''A Mormon Maid'' is a 1917 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Robert Z. Leonard Robert Zigler Leonard (October 7, 1889 – August 27, 1968) was an American film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter. Biography He was born in Chicago, Illinois. At one time, he was married to silent star Mae Murray with the two formin ...

and written by Charles Sarver and Paul West. While traveling westward with her family, Dora must face the proposal to become a Mormon elders sixth wife. The film stars

Mae Murray Mae Murray (born Marie Adrienne Koenig; May 10, 1885 – March 23, 1965) was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "Th ...

, Frank Borzage,

Hobart Bosworth Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth (August 11, 1867 – December 30, 1943) was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer. Early life Bosworth was born on August 11, 1867, in Marietta, Ohio. His father was a sea captain in the Civil W ...

Edythe Chapman Edythe Chapman (October 8, 1863 – October 15, 1948) was an American stage and silent film actress. Career Born in Rochester, New York, Chapman began her stage career as early as 1898 when she appeared in New York City in ''The Charity Bal ...

Noah Beery, Sr. Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominen ...

, and

Richard Henry Cummings Richard Henry Cummings (August 20, 1858 – December 25, 1938) was an American film actor of the silent era. Cummings performed in vaudeville and on stage before he began working in films. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1913 and ...

. The film was released on April 22, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. The film survives complete.

Plot

Set in the 1840s during the Mormon migration westward, this film introduces a young woman named Dora and her family as they travel west. After being saved from an Indian attack by a Mormon community, the family joins their wagon train traveling to Utah. Throughout the film, Dora is pursued by two men, one a recent convert to the church and the other a scheming elder with multiple wives. Dora's mother ends up killing herself due to her revulsion towards polygamy, leaving Dora to consider her own future and the man she loves. The elder is a former apostle of the church and is determined to have Dora as his sixth wife. After refusing to marry him Dora eventually ends up killing the old man as he tries to capture her for his own. To summarize, the plot of this film explores the implications of Dora's rejecting becoming a polygamist wife.

Cast

as Dora * Frank Borzage as Tom Rigdon *

as John Hogue *

as Nancy Hogue *

as Darius Burr *

as Lion of the Lord

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''A Mormon Maid'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors cut two intertitles, "I am not a –" and "You have scoffed at our faith – now you will pay." Many towns received this film with open arms, misunderstanding the film as an exposé on Mormonism and the religion's practices. One newspaper even went so far as to link the film to the K. K. K.

References

External links

* * *
A Mormon Maid
' available for free download a
Internet Archive
1917 films 1910s English-language films Silent American drama films 1917 drama films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Robert Z. Leonard American black-and-white films Mormonism in fiction American silent feature films Works about polygamy in Mormonism 1910s American films {{1910s-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

References

Further reading

External links