BACK PAY (United States, 1922, Frank Borzage)

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Frank Borzage an undisputed master of sentimental melodrama, as long as we understand those aren’t dirty words. He made film after film about strong women and noble men who suffer for love, which redeems their sins and struggles. No matter how hog-washy or tear-jerky the story, he directed his actors to restrain and underplay their performances. He framed their action with ravishing visual beauty and underlined everything with Hollywood’s patented brand of non-denominational spirituality, always applied delicately. —Michael Barrett, PopMatters

Actor and filmmaker Frank Borzage, winner of the first Academy Award for Best Director, is perhaps best known for helming the Hollywood features SEVENTH HEAVEN (1927), STREET ANGEL (1928), and LUCKY STAR (1929). GME is proud to distribute one of the director’s earlier works, 1922’s BACK PAY, as a new 2K digital restoration spearheaded by Undercrank Productions from the Library of Congress’ 35mm preservation materials.

BACK PAY tells the tale of Hester Bevins (Seena Owen), a restless small-town girl who leaves her hometown and her boyfriend Jerry (Matt Moore) behind for luxury in the big city. After landing in New York, Hester begins a relationship with an older sugar daddy named Wheeler (J. Barney Sherry), who pays for her to live the high life. Soon, however, Hester realizes that she is little more than Wheeler’s shiny possession, trapped in the proverbial gilded cage, and while she is comfortable, she lacks true freedom and happiness. While visiting home, she learns that Jerry — who is still in love with her — is a wounded war hero, while Wheeler is a war profiteer. Hester subsequently experiences a crisis of conscience and realizes she must change her materialistic ways. As noted by Michael Barrett in PopMatters:

[Hester] learns self-respect from caring for others and aiming for higher moral standards, so the viewers can enjoy our sinful cake and renounce it, too. This is where modern audiences might roll their eyes at the far-fetched developments and quandaries, and that’s too bad for modern audiences. This type of melodrama, once very popular, has conventions no more rigid than westerns, horrors, or musicals. Such material goes with the territory and can be handled well or poorly. Borzage shows us how it’s done.

BACK PAY was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by William Randolph Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Productions, a New York City-based production company that eventually relocated to Hollywood in 1923 before ceasing operations in 1938.

The film is notable for its redemptive depiction of its central female protagonist and how it treats issues of womanhood and morality. As noted by Michael Barrett:

Another interesting element is how frankly BACK PAY depicts the redemption of a woman society would condemn as immoral. It does so by making [Hester] the heroine without punishing her, as talkies would after the 1934 Production Code crackdown. Indeed, the frankly sexual nature of Hester’s arrangement [with Wheeler] would hardly be spelled out so clearly in a later film. Wheeler is not mean to her, but she obviously lives on his indulgent leash. Considering [William Randolph] Hearst’s life, that seems a daring element to include.

Early in his career, Borzage was known for directing mostly Westerns. Then, Hearst paired Borzage with scenarist Frances Marion in 1920 to adapt Fanny Hurst’s story HUMORESQUE into a film (which was later adapted into a better-known remake in 1947 starring Joan Crawford). This collaboration marked a turning point in Borzage’s directorial career, as he began to tackle more diverse genres. It also catalayzed a 13 year-long collaboration with Marion. As with HUMORESQUE, Hearst teamed Borzage and Marion once again to adapt a Fanny Hurst story for BACK PAY.

This 2K digital restoration of Borzage’s film features a new piano and theatre organ score composed and performed by silent film musician Andrew Earle Simpson.

BACK PAY
(United States, 1922)

Director: Frank Borzage

  • 82 minutes
  • 35mm
  • Black & white
  • Silent
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 2K .mp4 file on server

Published By: Undercrank Productions

Institutional Price: $500

To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.