{{short description|1925 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = The Masked Bride | image = Masked Bride lobby card.jpg | caption = Lobby card | director = Christy Cabanne<br>Josef von Sternberg (uncredited) | producer = | writer = Carey Wilson (scenario) | story = Leon Abrams | starring = Mae Murray<br>Francis X. Bushman<br>Basil Rathbone | cinematography = Oliver Marsh | studio = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | released = {{Film date|1925|12|13}} | runtime = 68 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = }}
'''''The Masked Bride''''' is a lost<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date= |others= |title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Masked Bride |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7439/default.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321012452/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7439/default.html |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref> 1925 American silent romantic drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Mae Murray, Francis X. Bushman, and Basil Rathbone.<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/MaskedBride1925.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Masked Bride''] at silentera.com</ref> The film was both produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
==Plot== As described in a review in a film magazine,<ref name="MPW">{{cite journal |last=Sewell |first=Charles S. |author-link= |title=Through the Box Office Window: ''The Masked Bride''; Pleasing Story of a Dancer of the Paris Underworld Serves as Mae Murray Vehicle |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=77 |issue=6 |pages=576 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=12 December 1925 |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n537/mode/1up |access-date=27 October 2021}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref> Gaby is an Apache dancer at a cabaret in the Montmartre section of Paris whose dancing partner Antoine and friends are thieves. She meets Grover, an American millionaire who is a reformer and making a study of crime. She kids him along, even falling in with her partners' scheme to rob him of a valuable necklace. She plays the game to the extent of preparing for the ceremony, but her better self comes to the fore when she realizes the depth of the American's love and the duplicity of her sweetheart who chose the necklace in preference to her. She finds happiness as the American's wife.
==Cast== {{Cast listing| * Mae Murray as Gaby * Francis X. Bushman as Grover * Roy D'Arcy as Prefect of Police * Basil Rathbone as Antoine * Pauline Neff as Grover's Sister * Chester Conklin as Wine Waiter * Fred Warren as Vibout * Leo White as Floor Manager }}
==Production== Josef von Sternberg was originally hired to direct the film. After two weeks of filming, he became frustrated with Mae Murray's behavior on the set and ordered the cameramen to film the rafters. He eventually walked out on the picture and was replaced by Christy Cabanne.<ref>{{cite book|last=Koszarski|first=Richard |title=Great American Film Directors: In Photographs|year=1984|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=0-486-24752-X|page=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ankerich|first=Michael G. |title=Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips|year=2012|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-813-14038-4|page=332}}</ref>
Filming began in early August 1925,<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/movpicwor75movi |title=The Moving Picture World |date= |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company |others= |location=New York City |publication-date=August 8, 1925 |pages=657 |language=en}}</ref> and a large Parisian cafe set was constructed at the Culver City MGM studios.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/movpicwor75movi |title=The Moving Picture World |date= |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |others= |location=New York City |publication-date=August 15, 1925 |pages=763 |language=en}}</ref> In the picture, Mae Murray wears a necklace composed of ninety "violet phosphorescent" diamonds, which Moving Picture World claimed was the only one in existence. They also claimed the necklace was insured for $300,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi |title=The Moving Picture World |date= |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company |others= |location=New York City |publication-date=December 5, 1925 |pages=431 |language=en}}</ref>
== Reception == The Film Daily review was mixed, finding the story to be weak, but the settings lavish and Mae Murray to be entertaining.<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/filmdaily3134newy |title=The Film Daily |date= |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc. |others=Media History Digital Library |location=New York City |publication-date=December 6, 1925 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref>
The Moving Picture World reviewer C.S. Sewell gave the film a positive review, despite describing the plot as "highly improbable." Mae Murray's performance and dancing were praised, as well as the performances of the rest of the cast. The reviewer noted the return of Francis X. Bushman after two years of absence from the screen, and described his appearance as "handsome as ever."<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi |title=The Moving Picture World |date= |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company |others= |location=New York City |publication-date=December 12, 1925 |pages=576 |language=en}}</ref>
Variety's review was mostly negative, describing the film as "a melodrama of the hoakiest kind" and the production as if "made in a rush."<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/variety81-1925-12 |title=Variety |date= |publisher=Variety Publishing Company |others= |location=New York City |publication-date=December 2, 1925 |pages=41 |language=en}}</ref>
== Preservation == With no holdings located in archives, ''The Masked Bride'' is considered a lost film.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|The Masked Bride}} *{{IMDb title|0016097}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20111108015702/http://silenthollywood.com/themaskedbride1925.html Stills] at silenthollywood.com *[http://www.basilrathbone.net/films/maskedbride/ Stills] at basilrathbone.net
{{Christy Cabanne}} {{Lost films}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masked Bride}} Category:1925 films Category:1925 romantic drama films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Films directed by Christy Cabanne Category:Films set in Paris Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:American silent feature films Category:1925 lost films Category:1925 English-language films Category:1925 American films Category:English-language romantic drama films Category:Lost American silent romantic drama films
{{silent-romantic-drama-film-stub}}