Peter Pan (1924)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Herbert Brenon

Writers:

J.M. Barrie (play)
Willis Goldbeck (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 December 1924 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Family

Plot:

Peter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads them off to Never Never Land, where they meet the nefarious Captain Hook.

Plot Keywords:

Children | Peter Pan | Pirate | Nursery | Pirate Ship

Awards:

1 win

Cast

George Ali	...	Nana the Dog
Esther Ralston	...	Mrs. Darling
Cyril Chadwick	...	Mr. Darling
Mary Brian	...	Wendy Moira Angela Darling
Jack Murphy	...	John Napoleon Darling
Philippe De Lacy	...	Michael Nicholas Darling (as Philippe deLacy)
Virginia Brown Faire	...	Tinker Bell (as Virginia Browne Faire)
Betty Bronson	...	Peter Pan
Anna May Wong	...	Tiger Lily
Maurice Murphy	...	Tootles
Mickey McBan	...	Slightly
George Crane Jr.	...	Curly
Winston Doty	...	First Twin
Weston Doty	...	Second Twin
Terence McMillan	...	Nibs

Runtime:

105 min | Spain:101 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA

Company:

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation

Trivia:

Nearly all of the intertitles are taken directly from J.M. Barrie's dialogue for the play.

Quotes:

[first title card]
Title Card: A NOTE / On the Acting of a Fairy Play / The difference between a Fairy Play and a realistic one is that in the former all the characters are really children with a child's outlook on life. This applies to the so-called adults of the story as well as the young people. Pull the beard off the fairy king, and you would find the face of a child.
Title Card: This, then, is the spirit of the play. And it is necessary that all of you ~ no matter what age you may have individually attained ~ should be children. PETER PAN will laughingly blow the fairy dust in your eyes and presto! You'll all be back in the nursery, and once more you'll believe in fairies, and the play moves on. / J.M. Barrie

Movie Connections:

Featured in You Can Fly!: The Making of Walt Disney's Masterpiece 'Peter Pan' (1997) (V)

Very little to complain about ...

Having just watched PETER PAN I must say I was very impressed: The quality of this print was just gorgeous!! The idea of giving it a sepia tone was inspired, since it "antiqued" the film just right.

My only complaint with this film (as it is with so many other silents): please run the film at the correct speed. It is running about 20% faster than it should. The labs that convert these films to video have the equipment to do this properly. Running the film too fast spoils the rhythm of the action, and can ruin scenes because of the increase in speed of the action. Apparently not too many people care about this fast action, or the labs would correct this. Well, one can only hope.