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University of
North Carolina at Asheville Film Register Conquest of Canaan |
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| Title | Conquest of Canaan |
| Creator | Paramount Studios |
| Alt. Creator | Booth Tarkington |
| Subject - Keyword | Asheville, N.C. ; Booth Tarkington ; film ; movies ; lawyers ; Pack Square, Asheville, NC ; Thomas Meighan ; Doris Kenyon ; Cyril Ring ; Diana Allen ; Roy William Neill ; Bible ; Mrs. Jeter Pritchard ; Mrs. Fitzhugh Teague ; Paramount Studios Jack Scott ; Imperial Theater ; Frank Tuttle ; Arthur Cousins ; Tom White ; Bob Bunn ; Harry Perry ; Adolph Zukor ; |
| Subject - LCSH |
Feature films Historical drama, American History Appalachian Region, Western North Carolina Appalachian Region in motion pictures Appalachian region -- Drama Asheville, N.C. -- Film Appalachians (People) in motion pictures. Appalachians (People) -- Social life and customs. Neill, Roy William, 1887-1946 Ring, Cyril Meighan, Thomas, 1879-1936 Kenyon, Doris, 1897-1979 Allen, Diana Tarkington, Booth, 1741-1820 Tuttle, Frank Cousins, Arthur White, Tom Bunn, Robert Adolph Zukor, 1873-1976 Harry Perry |
| Description | Released by Paramount Pictures in
August of 1921, this 35 mm black and white silent film is based on the
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) novel
The Conquest of Canaan, written in 1905.
The story follows the life of a small-town lawyer, Joe Louden, who
endures alcholism and social exclusion, and public ridicule, only to
prevail after he earns a law degree, inherits a fortune, and takes on
corrupt city officials. [Also based loosely on the John Martin
moral treatise, The Conquest of Canaan, (1811), which explores
the natural and moral state of individuals in a small town who are both
conquerors and conquered in a series of letters from a father to his
son.]
The story was filmed in downtown Asheville, N.C., in and around Pack Square, the old Courthouse facing College Street and near the First Baptist Church at the corner of Spruce and College Streets. The old Swannanoa-Berkeley Hotel, later the Earle Hotel, was used as a backdrop and renamed the "Canaan City Hotel" for the film. Streetcars, signs, and other landmarks were re-named for the film and hundreds of extras were hired for the large scenes, particularly the mob-scene on Pack Square. Directed by Roy William Neill, the film principals were Doris Kenyon as Ariel Taber and Thomas Meighan as Joe Louden. Both Kenyon and Meighan were often seen opposite such luminaries as Norma Talmadge , Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford and Rudolph Valentino, respectively. Diana Allen, Ann Eggleston, Alice Fleming, Charles S. Abbe, Malcolm Bradley, Paul Everton, Macey Harlam, Louis Hendricks, Charles Hartley, Jed Prouty, Cyril Ring, John D. Walsh, Riley Hatch and others are found in the supporting cast. Frank Tuttle wrote the film adaptation of the Tarkington novel and Adolph Zukor was the Producer. The director of photography was Harry Perry. The film was moderately successful in its day and played at the Asheville Imperial, the State, and the Princess theaters [Padgitt, 1950]. It is listed in the AFI Catalog of Silent Films. It is believed that the Asheville Historical Resources Commission's copy stored at Ramsey Library is the only copy of the film. It was obviously re-copied onto CBEMA film stock at an unknown date. The AFI catalog notes that there were 7 reels in the original film. The reels at Ramsey Library number only 4. The film was discovered in Russia in the 1980's by William P. Banner who produced a special WLOS television program about the film and used a section of the retrieved film. The Russians reportedly used the film with Russian sub-titles to demonstrate cultural aspects of the United States to their people. The English sub-titles of the silent film were replaced by Russian sub-titles at an unknown time between 1921 and the early 1960's. A video copy of the film has been mastered for preservation purposes and CD copies have been reproduced from the video, resulting in considerable loss of quality. The original CBEMA general purpose film has been refrigerated in the D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections. Access to the original film is restricted, however the copies of the film may be viewed on request in Special Collections. Any published use of the film requires permission of the Asheville Historic Resources Commission . |
| Publisher | Paramount Pictures |
| Contributor | William P. Banner, formerly with WLOS television researched and located the film in the USSR. The film was later removed to the Historical Resources Commission, in Asheville, NC and presently is housed at UNC Asheville, Special Collections. |
| Date | 2004-06-06 |
| Type | CBEMA (SVEMA) motion picture film manufactured in Ukraine; |
| Format | Four reels of 35 mm black and white film; silent ; Russian sub-titles. |
| Identifier | coc2003.1 |
| Source | F2003.1.1 (Refrigerator) ; Copies in AV2003.01.01 |
| Language | ru=Russian |
| Relation | Is derived from: Tarkington, Booth. The Conquest
of Canaan ; illustrations by Lucius W. Hitchcock. New York : A. L.
Burt, 1905 ; Is referenced by Padgett, Bright, "'Conquest of Canaan,' Filmed Here [Asheville] in 1921, Starred Thomas Meighan," Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville, N.C. Sunday, March 26, 1950, Sect. 7, p.3. ; White, John. "Myth and Movie Making: Karl Brown and the making of Stark Love.,"Film History, Vol. 19, Issue 1, p.49-57, 2007. Brown explores the myths and the history of this early film that used a local cast and characterized the people of the region in a provocative manner. Is referenced by E.M.
Ball Photographic Collection, UNCA: |
| New York Times, "The Screen," July 11, 1921, 9:3. Review of the film. | |
| Variety, July 15, 1921. Review. | |
| Copyright license with synopsis of plot provided by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, August 22, 1921. | |
| Coverage | 1921 ; Asheville, N.C. |
| Rights |
Asheville Historic Resources
Commission or contact
Stacy Merten, HRC Director 259-5836. Direct access to the film is restricted. VHS copy is available for viewing. Copyright Famous Players-Lasky Corporation August 22, 1921, copyright license #16883C. |
| Donor | Asheville Historic Resources Commission |
| Acquisition | 2003-11-01 |
| Citation | Conquest of Canaan, D.H. Ramsey Library and the Asheville Historic Resources Commission . |
| Processed by | Special Collections staff, June 2004 ; June 2005 ; |
| Context: | |
| Asheville and
Western North Carolina have an unusual relationship with film. It is
reported that Thomas Edison filmed shorts here as early as 1912 and that
other film makers were in residence near Lake Lure and Bat Cave. The
early Raoul Walsh film "The Serpent" was filmed in 1916 at
Chimney Rock and another silent film, "Stark Love" filmed in
Graham County in 1927, suggests that the western region held great
appeal to film makers. "Stark Love," also a Paramount
Pictures film, was directed by Karl Brown. It is reported that Brown
had the assistance of Horace Kephart, the well-known author of Our
Southern Highlanders and that, like Conquest of Canaan's
director, Roy William Neill, Brown sought to
give authenticity to his film-making by shooting on location and using
local extras.
An earlier version of the Booth Tarkington story was filmed by Frohman Amusement Corporation in 1916. It was directed by George Irving and starred Edith Taliaferro and Jack Sherrill. The Paramount Studios version was released on August 6, 1921. The director, Roy William Neill (born Roland William Neill de Gostrie),1887-1946, was a rising young director who was born in Ireland, worked as a correspondent in the Chinese Civil War in 1911. He was reportedly apprenticed to the director Thomas H. Ince. In 1921, in addition to the Conquest of Canaan, Neill directed Something Different, The Idol of the North, and The Iron Trail. His last film was in 1946, just shortly before he died of an aneurysm in Paris. He is most famous for his series of Sherlock Holmes films. For a full text of the Booth Tarkington novel, The Conquest of Canaan, see: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/TarCana.html See the following for related material as cited on the Web site "Silent Era" [ http://www.silentera.com/ ] as follows:
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