4 Devils (also known as Four Devils) is a lost 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by German director F. W. Murnau and starring Janet Gaynor.[1][2] While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process.
| 4 Devils | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | F. W. Murnau |
| Written by | Carl Mayer |
| Based on | "Les Quatre Diables" by Herman Bang |
| Produced by | William Fox |
| Starring | Janet Gaynor Charles Morton Mary Duncan Barry Norton |
| Cinematography | L. William O'Connell Ernest Palmer |
| Music by | Ernö Rapée Lew Pollack |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Fox Film Corporation |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 100 minutes (Part-Talkie Version) 97 minutes (Synchronized Version) |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | Sound film (Synchronized) English Intertitles |
Plot
editFour orphans become a high wire act and encounter sinister goings-on at a circus. An old clown takes in the four children Charles, Adolf, Marion and Louise to protect them from the brutal circus owner who is their guardian. He raises them and trains them to become acrobats. The years pass and the four children soon become successful trapeze artists who call themselves the "Four Devils". Charles and Marion are now a couple. But when they perform at Cirque Olympia in Paris, Charles gets involved with a beautiful stranger. Marion learns about the relationship and is distracted by it. At the finale of her performance, in which she works without a net, she crashes. Marion survives, and Charles, touched by the near-catastrophe, returns to his girlfriend.
Cast
edit- Janet Gaynor as Marion
- Anne Shirley as Marion as a girl (billed as Dawn O'Day)
- Mary Duncan as The lady
- Anders Randolf as Cecchi
- Barry Norton as Adolf
- Philippe De Lacy as Adolf as a child
- Charles Morton as Charles
- Jack Parker as Charles as a child
- André Cheron as Old roue
- George Davis as Mean clown
- Nancy Drexel as Louise
- Anita Louise as Louise as a child
- Wesley Lake as Old clown
- J. Farrell MacDonald as The clown
- Claire McDowell as Woman
Music
editThe film featured two theme songs titled "Marion" and "Destiny" which were both composed by Erno Rapee and Lew Pollack.
Production
edit4 Devils was released by Fox Film Corporation and was produced by William Fox, who had hired Murnau to come to the United States. It was initially released without dialogue with a synchronised music score and sound effects in October 1928,[3] and grossed $100,000 in New York City, but because of the talkie picture craze, Fox pulled it from distribution and ordered sound to be added.[4] A 25% talking version, incorporating "synchronised sound effects, music and dialogue sequences", was made without Murnau's cooperation.[5]
Preservation status
editNo copies of either version of the film are known to exist, and 4 Devils remains among the most sought after lost films of the early sound era. Details of the movie can be found on the DVD for Sunrise,[5] released by Fox as part of their 20th Century Fox Studio Classics collection.
Film historian and collector William K. Everson stated that the only surviving print was lost by actress Mary Duncan, who had borrowed it from Fox Studios.[6] Martin Koerber, curator of Deutsche Kinemathek, is more hopeful, writing that the print was given to Duncan, and that her heirs, if any, may yet have it.[5]
In 2003 the documentary short Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film by film historian Janet Bergstrom was released, showing a reconstruction using stills, drawings, sketches and script drafts.[7]
Other adaptations
editThe source novella by Herman Bang was first adapted into film in 1911[8] by Robert Dinesen and Alfred Lind, and finally in 1985 by Anders Refn. The screenplay for the 1928 film was novelized by Guy Fowler and published that year by Grosset & Dunlap as a hardcover photoplay (movie tie-in) edition.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Four Devils
- ^ Four Devils at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted(Wayback Machine)
- ^ "4 Devils". SilentEra.com. May 21, 2012.
- ^ Eyman, Scott. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930. Simon and Schuster, New York: 1997.
- ^ a b c "Lost Films: 4 Devils". Deutsche Kinemathek. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
- ^ "4 Devils". silentera.com.
- ^ Bergstrom, Janet, Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film (Documentary, Short), Janet Gaynor, Fox Film Corporation, retrieved February 25, 2024
- ^ "DE FIRE DJÆVLE". Danish Film institute.