Peter Pan 1924 Paramount Pictures American Silent Film Adventure

Peter Pan is a 1924 American silent adventure film released by Paramount Pictures, the first film adaptation of the 1904 play by J. M. Barrie. It was directed by Herbert Brenon and starred Betty Bronson as Peter Pan, Ernest Torrence as Captain Hook, Mary Brian as Wendy, Virginia Browne Faire as Tinker Bell, Esther Ralston as Mrs. Darling, and Anna May Wong as the American Indian princess Tiger Lily.

Plot:
Mrs. Darling (Ralston) is worried because she has seen a boyish face at the nursery window and found a shadow on the floor, but reluctantly goes to a party with her husband (Chadwick). Because Mr. Darling is so strict, the family cannot keep a nurse, so the three children are left in the charge of the dog Nana (Ali). Soon the lively boy Peter Pan (Bronson) appears at the window with the fairy Tinker Bell (Faire), and he finds his shadow in a desk drawer. Wendy (Brian), the oldest child, awakens and sees Peter, and he tells her of his home in the woods and about the fairies. Peter teaches the children to fly and they go away to Never Never Land to join the colony of Lost Boys, who have fallen out of carriages when their nurses were not looking. Tinker Bell is jealous and prompts one of the Lost Boys to shoot Wendy, thinking she is a bird, and she almost dies. The boys, who live in an underground home, adopt Wendy as their mother. A band of American Indians is friendly and battle a band of pirates led by Captain Hook (Torrence), but are defeated. The Captain hates Peter because he blames him for a crocodile that once bit off his hand. Because the crocodile follows him, the Captain fears him and fed it an alarm clock so that its tick-tock will warn him of its approach. The pirates carry off the children and leave poison in Peter's medicine. Tinker Bell drinks the poison and almost dies, but is saved when the children in the audience say that they believe in fairies. Peter enlists the aid of mermaids to get aboard the pirate ship and, with the help of the Proud Boys, they fight and conquer the pirates. Wendy and the children then fly back home. Mrs. Darling, who has grieved, thinks she is dreaming when she sees her children until the rush up on her. Wendy wants to keep Peter, but he says he never wants to grow up. Mrs. Darling agrees to allow Wendy to go back once a year to help Peter with his spring cleaning, and he leaves to go back to the home in the woods. Mr. and Mrs. Darling adopt all of the Lost Boys.

Cast:
Betty Bronson as Peter Pan
Ernest Torrence as Captain Hook
Mary Brian as Wendy Darling
Jack Murphy as John Darling
Philippe De Lacy as Michael Darling
Virginia Brown Faire as Tinker Bell
George Ali as Nana the dog and Crocodile
Esther Ralston as Mrs. Darling
Cyril Chadwick as Mr. Darling
Anna May Wong as Tiger Lily
Maurice Murphy as Tootles
Mickey McBan as Slightly
George Crane Jr. as Curly
Winston Doty as 1st Twin
Weston Doty as 2nd Twin
Terence McMillan as Nibs
Louis Morrison as Gentleman Starkey
Edward Kipling as Smee
Robert Milasch as Kelt

Production:
The film closely follows the plot of the original play, and even goes so far as to incorporate much of its original stage dialogue in the intertitles. Added scenes include Nana the dog pouring out Michael's medicine and giving him a bath, and Nana bursting into the home at which a party is being given, to warn Mr. and Mrs. Darling that Peter Pan and the Darling children are flying around the nursery.

Like the original play and several other versions, and unlike the 1953 Disney film, the 1924 version makes it clear that Wendy harbors a romantic attachment to Peter, but Peter only thinks of her as his mother. The film omits the scene An Afterthought, which Barrie wrote after the play was staged, and in which Peter returns for Wendy, only to find that years have passed and that she is now a married woman with a daughter.

Barrie selected Bronson for the role of Wendy, and wrote additional scenes for the film, but Brenon stuck largely to the plot of the stage play.

Reception:
The film was celebrated at the time for its innovative use of special effects (mainly to show Tinker Bell) according to Disney's 45th anniversary video of their adaptation of Peter Pan.

Public domain note:
All motion pictures made and exhibited before 1926 are indisputably in the public domain in the United States. This date will move forward
one year, every year, meaning that films released in 1926 will enter the public domain on New Year's Day 2022, films from 1927 on New Year's Day 2023, and so on.

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