''The Lady'' is a 1925 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 ...

starring

Norma Talmadge Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most pop ...

and directed by Frank Borzage.Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Lady''
at silentera.com. Retrieved January 17, 2011. Talmadge's own production company produced the film with distribution by First National Pictures.

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine, Polly Pearl (Talmadge) English hall singer, marries Leonard St. Aubyns (MacDonald), scion of nobility. Leonard loses what little money he has left gambling in casinos. She comes to lose his love when his father (Hurst) casts him out. She ekes out a living in a dingy French cafe as a singer. The elder St. Aubyns appears to claim her baby son after the death of its father, but Polly manages to have the child spirited away by a minister's wife. Thereafter, she endeavors to find her boy, searching the streets of London, but fails. Years later, as she is telling the story of her life in a French cafe, a brawl starts between a Frenchman and an English soldier. Leonard Cairns (Hackathorne), a comrade of the Englishman intervenes but accidentally shoots his friend and is himself knocked unconscious. From his identification tag, Polly discovers that he is her son. She tries to take upon herself the blame for the accident, but her son will not have it that way. To her delight he shows himself to be a gentleman, a joy added to that of her discovery of him.

Cast

as Polly Pearl * Brandon Hurst as St. Aubyns Sr *

Wallace MacDonald Wallace Archibald MacDonald (5 May 1891 – 30 October 1978) was a Canadian silent film actor and film producer. Biography MacDonald was born in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended school in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He started as a m ...

as Leonard St. Aubyns *

Paulette Duval Paulette Duval (1889 – 1951) was a French dancer and actress of the silent film era and early sound motion pictures. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1889 and raised in France. She was considered one of the most beautiful women ...

as Madame Adrienne Catellier *

Emily Fitzroy Emily Fitzroy (24 May 1860 – 3 March 1954) was an English theatre and film actress who eventually became an American citizen. She was at one time a leading lady in London for Sir Charles Wyndham. She made her film debut in 1915. Her debut i ...

as Madame Blanche *Johnny Fox (billed as John Fox Jr.) as Freckles *

Alfred Goulding Alfred John "Alf" Goulding (January 26, 1885 – April 25, 1972) was an Australian-born Vaudeville, vaudevillian, who became an American film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 180 films between 1917 and 1959 and is credited w ...

as Tom Robinson *

George Hackathorne George Hackathorne (February 13, 1896 – June 25, 1940) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1939. Hackathorne was born and educated in Pendleton, Oregon. Despite his mother's wishes ...

as Leonard Cairns *John Herdman as John Cairns *Ed Hubbell (billed as Edwin Hubbell) as London Boy *

Doris Lloyd Hessy Doris Lloyd (3 July 1891 – 21 May 1968) was an English–American film and stage actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in ''The Time Machine'' (1960) and ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). Lloyd appeared in two Academy Award w ...

as Fannie St. Clair * Walter Long as Blackie * Miles McCarthy as Mr. Graves *

Marc McDermott Marcus McDermott (also credited as Marc MacDermott; 24 July 1871 – 5 January 1929) was an Australian actor who starred on Broadway and in over 180 American films from 1909 until his death.Nick Murphy at the Forgotten Australian Actors webs ...

as Mr. Wendover *

Margaret Seddon Margaret Seddon (November 18, 1872 – April 17, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. Biography She appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1951. Her most memorable role was perhaps as one of The Pixilated Sisters, a come ...

as Mrs. Cairns

Production

Norma Talmadge and Wallace MacDonald in The Lady 01

Like many of Talmadge's silent films of the 1920s, ''The Lady'' is derived from a stage play. The play, ''The Lady'', ran on Broadway from December 4, 1923 to February 1924 at Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre. The play was produced by

A. H. Woods Albert Herman Woods (born Aladore Herman; January 3, 1870 – April 24, 1951) was a Hungarian-born theatrical producer who spent much of his life in the USA. He produced over 140 plays on Broadway, including some of the most successful sho ...

. Mary Nash played Talmadge's part of Polly Pearl and

Elizabeth Risdon Elisabeth Risdon (born Daisy Cartwright Risdon; 26 April 1887 – 20 December 1958) was an English film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1913 and 1952. A beauty in her youth, she usually played in society parts. In later ...

played Fanny Le Clare which, in the film, was played by

. Also in the cast was child actor

Junior Durkin Trent "Junior" Durkin (July 2, 1915 – May 4, 1935) was an American stage and film actor. Career Trent Bernard Durkin was born in New York City in 1915. He began his acting career in theater as a child. Durkin first appeared in films in 1930, p ...

who was soon to find bigger fame in films. The

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

, formed by the film industry in 1922, regulated the content of films through a list of subjects that were to be avoided. While Norma Talmadge portrayed a prostitute in ''The Lady'', this was acceptable under the rules as prostitution was not explicitly barred so long as it was not forced (i.e.,

white slavery White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or the Vikings' t ...

) and aspects of her work was not shown in the film. While staying at the brothel, her work is stated as being limited to being a cabaret singer.

Preservation

''The Lady'' survives in the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

with reel 2 missing. The remaining elements of the film have severe beginning stages of nitrate decomposition making much of the film hard to follow.

References

External links

* * *
Reviews
at the Norma Talmadge website

at silenthollywood.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lady (1925 film), The 1925 drama films 1925 films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Frank Borzage First National Pictures films 1920s American films