Wanderer of the Wasteland (1924 film)

Wanderer of the Wasteland
Wanderer of the Wasteland
	Theatrical release poster, likenesses of Jack Holt and Billie Dove
Directed by	Irvin Willat
Written by	George C. Hull; Victor Irvin;
Based on	Wanderer of the Wasteland; by Zane Grey
Produced by	Lucien Hubbard
Starring	Jack Holt; Noah Beery; Billie Dove;
Cinematography	Arthur Ball
Production; company	Famous Players–Lasky
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	June 21, 1924 (US);
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Silent; English intertitles

Wanderer of the Wasteland is a 1924 American silent Western film directed by Irvin Willat and starring Jack Holt, Noah Beery, and Billie Dove. It was the second feature film to be photographed entirely in two-color Technicolor.

Plot

The film is based on Zane Grey's 1923 novel of two brothers, one an honest cowpoke, the other a gambler. When Adam Larey (Jack Holt) confronts his younger brother Guerd (James Mason) about his gambling addiction, the latter is accidentally shot. A distraught Adam, believing he has killed his own brother, flees into the desert. He later learns that Guerd was merely wounded and returns to the loving arms of beautiful Ruth Virey (Billie Dove).

Cast

Jack Holt as Adam Larey
Noah Beery as Dismukes
George Irving as Mr. Roderick Virey
Kathlyn Williams as Magdalene Virey
Billie Dove as Ruth Virey
Jim Mason as Guerd Larey (credited as James Mason)
Richard Neill as Collishaw (credited as Richard R. Neill)
James Gordon as Alex MacKay
William A. Carroll as Merryvale (credited as William Carroll)
Willard Cooley as Camp Doctor

Production

Paramount Pictures decided to make a picture entirely in Technicolor (an early version known as Process 2) following the success of the Technicolor sequences in the film The Ten Commandments (1923) and director Irvin Willat's own Heritage of the Desert (1924).^[1] Production began on January 24, 1924, and wrapped on March 9. Location shooting for the film included setting up "tent cities" in remote parts of Arizona, Nevada and California, and the production crew worked without being able to watch dailies.^[2]

Preservation status

The film is now considered to be a lost film. An original cemented Technicolor print survived into the 1960s in the hands of the film's director, Irvin Willat, who reported in 1971 that the 35 mm nitrate film had decomposed.

After Willat's death, his daughter mentioned that she remembered the day when he discovered that Wanderer of the Wasteland had decomposed. She said he went upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door and cried for three hours. His former wife, Billie Dove, starred in the picture, and he had never really come to terms with their separation after she left him for Howard Hughes.

References

^ Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1924.
^ Layton, James and David Pierce. The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 104.

External links

Wanderer of the Wasteland at IMDb
Progressive Silent Film List: Wanderer of the Wasteland at silentera.com
Lobby poster; Wanderer of the Wasteland (flickr)

[1] Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1924.

[2] Layton, James and David Pierce. The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 104.

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