The Idol Dancer

1920 Drama 7 reels (7,033 feet) Directed by D.W. Griffith

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About The Idol Dancer

Mary, called White Almond Flower, lives on a South Sea island and draws both the drunken beachcomber Dan McGuire and Walter Kincaid, the sickly nephew of the missionary Reverend Blythe. After Walter collapses, Mary throws her wooden idol into the sea and Dan gives up gin. While the men are out fishing, slave traders attack. Walter beats the war drum, fights them, and dies. Dan and Mary marry.

Cast & crew

More about The Idol Dancer

D. W. Griffith produced and directed it. Stanner E. V. Taylor wrote the scenario from Gordon Ray Young's story Blood of the Covenants. G. W. Bitzer and Paul H. Allen photographed it. First National released it on March 21, 1920, premiering the same day at the Mark Strand Theatre in New York. The working title was Fires of Love. The subtitle is A Story of the Southern Seas. It runs 7 reels, 7,033 feet.

Themes

  • A beachcomber and a missionary's nephew
  • An idol thrown into the sea
  • A slave raid on the village
  • South Seas
  • beachcomber
  • missionary
  • slave traders
  • Clarine Seymour
  • Griffith

Making

Griffith had been building Seymour for larger parts. She died less than a month after the Strand opening, and the film was left as her last role.

Look

G. W. Bitzer and Paul H. Allen shared the photography, including the Fort Lauderdale beach work.

Preservation

Cohen Media Group holds a 35mm print from the Raymond Rohauer collection. Sixteen-millimeter prints are in private collections. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons. It is in the public domain in the United States.

Notes

  • Richard Barthelmess plays Dan McGuire. Clarine Seymour plays Mary. Creighton Hale plays Walter Kincaid. George MacQuarrie plays Reverend Franklyn Blythe.
  • Kate Bruce plays Mrs. Blythe. Anders Randolf plays the blackbirder. Florence Short plays Pansy.
  • Clarine Seymour died in April 1920, at 20, after emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. This was her last film. The premiere had been March 21.
  • A 35mm print is in the Cohen Media Group's Raymond Rohauer collection. Sixteen-millimeter prints are in private hands.

Scenes

  • Mary throws the wooden idol into the sea.
  • Walter strikes the war drum as the slavers land.
  • Dan and Mary marry after Walter dies.

Influenced by

  • Gordon Ray Young's story Blood of the Covenants

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons ("The Idol Dancer" (1920) .webm)

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