The Midlanders

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The Midlanders
Vintage advertisement with a smiling girl beside stylized text describing the film as a romantic pioneer story
Magazine advertisement
Directed by
Written byIda May Park (scenario)[1]
Based onThe Midlanders (novel)
by Charles Tenney Jackson
Produced byAndrew J. Callaghan
StarringBessie Love
CinematographyKing D. Gray
Production
company
Andrew J. Callaghan Productions
Distributed byFederated Film Exchanges of America, Inc.
Release date
  • December 1920 (1920-12)
Running time
5 reels[2][3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Budget$75,000[4]

The Midlanders is a 1920 American silent drama film starring Bessie Love and directed by husband and wife duo Joseph De Grasse and Ida May Park.[5] It was produced by Andrew J. Callaghan Productions and distributed by Federated Film Exchanges of America. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Charles Tenney Jackson, published by Bobbs-Merrill Company.[6]

Only a small fragment of this film is known to survive.[7][8]

Plot

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Aurelie (Bessie Love), an orphan from New Orleans, escapes her convent and gets adopted by Mississippi riverboat captain Lindstrom (Curt Rehfeld). Hoping to give her a steadier life, he sends her to live with his brother, John Lindstrom (C. Norman Hammand), a squatter in a quiet river valley town. As Aurelie grows into a striking young woman, she wins a beauty contest and accepts an offer from a theatrical producer. Her rise to fame is swift. When she returns home, she faces rejection from the townspeople. Two men remain drawn to her: Wiley Curran (Lloyd Bacon), the local newspaper editor, and Harlan Van Hart (Truman Van Dyke), the judge's college-educated son.[5]

Cast

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A vintage film still of a young woman holding books standing beside a boy and facing three men in suits and hats outside a stone building
Bessie Love in a scene from The Midlanders

Production

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A young woman seated with a book looks up at a boy standing beside her with a downcast expression in a dimly lit scene
Bessie Love reads a book in a scene from The Midlanders

Interiors were filmed in a studio in Los Angeles, and exteriors were filmed in Rio Vista.[9][10] To prepare for her performance, Bessie Love took dance classes at Theodore Kosloff's ballet school.[11]

After its release, producer Andrew J. Callaghan sued Federated Film Exchanges, saying that the distributor had not paid the full amount to distribute this film, Bonnie May, and Penny of Top Hill Trail.[4]

Reception

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The film received mixed reviews,[12] but Love's performance was highly praised.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Midlanders
  8. ^ Lost 35 mm Nitrate Film FOUND!; Nitrateville.com Retrieved September 5, 2014
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]].
  • Surviving footage of The Midlanders on YouTube
  • The Midlanders at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • The Midlanders at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  • ‹See Tfd›The Midlanders at the TCM Movie Database
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