''The Daring Years'' is 1923 American
silent melodrama film
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
directed by
Kenneth Webb and produced by
Daniel Carson Goodman
Daniel Carson Goodman (August 24, 1881 – May 16, 1957) was an American screenwriter and licensed physician.
Biography
Goodman wrote the storyline for 28 silent films – the first of them was '' Sapho'' (1913). He worked as miscellan ...
. The film starred
Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris (April 18, 1901 – July 20, 1944) was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was 10 years old. She was a ...
,
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
,
Charles Emmett Mack
Charles Emmett Mack (November 25, 1900 – March 17, 1927), was an American film actor during the silent film era. He appeared in 17 films between 1916 and 1927.
Biography
Born Charles Emmett McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to an Irish f ...
, and
Tyrone Power, Sr.
Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power Sr. (2 May 1869 – 23 December 1931) was an English-born American stage and screen actor, known professionally as Tyrone Power. He is now usually referred to as Tyrone Power Sr. to differentiate him from his son ...
Plot
A university student named John Browning (
Charles Emmett Mack
Charles Emmett Mack (November 25, 1900 – March 17, 1927), was an American film actor during the silent film era. He appeared in 17 films between 1916 and 1927.
Biography
Born Charles Emmett McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to an Irish f ...
) goes against his mother's wishes and becomes involved in a torrid love-affair with a fickle young cabaret singer named Susie LaMotte (
Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris (April 18, 1901 – July 20, 1944) was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was 10 years old. She was a ...
). LaMotte toys with the youth's affections and does not tell him that she is already romantically involved with a boxer named Jim Moran (
Joe King).
One evening John Browning discovers that Susie and Moran are having a relationship when he accidentally walks in on them. Outraged, Browning and Moran become embroiled in an argument. Moran pulls out a pistol, but during the ensuing struggle accidentally mortally wounds himself. Overcome with rage, Susie blames John Browning for Moran's death and Browning is subsequently tried, convicted and sentenced to death.
Browning languishes in prison for some time, and just as he is strapped into the
electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
to be executed for the murder of Jim Moran, a bolt of lightning strikes the prison knocking out the power. Meanwhile, Moran's widow (
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
) implores Susie to tell the authorities the truth surrounding the circumstances of the death of Jim Moran. Susie eventually folds and confesses that she had lied and that Jim Moran had in fact accidentally shot himself after pulling a gun on John Browning.
John is pardoned by the governor and leaves prison a free man.
Cast
Preservation
With no prints of ''The Daring Years'' located in any film archives,
Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''The Daring Years''
/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 ...
.
See also
*List of lost films
For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films.
Reas ...
References
External links
*
''The Daring Years'', AFI Catalog - Silent Films
*
at silenthollywood.com
1923 films
1923 drama films
Silent American drama films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Kenneth Webb
Lost American films
Melodrama films
1923 lost films
Lost drama films
1920s American films
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