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A Message from Mars
A Message from Mars
	Advertising for A Message from Mars on The Film Daily (April 17, 1921).
Directed by	Maxwell Karger
Written by	Arthur J. Zellner; Arthur Maude
Based on	A Message from Mars; by Richard Ganthony
Starring	Bert Lytell; Raye Dean; Maude Milton
Cinematography	Arthur Martinelli
Production; company	Metro Pictures
Distributed by	Metro Pictures
Release date	April 11, 1921 (US);
Running time	6 reels
Country	United States
Languages	Silent film; (English intertitles)

A Message from Mars is a 1921 American silent fantasy comedy film directed by Maxwell Karger and starring Bert Lytell, Raye Dean, and Maude Milton. It is based on the 1899 play with the same name by Richard Ganthony. The film was released by Metro Pictures on April 11, 1921.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Plot

Wealthy young Horace Parker, who is an egoist agrees to financing a communicating device which allows for communicating with Mars. He is credited for the invention and he studies his plans rather than go to a party with his fiancée, Minnie. After falling asleep, a messenger from Mars appears to Parker who announces his intentions to convert Parker (who according to the messenger is the earth's most selfish man). Parker is then shown poverty and suffering by the messenger and Parker also overhears Minnie's reproval of him at the party. Parker awakens in a house fire inside the home of a soldier that he once refused help to. Parker ends up rescuing the woman and invites her and other unfortunate people to his home, which also pleases his fiancée.^[1]

Production

A Message from Mars was shot at Metro's studio on 61st Street in Manhattan. No art director is credited for the film; M.P. Staulcup or Lester J. Vermilyea are held up as likely candidates by historian Richard Koszarski, as both were known to work on Metro's New York films.^[5]

Cast

Bert Lytell as Horace Parker
Raye Dean as Minnie Talbot
Maude Milton as Martha Parker (*aka Maud Milton)
Alphonse Ethier as the messenger (credited as Alphonz Ethier)
Gordon Ash as Arthur Dicey
Leonard Mudie as Fred Jones
Mary Louise Beaton as Mrs. Jones
Frank Currier as Sir Edwards
George Spink as The butler

Preservation

A print is prepared and preserved by MGM.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "A Message from Mars". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
^ "A Message from Mars". afi.com. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
^ "A Message from Mars". AllMovie. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
^ "A Message from Mars". TCM.com. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
^ Koszarski, Richard. Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff. Rutgers University Press, 2008. p 114.
^ American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: A Message from Mars