Editing Regeneration (1915 film)

{{short description|1915 film by Raoul Walsh}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Regeneration
| image          = Regeneration 1915 poster.jpg
| caption        = Original theatrical poster, 1915
| director       = [[Raoul Walsh]]
| producer       = [[William Fox (producer)|William Fox]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''My Mamie Rose''|[[Owen Frawley Kildare]]}}<br />{{based on|''The Regeneration''|[[Walter Hackett]] and Owen Frawley Kildare}}
| writer         = [[Carl Harbaugh]] (adaptation)<br />Raoul Walsh (adaptation)
| starring       = [[Rockliffe Fellowes]]<br />[[Anna Q. Nilsson]]<br />[[James A. Marcus]]<br />[[Carl Harbaugh]]
| cinematography = [[Georges Benoît]]
| editing        = 
| distributor    = [[Fox Film|Fox Film Corporation]]
| released       = {{film date|1915|9|13}}
| runtime        = 72 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = [[Silent film]]<br />[[English language|English]] intertitles
| budget         = 
}}

'''''Regeneration''''' (alternately called ''''' The Regeneration''''') is a 1915 American [[Silent film|silent]] [[Biographical film|biographical]] [[crime drama]] co-written and directed by [[Raoul Walsh]]. The film, which was the first full-length feature film directed by Walsh, stars [[Rockliffe Fellowes]] and [[Anna Q. Nilsson]] and was adapted for the screen by [[Carl Harbaugh]] and Walsh from the 1903 memoir ''My Mamie Rose'', by [[Owen Frawley Kildare]] and the adapted 1908 play by Kildare and [[Walter Hackett]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Solomon|first=Aubrey|title=The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography|date=2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-48610-6|page=229}}</ref>

It was feared lost until a copy was located by the [[Museum of Modern Art]].<ref name="Timeout1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/regeneration|title=Regeneration|website=Timeout.com|date=20 November 2015 |access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref>

==Plot==
Cited as one of the first full-length [[gangster film]]s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Hahn Rafter|first=Nicole|title=Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-195-17506-9|page=23}}</ref> ''Regeneration'' tells the story of a poor orphan who rises to control the mob until he meets a woman for whom he wants to change.

The film is a "candid adaptation" of the autobiography of [[Owen Frawley Kildare]], called the Kipling of the Bowery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/1276|title=Regeneration. 1915. Directed by Raoul Walsh &#124; MoMA|website=Moma.org|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> The story follows the life of Owen (Rockliffe Fellowes), a young [[Irish American]] boy who is forced into a life of poverty after his mother dies.  As a result, Owen is forced to live on the street eventually turning to a life of crime.  Owen is eventually reformed, however, by the benevolent social worker Marie Deering (Anna Q. Nilsson). Also featured is a fire aboard an excursion ferry, much like the [[General Slocum disaster]] of 1904.

Deering's choices perplex her beau, a district attorney (Harbaugh) who has declared war on the gangs.<ref name="latimes.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-28-ca-27780-story.html|title=A Master of Action and Reaction|date=28 September 2000|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref>

==Cast==
[[File:Anna Q. Nilsson in Regeneration.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Anna Q. Nilsson]] and [[William Sheer]]]]
[[File:Maggie Weston.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Anna Q. Nilsson as Marie "Mamie Rose" Deering]]
* [[Rockliffe Fellowes]] &ndash; Owen Conway
* [[James A. Marcus]] &ndash; Jim Conway
* [[Anna Q. Nilsson]] &ndash; Marie "Mamie Rose" Deering
* Maggie Weston &ndash; Maggie Conway
* [[William Sheer]] &ndash; Skinny
* [[Carl Harbaugh]] &ndash; District Attorney Ames
* John McCann &ndash; Owen Conway (10 years old)
* [[Harry McCoy]] &ndash; Owen Conway (17 years old)

==Production==
Set in New York City, ''Regeneration'' was shot on location in New York City's [[Lower East Side]] and used real [[prostitutes]], [[gangsters]] and [[Homelessness|homeless people]] as [[Extra (acting)|extras]].<ref name=finler/> It is the first produced by [[20th Century Fox#Fox Film Corporation|Fox Film Corporation]], a forerunner of the [[20th Century Fox]].<ref name=silentera>{{cite web|title=Regeneration (1915)|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/R/Regeneration1915.html|publisher=silentera.com}}</ref>

By 1915, 28-year-old director Raoul Walsh was in New York, with a three-picture contract with Fox Film Corporation for $400 a week - he was assigned ''Regeneration'', to be the first feature-length gangster film in the United States. It was based on the book ''My Mamie Rose''. Walsh's statement that he wrote the script was contradicted by other comments he made that he worked on it with Carl Harbaugh.<ref name="True1"/> Walsh had previously played [[John Wilkes Booth]] in ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', and this was his first directing project<ref name="Guardian1">{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/aug/24/why-cinema-came-of-age-100-years-ago|title=Why cinema came of age 100 years ago|date=24 August 2015|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> on a feature, with him going on to film 140 other feature films.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=Tony |title=The Pauper and the Prince: Transformative Masculinity in Raoul Walsh's Regeneration |journal=Film History: An International Journal |date=2011 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=414–427 |doi=10.2979/filmhistory.23.4.414 |s2cid=191322413 |id={{Project MUSE|464612}} }}</ref>

When he filmed the scene with actors jumping off a boat into the river, fireboats and police showed up to calm the "crowds", and Walsh was taken to the local station house, amused. The studio "relished" the free publicity.<ref name="True1"/> French cinematographer Georges Benoit worked on the film as his first Fox picture.<ref name="True1"/>

==Release==
[[File:Regeneration (1915).webm|thumb|thumbtime=3|upright=1.4|Play full film; runtime 01:11:30.]]
''Regeneration'' was originally released on September 13, 1915, to critical acclaim and was a box office hit.<ref name=finler>{{cite book|last=Finler|first=Joel Waldo|title=Movie Directors Story|date=1986|publisher=Random House Value Publishing|isbn=0-517-48079-4|page=80}}</ref><ref name="True1">{{cite book|last=Moss|first=Marilyn Ann|title=Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director|date=2013|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-813-14444-3|page=50}}</ref>  It was re-released to theaters on January 12, 1919.<ref name=silentera/>

The release was "rife with the dramatic elements that pleased broad audiences of early cinema - violence and redemption, heavy sentiment, romance and tragedy".<ref name="True1"/> It opened to critical and box-office success.<ref name="True1"/> William Fox was so pleased, he bought Walsh a [[Crane-Simplex|Simplex automobile]] and afforded him a salary of $800 a week, a small fortune in 1915.<ref name="True1"/> It cemented his reputation as an action director,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2005/06/28/gangsters-and-pranksters-in-eclectic-walsh-retrospective/|title=Gangsters and pranksters in eclectic Walsh retrospective|date=28 June 2005|website=Villagevoice.com|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> although critics noted had "had a gift for revealing emotional vulnerability in even his roughest, toughest heroes."<ref name="latimes.com"/>

===Home media===
In 2001, ''Regeneration'' was released on [[DVD region code#1|Region 1]] DVD by [[Image Entertainment]], along with the 1915 film ''[[Young Romance (film)|Young Romance]]''. The same two-film set was released on manufactured-on-demand DVD by Image Entertainment in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=Regeneration (1915): DVD Release Info|url=http://www.silentera.com/video/regenerationHV.html|publisher=silentera.com}}</ref> The film is in the [[public domain]].<ref name=silentera/>

==Legacy==
''Regeneration'' was previously thought to be [[Lost film|lost]] but was rediscovered in the 1970s. A copy of the film is preserved and held by the [[Museum of Modern Art Department of Film]] and the Film Preservation Associates.<ref name=silentera/> TimeOut wrote that "intriguingly, its eventful plotline is revealed as flatly contradicting the accepted synoptic account provided by Walsh in his autobiography. There the eventual fates of Nilsson and Fellowes are reversed, and an ending is transposed from another film entirely."<ref name="Timeout1"/> ''The Guardian'' says "it's a milestone in the history of the gangster film, and with its religious themes, mobile camerawork, and potent evocation of its grim locations, it's the spiritual ancestor of [[Martin Scorsese]]'s ''[[Mean Streets]]''."<ref name="Guardian1"/>

''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' says it is notable for its "remarkable approach to physical casting, a robust treatment of violent action, and a sheer narrative pace to shame contemporary ponderousness."<ref name="Timeout1"/>

In 2000, ''Regeneration'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".<ref name=mcdannell>{{cite book|title=Catholics in the Movies|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-195-30656-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicsinmovie0000unse/page/38 38]|editor=McDannell, Colleen|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/catholicsinmovie0000unse/page/38}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2020-05-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-00-200/librarian-of-congress-names-25-more-films-to-national-film-registry/2000-12-27/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2020-05-08}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Regeneration (1915 film)}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=Tony |title=The Pauper and the Prince: Transformative Masculinity in Raoul Walsh's Regeneration |journal=Film History: An International Journal |date=2011 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=414–427 |doi=10.2979/filmhistory.23.4.414 |s2cid=191322413 |id={{Project MUSE|464612}} }}
*''Regeneration'' essay [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/regeneration.pdf] by Marilyn Ann Moss at [[National Film Registry]]
* {{IMDb title|id=0005960|title=Regeneration}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|regeneration|Regeneration}}
*[http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/william-fox-regeneration-glass-movie-417063904 glass slide for the 1919 rerelease version]
*''Regeneration'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 46–47 [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC]
*[https://archive.org/details/silent-the-regeneration The entire film on Internet Archive]

{{Raoul Walsh}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Regeneration (1915 Film)}}
[[Category:1915 films]]
[[Category:1915 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1915 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1910s American films]]
[[Category:1910s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:1910s English-language films]]
[[Category:1910s rediscovered films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
[[Category:American films based on actual events]]
[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:American gangster films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Crime drama films based on actual events]]
[[Category:English-language biographical drama films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Films about orphans]]
[[Category:Films based on adaptations]]
[[Category:Films based on biographies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Raoul Walsh]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Fox Film films]]
[[Category:Irish-American mass media]]
[[Category:Rediscovered American films]]
[[Category:Romantic crime films]]
[[Category:Romantic drama films based on actual events]]
[[Category:Silent American crime drama films]]
[[Category:Silent American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Walter Hackett]]