Hangman's House
Encyclopedia
Hangman's House is a 1928
1928 in film
-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...

 romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

 drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 genre silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 set in Co. Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, directed by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

 (uncredited) with intertitles written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan
Malcolm Stuart Boylan
Malcolm Stuart Boylan was an American screewriter. He wrote for over 90 films between 1921 and 1963.He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* Wild Papa...

. It is based on a novel by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne
Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne
Donn Byrne was an Irish novelist. He was born in New York City where his Irish parents were on a business trip at the time, and soon after returned with them to Ireland...

. It was adapted by Philip Klein with scenarios by Marion Orth. The film is also notable for containing the first confirmed appearance by John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 in a John Ford film.

Plot

While stationed in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

 Commandant Denis Hogan (Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...

) receives a letter containing bad news and requests that he be allowed to return to his home country of Ireland, where he is a wanted man. In Ireland, Baron James O'Brien (Hobart Bosworth
Hobart Bosworth
Hobart Bosworth was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer.-Early life:Born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth, he was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New...

) is told by his doctor that he has no more than a month to live. He decides to marry off his only daughter Connaught (June Collyer
June Collyer
June Collyer was an American film actress of the 1920s and 1930s.-Early life and career:Born Dorothea Heermance in New York City, Collyer chose to use her mother's maiden name when she decided to pursue acting. A society girl chosen by Allan Dwan, she had her first starring role in 1927 when she...

) to a socialite, John D'Arcy (Earle Foxe
Earle Foxe
Earle Foxe was an American actor.-Background:Foxe was born Earl Aldrich Fox in Oxford, Ohio, to Charles Aldrich Fox, originally of Flint, Michigan, and Eva May Herron. His older half sister was Ethel May Fox, a music teacher, born in Michigan to Charles Aldrich Fox and Katie Eldridge. Always very...

) despite her love of childhood friend Dermot McDermot (Larry Kent
Larry Kent
Larry Kent was an American film actor and producer.-Career:Between 1925 and 1964 Kent acted in 52 films and a handful of TV shows including Rawhide. He had a successful career as a lead and supporting actor in the silent era but failed to make the transition to sound films and was cast largely in...

).

Hogan returns to Ireland and disguises himself as a holy man. On his way to the O'Brien's house he is recognised by a gatekeeper, whom he reveal his intentions to kill a man to. Hogan meets Dermot McDermot and the three men witness the lights of Glenmalure's
Glenmalure
Glenmalure is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains in eastern Ireland. It is a u-shaped glacial valley, with only one road leading into it, which connects to the 'Military Road' at the mouth of the valley....

 chapel being lit, signifying a wedding is taking place. At this time a group of soldiers ask the gate keeper if he has seen Hogan. Later that night, after Connaught and D'Arcy have been wed, the Baron dies. On the night of his funeral Hogan sneaks about the grounds of Hangman's House and is spotted by D'Arcy. D'Arcy is startled by the appearance of Hogan. At bedtime D'Arcy tries to sleep with Connaught but she rejects his advances.
A community race is held on St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which...

 and Connaught's horse The Bard is due to race. The horse's jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 goes missing just before the race because of interference from D'Arcy who has bet against the horse. Dermot is required to jockey the horse and he wins the race leading a drunken D'Arcy to shoot The Bard. D'Arcy is ostracised by the community because of this. Hogan is arrested at the race. At night Dermot and D'Arcy meet in a pub where D'Arcy reveals that he had an affair with Hogan's sister. Dermot gives D'Arcy money to leave Ireland and threatens him that if he ever sees him again he will kill him.

Hogan escapes from prison and a gunfight erupts between his men and the guards. Later Dermot and Connaught visit Hogan's hideout and Hogan reveals that his sister died following D'Arcy's desertion. Connaught returns to Hangman's House to discover that D'Arcy has returned. After a struggle she flees to Dermot's house. Hogan and Dermot go to Hangman's House and confront D'Arcy. During a fight between the men a fire breaks out and burns down the house. Hogan and Dermot escape but D'Arcy falls to his death as a balcony collapses. Connaught and Dermot see Hogan off at the port as he returns to Algiers. Connaught gives Hogan a kiss and Dermot shakes his hands and thanks him. Connaught and Dermot walk away together as Hogan watches them.

Cast

  • Victor McLaglen
    Victor McLaglen
    Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...

     - Citizen Denis Hogan
  • June Collyer
    June Collyer
    June Collyer was an American film actress of the 1920s and 1930s.-Early life and career:Born Dorothea Heermance in New York City, Collyer chose to use her mother's maiden name when she decided to pursue acting. A society girl chosen by Allan Dwan, she had her first starring role in 1927 when she...

     - Connaught 'Conn' O'Brien
  • Earle Fox - John D'Arcy
  • Larry Kent
    Larry Kent
    Larry Kent was an American film actor and producer.-Career:Between 1925 and 1964 Kent acted in 52 films and a handful of TV shows including Rawhide. He had a successful career as a lead and supporting actor in the silent era but failed to make the transition to sound films and was cast largely in...

     - Dermot McDermot
  • John Wayne
    John Wayne
    Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

     - Horse Race Spectator/Condemned Man in Flashback (uncredited)
  • Brian Desmond Hurst
    Brian Desmond Hurst
    thumb|right|200px|Portrait by [[Allan Warren]]Brian Desmond Hurst was a Belfast-born film director. Responsible for over 30 movies as director, Hurst was Ireland's most prolific movie director during the 20th century.-Early life:Hurst was born Hans Hurst in Ribble Street, East Belfast"". into a...

     -Horse Race Spectator and witness to the horse shooting

Reception

The film received positive reviews, Wilfred Beaton of Film Spectator called it "the finest program picture ever turned out by a studio". In particular he praised the photography which he said "almost outdoes for sheer beauty the shots in Street Angel and Sunrise". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

 shared this opinion by proclaiming the film had "some of the most striking touches of composition seen on the screen since those swampland shots in Sunrise, which they often resemble." However the film was not a box office success as Fox Film Corporation did not promote the film.

DVD release

The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 by Fox on December 4, 2007. The film can be obtained three different ways:
  • In the Ford at Fox - The Collection box set which is a 21 disc collection containing every film John Ford made at Fox.
  • In the Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford's Silent Epics which also contains Just Pals
    Just Pals
    Just Pals is a 1920 Western film directed by John Ford. It was Ford's first film for the Fox Film Corporation.-Cast:* Buck Jones - Bim* Helen Ferguson - Mary Bruce* George Stone - Bill* Duke R. Lee - Sheriff* William Buckley - Harvey Cahill...

    , Four Sons
    Four Sons
    Four Sons is a silent drama film directed and produced by John Ford and written for the screen by Philip Klein from a story by I. A. R. Wylie. It is one of only a handful of survivors out of the more than fifty silent films that Ford directed between 1917 and 1928. It starred Margaret Mann, James...

    , The Iron Horse
    The Iron Horse (film)
    The Iron Horse is a silent film directed by John Ford in 1924. It was produced by Fox Film. -Synopsis:The film presents an idealized image of the construction of the American first transcontinental railroad. It culminates with the scene of driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit on May...

    and 3 Bad Men
    3 Bad Men
    -Cast:* George O'Brien as Dan O'Malley* Olive Borden as Lee Carlton* Lou Tellegen as Sheriff Layne Hunter* Tom Santschi as 'Bull' Stanley* J. Farrell MacDonald as Mike Costigan* Frank Campeau as 'Spade' Allen* Priscilla Bonner as Millie Stanley...

    .
  • As a separate release also containing 3 Bad Men
    3 Bad Men
    -Cast:* George O'Brien as Dan O'Malley* Olive Borden as Lee Carlton* Lou Tellegen as Sheriff Layne Hunter* Tom Santschi as 'Bull' Stanley* J. Farrell MacDonald as Mike Costigan* Frank Campeau as 'Spade' Allen* Priscilla Bonner as Millie Stanley...

    on the opposite side of the disc.


The DVD begins with a disclaimer stating that the film has been brought to DVD using the best surviving elements possible. The DVD has an option to view the film accompanied with a musical score by Tim Curran.
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