''Wanderer of the Wasteland'' is a 1924 American silent

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Irvin Willat Irvin V. Willat (November 18, 1890 – April 17, 1976) was an American film director of the silent film era. A short biography reprinted from ''Blue Book of the Screen'' (1923). He directed 39 films between 1917 and 1937. Early in his career ...

and starring Jack Holt,

Noah Beery Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominen ...

, and

Billie Dove Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny; May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress. Early life and career Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Ber ...

. It was the third feature film to be photographed entirely in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

Plot

The film is based on

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...

's 1923 novel of two brothers, one an honest cowpoke, the other a gambler. When Adam Larey ( Jack Holt) confronts his younger brother Guerd ( James Mason) about his gambling addiction, the latter is accidentally shot. A distraught Adam, believing he has killed his own brother, flees into the desert. He later learns that Guerd was merely wounded and returns to the loving arms of beautiful Ruth Virey (

Cast

* Jack Holt as Adam Larey *

as Dismukes * George Irving as Mr. Roderick Virey * Kathlyn Williams as Magdalene Virey *

as Ruth Virey * Jim Mason as Guerd Larey (credited as James Mason) *

Richard Neill Richard Renchaw Neill Jr. (November 12, 1875 – April 8, 1970) was an American actor and screenwriter who worked in both the silent and sound eras. He performed in more than 200 films between 1910 and 1959, and during the early part of his ...

as Collishaw (credited as Richard R. Neill) * James Gordon as Alex MacKay * William A. Carroll as Merryvale (credited as William Carroll) * Willard Cooley as Camp Doctor

Production

Paramount Pictures decided to make a picture entirely in

(an early version known as Process 2) following the success of the Technicolor sequences in the film ''

The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

'' (1923) and director Irvin Willat's own '' Heritage of the Desert'' (1924). Production began on January 24, 1924, and wrapped on March 9. Location shooting for the film included setting up "tent cities" in remote parts of Arizona, Nevada and California, and the production crew worked without being able to watch dailies.Layton, James and David Pierce. ''The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935''. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 104.

Preservation status

The film is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

. An original cemented Technicolor print survived into the 1960s in the hands of the film's director,

, who reported in 1971 that the 35 mm

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

had decomposed. After Willat's death, his daughter mentioned that she remembered the day when he discovered that ''Wanderer of the Wasteland'' had decomposed. She said he went upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door and cried for three hours. His former wife Billie Dove starred in the picture, and he had never really come to terms with their separation. Dove was lured away from Willat by

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

References

External links

*
Progressive Silent Film List: ''Wanderer of the Wasteland''
at silentera.com
Lobby poster; ''Wanderer of the Wasteland''
(flickr) 1924 films 1924 Western (genre) films 1920s color films 1924 lost films Films based on works by Zane Grey Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Irvin Willat Lost Western (genre) films Silent films in color Lost American films Silent American Western (genre) films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films {{silent-film-stub