View source for Wanderer of the Wasteland (1924 film)

{{Short description|1924 film}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Wanderer of the Wasteland
| image          = WandererOftheWasteland.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster, likenesses of Jack Holt and Billie Dove
| director       = [[Irvin Willat]]
| producer       = [[Lucien Hubbard]]
| writer         = {{Plainlist|
* [[George C. Hull]]
* Victor Irvin
}}
| screenplay     =
| story          =
| based_on       = {{based on|''Wanderer of the Wasteland''|[[Zane Grey]]}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Jack Holt (actor)|Jack Holt]]
* [[Noah Beery Sr.|Noah Beery]]
* [[Billie Dove]]
}}
| cinematography = Arthur Ball
| studio         = [[Famous Players–Lasky]]
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1924|06|21|US}}
| runtime        = 60 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = [[Silent film|Silent]]<br />English intertitles
}}
'''''Wanderer of the Wasteland''''' is a 1924 American [[silent film|silent]] [[Western (genre)|Western]] film directed by [[Irvin Willat]] and starring [[Jack Holt (actor)|Jack Holt]], [[Noah Beery Sr.|Noah Beery]], and [[Billie Dove]]. It was the second feature film to be photographed entirely in two-color [[Technicolor#Process 2|Technicolor]].
==Plot==
The film is based on [[Zane Grey]]'s 1923 novel of two brothers, one an honest cowpoke, the other a gambler. When Adam Larey ([[Jack Holt (actor)|Jack Holt]]) confronts his younger brother Guerd ([[James Mason (American actor)|James Mason]]) about his gambling addiction, the latter is accidentally shot. A distraught Adam, believing he has killed his own brother, flees into the desert. He later learns that Guerd was merely wounded and returns to the loving arms of beautiful Ruth Virey ([[Billie Dove]]).
==Cast==
* [[Jack Holt (actor)|Jack Holt]] as Adam Larey
* [[Noah Beery Sr.|Noah Beery]] as Dismukes
* [[George Irving (American actor)|George Irving]] as Mr. Roderick Virey
* [[Kathlyn Williams]] as Magdalene Virey
* [[Billie Dove]] as Ruth Virey
* [[James Pier Mason|Jim Mason]] as Guerd Larey (credited as James Mason)
* [[Richard Neill]] as Collishaw (credited as Richard R. Neill)
* [[James Gordon (actor)|James Gordon]] as Alex MacKay
* [[William A. Carroll]] as Merryvale (credited as William Carroll)
* Willard Cooley as Camp Doctor
==Production==
[[Paramount Pictures]] decided to make a picture entirely in [[Technicolor#Process 2|Technicolor]] (an early version known as Process 2) following the success of the Technicolor sequences in the film ''[[The Ten Commandments (1923 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'' (1923) and director Irvin Willat's own ''[[Heritage of the Desert (1924 film)|Heritage of the Desert]]'' (1924).<ref>''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', January 23, 1924.</ref> Production began on January 24, 1924, and wrapped on March 9. Location shooting for the film included setting up "tent cities" in remote parts of Arizona, Nevada and California, and the production crew worked without being able to watch [[dailies]].<ref>Layton, James and David Pierce. ''The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935''. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 104.</ref>
==Preservation status==
The film is now considered to be a [[lost film]]. An original [[Technicolor#Process 2|cemented Technicolor print]] survived into the 1960s in the hands of the film's director, [[Irvin Willat]], who reported in 1971 that the [[35mm movie film|35&nbsp;mm]] [[Nitrocellulose#Film|nitrate film]] had decomposed.
After Willat's death, his daughter mentioned that she remembered the day when he discovered that ''Wanderer of the Wasteland'' had decomposed. She said he went upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door and cried for three hours. His former wife, Billie Dove, starred in the picture, and he had never really come to terms with their separation after she left him for [[Howard Hughes]].
==See also==
* [[List of early color feature films]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Wanderer of the Wasteland (film)}}
* {{IMDb title|015467|Wanderer of the Wasteland}}
* [http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/W/WandererOfTheWasteland1924.html  Progressive Silent Film List: ''Wanderer of the Wasteland''] at silentera.com
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/beinecke_library/4133263169/ Lobby poster; ''Wanderer of the Wasteland''] (flickr)
{{Irvin Willat}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderer of the Wasteland}}
[[Category:1924 films]]
[[Category:1924 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1920s color films]]
[[Category:1924 lost films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Zane Grey]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on Western (genre) novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Irvin Willat]]
[[Category:Lost American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Silent films in color]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Silent American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1920s English-language films]]
[[Category:1920s American films]]