The Films of William Desmond Taylor

William Desmond Taylor | Rankings

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William Desmond Taylor

William Desmond Taylor was an American film director. He regularly worked with screenwriter Julia Crawford Ivers, and it is hard to separate their contributions. Much of what this article describes as Taylor's work, might actually be Ivers'.

This article does NOT discuss Taylor's still-unsolved murder. Instead, it deals with his films.

An important look at four Taylor films is by David Bordwell. Recommended!

Rankings

Here are ratings for various films directed by William Desmond Taylor. Everything at least **1/2 is recommended.

Feature films:

Ben Blair **
Tom Sawyer ***
Johanna Enlists *1/2
Huckleberry Finn *
Nurse Marjorie **1/2
The Soul of Youth ***1/2

The Diamond from the Sky

The Diamond from the Sky (1915) is a film serial I have not been able to see - so far. It might be a lost film. The Diamond from the Sky was co-directed by Taylor and Jacques Jaccard.

Surviving still photos from The Diamond from the Sky look stylish.

Plot

Plot elements anticipate later Taylor films:

A baby boy takes the place of a girl, so a family can get an inheritance. In Her Father's Son a woman accedes to her father's request to pose as his son.
A baby is obtained for the imposture. In The Soul of Youth a baby is illegally sold.

Geometry

Geometric imagery in The Diamond from the Sky shows men "grasping circles":

A circus photo has an acrobat hanging from metal rings he has grabbed on to.
The heroine (Lottie Pickford) and hero (Irving Cummings) seated in a car, shows the hero grasping the steering wheel.

The circus image has two clowns in clothes with strikingly geometric patterns. One clown has diagonal stripes, the other clown has repeated circles.

The car photo has many industrial-style windows in the background. They have X shapes, with unusual different styles for the two bars of the X.

Pasquale

Pasquale (1916) is a film I have not been able to see - so far.

A still shows the abundance of fruit, outside hero Pasquale's fruit and grocery store. This anticipates another such store in The Soul of Youth. The hero Pasquale is kindly feeding his horse an apple. This too anticipates the hero's love for his dog in The Soul of Youth.

Ben Blair

Ben Blair (1916) is a film that mixes the Western with big city drama.

Ben Blair was praised by David Bordwell.

Mansion: Ovals

A publicity still shows the hero in an upscale smoking jacket, shirt and tie, standing in a mansion with a huge indoor staircase. This location occurs in the print of Ben Blair I've seen. But I don't recalls the hero in this jacket. Such jackets were upper crust gear, in that era.

There are oval portrait paintings on the staircase wall. And an oval photograph on the table. These echo the oval mirror in The House of Lies.

There are numerous books on the table.

Leather Gear

A still shows hero Ben Blair (actor Dustin Farnum) in leather cowboy gear. This includes elaborate chaps, and long armbands. Such leather gear was popular in Western films of the 1910's. They made the cowboys seem both working class, and highly glamorous:

Such gear is worn in numerous 1910's films by Allan Dwan.
Armbands sometimes show up in early Westerns by Frank Borzage, too.
Armbands occur in the Western movie spoof in Hoodoo Ann (Lloyd Ingraham, 1916).
And in Broncho Billy and the Schoolmistress (Gilbert M. Anderson, 1912).

Cowboy Boots and Hats

Bordwell analyzes a fascinating sequence, in which the hero and others are framed in a doorway. I'd add: in the final shots the cowboys' boots are emphasized. And in the last shot, you can even see the high heels of the hero's boot. I've noticed that both Western films and TV shows make sure the characters' Western clothes are highly visible at all times.

Cowboys' high-heeled boots added a swaggering touch of androgyny to their outfits. The heels were always considered important, in books and films. (Androgyny is a central subject in Taylor's Her Father's Son (1916), with the heroine posing as male.)

The shots also highlight the men's giant round cowboy hats. These form circles that contrast with the rectangle of the door.

In The Soul of Youth the hero grabs onto a circular spare tire at the back of the car, when he hitches a ride. This too has a "grasping the circle" construction, like the hero holding his hat in Ben Blair.

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer (1917) is an adaptation of the novel by Mark Twain.

Tom Sawyer shows features in common with Taylor's later feature The Soul of Youth (SPOILERS):

Both star rambunctious teenage boys.
Both boys get into ritualized fights with another boy - which they win.
Both live in worlds controlled by older women: Aunt Polly's house in Tom Sawyer, the orphanage in The Soul of Youth.
Both films end with the hero reconciled to a mother figure: the resurrected Tom is given affection by his previously stern Aunt Polly; the orphan in The Soul of Youth is accepted by an previously narrow minded and rejecting adopted mother.
Eating and kitchen scenes are common in both films, with women in charge of food.
Both show pantries with shelves loaded with sweets, and both show young people sneaking donuts.
Both show the hero dealing with institutions: school, church and Sunday School in Tom Sawyer, the orphanage and juvenile court in The Soul of Youth.
There are comedy scenes in which the heroes are forced by women into dress-up clothes that look awfully unmanly: Tom cleaned up for church, the hero of The Soul of Youth in new clothes when he first moves in with the rich family.
The hero often gets into trouble.
Both heroes run around by themselves at night, getting into adventures.
Both heroes run away from where they live: Tom Sawyer to the island, the hero of The Soul of Youth to the streets.
Both heroes wind up living with other teenagers, outside of society.
Both heroes climb over fences, in bursts of hight spirits and energy.
Both heroes are poised between respectability and raffishness: Tom has a respectable family, but likes to run barefoot and have adventures; the hero of The Soul of Youth is a poor orphan who eventually gets adopted by an upper middle class family.
Both heroes develop close friendships with a street-wise low life who is definitely at the bottom of the social class system: Tom with Huck Finn, the hero of The Soul of Youth with a newsboy who lives on the streets. There might be a gay subtext to these relationships.

Both films often show their heroes against landscapes with buildings and vegetation. This often leads to interesting, visually beautiful compositions.

Architecture

A number of exterior scenes feature architecture:

A raised walkway over wetlands is near the shore. The heroes walk on it.
We see the facade of the Sawyer house, with vines growing up it, and an upper balcony or porch.

Titles

The Taylor-Ivers films do creative things with titles, mixing action with writing. In Tom Sawyer, we sometimes see Tom's thoughts superimposed as titles over his face.

Fantasy Episodes

Tom Sawyer opens with a tiny version of Tom telling his adventures to author Mark Twain.

Johanna Enlists

Johanna Enlists (1918) is a comedy-drama, starring Mary Pickford as a young farm gal looking for a guy. The film largely misfires.

Woman-Run Institutions

The farm seems to be mainly run by the wife. The husband works hard, but the film stresses that he is a dolt. At least the farmhouse, the main part of the farm we see, seems to be the wife's domain. With their daughter Mary Pickford also working there, this becomes another Taylor institution run by women.

As in other Taylor films, we see:

A man coming to the female institution to stay: the ill Lieutenant. And the troop of soldiers as a whole is camping out in one of the farm's fields.
Kitchen and food scenes, with the food provided by women.

Architecture

Outdoor steps at the farmhouse are shown repeatedly. These anticipate the much bigger outdoor staircase in The Soul of Youth.

The article on The Soul of Youth lists many elements Taylor shares with director Allan Dwan. Johanna Enlists employs another Dwan motif: showing characters through a window, seen from outside. In Johanna Enlists, the young Lieutenant in shown looking down from a window, at events outdoors. In Dwan films such characters are often talking to people outside - but in Johanna Enlists the Lieutenant is merely looking.

Nurse Marjorie

Nurse Marjorie (1920) is an enjoyable romantic comedy set in England. It is based on the 1906 stage play by the talented Israel Zangwill. The film is full of political satire and comedy, like Zangwill's novella The Big Bow Mystery (1891).

Other well-known plays about romance between a woman and a Member of Parliament include What Every Woman Knows (1908) by J. M. Barrie and The Winslow Boy (1946) by Terence Rattigan. What Every Woman Knows was filmed by Gregory La Cava.

Woman-Run Institutions

Like Robert Siodmak and Lamont Johnson to come, Taylor liked to show institutions run by women. In Nurse Marjorie, these include the nursing home, and the fish-and-chips shop. While these places employ some men, they actually seem to be run by women:

There is a male doctor in the nursing home. But he seems comically clueless about anything other than his medical work (at which he is good).
The husband works at the counter in the fish emporium, but clearly his wife is actually running the shop.

Both of these men seem like decent human beings, and they work hard at their jobs. But neither is actually running anything - women are doing that.

Both institutions include another Taylor favorite subject: the serving of food. And the fish emporium takes us to that Taylor stronghold, a kitchen run by women.

Both the hero and the little boy are men who come to stay in a female-run institution (the nursing home). This too is a Taylor tradition.

Fantasy Episodes: Mental Imagery

Two scenes show the hero's mental imagery. SPOILERS:

The hero jealously imagines the heroine nursing a handsome man.
Various pictures in the hero's house come to life, transforming into the heroine.

The Soul of Youth

The Soul of Youth (1920) is a film about a young orphan. It takes a wide ranging look at social problems that confronted such teenagers.

Links to Allan Dwan

The Soul of Youth has a surprising number of links, to the subjects found in Allan Dwan films. I am unable to explain this: an influence from one of these directors to another? Common aspects of the zeitgeist? Who knows?

Some of the resemblances involve architecture:

The hero climbs down from an upper story of the orphanage, making his escape. Such vertical climbs were common in Dwan's Douglas Fairbanks films, and subsequent Dwan works. As in Dwan, the climb is filmed with a vertical camera movement: a logical approach.
A related subject: Dwan likes exteriors with more than one level. A scene in The Soul of Youth shows the orphans watching a fight, while on a huge outdoor staircase at the orphanage.
The hero hides out under a grating in the sidewalk, while being chased by police. Dwan films have a number of secret passages or compartments.
Dwan likes dormitories with rows of beds; there is one in the orphanage in The Soul of Youth.
Dwan likes water works; the orphanage in The Soul of Youth has a major bathtub episode, and we also see the communal wash stand.

Other resemblances involve subject matter:

Dwan likes conflict between government parties; The Soul of Youth deals with a political contest for mayor, featuring a crook versus a reform party.
Dwan characters are often falsely accused and suffer social ostracism; The Soul of Youth has its hero unfairly labeled the "worst boy in the orphanage". However, Dwan's characters are usually falsely accused of some specific crime, while the hero of The Soul of Youth is simply viewed as being of bad character.
Dwan likes characters on the move, from one locale to another; The Soul of Youth has its hero run away from the orphanage to the city.
Dwan likes characters wrestling on ground; The Soul of Youth has a big fight at the orphanage between the hero and another orphan.
Dwan likes the enjoyment of food; food and feeding is a major theme throughout The Soul of Youth.

The Soul of Youth has a Prologue, something that also appears in some Dwan films, including some of the Fairbanks.

In Taylor's Ben Blair, the cowboy hero wears the leather chaps and armbands so common in 1910's Dwan films.

Underground

The hero hides underground from the police, under the sidewalk grating. Later, the rich teenager will emerge up a ramp from an underground railway platform, and be menaced by the bad guys. The two scenes seem parallel, and echoes of each other.

Titles

The Taylor-Iverson films do creative things with titles, mixing filmed action with writing. In The Soul of Youth, the title cards sometimes burst into live action, in corners of the cards not covered by writing.

Fantasy Episodes: Mental Imagery

Two scenes show the hero's mental imagery:

The hero has a fear of Rastus being drowned: a scary shot.
The hero's happy fantasy of deserts is shown by his day dream of a sweet shop.