The Red Widow

The Red Widow is a lost 1916 American silent romantic comedy film directed by James Durkin, produced by Famous Players-Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.[1] The film was based on a 1911 Broadway musical play The Red Widow by Channing Pollock and Rennold Wolf and starring comedian Raymond Hitchcock. John Barrymore stars in this film in the Hitchcock part of Cicero Butts. Hitchcock's wife, Flora Zabelle, is the leading lady in this film.[2][3][4][5]

The Red Widow
Newspaper advertisement with image of Barrymore ducking Flora Zabelle who is holding a large bomb
Directed byJames Durkin
Produced byAdolph Zukor
Jesse Lasky
Daniel Frohman
Written byHugh Ford (scenario)
Based onThe Red Widow
by Channing Pollock and Rennold Wolf
StarringJohn Barrymore
Music byCharles J. Gebest
CinematographyWilliam F. Wagner
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • April 4, 1916 (1916-04-04)
Running time
5 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Cast
  • John Barrymore as Cicero Hannibal Butts
  • Flora Zabelle Hitchcock as Anna Varvara (credited as Flora Zabelle)
  • John Hendricks as Baron Strickoutvich
  • Eugene Redding as Ivan Scorpioff
  • Millard Benson as Basil Romanoff
  • George E. Mack as Popova
  • Lillian Tucker as Mrs. Butts
  • E.L. Fernandez as Captain Roman (credited as Mr. Fernandez)

unbilled

  • John Goldsworthy

Production

This particular comedy film was shot twice. The negative for the first version of The Red Widow burned up in a nitrate fire before the distribution prints could be made made. This was probably the same Famous Players fire of September 11, 1915, that destroyed the first version of Mary Pickford's Esmerelda (1915). Barrymore and the cast reshot the film for no salary.[6]

References
  1. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:The Red Widow
  2. Progressive Silent Film List: The Red Widow at silentera.com
  3. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911–20 by The American Film Institute, c. 1988
  4. John Barrymore: A Bio-Bibliography by Martin Norden, c. 1995
  5. John Barrymore Shakespearean Actor by Michael Morrison, c. 1997 p.73
  6. The Barrymores in Hollywood by James Kotsilibas Davis, c.1981


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