Regeneration (1915 film)


Regeneration is a 1915 American silent biographical crime drama co-written and directed by Raoul Walsh. The film, which was the first full-length feature film directed by Walsh, stars
Rockliffe Fellowes and Anna Q. Nilsson and was adapted for the screen by Carl Harbaugh and Walsh from the memoir My Mamie Rose, by Owen Frawley Kildare and the adapted play by Kildare and Walter C. Hackett.
Cited as one of the first full-length gangster films, Regeneration tells the story of a poor orphan who rises to control the mob until he meets a woman for whom he wants to change.

Plot

The story follows the life of Owen, a young Irish American boy who is forced into a life of poverty after his mother dies. As a result, Owen is forced to live on the street eventually turning to a life of crime. Owen is eventually reformed, however, by the benevolent social worker Marie Deering. Also featured is a fire aboard an excursion ferry, much like the General Slocum disaster of 1904.

Cast

Set in New York City, Regeneration was shot on location in New York City's Lower East Side and used real prostitutes, gangsters and homeless people as extras. It is the first produced by Fox Film Corporation, a forerunner of the 20th Century Fox.

Release

Regeneration was originally released on September 13, 1915 to critical acclaim and was a box office hit. It was re-released to theaters on January 12, 1919.

Home media

In 2001, Regeneration was released on Region 1 DVD by Image Entertainment along with the 1915 film Young Romance in 2001. The same two-film set was released on manufactured-on-demand DVD by Image Entertainment in 2012. The film is currently in the public domain.

Legacy

Regeneration was previously thought to be lost but was rediscovered in the 1970s. A copy of the film is preserved and held by the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film and the Film Preservation Associates.
In 2000, Regeneration was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".