The Spark Divine

1919 film by Tom Terriss

The Spark Divine

Period lobby advertisement

Directed by| Tom Terriss
Written by| Alicia Ramsey (story)
George DuBois Proctor
Produced by| Vitagraph Company of America
Starring| Alice Joyce
Cinematography| Joseph Shelderfer
Distributed by| Vitagraph Company of America

Release date

* June 30, 1919 (1919-06-30)

Running time

| 5 reels
Country| United States
Language| Silent (English intertitles)

The Spark Divine is a 1919 American silent drama film, starring Alice Joyce, that was directed by Tom Terriss and produced and distributed by Vitagraph Company of America. This is now considered to be a lost film.[1][2]

## Plot

[edit]

As described in a film magazine,[3] the Van Arsdale's come into sudden wealth and raise their naturally sweet and sentimental child Marcia (Joyce) into a beautiful and cultured woman who is cold and calculating and with a heart of ice. She becomes known in society as the girl who challenges any man to arouse sentiment in her. When bankruptcy threatens the family, they believe their only salvation is their daughter's marriage to a millionaire. Robert Jardine (Carleton) is the man they select. Robert believes he sees the woman beneath the shell of Marcia, and when she coldly tells him that she will marry him only for his wealth, he agrees on the condition that she "will a wife – and a mother." Marcia keeps her part of the marriage agreement, but apparently cares nothing for her own child. Gradually the spark of mother-love brightens, but she is ashamed of her show of sentiment. Then the child is kidnapped, and Marcia is fraught with the fears that only a mother can know, showing the real woman in her. Then her child is brought to her, and it turns out that the kidnapping was a "frame" on the part of her husband.

## Cast

[edit]

* Alice Joyce – Marcia Van Arsdale
* William Carleton, Jr. – Robert Jardine
* Eulalie Jensen – Mrs. Van Arsdale
* Frank Norcross – Mr. Van Arsdale
* Mary Carr – Mrs. Jardine

## Preservation

[edit]

This is a lost film.[4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Film: 1911–20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988
2. ^ "The Spark Divine (1919)". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
3. ^ "Treatment of Character Sincere, But Dragginess Evident". Film Daily. 8 (73). New York City: Wid's Film and Film Folks, Inc.: 3 June 15, 1919. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
4. ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Survival Database:The Spark Divine

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Spark Divine.

* The Spark Divine at IMDb
* allmovie/synopsis

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Tom Terriss

* Flame of Passion (1915)
* The Pearl of the Antilles (1915
* The Pursuing Shadow (1915)
* Society Wolves (1916)
* My Country First (1916)
* The Fettered Woman (1917)
* Find the Woman (1918)
* The Song of the Soul (1918)
* The Business of Life (1918)
* Everybody's Girl (1918)
* The Triumph of the Weak (1918)
* To the Highest Bidder (1918)
* The Woman Between Friends (1918)
* The Spark Divine (1919)
* The Tower of Jewels (1919)
* The Captain's Captain (1919)
* The Climbers (1919)
* The Cambric Mask (1919)
* The Bramble Bush (1919)
* The Lion and the Mouse (1919)
* The Third Degree (1919)
* The Vengeance of Durand (1919)
* Trumpet Island (1920)
* Captain Swift (1920)
* Dead Men Tell No Tales (1920)
* The Fortune Hunter (1920)
* The Heart of Maryland (1921)
* Boomerang Bill (1922)
* The Challenge (1922)
* Find the Woman (1922)
* The Bandolero (1924)
* The Desert Sheik (1924)
* His Buddy's Wife (1925)
* The Romance of a Million Dollars (1926)
* The Girl from Rio (1927)
* Temptations of a Shop Girl (1927)
* Beyond London Lights (1928)
* Clothes Make the Woman (1928)
* The Naughty Duchess (1928)

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