Sunday, May 10, 1998

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Margaret Herrick Library
333 South La Cienega Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
phone # (310) 247-3020 - reference and question line

Dear Sir or Madame:

I am currently researching a book on the gaslight author Robert W. Chambers. I also maintain a web site on his life and work. I am trying to find out about the films that were made from his novels.

He seems to have had a working relationship with Miss Marion Davies. I know that she made at least one film from a work of his, The restless sex 1918.

The Restless Sex (Cosmopolitan Pictures, for Paramount, 1920) - Cast: Marion Davies, Ralph Kellard, Carlyle Blackwell, Charles Lane, Vivian Osborne, Corrine Barker, Edna Rose and Stephen Carr. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Scripted by Robert W. Chambers. Story by Frances Marion. 7 Reels.

I also suspect that she made at least two other films from Chambers' novels, The Dark Star - 1919 and Operator 13 - 1934.

Chambers wrote a novel named Dark Star in 1917, which has a strong female lead.

The Dark Star (Cosmopolitan, released through Artcraft/Paramount, 1919) - Cast: Marion Davies, Norman Kerry, Dorothy Green, Matt Moore, Ward Crane, George Cooper, Arthur Earle, Butler Conblough, Emil Hoch, James Laffey, William Brotherhood and Fred Hearn. Directed by Allan Dwan.

I am almost certain that Miss Davies' film Operator 13 - 1934 is based on Robert W. Chambers' Secret Service Operator 13 - 1933. They both have the same plot and the same title.

Davies plays an actress who becomes a Union spy during the Civil War and finds herself involved with Confederate he-man Cooper. Based on a real-life story.

Operator 13 (Cosmopolitan, released through M-G-M, 1934) - Cast: Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, Jean Parker, Katarine Alexander, Ted Healy, Russell Hardie, Henry Wadsworth, Douglas Dumbrille, Willard Robertson, Fuzzy Knight, Sidney Toler, Robert McWade, Walter Long and the four Mills Brothers. Directed by Richard Boleslavsky.

Other movies that Chambers was involved with are America; or, The sacrifice 1924 D.W. Griffith and Time Out of War, Carnival Productions, 1954, released by Universal Pictures.

America; or, The sacrifice 1924 Illustrated with Scenes from the Motion Picture New York Grosset & Dunlap 1924 Photoplay edition issued to coincide with the release of the D.W. Griffith directed film epic about the American Revolutionary War starring Neil Hamilton and Carol Dempster.

Time Out of War : A movie adaptation of the story Pickets, appearing in The Haunts of Men, F. A. Stokes Co., N. Y., 1898. The movie was made by Carnival Productions, 1954, and released by Universal Pictures Co., 1956. It was produced with the cooperation of the University of California at Los Angeles, Dept. of Theatre Arts. Information from the Library of Congress: "Two Union soldiers and a Confederate soldier, facing each other at a battle front, agree on an hour's truce during which they exchange conversation and supplies and join in a mutual salute over the grave of a newly buried Union soldier. Written and directed by Dennis Sanders; music, Frank Hamilton; photographer, Terry Sanders. Cast: Barry Atwater, Robert Sherry, Corey Allen."

I am looking for conformation on the two Marion Davies films Dark Star and Operator 13 and information of any other films in which Robert W. Chambers had any involvement. I would also like to get copies of any stills or lobby cards from these films. And if there is a chance to see these films I would love to view them. I doubt that any of them have gone to video but on the off chance that they have I would like to know where to get copies of the same.

Sincerely Yours

 

 Larry Loc