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At least twenty movies (plus one TV movie) were made
from Harold Bell Wright's novels, or claimed to be made from a book or story
by Harold Bell Wright. The list below was assembled with input from Rick Gunter, Quentin Burke,
Eric Tudor,
Julian
Lesser
(Sol's
son), and Lawrence Tagg, in addition to considerable research I
have done at the Los Angeles Public Library, the Library of Congress,
and the libraries at UCLA and Princeton University. The
main collectible items are posters of various sizes, and lobby cards,
but there are also magazine ads, flyers, publicity photos, press books, theater
programs, and other items. For a brief description of the various sizes of posters and
cards click here.
For Bruce Hershenson's movie poster links page
click
here.
Click on Small Pictures to See
Larger Pictures and More Information
Wright's
first
novel
to
be
made
into
a
movie
was
The
Eyes
of
The
World,
which
was
filmed
at
the
actual
location
described
in
the
book -- the mountains near Redlands,
California.
The
movie
was
produced
by Clune
Films,
well
known
at
the
time
for
excellent cinematography.
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1916 – The Eyes of The World
b&w silent 10 reels |
States Rights release. Clune production.
More
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| The critics said The
Eyes of the World had beautiful scenery, but
that
unless a viewer was
familiar with the novel, there was no way to figure out the
story. Evidently Wright agreed: "People do not go to the theater to see scenic
effects," Wright told a Los Angeles reporter later. "They go to see a story visualized. The story is first; everything else is incidental." Los Angeles Evening Herald, June 17,
1919. Wright decided no one else could tell his
stories better than he could, so for his second
movie he,
in
partnership
with
Elsbery Reynolds, his publisher, formed
the Harold Bell Wright Story-Picture Corporation, with Wright
serving as writer, producer, and director. |
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1919 – The Shepherd of the Hills
b&w
silent 9 reels
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Harold Bell Wright Story-Picture
Corporation release and production
More
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But by 1920, after only one movie, the Harold Bell Wright Story-Picture
Company was dead. Wright
and Reynolds were no longer on speaking terms as a result of
Wright's decision to have his books published by Appleton instead of by The Book Supply Company. There is evidence that this quarrel cooled off later and the
two men were friends again, but the fight lasted long enough to
contribute to Wright's losing his movie rights.
In an interview conducted by Columbia
University in 1971,
Hollywood
producer,
Sol Lesser, recounted how in 1920-22 he obtained the right to
make movies from all Wright's books published to that time. According to Lesser, he and his
partner, Mike Rosenberg, wanted the movie rights
to Wright's books because they figured all the millions of people who had read the books would want to see movies based on those stories. So Lesser traveled to Tucson to see if Wright would sell. Wright was willing, but there was a big problem. Reynolds owned half the
rights to the books, and Wright was not willing to talk to Reynolds or deal with him in any way. But Wright offered a solution. If Lesser would go deal with Reynolds directly and buy
from Reynolds his half of the rights, Wright would give his own half of the movie rights to Lesser in exchange for what would then be Lesser's half of the publishing rights. Lesser says he
"hot-footed" it to Pomona, paid Reynolds $174,500 for
the book and movie rights, and the printing plates, and made the trade
with Wright. When the dealing was all done, Reynolds had $174,500, Wright owned all the publishing rights (and the printing plates), and Lesser owned the movie rights to all the Book Supply Company titles. Unfortunately, Wright traded away lucrative
movie rights
in exchange for
book rights that proved to be of little monetary value. Worse, he gave up all right to control the content of
the movies.
Lesser's
contract with Reynolds, dated
September 6, 1922 and now in the UCLA Library, shows that
before Reynolds sold the rights to Lesser, Reynolds already had some deals in motion for production of
movies from Wright’s books. Clune had agreed to pay Reynolds three percent of receipts for
the 1916 movie, The Eyes of the World, and The Norris Company
had bought the rights to make a movie of The Winning of Barbara
Worth, also paying Reynolds three percent of receipts. Evidently Clune and Norris
had only bought licenses to
make one movie each, because Lesser now bought from Reynolds the unlimited
rights to those titles, along with
rights
to
the other seven Book Supply
Company titles. According to that same contract, in the UCLA library, Lesser also bought the existing film copies of
the 1916 movie, The Eyes of the World, the 1919 movie, The Shepherd of the Hills, and the Winning of Barbara Worth! I have never heard of a pre-1926 movie of The Winning of Barbara Worth, but The Norris Company must have put something on film.
It is likely that the language in Lesser’s 1922 contract with Harold Bell Wright was identical or very similar to the language in the contract with Reynolds, in which Reynolds granted Lesser "the exclusive universal motion picture and stage rights
... together with the exclusive and universal right to use the titles and themes
... and to adapt, arrange, change, transpose, add to or subtract from the themes and titles
... to such an extent as the purchasers may deem expedient," to make movies from Wright's first nine novels (from
Reynolds contract in UCLA Special Collections). As the contract
would suggest, the Harold Bell Wright
"B-movies" that followed departed
significantly from the stories in the novels. Sometimes only the
names of Wright's titles and characters were recognizable.
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1924 – When a Man’s a Man
b&w silent |
First National Release
Sol Lesser presentation
More Information
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1924 – The Mine With the Iron Door
b&w
silent 8 reels |
Principal Pictures
Sol Lesser production
More Information
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1925 – A Son of His Father
b&w
silent |
Victor Fleming Production
More Information
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1925 – The Recreation of Brian Kent
b&w silent 7 reels |
Principal Pictures, Sol Lesser presents
Sam Wood Production
More Information
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1926 – The Winning of Barbara Worth
b&w
silent 9 reels |
United Artists release.
Samuel Goldwyn Production
More
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1928 – The Shepherd of the Hills
b&w
silent 9 reels
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First National release
First National production
More Information
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(Some lists of Harold Bell Wright's movies
mistakenly include Lights
of Paris (1928), but this movie never had any
connection with Wright. For a full discussion of the issue
Click Here)
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By 1930, it was clear that the future
of movies included sound. So Sol Lesser, believing that he owned
the unlimited rights to make movies from the Harold Bell Wright
titles he bought in 1922, and perhaps later, produced The Eyes
of the World with sound. |
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1930 – The Eyes of the World
b&w
Movietone 78 min
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Inspiration
Pictures
and
Sol
Lesser
United Artists release.
Henry King Production
More Information
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By
1934
it became obvious to Wright, too, that there was much more money
to be made from movies of his early stories than from reprints
of his books. Wright was now running low on money and he
wanted
back
into
the
movie
business. This
is
when
it
occurred
to
him
that
his
1922
contract
had
only
conveyed
to
Lesser
the
right
to
make
SILENT movies. It could not have
conveyed rights
to
sound
movies, he reasoned, because sound movies hadn't
been
invented in 1922. He
informed
Lesser
that
if Lesser wanted
to
make,
or
remake,
sound
movies
from Wright's early
books he
would
have
to enter into new
contracts
and
pay
him
for
each sound movie.
Lesser
disagreed, claiming
that
his
earlier contract
conveyed
to
him
the right to make ANY movie, including talking
pictures, from the titles covered in the 1922
contract. Under
the
heading
"Author
in
Court,"
and
next
to
a
photo of a glum-looking
Harold
Bell
Wright,
the
'Galt
Reporter'
of
June
20,
1934
reported that,
"Harold
Bell
Wright
is
more
often
read
than
seen,
but
the
famous
novelist
made
this
appearance
in
Los
Angeles
court
to
contend,
in
a
motion
picture
suit,
that
he
should
have
extra
compensation
for
one
of
his
novels
produced
as
a
talkie."
[From
a
clipping
found
by
Stephen
Longshore,
of
the
Adjala
Bookshop
in
Ontario,
Canada
in
a
copy
of
To
My
Sons.] Evidently Wright was demanding compensation for
The Eyes of the World, which he believed Lesser had produced
without license.
According
to
an
email
message
I
received
May 15, 2001 from
Sol's
son,
Julian
Lesser (1915-2005), Wright
and
Sol
Lesser
agreed
to
let
a
judge
settle
the
matter. "Before
undertaking
production,
the
two
presented
their
briefs
to
the
California
Court
for
"Declaratory
Relief,"
the
Court
to
declare
a
finding
on
the
respective
rights
in
advance
without
parties
suing
each
other.
The
Court
found
that
rights
were
conveyed,
regardless
of
technical
changes
or
additions
in
the
film
medium."
In
other
words,
the judge ruled against Wright, and Lesser was free to
make sound movies without additional payments to Wright..
In
a
letter
(now
in
the
Princeton
University
Library)
to
Harper
and
Brothers
in
January,
1944,
Wright
provides
a
slightly
different
ending
to
the
story--what we might call "spin" today. He tells
his publisher
that
after
the
judge
ruled
against
him,
he
threatened
to
appeal,
and
rather
than
continue
the
legal
case,
Lesser
and
associates
settled,
"on
my
terms."
These
negotiations,
Wright
says,
led
to
the
six-movie
contract
mentioned
below. It is clear, however, that his terms did not change the
judges ruling. If Wright got any concessions from
Lesser, those concessions applied only to later
titles -- which were not covered in the 1922 contract or in the
judges decision.
The first of several sound movies
produced after the judge's ruling was the 1935 film, "When A
Man's A Man," though Sol Lesser had already re-made "The Eyes of
the World" with sound. Had the judge ruled in Wright's favor,
Wright would have required payment from
Lesser for the following four movies (plus the earlier Eyes of
the World). |
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1935 – When a Man’s a Man
b&w
mono 68 min |
20th Century Fox release
Sol Lesser-John Zanft production
More Information
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1936 – The Calling of Dan Matthews
b&w
mono 66 min. |
Columbia release.
Sol Lesser production.
More
Information
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1936 – The Mine With the Iron Door
b&w
mono 64 min. |
Columbia release.
Sol
Lesser production
More Information
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1936 -- Wild Brian Kent
b&w
mono 57 min. |
20th Century-Fox Release.
Sol Lesser production.
More Information
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In 1935,
because of declining health, Wright turned over all his movie dealings to
his oldest son, Gilbert, who was already employed by Lesser to
write story ideas and screen plays for several of the movies
listed above. Gilbert quickly arranged a deal and signed a contract
selling Lesser the movie rights to six Harold Bell Wright
stories -- three previously published stories and three original
(new) Harold Bell Wright
stories. The three published stories
named in the first part of the contract included two published
novels. The first was Helen of the Old House. The
resulting movie, which bore no resemblance to the novel, was
entitled WESTERN
GOLD (1937). The second published novel
was listed as Exit in one personal letter, and as God and
the Groceryman in another. Neither of these
novels was
ever produced as a movie, so it is probably not important to
figure out which was correct.
The third published story that
Lesser bought was A Desert Santa Claus, which was also
never released as a movie. |
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1937 -- Western Gold
b&w mono 57 min.
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20th Century-Fox Release.
Sol Lesser production.
More Information
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The second part of the six-movie contract granted
Lesser the right to make movies based on
original stories, or story ideas, yet to be written by Wright. Gilbert
later told his father that he felt the contract should have SOME names for
these three stories, so he inserted names of three story ideas
of his own, assuring his father that genuine Harold Bell Wright
stories could be substituted in the future. But when Wright
learned about Gilbert's story titles and outlines in the contract
he concluded he couldn't make substitutions without making Gilbert appear
to have committed fraud in the original contract. He and
Gilbert, who continued asking Wright for original stories to
submit to Lesser, never agreed on that point, and Wright never
submitted any new stories.
But that didn't
stop Lesser from producing new movies and claiming they were based
on stories by Harold Bell Wright. In the end, three
movies were produced and released in fulfillment of this second
part of the contract. One, THE CALIFORNIAN (1937), was
written by Gilbert. Apparently, Lesser didn't like
Gilbert's other two stories, because the other two movies, IT HAPPENED OUT WEST (1937),
and SECRET VALLEY (1937), were written by other writers employed
by Lesser. Though Wright had never even seen any of these
stories, Lesser billed all three movies as being
"From a Story by Harold Bell Wright." Wright was
not pleased with the credit. In 1944 Wright told his youngest son,
Norman, "Since this deal with Lesser, and the
kind of junk he put out over my name, I have never had, nor been
able to arouse, one word of interest in the Wright stories from
any producer. I don't blame them. From a $50,000.00
and $75,000.00 writer I have been made into the cheapest sort of
Main Street author." [dollar signs supplied] (See Storyteller to America,
Lawrence V. Tagg, p. 71)
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1937 -- It Happened Out West
b&w mono 56 min.
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20th Century-Fox Release.
Sol Lesser production.
More Information
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1937 -- Secret Valley
b&w
mono 58 min. |
20th Century-Fox Release.
Sol Lesser production.
More Information
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1937 -- The Californian
b&w
mono 59 min. |
20th Century-Fox Release.
Sol Lesser production.
More
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(Later
Harold Bell Wright
Movies)
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1941 – The Shepherd of the Hills
Technicolor
mono 98 min. |
Paramount release.
Jack Moss, producer.
More Information
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1949 -- Massacre River (Allied)
b&w
mono 77 min. |
Allied/Monogram Release. Julian
Lesser-Frank Melford/Windsor production.
More Information
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1959 -- The Shepherd of the Hills
Color |
Television release: KYTV-3, Springfield, Missouri.
More Information |
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1964 – The Shepherd of the Hills
color
mono 110 min. |
Macco/Howco International
release. Jim McCulloch,
Jr./Howco production.
More Information
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| * Some sources also
mention a 1951 Shepherd of the Hills movie, but that resulted from a
clerical error during research. The 1951 release was a
re-issue of the 1941 film with John Wayne. |
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