''Twinkletoes'' is a 1926 American silent

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

directed by

Charles Brabin Charles Brabin (April 17, 1882 – November 3, 1957) was a British-American film director. Biography Born in Liverpool, England, he was educated at St. Francis Xavier's College (Liverpool), St. Francis Xavier College. Brabin sailed to New Yor ...

and starring

Colleen Moore Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...

. The film, as with most of Moore's vehicles at this time, was produced by her husband John McCormick with the couple distributing through Moore's resident studio First National. This film is one of Moore's surviving films from the late silent era and is available on DVD.

Plot

Monica "Twinkletoes" Minasi, a motherless child of the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...

district, is a brilliant young dancer who lives in poverty. She saves a crowd from abuse by the police through an impromptu performance, during which she meets Chuck Lightfoot, a champion fighter and older married man whose wife, Cissie, was the cause of the ruckus. Twinks finds herself slowly falling in love with Chuck but resists, because he is married and much older (he is in his late twenties, she might be as young as 15), but when he saves her from an attack one night she realizes that it is useless to fight her feelings. She dances at the head of the "Quayside Kids," a local dance group in a music hall run by Roseleaf, who has designs on the young girls that dance for him. Chuck's wife Cissie realizes that her husband had feelings for Twinks and, learning that Twink's dad is a burglar, exposes him to the police. Twinks is distraught when she learns the news that her father—whom she admired above all other people—is a criminal. Roseleaf takes her to his apartment and attempts to have his way with her, but she manages to escape. Cissie is killed in an accident, and, in despair, Twink throws herself into the river. She is rescued by Chuck and in his arms finds something to live for.

Cast

Production

Scenario writer

Winifred Dunn Winifred Dunn ( 1898 - 1977) was an American screenwriter, editor, radio scenario writer, and art critic in the early 20th century. She was one of the youngest scenario editors of the silent era and was credited with writing over 40 productions.H ...

did research in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

for the atmosphere of the film. The movie was based on the 1918 novel ''Twinkletoes: A Tale of the Limehouse'', by Thomas Burke. Like the book, the film's original story had a dramatic ending, with Twinks drowning in the river. Colleen's husband did not believe that the original ending would play as well as a happy ending, perhaps worried that the production might not be well received by audiences, as had been the case with the dramatic '' So Big''. Two endings were filmed and exhibitors were allowed to pick which version they wanted to show. The audiences generally preferred the sad ending. This was Colleen's first "serious" film since her portrayal of Salena Peake in '' So Big''. Coleen danced several of the numbers in the film herself.''Post Standard'' (Syracuse, New York), August 15, 1926, page 4 The film came between two of her comedies, as it was the studio's strategy to stagger her comedies and dramatic roles, so that the public would not become tired of any single genre.

References

Footnotes

*Jeff Codori (2012), ''Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star''
McFarland Publishing
(Print , EBook ).

External links

*
Lantern slide plate, coming attractions "Twinkletoes"
at www.silentfilmstillarchive.com {{Charles Brabin 1926 films 1926 romantic drama films American silent feature films Films directed by Charles Brabin Films based on British novels Films based on works by Thomas Burke First National Pictures films American black-and-white films 1920s American films Silent American romantic drama films 1920s English-language films English-language romantic drama films