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A Society Exile
A Society Exile
	Ad for the film from a 1919 issue of Motion Picture News
Directed by	George Fitzmaurice
Written by	Ouida Bergère
Based on	We Can't Be as Bad as All That; by Henry Arthur Jones
Produced by	Adolph Zukor; Jesse L. Lasky
Starring	Elsie Ferguson; Julia Dean; Zeffie Tilbury; Henry Stephenson
Cinematography	Arthur C. Miller
Production; company	Famous Players–Lasky / Artcraft
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 17, 1919;
Running time	6 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

A Society Exile (1919) is an American silent film drama directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Elsie Ferguson, Julia Dean, and William Carleton. The assistant director to Fitzmaurice was William Scully. The film was based upon the 1910 play We Can't Be as Bad as All That by Henry Arthur Jones, adapted for the screen by Ouida Bergère.^[2] The film marks the second screen appearance of the actor Henry Stephenson.

According to the American Film Institute catalog, William Cameron Menzies may or may not have been the art director for the film.^[1]

Plot

Based upon a plot summary included in a film review in a film publication,^[3] Nora (Ferguson) is an American heiress who is courted by Lord Bissett (Gamble) while visiting England. She overhears Bissett discussing with his sister the need of Nora's money to replenish his fortune, so she leaves him and moves into a nearby cottage. A successful playwright Sir Howard Furnival (Stephenson) assists her in preparing a play based upon a novel she has written, but keeps this secret from his wife Doris (Dean), who is very jealous. Bissett obtains a page of the manuscript in Nora's handwriting with enduring terms, and gives it to Doris, telling her that it is a love letter to her husband. This leads to the deaths of both Furnivals, and Nora is blamed and ostracized. Nora changes her name and goes to Venice, where she meets and becomes engaged to English army officer Sir Ralph Newell (Carleton). Before their marriage she confesses who she is in a letter that he never receives. Upon return to England, she discovers that her husband is the brother of Doris and has cursed the woman who caused his sister's death. Bissett reveals to Newell who Nora is. In the end after more melodrama, the lovers are reunited in Venice.

Film still; Elsie Ferguson and Warburton Gamble.

Cast

Elsie Ferguson as Nora Shard
William P. Carleton as Sir Ralph Newell
Warburton Gamble as Lord Bissett
Julia Dean as Lady Doris Furnival
Henry Stephenson as Sir Howard Furnival
Zeffie Tilbury as Mrs. Stanley Shelby
Bijou Fernandez as Lady Carnforth
Alexander Kyle as Lord Carnforth

Preservation

With no prints of A Society Exile located in any film archives, it is considered a lost film.^[4]^[5] In February of 2021, the film was cited by the National Film Preservation Board on their Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films list.^[2]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b American Film Institute Catalogue, Feature Films, 1911-1920
^ ^a ^b "A Society Exile". afi.com. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ "A Society Exile: A Wholly Satisfying Society Drama". Motion Picture News. 20 (10). New York City: Motion Picture News, Inc.: 1867 Aug 30, 1919. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
^ "American Silent Feature Film Database: A Society Exile". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ "Progressive Silent Film List: A Society Exile". silentera.com. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
^ "7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29)" (PDF). National Film Preservation Board. Retrieved April 9, 2024.