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List Price: $19.95Amazon.com's Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.96 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0738329060428
Format: Black & White, NTSC, Full Screen
Label: KINO VIDEO
Manufacturer: KINO VIDEO
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: KINO VIDEO
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Running Time: 80 minutes
Sales Rank: 68739
Studio: KINO VIDEO
Theatrical Release Date: 1925
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
THE RED KIMONA is a melodrama about a young girl who is tricked into a life of prostitution, murders her pimp/lover and finds redemption in true love. It was the result of an extraordinary collaboration between three important women: Adela Rogers St. John, Dorothy Arzner (who wrote the story) and Dorothy Davenport Reid, who co-directed and produced. While St. John and Arzner became better known over the years, it is the unjustly neglected Reid who brought THE RED KIMONA to the screen. Dorothy Davenport was a member of one of America s premiere theatrical families and a promising young actress when she married screen idol Wallace Reid in 1913. After her husband s tragic death from an accidental drug overdose in 1923, she accepted an offer from the Ince company to produce and star in Human Wreckage (1923), about drug addiction and dedicated to her husband. After doing one more film for Ince, Dorothy Reid started her own production company, whose first project was THE RED KIMONA. THE RED KIMONA was based on the life of Gabrielle Darley and opens with Mrs. Reid reading from a newspaper account of Darley s murder trial. Priscilla Bonner plays Darley, a small town girl who finds escape from her cruel home life in the arms of a handsome stranger. Soon she finds herself working as a prostitute in New Orleans, desperately clinging to the belief that he really loves her. When she discovers him buying an engagement ring for another woman, she shoots him. Her murder trial becomes a cause celebre and Gabrielle finds herself befriended by a rich society woman who professes deep concern for the unfortunate girl. After the acquittal, she goes to live with Mrs. Smith, intending to start a new life, but finds that her benefactor has little use for her once the newspaper men have gone. Unable to find an honest job because of her notorious past, Gabrielle becomes homeless and penniless and nearly returns to prostitution before fate and the love of a good man save her. THE RED KIMONA is clearly a heartfelt film made from a woman s point of view. Dorothy Reid directed or produced several films into the early thirties, after which she became a successful writer and production assistant working in Hollywood through the fifties.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - The facts . . . and the truth
The 1925 lobby card chosen as the cover art for this Kino release describes THE RED KIMONA as "A Smashing Exciting Thrilling Drama," a breathless burst of praise somewhat at odds with Kino's own more reserved judgment--that it is "clearly a heartfelt film made from a woman's point of view." Both descriptions are accurate, sort of.
A few reviewers have apologized for the melodrama, as if it somehow gets in the way of the message. The events leading up to Gabrielle Darley's 1917 trial ... Read More
Rating: - An all-female production for and about women
"The Red Kimona" is one of five films on three DVDs in Kino Video's "First Ladies - Early Women Filmmakers" series which presents a very interesting range of silent films produced, directed or written by women who made their mark in the early, male-dominated film industry. "The Red Kimona" is rather special because not one but three women collaborated on this project, the story and screenplay being written by women, and produced by Dorothy Davenport Reid, by then the widow of the very popular actor, ... Read More
Rating: - An Important Work From A Forgotten Female Film Pioneer.
Dorothy Davenport Reid (1895-1977) was one of the most important women producer/directors during the 1920s. She came from a distinguished theatrical family. Her father Harry Davenport is best remembered as Dr. Meade in GONE WITH THE WIND. She was married to early matinee idol Wallace Reid hence her being known as Mrs Wallace Reid. When he died in 1923 of complications from drug addiction, she became an advocate for social causes. Her hard hitting film about drug addiction HUMAN WRECKAGE (1923) with Bessie ... Read More
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