Scarlet Seas

Scarlet Seas
Film poster
Directed by	John Francis Dillon
Written by	Bradley King (scenario) Louis Stevens (intertitles)
Story by	W. Scott Darling
Produced by	Richard A. Rowland
Starring	Richard Barthelmess Betty Compson Loretta Young
Cinematography	Sol Polito Frank Bangs (still photography)
Edited by	Jack Gardner Edward Schroeder
Music by	Karl Hajos
Production company	First National Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Release date	January 12, 1929 (1929-01-12)
Running time	7 reels (6,337 feet)
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Synchronized) (English Intertitles)

Scarlet Seas is a surviving[1] 1929 American synchronized sound romantic adventure film produced by Richard A. Rowland and distributed by First National Pictures. Although there is no audible dialogue, the film was released with a musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc recording process. The picture was directed by John Francis Dillon. It starred Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, and a teen-aged Loretta Young. Originally, the film was presumed lost.[2][3][4]

The story was written by W. Scott Darling.[5]

Cast

• Richard Barthelmess as Steven Dunkin
• Betty Compson as Rose
• Loretta Young as Margaret Barbour
• James Bradbury Sr. as Johnson
• Jack Curtis as Toomey
• Knute Erickson as Captain Barbour

uncredited

• Shorty English as Sailor

Music

The film featured a theme song entitled "Blossoms (That Bloom In the Moonlight)" which was composed by Ben Black and James Dietrich.

Critical reception

A review in Harrison's Reports found that the film contains "offenses to logic", including the nimbleness of the hero and heroine as they climb a rope ladder despite having survived days of hunger and thirst and the way the hero easily overcomes "a giant", lifts him, and throws him overboard.[5]

Preservation status

The film was long thought to be lost. A print has been discovered in Italy at Cineteca Italiana.[6]

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References

1. The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Scarlet Seas
2. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30, The American Film Institute, c. 1971
3. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Scarlet Seas
4. Scarlet Seas at Arne Andersen's Lost film Files: First National Pictures 1928
5. "'Scarlet Seas' (S) -- with Dick Barthelmess". Harrison's Reports. January 12, 1929. p. 6. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
6. see-----Library of Congress, American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog

External links

• Scarlet Seas at IMDb
• Scarlet Seas at silentera.com
• Lobby posters of the film: #1,...#2(Wayback)
• Southseascinema.org a website devoted to island themed films
• Surviving Vitaphone track samples: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
• Vitaphone Soundtrack Collection