Secrets

This 1924 film exists, although about a third of it is lost. Still, the story is coherent. This was remade by Mary Pickford in 1933 and was her final film appearance. The story is basically the same but the locales are all different with Talmadge starting out in England and ending up in Scotland. Talmadge was one of the biggest stars of the silent era and is more famous now for her failure in talkies, although her NEW YORK NIGHTS is quite good.

Talmadge marries and heads off for the "wilderness" with her husband but loses a baby during an attack. Still she survives and raises a family. This films boasts some good silent actors like Eugene O'Brien, Patterson Dial (the sister in law in TOL'ABLE David), Emily Fitzroy, George Nichols, Claire McDowell, Gertrude Astor, and Alice Day.

In the 1920s, Talmadge rivaled Pickford, Swanson, and Gish in popularity; audiences loved to see her play patrician characters who suffered so nobly. What a shame so few of Talmadge's silent dramas have survived.