Polly with a Past

Polly with a Past

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Directed by Leander de Cordova
Produced by Maxwell Karger
Screenplay by
Based on Polly With a Past (play)
by Guy Bolton and George Middleton
Starring Ina Claire
Cinematography Arthur Martinelli
Production
company
Distributed by Metro Pictures
Release dates
  • November 29, 1920 (1920-11-29)[1]
Running time
 6 reels
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

Polly with a Past is a 1920 American silent film produced and distributed by Metro Pictures and directed by Leander de Cordova.[1] Based on a 1917 Broadway stage play, the film starred Ina Claire, reprising her stage role as the title Polly. Clifton Webb had an early unbilled screen appearance in this film.

As with many Metro Pictures productions from the period from the late 1910s to the early 1920s, this film is presumed lost.[2][3]

Plot

Minister's daughter Polly Shannon (Ina Claire), in order to earn money go to Paris and study opera, takes a job as a maid for Clay Cullum (Harry Benham) and Harry Richardson (Clifton Webb). Cullum and Richardson are friends with Rex Van Zile (Ralph Graves), whose love for Myrtle Davis (Louiszita Valentine) is unrequited. The three friends and Polly come up with a scheme to get Myrtle to notice Rex. Polly poses as a French adventuress "with a past" who pursues Rex. Their plan is to inspire Myrtle to save Rex from the bad woman.

Complications ensue and in the end Rex and Polly fall in love.

Cast

Production

In December 1919, Metro acquired the play Polly With a Past (1917) from Guy Bolton and George Middleton for $75,000, reputedly the highest price paid for a stage story to that time. Its purchase reflected Metro's efforts to obtain stories that were already well-known and popular. From the start, Ina Claire, who had played Polly on the stage, was intended to star in the film version.[4]

June Mathis began work on the script in June 1920. Location scouting trips to Long Island were reported in August. Interiors were filmed at the Metro studios in New York; two Long Island estates provided exteriors. By the end of September shooting was finished.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Polly With a Past". Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  2. ↑ Carl Bennett (ed.). "Polly With a Past". Progressive Silent Film List. Retrieved 2015-10-08 – via Silent Era.
  3. ↑ David Pierce. "Polly with a Past". American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  4. ↑ For acquisition and Claire's role, see: "News of the Week in Headlines". Wid's Daily. December 21, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    For purchase price: "News of the Film World". Moving Pictures. Variety. January 2, 1920. p. 77. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    For purchase philosophy: "The Average Must Be Superlative". Motion Picture News. April 24, 1920. p. 3701. Retrieved 2015-10-08. All via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ For script, see: J.C. Jessen (June 26, 1920). "News Notes From the West Coast". Motion Picture News. p. 109. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    For scouting: "Cuts and Flashes". Wid's Daily. August 28, 1920. p. 4. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    Interior filming: "New 'Set' System Started". Motion Picture News. September 4, 1920. p. 1896. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    Exterior filming: "Live Notes From the Studios". Motion Picture News. September 11, 1920. p. 2092. and "Ina Claire and 'Polly' Company on Location". Motion Picture News. September 25, 1920. p. 2433. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
    For filming completion: "Cuts and Flashes". Wid's Daily. September 28, 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
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