''The Trespasser'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

film written and directed by

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwi ...

and starring

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

, Robert Ames, Purnell Pratt, Henry B. Walthall, and Wally Albright. The film was released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

in both silent and sound versions.

Plot

Marion Donnell, a stenographer in Chicago (

) elopes with wealthy Jack Merrick. ( Robert Ames) Their marriage is opposed by his father (

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

) who considers Marion a fortune-hunter and demands that Jack have the marriage annulled. Marion, furious that Jack has not defended her and stood up to his father, leaves him. Eighteen months later, unbeknownst to Jack, she has given birth to his son, Jackie, and is living alone to raise him. Unable to meet her bills and provide support she becomes a "kept woman" for her employer, Hector Ferguson ( Purnell Pratt) an older, married man. He puts her up in a lavish apartment on Chicago's Lakeshore Drive, providing her with clothing, jewels, servants and means. When Ferguson collapses, suddenly at his club, his wife (

Mary Forbes Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958.

) calls for Marion, telling her that he has asked for her at his deathbed. He dies leaving Marion a $500,000 inheritance and the press is quick to publicize their illicit relationship, casting doubts upon the paternity of Marion's child. Seeking protection for her son, she sends for Jack, now remarried to Catherine "Flip" Carson. ( Kay Hammond) When Marion presents Jack with his son they rekindle their love for each other, Jack making plans to abandon his wife. However, Flip comes to visit Marion; having been injured in an automobile accident on a honeymoon trip to France, she requires a wheelchair and is unable to bear children. She declares that she is prepared to let Jack go, due to her disability and because she knows that he is still in love with Marion. Deeply moved by Flip's sacrifice, and for the sake of her child, she sends Jackie to live with Jack and Flip. She sinks to the floor in despair as Jackie's nanny, Mrs. Potter (

Blanche Friderici Blanche L. Friderici (January 21, 1878 – December 23, 1933) was an American film and stage actress, sometimes credited as Blanche Frederici. Early years Friderici was a native of Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were William E. Friderici ...

) leads him away. She returns the $500,000 to Ferguson's estate and relocates to New York. Some years later, Flip has died leaving Marion and Jack free to reunite.

Cast

as Marion Donnell * Robert Ames as Jack Merrick * Purnell Pratt as Hector Ferguson * Henry B. Walthall as Fuller * Wally Albright as Jackie *

as John Merrick Sr. *

as Miss Potter (as Blanche Frederici) * Kay Hammond as Catherine 'Flip' Merrick *

as Mrs. Ferguson * Marcelle Corday as Blanche

Production background

''The Trespasser'' was produced as both a silent and sound version for a total negative cost of $725,000. Gloria Swanson, in her sound film debut, received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

nomination. It was written and directed by Edmund Goulding and was first filmed as a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...

. A sound version was quickly made and was a big hit for its star, Gloria Swanson. Goulding

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

the film as '' That Certain Woman'' (1937) with

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

and

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and r ...

Preservation status

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

preserved the film with the help of the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

and The Film Foundation. This restored version was shown on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

on December 14, 2011.

Legacy

''The Trespasser'' proved to be one of Swanson's only two hit sound films, the other being ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare i ...

'' (1950) many years later. Subsequent films like ''

What a Widow! ''What a Widow!'' was a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Allan Dwan and produced by and starring Gloria Swanson. It was distributed through United Artists. The film was produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. It received gene ...

'' (1930), '' Indiscreet'' (1931), '' Tonight or Never'' (1931), ''

Perfect Understanding ''Perfect Understanding'' is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Cyril Gardner and starring Laurence Olivier, Gloria Swanson and John Halliday. The film was an independent production made at Ealing Studios, conceived as an attempt to revive ...

'' (1933), and '' Music in the Air'' (1934) were all box-office flops. ''The Trespasser'' was an important film for Swanson, following the financially disastrous ''

Queen Kelly ''Queen Kelly'' is an American silent film produced in 1928–29 and released by United Artists. The film was directed by Erich von Stroheim, starred Gloria Swanson, in the title role, Walter Byron (actor), Walter Byron as her lover, and Seena ...

'' (1929) and the hit ''

Sadie Thompson Sadie Thompson refers to the main character from "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham (1921). Several adaptations of that story exist with that title: *''Miss Sadie Thompson'', a 1953 film starring Rita Hayworth as Sadie Thompson * ''Sadie Thompson'' (fil ...

'' (1928). This was Swanson's second Oscar nomination. Despite the disappointments following ''The Trespasser,'' Swanson was remembered by

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holl ...

, a screenwriter on '' Music in the Air'' (1934), when he was casting the part of Norma Desmond for ''

'' (1950).

References

External links

*
''The Trespasser'' at SilentEra''The Trespasser''
at Virtual History
The Trespasser
available for free download a
free-classic-movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trespasser, The 1929 films 1920s English-language films American black-and-white films United Artists films Films directed by Edmund Goulding