Manslaughter
About Manslaughter
Lydia Thorne likes speed and will not help her maid, whose son is ill. She dances with other men in front of her husband, the lawyer Daniel O’Bannon. In a chase she hits a motorcycle policeman and kills him. O’Bannon prosecutes her. She goes to prison for manslaughter. When she comes out he is an alcoholic. Leatrice Joy plays Lydia. Thomas Meighan plays O’Bannon. The script is from Alice Duer Miller’s novel.
Cast & crew
More about Manslaughter
Cecil B. DeMille directed and produced with Jesse L. Lasky. Jeanie MacPherson adapted Miller’s novel. Anne Bauchens edited. Paul Iribe did the art direction and the costumes. Paramount released it on 24 September 1922. Wikipedia times it at 100 minutes, ten reels, 9,061 feet. Lois Wilson, George Fawcett, and Julia Faye are in the cast. The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats cites the film as the first American feature to show an erotic kiss between two people of the same sex. Paramount filmed the novel again in 1930, and in French in 1931.
Themes
Making
Iribe designed the party that DeMille cuts against the courtroom. MacPherson’s script sends the same man to love Lydia and to convict her.
Preservation
A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Wikipedia’s plot calls O’Bannon Lydia’s husband and the lawyer who sends her to prison.
- An orgy scene is singled out in the Wikipedia caption.
- The budget figure on that page is $385,000.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as Manslaughter_1922.
Scenes
- Lydia’s car hits the motorcycle policeman.
- O’Bannon prosecutes her.
- She leaves prison and finds him drinking.
Influenced by
- Alice Duer Miller’s novel Manslaughter
Also available
- Internet Archive (Manslaughter_1922)
