Rin Tin Tin's star debut, Where the North Begins

Rin Tin Tin's star debut, Where the North Begins
07/01/1923 AD released

Rin Tin Tin's first starring role in which he plays alongside silent screen actress Claire Adams.

The film is a huge success and is credited with saving Warner Bros. from bankruptcy. It was followed by 24 more screen appearances. Each of these films was very popular, making such a profit for Warner Bros. that Rin Tin Tin was called "the mortgage lifter" by studio insiders.

Warner Brothers had invested $100,000 to produce the screenplay as written by Rin Tin Tin's owner and trainer, Lee Duncan.

Director Chester M. Franklin shot the film's exterior scenes in Canada but he stayed too long and shot too much footage, spending more than the budget. The negatives were processed in Hollywood and the Warner executives saw that the movie was wandering off script, with too much beautiful scenery and not enough plot development.

Warner hired a second director, Millard Webb, to shoot the story in parallel with Franklin's effort. Editor Lewis Milestone recalled that he noticed unworkable continuity mistakes between the two directors such as actor Walter McGrail shot in two different locations but at the same time in the script. Milestone tried to avoid editing what he saw as a doomed film, but producer Harry Rapf insisted he finish it. Milestone stipulated that writer Julien Josephson join him in the cutting room; the two men spent months watching and memorizing all the film footage, and they rewrote and assembled the film in a documentary fashion, letting the available film elements tell the story.

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $396,000 domestically and $45,000 foreign.

Los Angeles, CA

Lattitude: 34.05° N
Longitude: 118.25° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

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