Pegeen (film)

Pegeen
Still with Bessie Love and Charles Spere
Directed by	David Smith
Based on	Pegeen (novel) by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Starring	Bessie Love
Cinematography	Charles R. Seeling
Production company	Vitagraph
Release date	January 1920
Running time	5 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Pegeen is a 1920 American silent drama film based on the 1915 novel of the same name by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd that was directed by David Smith. It stars Bessie Love in the title role. It is not known whether the film currently survives.

Recently widowed Danny O'Neil (Stanley) has the belief that his wife will return to him by way of fire, and sets fire to buildings around town in hope that she will return to him. For her safety, his daughter Pegeen (Love) is sent to live with neighbor. When her father is to be arrested, Pegeen's friend Ezra (McGuire) helps hide her father, who dies shortly thereafter.

Reviews for the film were mixed. Its "worst criticism" is that "it is not a thriller, nor a spectacle. Neither is it a heavy digest of a weighty social or economic problem. It is just a simple story of every day people, told in simple, direct continuity, intelligently and coherently."

Scenes involving a hanging and a shoot-out were recommended for removal when showing the film to family audiences.