Wanderer of the Wasteland (1924 film)
Wanderer of the Wasteland | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster, likenesses of Jack Holt and Billie Dove | |
Directed by | Irvin Willat |
Written by |
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Based on | Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey |
Produced by | Lucien Hubbard |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Arthur Ball |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Wanderer of the Wasteland is a 1924 American color silent Western film directed by Irvin Willat and starring Jack Holt, Noah Beery, and Billie Dove. It was the third feature film to be photographed entirely in Technicolor.
Plot
The film is based on Zane Grey's 1923 novel of two brothers, one an honest cowpoke, the other a gambler. When Adam Larey (Jack Holt) confronts his younger brother Guerd (James Mason) about his gambling addiction, the latter is accidentally shot. A distraught Adam, believing he has killed his own brother, flees into the desert. He later learns that Guerd was merely wounded and returns to the loving arms of beautiful Billie Dove.
Cast
- Jack Holt as Adam Larey
- Noah Beery as Dismukes
- George Irving as Mr. Roderick Virey
- Kathlyn Williams as Magdalene Virey
- Billie Dove as Ruth Virey
- Jim Mason as Guerd Larey (credited as James Mason)
- Richard Neill as Collishaw (credited as Richard R. Neill)
- James Gordon as Alex MacKay
- William A. Carroll as Merryvale (credited as William Carroll)
- Willard Cooley as Camp Doctor
Production
Paramount Pictures decided to make a picture entirely in Technicolor (an early version known as Process 2) following the success of the Technicolor sequences in the film The Ten Commandments (1923) and director Irvin Willat's own Heritage of the Desert (1924).[1] Production began on January 24, 1924, and wrapped on March 9. Location shooting for the film included setting up "tent cities" in remote parts of Arizona, Nevada and California, and the production crew worked without being able to watch dailies.[2]
Preservation status
The film is now considered to be a lost film. An original cemented Technicolor print survived into the 1960s in the hands of the film's director, Irvin Willat, who reported in 1971 that the 35 mm nitrate film had decomposed.
After Willat's death, his daughter mentioned that she remembered the day when he discovered that Wanderer of the Wasteland had decomposed. She said he went upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door and cried for three hours. His former wife Billie Dove starred in the picture, and he had never really come to terms with their separation. Dove was lured away from Willat by Howard Hughes.
References
- ^ Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1924.
- ^ Layton, James and David Pierce. The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 104.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Wanderer of the Wasteland at IMDb
- Progressive Silent Film List: Wanderer of the Wasteland at silentera.com
- Lobby poster; Wanderer of the Wasteland (flickr)
- 1924 films
- 1924 Western (genre) films
- 1920s color films
- 1924 lost films
- Films based on works by Zane Grey
- American silent feature films
- American films
- American Western (genre) films
- English-language films
- Films based on American novels
- Films based on Western (genre) novels
- Films directed by Irvin Willat
- Films made before the MPAA Production Code
- Lost Western (genre) films
- Silent films in color
- Lost American films