Sahara is a 1919 American

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 dramatic film written by C. Gardner Sullivan

C. Gardner Sullivan

C. Gardner Sullivan was an American screenwriter and motion picture producer. He was a prolific writer with more than 350 films among his credits. In 1924, the magazine Story World selected him on a list of the ten individuals who had contributed the most to the advancement of the motion picture...

 and directed by Arthur Rosson

Arthur Rosson

Arthur Rosson was an English film director. He directed 61 films between 1917 and 1948.He was born in London and died in Los Angeles, California. Rosson came from a film-making family. His brother, Harold Rosson, was an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer and several other family members were...

. The film starred Louise Glaum

Louise Glaum

Louise Glaum was an American actress. Best known for her role as a femme fatale in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career....

 and told a story of love and betrayal in the Egyptian desert.

Plot

Silent film femme fatale

Femme fatale

A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...

, Louise Glaum

Louise Glaum

Louise Glaum was an American actress. Best known for her role as a femme fatale in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career....

, portrays the role of Mignon, a Parisian music hall celebrity. Mignon marries a young American civil engineer, John Stanley, portrayed by Matt Moore. Stanley is transferred to Egypt to work on an engineering project in the Sahara. Mignon and her son, portrayed by Pat Moore, join Stanley in the desert. Unhappy with life in the desert, Mignon leaves Stanley and her son in the desert and moves to Cairo  with the wealthy Baron Alexis, portrayed by Edwin Stevens

Edwin Stevens

Edwin Stevens CBE was a Welsh inventor who designed the world's first wearable electronic hearing aid. He was also a philanthropist, becoming a major benefactor to the Royal Society of Medicine, and to Jesus College, Oxford, at which he had studied between 1927 and 1929.-Life:Stevens was born at...

. Mignon lives in Baron Alexis' palace while Stanley goes blind and becomes addicted to drugs. Mignon later encounters Stanley and her son, who have become beggars in the streets of Cairo. Mignon returns to the desert to care for her husband, and the two are reconciled.

Cast

• Louise Glaum
  Louise Glaum
  Louise Glaum was an American actress. Best known for her role as a femme fatale in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career....
  
   ..... Mignon
• Matt Moore ..... John Stanley
• Edwin Stevens ..... Baron Alexis
• Pat Moore ..... The Boy
• Nigel De Brulier
  Nigel De Brulier
  Nigel De Brulier was an English film actor, who launched his career in the theatre stage in his native country and transferred to movies after moving to USA. His first film role was a poet in The Pursuit of the Phantom in 1914...
  
   ..... Mustapha

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews upon its release in the summer of 1919. The Washington Post wrote: "Sahara, one of the most impressive film dramas ever screened at Moore's Rialto Theater, was acclaimed by large audiences at the first showings yesterday. Lavish in scenic embellishment ... Sahara features a most entertaining bill."

The Morning Telegraph of New York wrote: "It is a most elaborate production, in which are combined taste and lavish expenditure. The scenery -- both Miss Glaum's and that of the play, is unusually effective, the star's costumes being sufficient of themselves to repay women patrons. Moreover, the story holds interest unflaggingly, and a jewel like this in a setting of the sort here revealed makes for real value."

The New York Times offered the following comments:

"It is another Wild East melodrama. Desert sand and wind storms, picturesque Arabs, dashing horses, camels, beggars, turbans, flowing robes, bloomers and streets with the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights -- these are the materials substituted for the long-familiar two-gun man and his well-known properties. And there's no denying that these materials make good pictures, especially in the hands of Mr. Dwan. There are some effective scenes in 'Sahara.' The story is purely mechanical, but Matt Moore does creditable work as the hero, and little Pat Moore is as appealing as a child can be."

The Los Angeles Times reported: "This brilliant author [C. Gardner Sullivan] is found at his best, it is said, in his newest drama, 'Sahara' ... Press notices in the East indicate that 'Sahara' is unquestionably one of the most luxurious motion pictures of the year." It was also described as "a masterpiece" and a film "as brilliant and gorgeous as the colorful Egyptian desert."

A syndicated review published in several newspapers called it the "Biggest Picture of the Year" and praised it as one of the great dramas of recent years:

"All who see Louise Glaum in 'Sahara,' a powerful emotional drama of Paris and Cairo by C. Gardner Sullivan and supervised by Allan Dwan will regret the days that she has spent in other pictures which failed to give her the opportunities of 'Sahara' ... This big J. Parker Read, Jr., production distributed by W.W. Hodkinson is entitled to rank as one of the really great dramas produced in motion pictures in recent years. ... The achievement of a picture like 'Sahara' represents the triumphs of brains of an author, star, director and producer over the mountain high stupidities that have become involved in motion picture making. It reveals, too, that there can be a Belasco of the screen as there is one in the theatre; that great artists can perpetuate their art and their intelligence via photography. 'Sahara' is a picture that will live long in the memory.

A newspaper in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...

urged every woman in the city to see the film and decide for themselves on the morality of Mignon's actions:

"'Sahara' is a picture that every woman in Cedar Rapids should see. The story is one that they will admire and absorb but whether they will agree with the woman Mignon is a question they alone can decide. Undoubtedly some of them will say that Mignon was right in leaving her husband and child to seek happiness in the care-free city of Cairo while others who believe in the hide-bound rule of modern society will condemn her."

A Canadian reviewer called it "lavish, riotous in action and compelling in its alluring charm of cast and situation.

An Alabama reviewer focused on the lighting and cinematography: "So beautiful are the lighting and tinting effects in 'Sahara' starring the magnetic Louise Glaum, that even the morbid scene described above is made an artistic picture that pleases the eye as much as the scenes of splendor in the Palace of the Dawn. ... It is a magnificent Hodkinson picture ..."