The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

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Danny
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The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

Post by Danny » Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:23 am

Are there any other fans of the Theda Bara film "The Unchastened Woman" (1925), directed by James Young? No, it's not a GREAT picture, but it is a relic worth watching. The low budget is evident from the sets and stodgy camera work, from Chadwick Pictures. But it does serve as a bookend to her first big success, "A Fool There Was" (1915).

The most fascinating part of this nonsense, for me, is the hat our star wears in one scene. It is a dazzling white concoction of feathers that never stop moving. It gives the appearance of some kind of wind machine blowing on it that almost makes the hat come alive.

I can never seem to remember exactly which Bara films still exist. I know of the two above titles and the short, "Madame Mystery". Apparently "East Lynne" exists. How about "The Stain"?

And will that documentary ever be resurrected on DVD?

Danny

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silentfilm
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Re: The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

Post by silentfilm » Mon Apr 14, 2014 11:07 am

The Stain exists and was screened at Cinecon. Apparently it was difficult to spot Bara's extra bit in the film.

A Fool There Was is available on DVD from Kino. The Unchastened Woman was sold by Blackhawk on film, and is available from DVD-RW sellers on eBay and the internet. Easy Lynne was also screened at Cinecon, and the raw video transfer is available on eBay. Apparently is was not a good film.

A few seconds of Cleopatra exist, possibly from a costume test. You can see scenes from all of these in Hugh Monroe Neely's The Woman With the Hungry Eyes documentary.

Madame Mystery (1926) exists in its entirety, but most available film prints were copied from the 9.5 one reel version. And Bara has one brief shot in the Roach comedy 45 Minutes from Hollywood, which may have been an out-take from Madame Mystery.

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telical
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Re: The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

Post by telical » Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:23 pm



Great slideshow of the existing posters from all her lost films.
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Danny
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Re: The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

Post by Danny » Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:11 am

Thank you, Bruce. That was very helpful information. I didn't realize that Bara only made a brief appearance in "The Stain."

Hopefully, "The Woman With the Hungry Eyes" will be available sometime.

Danny

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Re: The Unchastened Woman (1925) in the feathered hat

Post by silentfilm » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:04 am

It is already available for streaming here at Fandor. Hopefully Hugh can release it as part of a Bara box set soon.

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