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Vanity
Vanity
	Film poster
Directed by	Donald Crisp
Written by	Douglas Doty (adaptation); John Krafft (intertitles)
Screenplay by	Douglas Doty
Produced by	Cecil B. DeMille
Starring	Leatrice Joy
Cinematography	Arthur C. Miller
Edited by	Barbara Hunter
Distributed by	Producers Distributing Corporation
Release date	May 9, 1927;
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Vanity is a 1927, American silent drama film directed by Donald Crisp and starring Leatrice Joy. The film was written by Douglas Doty, produced by DeMille Pictures Corporation and distributed by Producers Distributing Corporation.^[1]

Plot

Cast

Leatrice Joy as Barbara Fiske
Charles Ray as Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland
Alan Hale as 'Happy' Dan Morgan
Mayme Kelso as Mrs. Fiske
Noble Johnson as Bimbo, ship's cook
Helen Lee Worthing as Tess Ramsay
Louis Payne as Butler

Production

Leatrice Joy had impulsively cut her hair short in 1926, and Cecil B. DeMille, whom Joy had followed when he set up Producers Distributing Corporation, was publicly angry as it prevented her from portraying traditional feminine roles.^[2] The studio developed projects with roles suitable for her “Leatrice Joy bob”,^[2] and Vanity was the final of five films shot before she regrew her hair. Despite this, a professional dispute would end the Joy / Demille partnership in 1928.

Preservation

A copy of Vanity is held by The Library of Congress.^[3]^[4] Edward Lorusso produced a restoration of the film on DVD and Blu-ray of the film in 2024 with a score by David Drazin. The Library of Congress copy was missing the final reel, but a damaged 16mm print of the final reel was found.

References

^ Progressive Silent Film List: Vanity at silentera.com
^ ^a ^b Johanna, Schmertz (2013), "The Leatrice Joy Bob: The Clinging Vine and Gender's Cutting Edge", in Dall’Asta, Monica; Duckett, Victoria; Tralli, Lucia (eds.), Researching Women in Silent Cinema: New Findings and Perspectives, University of Bologna, pp. 402–13, ISBN 978-8-8980-1010-3, ISSN 2283-6462
^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Vanity
^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, c.1978 by The American Film Institute