''Sacred and Profane Love'' is a 1921 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 ...

produced by

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

and distributed by Paramount Pictures. This film was directed by

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

and starred

Elsie Ferguson Elsie Louise Ferguson (August 19, 1883 – November 15, 1961) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Born in New York City, Elsie Ferguson was the only child of Hiram and Amelia Ferguson. Her father was a successful attorney. Raise ...

with

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1940 and ...

. It is based on a book ''The Book of Carlotta'' by

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

and was turned into a 1920 Broadway play which also starred ''Elsie Ferguson''. Writer/director

Julia Crawford Ivers Julia Crawford Ivers (October 3, 1869 – May 8, 1930) was an American motion picture pioneer. Biography Born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1869, her family arrived a year later in Los Angeles. Her father was a dentist. Her mother died in 1876, wh ...

adapted the book and play to the screen while her son

James Van Trees James Crawford Van Trees (August 13, 1890 – April 11, 1973)

served as one of the film's cinematographers. All known copies of this film are

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 ...

.''Sacred and Profane Love'' as produced on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre, February 23, 1920 to May 1920, 88 performances; IBDb.com
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Plot

As described in a film publication summary, Carlotta Peel (Ferguson), brought up by a maiden aunt with maiden ideas, secretly attends a concert by Emilie Diaz (Nagel). After the concert she meets the pianist and later succumbs to the strains of "Samson and Delilah" played by Emilie. Carlotta spends the night with Emilie and returns home the next morning to find her aunt dead. She does not see Emilie again, and after several years she is a well known novelist who is loved by her publisher, Frank Ispenlove (Holding). The publisher's wife Mary (Greenwood) commits suicide because of her husband's affair with Carlotta. Frank then kills himself. After some time Carlotta finds Emilie living in Paris, a morphine addict, originally prescribed for his tremors. She nurses him back to health and his musical gift is restored. She is now happy with her first love.

Cast

as Carlotta Peel *

as Emilie Diaz, pianist *

Thomas Holding Thomas J. Holding (25 January 1880 – 4 May 1929) was a British-born stage and film actor. Biography Born in England in 1880, Holding possibly had an extensive stage career in his native Britain before arriving in the United States. He was po ...

as Frank Ispenlove * Helen Dunbar as Constance Peel *

Winifred Greenwood Winifred Greenwood (January 1, 1885 – November 23, 1961) was an American silent film actress. Born in 1885 in Geneseo, New York, Greenwood studied to be a teacher but left New York Normal School to perform in vaudeville in the United St ...

as Mary Ispenlove *Raymond Blathwayt as Lord Francis Alcar *Clarissa Selwynne as Mrs. Sardis *Howard Gaye as Albert Vicary *

Forrest Stanley Forrest Stanley (August 21, 1889 – August 27, 1969) was an American actor and screenplay writer best known for his work in silent film. He is particularly known for his role as Charles Brandon in the historical film '' When Knighthood Was in ...

as Samson *

Jane Keckley Jane Keckley (September 10, 1876 – August 14, 1963) was an American actress of the silent and sound film eras. Biography Keckley was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and went to school there and in Georgia. Before she acted in films, Kec ...

as Rebecca *Barbara Gurney as A Parlor Maid

References

External links

* *
Elsie Ferguson and Conrad Nagel in a sceneProduction still
(archived)
Getty Images
1921 films American silent feature films Famous Players-Lasky films Films based on works by Arnold Bennett American films based on plays Films directed by William Desmond Taylor Lost American films American romantic drama films Films based on multiple works American black-and-white films 1921 romantic drama films 1921 lost films Silent romantic drama films 1920s American films Silent American drama films {{silent-romantic-drama-film-stub