Forbidden Fruit
“Gorgeously Extravagant Production of Modern Cinderella Story”
About Forbidden Fruit
Mary Maddock, a seamstress played by Agnes Ayres, supports her idle husband Steve. Mrs. Mallory asks her to sit in at a dinner so that Nelson Rogers will stay in town long enough to sign an oil deal. Gowned for the party, Mary draws a proposal from Nelson and still goes home to Steve. He throws a shoe at her bird and knocks the cage out the window. That night she finds him stealing Mrs. Mallory's jewels. Steve later tries to blackmail Nelson for $10,000 with the Mallorys' butler. The partner kills Steve in a fight over the money. Mary is free to marry Nelson.
Cast & crew
More about Forbidden Fruit
Cecil B. DeMille directed and produced this remake of his 1915 film The Golden Chance. Jeanie MacPherson wrote the screenplay. Alvin Wyckoff and Karl Struss photographed it. Anne Bauchens edited it. Hugo Riesenfeld wrote the music. Paramount released it on January 23, 1921. Handschiegl color was used on the introduction, the credits, and the close.
Themes
Making
DeMille remade his own 1915 picture and had the Handschiegl process tint the titles and the opening and closing.
Look
Alvin Wyckoff and Karl Struss photographed it. Handschiegl color inserts color the opening, the credits, and the close.
Technique
Handschiegl color is used on the introduction, the credit titles, and the ending.
Music
Hugo Riesenfeld wrote the score.
Preservation
Prints are held by the George Eastman Museum, the Library of Congress (35mm), the Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and Gosfilmofond.
Notes
- Clarence Burton plays Steve Maddock. Kathlyn Williams plays Mrs. Mallory. Theodore Roberts plays James Harrington Mallory. Forrest Stanley plays Nelson Rogers.
- Theodore Kosloff plays Pietro Giuseppe. Julia Faye plays a maid. William Boyd is uncredited.
- It repeats the plot of The Golden Chance, which DeMille had directed six years earlier.
Scenes
- Steve throws a shoe, and Mary's birdcage goes out the window.
- Mary wakes to find her husband stealing Mrs. Mallory's jewels.
Influenced by
- The Golden Chance (1915)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Forbidden Fruit (1921).webm)
