Arabian Love is a lost 1922 American silent drama film directed by Jerome Storm and starring John Gilbert, Barbara Bedford and Barbara La Marr. It was partly filmed on location in the Mojave Desert.[Golden p.72]
Plot
Shortly after marrying a man, Nadine Fortier travels through the desert to a distant city to visit her dying mother. On her way, she is kidnapped by a group of bandits, who use her when gambling. Nadine eventually becomes the property of Norman Stone, an American criminal who is on the run from the police. Norman helps her to safety and they plan on crossing ways. Nadine, however, contacts him to find her husband's murderer.
Themar, the daughter of a sheik, is jealous of Norman's interest in Nadine and she tells Nadine that Norman is responsible for her father's death. Upon confronting him, Norman admits that her husband had several clandestine meetings with his sister and that he was accidentally shot to death in his presence. Although she is initially mad, their love for each other proves to be more powerful. They eventually become a couple and leave the country for America.
Cast
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John Gilbert as Norman Stone
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Barbara Bedford as Nadine Fortier
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Barbara La Marr as Themar
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Herschel Mayall as The Sheik
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Bob Kortman as Ahmed Bey
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William Orlamond as Dr. Lagorio
Production and release
Arabian Love was made to profit on the success of
The Sheik (1921), a film which romanticizes sheiks and Latin lovers.
[McLaren, A., Sexual Blackmail: a Modern History. p. 161] Most films John Gilbert made at Fox Film Corporation flopped, but
Arabian Love became a great success. Gilbert was praised for his portrayal of a sheik, but the actor himself loathed it and made sure he later would not appear again in that sort of character.
Barbara La Marr was praised by the critics too, with the film magazine
Moving Picture World stating that "the forlorn lovesickness of the sheikâs daughter is unusually effective".
Preservation
With no prints of
Arabian Love located in any film archives, it is considered a
lost film.
[ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Arabian Love][ Progressive Silent Film List: Arabian Love at silentera.com]
Bibliography
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Golden, Eve. John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. University Press of Kentucky, 2013.
External links
