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Nan of Music Mountain
(1917) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by George H. Melford (George Melford) + [Cecil B. DeMille]
Cast: Wallace Reid [Henry de Spain], Anna Little (Ann Little) [Nan Morgan], Theodore Roberts [Duke Morgan], James Cruze [Gale Morgan], Charles Ogle [Sassoon], Raymond Hatton [Logan], Hart Hoxie [Sandusky], Guy Oliver [Bull Page], James P. Mason [Scott], Henry Woodward [Jeffries], Ernest Joy [Lefever], Horace B. Carpenter [McAlpin], Alice Marc [Nita], Charlie McHugh (Charles McHugh) [a gang member]
Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation [A Paramount Star Attraction; A Paramount Picture]. / Scenario by Beulah Marie Dix, from the novel Nan of Music Mountain by Frank H. Spearman. Assistant director, Claude Mitchell. Cinematography by Paul Perry. Presented by Jesse L. Lasky. / © 12 December 1917 by Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, Incorporated [LP11826]. Released 17 December 1917. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Contemporary trade periodicals rumored that DeMille directed the blizzard sequence.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Henry de Spain, a young mountaineer of about twenty-eight, is made general manager of the Thief River Stage Line because he has nerve and can shoot. It is understood that he is to “clean up” the gang of outlaws in Morgan Gap, led by Duke Morgan, with whose pretty niece, Nan, de Spain is in love. Sassoon starts the trouble by a knifing, but de Spain catches him. The laugh is soon turned, though, for Sassoon escapes and soon after de Spain himself is wounded in a fight with about seven of the Morgan gang. He is severely wounded and falls from the horse. The horse runs away, and de Spain is left there unconscious. He is finally discovered by Nan, who cannot forget her resentment even when she sees that he is half dead. Later she learns the true story of his attack by her relatives and from his own lips the reason of his being a gunman. This was that his father was shot in the back by one of the mountaineers and soon after his mother had died from the effects of the shock, leaving him with a birthmark to commemorate his father’s tragic death. Nan is won over to his side the more easily that she is already half in love with the handsome gunman. A few days later she helps him escape. Afterwards, although he takes every opportunity for seeing her, they seldom meet and her uncle very nearly succeeds in marrying her to her worthless cousin, Gale Morgan. Duke Morgan is thrown from his horse and seriously hurt. Nan comes to nurse him at the hospital, where de Spain has been since he was shot. De Spain leaves soon after her arrival, but comes to see her under the pretext of bringing supplies. It is while there that she at last surrenders to his pleading and consents to become formally “engaged.” Gale learns of the affair and tells Duke. Nan is forced to confess her love for de Spain and her uncle tells her that she will never marry him. Gale wins old Duke’s permission to marry Nan and the girl is kept a prisoner in her room until she will consent to marrying her cousin. One night de Spain gets the following message: “Take me away from here as soon as you can.” He knows it is from Nan. He rides to the Morgan ranch, and overhears Duke and Gale planning Nan’s marriage. He reveals himself and holds the men at bay while he and Nan, who has appeared, escape. Sassoon, a bad man, nearly kills de Spain, but the latter manages to get a successful shot at his enemy and they reach town, where he takes Nan to the home of one of his friends. Henry de Spain learns that old Duke Morgan was the one who killed his father. Nan, broken-hearted, starts back to her uncle to learn the truth. She tries to bring him to de Spain, but they are caught in a blizzard, and only saved by de Spain just as they are about to succumb. Duke tells de Spain that he and Sassoon both shot at his father, but that they never knew which shot proved fatal, and they learned, to their horror soon after, that de Spain was not the man they were after, who had killed a member of their clan. There is a make-shift wedding ceremony performed right there in the snow, for old Duke gives in at last to the lovers, but later at the settlement there is a more elaborate wedding, which serves to unite the two enemy factions.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 4 January 2023.
References: Ringgold-DeMille p. ? : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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