What Price Glory? (1926 film)

For the 1952 film, see What Price Glory? (1952 film).

What Price Glory?
Directed by	Raoul Walsh Daniel Keefe (asst. director) John Ford (2nd unit; uncredited)
Produced by	William Fox
Written by	Maxwell Anderson (play) Laurence Stallings (play) James T. O'Donohoe (scenario) Malcolm Stuart Boylan (intertitles)
Starring	Victor McLaglen Edmund Lowe Dolores del Rio Phyllis Haver
Music by	Erno Rapee Lew Pollack
Cinematography	Barney McGill John Marta John Smith
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	November 23, 1926 (NYC) August 28, 1927 (nationwide) January 1927 (sound release)
Running time	116 minutes, 12 reels (11,109-11,400 feet)
Country	United States
Language	Silent film(English intertitles)

What Price Glory (1926) is a silent comedy war film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation and directed by Raoul Walsh. The film is based on the 1924 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings and was remade in 1952 as What Price Glory starring James Cagney. The first version was released in 1926 and the second version in 1952. Both versions follow the same general plot.

Plot

Flagg and Quirt are veteran United States Marines sergeants whose rivalry dates back a number of years. Flagg is commissioned a Captain, is in command of a company on the front lines of France during World War I. Sergeant Quirt is assigned to Flagg's unit as the senior non-commissioned officer. Flagg and Quirt quickly resume their rivalry which this time takes its form over the affections of Charmaine, the daughter of the local innkeeper. However, Charmaine's desire for a husband and the reality of war give the two men a common cause.

Production

It is a silent film, directed by Raoul Walsh and released by Fox Film Corporation on 23 November 1926 in the US. It had a 116-minute running time. On 21 January 1927, a short film of singer Raquel Meller was shown before this feature at the Sam H. Harris Theater in New York City. The short film, not quite synchronized, was the first public presentation of a film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system. In January 1927, Fox re-released What Price Glory? with synchronized sound effects and music in the Movietone system.

Part of its fame revolves around the fact that the characters can be seen speaking profanities which are not reflected in the intertitles, but which can be deciphered by lipreaders. The studio was reportedly inundated by calls and letters from enraged Americans, including deaf and hearing impaired people, to whom the vivid profanity between Sergant Quirt and Captain Flagg was extremely offensive.

Cast

• Edmund Lowe as 1st Sergeant Quirt
• Victor McLaglen as Captain Flagg
• Dolores del Río as Charmaine de la Cognac
• William V. Mong as Cognac Pete
• Phyllis Haver as Shanghai Mabel
• Elena Jurado as Carmen, Philippine girl
• Leslie Fenton as Lieutenant Moore
• Barry Norton as Private 'Mother's Boy' Lewisohn
• Sammy Cohen as Private Lipinsky
• Ted McNamara as Private Kiper
• August Tollaire as French Mayor
• Mathilde Comont as Camille, fat lady
• Patrick Rooney as Mulcahy (billed as Pat Rooney)
• J. Carroll Naish bit part

Sequels

• The Cock-Eyed World (1928) (directed by Raoul Walsh)
• Women of All Nations (1931) (directed by Raoul Walsh)
• The Stolen Jools (1931) (cameo)
• Hot Pepper (1933)

Lowe and McLaglen played two similar Marines in the RKO Radio Pictures film Call Out the Marines (1942).

External links

• What Price Glory (1926) at the Internet Movie Database
• What Price Glory? (1926) at SilentEra
• What Price Glory (1926 version); allmovie.com