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The
White Shadow

(1924)

 

In 2010, the National Film Preservation Foundation proudly announced that 75 American films surviving in the collections of the New Zealand Film Archive would be repatriated to American film archives. Many of the films had survived only in the unique prints that had travelled the globe decades ago, only now to return to American shores. But, The White Shadow (1924) is actually a wholly British film from the production team of Michael Balcon and Victor Saville — a film that has the fingerprints of a young Alfred Hitchcock all over it.

Directed by Graham Cutts, this romantic drama casts Betty Compson in a dual-role opposite leading man Clive Brook. Compson was among a handful of American actresses lured to Great Britain to make a few feature films then return to Hollywood. The intent was to raise the prestige of British films worldwide by tapping into the drawing power of American actors. Oddly, in this film Compson (an American) plays a pair of British twin sisters and Clive Brook (an Englishman) plays an American playboy.

The White Shadow has survived in only three of its original five reels and only in its American release version. In the surviving footage, carefree Nancy Brent (Compson) meets Robin Field (Brook) during a Transatlantic crossing. In England, Robin is confused by a difference in behavior when he unknowingly meets Nancy’s withdrawn twin sister, Georgina.

Allegedly, Alfred Hitchcock wrote the adapted scenario, did the art direction, performed as assistant director, and edited the film. The stamp of Hitchcock is not apparent in this film made a year before he began directing films. (Know-it-all wags will point out that Hitchcock had directed the two-reeler Mrs. Peabody in 1922, but that film was never completed and released.) Look to The Lodger (1926) for the first signs of the future Hitchcockian brilliance.

Carl Bennett

coverNational Film Preservation Foundation
2013 DVD edition

Lost & Found: American Treasures from the New Zealand Film Archive (1914-1929), black & white and color, 198 minutes total, not rated, including The White Shadow (1924) [surviving reels], color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 42 minutes, not rated.

National Film Preservation Foundation, distributed by Image Entertainment, NATD9472DVD, UPC 0-14381-94722-9.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.98.
Release date: 24 September 2013.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition of The White Shadow (1924) is presented here from the sole surviving print, an incomplete, very-good to excellent 35mm positive of the American release version of the film.

The film is presented with a music score written and performed by Michael Mortilla.

The supplemental material includes a 56-page booklet with a foreword by Leonard Maltin and film notes by Scott Simmon, a short documentary on the recording of the film scores by Donald Sosin (16:9 anamorphic), and more than 180 interactive screens.

With so many of these rare titles having been transferred from high-quality prints, we deem this a highly-recommended collection.

 
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
Other silent era ALFRED HITCHCOCK films available on home video.

Other BRITISH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.

 
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