''The Prude's Fall'' is a 1925 British 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

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 Jane Novak, Julanne Johnston, and Warwick Ward. The film was shot at Islington Studios, produced by a company that would soon develop into

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, east London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The co ...

. It was an adaptation of a play by Rudolph Besier and May Edington with the screenplay written by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

. Its German title is ''Seine zweite Frau''. It was also known by the alternative title of ''Dangerous Virtue''.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Beatrice Audley breaks her engagement with Captain le Briquet and he marries her acquaintance Sonia Roubetsky. Sonia and her friend Laura Westonry previously had admitted to Beatrice that they were both women with a "past." Fearing to spoil their happiness, Sonia withholds Sonia's confession of her past from the Captain. When he learns of this, he believes Beatrice did this to wreck his life. Sonia commits suicide and the Captain devises an unpleasant revenge scheme against the woman he believes tricked him. The Captain goes about his plan of making Beatrice love him, which comes to the point where she is ready to give herself to the man she loves when he suggests an arrangement omitting the marriage ceremony. His plan then is to afterwards cast her off. However, he discovers that Beatrice had acted in a spirit of sacrifice, and the Captain and Beatrice have a wedding.

Cast

* Jane Novak as Beatrice Audley * Julanne Johnston as Sonia Roubetsky * Warwick Ward as Andre le Briquet *

Hugh Miller Hugh Miller (10 October 1802 – 23/24 December 1856) was a Scottish geologist, writer and folklorist. Life and work Miller was born in Cromarty, the first of three children of Harriet Wright (''bap''. 1780, ''d''. 1863) and Hugh Miller ...

as Marquis de Rocqueville *

Gladys Jennings Gladys Jennings (5 August 1903 – October 1994) was an English actress. Selected filmography * ''The Lady Clare (1919 film), The Lady Clare'' (1919) * ''The Face at the Window (1920 film), The Face at the Window'' (1920) * ''The Shuttle of Lif ...

as Laura Westonry *

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor, writer, director and producer in the post-war period of early British cinema during the 1920s to mid-1930s, as well as a playwright an ...

as Sir Neville Moreton * Henry Vibart as Dean Carey * Marie Ault as Mrs Masters ''uncredited'' *

Betty Compson Betty Compson (born Eleanor Luicime Compson; March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in ''The Docks of New York'' and '' ...

Reception

It was not very well regarded. Iris Barry's review in the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' ran as follows: "An English picture, not of first-rate quality, but with an interesting cast."''Daily Mail'', 23 November 1925, p. 6. A review in the American ''Film Daily'' complained that "the story has been put together in a haphazard fashion with the various sequences happening along in a disjointed manner that fails to keep the interest centered in any one character or situation."

References

Bibliography

* Chapman, Gary. ''London's Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years''. Edditt, 2014. * Maurice Yacowar & Barry Keith Grant. ''Hitchcock's British Films''. Wayne State University Press, 2010.

External links

* * 1925 films 1925 drama films British films based on plays Films directed by Graham Cutts Islington Studios films British silent feature films Gainsborough Pictures films British black-and-white films 1920s English-language films 1920s British films Silent British drama films {{1920s-UK-film-stub