The Green Archer (1925 serial)

The Green Archer is a ten part 1925 American mystery film serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet.[1][2] It is based on Edgar Wallace's bestselling 1923 novel of the same name.[3]The filmmakers moved the setting of the novel from England to the United States. The story was remade in the sound era as another serial The Green Archer by Columbia Pictures.

The Green Archer
Film poster
Directed bySpencer Gordon Bennet
Written byFrank Leon Smith
Based onThe Green Archer
by Edgar Wallace
StarringAllene Ray
Walter Miller
Distributed byPathé Exchange
Release date
  • December 6, 1925 (1925-12-06)
Running time
10 episodes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

The first episode is titled "The Ghost of Bellamy Castle" (released in the U.S. December 6, 1925), and the final one is "The Smoke Clears Away" (released in the U.S. February 27, 1926). The serial was released in the United Kingdom by Pathé Pictures International beginning on October 4, 1926. [4][5]

The film no longer exists in complete form. Only the 3rd, 4th and 5th chapters still exist of the original ten-part serial, preserved in UCLA's film and television library.[6]

Cinematographer Stanley Cortez had one of his earliest jobs as assistant cameraman on the serial.[7] Actress Allene Ray went on to star in a number of other serials such as The Terrible People (1928), Hawk of the Hills (1929) and The Indians Are Coming (1930). Director Bennett also went on to direct many sound serials over the next several decades.

The poster had the tagline "The foreboding shadow of the grim Archer - the twang of the bow - and green feathered Death speeds to its mark!"[8]

Most of the books of Edgar Wallace have been adapted into films many times over the years in both England in the 1930s, and in Germany in the 1960s in a series known as the crimis. (See Films based on works by Edgar Wallace)

Plot

A mysterious green archer prowls the grounds of a medieval Castle, helping a reporter to expose the criminal secrets of Abel Bellamy, the castle's reclusive millionaire owner. The mansion had been moved stone by stone from its original location in England to the United States.

Cast
  • Allene Ray as Valerie Howett
  • Walter Miller as Jim Featherstone
  • Burr McIntosh as Abel Bellamy
  • Frank Lackteen as Julius Savini
  • Dorothy King as Gay Savini
  • Stephen Grattan as Walter Howett
  • William R. Randall as John Wood
  • Walter P. Lewis as Cold Harbor Smith
  • Wally Oettel as Spike Holland
  • Tom Cameron as Butler
  • Jack Tanner as Creager

See also

References
  1. "Progressive Silent Film List: The Green Archer". Silent Era. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
  2. "The Green Archer". BFI. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012.
  3. "Full text of "Exhibitor's Trade Review (Aug-Nov 1925)"". archive.org.
  4. "Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List". www.silentera.com.
  5. Kabatchnik, Amnon (October 18, 2012). Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000. ISBN 9780810883550.
  6. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p.284. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  7. "STANLEY CORTEZ". cinematographers.nl.
  8. "Lovecraft is Missing » Archive » green-archer-1925". Lovecraft is Missing.
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