Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master

Filmography

Filmography With the exceptions of Victor Saville’s producing title on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the section on Fleming’s own uncredited work, the following list adheres to official credits. I frequently cite additional collaborators elsewhere in the book: readers will notice that the screenwriter John Lee Mahin participated in nearly every important Fleming film from 1932 on, whether his name appeared on-screen or not. But in most cases it’s impossible to tell (at this distance ) whether the weight and nature of anonymous labor deserves the same standing as the credited work. To judge from Mahin’s marked-up copy of his Captains Courageous script, which scrupulously apportions authorship to each writer on the project, the old studios did make an effort to evaluate who did what in their movies. Most of Fleming’s silent films have been lost. The approximate running times below are based on current copies or contemporary reviews; in cases where neither is available, the number of reels provides a clue (a reel usually ran about ten minutes). For Fleming’s MGM films, I’ve provided additional detail wherever possible on the dates of his involvement. Although the body of the book contains similar information about his Paramount films, MGM was the only studio to open up its files for specific verification. The artists and craftsmen are called by their most familiar names, so, for example, the “James Howe” of the silent-film credits appears below as “James Wong Howe.” directed by victor fleming 1919 When the Clouds Roll By (United Artists) Released December 29. Length: 77 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Kathleen Clifford, Frank Campeau, Herbert Grimwood, Albert McQuarrie. Srag_9780375407482_3p_bm2_r2.z.qxp 10/13/08 10:38 AM Page 581 Production: Fairbanks, producer; Tom J. Geraghty, screenwriter; Harry Thorpe and William McGann, cinematographers; Ted Reed, assistant director. 1920 The Mollycoddle (United Artists) Released June 13. Length: 86 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Ruth Renick, Wallace Beery, Paul Burns, Morris Hughes, George Stewart, Charles Stevens, Albert McQuarrie, Frank Campeau. Production: Fairbanks, producer; Tom J. Geraghty, screenwriter (from story by Harold McGrath); Harry Thorpe and William McGann, cinematographers; Ted Reed, assistant director. 1921 Mamma’s Affair (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released January 23. Length: 60 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved . Cast: Constance Talmadge, Effie Shannon, Katherine Kaelred, George Le Guere, Kenneth Harlan. Production: Joseph M. Schenck, producer; John Emerson and Anita Loos, screenwriters (from Rachel Barton Butler’s play); Oliver T. Marsh, cinematographer. Woman’s Place (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released October 17. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Constance Talmadge, Kenneth Harlan. Production: Joseph M. Schenck, producer; John Emerson and Anita Loos, screenwriters; Oliver T. Marsh and J. Roy Hunt, cinematographers. 1922 The Lane That Had No Turning (Paramount) Released January 15. Length: Five reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Agnes Ayres, Theodore Kosloff, Mahlon Hamilton, Frank Campeau. Production: Adolph Zukor, producer; Eugene Mullin, screenwriter (from Gilbert Parker’s screen treatment of his own novel); Gilbert Warrenton, cinematographer. Red Hot Romance (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released February 13. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Portions of the first two and final two reels are at the Library of Congress. Cast: Basil Sydney, May Collins, Edward Connelly, Tom Wilson, Snitz Edwards. Production: Emerson and Loos, producers; Emerson and Loos, screenwriters; Ernest G. Palmer and Oliver T. Marsh, cinematographers. Anna Ascends (Paramount) Released November 19. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Alice Brady, Robert Ellis, David Powell, Nita Naldi. Filmography 582 Srag_9780375407482_3p_bm2_r2.z.qxp 10/13/08 10:38 AM Page 582 Production: Adolph Zukor, presenter; Margaret Turnbull, screenwriter (from Harry Chapman Ford’s play); Gilbert Warrenton, cinematographer. 1923 Dark Secrets (Paramount) Released February 5. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Dorothy Dalton, Robert Ellis, José Ruben, Pat Hartigan. Production: Adolph Zukor, presenter; Edmund Goulding, screenwriter; Harold Rosson, cinematographer. The Law of the Lawless (Paramount) Released July 22. Length: 67 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Dorothy Dalton, Theodore Kosloff, Charles De Roche, Fred Huntley. Production: Jesse L. Lasky, presenter; E. Lloyd Sheldon and Edfrid Bingham, screenwriters (from the story in Ghitza, and Other Romances of Gypsy Blood by Konrad Bercovici); George R. Meyer, cinematographer . To the Last Man (Paramount) Released September 23. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Robert Edeson, Fred Huntley...