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Society Secrets

{{short description|1921 film directed by Leo McCarey}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Society Secrets

| image = File:Society Secrets.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| director = Leo McCarey

| producer = Carl Laemmle

| writer =

| screenplay = Douglas Doty (scenario)

| story = Helen Christine Bennett

| based_on =

| starring = Eva Novak
Gertrude Claire
George Verrell

| narrator =

| music =

| cinematography = William E. Fildew

| editing =

| studio = Universal Film Manufacturing Co.

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1921|2||US|ref1={{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/12254 | title=Society Secrets | publisher=American Film Institute | accessdate=December 15, 2019}}}}

| runtime = 5 reels

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Society Secrets is a 1921 American silent satire film, directed by Leo McCarey. It stars Eva Novak, Gertrude Claire, and George Verrell, and was released in February 1921. It marked McCarey's directorial debut. McCarey didn't make a further feature film for eight years as he concentrated on writing and directing shorts.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296Silver, 2010: “McCarey became a full-time director and writer of Hal Roach shorts by 1924.”

Plot

No record of the scenario for Society Secrets to date has been discovered. Biographers Gary Hooper and Leland Poague report that “nothing beyond the production credits has survived” with respect to this lost film.Hooper and Poague, 1980 p. 296 The American Film Institute, however, characterizes the Society Secrets as a “satire,” but provides no plot summary.

Cast

Background

McCarey, age 20, was hired by Universal Studios in 1918 after studying law at the University of California. Silver, 2010: “McCarey entered the film industry at the tender age of twenty...” Working in “menial” jobs at Universal, he was assigned to work serve as an assistant to director Tod Browning, learning “the techniques of film directing and scenario construction.”Harrill, 2002Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296 After completing his apprenticeship on pictures including The Virgin of Stamboul (1920) and Outside the Law (1921), McCarey was permitted to direct his first film: Society Secrets.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296

Reception

Biographers Gary Hooper and Leland Poague write:

{{Blockquote | It may be the case that the film was so bad (as McCarey admits) that it was never put into general release; if it was, it wasn’t considered worthy enough to generate any response in The New York Times...Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296}}

Footnotes

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • Harrill, Paul. 2002. Leo McCarey. Senses of Cinema, Great Directors Issue 23, December, 2002 https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/mccarey/ Retrieved 03 April, 2024.
  • Hooper, Gary and Poague, Leland. 1980. Leo McCarey Filmography, in The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. pp. 295-314 {{ISBN|0-498-02181-5}}
  • Poague, Leland. 1980. The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. {{ISBN|0498-02181-5}}
  • Silver, Charles. 2012. "A Leo McCarey Program." Inside/Out: Moma, October 5, 2010. https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/10/05/a-leo-mccarey-program/ Retrieved 06 April, 2024.

External links

  • {{IMDb title|0012708}}
  • {{Tcmdb title|499667}}
  • {{AFI film|12254}}

{{Leo McCarey}}

Category:American satirical films

Category:Universal Pictures films

Category:Films directed by Leo McCarey

Category:American silent feature films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:1921 comedy films

Category:1921 films

Category:1920s American films

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