The horror of World War I, a conflict with global dimensions had never been experienced by man before. With so many people in the participating countries suffering losses of family members there was a big spiritual movement among the older generation at the same time the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties was celebrated by the younger brothers and sisters of fallen soldiers.
One of the best examples of this is the play Smilin' Through which was written and performed by Jane Cowl on Broadway. It's unfortunate that she was not chosen to do the lead in the first sound version on film, but Norma Shearer is a more than adequate substitute.
The play Smilin' Through ran for 175 performances in the 1919-20 season on Broadway and then was made into a silent film feature with Norma Talmadge in the lead. It concerns the lost love of a man and how even with the greatest of spiritual barriers between them, there is a connection even through fifty years of separation.
The man in the film is Leslie Howard who years after his bride was killed on their wedding day, gets charge of her niece when her parents are killed. The niece when she grows up and the bride in both ghostly and flashback sequences is played by Shearer.
The third lead in this film is Fredric March who plays father and son. As the son who was brought up in America by his mother, he never knew his father, he's come over to Great Britain to enlist in the army of the land of his forefathers. He and Shearer take to one another, but Howard is furious at the idea.
He's got reasons. March as the father is the maniacally jealous former suitor of the aunt who was killed. In fact he's the one who did it and left Howard a lonely grieving man for generations.
Both March and Shearer are great in their parts. Especially March who is called on to play two very different kinds of men and being the superb actor he was, plays them both so well. As for Leslie Howard, he's in a typical Leslie Howard part, charming with a suffocating air of sadness about him, and so very British, the typical Englishman as they see themselves.
Norma's part as the aunt calls for her to sing the song Smilin' Through and of course it's dubbed. There was no need of that in the third version with Jeanette MacDonald who in that version sings a nice medley of period songs. Jeanette's version does unfavorably compare with Norma's, but definitely not in the singing department. I'd like to see the Norma Talmadge silent if it still exists.
You would have to made of stone like those great lions at the New York Public Library not to be moved by Smilin' Through. Given the times, this play and this film had a ready audience who wanted so desperately to believe that they would in fact be reunited with loved ones.
One of the best examples of this is the play Smilin' Through which was written and performed by Jane Cowl on Broadway. It's unfortunate that she was not chosen to do the lead in the first sound version on film, but Norma Shearer is a more than adequate substitute.
The play Smilin' Through ran for 175 performances in the 1919-20 season on Broadway and then was made into a silent film feature with Norma Talmadge in the lead. It concerns the lost love of a man and how even with the greatest of spiritual barriers between them, there is a connection even through fifty years of separation.
The man in the film is Leslie Howard who years after his bride was killed on their wedding day, gets charge of her niece when her parents are killed. The niece when she grows up and the bride in both ghostly and flashback sequences is played by Shearer.
The third lead in this film is Fredric March who plays father and son. As the son who was brought up in America by his mother, he never knew his father, he's come over to Great Britain to enlist in the army of the land of his forefathers. He and Shearer take to one another, but Howard is furious at the idea.
He's got reasons. March as the father is the maniacally jealous former suitor of the aunt who was killed. In fact he's the one who did it and left Howard a lonely grieving man for generations.
Both March and Shearer are great in their parts. Especially March who is called on to play two very different kinds of men and being the superb actor he was, plays them both so well. As for Leslie Howard, he's in a typical Leslie Howard part, charming with a suffocating air of sadness about him, and so very British, the typical Englishman as they see themselves.
Norma's part as the aunt calls for her to sing the song Smilin' Through and of course it's dubbed. There was no need of that in the third version with Jeanette MacDonald who in that version sings a nice medley of period songs. Jeanette's version does unfavorably compare with Norma's, but definitely not in the singing department. I'd like to see the Norma Talmadge silent if it still exists.
You would have to made of stone like those great lions at the New York Public Library not to be moved by Smilin' Through. Given the times, this play and this film had a ready audience who wanted so desperately to believe that they would in fact be reunited with loved ones.