The Mailman (1923 film)

The Mailman is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Emory Johnson and written by Emilie Johnson. The film stars Ralph Lewis and Johnnie Walker. The film was released on December 9, 1923 by FBO.[1][2]

The Mailman (1923 film)
Newspaper Ad
Directed byEmory Johnson
Produced byPat Powers
Emory Johnson
Written byEmilie Johnson
Story and Screenplay
StarringRalph Lewis
CinematographyRoss Fischer
Distributed byFBO
Release date
  • December 9, 1923 (1923-12-09)
Running time
7 reels
CountryUSA
LanguageSilent (English intertitles

Plot

This story unfolds as a veteran postman Bob Morley played by Ralph Lewis and his son - Johnnie played by Johnnie Walker are both honored for their years of service. Later, Johnnie receives a promotion to work on a postal service ship, the Enterprise. The ocean-going ship carries registered postal mail. One night while Johnnie is at work on the ship, a robbery occurs at midnight. During the burglary, the robbers kill a postal officer. Bob's son witnesses the foul play. The perpetrators decide to throw Johnnie, the only witness, overboard into the sea.

After Johnnie is tossed overboard, he is recovered by a yacht, which happens to be in the area. In a twist of fate, the vessel is a rum-runner and happens to be involved in the robbery of the Enterprise. Johnnie somehow alerts the Pacific fleet. The entire Pacific fleet pursues the rum-running yacht with ten Dreadnoughts. The warships destroy the 90-foot yacht. Johnnie is saved from the destruction only to face trial for killing a government postal officer during the robbery. His father desperately contacts everyone he knows, pleading to save his son. As the court is about to sentenced Johnnie to hang for the shooting, the real perpetrator confesses, and all ends well.[3]

Cast
Actor Role
Ralph LewisBob Morley
Johnnie WalkerJohnnie
Martha SleeperBetty
Virginia True BoardmanMrs. Morley
Taylor GravesHarry
Hardee KirklandCaptain Franz
David KirbyJack Morgan
Josephine AdairVirginia
Rosemary CooperMrs. Thompson
Richard MorrisAdmiral Fleming

Preservation status

A report created by film historian and archivist David Pierce for the Library of Congress claims:

  • 75% of original silent-era films have perished.
  • 14% of the 10,919 silent films released by major studios exist in their original 35mm or other formats.
  • 11% survive in full-length foreign versions or on film formats of lesser image quality.[4][5] Many silent-era films did not survive for reasons as explained on this Wikipedia page.

Emory Johnson directed 13 films, of which 11 were silent, and 2 were Talkies. The Mailman was the fourth film in Emory Johnson's eight-picture contract with FBO. The film's original length is listed at 7 reels. According to the Library of Congress website, this film has a status of - 2 reels are available at the Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow)[6]

Copies of this movie are not available on YouTube, movie vendors, or the Internet Archive.

Principal Players and Director

References
  1. TheMailman The AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. "Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List". www.silentera.com.
  3. The Mailman @ IMDb.com
  4. Pierce, David. "The Survival of American Silent Films: 1912-1929" (PDF). Library Of Congress. Council on Library and Information Resources and the Library of Congress. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  5. Slide, Anthony (2000). Nitrate Won't Wait: History of Film Preservation in the United States. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 978-0786408368. Retrieved March 25, 2013. It is often claimed that 75 percent of all American silent films are gone and 50 percent of all films made prior to 1950 are lost, but such figures, as archivists admit in private, were thought up on the spur of the moment, without statistical information to back them up.
  6. The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Mailman
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