Synthetic Sin is a 1929 American sound comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, based on a play of the same name.[1] While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. It was released by Warner Bros. and was recorded using the Vitaphone sound system.[2] Only the soundtrack disc for the last reel is known to survive.
Plot
Famed playwright Donald Anthony returns home to Magnolia Gap, Virginia, and proposes to Betty Fairfax. She accepts and he offers her the lead part in his next play, but the play is a disaster. Donald tells her that she is unsuited for the role, that it requires someone with more life experience. Rather than return home defeated, Betty stays in New York, in a bad neighborhood where local gangsters adopt her as their own. When Donald comes to visit her, they eject him. There is a gunfight, and in the resulting confusion Donald sweeps in and rescues Betty. After the excitement, Betty gives up her dreams of the stage and devotes herself to Donald.
The film featured a theme song entitled "Betty" which was composed by Nathaniel Shilkret and Harold Christy.
Preservation status
A copy survives at the Cineteca Italiana archive in Milan. Previously it was considered to be a lost film. Colleen Moore had deposited copies of several of her movies with the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), but it allowed the films to decompose before they could be restored.[3]
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