The Best People

The Best People
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Directed bySidney Olcott
Written byBernard McConville
Based onThe Best People
by David Gray and Avery Hopwood
Produced byJesse L. Lasky
Adolph Zukor
StarringWarner Baxter
CinematographyJames Wong Howe
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 28, 1925 (1925-12-28)
Running time
6 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Best People is a 1925 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Warner Baxter in the leading role.[1][2]

The film was remade in 1930 as Fast and Loose starring Miriam Hopkins.

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine,[3] Mrs. Lenox (Williams) is marrying her daughter Miriam (Morris) to the scion of another "best family," but the girl prefers their chauffeur, who has red blood instead of blue. Bertie Lenox (Striker) has fallen in love with an impossible chorus girl who will not marry him until he gives up his money and goes to work. Arthur Rockmere (Austin), the fiancé, has arranged a supper with Alice O'Neill (Ralston), the chorus girl, and her chum, Millie Montgomery (Livingston), also of the chorus, with the idea of buying Alice off. Bertie resents this private-room affair. There is a sidewalk fight outside the supper club that lands most of them in the police station, where Millie bails them out with the money Bertie's father has given her to enlist her aid in breaking off the distasteful match, and they all roll home in a taxi the next morning. The children get their hearts' delights, and Millie lands Bertie's Uncle Throckmorton (Steers), a self-constituted social arbiter, who richly deserves his fate — and seems to enjoy it.

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of The Best People located in any film archives,[4] it is a lost film[5]

References

  1. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Best People at silentera.com
  2. ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Best People
  3. ^ Sargent, E. W. (November 7, 1925). "Through the Box Office Window: The Best People; Hopwood's Stage Play Under Sidney OlcottV Direction Becomes an Amusing Farce Comedy". The Moving Picture World. 77 (1). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 59. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  4. ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Best People
  5. ^ The Best People at Lost Film Files: Paramount Pictures - 1925