Hidden Way

Three men recently released from prison - Bill, Harry, and Mulligan - debate whether or not they truly want to go straight. Before they can come to a decision, a girl goes roaring by on an out-of-control horse. After the men save her life, the girl takes them home to meet her elderly mother. Mulligan, the con artist of the trio, discovers a natural spring on the old woman’s property. He suggests selling the water from the spring as a “restorative tonic.” Soon “The Nu-Life Water Company” is in business - but to everyone’s surprise, the water actually does have restorative qualities, and the first people it starts affecting are the three formerly hardened criminals who suddenly find their hearts filled with compassion where once there was none…

The Hidden Way is an extremely rare silent feature intended for audiences in rural areas that most likely got a very limited release back in 1926. It may be the only complete extant film written by groundbreaking female screenwriter Ida May Park. She wrote nearly 50 films between 1914 and 1930, in addition to directing 14 between 1917 and 1920, mostly at Universal. She often worked with her husband, director Joseph De Grasse, best known for the lyrical Charles Ray film The Old Swimmin’ Hole (1921) which was unique for an American silent picture in that it employed no intertitles. Actor Ned Sparks would become beloved in the sound era for his fast-talking, sarcastic characters, appearing in classics such as Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street (both 1933) and Imitation of Life (1934). He also provided the voices of Terrytoons’ Heckle and Jeckle. Tom Santschi is best known for his knock down, drag-out fight with Willian Farnum in the Western classic The Spoilers (1914), widely considered by film historians to be one of the greatest movie fights of all time (Farnum really broke Santschi’s nose!) (1926)

Upplagd i sortimentet: 26 december, 2024