''My Lady's Lips'' (also known as ''My Ladies' Lips'') is a 1925 American 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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written by

John F. Goodrich John F. Goodrich (1887–1937) was an American screenwriter of the silent and early sound era. He worked for a variety of different studios. In 1928 he co-wrote '' The Last Command''.Eagan p. 138 Filmography * '' Daytime Wives'' (1923) * '' T ...

and directed by James P. Hogan for B.P. Schulberg and his company Preferred Pictures. The film stars Alyce Mills, and represents an early role for actress

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 ...

. It is the tenth ever film for

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters crea ...

(better known for his later work in talking pictures), and the first of only two films where Powell and Bow worked together.

Plot

Newspaper magnate Forbes Lombard (

Frank Keenan Frank Keenan (born James Francis Keenan; April 8, 1858 – February 24, 1929) was an American stage and film actor and stage director and manager during the silent-film era. He was among the first stage actors to star in Hollywood, and he pur ...

) discovers that his daughter Lola (

) is mixed up with a gang of gamblers. Reporter Scott Seddon (

) pretends to be a felon and goes undercover to infiltrate the mob and get a news scoop. He falls in love with the gang's leader, female crook Dora Blake ( Alyce Mills). The two are captured in a police raid and under extreme questioning are forced to sign confessions. When Scott is released from prison, he tracks down Dora and finds she has returned to her old ways. After he vows his love, the two marry and begin a new life.

Cast

Reception

Hal Erickson of

AllRovi RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went pub ...

made note that Clara Bow's role as the daughter of a media leader in this film was well received albeit minor, and that film critics in 1926 did not like the casting of William Powell as the hero Scott Seddon, offering that "the actor would be wise to continue playing villains lest he lose his standing in Hollywood." ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' wrote that the film had a difficult time passing the

Pennsylvania State Board of Censors The Pennsylvania State Board of Censors was an organization under the Pennsylvania Department of Education responsible for approving, redacting, or banning motion pictures that it considered "sacrilegious, obscene, indecent, or immoral" or might ...

, and that actress Alyce Mills "made the most of" her role as "crook girl" Dora Blake, and that William Powell was "excellent as the reporter".

Preservation

The film was for years believed to be 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 ...

, but a full

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

nitrate print survives and is preserved at

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 ...

. Considered a "Silent Classic", the film was remastered by the

National Film Preservation Foundation The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began op ...

. The film screened in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 2003 at the

Pordenone Silent Film Festival Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:My Lady's Lips 1925 films American crime drama films 1925 crime drama films American black-and-white films American silent feature films Films directed by James Patrick Hogan Films produced by B. P. Schulberg 1920s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films Preferred Pictures films Silent drama films Silent American drama films