Inspired by a true story in ripped-from-the-headlines style, The Red Kimona was the third in a trilogy of social-issue dramas by actress/screenwriter/director Dorothy Davenport. The story of a small-town teacher lured into prostitution was adapted for the screen by Dorothy Arzner from Adela Rogers St. Johns’s sensational story, and produced and co-directed by Davenport (as Mrs. Wallace Reid). Gabrielle (Priscilla Bonner) is a young naïf who’s swept off her feet by adead. Lothario, who abandons her in New Orleans's red-light district. When she sees him buying an engagement ring for another woman, she shoots him At trial Gabrielle becomes a cause celebre—and the pawn of a self-aggrandizing socialite.
USA, 1925. Directed by Walter Lang and Dorothy Davenport. With Priscilla Bonner, Nellie Bly Baker, Carl Miller, Mary Carr, Virginia Pearson, and Tyrone Power Sr.
Live musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Digital version (DCP) courtesy of Kino Lorber. Original 35mm restoration by the UCLA Film and Television Archive with funding provided by The Film Foundation. The film is part of Kino Lorber’s Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers collection.
Copresented by BAMPFA, Roxie Theater, and Women's Audio Mission