''Lucky Star'' is a 1929 American romantic drama

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and directed by

Frank Borzage Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), ''A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), '' Man's ...

. The plot involves the impact of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

upon a farm girl (Gaynor) and a returning soldier (Farrell). The movie was produced by William Fox with cinematography by Chester A. Lyons and William Cooper Smith, and the supporting cast includes Paul Fix and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. In the previous two years, Borzage had also directed Gaynor in '' 7th Heaven'' and '' Street Angel'', two of the three films (along with

F.W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at th ...

's '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'') for which Gaynor won the first

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...

.''Lucky Star'' details
silentera.com; accessed August 10, 2015. The film was produced in two versions- a silent version for the foreign market, and a partly talking version with sound effects and some dialogue for American release. Both versions were thought lost until the silent film was rediscovered in the archives of the Dutch Filmmuseum in the late 1980s and subsequently restored. The talking version of the film remains lost.

Plot

Timothy Osborn (Farrell) and Martin Wrenn (Williams) work as linemen for a utility in a rural area. Both flirt with Mary Tucker (Gaynor) who is the daughter of a widowed dairy farmer, As the film begins it is 1917, and America becomes involved in

. Both men join the U.S. Army. While on the battlefield, Wrenn and Osborn serve in the same unit, and Wrenn is a sergeant. Ordered to deliver food to men at the front, Wrenn instead purloins the truck that was to be used for the delivery for personal use, and Osborn uses a horse-drawn wagon to deliver the food. While going to the front he is injured by shellfire. Both men return home, and Osborn now uses a wheelchair. He and Wrenn vie for Mary's affection. She becomes attached to Osborn and visits him every day. Wrenn, who had been kicked out of the Army, uses money and guile to win over Mary's mother, who pressures her to marry Wrenn. She stops seeing Osborn and agrees to marry Wrenn. In the end, Osborn regains some use of his legs, walks through snow to confront Wrenn just before he is about to wed Mary. Townspeople intervene in their fight and put Wrenn on a train out of town. Osborn reunites with Mary.

Cast

* Janet Gaynor as Mary Tucker * Charles Farrell as Timothy Osborn * Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Martin Wrenn * Paul Fix as Joe *

Hedwiga Reicher Hedwiga Reicher (Born Hedwig Reicher; 12 June 1884 – 2 September 1971) was a German actress. Her performances on Broadway were credited with the original spelling of her first name. Reicher was christened Hedwig, but she altered the spelling ...

as Mrs. Tucker

References

External links

* * 1929 films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Frank Borzage American romantic drama films Fox Film films 1929 romantic drama films Films produced by William Fox Films with screenplays by Sonya Levien 1920s English-language films 1920s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent American drama films {{1920s-romantic-drama-film-stub