''My Old Dutch'' is a 1926 American silent

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Laurence Trimble Laurence Norwood Trimble (February 15, 1885 – February 8, 1954) was an American silent film film director, director, screenwriter, writer and actor. Trimble began his film career directing Jean (dog), Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, the first canine ...

and starring

May McAvoy May Irene McAvoy (September 8, 1899 – April 26, 1984) was an American actress who worked mainly during the silent-film era. Some of her major roles are Laura Pennington in '' The Enchanted Cottage'', Esther in '' Ben-Hur'', and Mary Dale ...

and Pat O'Malley. It was produced and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. Trimble had directed a 1915 British version of ''My Old Dutch'' that was also released by Universal.

Plot

As described in a film magazine,

costermonger A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''Costard (apple), costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to des ...

Joe Brown of London marries Sal Gratton and, after they have a son Herbert, they come into some money and decide to make a gentleman of their son. The son grows up under the supervision of a private school faculty, never knowing of the lowly station of his parents. Reaching manhood, he loses his fortune gambling. His parents are sent to a

poorhouse A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...

. They comfort each other and keep faith in their son's eventual return, which is realized when he returns after the war to care for his parents to the end of their days.

Cast

Production

Director

initiated a remake of his own 1915 British version of ''My Old Dutch'' to feature its star,

Florence Turner Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by h ...

. Actor James Morrison remembered Trimble telling him that Turner wished to get back into films, and asking him to help in a screen test that he could show to

. "He got a little company together—the people who were in it worked for nothing, because we loved Flotie—and we did scenes from ''My Old Dutch''," Morrison recalled. Universal approved the project but cast

, not Turner, in the starring role.

Preservation

A print of ''My Old Dutch'' is held in the collection of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

.The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''My Old Dutch''
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References

External links

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Lobby poster
1926 films American silent feature films Films directed by Laurence Trimble Universal Pictures films American films based on plays 1926 romantic drama films American black-and-white films Films set in London American remakes of British films 1920s American films Silent American romantic drama films {{silent-romantic-drama-film-stub