The Dark Angel (1925 film)

The Dark Angel
The Dark Angel
	Film poster
Directed by	George Fitzmaurice
Written by	Frances Marion (screenplay)
Based on	The Dark Angel, a Play of Yesterday and To-day; by H. B. Trevelyan
Produced by	Samuel Goldwyn
Starring	Ronald Colman; Vilma Bánky
Cinematography	George S. Barnes
Edited by	Stuart Heisler
Production; company	Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Distributed by	First National Pictures
Release date	September 27, 1925;
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Dark Angel is a 1925 American silent drama film, based on the play The Dark Angel, a Play of Yesterday and To-day by H. B. Trevelyan, released by First National Pictures, and starring Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky (in her first American film), and Wyndham Standing.^[1]^[2]

Plot

During the First World War, Captain Alan Trent, while on leave in England with his fiancée Kitty Vane, is suddenly recalled to the front before being able to get a marriage license. Alan and Kitty spend a night of love at a country inn "without benefit of clergy" and he sets off.

At the front things go badly for Alan, who is blinded and becomes a Prisoner of War after being captured by the Germans. He is reported dead, and his friend, Captain Gerald Shannon, discreetly woos Kitty, seeking to soothe her grief with his gentle love.

After the war, however, Gerald discovers that Alan is still alive, in a remote corner of England, writing children's stories for a living. Loyal to his former comrade in arms, Gerald informs Kitty of Alan's reappearance. She goes to him, and Alan conceals his blindness and tells Kitty that he no longer cares for her. She sees through his deception, however, and they are reunited.^[3]

Cast

Ronald Colman as Captain Alan Trent
Vilma Bánky as Kitty Vane
Wyndham Standing as Gerald Shannon
Frank Elliott as Lord Beaumont
Charles Willis Lane as Sir Hubert Vane
Helen Jerome Eddy as Miss Bottles
Florence Turner as Roma
Lassie Lou Ahern as a flower girl (uncredited)

Reception

The film has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 9 positive contemporary reviews.^[4]

Mordaunt Hall's October 12, 1925, review for The New York Times conveys what made this film a compelling success 7 years after the end of the First World War.

Preservation

A print of The Dark Angel has been recently located in a film archive, so it is currently not considered a lost film.^[5]

References

^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Dark Angel at the silentera.com
^ Broadway production of The Dark Angel which opened at the Longacre Theatre on February 10, 1925
^ Someone copied most of this Plot directly from the Synopsis on TCM's site or from AFI's page.
^ The Dark Angel, retrieved August 28, 2021
^ 7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29) . Library of Congress. February 4, 2021 – via Wikisource.

External links

The Dark Angel at IMDb
Synopsis at AllMovie
Stills at silenthollywood.com
Still at silentfilmstillarchive.com

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This article about a silent drama film from the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Progressive Silent Film List: The Dark Angel at the silentera.com

[2] Broadway production of The Dark Angel which opened at the Longacre Theatre on February 10, 1925

[3] Someone copied most of this Plot directly from the Synopsis on TCM's site or from AFI's page.

[4] The Dark Angel, retrieved August 28, 2021

[5] 7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29) . Library of Congress. February 4, 2021 – via Wikisource.

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