Forgotten Faces is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Clive Brook, Mary Brian, and Olga Baclanova. The production was overseen by David O. Selznick, a rising young producer at the time.[1] The film was remade by Paramount in 1936 as a sound film.
Forgotten Faces | |
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Directed by | Victor Schertzinger |
Written by | Howard Estabrook Oliver H.P. Garrett Julian Johnson |
Based on | "A Whiff of Heliotrope" by Richard Washburn Child |
Produced by | David O. Selznick |
Starring | Clive Brook Mary Brian Olga Baclanova William Powell |
Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
Edited by | George Nichols Jr. David O. Selznick |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The film is preserved with copies at the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art.[2][3]
This film is Paramount's remake of their 1920 film Heliotrope.
A criminal Heliotrope Harry (Clive Brook) comes home after a stick-up job and finds his wife Lilly (Olga Baclanova) in bed with another man. He shoots his rival and deposits their baby daughter Alice (played later as an adult by Mary Brian) on a rich couple's doorstep. While serving a life sentence, Harry is updated on his daughter's happy life by his old criminal associate Froggy (William Powell). For years, his vengeful wife seeks their daughter in vain. When she finally locates their child, the father wrangles parole from a sympathetic warden. He seeks to ensure permanent protection for his daughter by luring his crazed wife into a trap where she shoots him but suffers a prearranged fatal accident while escaping. The father dies in his daughter's arms, who now knows and appreciates his true identity and love for her.[4]