Remembrance Wall

Title: The Patriot

Date: 1928

Distributor: Paramount Famous Lasky Corp

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Emil Jannings, Lewis Stone, Florence Vidor, Lewis Stone, Vera Voronina, Neil Hamilton, Harry Cording

Summary: Count Pahlen is the only aide Czar Paul trusts. Pahlen knows his friend the Czar is mad and reluctantly plots to remove the ruler from power because of his horrific acts against the Russian people. The Czar is killed and Pahlen shoots himself. As he lays dying, he tells his mistress, “I have been a bad friend and lover-but I have been a patriot.”

Notes: The Patriot earned five Academy Award nominations (with Hanns Kraly winning an Oscar for his screenplay) and was the last silent film to be nominated for Best Picture. A synchronized musical score and sound effects were added in after production, both against the wishes of director Ernst Lubitsch.

A trailer of “The Patriot” has been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. UCLA also holds excerpts from the feature and a 2500 ft. sound reel that was transferred from the original Vitaphone disks. More recently, about 6 minutes worth of the film was discovered, preserved, and exhibited in Europe.

Thanks to Jere Guldin for providing the update on the surviving fragments.