''The White Shadow'', also known as ''White Shadows'' in the United States, is a 1923 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Graham Cutts John Henry Graham Cutts (1884 – 7 February 1958), known as Graham Cutts, was a British film director, one of the leading British directors in the 1920s. His fellow director A. V. Bramble believed that Gainsborough Pictures had been built ...

and starring Betty Compson,

Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English film actor. After making his first screen appearance in 1920, Brook emerged as a leading British actor in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States ...

, and

Henry Victor Henry Victor (2 October 1892 – 15 March 1945) was an English-born character actor who had his highest profile in the film silent era, he appeared in numerous film roles in Britain, before emigrating to the US in 1939 where he continued ...

Plot

The plot concerns twin sisters, one who is modest and socially conservative, the other a free spirit who cannot bear the constrictions of a traditional life. Their father's unhappiness over his bohemian daughter's lifestyle leads him to drink and dissolution. The sisters end up having the same man, Robin, in love with them, without him realizing they are two different people. The extant film ends at a most critical juncture, at which both sisters, Robin, and the father meet at a Paris boîte and are about to realize who each other is. There are several multiple exposures when the two sisters, both played by Betty Compson, are on screen at once.

Cast

* Betty Compson as Nancy Brent / Georgina Brent *

as Robin Field *

as Louis Chadwick * A. B. Imeson as Mr. Brent *

Olaf Hytten Olaf Hytten (3 March 1888 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1955. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, while sitting in his car ...

as Herbert Barnes *

Daisy Campbell Daisy Campbell was a British film actress of the silent era. At the beginning of her career was popular on the London stage. Noted for playing aristocratic white-haired ladies and duchesses. Appeared in more than 20 British silent films. Mad ...

as Elizabeth Brent

Production

The film is based on the unpublished novel ''Children of Chance'' by Michael Morton. Alfred Hitchcock collaborated with Cutts on the film. Cutts and Hitchcock made the film quickly, as they wanted to make use of Betty Compson, who had appeared in their hit '' Woman to Woman'' (also 1923), before she returned to the United States. The film was made at the ''Balcon, Freedman and Saville'' studio in

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Writing about the film in 1969, producer

Michael Balcon Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British fil ...

said:

"Engrossed in our first production 'Woman to Woman'' we had made no preparations for the second. Caught on the hop, we rushed into production with a story called ''The White Shadow''. It was as big a flop as ''Woman to Woman'' had been a success."

Preservation status

Long thought to have been a completely

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

, a New Zealand projectionist, Jack Murtagh, had salvaged some of the film. In 1989, Tony Osborne, Murtagh's grandson, donated the tinted nitrate prints, and other film cans to the

New Zealand Film Archive The New Zealand Film Archive was established in 1981. On 1 August 2014 the archive was amalgamated with Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero and the Television New Zealand Archive to form Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. 2009 lost film recovery In earl ...

. On 3 August 2011, the

announced that the film "turned up among a cache of unidentified American nitrate prints held in the archive for the last 23 years". One film can was mislabeled ''Two Sisters,'' while the other simply stated ''Unidentified American Film.'' Only later were they identified. In 2012, ''The White Shadow'' was preserved by Park Road Post Production, Wellington, New Zealand, with support from the

and the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

. In 2013, it was released on a 198-minute

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

by the

National Film Preservation Foundation The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began op ...

, with six other films and seven

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ...

Further viewing

Bibliography

Rachael Low Rachael Low (6 July 1923 – 14 December 2014) was a British film historian, best known as the author of the seven-volume ''The History of the British Film''. The daughter of the cartoonist Sir David Low,Richards, Jeffrey. "Introduction" to Low ...

: ''The History of British Film: Volume IV, 1918–1929'' (Routledge, 1997)

References

External links

* * * *
''The White Shadow''
at SilentEra
''The White Shadow''
at Brenton film * {{DEFAULTSORT:White Shadow 1923 films 1923 drama films British black-and-white films Films directed by Graham Cutts British silent feature films British films based on plays Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock British drama films 1920s rediscovered films Films produced by Victor Saville Films about twin sisters Rediscovered British films Films shot in London 1920s British films Silent drama films