''Three Week-Ends'' is a 1928 American

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

film directed by

Clarence G. Badger Clarence G. Badger (June 9, 1880 – June 17, 1964) was an American film director of feature films in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. His films include ''It (1927 film), It'' and ''Red Hair (film), Red Hair'', more than a dozen features and shorts st ...

and starring

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 ...

and Neil Hamilton. It is believed lost. "Three Week-Ends" is the title given in the

AFI Catalog of Feature Films The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema in ...

, with alternate titles being "Three Week Ends" and "3 Weekends".The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: ''Eve's Secret''

Retrieved November 18, 2022.

Plot

Gladys O'brien, a chorus girl, see James Gordon driving an expensive custom-built automobile and assumes that he is a millionaire playboy, so she sets her sights on him. In reality, James is only an badly-paid insurance salesman who was driving his boss's car to do an errand. James is trying to sell an insurance policy to Turner, a real Broadway playboy. Meanwhile, Gladys has caught Turner's eye, and he invites her to a weekend party at his country house. Gladys accepts, hoping that she can persuade him to sign the insurance policy. When Gladys disrobes to take a swim, Turner hides her clothing and starts to make a move on her, but James turns up uninvited and punches Turner in the nose. Gladys and James return to the city, and James confesses that he is not a rich man, but instead very poor. His situation worsens when he is fired for having punched Turner. Gladys uses her womanly charms to get James re-hired, and coerces Turner into signing the insurance policy. When James sees Turner and Gladys together, he suspects they are having a fling, but his suspicions are soon dispelled and the happy couple make wedding plans.

Cast

as Gladys O'Brien * Neil Hamilton as James Gordon *

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

as Turner *

Lucille Powers Lucille Powers (November 18, 1911 – September 11, 1981) was an American actress who appeared in silent film and "talkies" in the 1920s and 1930s. Powers went from South Carolina to Hollywood in 1928. During her first 18 months in film, she had ...

as Miss Witherspoon *

Julia Swayne Gordon Julia Swayne Gordon (born Sarah Victoria Smith; October 29, 1878 – May 28, 1933) was an American actress who appeared in at least 228 films between 1908 and 1933. Early years Gordon was born in Columbus, Ohio, to Louis and Anna Smith and wa ...

as Mrs. Witherspoon *

Jack Raymond Jack Raymond (1886–1953) was an English actor and film director. Born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1886, he began acting before the First World War in '' A Detective for a Day''. In 1921 he directed his first film and gradually he wound down his a ...

as Turners Secretary *

Edythe Chapman Edythe Chapman (October 8, 1863 – October 15, 1948) was an American stage and silent film actress. Career Born in Rochester, New York, Chapman began her stage career as early as 1898 when she appeared in New York City in ''The Charity Bal ...

as Ma O'Brien *

Guy Oliver George Guy Oliver (September 25, 1878 – September 1, 1932) was an American actor. He appeared in at least 189 silent film era motion pictures and 32 talkies in character roles between 1911 and 1931. His obituary gives him credit for at l ...

as Pa O'Brien *

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

as Carter

Production

''Three Week-Ends'' was the third

Elinor Glyn Elinor Glyn ( Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern stand ...

script which starred Clara Bow, after 1927's '' It'' – which earned Bow her sobriquet, "The It Girl" – and ''

Red Hair Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

'' (1928). Glyn was a British novelist who specialized in romantic fiction, who moved to Hollywood to work in films as a writer, producer and director, based on the response to ''It''. English actor William Austin was originally set to co-star in the film but did not remain with the project. Principal photography during the week of September 22, 1928 at Paramount Famous Lasky's studio on Marathon Street in Hollywood. Although ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that four sound sequences were shot, featuring dances by choreographers Fanchon & Marco, who also designed the sets for those scenes, the fim was released as a silent, with no sound sequences. Shooting wrapped some time in October 1928.

Release

Before the film's general release on December 8, 1928, with a premiere in New York City, it was screened for President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

in November on board the U.S.S. ''Maryland''.

Preservation status

''Three Week-Ends'' is considered 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 ...

, with only fragments surviving in the

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 archiv ...

. It was added to the list of Lost U. S. Silent Feature Films maintained by the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) in October 2019.

References

External links

* * {{Clarence G. Badger American silent feature films American black-and-white films Lost American films 1928 comedy-drama films Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz Films directed by Clarence G. Badger Lost comedy-drama films 1928 lost films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films Silent American comedy-drama films