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The Lone Eagle

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The Lone Eagle
Theater lobby card
Directed byEmory Johnson
Written byEmilie Johnson (scenario)
John B. Clymer (scenario)
Tom Reed (intertitles)
Story byHoward Blanchard
Produced byCarl Laemmle
StarringRaymond Keane
Barbara Kent
Nigel Barrie
CinematographyArthur L. Todd
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • August 18, 1927 (1927-08-18)
Running time
6 reels, 60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Lone Eagle is a 1927 American silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson, based on the story by Emilie Johnson, and starring Raymond Keane, Barbara Kent and Nigel Barrie.[1] It was released by Universal Pictures on September 18, 1927.[2]

Plot

During World War I, American pilot Lieutenant William (Billy) Holmes (Raymond Keane) accepts an assignment with the Royal Flying Corps. The unit location is on the Western Front and has seen plenty of action. During Billy's first air battle, he is accused of cowardice.

He meets an attractive French woman named Mimi (Barbara Kent). They start to fall in love, but the cowardice accusation continues to dog Billy. Mimi stirs Billy's emotions, and he becomes determined to prove his mettle in battle.

The unit receives its next flying mission. The group takes to the sky and encounters a squadron of German aircraft. American ace Red McGibbons (Donald Stuart) is one of Billy's best friends. During the dogfight, Red manages to shoot down a German plane, but is also killed.

The pilot of the downed German aircraft turns out to be the brother of the leader of the German squadron. Lebrun (Cuyler Supplee), the squadron leader, is the top German ace of the squadron. He is determined to avenge his brother's death. He challenges the Royal Flying Corps to an aerial fight.

Still thinking of his best friend, Billy accepts the challenge from LeBrun. Mimi tries to dissuade him, but fails. He jumps in the cockpit of his Sopwith Camel, takes off in pursuit of Lebrun. An epic air duel breaks out, and Lebrun shoots down Billy's aircraft. Billy survives, then commandeers another aircraft from his friend Sven Linder (Jack Pennick). He returns to the air and shoots the German ace down.

Billy is a hero and soon the Allies and the Germans sign the Armistice. With the war over, Billy returns to the United States along with his new bride – Mimi.

Cast

Production

The credits of The Lone Eagle claim that Emilie Johnson only “assisted” in the screenwriting.[3]

Principal photography took place on location at a small airport near San Diego, California.[4]

Reception

Aviation film historian James Farmer in Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation (1984) noted, despite the film's tagline:[5]

Greatest of all airplane stories taken from the great war. . .The Lone Eagle was a cheaply produced World War I air drama.

Preservation

A report created by film historian and archivist David Pierce for the Library of Congress claims:

  • 75% of original silent-era films have perished.
  • 14% of the 10,919 silent films released by major studios exist in their original 35mm or other formats.
  • 11% survive in full-length foreign versions or on film formats of lesser image quality.[6][7] Many silent-era films did not survive for a multitude of reasons.

Emory Johnson directed 13 films - 11 were silent, and 2 were Talkies.The Lone Eagle was the second film in Emory Johnson's eight-picture contract with Universal.[8] The film's original length is listed at 6 reels. According to the Library of Congress website, this film has the status of 'No holdings located in archives; thus, it is presumed all copies of this film are lost'.[9]

References

  1. ^ The Lone Eagle at the TCM Movie Database
  2. ^ The Lone Eagle at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  3. ^ The Lone Eagle at AllMovie
  4. ^ Hugh, Wynne (1987). The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies. Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. ISBN 0933126859.
  5. ^ Farmer, J.H. (1984). Celluloid Wings (in French). Tab Books. ISBN 978-0-8306-2374-7. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  6. ^ Pierce, David. "The Survival of American Silent Films: 1912-1929" (PDF). Library Of Congress. Council on Library and Information Resources and the Library of Congress. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  7. ^ Slide, Anthony (2000). Nitrate Won't Wait: History of Film Preservation in the United States. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 978-0786408368. Retrieved March 25, 2013. It is often claimed that 75 percent of all American silent films are gone and 50 percent of all films made prior to 1950 are lost, but such figures, as archivists admit in private, were thought up on the spur of the moment, without statistical information to back them up.
  8. ^ "Hollywood Studio Gossip". San Francisco Chronicle. June 4, 1926. p. 11. Retrieved March 11, 2019 – via Genealogybank.
  9. ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Lone Eagle - No holdings located in archives

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Lone Eagle.
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