{{short description|1920 silent film by Joe De Grasse}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{infobox film | name = The Midlanders | image = The Midlanders (1920) - Ad.jpg | alt = Vintage advertisement with a smiling girl beside stylized text describing the film as a romantic pioneer story | caption = Magazine advertisement | producer = Andrew J. Callaghan | director = {{Plainlist| * Joseph De Grasse * Ida May Park<ref name="camera03unse" /> }} | writer = Ida May Park (scenario)<ref name="camera03unse" /> | based_on = {{based on|''The Midlanders'' (novel)|Charles Tenney Jackson}} | starring = Bessie Love | cinematography = King D. Gray | studio = Andrew J. Callaghan Productions | distributor = Federated Film Exchanges of America, Inc. | released = {{film date|1920|12}} | runtime = 5 reels<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald13exhi_0 |title=Guide to Current Pictures |date=October 1, 1921 |page=[https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald13exhi_0/page/97 97] |magazine=Exhibitors Herald}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald11exhi_1|date=November 27, 1920|magazine=Exhibitors Herald|page=[https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald11exhi_1/page/n129 102]|title=Guide to Current Pictures}}</ref> | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = $75,000<ref name="movpicwor512movi">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor512movi|magazine=Moving Picture World|date=August 6, 1921|page=[https://archive.org/details/movpicwor512movi/page/n65 592]|title=Callaghan Asks Injunction Restraining Federated from Exhibiting Productions}}</ref> }} '''''The Midlanders''''' is a 1920 American silent drama film starring Bessie Love and directed by husband and wife duo Joseph De Grasse and Ida May Park.<ref name="AFI">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/17817|website=The AFI Catalog of Feature Films|title=''The Midlanders'' (1920)}}</ref> It was produced by Andrew J. Callaghan Productions and distributed by Federated Film Exchanges of America. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Charles Tenney Jackson, published by Bobbs-Merrill Company.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor461movi |title=Federated Preparing Special Book on Bessie Love Pictures |magazine=The Moving Picture World |page=[https://archive.org/details/movpicwor461movi/page/515 515] |date=September 25, 1920}}</ref>
Only a small fragment of this film is known to survive.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7520/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Midlanders'']</ref><ref>[http://nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16711&p=124293&hilit=the+midlanders#p124293 Lost 35 mm Nitrate Film FOUND!; Nitrateville.com] Retrieved September 5, 2014</ref>
==Plot== Aurelie (Bessie Love), an orphan from New Orleans, escapes her convent and gets adopted by Mississippi riverboat captain Lindstrom (Curt Rehfeld). Hoping to give her a steadier life, he sends her to live with his brother, John Lindstrom (C. Norman Hammand), a squatter in a quiet river valley town. As Aurelie grows into a striking young woman, she wins a beauty contest and accepts an offer from a theatrical producer. Her rise to fame is swift. When she returns home, she faces rejection from the townspeople. Two men remain drawn to her: Wiley Curran (Lloyd Bacon), the local newspaper editor, and Harlan Van Hart (Truman Van Dyke), the judge's college-educated son.<ref name="AFI" />
== Cast == thumb|alt=A vintage film still of a young woman holding books standing beside a boy and facing three men in suits and hats outside a stone building|Bessie Love in a scene from ''The Midlanders'' {{castlist| * Bessie Love as Aurelie Lindstrom * Truman Van Dyke as Harlan Van Hart * Sydney Deane as Judge Van Hart * Frances Raymond as Mrs. Van Hart * Curt Rehfeld as Captain Lindstrom * C. Norman Hammand as Papa John Lindstrom * Lloyd Bacon as Wiley Curran * Jack Donovan as Arne Vance * Howard Crampton as Boss Tanner * Bill White as Mins<ref name="camera03unse">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/camera03unse |magazine=Camera! |page=[https://archive.org/details/camera03unse/page/n299 15] |title=Who's Where on Los Angeles Screens |volume=3 |issue=46 |date=February 26, 1921}}</ref> }}
== Production == thumb|alt=A young woman seated with a book looks up at a boy standing beside her with a downcast expression in a dimly lit scene|Bessie Love reads a book in a scene from ''The Midlanders'' Interiors were filmed in a studio in Los Angeles, and exteriors were filmed in Rio Vista.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor441movi |date=April 17, 1920 |magazine=The Moving Picture World |page=[https://archive.org/details/movpicwor441movi/page/n405 436] |title=Capable Cast Assures Strong Support to Bessie Love in ''The Midlanders''}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor441movi|title=Bessie Love Returns from Taking Rio Vista Exteriors |date=May 8, 1920 |magazine=The Moving Picture World |page=[https://archive.org/details/movpicwor441movi/page/n829 854]}}</ref> To prepare for her performance, Bessie Love took dance classes at Theodore Kosloff's ballet school.<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=105}}</ref>
After its release, producer Andrew J. Callaghan sued Federated Film Exchanges, saying that the distributor had not paid the full amount to distribute this film, ''Bonnie May'', and ''Penny of Top Hill Trail''.<ref name="movpicwor512movi" />
== Reception ==
The film received mixed reviews,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew23moti_7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew23moti_7/page/3418 3418] |magazine=Motion Picture News |date=June 4, 1921 |title=What the Big Houses Say with First Run Theatres}}</ref> but Love's performance was highly praised.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/pictureplaymagaz12unse |page=[https://archive.org/details/pictureplaymagaz12unse/page/n71 68] |title=Some Pre-Release Impressions |last=Howe |first=Herbert |magazine=Picture-Play Magazine |date=August 1920 |volume=12 |issue=6}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{YouTube|id=3hJCHvfZpKs|title=Surviving footage of ''The Midlanders''}} * {{IMDb title|0011460|The Midlanders}} * {{AFI film|17817|The Midlanders}} * {{TCMDb title|496148|The Midlanders}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midlanders, The}} Category:1920 films Category:1920 drama films Category:1920 lost films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films directed by Ida May Park Category:Films directed by Joseph De Grasse Category:1920 American films Category:1920 English-language films Category:English-language drama films Category:Lost American silent drama films
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