Salomy Jane (1914 film)

Salomy Jane
Directed by William Nigh
Lucius Henderson
Produced by Alexander E. Beyfuss
Written by Paul Armstrong (play & screenplay)
Bret Harte (novella)
Starring Beatriz Michelena
House Peters
Cinematography Arthur A. Cadwell
Arthur Powelson
Distributed by Alco Film Corporation
Release date
  • November 2, 1914 (1914-11-02)
Running time
 approximately one hour (six reels)
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

Salomy Jane is a 1914 American Western feature film based on Bret Harte's 1898 novella of the same name.[1] It is the only known surviving complete work of silent film era actress Beatriz Michelena and the California Motion Picture Corporation.

House Peters lifts Beatriz Michelena onto his horse

Plot

Rough-and-tumble Gold Rush-era California: a woman (Salomy Jane) is saved from a ruffian (Red Pete) by a heroic stranger (Jack Dart), the latter saved from a lynching when falsely accused of a crime.

Cast

  • Beatriz Michelena – Salomy Jane
  • House Peters – Jack Dart, The Man
  • William Pike – Red Pete
  • Clara Beyers – Mrs. Heath (as Clara Byers)
  • Lorraine Levy – Anna May
  • Loretta Ephran – Mary Ann
  • Walter Williams – Willie Smith
  • Demetrios Mitsoras – Gallagher
  • Andrew Robson – Yuba Bill
  • Matt B. Snyder – Madison Clay
  • Harold B. Meade – Baldwin
  • Clarence Arper – Colonel Starbottle
  • Harold Entwistle – Larabee
  • Fred Snook – Seth Low
  • Ernest Joy – Marbury
  • William Nigh – Rufe Waters
  • Jack Holt – Cowboy in saloon playing solitaire, stuntman (uncredited)

Distinctions

Salomy Jane was the debut California Motion Picture Corporation[2] feature as well as screen appearance by stage actress and singer Beatriz Michelena. George E. Middleton saw in his Latina wife a competitor to Mary Pickford as a premier screen star, each production intended to be Michelena's vehicle to success. Despite being well received by the public it did not return a profit for the national distributor, Alco Film. The subsequent productions being commercial failures, did not preclude Michelena demanding star-treatment perquisites that proved too much for the studio. The duo left California Motion Picture forming Beatriz Michelena Features,[3] producing Just Squaw (1919) and The Flame of Hellgate (1920).[4][5] Middleton and Michelena divorced in the 1920s.[6]

Salomy Jane includes a scene in which actor Jack Holt rides a horse to the edge of a steep embankment then jumps off tumbling more than a hundred feet down into the Russian River. The stunt netted him a bit part as a saloon patron. This role was long cited as his debut appearance in film but he had been taking bit parts during the preceding year.[7]

Restoration

All California Motion Picture Corporation and Beatrice Michelena Studio films were believed lost due to a 1931 studio fire in San Rafael, California caused by a child's firecracker prank that destroyed the vault in which the films were stored. However, a Salomy Jane (1914) print was found in Australia in 1996, and has been preserved by the Library of Congress. New 35mm prints began limited circulation in 2008.[8] The restoration was part of a DVD released (2011) by the National Film Preservation Foundation in the anthology Treasures 5: The West 1898–1938.

Remakes

The film was remade as Salomy Jane (1923) starring Jacqueline Logan by Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures,[9] and remade again as the sound film Wild Girl (1932) by Fox Film Corporation.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bret Harte's Salomy Jane, a novella first published in 1898
  2. ↑ http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/companies/C/californiaMoPicCorp.html ; viewed December 28, 2001
  3. ↑ Beatriz Michelena Features. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 21, 2012
  4. ↑ Just Squaw. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 21, 2012
  5. ↑ The Flame of Hellgate. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 21, 2012
  6. ↑ Pacific Sun. Arts and Entertainment. September 26, 2008. Jason Walsh. Film: Salomy's last dance: A flashback to Marin's century-old quest for cinematic superstardom Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ New York Times. Movies. Salomy Jane (1914) overview
  8. ↑ California Film Institute. Smith Rafael Film Center. Salomy Jane: Introduced by historians David Kiehn and William Sagar, Piano Accompaniment by Bruce Loeb Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Internet Movie Database. Salomy Jane (1923 film)
  10. ↑ Internet Movie Database. Wild Girl (1932)
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