THE RESTLESS SPIRIT

Released 10/27/13 by Universal/Rex; Director: Allan Dwan; Screenplay: Allan Dwan, from a poem by Thomas Grey; 3 reels

CAST: Warren Kerrigan (The Dreamer), Pauline Bush (The Desert Flower), Jessalyn Van Trump (The Wife), William Worthington, George Periolat, Lon Chaney (Russian Count; uncredited)

SYNOPSIS:The Dreamer is a man who is discontented in his marriage. He wanders about while his wife and child are neglected. The wife's father helps her, and reproaches her for putting up with such a man and the villagers view him with contempt. The father introduces the wife to a sleek stranger, who is quite a contrast to her lazy husband. The Dreamer wanders into the desert where he collapses in exhaustion, but is found by the Desert Flower who nurses him back to health. She tries to convince him to return to his wife. Through a series of illusions, he sees himself as Napoleon, a victorious knight, and a sultan, but all these glorious images end with the men in their graves. The Dreamer decides to return to his family. The wife's father has put her out of his home for refusing to marry the stranger. The husband meets them all at the edge of the desert where he sends the stranger into the desert and returns to the town with his wife. Over time, he makes good and becomes loved and respected in the town.

NOTES: Two stills from this film were found in the estate of George Chaney, Lon's youngest brother. There was an X above Lon's head in the border of the photo and on the back of the still, Lon wrote, "This is me just below the X sign. Here I am a Russian Prince." Lon also appears in one of the fantasy sequences as a wild man. This is possibly the last of Lon's unbilled appearances.


© 2002,2013 Jon C. Mirsalis


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