''The Mating Call'' is a 1928 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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

about a soldier who returns home from

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, ...

to find his marriage has been annulled and his wife has remarried. The film was produced by

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...

for his Caddo Corporation, and was originally released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. It is based on the novel of the same name by Rex Beach.

Renée Adorée Renée Adorée (born Jeanne de la Fonte; 30 September 1898 – 5 October 1933) was a French stage and film actress who appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s. She is best known for portraying the role of Melisande, the love intere ...

has a brief nude scene in the film.

Plot

Leslie Hatton, a poor farmer, becomes a captain and a war hero in World War I. While on a leave, he secretly marries Rose, the "village belle", but he only has time for a few kisses and a hug before he has to return to the fighting. After the Armistice, Major Hatton comes home, only to be told by Marvin Swallow that his wife's parents have had their marriage

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

, as she was not of age. Rose married wealthy Lon Henderson and the couple went abroad. Les returns to farming. One day, the Hendersons return. Rose, disillusioned by Lon's repeated infidelity, throws herself at Les. He weakens and embraces her, but then Lon shows up. The two men struggle when Lon pulls out a gun. No one is hurt, and Les invents a French wife on her way to the farm so he will be left alone. He goes to

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 m ...

in search of a real wife. An official directs him to Catherine and her parents, poor would-be immigrants who are facing deportation. He offers to marry her in exchange for the family being allowed to settle in America. Her parents strongly oppose the bargain, but she accepts. That night, Catherine is prepared to share her bed with her husband, but sensing her resigned attitude, Les decides at the last minute to sleep alone in another room. They gradually fall in love. Meanwhile, Lon decides to break off his affair with young Jessie Peebles. When Marvin asks her to marry him, she asks for a little time to consider. Les later finds her lifeless body in a pond on his farm. Lon, a member of the local

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...

-like Order, insinuates that Les must have had something to do with Jessie's suicide. Les is taken at gunpoint to face vigilante justice. The head of the Order sends for Lon, but decides in his absence that the evidence is overwhelming, and Les is tied up and whipped. The men sent to fetch Lon find him dead in his office and Marvin hiding with a gun. They take him back to the Order meeting. He denies having killed Lon and produces Lon's love letters to Jessie, exonerating Les. The head of the Order rules that, even if Marvin did not kill Lon, he would have been justified to do so. One of his men stages it to look like suicide. (Judge Peebles, Jessie's father, is shown at home, unloading and cleaning his gun. One cartridge has been discharged.)

Cast

* Thomas Meighan as Leslie Hatton * Evelyn Brent as Rose Henderson *

as Catherine * Alan Roscoe as Lon Henderson * Gardner James as Marvin Swallow * Helen Foster as Jessie *Luke Cosgrove as Judge Peebles * Cyril Chadwick as Anderson * Will Walling * Delmer Daves *

Frederic Richard Sullivan Frederic Richard "Dickie" Sullivan (sometimes credited as "Frederick"; 18 July 1872 – 24 July 1937), was an English-born American film director and actor of the silent era. He directed 34 films between 1913 and 1923. He also appeared in 2 ...

Notes

Although the story takes place immediately after World War I (1918-1919), all of Evelyn Brent's and Helen Foster's clothes are strictly in the 1928 short skirt mode, completely out of place in the time frame of the story. The film does reflect, however, some of the societal issues following the war. During the war, women had greater freedom regarding employment and their role in society, and there was pressure after the end of the war for them to return to their pre-war status.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and

Fallbrook, California Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census. Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...

Reception

Adorée received positive reviews for her performance in ''The Mating Call'', even though it differed little from the wide-eyed "Euro-damsels" that were her trademark.

Preservation

This film, long thought to be lost, was discovered in the archives of

at the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

. ''The Mating Call'' was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

, in conjunction with UNLV, in 2016.

References

External links

* * *
''The Mating Call''
at Virtual History {{DEFAULTSORT:Mating Call, The American romantic drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films based on American novels Films directed by James Cruze Films based on works by Rex Beach Paramount Pictures films Films set on the United States home front during World War I Ku Klux Klan Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz Films produced by Howard Hughes 1920s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1928 romantic drama films 1920s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent war films Silent American drama films 1920s English-language films Films shot in San Diego Films set in San Diego Films shot in Los Angeles