Maytime (1923 film)

Maytime
Clara Bow and Ethel Shannon
Directed by	Louis J. Gasnier
Produced by	B. P. Schulberg
Written by	Cyrus Wood (play) Rida Johnson Young (play) Olga Printzlau (adaptation) Rudolf Bernauer Rudolf Schanzer
Starring	Ethel Shannon Harrison Ford William Norris
Production company	B.P. Schulberg Productions
Distributed by	Preferred Pictures Corporation
Release date	November 16, 1923 (1923-11-16)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent

Maytime is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Ethel Shannon, Harrison Ford and William Norris. The film also features one of Clara Bow's earliest cinema roles. The film is based on the play of the same name by Cyrus Wood and Rida Johnson Young, and was remade in 1937 with the same title.

Ottilie Van Zandt is forced to wed her cousin, despite her love for Richard Wayne, the gardener's son. Richard leaves, vowing to return a wealthy man and eligible suitor for her. He returns to find she has already married and, in turn, marries another girl on impulse. Two generations later, the grandchildren of Ottilie and Richard, who both have inherited their names as well, meet and develop a close friendship that culminates in the romance that their grandparents began but could not consummate years before.

Once considered to be a lost film, an incomplete print of the film was found in 2009 in the New Zealand Film Archive and underwent restoration. Four out the original seven reels had survived. A video of the preserved film is available for viewing at the website of the National Film Preservation Foundation.