The Great Adventure (1918 film)

The Great Adventure, also known as Her Great Adventure[8] and Spring of the Year,[9] is a 1918 American silent comedy-drama[10] film directed by Alice Guy-Blaché, and starring Bessie Love.

The Great Adventure
Magazine advertisement
Directed byAlice Guy-Blaché
Screenplay byAgnes Christine Johnston[1]
Based on"The Painted Scene" (short story)
by Henry Kitchell Webster[2][3][4]
StarringBessie Love
CinematographyGeorge K. Hollister
John G. Haas[5]
Production
company
Distributed byPathé Exchange
Release date
  • March 10, 1918 (1918-03-10) (U.S.)[6]
(original release)
  • August 6, 1922 (1922-08-06) (U.S.)[7]
(re-release)
Running time
  • 5 reels[3][8] (approx. 50 mins; original release)
  • 3 reels (re-release)
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The film is preserved at the BFI National Archive.[11]

Production

The film was made at Solax Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.[12][13]

Plot
Bessie Love as Rags

Rags (Love), has found local success and acclaim in her small town as an actress, but dreams of stardom on Broadway. She and her aunt (Finch) go to New York, where she unsuccessfully looks for work in a Broadway chorus. On the advice of Billy Blake (Barnett), she holds up the producer of a Broadway show to get a job. The lead actor in the show, Sheen (Hall), likes Rags, but on a date together, he cannot ride a horse, paddle a canoe, or swim. Embarrassed, he leaves the Broadway show, allowing Billy to take over the male lead, and Rags to take over the female lead.[1][14][15][16][17]

Cast
Bessie Love and Flora Finch
  • Bessie Love as Ragna "Rags" Jansen
  • Flora Finch as Aunt
  • Chester Barnett as Billy Blake
  • Donald Hall as Sheen
  • Florence Short as Hazel Lee
  • Walter Craven
  • Jack Dunn[2][18]

Reception
Newspaper advertisement

Love received good reviews for her performance, called "likable",[18] but the film itself did not.[19][20] It was said that the plot "stretches the imagination of the spectator,"[14] with another blaming director Guy-Blaché directly for poorly adapting the source material.[1] Despite the critical reception, the film was commercially successful.[21]

Re-release

In 1922, the film was edited down to 3 reels, and released as a "Pathé Playlet".[22]

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References
Citations
  1. Milne, Peter (March 9, 1918). "Screen Examinations". Motion Picture News. p. 1467.
  2. "The Great Adventure (1918)". BFI National Film and Television. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014.
  3. Guy Blaché, Alice (1996). "American Filmography". The Memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-8108-3104-9.
  4. Webster, Henry Kitchell (April 4, 1914). "The Painted Scene". Collier's. Vol. 53 no. 3.
  5. Love 1977, p. 149
  6. "First Bessie Love Pathe Released March 10". Motion Picture News. March 9, 1918. p. 1448.
  7. "Pathe Names August 6th Releases". Motion Picture News. August 5, 1922. p. 612.
  8. McMahan, Alison (2002). Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-5157-6.
  9. Love 1977, p. 55
  10. "The Great Adventure (1918)". American Film Institute.
  11. The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Great Adventure
  12. Koszarski, Richard (2005). Fort Lee: The Film Town. Indiana University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-86196-652-3.
  13. Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry. Images of America. 2006. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7385-4501-1.
  14. F.T. (March 2, 1918). "The Great Adventure". The Dramatic Mirror. Vol. 78 no. 2045. p. 18.
  15. Langman, Larry. "France". Destination Hollywood: The Influence of Europeans on American Filmmaking. p. 35.
  16. McElravy, Robert C. (March 9, 1918). "Critical Reviews and Comments". Moving Picture World. p. 1409.
  17. "Advertising Aids for Busy Managers". Moving Picture World. March 16, 1918. p. 1561.
  18. "Makes Her Bow as Pathe Star". The Dramatic Mirror. Vol. 78 no. 2045. March 2, 1918. p. 24.
  19. "Pathé". Motion Picture Magazine. August 1918. p. 10. Light. Not much to it.
  20. "Pathé". Motion Picture Magazine. September 1918. p. 9. Star good. Story poor.
  21. McMahan, Alison (September 2009). "Key Events in the Life of Alice Guy Blaché".
  22. "Miss Love in Pathe Playlet". Motion Picture News. August 5, 1922. p. 643.
Works cited
  • Love, Bessie (1977). From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love. London: Elm Tree Books. OCLC 734075937.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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