As Man Desires

1925 film by Irving Cummings

January 11, 1925 (1925-01-11)

Running time

80 minutes; 8 reels (7,790 feet)CountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

As Man Desires is a lost 1925 American silent drama film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Viola Dana. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures.^[1]^[2]

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine,^[3] Major John Craig (Sills) knocks out Colonel Carringford (Nicholson) when he discovers Gloria Gordon (Clifford), his fiancée, has been untrue. Carringford is then murdered by a servant and because Evelyn Beaudine (Theby), a married woman of unsavory reputation, accuses him of the crime, Craig is forced to flee from his British Army post in India. Craig procures a fishing smack and amasses wealth from working pearl beds in the South Seas. He tenders Gorilla Bagsley (Kennedy), a poacher a beating when he finds him annoying Pandora (Dana). She now feels that Craig is "her man" and, to spite the memory of the other woman, he marries her. A seaman identifies Craig and notifies the British government. Gloria comes with the representative who tells Craig that Gloria had sacrificed her own reputation to prove his innocence. Gorilla, intending to kill Craig, levels a gun towards his back but Pandora jumps in the way as it is fired. Craig and Gloria are thus united.

Cast

Milton Sills as Major John Craig
Viola Dana as Pandora La Croix
Ruth Clifford as Gloria Gordon
Rosemary Theby as Evelyn Beaudine
Irving Cummings as Major Singh
Paul Nicholson as Colonel Carringford
Tom Kennedy as Gorilla Bagsley
Hector Sarno as Toni
Louis Payne as Major Gridley
Anna Mae Walthall as The Duchess
Edneh Altemus as Camille
Frank Leigh as Watkins
Robert St. Angelo as Extra (uncredited)

Preservation

With no prints of As Man Desires located in any film archives,^[4] it is a lost film.^[5]

References

^ "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: As Man Desires". www.afi.com. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
^ "Progressive Silent Film List: As Man Desires". silentera.com.
^ Waller, Tom (January 31, 1925). "As Man Desires; Milton Sills and Viola Dana Featured in Entertaining First National Melodrama". The Moving Picture World. 72 (5). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 447–448. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
^ The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: As Man Desires
^ "Lost Film Files - First National". www.silentsaregolden.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2024.