God Gave Me Twenty Cents

1926 film

November 19, 1926 (1926-11-19)

Running time

70 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

God Gave Me Twenty Cents is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Herbert Brenon and written by Elizabeth Meehan and John Russell. The film stars Lois Moran, Lya De Putti, Jack Mulhall, William Collier, Jr., Adrienne D'Ambricourt, Leo Feodoroff, and Rosa Rosanova. The film was released on November 20, 1926, by Paramount Pictures,^[1]^[2] following a gala premiere on November 19 that opened the Paramount Theatre in Manhattan.^[3] It is based on the novel God Gave Me Twenty Cents by Dixie Willson, subsequently remade by Paramount British as a sound film Ebb Tide in 1932.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review,^[4] Mary, a waitress, is sublimely happy in her love for sailor Steve, a jolly young star who surprises even himself when he marries the young Mary. Steve's old girl Cassie Lang, a patron of Ma Tapman's questionable hotel, is heartbroken and, upon her release from prison, goads Steve into gambling on whether or not he will take her to sea with him. Cassie wins, and Steve sails away the next day without a word to Mary. Mary is distraught by this and wants to die. She finds twenty cents on the pier and uses it to buy a rose for her hair. Then she is injured before she can take her own life and ends up in a hospital. There she meets Cassie who, on her deathbed, explains that she used false dimes for her wager with Steve and never sailed with him. Mary is jubilant on the return of Steve.

Cast

Lois Moran as Mary
Lya De Putti as Cassie Lang
Jack Mulhall as Steve Doren
William Collier, Jr. as Barney Tapman
Adrienne D'Ambricourt as Ma Tapman
Leo Feodoroff as Andre Dufour
Rosa Rosanova as Mrs. Dufour
Claude Brooke as The Florist

Preservation

With no prints of God Gave Me Twenty Cents located in any film archives,^[5] it is a lost film.^[6]

References

^ Hal Erickson (2015). "God-Gave-Me-Twenty-Cents - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
^ "God Gave Me Twenty Cents". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
^ Slide, Anthony (1998). The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Scarecrow Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8108-6636-2.
^ "God Gave Me Twenty Cents". The Film Daily. 38 (49). New York City: Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc.: 12 November 28, 1926. Retrieved December 26, 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: God Gave Me Twenty Cents
^ God Gave Me Twenty Cents at Arne Anderson's Lost Film Files: Lost Paramount films - 1926 Archived August 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine