''Back to Life'' is a 1925 American silent

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

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

Whitman Bennett Whitman Bennett (1883–1968) was an American film producer and director of the silent era.Munden p.34 Selected filmography * ''The Truth About Husbands'' (1920) * ''The Devil's Garden'' (1920) * '' The Master Mind'' (1920) * '' Salvation Nell'' ...

and starring

Patsy Ruth Miller Patsy Ruth Miller (born Patricia Ruth Miller; January 17, 1904 – July 16, 1995) was an American film actress who played Esméralda in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1923) opposite Lon Chaney. Early years Miller was born and raised in St. ...

, David Powell, and Lawford Davidson.Progressive Silent Film List: ''Back to Life''
at silentera.com

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Margaret Lothbury receives news that her husband, an American volunteer aviator serving with the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, died at the front. In reality, John Lothbury has been picked up by a British ambulance unit and placed in a British hospital. Here by the marvelous, newly developed science of facial surgery, Lothbury is given a new face. On return to America he finds his wife married to Wallace Straker, richest man in town. The union is an unhappy one. Lothbury adopts the name Walpole and withholds his identity. He assumes guardianship of his son while the Strakers tour Europe, and while abroad Margaret Lothbury becomes acquainted with the real facts of Lothbury’s disappearance from the battlefield. Later circumstances confirm her suspicions that Walpole is in reality her husband. Revelations follow leading to the re-union of the family.

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of ''Back to Life'' located in any film archives,Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''Back to Life''
/ref> it is a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

References

Bibliography

* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

* 1925 films 1920s war drama films Films directed by Whitman Bennett American silent feature films 1925 lost films American black-and-white films Pathé Exchange films American World War I films American war drama films Films set in France Films based on British novels 1925 drama films 1920s American films Silent American drama films Silent war drama films {{silent-drama-film-stub