{{short description|1924 silent film by Ralph Ince}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox film | name = Dynamite Smith | image = Bessie Love and Wallace Beery in scene from Dynamite Smith (1924).jpg | caption = Bessie Love and Wallace Beery | director = Ralph Ince | story = C. Gardner Sullivan | screenplay = C. Gardner Sullivan | starring = {{Plainlist| * Charles Ray * Jacqueline Logan * Bessie Love * Wallace Beery }} | distributor = Pathé Exchange | country = United States | cinematography = Henry Sharp<ref>{{cite book |last=Love |first=Bessie |year=1977 |title=From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love |location=London |publisher=Elm Tree Books|oclc=734075937|page=152}}</ref> | released = {{Film date|1924|10|12|U.S.}} | runtime = 6,400 feet;<ref name="filmdaily2930newy-n53" /> approx. 70 minutes | language = Silent (English intertitles) }}
'''''Dynamite Smith''''' is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and written by C. Gardner Sullivan. The film stars Charles Ray, Bessie Love, and Wallace Beery, and was distributed through Pathé Exchange.
The film was presumed lost until 2023, when an 8mm print with Dutch intertitles was discovered.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.4941/default.html|website=Library of Congress|title=''Dynamite Smith'' / Ralph Ince [motion picture]|year=1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://moviessilently.com/2023/03/26/dynamite-smith-1924-a-silent-film-review/ | title=Dynamite Smith (1924) A Silent Film Review | date=March 26, 2023 }}</ref>
== Plot == Gladstone Smith (Ray) is a reserved San Francisco literary editor who is unexpectedly assigned to report on a stabbing in the Barbary Coast district. At The Diamond Café, a saloon operated by the violent "Slugger" Rourke (Beery), Smith meets Violet (Love), a cabaret performer and Rourke's estranged wife. After Smith's published story prompts police scrutiny, Rourke retaliates by assaulting Violet and vowing to kill Smith. Violet, pregnant and seeking escape, persuades Smith to take her to Alaska under the pretense that they are siblings.
In Alaska, Violet gives birth to a son but dies shortly afterward due to the harsh conditions. Smith and the infant reach the town of White City, where they are cared for by Kitty Gray (Logan), the proprietor of a local inn. Smith becomes a local hero after alerting the town to the starvation of settlers trapped in a nearby pass, and is appointed sheriff.
Rourke, who survived the journey north, arrives in White City claiming to be Smith's friend. He moves into Smith's cabin and begins to intimidate him, threatening exposure as a "wife stealer" and expressing interest in Kitty. Smith struggles with fear but ultimately resolves to confront Rourke. He leads him into the wilderness, traps him, and lights a fuse attached to dynamite. Although Smith hesitates, the explosion kills Rourke. Smith is exonerated by the community and becomes engaged to Kitty, with whom he plans to raise Violet's child.<ref name="filmdaily2930newy-n53">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily2930newy/page/n53|magazine=The Film Daily|date=September 7, 1924|page=8|title=Charles Ray in 'Dynamite Smith'}}</ref><ref name="aficat">{{cite book|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930|editor-last=Munden|editor-first=Kenneth W.|publisher=R.R. Bowker Company|location=New York|date=1971|oclc=664500075|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanfilminst00amer/page/208 208]|isbn=978-0-520-21521-4|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilminst00amer|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="movpicwor70movi-n139">{{cite magazine|magazine=The Moving Picture World|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor70movi/page/n139|date=September 13, 1924|page=159|title=Dynamite Smith|first=C.S.|last=Sewell}}</ref><ref name="exhi00newy-n165">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhi00newy/page/n165|magazine=Exhibitors Trade Review|page=41|title=Box Office Reviews|date=September 20, 1924|first=George T.|last=Pardy}}</ref><ref name="loc">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/s1229l20552/|title=Dynamite Smith. Motion picture copyright descriptions collection. Class L, 1912–1977|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref>
== Cast == thumb|right|1924 silent film {{castlist| * Charles Ray as Gladstone Smith * Wallace Beery as "Slugger" Rourke * Bessie Love as Violet * Jacqueline Logan as Kitty Gray * Ethelbert Knott as Dad Gray (credited as Adelbert Knott) * Lydia Knott as Aunt Mehitabel * Russell Powell as Colin MacClintock * S.D. Wilcox as Marshall, White City * Jim Hart as Faro Dealer<ref name="movpicwor70movi-n139" /><ref name="exhi00newy-n165" /> }}
== Reception == The film received positive reviews<ref name="movingpicturewor71novd-240" /><ref name="movingpicturewor71novd-426">{{cite magazine|magazine=Moving Picture World|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/426|page=427|title='Dynamite Smith' Classed as One of Best October Films|date=November 29, 1924}}</ref> and was commercially successful.<ref name="movingpicturewor71novd-240">{{cite magazine|magazine=Moving Picture World|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/240|date=November 15, 1924|title=Straight from the Shoulder Reports|editor-first=A. Van Buren|editor-last=Powell|page=241}}</ref>
Grace Kingsley of the ''Los Angeles Times'', Florence Lawrence of the ''Los Angeles Examiner'', and Guy Price of the ''Los Angeles Herald'' praised Ray's performance,<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Moving Picture World|url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/556|date=November 29, 1924|page=557|title='Dynamite Smith' Wins Praise of Los Angeles Reviewers}}</ref> which was widely lauded as a comeback for the actor.<ref name="filmdaily2930newy-n53" /><ref name="movpicwor70movi-n139" /><ref name="movingpicturewor71novd-426" /> Beery, Logan, and Love were also favorably reviewed.<ref name="filmdaily2930newy-n53" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb title|0014858}} * {{AFI film|8797}} * {{YouTube|id=Rc1NDmmjiMc|title=''Dynamite Smith'' (1924) – surviving 8mm print}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20210304223150/http://silenthollywood.com/dynamitesmith1924.html Film stills] at silenthollywood.com
{{Ralph Ince}}
Category:1924 films Category:1924 drama films Category:1924 American films Category:1924 English-language films Category:1920s pregnancy films Category:1920s rediscovered films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Films directed by Ralph Ince Category:Films set in Alaska Category:Films set in San Francisco Category:Pathé Exchange films Category:Rediscovered American films Category:American silent drama films Category:Surviving American silent films
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