Tongues of Flame
Tongues of Flame is a 1924 American silent melodrama[4] film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a novel by Peter Clark MacFarlane and was directed by Joseph Henabery. The film starred Thomas Meighan and Bessie Love. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is now a lost film.[5][6][7]
Tongues of Flame | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joseph Henabery |
Produced by | Adolph Zukor Jesse Lasky |
Written by | Townsend Martin |
Based on | Tongues of Flame (novel) by Peter Clark MacFarlane[1][2] |
Starring | Thomas Meighan Bessie Love |
Cinematography | Faxon M. Dean[3] |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 minutes; 7 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Production
The picture was filmed at Great Neck and Manhasset Bay on Long Island, New York.
Plot
The Native American Siwash people have been displaced from their land and live on a reservation. Wealthy Boland (Churchill) attempts to buy the reservation from the Siwash, who consult honest attorney Harrington (Meighan) for advice. Harrington looks into the contract and advises the Siwash to accept it. However, after the sale goes through, Boland drills for oil on the land, violating the contract. This angers Harrington, who exposes Boland's fraud. In retaliation, Boland has Harrington arrested on false charges.
A local court looks into the surveys associated with Boland's contracts, and returns all the Siwash native lands to them. Harrington is released from prison, and falls in love with the Siwash schoolteacher Lahleet (Love).[6][8][9][10]
Cast
- Thomas Meighan as Henry Harrington
- Bessie Love as Lahleet
- Eileen Percy as Billie Boland
- Berton Churchill as Boland
- John Miltern as Scanlon
- Leslie Stowe as Hornblower
- Nick Thompson as Adam John
- Jerry Devine as Mickey
- Kate Mayhew as Mrs. Vickers
- Cyril Ring as Clayton
- Chief Henry Red Eagle as Indian sergeant[6][11][12]
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews,[8] although Bessie Love's performance was praised.[8]
See also
References
- Macfarlane, Peter Clark (1924). Tongues of Flame. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation. OCLC 818810989.
- "Casts of Current Photoplays". Photoplay Magazine. 1925. p. 120.
- Love, Bessie (1977). From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love. London: Elm Tree Books. p. 152. OCLC 734075937.
- "Tongues of Flame (1924)". American Film Institute.
- Bennett, Carl (May 4, 2014). "Progressive Silent Film List: Tongues of Flame". Silent Era.
- Munden, Kenneth W., ed. (1971). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930. New York: R.R. Bowker Company. p. 819. OCLC 664500075.
- "American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Tongues of Flame". The Library of Congress.
- "Tiresome Movie That Paramount Should Be Ashamed to Sell". Wid's Weekly. December 25, 1924. p. 10.
- Hilger, Michael (1986). "The Silent Films—1924". The American Indian in Film. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 41. ISBN 0-8108-1905-8.
- Langman, Larry (1992). A Guide to Silent Westerns. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 459–60. ISBN 978-0-313-27858-7.
- "Meighan Makes Picture with Indians Watching". Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, PA. December 12, 1924. p. 113.
- "What the Stars Are Doing". Motion Picture Magazine. Vol. 28 no. 11. December 1924. p. 99.
External links
- Tongues of Flame on IMDb
- Tongues of Flame at AllMovie
- Tongues of Flame at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Tongues of Flame at the TCM Movie Database
- Tongues of Flame at the British Film Institute
- Posters and film stills