''Going Crooked'' is a 1926 American silent

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

produced and distributed by the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

. It was directed by

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

and stars

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned e ...

. The film is preserved at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

, and the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

Plot

Mordaunt (von Seyffertitz) and his gang use Marie (Love) as an unwitting accomplice in the theft of the acclaimed Rajah diamond. During the heist, a man is killed, and innocent Rogers (Fenton) is later sentenced to death for the murder. Marie works with District Attorney Banning (Shaw) to get Mordaunt to confess, just in time to save Rogers from the electric chair. Marie and Shaw are married.

Cast

Production

For authenticity, some scenes were filmed on Ferguson Alley in

Chinatown, Los Angeles Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a reside ...

Reception

The film received positive reviews, with Love and von Seyffertitz receiving high acclaim for their performances.

References

External links

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Lobby poster

Portuguese language poster; "Por Mau Caminho" translates to "Astray"
{{George Melford 1926 crime films 1920s heist films 1926 films American black-and-white films American crime films American films based on plays American heist films American silent feature films Films directed by George Melford Fox Film films Surviving American silent films 1920s American films