Wild Oranges
About Wild Oranges
After his wife dies in an accident, John Woolfolk swears off any new attachment and sails with Paul Halvard until they anchor by a lonely southern house. Nellie Stope lives there with her grandfather Litchfield and the convict servant Iscah Nicholas, who has already forced a kiss from her in an alligator swamp. Woolfolk and Nellie draw together. Nicholas kills Litchfield, ties Nellie down, and starts a fire; Woolfolk gets her to the boat, and a dog Nicholas has abused breaks loose and kills him. Nellie takes the wheel when Halvard is wounded, and they clear the sandbar.
Cast & crew
More about Wild Oranges
King Vidor directed and adapted Joseph Hergesheimer's 1919 novel. John W. Boyle photographed. Goldwyn-Cosmopolitan distributed. Part of the picture was shot in the swamps near Savannah. Virginia Valli plays Nellie, Frank Mayo plays Woolfolk, Ford Sterling plays Halvard, Nigel De Brulier plays Litchfield Stope, and Charles A. Post plays Iscah Nicholas.
Themes
Making
Vidor keeps Woolfolk on the yacht and Nellie on the shore until Nicholas's knife and the fire push them onto the same boat.
Look
John W. Boyle photographed the Savannah swamp, the anchored yacht, and the house.
Preservation
A print survives. Warner Archive released it on DVD on January 12, 2010.
Notes
- Woolfolk's line about the fruit is that wild oranges taste bitter at the first bite and sweet at the second.
- Nicholas smashes Halvard's water cask to force a fight.
- Warner Archive issued the first home-video edition on January 12, 2010.
Scenes
- Nicholas stands Nellie on a stump in the alligator swamp until she kisses him.
- The dog Nicholas has beaten gets free and kills him as the boat pulls away.
Influenced by
- Joseph Hergesheimer's novel Wild Oranges (1919)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-wild-oranges)
- Warner Archive DVD (January 12, 2010)
