Hearts Are Trumps (1920)
Drama | 11 December 1920
Cast:
Winter Hall, Frank Brownlee, Alice Terry [ More ]Director:
Rex IngramWriter:
June MathisEditor:
Grant WhytockProduction Designer:
Arthur RuadaProduction Company:
Metro Pictures Corp.The 16 August 1919 Motion Picture News announced that Richard A. Rowland, president of Metro Pictures Corp. and Screen Classics, Inc., had acquired screen rights to Cecil Raleigh’s 1900 play, Hearts Are Trumps, along with the rights to four other plays, during a recent tour of England and Europe. The film version of Hearts Are Trumps was set to be produced by Screen Classics at its Hollywood, CA, studio, with Metro in charge of distribution. Finis Fox was initially hired to adapt the screenplay, according to the 24 January 1920 Moving Picture World. A few months later, the 8 May 1920 Moving Picture World noted that June Mathis, then head of Metro’s scenario department, was on board to write the adaptation. Director Rex Ingram reportedly discovered lead actress Alice Terry among a group of background actors gathered at a Hollywood studio, while casting this picture. The 30 July 1921 Motion Picture News quoted Ingram as saying that Terry had struck him as “made for the part” of “Dora Woodbury.” He and Terry were later married, in November 1921.
Principal photography began on 6 May 1920, according to the 22 May 1920 Motion Picture News. An item in the 28 February 1920 Moving Picture World stated that Metro planned to film at Rose Hill Park, a sixty-three-acre plot in northern Los Angeles, CA, which the studio had recently leased; there, a 200-foot-long set representing an Alpine street was built. The 1 May 1920 Motion Picture News later reported that Ingram and his assistant were scouting locations in San Francisco, CA; in that ...
The 16 August 1919 Motion Picture News announced that Richard A. Rowland, president of Metro Pictures Corp. and Screen Classics, Inc., had acquired screen rights to Cecil Raleigh’s 1900 play, Hearts Are Trumps, along with the rights to four other plays, during a recent tour of England and Europe. The film version of Hearts Are Trumps was set to be produced by Screen Classics at its Hollywood, CA, studio, with Metro in charge of distribution. Finis Fox was initially hired to adapt the screenplay, according to the 24 January 1920 Moving Picture World. A few months later, the 8 May 1920 Moving Picture World noted that June Mathis, then head of Metro’s scenario department, was on board to write the adaptation. Director Rex Ingram reportedly discovered lead actress Alice Terry among a group of background actors gathered at a Hollywood studio, while casting this picture. The 30 July 1921 Motion Picture News quoted Ingram as saying that Terry had struck him as “made for the part” of “Dora Woodbury.” He and Terry were later married, in November 1921.
Principal photography began on 6 May 1920, according to the 22 May 1920 Motion Picture News. An item in the 28 February 1920 Moving Picture World stated that Metro planned to film at Rose Hill Park, a sixty-three-acre plot in northern Los Angeles, CA, which the studio had recently leased; there, a 200-foot-long set representing an Alpine street was built. The 1 May 1920 Motion Picture News later reported that Ingram and his assistant were scouting locations in San Francisco, CA; in that area, shooting ultimately took place in San Rafael. The 19 June 1920 Moving Picture World claimed that snowy scenes were filmed at Huntingon Lake in Fresno County, CA, and other mountain scenes were shot on the Ridge Route near Bakersfield, CA, as stated in the 6 July 1920 Wid’s Daily. Additional filming was done at the Catholic mission in San Juan Capistrano, CA. For interior shooting, Ingram utilized a new lighting technology called the Sunlight Arc, which replicated the appearance of “soft afternoon sunlight” indoors, as noted in the 26 March 1921 Motion Picture News. The 24 July 1920 Moving Picture World reported that shooting was scheduled to be finished in two weeks.
The 10 July 1920 Moving Picture World cited a release date of 3 January 1920. However, the 18 December 1920 Motion Picture News indicated that the release was pushed up to 11 December 1920.
Iris Lynne and Cara Lee were listed as cast members in the 11 May 1920 and 19 June 1920 issues of Wid’s Daily.
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this picture on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021.
Hearts are trumps when Lady Winifred secretly marries gamekeeper Michael Wain. The discovery of the union by her father Lord Altcar, who is bent on trading his daughter to Lord Burford in order to cover his losses at cards, causes Altcar to have Wain horribly beaten and dismissed with a warning never to return. Years later when Wain returns, embittered and bent upon revenge, he buys up the mortgages on Altcar manor and is arranging for foreclosure when he learns an astounding fact: Lady Winifred's convent-raised daughter Dora is engaged to American artist John Gillespie, but her hand is sought by the same Lord Burford who sought that of her mother. Conspiring to destroy Dora's love for John, Burford attempts to disgrace the girl by having a nude body attached to the portrait that Gillespie painted of her. Shamed and brokenhearted, Dora runs away to the convent in the Alps, causing her father to accept his paternal responsibility and reconcile himself with Lady Winifred. Burford, having discovered Dora's destination, attempts to have her abducted, but her lover, father and mother follow in pursuit and, after many tribulations, the four are reunited during a blinding ...
Hearts are trumps when Lady Winifred secretly marries gamekeeper Michael Wain. The discovery of the union by her father Lord Altcar, who is bent on trading his daughter to Lord Burford in order to cover his losses at cards, causes Altcar to have Wain horribly beaten and dismissed with a warning never to return. Years later when Wain returns, embittered and bent upon revenge, he buys up the mortgages on Altcar manor and is arranging for foreclosure when he learns an astounding fact: Lady Winifred's convent-raised daughter Dora is engaged to American artist John Gillespie, but her hand is sought by the same Lord Burford who sought that of her mother. Conspiring to destroy Dora's love for John, Burford attempts to disgrace the girl by having a nude body attached to the portrait that Gillespie painted of her. Shamed and brokenhearted, Dora runs away to the convent in the Alps, causing her father to accept his paternal responsibility and reconcile himself with Lady Winifred. Burford, having discovered Dora's destination, attempts to have her abducted, but her lover, father and mother follow in pursuit and, after many tribulations, the four are reunited during a blinding snowstorm.
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