Regeneration is a 1915 American silent biographical crime drama co-written and directed by Raoul Walsh. The film, which was the first full-length feature film directed by Walsh, stars Rockliffe Fellowes and Anna Q. Nilsson and was adapted for the screen by Carl Harbaugh and Walsh from the memoir My Mamie Rose, by Owen Frawley Kildare and the adapted play by Kildare and Walter C. Hackett.
Regeneration | |
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Anna Q. Nilsson and William Sheer | |
Directed by | Raoul Walsh |
Produced by | William Fox |
Written by | Carl Harbaugh (adaptation) Raoul Walsh (adaptation) |
Based on | My Mamie Rose by Owen Frawley Kildare The Regeneration by Walter C. Hackett and Owen Frawley Kildare |
Starring | Rockliffe Fellowes Anna Q. Nilsson James A. Marcus Carl Harbaugh |
Cinematography | Georges Benoît |
Distributed by | Fox Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent film English intertitles |
Cited as one of the first full-length gangster films, Regeneration tells the story of a poor orphan who rises to control the mob until he meets a woman for whom he wants to change.
Screenplay
The story follows the life of Owen (Rockliffe Fellowes), a young Irish American boy who is forced into a life a poverty after his mother dies. As a result, Owen is forced to live on the street eventually turning to a life of crime. Owen is eventually reformed, however, by the benevolent Marie Deering (Anna Q. Nilsson). Also featured is a fire aboard an excursion ferry, much like the General Slocum disaster of 1904.
- Rockliffe Fellowes – Owen Conway
- James A. Marcus – Jim Conway
- Anna Q. Nilsson – Marie 'Mamie Rose' Deering
- Maggie Weston – Maggie Conway
- Willam Sheer – Skinny
- Carl Harbaugh – District Attorney Ames
- John McCann – Owen Conway (10 years old)
- Harry McCoy – Owen Conway (17 years old)
Set in New York City, Regeneration was shot on location in New York City's Lower East Side and used real prostitutes, gangsters and homeless people as extras. It is the first produced by Fox Film Corporation, a forerunner of the 20th Century Fox.
The film was originally released on September 13, 1915 to critical acclaim and was a box office hit. It was re-released to theaters on January 12, 1919.
Regeneration was previously thought to be lost but was rediscovered in the 1970s. A copy of the film is preserved and held by the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film and the Film Preservation Associates.
In 2000, Regeneration was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
In 2001, Regeneration was released on Region 1 DVD by Image Entertainment along with the 1915 film Young Romance in 2001. The same two-film set was released on manufactured-on-demand DVD by Image Entertainment in 2012. The film is currently in the public domain.