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Pleaure Mad

Film Information:
Production: Not Available;

Premiere: Not Available;
Released: November 5, 1923;
Production/Distribution Companies: Metro Pictures;
Director: Reginald Barker;
Based on The Valley of Content, by Blanche Upright;
Scenario: A.P. Younger;
Film editor: unknown;
Running time: unknown(lost);
Not available on VHS or DVD;

Cast: Huntley Gordon as Hugh Benton; Mary Alden as Marjorie Benton; Norma Shearer as Elinor Benton; William Collier Jr. as Howard Benton; Winifred Bryson as Geraldine de Lacy; Ward Crane as David Templeton; Frederick Truesdell as John Hammond; Joan Standing as Hulda;

Reviews:

Mordaunt Hall in The New York Times, January 10, 1924: "Mary Alden, however, as the mother, manages to walk away with that role and gather all the sympathy that there is in the story. Huntley Gordon, as the husband, gives a very convincing performance and registers will. Willie Collier Jr., as the son, scores as a youthful souse and wild kid, but little Norma Shearer manages to put over another wallop for herself in this picture that shows she can troup. She sure looks like a real friend. Winifred Bryson, as the vamp, was there with all the Thedaish (critic referring to Theda Bara) stuff, while Ward Crane was the heavy that got walloped behind closed doors. Frederick Truesdale had a minor role."

Notes/Trivia:

-During the filming, director Reginald Barker was furious of Norma's colorless performance, and called her out on set infront of cast and crew. Louis B. Mayer then called her into his office where she began to sob about Barker's cruelty. Mayer calmy listened, then shouted at her at the top of his lungs for being weak. She then got up with that "screw you" attitude she had inherited from her father, and proved Barker and Mayer wrong, which was their plan all along.
Norma's first movie for Louis B. Mayer, so it is of major importance! (Unfortunately, it is a lost movie.)

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