Richard Barthelmess had become a movie star playing bright young men and hayseed hunks, eventually forming his own production company, Inspiration Pictures, and making wholesome tall tales for American girls and boys. The company had success right out of the gate with Tol’able David, a rural drama drawn from a short story by Joseph Hergesheimer. Inspiration Pictures returned to Hergesheimer soon after, snatching up film rights to his new novel, The Bright Shawl, which yielded a more worldly period picture with Barthelmess as Charles Abbott, a rich American adventurer who gets tangled up with Cuban resistance to Spanish rule in the 1850s. Caught between Andalusian dancer La Clavel (Dorothy Gish) and Spanish loyalist spy La Pilar (Jetta Goudal), Abbott finds himself throwing in with the rebels, putting himself and the patriotic Escobar clan in grave danger. Partially shot in Cuba under the direction of John S. Robertson (best known for his memorable 1920 adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), The Bright Shawl was received in its day as a classy offering — perhaps a little too classy. “Where [audiences] have an aversion to so-called costume plays they may class this as such and prepare themselves to be displeased although there is everything to oppose this poor judgment,” warned The Film Daily. “For an artistically inclined clientele, you have something worth while to talk about in the colorful atmosphere, excellent production and attractive settings as well as many interesting performances.” Among the interesting performances were three young actors receiving their first screen credits: Mary Astor, Edward G. Robinson, and William Powell, the latter playing a colorful Spanish villain. 

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Preceded by: [Cuba (Trip to the Caribbean 1941 – Reel 3)] – 10 min – 16mm