Love Never Dies

2848. LOVE NEVER DIES (1921-USA). With LLOYD HUGHES, MADGE BELLAMY. Directed and adapted by KING VIDOR. Here is one of the early screen credits of fabled filmmaker King Vidor. Its story begins in the idyllic small southern town of Ridgeville. Liz Trott and Jane Holder are Ridgeville’s two village scandals. They are loose-living women who relish the attentions of any man with a dollar in his pocket. Young architect John Trott is a straight-arrow type who has been brought up to think that Liz is his mother. She and Jane harbor the secret that Liz is not really John’s parent, and Liz is forced to pay off Jane to keep her silence. One day John travels to a distant town for the dedication of a new courthouse he has designed. While there he falls in love with sweet Tilly Whaley. Her feelings are similar and the two are soon married. However, John fails to tell Tilly and her father about his family “background.” The result is a touching combination rural romance and multi-hankie tearjerker that is loaded with plot twists, and which also offers a peek into an America that once was but never will be again. King Vidor was to become one of Hollywood’s premiere directors. “Silent” film with music score. 53 minutes. “Silent” Melodrama