The Enchanted Cottage (1924)

John S. Robertson: The Enchanted Cottage (1924). Poster from IMDb.

John S. Robertson: The Enchanted Cottage (1924) with Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy. Poster from IMDb.

THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE (Inspiration Pictures, US 1924)
    Dir: John S. Robertson; adapted by Josephine Lovett from the play by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero; ph: George Folsey; cast: Richard Barthelmess, May McAvoy, Florence Short, Holmes Herbert; rel. 24.3.1924.
    35 mm, 7120 ft /24 fps/ 79 min, Library of Congress.
    English intertitles
    Grand piano: Phil Carli.
    Viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Fort Lee, 14 Oct 2004

Richard Koszarski (GCM): "Until 1926, all the Barthelmess Inspiration productions were made in the East; two of them, The Fighting Blade and The Enchanted Cottage, at the Universal studio in Fort Lee, once the largest glass-enclosed studio in the country. Except for a handful of scenes, The Enchanted Cottage was filmed entirely inside this studio during the bitter winter of 1923–24, including all scenes of the cottage and its surrounding grounds. “In the East,” Barthelmess said, “there are many fine studio facilities, and any picture demanding only interiors can be made as well in Fort Lee as in Hollywood.” Of course, such artificial settings worked best with fanciful material like this, elegantly photographed here by George Folsey. Although a few independent productions came later, this was the last silent feature from a major producer/star made in Fort Lee." – Richard Koszarski (GCM)

AA: A war trauma film: the crippled war invalid Oliver Bashforth (Richard Barthelmess) wants to break free from the presence of his domineering sister and finds refuge in a lonely cottage. There he meets the plain but kind Laura Pennington (May McAvoy) who reveals that the place is a very old honeymoon cottage. The spirit of the place casts a spell of them, and both are transformed by love. Cinematic dimensions: mirror phobia; "the blind sense what others see". 

I know May McAvoy best from her great Ernst Lubitsch roles in Three Women and Lady Windermere's Fan (the title role) and of course the female lead in The Jazz Singer. This is something completely different, nuanced and delicate in an unconventional and moving romance.

Richard Barthelmess had an interesting career as a producer-star. His first film as an independent producer was Tol'able David, no less, and he produced several of the best films of Henry King before King signed with Goldwyn and Fox.

WIKIPEDIA:

"The Enchanted Cottage is a 1924 American silent drama film based upon a 1923 play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and directed by John S. Robertson.

The film was produced by Richard Barthelmess, through his company Inspiration, and released through Associated First National. Barthelmess and May McAvoy star in the drama.

Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire starred in 1945 version also based on the 1923 play.

Crippled by the war, Oliver Bashforth (Richard Barthelmess) moves into a lonely cottage in search of solitude. He meets Laura Pennington (May McAvoy), a plain and lonely woman, and marries her, primarily to escape from his energetic sister, Ethel (Florence Short). The unhappy couple allow their insecurities to suppress romance and happiness, but their mutual admiration grows and becomes love, manifested by the recognition of the inner beauty in each of them.

A reviewer for Photoplay wrote, "To anyone with a poetic soul, this picture will be a rare treat. But the too literal person will be sadly disappointed. A picture for folk who dare to dream. As such we cannot recommend it too highly."

"There is a charm about the spoken or written word that is frequently too elusive to be caught by the camera, and in its efforts to make things clear, too often the screen makes them merely clumsy," wrote Marguerite Orndorff for The Educational Screen. "There was a danger of such a result in filming this whimsy of Pinero's, but the direction of John S. Robertson, and the understanding portrayals of May McAvoy and Richard Barthelmess have in a large measure preserved its delicacy."" (Wikipedia)

P.S. Fritzi Kramer: The Enchanted Cottage, Movies Silently, 26 July, 2015.