The Wonderful Chance
About The Wonderful Chance
Swagger Barlow, just out of prison and played by Eugene O'Brien, is taken for Lord Birmingham, whom O'Brien also plays. Crooks are holding the real lord. Barlow is wined by Parker Winton and falls in love with Winton's daughter Peggy, played by Martha Mansfield. Barlow's actions get the lord released. Peggy says she will wait for Barlow to come back. Rudolph Valentino plays Joe Klinsby, on the crooks' side.
Cast & crew
More about The Wonderful Chance
George Archainbaud directed. Lewis Selznick produced. Select Pictures released it on 27 September 1920. Also titled The Thug and His Wonderful Chance. H. H. Van Loan wrote the story. Mary Murillo and Melville Hammett wrote the scenario. Henry Cronjager photographed. Five reels, 5,137 feet, 52 minutes. Tom Blake plays Red Dugan. Joseph Flanagan plays Haggerty. Warren Cook plays Parker Winton.
Themes
Making
Selznick built the picture on O'Brien playing both men, and cast Valentino as a villain rather than as the man Peggy waits for.
Look
Henry Cronjager photographed the prison release, the mansion, and the two faces of O'Brien.
Preservation
Prints are at George Eastman House and the Museum of Modern Art. A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- O'Brien's dual role is the lord and the ex-convict. Valentino is not the double. He is Joe Klinsby.
- Scenes were reused in the 1961 documentary The Legend of Rudolph Valentino, narrated by Graeme Ferguson.
- Prints are at George Eastman House and the Museum of Modern Art.
Scenes
- Barlow is greeted as Lord Birmingham while the lord is still a prisoner.
- Peggy agrees to wait after the mix-up is explained.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-wonderful-chance)
