''Anna Ascends'' is a 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming, and based on the 1920 play of the same title by Harry Chapman Ford.

Alice Brady Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady; November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in ...

reprises her starring role from the Broadway play. The film is largely

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

, with only a six-minute fragment still in existence.

Overview

The Broadway play is about a working class Syrian American waitress who through hard work "ascends" the social and economic ladder and becomes successful in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The playwright Henry Chapman Ford loosely based his play on a real-life Syrian immigrant waitress in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

named Anna Ayyoub, who mesmerized him. In his book, ''The Arab Americans: A History'', writer Gregory Orfalea describes Ford's inspiration by quoting him, "Their family life, their clean way of living impressed me and I decided that the Americanization of such a race was a big factor in making the "melting pot" one of the greatest nations of history". Ford went on: "I figured here is a people who could read and write probably 6,000 years before the northern 'blue eyes'. Here is a race who had a fine culture along with the great Egyptian dynasties, and as criminology seems to be a statistical fad at the present writing, here are a people who have less, en ratio, in prisons, than any other in the world. Hence, I figured, why not write a Syrian drama, a virgin field, anent the Syrians?" Anna Ascends lobby card 2

Cast

as Anna Ayyob * Robert Ellis as Howard Fisk * David Powell as The Baron *

Nita Naldi Nita Naldi (born Mary Nonna Dooley; In this reference Naldi's birth name Nonna is mistakenly cited “Donna”. Naldi's birthname in this reference is also incorrectly cited as “Donna”. November 13, 1894 – February 17, 1961) was an Ameri ...

as Countess Rostoff * Charles K. Gerrard as Count Rostoff *Edouard Durand as Siad Coury (credited as Edward Durand) *Florence Dixon as Bessie Fisk *Grace Griswold as Miss Fisk * Frederick Burton as Mr. Fisk *

Benjamin De Casseres Benjamin De Casseres (April 3, 1873 – December 7, 1945) (often DeCasseres) was an American journalist, critic, essayist and poet. He was born in Philadelphia and began working at the Philadelphia Press at an early age, but spent most of his p ...

as City Editor

References

External links

* * * * {{Victor Fleming 1922 films 1922 romantic drama films American romantic drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Famous Players-Lasky films American films based on plays Films directed by Victor Fleming Paramount Pictures films Lost American films 1922 lost films Lost romantic drama films 1920s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent American drama films