One Clear Call (film)

One Clear Call
Lobby card
Directed byJohn M. Stahl
Written byBess Meredyth
Based onOne Clear Call
by Frances Nimmo Greene
Produced byLouis B. Mayer
StarringMilton Sills
Claire Windsor
Irene Rich
CinematographyErnest Palmer
Edited byMadge Tyrone
Production
company
Distributed byFirst National Pictures
Release date
  • May 20, 1922 (1922-05-20)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

One Clear Call is a surviving 1922 American silent drama film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Milton Sills, Claire Windsor, and Irene Rich.[1][2]

Plot

As described in a film magazine,[3] Dr. Alan Hamilton (Sills) takes an unusual interest in Faith (Windsor), a young woman who has been admitted to the hospital after fainting. Faith recovers and stays in a cottage near the doctor's home, but her identity remains a mystery. Dr. Hamilton proposes to her, but learns that she is already married, and the mystery of her husband arouses his curiosity. One of the doctor's other patients is Henry Garnett (Walthall), the proprietor of a cafe in town called "The Owl", which is a notorious dance hall and bar. Citizens of the town that are members of a Ku Klux Klan-like group attack Garnett's cafe, but the doctor dissuades them after telling them that Garnett has perhaps 30 days to live due to an ailment. Garnett then confesses that he has stolen the property of a close friend that was entrusted to him for the friend's daughter, Helen Ware (Day), and he wants to make restitution. Garnett finds Helen in his dance hall, but she turns from him, preferring the gay life. Garnett decides to close his place. Disappointed in love, Dr. Hamilton has started to drink excessively. Then he is called upon to save the child of his sister Maggie Thornton (Rich), who has fallen and cut himself severely with glass. The operation is successful. Faith seeks out her husband, who is Garnett, but he takes poison. This leaves Faith to seek happiness with the doctor.

Cast

Preservation

A copy of One Clear Call is in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.[4]

References

  1. ^ Munden p. 567.
  2. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: One Clear Call at silentera.com.
  3. ^ "Reviews: One Clear Call". Exhibitors Herald. 14 (23). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 50. June 3, 1922. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: One Clear Call.

Bibliography

  • Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.