The Aryan
About The Aryan
Miner Steve Denton, rich from prospecting, sets out to see his sick mother. In Yellow Ridge the dance-hall woman Trixie, called the firefly, takes his gold and hides a telegram about his mother. He learns she has died. He kills Trixie's lover, Chip Emmett, drags Trixie into the desert, and holds her there while he leads a band of Indian and Mexican outlaws. Two years later a wagon train of Mississippi farmers, lost and dying, asks for help. He refuses. That night Mary Jane Garth comes to him and says no white man would leave a woman in need. He guides the train to safety, then goes back to the desert alone.
Cast & crew
More about The Aryan
William S. Hart directed and plays Denton. Reginald Barker and Clifford Smith assisted. C. Gardner Sullivan wrote it. Thomas H. Ince produced it. Joseph H. August photographed it. Triangle released it in the United States on April 9, 1916. Wikipedia gives 50 minutes, five reels, and a budget of $13,500. Gertrude Claire plays Mrs. Denton. Louise Glaum plays Trixie. Bessie Love plays Mary Jane Garth. Charles K. French plays Ivory Wells. Herschel Mayall plays Chip Emmett. A partial print is at the Library of Congress.
Themes
Making
Hart directed himself as Denton for Ince, with August on the camera, on a $13,500 Triangle picture.
Look
Joseph H. August shot Yellow Ridge, the desert camp, and the wagon train.
Preservation
A partial print is at the Library of Congress.
Notes
- Trixie intercepts the telegram. He hears of the death the next day.
- John Gilbert is an uncredited extra. Jean Hersholt and Enid Bennett are uncredited.
- The appeal that moves him is Mary Jane's, at night, after he has already refused the train.
- The surviving material is a partial print.
Scenes
- Trixie hides the telegram and he learns his mother is dead.
- Mary Jane comes to the camp at night and he leads the train out.
