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Out of a Clear Sky
(1918) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by Marshall Neilan
Cast: Marguerite Clark [Countess Celeste de Berseck et Krymn], Thomas Meighan [Robert Lawrence], E.J. Radcliffe (E.J. Ratcliffe) [Uncle Dyreck], Bobby Connelly [Bill], Raymond Bloomer [the crown prince], Robert Dudley [the father], Walter P. Lewis [Steve], Maggie H. Fisher (Maggie Fisher) [Granny White], Helene Montrose [Jane Forsythe], Robert Vivian [a valet], Nell Clark Keller [Mamie], Walter Abel, Mercedes de Cordoba
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation production; distributed by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation through Paramount Pictures Corporation [A Paramount Picture]. / Scenario by Charles Maigne, from the novel Out of a Clear Sky by Maria Thompson Daviess. Cinematography by Walter Stradling. Presented by Adolph Zukor. / Released 15 September 1918. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Abel’s film debut.
Drama: War: World War I.
Synopsis: [From Paramount promotional materials] Among the many interesting scenes pictured in Marguerite Clark’s Paramount photoplay, “Out of a Clear Sky,” is a reproduction of the famous Palais Gruuthuse in Bruges, Belgium, known to thousands of American tourists who visited the celebrated resort before the Great War. The early scenes of the photoplay transpire in Belgium and the Palais is the scene of a notable gathering which is to exert a powerful influence upon the fate of Celeste, Countess of Bersek and Grymn, niece of a Belgian who seeks to marry her to a German prince in order to strengthen his political relations with Germany. She refuses to be converted into a pawn of state and escapes to the United States where she has many interesting adventures before she relinquishes her high social status and learns to love a breezy westerner. Another splendid set shows the interior of a cabin in the Tennessee mountains, with its spacious fireplace and old fashioned furniture. It is here that Robert Lawrence, the handsome young westerner portrayed by Thomas Meighan, finds Celeste after he had been led to believe that she has been burned to death in another cabin in which he had previously left her and which is destroyed by a blast of lightning in her absence.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: War: World War I (28 July 1914-11 November 1918)
Listing updated: 5 January 2025.
References: Spehr-American p. 4 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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