Gerald Cranston's Lady

Gerald Cranston's Lady
Gerald Cranston's Lady
	Lobby card
Directed by	Emmett J. Flynn
Written by	Edmund Goulding
Based on	Gerald Cranston's Lady; by Gilbert Frankau
Produced by	William Fox
Starring	James Kirkwood; Alma Rubens; Walter McGrail
Production; company	Fox Film Corporation
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date	October 19, 1924;
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (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

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.

Cast

James Kirkwood as Gerald Cranston
Alma Rubens as Hermione, Lady Gerald Cranston
Walter McGrail as Gordon Ibbotsleigh
J. Farrell MacDonald as Rennie
Lucien Littlefield as Stanley Tilotson
Spottiswoode Aitken as Ephraim Brewster
Templar Saxe as Lord Rawley
Richard Headrick as Arthur
Marguerite De La Motte as Angela
Eric Mayne as Sir James Guthrie
Lydia Knott as Cranston's Mother
Valentina Zimina as The African lady (uncredited)

Production

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

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

References

^ Solomon p. 290
^ Progressive Silent Film List: Gerald Cranston's Lady at silentera.com
^ ^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.
^ Kennedy p. 47
^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Gerald Cranston's Lady

Bibliography

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