Lost Media: Resurrection (1912)

 

In October 1912, Resurrection, a silent drama film was released. It was based on the novel Resurrection by Count Leo Tolstoy that was published in 1899. The film was directed by Joseph A. Golden and produced by Adolph Zukor and released by Famous Players Film Company. This film is now considered lost.

Blanche Walsh starred in this movie and was to be her only film. She had also played in Resurrection on Broadway.

CAST:

• Blanche Walsh - Katuschka
• Sydney Mason - Prince Necladov
• Nicholas Dunaew - Smelkov
• Carey Lee - Tavern Girl

PLOT: Plot from book.

Nobleman named Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov seeks redemption for a sin he committed when he was a young man. When he was at his Aunts' estate he fell in love with their ward, Katyusha. One Aunt treats her well the other does not. However, he goes to the city and becomes corrupted by alcohol and gambling. 

Two years later Dmitri returns to his Aunts' home and rapes Katyusha. This leads Katyusha to get pregnant and thrown out. She proceeds to face unfortunate events that lead to her working as a prostitute going by her surname, Maslova. 

Dmitri sits on a jury that sentences Maslova to a Siberian prison for murdering a client with poison for beating her. She is innocent of the crime though. Dmitri tries to help her and visits her in prison and listens to other prisoners' stories. He slowly realizes how the world works under his gilded aristocratic world. 

Story after story he hears and sees people in the prison chained without cause, beaten, and unjustly immured in dungeons for life. He would see a 12-year-old boy sleeping on a lake of human feces because of the overflowing latrine and there was no other place of the prison floors. 

After seeing and hearing all this Dmitri decides to give up his property and pass ownership to his peasants. This leaves them to argue about how to organize the estate. He then follows Katyusha to exile and plans to marry her, but on their long journey, she falls in love with another man. He gives them his blessing and chooses to live as part of the penal community seeking redemption.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia (movie)

Wikipedia (book)

Silent Era

IMDB