The White Shadow, a British Silent film from 1924 found in part
It would appear that several reels of the 1924 silent movie The White Shadow, starring Betty Compson have been found in New Zealand.
It is a shame that so many have heralded this discovery as a ‘lost Hitchcock’ movie. Although Alfred Hitchcock did work on the film and wrote the screenplay it was directed by Graham Cutts and should be reported as such. I am also disappointed at the negative comments about Graham Cutts, for example “There were also stories [that] the named director – Graham Cutts – of the film wasn’t the greatest.‘ He was in fact at the time one of the leading and most successful film directors in the UK.
On my post about Woman to Woman and The White Shadow I wrote ‘The director, Graham (Jack) Cutts had already made his mark directing two films starring Mae Marsh in The Flames of Passion (1922) and Paddy the Next Best Thing (1922) for Herbert Wilcox at the Islington film studios. He was a colourful character, pushing forty, with energy and stamina, and had quite the reputation as a womaniser. He was also the best director in London at the time with a great attention to detail and vision.’
It is also interesting to make clear the The White Shadow was a box office flop and although praised for its production qualities (for example all the gowns in the film were designed by Dolly Tree who had costumed the previous film Woman to Woman) there were serious questions about the story-line and what was called ‘a woeful lack of excellence.’
All images and text © copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent
Read more about Graham Cutts and the film Woman to Woman
Read more about The White Shadow
