A growing source of silent era film information. This listing is from The Progressive Silent Film List by Carl Bennett. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

About This Listing Report Omissions or Errors in This Listing

	Esther Ralston. Photograph: courtesy Austrian Film Museum.

Cast: Esther Ralston [Lena Smith], James Hall [Franz Hofrat], Gustav von Seyffertitz [Herr Hofrat], Emily Fitzroy [Frau Hofrat], Fred Kohler [Stefan], Betty Aho [Stefan’s sister], Lawrence Grant [the commissioner], Leone Lane [Pepi], Kay Deslys [Poldi], Alex Woloshin [the janitor], Ann Brody [the janitor’s wife], Warner Klinger [Franz, at age 18], Wally Albright Jr. [Franz, at age 3], [?] Aleksandr Ikonikov?, [?] Rosalind Byrne?, [?] Gregory Gaye?

Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation production; distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation [A Josef von Sternberg Production; A Paramount Picture]. / Scenario by Jules Furthman, from a screen story by Samuel Ornitz. Production design by Hans Dreier. Set decoration by Hans Dreier. Costume design by Travis Banton. Properties by Lou Asher. Unit manager, J.W. Schleif. Technical directors, Hans Dreier and Martin Porkay. Assistant directors, Bob Lee and Martin Porkay. Cinematography by Harold Rosson. Second camera operator, Bill Rand (William Rand). Assistant cameramen, Ed Pyle and Paul Lockwood. Film editor, Helen Lewis. Intertitles written by Julian Johnson. / © 18 January 1929 by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation [LP321]. Premiered at the Metropolitan Theatre in New York, New York, in December 1928, and at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 13 January 1929. General release, 19 January 1929. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Actors Wallace Beery, John Loder and Ruth Taylor were announced as cast members but do not appear in the finished film; while Nora Lane was reported as a cast member she may have been confused with Leone Lane. / Silent film.

Drama.

Survival status: The film is presumed lost : A 100-metre fragment of a 35mm positive was recovered by Komatsu Hiroshi (Hiroshi Komatsu) of Tokyo’s Waseda University.

Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].

Keywords: Death: Suicide

Listing updated: 26 August 2023.

References: Baer-Film p. 42; Brownlow-Behind pp. xx-xxi; Drew-Speaking pp. 188, 203, 204, 284; Everson-American p. 246s; Sarris-Sternberg pp. 8, 16, 22-23; Sweeney-Coming p. 141; Thompson-Lost p. 251 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb : with additional information provided by Anna Bohn.

Home video: DVD.