The White Rose

1923 DramaRomance 100 minutes Directed by D.W. Griffith

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About The White Rose

Joseph Beaugarde, a rich Southerner training for the ministry, meets Bessie Williams, called Teazie, a cigar-stand girl, in New Orleans and seduces her. He goes back to his plantation to be ordained and to marry Marie Carrington, who is of his own set. Bessie has his child, loses her job, and wanders onto his land. Black servants take her into a log cabin. Thinking she is dying, they send for him. He marries her at once and leaves the church. Marie turns to another man.

Cast & crew

More about The White Rose

D. W. Griffith wrote, produced, and directed it, using the pen name Irene Sinclair on the script. Herbert Sutch was assistant director. Billy Bitzer, Hendrik Sartov, and Hal Sintzenich photographed. Joseph Carl Breil wrote the score. United Artists released it. New York premiere 22 May 1923; Wikidata date 21 May 1923. Runtime 100 minutes. Shot in Florida and in New Iberia and St. Martinville, Louisiana. Wikipedia lists a budget of $425,000 and box office of $900,000.

Themes

Making

Griffith took the company to Louisiana and Florida for the plantation and the New Orleans dance-hall scenes. Breil, who had scored The Birth of a Nation, wrote this score.

Look

Billy Bitzer, Hendrik Sartov, and Hal Sintzenich photographed the Florida and Louisiana locations.

Music

Joseph Carl Breil wrote the original score.

Preservation

Extant, though rarely shown. Prints are at George Eastman House, UCLA, and the Academy Film Archive, among others. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Mae Marsh plays Bessie. Ivor Novello plays Joseph. Carol Dempster plays Marie Carrington. Neil Hamilton plays John White, the man Marie turns to.
  • Lucille La Verne plays Auntie Easter and Porter Strong plays the servant Apollo, both in blackface.
  • Also cast: Jane Thomas, Kate Bruce, Erville Alderson, Herbert Sutch as the bishop, Joseph Burke, Mary Foy, Charles Emmett Mack, and Uncle Tom Jenkins.
  • A full circulating copy runs about 1 hour 38 minutes.
  • Prints are at George Eastman House, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Academy Film Archive. A file is on Wikimedia Commons.

Scenes

  • Joseph meets Teazie at a New Orleans dance hall.
  • Servants shelter her and the baby in a log cabin on his plantation and send for him when they think she is dying.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (The White Rose (1923).webm)

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