Syncopating Sue [fragment]

1926
United States
Directed by Richard Wallace
Restored in 2026
San Francisco Film Preserve, National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute, Poland

Cast

Corinne Griffith, Tom Moore, Rockliffe Fellowes
Music by: Stephen Horne
Produced by: Corinne Griffith Productions, Inc.
Available Formats
DCP
FPS
24
Intertitle Language
English
Susan Adams, who is employed as a pianist in a Broadway music shop, entertains ambitions for a stage career. Arthur Bennett, famous theatrical producer and successful star-maker, summons her to his office to complain about her noisy piano below him, and she haughtily responds that she will stop if he gives her a chance on the stage. Susan mistakes Eddie Murphy, recently arrived in town, for a flirtatious masher, until she finds him living in her boardinghouse; and their friendship grows when she learns he is a friend of Joe Horn, a saxophonist. Eddie, who plays drums in a cabaret, is disillusioned at seeing Susan with Bennett. When Bennett seeks to ensnare Susan’s sister, Marge, Susan proves her acting abilities at his apartment; but learning that Eddie has left for Europe, she confesses her love for him, and they are happily united. (AFI Catalog) Just one reel of this film survives.
This 4K restoration is based on a partially tinted black and white 35mm nitrate print preserved at the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute in Warsaw, Poland. Digital intervention was limited to mitigating damage and accumulated wear suffered by the original film material. This restoration was completed in March 2026 by the San Francisco Film Preserve in collaboration with the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, Poland.

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