AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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The House of Mirth
Director: Albert Capellani (Dir)
Release Date:   5 Aug 1918
Duration (in feet):   5,640
Duration (in reels):   6
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Cast:   Katherine Harris Barrymore (Lily Bart)  
    Henry Kolker (Lawrence Selden)  
    Christine Mayo (Bertha Trenor-Dorset)  
    Joseph Kilgour (Augustus Trenor-Dorset)  
    Lottie Briscoe (Gertie Farish)  
    Edward Abeles (Simon Rosedale)  
    Maggie Western (Mrs. Haffen)  
    Pauline Welch (Nettie Struthers)  
    Nellie Parker-Spaulding (Mrs. Penniston)  
    W. D. Fichter (Ned Silverton)  
    Sidney Bracy (Percy Gryce)  
    Kempton Greene (Jeff Wade)  
    Morgan Jones (Butler)  
    William A. Sullivan    

Summary: Lily Bart loves Lawrence Selden, a lawyer of moderate means, but she is also pursued by Simon Rosedale, a wealthy businessman, and Augustus Trenor-Dorset, a married man. When Dorset's wife Bertha announces that she is going to the country (although she really plans to meet Ned Silverton, with whom she is having an affair), Dorset asks Lily to dine at his home. Alone with him at the house, she rejects his advances, but when Mrs. Dorset returns, she publicly insults Lily, forcing her to move to another town. Lily's aunt dies and leaves her penniless, whereupon she reluctantly begins to seek employment. She is about to kill herself when Selden, who has never stopped loving her, enters the room and convinces her to marry him. 

Production Company: Metro Pictures Corp.  
Brand Name: All-Star Series
Distribution Company: Metro Pictures Corp.  
Director: Albert Capellani (Dir)
  Leander De Cordova (Asst dir)
Producer: Maxwell Karger (Supv)
Writer: June Mathis (Scen)
  Albert Capellani (Scen)
Photography: Eugene Gaudio (Cam)
Country: United States

Source Text: Based on the novel The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (New York, 1905).
Authors: Edith Wharton

Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Metro Pictures Corp. 9/8/1918 dd/mm/yyyy LP12740

Physical Properties: b&w;:
  Si:

 
Genre: Drama
 
Subjects (Major): Fidelity
  Infidelity
  Poverty
  Reputation
 
Subjects (Minor): Attempted suicide
  Aunts
  Businessmen
  Duplicity
  Lawyers
  Rivalry
  Unemployment

Note: Wharton's novel was adapted for the stage by Clyde Fitch, along with Wharton, and was produced in Detroit, 11 Sep 1906. Some reviews give a length of five reels. 

Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
ETR   10 Aug 18   p. 798.
ETR   17 Aug 18   p. 926.
MPN   24 Aug 18   p. 1212.
MPW   24 Aug 18   p. 1157.
NYDM   31 Aug 18   p. 320.
Variety   16 Aug 18   p. 38.
Wid's   11 Aug 18   p. 31.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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