The Age of Innocence (1924 film)

The Age of Innocence is a 1924 American silent film directed by Wesley Ruggles. It is the first film adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence. It is considered a lost film.^[1]

Plot

Newland Archer is engaged to May Mingott of a prominent New York family. Shortly after the engagement is announce, Newland finds himself attracted to May’s older married cousin Countess Ellen Olenska. After his marriage to May, Newland and Ellen agree to run away together. Before this can happen, May visits her husband’s lover and informs her that she is expecting a child. Ellen and Newland part ways, Newland vowing to be a better husband to his wife May.

Cast

• Beverly Bayne as Countess Ellen Olanska
• Edith Roberts as May Mingott
• Elliott Dexter as Newland Archer
• Willard Louis as Cornelius Beaufort
• Fred Huntley
• Gertrude Norman
• Sigrid Holmquist

Preservation status

This film is now lost. In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of his pre-December 1949 films to Associated Artists Productions. In 1969, UA donated 16mm prints of some Warner Bros. films from outside United States. No copies of The Age of Innocence are known to exist.

Legacy

In 1993, remake of the same name, was directed by Martin Scorsese and was released by Columbia Pictures, starring Michelle Pfeiffer as Countess Ellen Olenska, Daniel Day-Lewis as Newland Archer, Winona Ryder as May Welland Archer, Richard E. Grant, and Miriam Margolyes. Ryder won a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of May Welland Archer, and the film won an Oscar for costume design.

References

External links

• The Age of Innocence at the Internet Movie Database
• The Age of Innocence at AllMovie
• The Age of Innocence at the TCM Movie Database
• The Age of Innocence at the American Film Institute Catalog