Triumph (1917) (incomplete)

Joseph De Grasse: Triumph (1917). Photo: IMDb.

TRIUMPH (Bluebird Photoplays, Inc., US 1917)
    Dir: Joseph De Grasse; sc: Fred Myton, based on the 1916 Collier’s Weekly short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams; cast: Dorothy Phillips, Lon Chaney, William Stowell, William J. Dyer, Claire DuBrey; 35 mm, 2558 ft, 30’ (20 fps), Academy Film Archive.
    English intertitles.
    Grand piano: Tama Karena.
    Viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Fuori quadro, 16 Oct 2004

Brandee Brannigan Cox (GCM): "Once considered a lost film, Triumph, with Lon Chaney as one of the principal cast members, makes its own grand re-entry back into the mainstream of sentimental tales about theatre and stardom for all silent fans to see.  To date, 3 out of the 5 reels of this feature have been recovered, and steps have been taken to preserve what has surfaced, as well as providing an ending using stills and text."

"The story focuses on a blossoming ingénue, Nell Baxter (Dorothy Phillips), who, through a friendship with an old character actor, Dudley Weyman (William Stowell), is advised to audition for a role in a new play, after the original actress drops out due to a recent marriage.  Nell impresses not only the director, but also the stage manager, David Montieth (William J. Dyer), who grows quite fond of her.  "

"Unfortunately Nell’s heart lies elsewhere, with dramatic critic and struggling playwright Paul Neihoff (Lon Chaney).  Nell’s affection for Neihoff prompts her to approach Montieth about producing one of his plays.  Montieth agrees, believing that his feelings for Nell will be reciprocated.  He is quick to discover, however, that it is all an illusion, and threatens to pull the plug on the opening night of Niehoff’s stage show." – Brandee Brannigan Cox (GCM)

Synopsis from AFI Catalog Online: "While awaiting the train to Broadway, Nell Baxter meets the leading man of a repertory company to whom she confides her ambitions. Upon arriving in the city, Nell attracts the lascivious eye of stage manager David Montieth, who eventually gives her the starring role in a play with the expectation that he will be favored with her affections."

"Nell, however, has fallen in love with playwright Paul Neihoff. On the afternoon that the show is to open, Montieth learns of Nell's romance and cancels the show. Nell goes to Montieth's apartment to plead with him to open the show, and he consents after setting Nell's virtue as the price of her ambition."

"When he attempts to collect, Nell stabs him and rushes to Neihoff's apartment. The playwright tells her to go to the theater as if nothing has happened, writes a letter confessing that he killed the manager, and then takes an overdose of a drug and dies."

"Word comes to Nell after the second act that Neihoff has sacrificed himself, and in the last act, she substitutes a real dagger for the fake one and stabs herself to death. It has all been a story, however, concocted by the leading man to cure Nell of her infatuation with the footlights, and no one has died."

AA: Restored by the Academy Film Archive, a lost film eagerly awaited even in fragmentary form because of the presence of Lon Chaney. But the film is not unforgettable, nor is Chaney electrifying at this stage.

My guess is that The Miracle Man (1919) was the film in which Chaney emerged with full electricity for the first time. I have seen the surviving fragment and will never forget it.

The duration of the screening was 34 minutes.