| McFadden's Flats | |
| Director: | Richard Wallace |
| Producer: | Edward Small |
| Starring: | Charlie Murray Chester Conklin |
| Cinematography: | Arthur Edeson |
| Distributor: | First National |
| Studio: | Asher Small & Rogers[1] |
| Runtime: | 80 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent (English intertitles) |
| Gross: | over $1 million[2] |
McFadden's Flats is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Richard Wallace and based on an 1896 play of the same name.[3] [4] [5]
McFadden's Flats has held "a unique place in the hearts of theatregoers for more than thirty years", said Small in 1926. "But even this story requires changes and elaboration before it can be placed before screen audiences. This is partly the camera permits a visualisation of situations that could only be suggested on the stage."[6]
In addition the villainy present in the original play was downplayed. Small:
The substitution of many laughs must have made up for the lack of villainy. Newer productions are proving that audiences the world over want to laugh, and that they don't mind if the usual rules of production are overlooked in the finding of those laughs. Successful entertainment of the future will run more and more to humour than sobs, and money will be emended for ideas rather than lavish settings.[7]Grant Clarke and Jack Wagner wrote three new comedy sequences for the movie which saw its shooting schedule extended from ten days to two weeks.[8]
The film was very popular.[9]
With no prints of McFadden's Flats located in any film archives,[10] it is a lost film.