The Golden Bed

1925 film

January 25, 1925 (1925-01-25)

Running time

90 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)Budget$437,900^[1]Box office$816,487^[1]

The Golden Bed is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.^[2] It is based on the 1924 short story Tomorrow's Bread by Wallace Irwin, originally published in Pictorial Review. Jeanie MacPherson wrote the screenplay.^[3]

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine,^[4] even as a child golden-haired Flora Lee Peake (Rich) attracted the opposite sex. Little Admah Holtz (La Rocque), peddling candy, would give her some of his wares. She sleeps on a golden bed adorned with swans that her parents pampered her with. When she grew up, her father (Walthall) used his last dollar to bring about her marriage to the Marquis de San Pilar (Kosloff), while her younger sister Margaret (Reynolds) went to work assisting Admah, who now owns a candy store. Soon after, the Marquis found Flora submitting to the embrace of the Duc (Cain). On a mountain climb the Marquis and Duc fight on a snow covered ledge atop a glacier, and the Marquis cuts the rope so that they both fall to their death in a crevasse. Flora returns home and soon has ensnared Abmah, now a wealthy man. Her extravagance brings him near to ruin. To satisfy her, he throws a ball where all the decorations are made from candy, but he has used some of the firm's funds. Admah is arrested for this and is sent to prison for five years. Margaret, who loves Admah, remains true and buys and operates the store, while Flora runs off with Bunny O'Neill (Baxter). Bunny throws her down and, now a wreck, returns to her old home, now a boarding house, and goes to her room with its famous golden bed. Admah, released from prison, also returns to the home and Flora dies in his arms. Going to his old store he finds Margaret waiting, and they start life anew.

Cast

Lillian Rich as Flora Lee Peake
Henry B. Walthall as Colonel Peake
Vera Reynolds as Margaret Peake
Theodore Kosloff as Marquis de San Pilar
Rod La Rocque as Admah Holtz
Warner Baxter as Bunny O'Neill
Robert Cain as Savarac, the Duc
Robert Edeson as Amos Thompson
Julia Faye as Mrs. Amos Thompson
Charles Clary as Treasurer
Julie Bishop as Child (credited as Jacqueline Wells)

Preservation

Complete 35 mm and 16 mm prints of The Golden Bed are held by the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.^[2]^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b The Golden Bed at cecilbdemille.com
^ ^a ^b "Progressive Silent Film List: The Golden Bed". silentera.com. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
^ "The Golden Bed". afi.com. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
^ Sewell, Charles S. (January 31, 1925). "The Golden Bed; Typical Gorgeous Cecil B. DeMille Production for Paramount Looks Like Box Office Winner". The Moving Picture World. 72 (5). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 446. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^ "American Silent Feature Film Database: The Golden Bed". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 5, 2024.