Below the Surface

1920
United States
Directed by Irvin Willat
Restored in 2022
San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Cast

Hobart Bosworth, Grace Darmond, Lloyd Hughes, George Webb, Gladys George
Music by: Stephen Horne
Produced by: Thomas H. Ince Productions
Available Formats
35mm, DCP
Runtime
93 min.
FPS
20
Intertitle Language
English
What happens when a couple of city slickers try to scam a hard-working family on New England’s stony shore? Find out in Irvin V. Willat’s follow-up to Behind the Door, another action-packed melodrama headlined by the silent era’s most flinty-eyed no-nonsense protagonist, Hobart Bosworth.
A 35mm original nitrate negative of Irvin Willat’s underwater melodrama was preserved by the Library of Congress and is the second Willat-directed film in SFSFF’s collection, along with 1919’s Behind the Door. Sections with nitrate damage were made up from a 35mm safety duplicate negative that had been struck from the negative prior to its deterioration. The added color is based on a tinted 35mm nitrate print preserved at Eye Filmmuseum in the Netherlands. For digital presentation, the coloring has been digitally rendered. The restored 35mm print has been chemically dye-tinted and toned. This restoration was made possible with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

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