Crooked Streets

Crooked Streets
Crooked Streets
	Newspaper advertisement
Directed by	Paul Powell; Fred J. Robinson (ass't director)
Written by	Edith Kennedy (scenario)
Based on	"Dinner at Eight"; by Samuel Merwin
Produced by	Adolph Zukor; Jesse Lasky
Starring	Ethel Clayton; Jack Holt
Cinematography	William Marshall
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 8, 1920;
Running time	5 reels; 4,750 feet
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Crooked Streets is a 1920 American silent drama spy film directed by Paul Powell and produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is one of star Ethel Clayton's rare surviving silent films with a copy at the Library of Congress.^[1] The film is based on a short story, "Dinner at Eight", by Samuel Merwin.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[5] Gail Ellis (Clayton) is employed as a secretary by Professor Lawrence Griswold (Fillmore) prior to his departure from San Francisco for Shanghai, ostensibly in that city to purchase some rare vases. In the city she meets with adventures while trying to find the headquarters of the pottery merchants and is saved from molestation by Englishman Rupert O'Dare (Holt), who has to battle a drunken sailor in a boxing ring before the latter will leave her alone. As the Griswolds are about to depart for America, having purchased several cases of vases that contain opium, Rupert causes them to be arrested. They overpower him and are about to escape when Gail arrives with officers and apprehends them. Rupert then confesses that he is a member of the British secret service and Gail says that she is Ellis of the U.S. Secret Service, and that Rupert had forced her hand as she had intended to arrest the Griswolds in San Francisco. They find happiness in each other's company, and later sail to England as Mr. and Mrs. O'Dare.

Cast

Ethel Clayton as Gail Ellis
Jack Holt as Rupert O'Dare
Clyde Fillmore as Lawrence Griswold (*Clyde Fillmore)
Clarence Geldart as Silas Griswold
Josephine Crowell as Mrs. Griswold
Fred Starr as Sailor Hugh

References

^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalong: Crooked Streets
^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 published by The American Film Institute, c.1988
^ Progressive Silent Film List: Crooked Streets at silentera.com
^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress page 37 by The American Film Institute, c. 1978
^ "Reviews: Crooked Streets". Exhibitors Herald. 11 (6). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 72–73. August 7, 1920.