The Red Widow Explained

The Red Widow
Director:James Durkin
Producer:Adolph Zukor
Jesse Lasky
Daniel Frohman
Starring:John Barrymore
Music:Charles J. Gebest
Cinematography:William F. Wagner
Distributor:Paramount Pictures
Runtime:5 reels
Country:United States
Language:Silent

The Red Widow is a lost 1916 American silent romantic comedy film directed by James Durkin, produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.[1] The film was based on a 1911 Broadway musical play The Red Widow by Channing Pollock and Rennold Wolf and starring comedian Raymond Hitchcock. John Barrymore stars in this film in the Hitchcock part of Cicero Butts. Hitchcock's wife, Flora Zabelle, is the leading lady in this film.[2] [3] [4] [5]

Cast

unbilled

Production

This particular comedy film was shot twice. The negative for the first version of The Red Widow burned up in a nitrate fire before the distribution prints could be made. This was probably the same Famous Players fire of September 11, 1915, that destroyed the first version of Mary Pickford's Esmeralda (1915). Barrymore and the cast reshot the film for no salary.[6]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20170710021719/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=18205 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:The Red Widow
  2. http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/R/RedWidow1916.html Progressive Silent Film List: The Red Widow
  3. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911–20 by The American Film Institute, c. 1988
  4. John Barrymore: A Bio-Bibliography by Martin Norden, c. 1995
  5. John Barrymore Shakespearean Actor by Michael Morrison, c. 1997 p.73
  6. The Barrymores in Hollywood by James Kotsilibas Davis, c.1981