Dream Street (film)
- April 12, 1921 (1921-04-12)
(with sound sequences)
English intertitles
Dream Street is a 1921 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp". The cast also features Tyrone Power Sr.
The film, released by United Artists, was poorly received in its day, and critics still consider it one of Griffith's worst films.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review,[3] Gypsy Fair, a young dancer, is forced through circumstances to live in the London Limehouse district and associate with the other residents there. Through her courage and loyalty, she is forced into numerous hazardous situations from all of which she emerges unharmed. Finally, she marries the man she has reformed and finds true happiness with him.
Cast
- Carol Dempster as Gypsy Fair
- Charles Emmett Mack as Billy McFadden (Billed as Charles Mack)
- Ralph Graves as James Spike McFadden
- Edward Peil Sr. as Swan Way
- Tyrone Power Sr. as Street Preacher
- Morgan Wallace as Masked Violinist
- William J. Ferguson as Gypsy's Father
- George Neville as Tom Chudder
- Charles Slattery as Police Inspector
- Porter Strong as Samuel Jones
Premiere
The original 1921 version of Dream Street is notable for a brief sequence when D. W. Griffith steps out in front of a curtain at the beginning of the movie, and talks to the audience about the film, using Photokinema, an early sound-on-disc process developed by Orlando Kellum. Some films made in the Photokinema process, including Griffith's Dream Street introduction at the beginning, are preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
The silent version premiered on April 12, 1921, at the Central Theatre in New York City. On April 27, Griffith and Ralph Graves recorded their respective sound segments at Orlando Kellum's Photokinema office at 203 West 40th Street.[4][5]
The premiere engagement of the sound version of Dream Street took place on May 2, 1921, at Town Hall in New York City, with Griffith's introduction. The film reopened on May 15, now also with two other short sound sequences — Ralph Graves singing a love song, and background noise in a scene showing a craps game. No other theaters could show the sound version of the film, for no other theaters had the Photokinema sound system installed.[6]
On Sunday, May 29, Dream Street opened at the Shubert Crescent Theater in Brooklyn with a program of short films made in Phonokinema. However, business was poor, and the program soon closed.
Reception
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide describes the film as "disappointing", owing to Dempster and her performance.[7] The Encyclopedia of Horror Movies, the first edition of The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror, includes an appendix of Critics' Top Tens. In a supplementary paragraph to his list, Richard Combs includes Dream Street as an example of a horrific (in terms of "mood and rationale") film that belongs to a genre other than horror, describing it as "what passes for a Christian allegory of Good and Evil."[8]
References
- ^ "Artistic And Well Acted Production / D. W. Griffith presents 'Dream Street'", review, Wid's Daily (New York City), 17 April 1921, p. 3. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Griffith's 20 Year Record". Variety. September 5, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ "Tried and Proven Pictures: Dream Street". Exhibitors Trade Review. New York: Exhibitors Review Publishing Corporation: 24. March 8, 1924. Retrieved September 22, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Barrios, Richard (July 13, 1995). A Song in the Dark. Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780195088113.
- ^ "Griffith to Present Sound Film at Town Hall Tomorrow", The New York Times (May 1, 1921), Drama and Music section, p. 78
- ^ Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound (1997), page 43
- ^ "Dream Street". TCM.com. Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ Tom Milne, Paul Willemen, Verina Glaessner, Julian Petley, Tim Pulleine. The Encyclopedia of Horror Movies. ed. Phil Hardy. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. p. 397.
External links
- Dream Street at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- Progressive Silent Film List: Dream Street at silentera.com
- v
- t
- e
- The Adventures of Dollie
- The Fight for Freedom
- The Tavern Keeper's Daughter
- The Black Viper
- The Red Man and the Child
- Deceived Slumming Party
- The Bandit's Waterloo
- A Calamitous Elopement
- The Greaser's Gauntlet
- The Man and the Woman
- The Fatal Hour
- For Love of Gold
- Balked at the Altar
- For a Wife's Honor
- Betrayed by a Handprint
- Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court
- The Girl and the Outlaw
- Behind the Scenes
- The Red Girl
- The Heart of O'Yama
- Where the Breakers Roar
- A Smoked Husband
- The Stolen Jewels
- The Devil
- The Zulu's Heart
- Father Gets in the Game
- Ingomar, the Barbarian
- The Vaquero's Vow
- The Planter's Wife
- Romance of a Jewess
- The Call of the Wild
- Concealing a Burglar
- After Many Years
- The Pirate's Gold
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Guerrilla
- The Song of the Shirt
- The Ingrate
- A Woman's Way
- The Clubman and the Tramp
- Money Mad
- The Valet's Wife
- The Feud and the Turkey
- The Reckoning
- The Test of Friendship
- An Awful Moment
- The Christmas Burglars
- Mr. Jones at the Ball
- The Helping Hand
- One Touch of Nature
- The Maniac Cook
- Mrs. Jones Entertains
- The Honor of Thieves
- Love Finds a Way
- The Sacrifice
- A Rural Elopement
- Those Boys!
- The Criminal Hypnotist
- The Fascinating Mrs. Francis
- Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
- Those Awful Hats
- The Welcome Burglar
- The Cord of Life
- The Girls and Daddy
- The Brahma Diamond
- Edgar Allen Poe
- A Wreath in Time
- Tragic Love
- The Curtain Pole
- His Ward's Love
- The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals
- The Hindoo Dagger
- The Politician's Love Story
- The Golden Louis
- At the Altar
- The Prussian Spy
- His Wife's Mother
- A Fool's Revenge
- The Wooden Leg
- The Roue's Heart
- The Salvation Army Lass
- The Lure of the Gown
- I Did It
- The Voice of the Violin
- The Deception
- And a Little Child Shall Lead Them
- A Burglar's Mistake
- The Medicine Bottle
- Jones and His New Neighbors
- A Drunkard's Reformation
- Trying to Get Arrested
- The Road to the Heart
- A Rude Hostess
- Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade
- A Sound Sleeper
- Lady Helen's Escapade
- Lucky Jim
- Jones and the Lady Book Agent
- Resurrection
- Two Memories
- Eloping with Auntie
- The Cricket on the Hearth
- The Violin Maker of Cremona
- A New Trick
- The Lonely Villa
- The Son's Return
- Her First Biscuits
- The Country Doctor
- The Cardinal's Conspiracy
- Tender Hearts
- The Friend of the Family
- The Renunciation
- The Mended Lute
- The Sealed Room
- The Little Darling
- The Hessian Renegades
- Comata, the Sioux
- Getting Even
- In Old Kentucky
- Leather Stocking
- Pippa Passes or The Song of Conscience
- Fools of Fate
- His Lost Love
- The Gibson Goddess
- Nursing a Viper
- The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period
- Through the Breakers
- The Red Man's View
- A Corner in Wheat
- A Trap for Santa Claus
- In Little Italy
- To Save Her Soul
- The Day After
- Choosing a Husband
- Bill Sharkey's Last Game
- The Rocky Road
- The Woman from Mellon's
- The Englishman and the Girl
- In Old California
- Faithful
- The Two Brothers
- As It Is In Life
- A Romance of the Western Hills
- The Unchanging Sea
- Ramona
- In the Season of Buds
- A Child of the Ghetto
- In the Border States
- What the Daisy Said
- A Flash of Light
- An Arcadian Maid
- The House with Closed Shutters
- Wilful Peggy
- The Modern Prodigal
- A Mohawk's Way
- The Oath and the Man
- Rose O'Salem-Town
- The Fugitive
- Winning Back His Love
- The Two Paths
- The Italian Barber
- His Trust
- His Trust Fulfilled
- Fate's Turning
- Heart Beats of Long Ago
- What Shall We Do with Our Old?
- Fisher Folks
- His Daughter
- The Lily of the Tenements
- A Decree of Destiny
- Was He a Coward?
- The Lonedale Operator
- The Spanish Gypsy
- The Broken Cross
- How She Triumphed
- The New Dress
- The Crooked Road
- The White Rose of the Wilds
- The Smile of a Child
- Enoch Arden: Part I
- Enoch Arden: Part II
- The Primal Call
- Fighting Blood
- The Indian Brothers
- A Country Cupid
- The Last Drop of Water
- Out from the Shadow
- The Blind Princess and the Poet
- Swords and Hearts
- The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of
- Her Awakening
- The Making of a Man
- The Adventures of Billy
- The Long Road
- Love in the Hills
- The Battle
- Through Darkened Vales
- The Miser's Heart
- A Woman Scorned
- The Voice of the Child
- The Eternal Mother
- The Old Bookkeeper
- For His Son
- The Transformation of Mike
- A Sister's Love
- Under Burning Skies
- The Sunbeam
- A String of Pearls
- The Girl and Her Trust
- The Root of Evil
- The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
- The Punishment
- The Female of the Species
- Just Like a Woman
- One Is Business, the Other Crime
- The Lesser Evil
- A Beast at Bay
- An Outcast Among Outcasts
- Home Folks
- A Temporary Truce
- The Spirit Awakened
- Man's Lust for Gold
- Man's Genesis
- The Sands of Dee
- The Narrow Road
- The Inner Circle
- A Change of Spirit
- An Unseen Enemy
- Blind Love
- The Massacre
- Two Daughters of Eve
- Friends
- So Near, yet So Far
- A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
- The Chief's Blanket
- In the Aisles of the Wild
- The One She Loved
- The Painted Lady
- The Musketeers of Pig Alley
- Heredity
- Gold and Glitter
- My Baby
- The Informer
- Brutality
- The New York Hat
- My Hero
- The Burglar's Dilemma
- A Cry for Help
- The God Within
- Three Friends
- The Telephone Girl and the Lady
- An Adventure in the Autumn Woods
- The Tender Hearted Boy
- A Misappropriated Turkey
- Brothers
- Oil and Water
- A Chance Deception
- Love in an Apartment Hotel
- Broken Ways
- A Girl's Stratagem
- The Unwelcome Guest
- Near to Earth
- Fate
- A Welcome Intruder
- The Sheriff's Baby
- The Hero of Little Italy
- The Little Tease
- A Misunderstood Boy
- The Left-Handed Man
- The Lady and the Mouse
- If We Only Knew
- The Wanderer
- The Stolen Loaf
- The House of Darkness
- The Yaqui Cur
- Just Gold
- The Ranchero's Revenge
- A Timely Interception
- Death's Marathon
- The Mothering Heart
- The Sorrowful Shore
- The Enemy's Baby
- The Mistake
- Two Men of the Desert (lost)
- Madonna of the Storm
- The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
- The Conscience of Hassan Bey
- Judith of Bethulia (1914)
- Battle of the Sexes (1914, lost)
- Brute Force (1914)
- Home, Sweet Home (1914)
- The Escape (1914, lost)
- The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (1914)
- The Birth of a Nation (1915)
- Intolerance (1916)
- Hearts of the World (1918)
- The Great Love (1918, lost)
- Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (1918, lost)
- The Greatest Thing in Life (1918, lost)
- A Romance of Happy Valley (1919)
- The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919)
- Broken Blossoms (1919)
- True Heart Susie (1919)
- Scarlet Days (1919)
- The Greatest Question (1919)
- The Idol Dancer (1920)
- Remodeling Her Husband (1920, lost)
- The Love Flower (1920)
- Way Down East (1920)
- Dream Street (1921)
- Orphans of the Storm (1921)
- One Exciting Night (1922)
- The White Rose (1923)
- America (1924)
- Isn't Life Wonderful (1924)
- Sally of the Sawdust (1925)
- That Royle Girl (1925, lost)
- The Sorrows of Satan (1926)
- Drums of Love (1928)
- The Battle of the Sexes (1928)
- Lady of the Pavements (1929)
- Abraham Lincoln (1930)
- The Struggle (1931)