Flames (1926 film)

Flames
Promotional photograph of actor Jean Hersholt in the film as Ole Bergson
Directed by	Lewis H. Moomaw
Screenplay by	Alfred A. Cohn
Based on	To the Brave by Alfred A. Cohn
Produced by	Lewis H. Moomaw
Starring	Eugene O’Brien Virginia Valli Jean Hersholt Boris Karloff
Cinematography	Herbert H. Brownell King D. Gray
Edited by	Frank Lawrence
Distributed by	Associated Exhibitors
Release date	September 15, 1926 (1926-09-15)
Running time	6 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Flames is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Lewis H. Moomaw and starring Eugene O’Brien, Virginia Valli, Jean Hersholt, and Boris Karloff.^[1] Its plot follows a railroad laborer who, while working on a bridge in rural Oregon, must face off with a desperado who kidnaps his boss's daughter.

One reel of the feature survives at the Library of Congress, though the remaining five are lost.^[2] The film was shot on location in Portland, Oregon,^[3] as well as Oregon's Cascade Mountain range in the fall of 1925. Though mostly filmed in black and white, the film's climactic sequence, which features a forest fire, was shot in color.

Herbert Landis is sent to supervise the construction of a bridge in Oregon by James Travers, a railroad magnate and father of Anne Travers, who Herbert is smitten by. Herbert is dismayed when Anne invites Hilary Fenton, high-society playboy, to accompany them to a rural encampment where the project is headquartered. Anne is attended by Mrs. Edgerton, who acts as a chaperone.

Herbert is dismayed by Anne's interest in Hilary, who is wooing her in an attempt to access her family's fortune. Ole Bergson, Herbert's cabin roommate, devises a plan to help make Anne fall in love with Herbert: Ole disguises himself as Blackie Blanchette, a local desperado, and kidnaps Anne, urging Herbert to "rescue" her from him.

Ole's plan is foiled when he himself is kidnapped by the real Blackie Blackfoot. When a forest fire breaks out in the area, Herbert confronts Blackie, who has brought Anne to a secluded cabin. Blackie is killed when the cabin catches fire, while Herbert and Anne manage to escape the blaze by seeking shelter in a river. The dramatic event leaves Hilary exasperated. Finding country life too difficult, he returns to the city. Upon Hilary's departure, Anne determines Herbert to be the true object of her affection.

The film was shot in Portland, Oregon in the fall of 1925 under the working title To the Brave, the name of the story by Alfred A. Cohn on which the film is based.^[4][5] It was subsequently retitled How to Train Your Wife before being retitled one final time as Flames, referring to a forest fire sequence that occurs at the climax of the film.^[5] The Forest Fire Protective Service oversaw the filming of the dramatic climactic sequence in Oregon's Cascade Range near Odell Lake^[4] in central Oregon.^[5] Though the majority of the film was shot in black and white, the climactic sequence was filmed in color.^[5]

Associated Exhibitors released Flames theatrically on September 15, 1926.^[5]

A review published in The Pasadena Post noted that the film "was not so outstanding as to attract unusual attention, but the work of its three principal [actors] was."^[6] Roscoe McGowen of the New York Daily News wrote that the film was "not a bad picture," though he singled out Hersholt's performance as the standout, noting that he "contributes a Von Stroheim touch of realism."^[7]

Flames is considered a lost film, although one of its six reels is known to survive, and is held by the Library of Congress.^[2]

• List of early color feature films

• Nollen, Scott Allen; Nollen, Yuyun Yuningsih (2021). Karloff and the East: Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Oceanian Characters and Subjects in His Screen Career. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-64086-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flames (1926 film).

• Flames at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Flames at AllMovie
• Flames at IMDb