''Comin' Thro the Rye'' is a 1923 British
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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Cecil Hepworth
Cecil Milton Hepworth (19 March 1874 – 9 February 1953) was a British film director, film producer, producer and screenwriter. He was among the founders of the Cinema of the United Kingdom, British film industry and continued making films ...
and starring
Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress.
Life
Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more th ...
and
Ralph Forbes
Ralph Forbes (born Ralph Forbes Taylor; 30 September 1904 – 31 March 1951) was an English film and stage actor active in Britain and the United States.
Early life
Forbes was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Ernest John "E.J." and Ethe ...
. The film was based on the 1875 novel of the same name by
Helen Mathers. The title alludes to the
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
1782 poem "
Comin' Thro' the Rye".
A clip of it is seen in the comedy ''
The Smallest Show on Earth
''The Smallest Show on Earth'' (US: ''Big Time Operators'') is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford and Bernard Miles. The screenplay was writ ...
'' (1957), in which the elderly staff of the old fleapit cinema tearfully watch
silent film
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
s on their evenings off.
Plot
The story of a young girl who is prevented from marrying the man she loves by the machinations of a designing woman. The plot centres on the heroine, Helen Adair, who is courted by George Tempest but who meets and falls in love with Paul Vasher. Vasher's former love Sylvia Fleming who has betrayed him, is jealous of his affections for Helen and manages by intercepting mail between the lovers to plot to win him back.
While Vasher is abroad she places a false announcement of the marriage of Helen and George in the ''Times'' and in his despair at this news he agrees to marry her. Sylvia is trapped in a loveless marriage, Helen retains her virtue, Vasher never forgets his love for Helen and in a final letter from the battlefield writes to his true love telling her he will meet her 'Comin' through the rye'.
Cast
*
Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress.
Life
Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more th ...
as Helen Adair
*
Shayle Gardner
Shayle Gardner (22 August 1890 – 17 May 1945) was a New Zealand actor.
Partial filmography
* '' The Indian Love Lyrics'' (1923)
* '' St. Elmo'' (1923)
* '' The Chinese Bungalow'' (1926)
* ''Tommy Atkins'' (1928)
* '' Sailors Don't Care'' (1928)
...
as Paul Vasher
*
Eileen Dennes
Eileen Dennes (1 February 1898 – 22 January 1991) was an Irish-born actress of the silent era.
Early life and career
Eileen Dennes was born Eileen Amhurst Cowen on 1 February 1898 in Dublin, Ireland.
She began on the stage in the early 19 ...
as Sylvia Fleming
*
Ralph Forbes
Ralph Forbes (born Ralph Forbes Taylor; 30 September 1904 – 31 March 1951) was an English film and stage actor active in Britain and the United States.
Early life
Forbes was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Ernest John "E.J." and Ethe ...
as George Tempest
*
James Carew
James Usselman (February 5, 1876 – April 4, 1938), known professionally as James Carew, was an American actor who appeared in many films, mainly in Britain. He was born in Goshen, Indiana in 1876 and began working as a clerk in a publishing fi ...
as Col. Adair
*
Francis Lister
Francis Lister (2 April 1899 – 28 October 1951) was a British actor. He was married to the actresses Nora Swinburne (1924–32) and Margot Grahame (1934-36).
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*ThFrancis Lister Collectionis held ...
as Dick Fellowes
*
Gwynne Herbert as Mrs. Adair
*
Henry Vibart
Henry Vibart (25 December 1863 – 30 August 1943) was a Scottish stage and film actor, active from the 1880s until the early 1930s. He appeared in many theatrical roles in the UK and overseas, and featured in over 70 films of the silent era ...
as Mr. Tempest
*
Christine Rayner
Christine Rayner (born 21 October 1888 — 26 September 1973) was a British actress of the silent era. as Jane Peach
*
Nancy Price
Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970) was an English actress on stage and screen, author, animal welfare activist and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, ...
as Mrs. Titmouse
*
John MacAndrews
John MacAndrews was a British actor of the silent era.
Selected filmography
* ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1913)
* ''The Heart of Midlothian'' (1914)
* ''The Chimes'' (1914)
* '' For Her People'' (1914)
* '' Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1915)
* ...
as Simpkins
*
Margot Armstrong as Alice Adair
Further reading
* ''Raising the Flag: Constructing a National Cinema in Britain'', Andrew Higson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995, . Chapter on ''Comin' Thro the Rye'': pp. 26–97.
References
External links
*
''Comin' Thro the Rye''at BFI Film & TV Database
at Silent Era
at Hepworth film
1923 films
1920s historical drama films
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Cecil Hepworth
British black-and-white films
British silent feature films
Films set in the 19th century
Hepworth Pictures films
1923 drama films
1920s English-language films
1920s British films
Silent British historical drama films
English-language historical drama films
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