The Valley of the Moon (film)

The Valley of the Moon
Contemporary advertisement
Directed byHobart Bosworth
Written byHettie Gray Baker (scenario)
Based onThe Valley of the Moon
by Jack London
StarringJack Conway
Myrtle Stedman
Edited byHettie Gray Baker
Release date
  • June 22, 1914 (1914-06-22)
Running time
Six reels[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

The Valley of the Moon is a 1914 silent film directed by Hobart Bosworth and starring Jack Conway and Myrtle Stedman. Produced by Bosworth/London,[2] it was an adaptation of the 1913 novel The Valley of the Moon by Jack London[3] and based upon a scenario by Hettie Gray Baker.[4]

Location shooting for the film took place on Catalina Island, Glen Ellen, Carmel, and San Francisco, California.[5]

Plot

When boxer Billy Roberts (Conway) marries laundress Saxon (Stedman),[1] he tries to please his spouse by leaving his former profession behind and becoming a teamster driving trucks. However, when their wages are cut, the union calls for a strike.[3] The film is sympathetic toward the strikers, with scenes showing police attacking the teamsters with clubs and patrol wagons being driven over fallen men.[2] The former boxer is attacked and beaten by company scabs, lands in jail following a brawl, and starts drinking. The desperate couple decide to move to the country and start a new life on a farm. With money being tight, he enters a fight for a $300 prize. In the end he wins, and the couple depart to live at their "Valley of the Moon".[3]

Preservation

With no prints of The Valley of the Moon located in any film archives, it is considered a lost film.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Erickson, Hal (2010), "Valley of the Moon (1914)", Movies & TV Dept., The New York Times, archived from the original on 2013-06-30.
  2. ^ a b Merritt, Greg (2000), Celluloid Mavericks: The History of American Independent Film, Basic Books, p. 11, ISBN 1560252324.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b c Langman, Larry (1998), American Film Cycles: the Silent Era, Bibliographies and Indexes in the Performing Arts, vol. 22, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 103, ISBN 0313306575.
  4. ^ Bennett, Carl (2010), "The Valley of the Moon", The Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era Company, retrieved 2014-04-05.
  5. ^ "The Valley of the Moon". afi.com. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  6. ^ "American Silent Feature Film Database: The Valley of the Moon". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 22, 2024.


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