Seven Sinners (1925 film)

Seven Sinners is a 1925 black-and-white silent crime comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Milestone and Darryl F. Zanuck.^[1][2] The film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures.^[3]

Although Milestone had directed short training films for the U.S. War Department in 1918 and 1919, and acted as assistant director on the 1921 William A. Seiter film The Foolish Age, this was his feature film directorial debut.^[4][5][6]

Plot

Burglars Molly Brian (Marie Prevost) and Joe Hagney (John Patrick) break into the Vickers mansion on Long Island and loot the safe but are caught in the act by another crook, Jerry Winters (Clive Brook), who takes the money from them. The three are confronted by Pious Joe McDowell (Claude Gillingwater) and his wife Mamie (Mathilde Brundage), also crooks, but who assert themselves as friends of the Vickers family. Moly, Joe, and Jerry introduce themselves in turn as Vickers' household servants. A doctor (Dan Mason) arrives with his patient (Heinie Conklin) and quarantines the house. Unknown to the first five, the Doctor and patient are also crooks who use the ruse of a "quarantine" as part of their own methodology. During the brief quarantine, Molly ends up falling in love with Jerry and the two pledge to go straight. When the police (Fred Kelsey) finally arrive, Pious Joe takes responsibility for the robbery so that Molly and Jerry can escape.

Cast

• Marie Prevost as Molly Brian
• Clive Brook as Jerry Winters
• John Patrick as Handsome Joe Hagney
• Heinie Conklin as Scarlet Fever Sanders
• Claude Gillingwater as Pious Joe McDowell
• Mathilde Brundage as Mamie McDowell
• Dan Mason as Doctor
• Fred Kelsey as Policeman

Contemporary reception

The New York Times wrote the idea "has been worked out in an interesting fashion, with disappointing penitence as a closing touch," and that "picture is quite diverting, and it would have been even better if the humor were lighter in some sequences and if a touch of satire had been included at the finish."^[7]

Preservation

The film was presumed lost, Warner Bros. records of the film's negative have a notation, "Junked 12/27/48" (i.e., December 27, 1948). Warner Bros. destroyed many of its negatives in the late 1940s and 1950s due to nitrate film pre-1933 decomposition, but an announcement was made in May 2015 of its rediscovery in Queensland, Australia.^[8][9]

See also

• List of rediscovered films

References

1. ↑ Langman, Larry (2000). Destination Hollywood: the influence of Europeans on American filmmaking. McFarland. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-7864-0681-4. Retrieved 19 April 2011. 
2. ↑ "Seven Sinners (1925)". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2011. 
3. ↑ Stars of the silver screen: extracts from The movie. Bloomsbury Books. 1 December 1984. ISBN 978-0-906223-66-6. Retrieved 19 April 2011. 
4. ↑ Joseph R. Millichap (1981). Lewis Milestone. Twayne's filmmakers series. Twayne Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 0-8057-9281-3. 
5. ↑ "Lewis Milestone Profile". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 18 April 2011. 
6. ↑ Janiss Garza. "Seven Siners (1926)". Allmovie. Retrieved 18 April 2011. 
7. ↑ Mordaunt Hall (December 8, 1925). "Crooks in a Dilemma". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2011. 
8. ↑ Sally Browne "Seven Sinners, lost first film by Lewis Milestone, unearthed in Queensland", Courier-Mail, 5 May 2015
9. ↑ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog:Seven Sinners

External links

• Seven Sinners at the Internet Movie Database
• Seven Sinners at AllMovie
• Seven Sinners at the British Film Institute's Film and TV Database
• Seven Sinners at the TCM Movie Database