Made for Love

1926 Drama 65 minutes Directed by Paul Sloane

Open in new tab

About Made for Love

In Egypt, archaeologist Nicholas Ainsworth finds the tomb of Princess Herath and Aziru and ignores his girlfriend Joan Whipple. She flirts with an Englishman, an American, and a Frenchman. An Egyptian prince who robs tombs warns him of a pharaoh's curse, then captures Joan and later 'rescues' her from Bedouins. Nicholas accuses her of running off with the prince. She rides back to warn him. An explosion seals them in the tomb. A falling rock kills the prince as he opens a way out, and Nicholas and Joan reconcile. Joan and Nicholas also play the ancient lovers in a flashback.

Cast & crew

More about Made for Love

Paul Sloane directed. Garrett Fort wrote the story and the scenario. Cecil B. DeMille's Cinema Corporation of America produced it, and Producers Distributing Corporation released it on February 14, 1926. It had opened in Los Angeles the week of January 9. Arthur C. Miller photographed the seven reels. Leatrice Joy had cut her hair into a bob; DeMille was angry in public because the cut blocked the usual long-haired roles. This was the first of five films built around that haircut.

Themes

  • A dig that crowds out a lover
  • A tomb curse
  • Jealousy in Egypt
  • An ancient couple replayed by the leads
  • archaeology
  • Egypt
  • tomb
  • curse
  • Leatrice Joy
  • bob haircut
  • Bedouins
  • explosion

Making

DeMille had brought Joy with him to Producers Distributing Corporation. After she cut her hair, the company wrote parts that could use the bob, starting with this film.

Look

Arthur C. Miller photographed the film, including the close-up of Leatrice Joy's bob in the first reel and a flashback in which she and Edmund Burns play the entombed lovers.

Preservation

UCLA Film and Television Archive holds a copy.

Notes

  • The first reel introduces Joan with a close-up of the new bob.
  • Edmund Burns plays Nicholas and Aziru. Ethel Wales is Lady Diana Trent, Bertram Grassby is Mahmoud Bey, and Brandon Hurst plays the pharaoh.
  • Frank Butler, Lincoln Stedman, Neely Edwards, and Snitz Edwards are also in the cast.
  • A magazine synopsis called Joan his wife and used other names that are not the ones on screen. The AFI catalog corrected them in 2015 from Jack Tillmany's notes.
  • Joy and DeMille parted company in 1928.

Scenes

  • A close-up presents Joan's newly cut hair.
  • The ancient lovers die in a flashback that explains the curse.
  • The prince clears a passage and is killed by a falling rock as Nicholas and Joan get out.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Made for Love (1926).webm)

More from Paul Sloane

View all →