Kindred of the Dust

(Raoul Walsh, US 1922, 80 min., 35mm)

Raoul Walsh is best known now as the director of gritty fare for Warner Bros., including The Roaring Twenties (1939), High Sierra (1941), and White Heat (1950), but this reputation belies a deft touch that he demonstrated in his silent work. In this film, Miriam Cooper plays Nan, a woman escaping back to her home in Puget Sound. She has left her husband after discovering him to be a bigamist and taken her son to live with her father. The town treats her as an outcast until Nan’s childhood sweetheart, Donald, returns from college. As Nan attempts to create a new life for herself, her relationship with Donald puts strain on both families.