The Salvation Hunters
About The Salvation Hunters
A timid boy, a hardened girl, and an orphaned child live by a waterfront dredge that keeps lifting the same mud. A brute attacks the child. Shamed by the girl, the boy pulls the child free, and she signals the dredge operator to bury the brute in the mud. They go to the city. A man offers work and takes them to a brothel. A gentleman offers the girl money and does not force her. The child buys food. The man and a woman then take the three into the country to get at the girl. The boy beats the man while defending the child. The three walk off together.
Cast & crew
More about The Salvation Hunters
Josef von Sternberg's first feature, which he wrote and produced. George K. Arthur, who plays the boy, financed it with him for just under $5,000. Edward Gheller photographed it. Locations include San Pedro, Chinatown, the San Fernando Valley, and Grand-Asher Studios. United Artists released it on February 15, 1925. It runs 65 minutes.
Themes
Background
United Artists took the film after Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Pickford had seen it privately. The public opening in New York still failed.
In film history
The picture is the feature that got Sternberg a studio contract. Film Mercury ranked it with Greed, The Big Parade, and The Last Laugh on its 1925 list.
Making
Sternberg put most of his savings into the shortfall. The dredge in the opening is a working machine at San Pedro, not a miniature.
Reviews
Film Mercury included it at number eight on a 1925 ten-best list, after Isn't Life Wonderful, The Big Parade, Greed, Siège, Cyrano de Bergerac, Paths to Paradise, and The Last Laugh.
Audiences
The New York run lasted under a week. Sternberg described laughter, jeers, and a walkout at the Hollywood preview, including his own.
Look
Edward Gheller shot the waterfront at San Pedro, the city slums, and the valley scenes, with the dredge in frame over the three leads.
Notes
- Georgia Hale plays the girl. Bruce Guerin is the child. Otto Matieson is the man. Nellie Bly Baker is the woman. Olaf Hytten is the brute. Stuart Holmes is the gentleman.
- The New York opening lasted less than a week. Sternberg said the preview audience laughed, jeered, and walked out, and that he walked out too.
- A print was taken to Charlie Chaplin's house. Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Joseph Schenck saw it there. Chaplin backed it.
- The New York Times of February 1, 1925, reported that the film had caught the fancy of Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Pickford.
- Film Mercury's ten-best list for 1925 placed it eighth.
- Sternberg signed a long-term contract at MGM after the picture.
Scenes
- The girl has the dredge bury the brute who attacked the child.
- A man leads the three into a brothel on a promise of work.
- In the country the boy beats the man and the three walk off.
