''Sporting Life'' is a 1925 American
silent comedy drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
directed by
Maurice Tourneur and a
remake of Tourneur's 1918 film of the
same title based on
Seymour Hicks
Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...
's popular play.
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
produced and released the film.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Lord Woodstock loses money as the backer of a musical show and hopes to recoup his losses by betting on his protégé, Joe Lee, a pugilist, and by winning the Derby with his horse, Lady Love. Olive Carteret, an actress, tries to win Woodstock, but he is in love with Nora, the daughter of his trainer. Olive conspires with Phillips, a gambler, to break him. On the night of the fight Lee is drugged. Woodstock takes his place in the ring and wins. Phillips kidnaps Nora, and Woodstock and Lee are imprisoned when they go to the rescue. They escape shortly before the race, but Lee is killed. Lady Love wins the race, and after Phillips is arrested for Lee’s murder, Woodstock and Nora are free to marry.
Cast
Preservation
Once thought lost, a print of ''Sporting Life'' survives at
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the ar ...
.
The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Sporting Life''
/ref>
References
External links
*
*
Lobby poster ''The Sporting Life''
1925 films
American silent feature films
Films directed by Maurice Tourneur
1920s rediscovered films
Films set in England
Films set in London
American films based on plays
1925 comedy-drama films
Universal Pictures films
American black-and-white films
Rediscovered American films
1920s American films
Silent American comedy-drama films
1920s English-language films
{{silent-comedy-drama-film-stub