The Village Blacksmith (1922 film)
{{short description|1922 film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Village Blacksmith
| image = The Village Blacksmith FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = Film poster
| director = John Ford
| producer = William Fox
| writer = Paul Sloane{{harvnb| Davis |1997|p=346}}
| based_on = {{based on|"The Village Blacksmith"|Henry Wadsworth Longfellow}}
| starring = Will Walling
Virginia True Boardman
| cinematography = George Schneiderman{{cite book |last=Love |first=Bessie |year=1977 |title=From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love |location=London |publisher=Elm Tree Books |oclc=734075937 |page=151}}
| studio = Fox Film Corporation
| distributor = Fox Film Corporation
| released = {{film date|1922|11|2|New York|ref1={{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily2122newy|journal=The Film Daily|date=October 25, 1922|page=[https://archive.org/details/filmdaily2122newy/page/n557 2]|title='Village Blacksmith' Premiere Nov 2|volume=22|issue=24}}}}
| runtime = 8 reels (approx. 80 mins)
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
}}
The Village Blacksmith is a 1922 American silent melodrama film directed by John Ford and produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. One of the eight reels survives at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and therefore the film is considered to be lost.{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/V/VillageBlacksmith1922-2.html |title=Progressive Silent Film List: The Village Blacksmith |access-date=March 2, 2008|website=Silent Era|last=Bennett|first=Carl|date=May 28, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.3100/default.html |title=The Village Blacksmith |access-date=January 10, 2014 |work=American Silent Feature Film Survival Database}} It was loosely adapted from the poem of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Plot
File:The-village-blacksmith-lobbycard-1922.jpeg
As young men, the squire (Marshall) and the village blacksmith (Walling) are in love with the same woman (Boardman), whom the blacksmith marries. This angers the squire. Years later, the squire's son Anson (Yearsley) dares the blacksmith's son Johnnie (Hackathorne) to climb a tree, from which he falls and is crippled.
As adults, Anson and the blacksmith's daughter Alice (Valli) fall in love, which angers the blacksmith, who chastises his daughter. The blacksmith's other son Bill (Butler) returns from college and is injured in a train accident. Anson steals $840 from a church fund which is currently in Alice's possession. Alice is struck by lightning. The blacksmith take Anson and the squire to church where they both repent.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily2122newy|journal=The Film Daily|date=November 12, 1922|page=[https://archive.org/details/filmdaily2122newy/page/n330 5]|title='The Village Blacksmith'—A Picture of Sobs and Suffering|volume=22|issue=42}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew26novd|journal=Motion Picture News|date=November 18, 1922|page=[https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew26novd/page/n356 2549]|title=Reviews of the Latest Features|first=Laurence|last=Reid}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd|journal=Moving Picture World|date=November 18, 1922|pages=[https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd/page/267 267]–8|title=Newest Reviews and Comments|last=Sewell|first=Charles S.|volume=59|issue=3}}
Cast
File:William Walling in The Village Blacksmith.jpg
{{castlist|
- William Walling as John Hammond, Blacksmith
- Virginia True Boardman as Mrs. John Hammond
- Virginia Valli as Alice Hammond, the Daughter
- Ida Mae McKenzie as Alice as a Child
- David Butler as Bill Hammond, the Son
- Gordon Griffith as Bill as a Child
- George Hackathorne as Johnnie Hammond, Another Son
- Pat Moore as Johnnie as a Child
- Tully Marshall as Ezra Brigham, the Squire
- Ralph Yearsley as Anson Brigham, the Son
- Henri De La Garrique as Anson as a Child
- Francis Ford as Asa Martin
- Bessie Love as Rosemary Martin, the Daughter
- Helen Field as Rosemary as a Child
- Lon Poff as Gideon Crane
- Mark Fenton as Dr. Brewster
- Cordelia Callahan as Aunt Hattie
- Caroline Rankin as Squire's Wife
- Eddie Gribbon as The Village Gossip
- Lucille Hutton as The Flapper from the City
}}
Reception
The film was well received by audiences{{harvnb| Davis |1997|p=48}} and by reviewers alike.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald17exhi|date=October 27, 1923|page=[https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald17exhi/page/n86 65]|journal=Exhibitors Herald|title=What the Picture Did for Me|volume=17|issue=18}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor66feb|journal=Moving Picture World|date=February 23, 1924|page=[https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor66feb/page/663 663]|title=Straight from the Shoulder Reports|last=Van Buren Powell|first=A.|volume=66|issue=8}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd|title=Consensus of Published Reviews|page=[https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd/page/570 570]|journal=Moving Picture World|date=December 9, 1922|volume=59|issue=6}} The photography was highly praised.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd|title='Village Blacksmith' Has Prominent Cast|journal=Moving Picture World|page=[https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor59novd/page/420 420]|date=December 2, 1922|volume=59|issue=5}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor66feb|journal=Moving Picture World|date=February 9, 1924|page=[https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor66feb/page/493 493]|title=Straight from the Shoulder Reports|last=Van Buren Powell|first=A.|volume=66|issue=6}}
References
;Citations
{{Reflist}}
;Works cited
- {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780806129167 |title=John Ford: Hollywood's Old Master|date=1997|last= Davis|first=Ronald L.|isbn=978-0-8061-2916-7 |location=Norman, OK|publisher=University of Oklahoma}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0013735}}
- {{AFI film|13027}}
{{John Ford}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Village Blacksmith (1922 film), The}}
Category:Silent American drama films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films based on works by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Category:Films directed by John Ford
Category:Lost American drama films