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The Adventurous Sex
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Wikipedia article
'The Adventurous Sex' is a lost 1925 American silent drama film that was directed by Charles Giblyn and starred Clara Bow, Herbert Rawlinson, and Earle Williams.Munden, Kenneth White. 'The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1'. University of California Press, 1997, p. 7. The Howard Estabrook production was shot in studios in New York City and on location at Niagara Falls.
The Library of Congress includes this film among the National Film Preservation Board's updated 2019 list of "7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films" produced between 1912 and 1929.[http://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/SFF-LostFilmsList102319.pdf "7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29) National Film Preservation Board"] (current as of October 23, 2019), "Adventurous Sex, The (1925), Charles Giblyn", p. 2, film number 87. National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
Plot
Rodney Adams (Herbert Rawlinson) spends too much time maintaining and flying his airplane, so much so that he neglects his fiance Patricia (Clara Bow), who is also tiring of her parents' efforts to control her behavior and limit her socializing. Soon she embarks on a more independent "flapper" lifestyle that includes wild parties and other excesses that attract the attention of Victor Ashley (Earle Williams), a handsome but lecherous "adventurer". Her interactions with Victor result in a situation where they are later found together in a room at a roadside inn. Although nothing intimate had occurred between the two, Victor lies to a group of his friends and Rodney as they arrive at the inn. Victor tells them he has married "Pat". She rushes out frantically, devastated by the circumstances that have "soiled" her reputation. Rodney, though, soon learns the truth from the innkeeper, that Victor is lying about everything, Rodney begins searching for his fiance, who is wandering along the nearby Niagara River. Unable to cope with the disgrace, Pat now attempts suicide by hurling herself into the water. Rodney sees her and dives in to save her as the rapid current sweeps her toward the great falls. With the aid of another pilot guiding his airplane overhead and lowering a rope ladder, Rodney manages to rescue Pat just moments before she would have plummetted to her death over the edge of the falls. The film ends with the young couple happily reunited.
Cast
of the worldly "adventurer" (Earle Williams) trying to prevent Patricia (Clara Bow) from leaving the room at the roadside inn
Production
In September 1924, as part of pre-production planning, director Giblyn traveled with his assistant director Bert Siebel and producer Estabrook to the region around Niagara, New York. There they scouted for the most suitable locations for the script's dramatic outdoor scenes once filming commenced.[https://archive.org/details/motionpicturestu00johnrich/page/282 "Bert F. Siebel"], 'Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual, 1921', p. 282. Motion Picture News, Inc., New York, N.Y. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 5, 2019. In addition to choosing sites at Niagara Falls, they also chose locations at nearby Three Sisters Islands and at Ausable Chasm much farther away in the Adirondack Mountains.[https://archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n223/mode/2up "Back From Location"], 'The Film Daily' (New York, N.Y.), September 30, 1924. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved November 5, 2019"Actors Shiver in River Scenes Back East", 'Los Angeles Times', December 7, 1924, p. 30. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. By mid-October the New York-based trade paper 'The Film Daily' was reporting to its readers that Metropolitan Casting, on behalf of Estabrook Productions, had officially contracted or "engaged" Herbert Rawlinson, Earle Williams, and Clara Bow to costar in the upcoming motion picture. The paper in the same issue also announced that some of the project's "players" had already left California and were en route by train to New York City.[http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n349/mode/2up "Estabrook Starts Another"], 'The Film Daily', October 16, p. 1. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 5, 2019. Within days of her arrival in Manhattan, on October 20, Bow and her fellow cast members began filming the script's interior scenes at the facilities of Tec-Art Studios, which were located on 44th Street and at 318 East 48th Street.[http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n383/mode/2up "Clara Bow Here Today"], 'The Film Daily', October 20, 1924, p. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 5, 2019.[http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n389/mode/2up "In From Coast"], 'The Film Daily', October 21, 1924, p. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 5, 2019.[https://archive.org/stream/pho28chic#page/n93/mode/2up "East Coast"], 'Photoplay' (Chicago, Illinois), January 1925, p. 90. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
News updates on the film's progress in the final quarter of 1924 document that production work at Tec-Art and location shooting at Niagara Falls were completed in just three weeks, between the last week in October and mid-November. The company's filming at Niagara drew many curious spectators from the surrounding community and resulted in the near fatality of a stunt performer. In its November 29 issue the trade weekly 'Moving Picture World' describes that location work: Immediately after completing her location work at Niagara, Bow boarded a train in Buffalo, New York to return to California.[http://www.archive.org/stream/exh00newy#page/n611/mode/2up "Hollywood Closeups"], 'Exhibitors Herald', January 3, 1925, p. 28. Internet Archive. Retrieved November 6, 2019. This undated news item was reporting on the circumstances of Bow's departure, which had occurred six weeks earlier, in mid-November 1924. 'The Film Daily' reports on November 13 that Bow had completed her work on 'The Adventurous Sex' and was already traveling back to Hollywood to work on another production, 'Capital Punishment', for B. P. Schulberg.[https://archive.org/details/exh00newy/page/n137 "Production Notes"], 'Exhibitors Trade Review', December 6, 1924, p. 33. Retrieved November 4, 2019. Several days later, other cast and crew from California began their cross-country returns as well, including Herbert Rawlinson, who arrived in Los Angeles by November 30.[https://archive.org/stream/filmdaily2930newy#page/n1027/mode/2up "Late Coast News"], 'The Film Daily', November 30, 1924, p. 2. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
featuring the animated silhouette of Rodney rescuing Patricia from a "watery grave".
In finalizing the theatrical footage and publicity stills of the rescue scenes shot at Niagara Falls, Estabrook's film editors employed special effects, using multiple exposures to add animated silhouettes of Rodney hanging on a rope ladder suspended from his airplane.[http://www.archive.org/stream/ex00newy#page/n367/mode/2up/search/ "'The Adventurous Sex'"], 'Exhibitors Trade Review', April 11, 1925, p. 8. Internet Archive. Retrieved February 20, 2020. Studio editors also superimposed images of Bow's face onto the water's surface near the falls' edge. In its pre-release promotion of the film in April 1925, the 'Exhibitors Trade Review' highlights a frame from those "thrilling" scenes and describes it as "a fine example" of the film's "unusual photography". After the film's release, some reviewers did not find the effects used for the rescue scenes convincing. Robert Sisk of 'Variety', the entertainment industry's most widely read paper at the time, simply states in his June 17 review that the rescue's presentation is "Faked, but interesting".Sisk, Robert (1925). [https://archive.org/details/variety79-1925-06/page/n145 "The Adventurous Sex"], 'Variety', June 17, 1925, p. 37. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
Release
Following Giblyn's completion of filming in New York, trade publications announced that 'The Adventurous Sex' was already booked on theater schedules and set for general release on February 1, 1925.[https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor71novd#page/660/mode/2up "Cast of 'Adventurous Sex'"], 'Moving Picture World', December 13, 1924, p. 660. Retrieved November 5, 2019. That date was later canceled, and the revised release was delayed for over four months. Such a protracted postponement in the film's distribution suggests that the film may have encountered post-production problems or, more likely, was temporarily shelved to allow Bow's other film at the time, 'Capital Punishment', to precede it. That film, according to Bow biographer David Stenn, "did more for Clara's career than her last half dozen movies put together."Stenn, David. 'Clara Bow Runnin' Wild'. New York: Doubleday, 1988, p. 46. .
Although 'The Adventurous Sex' was officially released on June 12, 1925, the film was screened a month earlier in Jefferson City, Missouri.[http://catalog.afi.com/Film/2504-THE-ADVENTUROUSSEX?sid=ce2365f2-3039-403d-9fb0-c10a55bed357&sr=12.036607&cp=1&pos=0 "The Adventurous Sex (1925)"], American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved November 4, 2019. That preview, presented on May 11, was likely a test run to gauge audience reactions to the film and to assess the response of "Middle America" to its provocative title.
Reception
The film in 1925 received generally mixed, lukewarm, or indifferent reviews from critics for leading newspapers and trade publications. 'Variety' provides a straightforward review on June 17, largely recounting the film's plot with little commentary or critical insight. The popular paper does describe the picture as a "fair production" but one that "obviously skimped in parts". It also acknowledges that the six-reeler has a "good cast" and characterizes its footage of the rescue scene, as noted, as "interesting" but not credible. The trade paper notes too that the film was shown on June 12 as half of a double bill at Loew's Theatre in Manhattan, adding "'The Adventurous Sex' falls into the middle class of pictures and looks best suited for the daily changes." That added remark by 'Variety' was a clear insult or dismissive slight, at least as interpreted in the motion picture industry, where "daily changes" was a "pejorative term for movies that played one day, then moved on to another theater in another town".Stenn, p. 48. Actually, the film "didn't last two days in New York", and it was not even reviewed by 'The New York Times.'
In its review of June 21, 1925, 'The Film Daily' judges Giblyn's direction of the picture as mediocre and describes the climactic airplane stunt at Niagara Falls as farfetched but still a "thrill" to watch.[https://archive.org/details/filmdaily3134newy/page/n365 "The Adventurous Sex"], 'The Film Daily', June 21, 1925, p. 3. Retrieved November 5, 2019. 'Exhibitors Herald', a trade journal largely marketed to theater owners, simply describes the film as a "flapper story" in its review and summarizes its storyline with a good measure of detail. The journal also recommends a half dozen scenes for theaters to "highlight" in their promotion of the film, including "'Boxing bout between two flappers'" and "'The rescue by aeroplane on the brink of the falls'".
"Lost" film status
Some additional promotional stills from the film can be found in 1924 and 1925 trade publications. Those images document at least the general content of some scenes in the photoplay. However, no full prints of 'The Adventurous Sex' or any fragments of footage from its six reels are known to be preserved among the extensive holdings of the Library of Congress, the George Eastman Museum, the moving-images collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the Cinmathque qubcoise, the British Film Institute (BFI), or in any film repositories in the European Union.For searching film repositories across the European Union, refer to [http://www.europeanfilmgateway.eu European Film Gateway]. Updated online searches of all the cited repositories performed February 1920, 2020.[http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.3323/default.html "The Adventurous Sex / Charles Giblyn [motion picture]]", American Silent Feature Film Database, The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Retrieved November 7, 2019. This motion picture is therefore "presumed lost".
See also
*List of lost silent films (19251929)
References and notes
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