Scarlet Days | |
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Film poster
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Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
Produced by | D. W. Griffith |
Written by | Stanner E. V. Taylor (original story, scenario) |
Starring |
Richard Barthelmess Clarine Seymour |
Cinematography | G. W. Bitzer |
Edited by | James Smith |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures/Artcraft |
Release date
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Running time
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7 reels (6,916 feet) |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Scarlet Days is a 1919 American silent western film produced and directed by D. W. Griffith and released through Paramount/Artcraft Pictures, Artcraft being an affiliate of Paramount. Richard Barthelmess stars in a role for which Griffith had screentested Rudolph Valentino. It is considered by many to be one of Griffith's worst films.
Considered a lost film, it was found in the State Film Archives of the Soviet Union, which donated it to the Museum of Modern Art.
As described in a film magazine, Rosie Nell (Besserer), a woman of dance halls in early lawless California, is wrongly charged with the murder of one of her fellow entertainers. Because her daughter (Dempster), who knows nothing of her mother's station in life, is to return the next day from her school in the east, Rosie is granted three days of grace to be spent in company with her daughter at a nearby cabin. The three days pass happily, but King Bagley (Long), manager of the dance hall, has seen the daughter and determined to make her his own. The women barricade themselves in the cabin to resist capture and Alvarez (Barthelmess), a young outlaw with considerable local prestige, comes to their assistance. John Randolph (Graves), who also loves the young woman, joins the fight on their side, which ends with the timely arrival of the Sheriff (Fawcett). This results in a happy ending.