Irene (1926 film)
{{short description|1926 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Irene
| image = Irene ad in The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1926 (page 314 crop).jpg
| caption = Trade advertisement
| director = Alfred E. Green
| producer = John McCormick
| writer = June Mathis
Rex Taylor
George Marion, Jr. (titles)
| based_on = {{basedon|Irene|James Montgomery}}
| narrator =
| starring = Colleen Moore
Lloyd Hughes
George K. Arthur
| music = Harry Tierney
Joseph McCarthy
| cinematography = Ted D. McCord
| editing = Edwin Robbins
| distributor = First National Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1926|02|21|U.S.}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
| budget = $1,500,000Dutch film magazine Het Weekblad: Cinema & Theater No. 145
}}
Irene is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film starring Colleen Moore, and partially shot in Technicolor. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green, produced by Moore's husband John McCormick, and based on the musical Irene written by James Montgomery with music and lyrics by Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review,{{Citation |last=Elliott |first=Frank |author-link= |title=Pre-Release Review of Features: Irene |journal=Motion Picture News |volume=33 |issue=9 |pages=1014 |date=27 February 1926 |publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc. |location=New York City, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpic33moti/page/n1025/mode/1up |access-date=26 March 2023}} {{Source-attribution}} Donald Marshall becomes a partner in a modiste shop and insists that Madame Lucy be made its operator. Young Irish woman Irene O'Dare graduates from being a demonstrator in the store window to being a successful model. On the night of a big fashion show for society, Irene arouses Lucy's anger and is told to stay and watch the shop. Donald arrives and assures her that she will lead the show. Irene is a sensation, but her mother arrives and stops her promenade by taking her home. Donald follows and Irene is forgiven by her mother. Overhearing Irene confess to her mother of her love for him, Donald folds her into her arms.
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Colleen Moore as Irene O'Dare
- Lloyd Hughes as Donald Marshall
- George K. Arthur as Madame Lucy
- Maryon Aye as Helen Cheston
- Ida Darling as Mrs. Warren Marshall
- Edward Earle as Larry Hadley
- Bess Flowers as Jane Gilmour
- Betty Francisco as Cordelia Smith (uncredited)
- Cora Macey as Mrs. Gilmour
- Charles Murray as Pa O'Dare
- Eva Novak as Eleanor Hadley
- Kate Price as Ma O'Dare
- Laurence Wheat as Bob Harrison
- Lydia Yeamans Titus as Mrs. Cheston
}}
Production
The scenes which were shot in Technicolor cost a total amount of $100,000. The total budget of the film was $1,500,000.
This was the fourth of five films, in three years, with Moore and Hughes starring in the lead roles. They also appeared together in The Huntress (1923), Sally (1925), The Desert Flower (1925) and Ella Cinders (1926).{{cite web |title=All Visual Works with both Colleen Moore and Lloyd Hughes |work=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?roles=nm0601067,nm0400763&title_type=feature,tv_episode,video,tv_movie,tv_special,mini_series,documentary,game,short |access-date=November 18, 2020}}
This was the final film of actress Marion Aye, who started appearing on film in 1919 as one of the uncredited Sennett Bathing Beauties. She continued to work in vaudeville and committed suicide in 1951.[http://marionaye.blogspot.com/2015/11/marion-ayes-story.html Marion Aye] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117032832/http://marionaye.blogspot.com/2015/11/marion-ayes-story.html |date=November 17, 2015 }} at marionaye.blogspot.com
George K. Arthur plays a flamboyant gay man who works as a dressmaker named "Madame Lucy" and does not threaten the status quo despite making extravagant gestures.{{cite book |last=Russo |first=Vito |author-link=Vito Russo |title=The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies |publisher=Harper Collins |edition=Revised |date=1987 |location=New York City |pages=36–37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6YwSZlsyJMC |isbn=0-06-096132-5}} This characterization was also reviewed in the 1995 documentary film The Celluloid Closet.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016999/ IMDb entry]
Preservation
Irene exists with the Technicolor sequences intact.[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/I/Irene1926.html Progressive Silent Film List: Irene] at silentera.comCatalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, p. 90, c.1978 by the American Film Institute)
See also
References
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- Jeff Codori (2012), Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110804231956/http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4969-9 McFarland Publishing], (Print {{ISBN|978-0-7864-4969-9}}, EBook {{ISBN|978-0-7864-8899-5}}).
External links
{{commons category|Irene (1926 film)}}
- {{IMDb title|id=0016999|title=Irene}}
- [http://api.ning.com/files/iINqnIBAPQsAO8pOxtewN5IVUtpT0rFam4g13SpkAO9UJMhaHTRseEgJDzSbB54G9kV6O-UkO8vbmTXyDFWbyxn7P3M6wXuf/ColleenMooreIreneColorAd1copy.jpg Color lobby poster]
- [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/760/colleen-moore/photographs Stills of Colleen Moore (1900 - 1988)] at virtual-history.com
- {{Internet Archive film|irene-1926-technicolor-sequence-1920s-fashion-show-in-color-russian-print|Irene {{noitalic|Technicolor Sequence (fashion show)}}}} (from a Russian print)
{{Alfred E. Green}}
Category:1926 romantic comedy films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:American films based on plays
Category:First National Pictures films
Category:Silent films in color
Category:Films directed by Alfred E. Green
Category:Surviving American silent films
Category:Silent American romantic comedy films
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