Experience (1921 film)

1921 film by George Fitzmaurice

Experience

1921 theatrical poster

Directed by| George Fitzmaurice
Written by| Waldemar Young (scenario)
Based on| Experience
by George V. Hobart
Produced by| Adolph Zukor
Jesse L. Lasky
Starring| Richard Barthelmess
Lilyan Tashman
Reginald Denny
Marjorie Daw
Cinematography| Arthur C. Miller
Distributed by| Paramount Pictures

Release date

* October 23, 1921 (1921-10-23)

Running time

| 70 minutes
Country| United States
Language| Silent (English intertitles)

Experience is a 1921 American silent morality drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The allegorical film was directed by George Fitzmaurice and starred Richard Barthelmess. It was based on George V. Hobart's successful 1914 Broadway play of the same name.[1] It was the film debut of Lilyan Tashman.

Experience is presumed to be a lost film.[2]

## Plot

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* Youth (Richard Barthelmess) hears Ambition's call and leaves his mother (Kate Bruce) and Love (Marjorie Daw) to seek his fortune.[3]

* Experience (John Miltern) is to teach Youth many things about life.[3]

* Youth encounters Pleasure, Beauty, and Wealth. He asks Opportunity to wait for him. But Opportunity cannot![3]

* Youth is enthralled by Pleasure (Lilyan Tashman) and, while Experience looks on, is welcomed into the gay party.[3]

* Youth's funds run low and Chance directs him to a gambling house where he can double his money. At first he wins, but later luck leaves him.[3]

* Temptation (Nita Naldi) fascinates Youth. She intercepts a letter telling Youth of his mother's death.[3]

* Experience meanwhile teaches Youth to know Excitement (Sibyl Carmen).[3]

* Smirking Conceit (Robert Schable) with his ever-present mirror.[3]

* And Intoxication (an all-too-present companion) (Helen Ray).[3]

* And - eventually - the sanctimonious Prohibition (Leslie King).[3]

* Finally, accused of theft, Youth is ejected to the gutter.[3]

* Crime (Louis Wolheim) seeks to persuade Youth to rob Wealth's house.[3]

* But Youth returns home, where Love and Hope await.[3]

* With Love by his side, Youth is enriched by Experience.[3]

## Cast

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* Richard Barthelmess as Youth
* Reginald Denny (unidentified role)
* John Miltern as Experience
* Marjorie Daw as Love
* E. J. Ratcliffe as Ambition
* Betty Carpenter as Hope
* Kate Bruce as Mother
* Lilyan Tashman as Pleasure
* R. Senior as Opportunity
* Joseph W. Smiley as Chance
* Fred Hadley as Tout
* Harry J. Lane as Despair
* Helen Ray as Intoxication
* Jed Prouty as Good Nature
* Barney Furey as Poverty
* Charles A. Stevenson as Wealth
* Edna Wheaton as Beauty
* Yvonne Routon as Fashion
* Ned Hay as Sport
* Sibyl Carmen as Excitement
* Robert Schable as Conceit
* Nita Naldi as Temptation
* Frank Evans as Work
* Frank McCormack as Delusion
* Louis Wolheim as Crime
* Agnes Marc as Habit
* Mrs. Gallagher as Degradation
* Florence Flinn as Frailty
* Mac Barnes as Makeshift
* Leslie King as Gloom
* Leslie Banks (unidentified role)

## Production

[edit]

Some of the minor roles were filled through contests held in various cities, which gave advance publicity for the film. For example, Edna Wheaton was selected for the role of "Beauty" through a contest run by the New York Daily News.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* List of lost films
* Everywoman (1919)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Experience as produced on Broadway at the Booth, Casino and Maxine Elliott's Theatres, starting Oct. 27, 1914 - Jan. 1915 (Booth), Jan 11, 1915 - May 1915 (Casino), May 3, 1915 - June 5, 1915 (Maxine Elliott). Play revived in 1918 at Manhattan Opera House 23 performances; IBDb.com database
2. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Experience at silentera.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Experience". Photoplay. 20 (3). Chicago: Photoplay Publishing Co: 51. August 1921. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
4. ^ "Beauty Winners: Contest Gives Wide Advance Publicity on Experience, Forthcoming Paramount Picture", Exhibitors Herald, 12 (16): 48, April 16, 1921

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Experience (1921 film).

* Experience at IMDb

* v
* t
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Films directed by George Fitzmaurice

* When Rome Ruled (1914)
* Stop Thief! (1915)
* The Commuters (1915)
* Who's Who in Society (1915)
* At Bay (1915)
* Via Wireless (1915)
* The Money Master (1915)
* New York (1916)
* The Romantic Journey (1916)
* Arms and the Woman (1916)
* Big Jim Garrity (1916)
* The Test (1916)
* The On-the-Square Girl (1917)
* Kick In (1917)
* The Mark of Cain (1917)
* The Hunting of the Hawk (1917)
* The Iron Heart (1917)
* Blind Man's Luck (1917)
* Sylvia of the Secret Service (1917)
* The Recoil (1917)
* Innocent (1918)
* A Japanese Nightingale (1918)
* The Hillcrest Mystery (1918)
* The Naulahka (1918)
* The Narrow Path (1918)
* Common Clay (1919)
* The Cry of the Weak (1919)
* The Profiteers (1919)
* The Avalanche (1919)
* Our Better Selves (1919)
* A Society Exile (1919)
* The Witness for the Defense (1919)
* Counterfeit (1919)
* On with the Dance (1920)
* The Right to Love (1920)
* Idols of Clay (1920)
* Forever (1921)
* Paying the Piper (1921)
* Experience (1921)
* Kick In (1922)
* To Have and to Hold (1922)
* Three Live Ghosts (1922)
* The Man from Home (1922)
* The Cheat (1923)
* Bella Donna (1923)
* The Eternal City (1923)
* Cytherea (1924)
* Tarnish (1924)
* A Thief in Paradise (1925)
* His Supreme Moment (1925)
* The Dark Angel (1925)
* The Son of the Sheik (1926)
* The Night of Love (1927)
* The Tender Hour (1927)
* Rose of the Golden West (1927)
* The Love Mart (1927)
* The Barker (1928)
* Lilac Time (1928)
* The Locked Door (1929)
* His Captive Woman (1929)
* The Man and the Moment (1929)
* Tiger Rose (1929)
* The Bad One (1930)
* Raffles (1930)
* The Devil to Pay! (1930)
* One Heavenly Night (1931)
* Strangers May Kiss (1931)
* The Unholy Garden (1931)
* Mata Hari (1931)
* As You Desire Me (1932)
* Rockabye (1932)
* Nana (1934)
* All Men Are Enemies (1934)
* Petticoat Fever (1936)
* Suzy (1936)
* The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
* The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937)
* Live, Love and Learn (1937)
* Arsène Lupin Returns (1938)
* Vacation from Love (1938)
* Adventure in Diamonds (1940)

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