The Branding Iron

''The Branding Iron'' is a 1920 American silent film, silent Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Reginald Barker and starring Barbara Castleton and James Kirkwood, Sr., James Kirkwood. It was produced by Barker and Samuel Goldwyn and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures. Castleton appeared nudity in film, nude in the film, which caused the particular scene to be cut in some parts of the country. Pennsylvania banned the film altogether due to the topic of infidelity.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Joan Carver runs away from her dissolute father and then meets and marries Pierre Landis, a young rancher. The father informs Pierre that he has married "the darter of a bad woman." After becoming jealous over an incident between Joan and the Reverend Frank Holliwell, Pierre flies into a rage and brands the young woman. Prosper Gael, a playwright on a hunting trip, walks into the cabin, shoots Pierre, and then takes Joan to his mountain cottage, which he had prepared to receive Betty Morena, the wife of a New York City impresario. He tells Joan that Pierre is dead, but later after she learns that Pierre is still alive, she attempts to return to him. Prosper finds her and brings her back to the cottage. She then runs away, feeling that she has sinned irretrievably against Pierre, and secures on an Arizona ranch, where the Morenas are staying. Pierre seeks her, and she goes with the Morenas to New York City, where Gael's latest play is about to be produced. The drama is written around the incident of the branding of Joan by Pierre. Pierre, attending the opening night performance, is moved by the play and sees Joan in the audience. He follows her to the Morena apartments, begs for her forgiveness, and there is a reconciliation between the two.

Cast

Censorship

The film included a scene in which Joan (Castleton) bathes in a mountain brook. The Pennsylvania State Board of Censors initially cut the bathing scene due to its nudity, and then banned the entire film from the state due to its plot breaching the topic of infidelity.

Preservation

With no prints of ''The Branding Iron'' located in any film archives,The Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Branding Iron''
/ref> it is a lost film.

See also

* ''Godless Men'' (1920)
* Gertrude Astor filmography
* Film censorship in the United States

References

External links

*
*

Stills
at silenthollywood.com
* Burt, Katharine Newlin (1919),
The Branding Iron
', New York: Grosset & Dunlap

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branding Iron, The
1920 films
Lost American films
Goldwyn Pictures films
Films directed by Reginald Barker
1920 Western (genre) films
American black-and-white films
Lost Western (genre) films
Films based on works by Katharine Newlin Burt
1920 lost films
Censored films
Silent American Western (genre) films
1920s American films
1920s English-language films