One Clear Call (film)

One Clear Call is a surviving 1922 American silent drama film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Milton Sills, Claire Windsor, and Irene Rich.^[1][2]

One Clear Call
Lobby card
Directed by	John M. Stahl
Written by	Bess Meredyth
Based on	One Clear Call by Frances Nimmo Greene
Produced by	Louis B. Mayer
Starring	Milton Sills Claire Windsor Irene Rich
Cinematography	Ernest Palmer
Edited by	Madge Tyrone
Production company	Louis B. Mayer Productions
Distributed by	First National Pictures
Release date	May 20, 1922 (1922-05-20)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[3] Dr. Alan Hamilton (Sills) takes an unusual interest in Faith (Windsor), a young woman who has been admitted to the hospital after fainting. Faith recovers and stays in a cottage near the doctor's home, but her identity remains a mystery. Dr. Hamilton proposes to her, but learns that she is already married, and the mystery of her husband arouses his curiosity. One of the doctor's other patients is Henry Garnett (Walthall), the proprietor of a cafe in town called "The Owl", which is a notorious dance hall and bar. Citizens of the town that are members of a Ku Klux Klan-like group attack Garnett's cafe, but the doctor dissuades them after telling them that Garnett has perhaps 30 days to live due to an ailment. Garnett then confesses that he has stolen the property of a close friend that was entrusted to him for the friend's daughter, Helen Ware (Day), and he wants to make restitution. Garnett finds Helen in his dance hall, but she turns from him, preferring the gay life. Garnett decides to close his place. Disappointed in love, Dr. Hamilton has started to drink excessively. Then he is called upon to save the child of his sister Maggie Thornton (Rich), who has fallen and cut himself severely with glass. The operation is successful. Faith seeks out her husband, who is Garnett, but he takes poison. This leaves Faith to seek happiness with the doctor.

Cast

• Milton Sills as Dr. Alan Hamilton
• Claire Windsor as Faith
• Henry B. Walthall as Henry Garnett
• Irene Rich as Maggie Thornton
• Stanley Goethals as Sonny Thornton
• William Marion as Tom Thornton
• Joseph J. Dowling as Colonel Garnett
• Edith Yorke as Mother Garnett
• Doris Pawn as Phyllis Howard
• Donald MacDonald as Dr. Bailey
• Shannon Day as Helen, Jim Ware's Daughter
• Annette DeFoe as Yetta
• Fred Kelsey as Starnes
• Albert MacQuarrie as Jim Holbrook
• Nick Cogley as Toby

Preservation

A copy of One Clear Call is in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.^[4]

References

1. Munden p. 567.
2. Progressive Silent Film List: One Clear Call at silentera.com.
3. "Reviews: One Clear Call". Exhibitors Herald. 14 (23). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 50. June 3, 1922. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
4. American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: One Clear Call.

Bibliography

• Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

• One Clear Call at IMDb
• Synopsis at AllMovie