AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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A Slave of Vanity
Director: Henry Otto (Dir)
Release Date:   28 Nov 1920
Duration (in reels):   6 reels
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Cast:   Pauline Frederick (Iris Bellamy)  
    Nigel Barrie (Laurence Trenwith)  
    Willard Louis (Frederick Maldonado)  
    Maude Louis (Fanny Sullivan)  
    Daisy Robinson (Aurea Vyse)  
    Arthur Hoyt (Croker Harrington)  
    Ruth Handforth (Miss Pinsent)  
    Howard Gaye (Arthur Kane)  
Summary: Iris Bellamy, the young widow of a wealthy man, will lose her fortune if she remarries. Madly in love with the impoverished Laurence Trenwith who can offer her only love, Lady Iris is also courted by repulsive but wealthy Italian millionaire Frederick Maldonado. When Trenwith decides to venture to America to seek his fortune, Iris, now penniless because her trustee has absconded with her estate, refuses to follow. She is on the verge of succumbing to the enticements of the Italian millionaire when Trenwith returns, and Maldonado, furious, turns her out into the streets. Despairing, Lady Iris wakes up to discover that this was only a dream and, thus chastened, marries her fate with that of the man she loves, Laurence Trenwith. 
Production Company: Robertson-Cole Studios, Inc.  
Brand Name: Super-Special
Distribution Company: Robertson-Cole Distributing Corp.  
Director: Henry Otto (Dir)
Writer: Henry Otto (Scen)
Country: United States
Source Text: Based on the play Iris by Arthur Wing Pinero (New York, 22 Sep 1902).
Authors: Arthur Wing Pinero
Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Robertson-Cole Distributing Corp. 31/10/1920 dd/mm/yyyy LP15835
Physical Properties: b&w:
  Si:
 
Genre: Drama
Sub-Genre: Society
 
Subjects (Major): Dreams
  Italians
  Widows
 
Subjects (Minor): England
  Millionaires
  Nobility
  Theft
  Trusts and trustees
  Wills
Note: This was Pauline Frederick's first film for Robertson-Cole. An English film based on the same play was produced in 1915 by Hepworth. 
Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
ETR   6 Nov 20   p. 2391.
MPN   30 Oct 20   p. 3408.
MPN   6 Nov 20   p. 3563.
MPN   20 Nov 20   pp. 3845-46.
MPW   30 Oct 20   p. 1294.
Wid's   28 Nov 20   p. 5.
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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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