A Romance of the Redwoods
About A Romance of the Redwoods
After her mother dies in New England, Jenny Lawrence is sent to her uncle John, who left for the California gold fields of 1849. He has been killed. Road agent "Black" Brown, running from a posse, takes the dead man's papers and settles in Strawberry Flats as John Lawrence, still robbing stages on the side. Jenny arrives, finds the cabin, and is told this man is her uncle. She discovers a mask with eyeholes and connects him to a robbery that leaves miner Dick Roland dead. Brown says he loves her and promises to return the gold and go straight. He cannot stick to mining, holds up the stage she is riding, and she wounds his hand before she knows who he is. The vigilance committee comes to hang him from the cabin rafters. Jenny shows them a scrap of white cloth from a doll's dress. They spare him if he marries her on the spot. After the couple leave, the men find the half-dressed doll and see the trick. Jim Lyn holds them back.
Cast & crew
More about A Romance of the Redwoods
Cecil B. DeMille directed, produced, and edited. He and Jeanie Macpherson wrote it. Alvin Wyckoff photographed. Wilfred Buckland was art director. Cullen Tate was assistant director. Paramount released it on May 14, 1917. Mary Pickford plays Jenny. Elliott Dexter plays "Black" Brown. Charles Ogle plays Jim Lyn, Walter Long the sheriff, and Winter Hall the real John Lawrence.
Themes
Background
The story is set in the gold rush of 1849 and was filmed in 1917, with a vigilance committee and a road agent standing in for the law.
Making
DeMille took the company into the California redwoods for the camp and the stage road, with Buckland dressing Strawberry Flats as a '49 mining town.
Look
Alvin Wyckoff shot the redwood locations and the cabin interiors, including the hanging that the vigilance men set up under the rafters.
Preservation
The George Eastman Museum holds a complete 35mm print.
Notes
- Tully Marshall plays Sam Sparks and Raymond Hatton plays Dick Roland.
- Jenny leaves a pair of carpet slippers and a card, "With love, from Jenny," on the mantel before she knows who lives in the cabin.
- She shoots the masked man on the stagecoach and only then sees that it is Brown.
- The George Eastman Museum in Rochester holds a complete 35mm print.
- Internet Archive has a copy as RomanceOfTheRedwoods.
Scenes
- Brown tells Jenny her uncle is dead and that he is John Lawrence now.
- She fires at the stage robber and wounds the man she has been living with.
- A doll's dress fools the vigilance committee into a wedding instead of a hanging.
Also available
- Internet Archive (RomanceOfTheRedwoods)
Quotes
Boys, I reckon when 20 men have been fooled by one woman, they better take their medicine.
