Actress Lillian Gish had been under the directorial wing of D. W. Griffith since 1912 when she was offered by director Henry King the lead in a remake of Francis Marion Crawford's 1909 novel about a mean half-sister who cuts Lillian's character out of her rightful inheritance. She teamed up with English actor Ronald Colman, whose United States resume included playing in just one minor role.
Gish didn't take the decision to leave Griffith lightly. Her departure from a well-established director for a small independent studio, Inspiration Pictures, was a bold move for the actress. An incentive of $1,500 salary and more importantly a percentage of the movie's profits persuaded her to leave Griffith. The September 1923 released film, "The White Sister" gave her a new-found independence to her career as well as providing a big boost to Colman's, who ended up being one of Hollywood's more active actors.
Since Crawford's novel takes place in Italy, the entire production for "The White Sister" was shipped over to that country. Using Naples as a backdrop, the production crew shot the interiors in a Rome studio before journeying over to the Algeria desert to film the Colman sequences where his character was with the Army on an African expedition. Gish, enjoying her newly-gained influence under Henry King's direction, was involved in every aspect of the production, including her role as the shunned half-sister who ends up in the nunnery, hence the ironic name "Sister" in the movie's title.
For English stage performer turned film actor Colman, "The White Sister" introduced him to the American public. He had enlisted with the British Army at the outbreak of The Great War in 1914 and was wounded in the ankle during October 1914's Battle of Messines, ending his participation in the war. He walked with a limp throughout his life because of the injury, but would admirably hide the gimp while on set.
Colman became popular on both the British and the American stage following the war and appeared in small parts in English movies. Director King saw him in a New York play and immediately hired him for the lead in "The White Sister." Critics loved his performance and he ultimately gave up the theatre for the big screen.
Metro Pictures, shortly before it merged with Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer to become MGM Studios, picked up "The White Sister" six months later for national distribution. The 1923 version of the novel of the same name was its second adaptation. Essanay Studios was the first to bring the story to the screen in 1915 starring Viola Allen while Helen Hays and Clark Gable teamed up in 1933 in a talkie version of "The White Sister.
Gish didn't take the decision to leave Griffith lightly. Her departure from a well-established director for a small independent studio, Inspiration Pictures, was a bold move for the actress. An incentive of $1,500 salary and more importantly a percentage of the movie's profits persuaded her to leave Griffith. The September 1923 released film, "The White Sister" gave her a new-found independence to her career as well as providing a big boost to Colman's, who ended up being one of Hollywood's more active actors.
Since Crawford's novel takes place in Italy, the entire production for "The White Sister" was shipped over to that country. Using Naples as a backdrop, the production crew shot the interiors in a Rome studio before journeying over to the Algeria desert to film the Colman sequences where his character was with the Army on an African expedition. Gish, enjoying her newly-gained influence under Henry King's direction, was involved in every aspect of the production, including her role as the shunned half-sister who ends up in the nunnery, hence the ironic name "Sister" in the movie's title.
For English stage performer turned film actor Colman, "The White Sister" introduced him to the American public. He had enlisted with the British Army at the outbreak of The Great War in 1914 and was wounded in the ankle during October 1914's Battle of Messines, ending his participation in the war. He walked with a limp throughout his life because of the injury, but would admirably hide the gimp while on set.
Colman became popular on both the British and the American stage following the war and appeared in small parts in English movies. Director King saw him in a New York play and immediately hired him for the lead in "The White Sister." Critics loved his performance and he ultimately gave up the theatre for the big screen.
Metro Pictures, shortly before it merged with Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer to become MGM Studios, picked up "The White Sister" six months later for national distribution. The 1923 version of the novel of the same name was its second adaptation. Essanay Studios was the first to bring the story to the screen in 1915 starring Viola Allen while Helen Hays and Clark Gable teamed up in 1933 in a talkie version of "The White Sister.