''Shadows of Paris'' is a 1924 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

Herbert Brenon Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of Silent film, silent films through 1940. Brenon was among the e ...

and starring

Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienn ...

Charles de Rochefort Charles d'Authier de Rochefort (7 July 1887 – 31 January 1952) was a French film actor, principally of the silent film, silent era. He appeared in 34 films between 1911 and 1932. He also directed seven films between 1930 and 1931. Early ...

, and

Huntley Gordon Huntley Ashworth Gordon (October 8, 1879 – December 7, 1956) was a Canadian actor who began his career in the Silent Film era. Profile Gordon was born in Montreal, Quebec, and educated in both Canada and England. He had various jobs includi ...

. The screenplay involves a young woman who rises from an apache dancer to become a wealthy woman in post-

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It was based on the play ''Mon Homme'' by

Francis Carco Francis Carco (born François Carcopino-Tusoli) (3 July 1886 – 26 May 1958) was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the ''Fantaisiste'' school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for ''L'Homme libre ...

and André Picard. Shadows of Paris lobby card

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Paris in 1918 knows Claire only as "The Blackbird," the Queen of the

Apaches The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

. Her lover Fernand is reported killed at the front during the War. She then masquerades as a society woman and becomes the wife of Raoul Grammont, the Minister of the Interior, but occasionally visits her old haunts in disguise. Fernand reappears as an Apache leader and they meet again. After several adventures, Claire comes to see that Fernand is only a monster of greed, and that her affections belong only to the man who made her an honorable wife. Fernand is shot and killed by her husband's secretary, Georges de Croy. Although he knows the truth about Claire and Fernand, he tells Raoul only that he shot a burglar. Claire then confesses all to her husband and is forgiven.

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of ''Shadows of Paris'' located in any film archives, it is a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

. Only a minute of footage survives in the Paramount compilation short ''Fashions in Love'' (1936).Internet Movie Database; trivia
Retrieved December 19, 2014

References

Bibliography

* Basinger, Jeanine. ''Silent Stars''. Wesleyan University Press, 2000.

External links

*
Lobby poster
1924 films 1924 drama films Silent American drama films 1920s English-language films Films directed by Herbert Brenon American silent feature films Films set in Paris Films with screenplays by Frederick J. Jackson American films based on plays American black-and-white films Lost American drama films 1924 lost films English-language drama films 1920s American films Lost silent American films {{1920s-silent-drama-film-stub