The Love Light

1921 Drama 89 minutes Directed by Frances Marion

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About The Love Light

Angela Carlotti sees her younger brother off to the Italian army and then hears that her older brother has been killed. Giovanni, who loves her, is called up too, and she is left to keep the lighthouse. Joseph comes ashore, says he is an American deserter, and they marry in secret. One night she flashes a "love" signal for him. An Italian ship carrying wounded men is reported destroyed at that hour. She hears him murmur "Gott mit uns" in his sleep and understands he is a German spy. Tony, whose chocolate she stole for Joseph, tells her that her wounded brother was on the ship. She gives Joseph up. He breaks from his guards and jumps from a cliff. Later, with their baby, she is with Giovanni, who has come home blind.

Cast & crew

More about The Love Light

Frances Marion wrote and directed. Mary Pickford produced and plays Angela. She chose the story because she wanted an adult part instead of another girl in curls. Charles Rosher and Henry Cronjager photographed. Stuart Heisler edited. United Artists released it on January 9, 1921. Some publicity called the film Straight Is the Way. It is also known as A Flame in the Dark.

Themes

  • a lighthouse keeper in wartime
  • a lover who is a spy
  • a signal that sinks a hospital ship
  • a blind man returning
  • Angela Carlotti
  • lighthouse
  • Joseph
  • Giovanni
  • German spy
  • hospital ship
  • Italy
  • World War I

Background

The story is set on the Italian coast during the First World War. Angela's brothers leave for the army, and the man she hides is a German agent using an American story.

Making

Marion builds the plot on one lighthouse signal. Angela sends it as a private sign to Joseph, and the next morning the hour matches the loss of a hospital ship that was carrying her brother.

Reviews

Burns Mantle, in Photoplay, wrote that The Love Light was "quite unworthy of the star's talents," that the story lacked "reasonable logic," and that its one value was taking "the nation's sweetheart out of curls and short frocks."

Look

Charles Rosher and Henry Cronjager photographed the lighthouse, the cliff, and the coastal village.

Preservation

A digital copy is on Wikimedia Commons. UCLA restored an 89-minute version that Milestone Film & Video released; the Mary Pickford Foundation copyrighted that restoration in 2000.

Notes

  • Fred Thomson plays Joseph. Raymond Bloomer plays Giovanni. George Regas plays Tony. Eddie Phillips and Jean De Briac play Angela's brothers Mario and Antonio Carlotti. Evelyn Dumo plays Maria. Albert Prisco plays Pietro.
  • Wikipedia lists the box office at $690,695. IMDb lists a United States and Canada gross of $690,965.
  • A closing title reads, "Who shall say that she is not the bravest soldier of them all?
  • The UCLA Film and Television Archive restored an 89-minute version. Milestone Film & Video released it, and the Mary Pickford Foundation copyrighted that version in 2000.

Scenes

  • Angela flashes the lighthouse as a love signal, and a hospital ship is lost at that hour.
  • She hears Joseph say "Gott mit uns" in his sleep.
  • Joseph breaks from the guards and goes over the cliff.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (The Love Light (1921).webm)
  • Milestone Film & Video (UCLA restoration)

Quotes

Who shall say that she is not the bravest soldier of them all?