''Eve's Leaves'' is a 1926 American silent

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film starring

Leatrice Joy Leatrice Joy (born Leatrice Johanna Zeidler; November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era. Early life Joy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to dentist Edward Joseph Zeidler, who was o ...

and

William Boyd William, Willie, Will or Bill Boyd may refer to: Academics * William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (1842–1928), Australian journalist and schoolmaster * William Boyd (educator) (1874–1962), Scottish educator * William Boyd (pathologist) (1885–1979 ...

. The film was produced and distributed by

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cin ...

and directed by

Paul Sloane Paul Sloane (April 19, 1893 November 15, 1963) was an American screenwriter and film director who directed 26 films from 1925 to 1952, and wrote or co-wrote 35 films. His movies include ''Hearts in Dixie'' (1929) with Stepin Fetchit, ''The Wom ...

Progressive Silent Film List: ''Eve's Leaves''
at silentera.com It is based upon the 1925 play of the same name by

Harry Chapman Ford Harry Chapman Ford was a playwright and novelist in the United States. Two of his plays and one of his novels were adapted to film. Early life Henry Chapman Ford was born in Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List o ...

Plot

Captain Corbin (Edeson), who operates the tramp cargo ship ''Garden of Eden'', has raised his daughter Eve (Joy) as a boy. After learning about men after reading some romance novels belonging to the cook Cookie (Harris), she goes ashore in a Chinese port to find her true love and spies American Bob Britton (Boyd), whom she then has kidnapped to augment the ship's crew. Pirate Chang Fang (Long) and his pirates capture the ship seeking passage to his stronghold. With Cookie's help, Eve remakes herself using an outfit made from a curtain and some beads, which draws the interest of both Chang and Bob. In the end, Eve saves the day and she and Bob are married on board by a missionary (Hoyt).Review
at moviessilently.com

Cast

Production

Leatrice Joy had impulsively cut her hair short in 1926, and DeMille, whom Joy had followed when he set up

Producers Distributing Corporation Producers Distributing Corporation was a short-lived Hollywood film distribution company, organized in 1924 and dissolved in March 1927. In its brief heyday, film director Cecil B. DeMille was its primary shareholder and major talent. Corpora ...

, was publicly angry as it prevented her from portraying traditional feminine roles. The studio developed projects with roles suitable for her “Leatrice Joy bob”, and ''Eve's Leaves'' was the second of five films before she regrew her hair. In both ''Eve's Leaves'' and '' The Clinging Vine'' (1926), Joy's character is mistaken as being male in at least one scene. In 1928, a professional dispute would end the Joy / Demille partnership and she signed with

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

Intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dial ...

s featuring quotes from stereotype Chinese characters are in a racist fictional Asian dialect that today would be considered offensive.

Preservation

A 16mm print of ''Eve's Leaves'' is preserved film at 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 ar ...

The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''Eve's Leaves''
/ref> and the film has been released on DVD.

References

External links

* *
Stills
at moviessilently.com
Lantern slide
at worthpoint.com
Theater advertisement
at filmaffinity.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eve's Leaves 1926 films American romantic comedy films American silent feature films Films based on short fiction 1926 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films Producers Distributing Corporation films Films directed by Paul Sloane 1920s American films Silent romantic comedy films Silent American comedy films