The Whispered Name is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by King Baggot and starring Ruth Clifford, Charles Clary, and W.E. Lawrence.[1][2] It was based on a Broadway play that had previously been made into the 1917 film The Co-Respondent.

The Whispered Name
Newspaper advertisement
Directed byKing Baggot
Written byLois Zellner
Based onThe Co-Respondent
by Alice Leal Pollock and Rita Weiman
StarringRuth Clifford
Charles Clary
W.E. Lawrence
CinematographyJackson Rose
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • January 21, 1924 (1924-01-21)
Running time
50 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

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As described in a film magazine,[3] Lagdon Van Kreel (Clary), millionaire, is sued by his wife Marcia (Mersch) for divorce at the instigation of her attorney, Craig Stephenson (Merkyl), who has been making love to her. They put detectives on Lagdon's trail. In the meantime Anne Gray (Clifford), a young country woman, elopes with Robert Gordon (Lawrence), a scapegrace, who seeks to victimize her. They arrive at Van Kreel's hotel, where he discovers Gordon's plans, interferes, and takes charge of the young woman. The detectives, suspecting that this is a clandestine meeting, obtain a flash photograph of the two. Anne, alarmed, flees. She does not learn Lagdon's name, nor does he hers. She obtains a position on the News, an ultraconservative journal edited by John Manning (Welch), the son of its founder. Its assistant managing editor, Fred Galvin (Stevenson), is secretly owner of the Tattle-tale, a gutter-weekly retailing scandal. Galvin is watching the Van Kreel divorce eagerly, scenting blackmail. In the meantime Anne and Manning fall in love with each other. Fred learns that Anne was the young woman seen with Langdon in the hotel and sends her to Marcia Van Kreel's home to interview her, secretly informing the latter who Anne is. Marcia denounces her. Langdon enters and insists that the girl is innocent. Anne telephones Fred Galvin, begging him to clear her, and he taunts her. John, overhearing, administers a thrashing to Fred, who confesses owning the scandal weekly, and admits that it is a blackmail scheme. He admits that he and lawyer Craig Stephenson work up divorce cases, then use the weekly to levy tribute through fear of public scandal. John Manning breaks up the ring and clears the situation up in a dramatic finale.

Cast

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Preservation

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With no prints of The Whispered Name located in any film archives,[4] it is a lost film.

References

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  1. ^ Munden p. 66
  2. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Whispered Name at silentera.com
  3. ^ "The Whispered Name". Universal Weekly. 18 (23). New York City, New York: Moving Picture Weekly Pub. Co.: 36 January 19, 1924. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  4. ^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: The Whispered Name

Bibliography

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  • Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.
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