The Worldly Madonna
About The Worldly Madonna
Clara Kimball Young plays both sisters. Lucy, a cabaret dancer, thinks she has killed a man. Janet, a novice, takes her place at the cabaret. Both sisters love the politician John McBride. Restaurant man Allan Graves threatens him and treats Janet, whom he takes for Lucy, as the witness to a murder. The hunchback Ramez confesses. Graves will not accept it and calls Lucy a drug addict. She admits the drugs and denies the killing. The man Graves called a corpse had been paid to leave the country so Graves could use McBride. McBride tells Janet he loves her. Lucy, because of the switch, gets a chance to start again.
Cast & crew
More about The Worldly Madonna
Harry Garson directed. Arthur Edeson photographed. The United States release was 1 May 1922. It runs 62 minutes. William P. Carleton is McBride. Richard Tucker is Graves. George Hackathorne is Ramez. Jean de Limur is Toni Lorenz. William Marion is Dr. Krell. Milla Davenport is the jail matron.
Themes
Making
Garson builds the plot on a substitution: the novice sits in the dancer’s job long enough for Graves to accuse the wrong sister. Edeson shoots both of Young’s parts.
Look
Arthur Edeson photographed Young’s two roles, the cabaret, and the scenes with McBride and Graves.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A 62-minute print survives.
Notes
- Young’s double role is the nun and the dancer, not a disguise within one life.
- Ramez’s confession is the offer Graves refuses.
- The murder charge depends on a man who was bribed to disappear.
- Toni Lorenz and Dr. Krell are billed; the synopsis does not give them the central turns.
Scenes
- Janet puts on Lucy’s place at the cabaret after Lucy believes she has killed someone.
- Ramez confesses, and Graves waves it off.
- Lucy admits the drugs and not the murder.
- The missing man turns out to have been bribed to leave the country.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Worldly Madonna (1922).webm)