Scarlet Days (1919)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writer:

Stanner E.V. Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1919 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | Western

Plot:

A romantic bandit named Alvarez, wanted for raids on the mining camps of the California gold rush in 1849, is reformed by the love of a good woman.

Plot Keywords:

Bandit | Mine | Outlaw

Cast

Richard Barthelmess	...	Alvarez
Eugenie Besserer	...	Rosie Nell
Carol Dempster	...	Lady Fair
Clarine Seymour	...	Chiquita
Ralph Graves	...	Randolph
George Fawcett	...	The Sheriff
Walter Long	...	King Bagley
Kate Bruce	...	The Aunt
Rhea Haines	...	Spasm Sal
Adolph Lestina	...	Randolph's friend
Herbert Sutch	...	The Second Sheriff
J. Wesley Warner	...	Alvarez's Man

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Tuolumne, California, USA

Company:

D.W. Griffith Productions

Good Actors

Richard Barthelmess (Rudolph Valentino almost got the part) plays Alvarez, a local "Robin Hood" type who's wanted by the law. Ralph Graves plays a dude from Virginia seeking his fortune. They be come unlikely allies when a local saloon gal Rosy Nell (Eugenie Besserer) is robbed of her gold by a characters named Spasm Sal. The gold has been saved so that she can meet her daughter (Carol Dempster) who has been raised in a boarding school in Boston. Just as the daughter arrives Rosy Nell catches Spasm Sal stealing her gold. The woman dies.

The owner of the saloon Bagley (Walter Long) immediately lusts for Dempster as she gets off the stage. As a favor he allows Rosy Nell to have a few days before her hanging. Of course he also has gotten hold of the gold.

Into the mix is a little Mexican spitfire type (Clarine Seymour, looking a lot like Clara Bow) who loves Alvarez. They end up hiding in a cabin when Bagley and his men attack. It seems Alvarez has gotten the gold back. In a wild shootout, Graves and Barthelmess (rivals for Dempster) team up against Bagley and his men.

I suppose the basic story could have been placed anywhere, but the old west theme gives Griffith and cameraman Billy Bitzer some great locales for scenic shooting. Pacing and editing is, as always, top notch.

Barthelmess (almost unrecognizable) and Graves are very good as the male leads. Graves is only 19 here, having broken into films the year before. This was his first big role. Long and Seymour (who would die in 1920) are good with their stereotypical roles. Dempster seems kind of gangly here but is OK with the "heroine" role.

But taking the acting honors is Besserer. Best remembered as Al Jolson's mother in THE JAZZ SINGER she is terrific as the strutting saloon queen (and unrecognizable) and effective as the loving mother.