''The Broken Wing'' is a 1923 American silent

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

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 Tom Forman based on the play ''The Broken Wing'' by

Paul Dickey Paul Dickey (12 May 1882 – 7 January 1933), was an American playwright and silent screen writer. He wrote 17 films between years 1914 in film, 1914 and 1953 in film, 1933. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in New York City, New Y ...

and

Charles W. Goddard Charles William Goddard (November 26, 1879 – January 11, 1951) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Goddard began writing Broadway theatre, Broadway plays before turning to film, adapting a number of his stage works to film. He wrote the ...

. The film stars

Kenneth Harlan Kenneth Daniel Harlan (July 26, 1895 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor of the silent film era, playing mostly romantic leads or adventurer types. Early life Harlan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of George W. Harlan and ac ...

Miriam Cooper Miriam Cooper (born Marian Cooper; November 7, 1891 – April 12, 1976) was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including ''The Birth of a Nation'' and ''Intolerance'' for D. W. Griffith and ''The Honor System'' a ...

, and Walter Long. ''The Broken Wing'' was released on August 19, 1923..

Plot

In a small Mexican town near the U.S. border during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

, Captain Innocencio Dos Santos ( Walter Long) rules the town with an iron fist. He pursues the beautiful Inez Villera (

), claiming she is his "true love". When Philip "Phil" Marvin (

), an American pilot flying in Mexico is caught in stormy weather and crash-lands on a nearby ranch, Inez nurses him back to health. Phil falls in love with his nurse but he has lost his memory. Inez had been praying for a husband and believes he will come "in a storm". She is sure that God has answered her prayers by sending him this handsome pilot. Innocencio does not like that he has a rival and arrests the pilot and threatens to kill him, before Inez intercedes. Luther Farley (Ferdinand Munier), a local guerrilla leader, also complicates matters. Phil finally recovers his memory, repairs his aircraft and flies away with Inez. The

U.S. Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

apprehends Dos Santos.

Cast

as Philip Marvin *

as Inez Villera * Walter Long as Capt. Innocencio Dos Santos *

Miss DuPont Miss DuPont (born Patricia Hannon; April 28, 1894 – February 6, 1973) was an American film actress and fashion designer. Biography Sometimes credited as Patty DuPont, Miss DuPont was born as Patricia Hannon in Frankfort, Kentucky, though sou ...

as Celia *

Richard Tucker Richard Tucker (August 28, 1913January 8, 1975) was an American operatic tenor and cantor. Long associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker's career was primarily centered in the United States. Early life Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticker ...

as Sylvester Cross *

Ed Brady Ed John Brady (born June 17, 1962) is a former American football player. Brady was raised in Morris, Illinois, and attended Morris Community High School, where he led the Morris Redskins football team to a state championship. Brady played for ...

as Bassilio (as Edwin J. Brady) * Ferdinand Munier as Luther Farley *

Evelyn Selbie Evelyn Selbie (July 6, 1871 – December 7, 1950) was an American stage actress and performer in both silent and sound films. Biography Born in Louisville, Kentucky, as a young woman Selbie was a sidesaddle rider. She had a career which last ...

as Quichita

Production

The play "The Broken Wing" opened at the 48th Street Theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on November 29, 1920, and ran for 171 performances.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

on ''The Broken Wing'' took place in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and

Truckee, California Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2000 Census and having the 316th highe ...

. While in production, cinematographer Harry Perry devised a camera mount that allowed him to film from a

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

. Using a camera mounted on the fuselage behind the rear cockpit, Perry was able to shoot the pilot in the front cockpit.

Reception

Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo in ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985), considered ''The Broken Wing'' part of the theme of "Trouble in the air" that either involves passengers and crew in an emergency or the problems faced by survivors of an air-crash. In the case of ''The Broken Wing'', the film "combined aviation comedy with the air-crash device in telling of a flier who crashes in Mexico and is nursed by Inez (Miriam Cooper)." Aviation film historian James M. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984), noted that the later 1932 film was a remake of the 1923 production. He also stated, "Little air action in either production."

Preservation

With no copies of ''The Broken Wing'' in any film archives,Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''The Broken Wing''
/ref> it is a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies.'' Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Wing, The 1923 films American aviation films 1923 comedy-drama films American black-and-white films Films shot in California Films shot in Detroit Mexican Revolution films Films about the United States Secret Service Films about amnesia Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films about aviators Preferred Pictures films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films Silent American comedy-drama films