That Royle Girl is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by D. W. Griffith and released by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Edwin Balmer, and starred Carol Dempster, W. C. Fields and Harrison Ford. It is now considered lost.[1][2]
| That Royle Girl | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
| Written by | Paul Schofield |
| Produced by | Jesse L. Lasky |
| Starring | Carol Dempster W. C. Fields James Kirkwood Harrison Ford |
| Cinematography | Harry Fischbeck Harold S. Sintzenich |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | Silent English intertitles |
Production
A poor young woman (Carol Dempster) from the slums of Chicago singlehandedly saves a jazz bandleader (Harrison Ford) after he is improperly convicted and sentenced to death for murder.[3]
This film, along with Sally of the Sawdust, marked Griffith's return to working for an important Hollywood studio, (Paramount), something he hadn't experienced since leaving Biograph in 1914 though his independently produced features were released through Triangle, Paramount and United Artists. He also had to work with a tight shooting script as Paramount executives Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky insisted the film be brought on schedule and on budget.
Griffith had been a founding partner in Triangle Studios in 1915 and United Artists in 1919, and these ventures allowed him leeway in the way he made films. However, now the leisurely approach to filmmaking Griffith had enjoyed at his own Mamaroneck, New York Long Island studio was gone. Griffith had been for all intents and purposes an independent producer since leaving Biograph. Griffith shot That Royle Girl on locations across Chicago. The film’s climactic sequence, a devastating tornado, was filmed on a football field at Paramount’s Astoria Studio in Queens, New York, where Griffith created a fully built village. Griffith used the power of 24 airplane propellers to recreate the wreckage and ruin of the tornado’s fury.
While the production was underway, Griffith added W. C. Fields to the cast for a comedy relief supporting role as the heroine’s inebriated stepfather.[4]
Cast
- Carol Dempster as Joan Daisy Royle
- W. C. Fields as Her Father
- James Kirkwood as Calvin Clarke
- Harrison Ford as Fred Ketlar
- Paul Everton as George Baretta
- Kathleen Chambers as Adele Ketlar
- George Regas as His Henchman
- Florence Auer as Baretta's Girl
- Ida Waterman as Mrs. Clarke
- Alice Laidley as Clarke's Fiancee
- Dorothy Love as Lola Nelson
- Dore Davidson as Elman
- Frank Allworth as Oliver
- Bobby Watson as Hofer
Preservation status
No print of That Royle Girl is known to exist.[1][5] In 1980, the American Film Institute included this title among its list of the “Ten Most Wanted” lost films of all time.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Simmon, Scott (1993). The Films of D. W. Griffith. CUP Archive. p. 25. ISBN 0-521-38820-1.
- ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: That Royle Girl
- ^ Langman, Larry (1998). American Film Cycles: The Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 208. ISBN 0-313-30657-5.
- ^ Fields, Ronald J. “W.C. Fields: A Life on Film,” pages 31-33. St. Martin’s Press, 1984. ISBN 0-312-85312-2
- ^ "That Royle Girl". silentera.com. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
- ^ Thomson, Frank. “Lost Films: Important Movies That Disappeared,” page xiv. Citadel Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8065-1604-6
External links
- That Royle Girl at IMDb
- That Royle Girl at the TCM Movie Database
- That Royle Girl at SilentEra
- hard to find lobby poster
