SUMMARY:  This silent, black and white, French movie was shown Monday, July 30, 1928 in the Stanley Theater in New York City.  There were at least two movie critics in the audience, one from the weekly Variety magazine and one from Film Daily, both publications for the film industry.  The Variety review, which appeared Wednesday, August 1, said this movie was "adapted from a story by H. B. Wright."    But the Film Daily review, which appeared Sunday, August 5, said the story was written by Pierre Hemp and adapted for the screen by Rene Jeanne.  In 1965 Richard Bertrand Dimmitt wrote A Title Guide to the Talkies (New York: Scarecrow Press) for the purpose of assisting librarians in helping patrons find the original stories from which movies were made.  He tells the librarians "Lights of Paris" was produced by Swedish Talking Pictures and was based upon a story entitled "Fistic Cavalier" by Harold Bell Wright.  Unfortunately, the reference he gives for this information is wrong and his credits do not agree with any other source I have seen.  In 1981 , Joyce Ann Kinkead, in The Man Who Went Away, (Little Balkans Review, Vol 2, No. 1, Fall, 1981), included "Lights of Paris" in her list of movies made from Harold Bell Wright stories.  And currently, The Internet Movie DataBase (www.imdb.com) lists the Dimmitt information.

Reviews: I have seen two reviews of this movie: Variety, August 1, 1928, p.22,  and Film Daily (newspaper) August 5, 1928.  I will start with the Variety reviewer's credits exactly as stated: 

"Superlative Pictures production: made and released abroad by ABA Corporation (in America by HI Mark Productions).  Adapted from a story by H. B. Wright.  Other data including director not caught on slide--if given.  Doris Costello, featured on billing.  Among others in cast, Henry Krause, Dolly Davies, Robert Coleman, Jack Denton, Rudolph Maron."

The Film Daily Yearbook, 1929 (p.61) gives the following credits, which it says were submitted by the distributor:  

Lights of Paris (6000) [feet] Superlative Productions
  Distributor:     Hi Mark* [see below]
  Director:         Pierre Hemp
  Scenarist:        Rene Jeanne
  Editor:            Rene Jeanne
  Title Writers:   Rene Jeanne, Pierre Hemp
  Review Date:  8-5-28  [The review adds that the story was written by Pierre Hemp.]

The Variety critic expresses his opinion that the movie is only pretending to be French, "although made abroad," since the names of the actors didn't sound French [they were].  "Nothing French about it except its locale, Paris. . . ."  I take this to mean it was filmed "on location" in Paris.  Later in the review he says,  "a portion of this picture suggests that if the European native homes, people and customs were shown over here, they might be acceptable for interest, if nothing else, much as the Americans first attracted attention abroad."  Evidently he found the brief shots of the European homes, people, and customs more interesting than the rest of the movie and thinks if some theaters decide to show this movie, at least a few people will enjoy it just for the travelogue value.  

In any case, he laments,  "Nothing of marked merit in the entire picture."  

The story, he tells us,  involves a young woman who left her mother's home to seek fame and fortune in the theater and cabaret.  But she encounters elements of back-stage life that offend her.  In the end, says the critic, "between the heavy and the other woman, the heroine ran out of the nite [sic] club, through the rain, bare headed, back to mother.  After the first night's performance she was cured."

The critic also notes that "a couple of raw bits are set forth, one especially of a Lesbian scene, but so well disguised evidently it got past the New York censors . . . ."  The other "raw" scene he describes as "a woman stepping into her bathing pool, back to the audience, but at that as a protection perhaps for the same censors, she looked to have on trunks."  But the critic thinks the people who watch this film will be too naive to notice the bawdy scenes.  "Very few in the picture houses this film will play can or will get the Lesbian bit, and just as well," he says.

The critic goes on to recommend to theater owners that in spite of this film's lack of merit, or maybe because of it, they might want to show it for one day, perhaps opposite "The Lights of New York," a "talker" which had been announced for release later that fall.  

The Film Daily critic was no more impressed than the Variety critic.  His report:

"Superlative--S.R. [States Rights]  Length: 6000 ft.

HOPELESS FRENCH PRODUCTION IS AMATEURISH, HEAVY AND WILL NOT SUIT AMERICAN AUDIENCES.  DIRECTION AND CAST VERY ORDINARY.

Cast . . Dolly Davies walks through her part mechanically.  Robert Coleman does the same.  Doris Costello (not the American Dolores) and Henry Krauss the principal support.

Story and Production . . . . Drama of Parisian life.  One of those lesser French productions that has little to recommend it to American exhibitors.  Production is cheap, and that goes for the cast, direction and everything.  It proves slow and heavy and drags along without building any real interest.  It is the old story of the nice little girl who insists on going into show life against the advice of her sweetheart.  The boy is working on an airplane invention, and of course there is a scoundrel who is doing his darndest to steal the plans.  It works out into some rather wild meller with the plans stolen and then recovered.  Meanwhile the gal has learned that the show life is not all glitter, and returns penitent to the arms of her sweetheart.

Director, Pierre Hemp, poor; Author, Pierre Hemp; Scenarist, Rene Jeanne; Editor, not credited; Titles, Rene Jeanne; Photography, Jose Picart, poor."

It should be noted here that Film Daily seemed to take very seriously their role in documenting the exact credits for every movie they reviewed, and even those they didn't.  For every movie they include both the author and the scenarist.  The author is the person who wrote the book or story that the movie is based on.  My American Heritage dictionary defines a scenarist as "a writer of screenplays."  So according to Film Daily, "Lights of Paris" was based on a story written by the film's director, Pierre Hemp, and adapted for the screen by Rene Jeanne. Harold Bell Wright, or H. B. Wright was not involved.   "Meller" is early Hollywood slang for melodrama.

Evidently "Lights of Paris" was silent.  "Lights of New York" was described in Harrison's, a major movie theater owners' trade journal, as the very first movie in which "the characters are made to talk all the way through as if they were acting on the stage in the flesh."  In 1928, when every theater wanted to know which movies had sound and which did not, Variety put the note "(SOUND)" under the title of movies that had sound. They said nothing about "Lights of Paris" having sound.  And the editors of the Film Daily Yearbook of 1929, which published data submitted by the distributors, were proud to announce that they included an "indication where dialogue, synchronization, or sound effects are employed."  (AD=All Dialog, PD=Part Dialog, S-SE=Synchronized, Sound Effects.)  They included none of those symbols with the "Lights of Paris" data.  And, of course, the Film Daily says there were two title writers.  Titles were used in silent movies to inform viewers what was going on.  It is true that Richard Bertrand Dimmitt, in A Title Guide to the Talkies (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1965) tells us Lights of Paris was produced by Swedish Talking Pictures.  Both the name of Dimmitt's book and the name of the production company suggest the movie had some sound.  But Dimmitt's credits do not agree with any other sources I have found, and the reference he gives for his information (Motion Picture Almanac of 1929) contains no information about "Lights of Paris," Swedish Talking Pictures, or Harold Bell Wright.

Was Harold Bell Wright Really Involved with 
"Lights of Paris?"

I am aware of two reasons to believe this movie was based on a story by Harold Bell Wright: the Variety critic said it was "adapted from a story by H. B. Wright."  And Dimmitt, who tells us "Lights of Paris" was produced by Swedish Talking Pictures in 1928, continues, "This screen production was based upon the story entitled:  FISTIC CAVALIER by Harold Bell Wright."  Dimmitt gives his source for this information as Motion Picture Almanac, 1929, New York: A Quigley Publication.  As mentioned above, this book contains no information about "Lights of Paris."  But surely Dimmitt did not invent this information.  He must have found it in some early publication.  The Internet Movie DataBase (www.imdb.com) used the Dimmitt information.  And I assume Joyce Ann Kinkead, in The Man Who Went Away, (Little Balkans Review, Vol 2, No. 1, Fall, 1981) also relied upon Dimmitt.

So why doubt this movie is connected to Harold Bell Wright?.  At first glance, it seems obvious that a movie about lesbians in Paris would not be written by Harold Bell Wright.  But it is possible that Wright wrote a story that has not been recorded elsewhere, sold someone the rights to make a movie from that story, and then had nothing to do with it's production.  He might have never approved the film or even heard of it again.  After all, Wright had sold movie rights to Sol Lesser in 1922, with the stipulation that Lesser could change the stories and titles in any way he wanted to and many of the resulting "Harold Bell Wright" movies were produced without Wright's participation or knowledge.  Movies like this one usually played only one day in most theaters, and within ninety days of their release dates disappeared entirely.  This one may have not lasted that long.  So Wright, not known for keeping up with what was happening in the cities, could easily have missed the whole thing in the best of times, and would have had no authority to change the lesbian scenes even if he did know about them.  In fact, the release of this movie coincided closely with the unexpected illness and death of Wright's second son, Paul, so a lot could have happened in the movies at that time without Wright knowing about it.  For all these reasons, it is entirely possible that Wright wrote the story, sold it to someone he didn't know very well, and never heard of it again.  

But here is an outline of my reasons for doubting:

1.  The Film Daily reviewer said the story was written by Pierre Hemp.

2.  Wrong Contract -- In 1922 Wright signed a contract giving Sol Lesser the rights to make movies from his existing novels, which are named in the contract.  "Lights of Paris" was not one of Wright's novels and was not named in the contract.  Nor was "Fistic Cavalier" named as one of his stories.  Sol Lesser sometimes resold his exclusive rights, as he did in the case of "The Winning of Barbara Worth," but he could not have sold the movie rights to this story because he did not own the rights to "other stories" at this time.  At least not that we have a record of.  So Wright would have had to write a new story and enter into a new contract, perhaps with a new client.  There is no record that that happened.  Nor is there any evidence of Wright creating other stories for movies before the 1930's, nor of any other contracts for movies before 1928.  At least not that collectors are aware of today.

3.  Wrong Story Subject -- Even more than most writers, Wright wrote about things he was very familiar with.  He usually wrote about places and activities he had experienced for at least two years.  That is why all his stories are about the western United States, the Ozarks, preachers, churches, artists, mountain people, cowboys, Indians, and deserts. It seems reasonable to doubt that Wright would have known how to write a story about the backstage life of French cabarets, night clubs, and stages.  And it seems highly unlikely anyone would have asked Wright to create such a story or that he would have agreed to the assignment if they had asked.  (On the other hand, at this time he was writing, or had been writing, Exit, which he had planned to be a play for his actor son, Paul.  So he did have some interest in the stage at that time.  However, even that story is about rough men and women in the Arizona desert.)

4.  Sloppy, Uninterested Critic -- The Variety reviewer said, "other data, including the director, was not caught on slide--if given."  The Film Daily critic found all the credits.  I take that to mean the Variety critic was not paying a lot of attention when the credit "slide" was shown and was relying on his memory of what was on the slide. He wasn't sure what was on the slide and what wasn't.  And he was not concerned enough with getting it right to check published material. This is not a terribly convincing witness. And there are other inaccuracies.  The critic doubts that the movie is French because the actors aren't French.  But according to the Internet Movie Database biographical data, at least two of them were born in France and died in France.  And the names of the production staff--Pierre Hemp and Rene Jeanne--suggest additional French connections.  

5.  No Harold Bell Wright bookings or audiences.  In 1928 the name Harold Bell Wright was still enough to draw audiences, even to very poor movies.  The Shepherd of the Hills, for example, was also released in 1928 and was also panned by the critics.  But out of 820 feature films released that year, it was the seventh highest money maker.  It is very difficult for me to imagine that theater owners would have totally ignored a second film by the same author.

I do not know for sure if "Lights of Paris" was or was not based on a story by Wright, but I doubt it.  One first-hand witness says the movie was based on a story by H. B. Wright and a later compiler agrees, but a second, and much more careful, witness reports that the story was written by someone else.  Should positive evidence show up indicating Harold Bell Wright wrote the story for this movie, I will add it to my list.

*Hi Mark Nana-Phone Corporation (Hi Mark Production) had a full page ad in the 1929 Film Daily Yearbook.  Home Office: 220 West 42 Street, New York City.  "We supply sound and silent pictures of every variety," they announced.  "Accurate and prompt service to state rights distributors through our domestic department.  Careful and efficient service to the foreign distributors through our export department"  Another ad in the same publication featured the company next door at 218 42nd Street, General Talking Pictures.  Neither ad mentions "Light's of Paris" or a Swedish connection.