''Hell Morgan's Girl'' 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-g ...

directed by

Joseph De Grasse Joseph Louis De Grasse (May 4, 1873 – May 25, 1940) was a Canadians, Canadian film director. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he was the elder brother of actor Sam De Grasse. Biography Joseph De Grasse had studied and was a first-class grad ...

, and starring William Stowell,

Dorothy Phillips Dorothy Phillips (born Dorothy Gwendolyn Strible, October 30, 1889 – March 1, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her emotional performances in melodramas, having played a number of "brow beaten" women on screen, bu ...

and

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

. The screenplay was written by

Ida May Park Ida May Park (December 28, 1879 – June 13, 1954) was an American screenwriter and film director of the silent era, in the early 20th century. She wrote for more than 50 films between 1914 and 1930, and directed 14 films between 1917 and 192 ...

, based on the

Harvey Gates Harvey Harris Gates (January 19, 1894 – November 4, 1948) was an American screenwriter of the silent era. He wrote for more than 200 films between 1913 and 1948. He was born in Hawaii and died in Los Angeles, California. Selected filmogra ...

story entitled ''The Wrong Side of Paradise''. The film's working title was ''The Wrong Side of Paradise''. The film's tagline ran: "This is "Hell Morgan's Girl". You Doubt Her. You Accuse Her. You Pity Her. You Condemn Her. You Hate Her. You Love Her. SHE'S WONDERFUL!" Despite the film's earning a $450,000 profit,Blake, Michael F. (1998). "The Films of Lon Chaney". Vestal Press Inc. Page 70. . it is today thought to be lost, as no prints have turned up anywhere. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of the villainous Sleter Noble.

Plot

The action takes place in 1906

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Roger Curwell (William Stowell) aspires to be an artist, an ambition at odds with the wishes of his wealthy father (Joseph Girard). Cast out by his father, he soon falls on hard times. His ex-model Olga had been interested in him because she thought he would some day inherit his father's millions, but when he is cast out penniless, she deserts him. In a Barbary Coast saloon called "The Sailor's Rest" which is run by Hell Morgan (Alfred Allen), he is rescued from a beating by Lola Morgan (Dorothy Phillips), Hell's daughter. She gives him a job as a piano player, he paints her portrait, and a romance evolves between them. A tough politician named Sleter Noble (Lon Chaney) is also interested in Lola, but has been rebuffed by her. Olga, formerly a model for Roger, finds him and tells him that his father has died and made him a millionaire. Olga tries to rekindle her relationship with Roger and comes onto him. Angered on seeing Roger with Olga, Lola leads Noble on, but then regrets doing so and tries to distance herself from him. Noble threatens to shoot Roger if Lola doesn't agree to become his woman. When he hears his daughter screaming. Lola's father comes to her aid and is shot by Noble just as the famous earthquake hits. Sleter Noble is shot dead in the melee. Lola manages to get her wounded father out of the building by way of a fire escape. In the aftermath of the disaster, Hell Morgan dies of his injuries, and Lola and Roger are reunited.

Cast

as Lola *

William Stowell William Stowell (March 13, 1885 – November 24, 1919) was an American silent film actor. A handsome actor with matinee idol good looks, Stowell was signed into film in 1909 with IMP (forerunner of Universal Studios), and debuted by sta ...

as Roger Curwell *

as Sleter Noble * Lillian Rosine as Olga (credited as Lilyan Rosine) *

Joseph W. Girard Joseph W. Girard (April 2, 1871 – August 21, 1949) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1911 and 1944. He was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Before he became an ...

as Oliver Curwell * Alfred Allen as Hell Morgan

Reception

The New York Daily Mirror opined: "It is no exaggeration to place ''Hell Morgan's Girl'' among the best five-reel melodramatic photoplays of the year. The action is fast and furious... If an exhibitor wishes to have a thrilling melodrama, he could not do much better than to book ''Hell Morgan's Girl''." Wid's Film Daily stated "As a characterization study, this will rank very high. Being an underworld theme, it will be exceptionally interesting to many." Moving Picture World said "We could not recommend it...for exhibition before refined audiences or before children; for while it may be a perfect typification of that hole of vice, the realism of its staging makes it the more unwholesome. Those looking for maudlin types will be attracted to the picture, for it abounds in them." Motography opined: "It will be found too rough for fastidious patrons, unless they are in the mood for a slumming expedition. However, the picture is really less suggestive than many polite society dramas. Its very frankness and force keep it from being salacious...It is well acted and well produced." Photoplay reviewer Julian Johnson stated: "Worked successfully: a rich man's son, disowned by his father because he refuses to forsake art for business, fails to make art go, and becomes a multiple-reel drunkard. His redemption must (be met) by a bad woman, according to the formula, or at least by a woman who has the externals of wickedness. Keep your eyes on Dorothy Phillips, the temperamental eyeful who plays Lola. She is coming up like a Fourth-of-July rocket, and if her crude talent is properly developed, she will be a supreme mistress of melodrama." Variety said "...the scenes depicting life in Frisco just prior to the earthquake rank with the best of that sort of motion picture work. The 'dive' stuff is so vivid that its realism is positively startling." --- Variety

References

External links

* *{{allmovie, 94728, Hell Morgan's Girl 1917 films 1917 drama films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Joseph De Grasse Lost American drama films Universal Pictures films 1917 lost films 1910s American films