| Esmeralda | |
| Director: | James Kirkwood |
| Producer: | Adolph Zukor Daniel Frohman |
| Cinematography: | Emmett A. Williams |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 4-5 reels |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent film (English intertitles) |
Esmeralda is a 1915 silent film starring Mary Pickford,[1] directed by James Kirkwood, and produced by Adolph Zukor and stage impresario Daniel Frohman.[2]
As with the previous Pickford vehicles -- Caprice, Mistress Nell and The Dawn of a Tomorrow -- Esmeralda is based on a short story and stage play Esmeralda written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and William Gillette and produced in the 1880s. The play was acted by Annie Russell and later Viola Allen both teenagers at the time, who later became well known adult theater actresses.[3]
Esmeralda is a new kind of Mary Pickford picture. The story begins on the farm and swings around to the big city. From the simple and wholesome country girl "Esmeralda" becomes a veteran society leader. One of the big features of "Esmeralda" is the interrupted wedding ceremony in which Little Mary refuses to marry the count. It is a real Pickford scene and worth as much as many entire pictures."[4]
This film is now considered a lost film.[5] [6]