, the film's plot was modified so that love and not passion was the dominating motivation in all situations except for a suspicion of infidelity during the Paris trip, which is afterwards proved to be groundless.[3]

Preservation

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With no prints of Gerald Cranston's Lady located in any film archives,[5] it is a lost film.

References

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  1. ^ Solomon p. 290
  2. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Gerald Cranston's Lady at silentera.com
  3. ^ a b Sewell, Charles S. (December 6, 1924). "Gerald Cranston's Lady; Forceful and Thoroughly Interesting Domestic Drama Is Fox Adaptation of Popular Novel". The Moving Picture World. 71 (6). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 545. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  4. ^ Kennedy p. 47
  5. ^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Gerald Cranston's Lady

Bibliography

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  • Kennedy, Matthew (2004). Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory: Hollywood's Genius Bad Boy. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-19770-0
  • Solomon, Aubrey (2011). The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6286-5
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