Something New
About Something New
A woman writer, played by Nell Shipman, goes to a Mexican border town looking for what she calls "real, red, and raw" atmosphere. Mining engineer Bill Baxter (Bert Van Tuyle) gives her his dog Laddy, and her father's partner Sid Bickley (L. M. Wells) takes her on to the Blue Lotus mine. Bandit Gorgez (William McCormick) raids the mine, leaves Sid unconscious, and carries her and the gold to a canyon hideout called Hell's Kitchen. With no horse to hire, Bill drives his Maxwell over the rocks, following notes Laddy brings on his collar, and reaches her after dark. In the chase back she uses the car to shove a boulder down on the gang.
Cast & crew
More about Something New
Nell Shipman and Bert Van Tuyle wrote it and are both credited as directors. F. H. Croghan presented it. The company came back from Warner Hot Springs in March 1920, and Camera named Van Tuyle as the director on location. Fred H. Croghan copyrighted the picture on 13 September 1920 (LU15630). The working title was Beyond the Border.
Themes
Making
Motion Picture News reported a late-November 1920 opening at the Hippodrome in Portland. The Los Angeles Maxwell show used 25,000 tack cards and prizes from about fifty merchants; the trade paper said the film went over because of that exploitation.
Look
Joseph B. Walker photographed the desert chase. Night footage was printed with blue tint.
Preservation
A 35mm nitrate positive is at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Library and Archives Canada holds a preservation duplicate. D. J. Turner supervised a tinted restoration from the UCLA print.
Notes
- The car Bill drives is a Maxwell. A Los Angeles prize show at the Philharmonic Auditorium offered Maxwell automobiles to patrons.
- While the company was at Warner Hot Springs, a baby born there was named Nell Shipman. The star bought the child a silver spoon.
- In September 1920 Shipman, Van Tuyle, and W. H. Clune formed Nell Shipman Productions, Inc., with offices at the Louis B. Mayer studios, 3800 Mission Road, Los Angeles.
- Shipman plays a writer with a block. Scenes of her at a typewriter open and close the story.
- The dog is billed as Laddie, and called Laddy in the AFI synopsis.
Scenes
- Bill finds Laddy in the rocks with the writer's notes tied to the collar.
- She drives the Maxwell into a boulder and drops it on the pursuing gang.
- The three of them, including the dog, come back in sight of the American flag.
Also available
- UCLA Film & Television Archive
- Library and Archives Canada
- Milestone Collection DVD (2001), paired with Back to God's Country
- Kino Classics Blu-ray, Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers (2018)
