Logline

​Thirteen silent film stars, all portrayed by one actress (Jacquie Donley) share their stories of hardships, both personal and professional, in Moon Shadow Entertainment’s Silent & Forgotten.  The feature length documentary, interweaves the stories of these pioneers of silent cinema whose lives were forever altered by sexual, psychological and emotional abuse both in the home and on the job.  The film gives audiences a heartbreaking glimpse into the dysfunctional lives of silent film legends, fueled by sex, alcohol and an unrelenting desire to be loved. Although there were literally hundreds of these young women who shared similar stories the filmmakers have selected 13 to represent and honor the lives of these movie pioneers. 

​Synopsis

​The story begins with a short clip of the silent screen legend LOUISE BROOKS in a scene from the 1929 classic, Pandora’s Box.  We pull back to reveal the film is actually on a framed screen in the middle of a dark black box studio. Louise Brooks walks out of the screen and dances toward the camera. She thanks us for bringing her memory alive by watching. She tells her story in her own words.  Other Silent movie actresses begin to emerge from other clips and photos, also telling their stories in their own words and interacting with other historical characters.  The setting is somewhat ethereal.  These women are brought to life in this twilight zone-like studio each time someone watches their films.  They interact and share fragments of memories through stories and photos and clips on the screen. Their stories are honest, and at times tragic. As pioneers in the new world of movies, they didn’t know what to expect and were often taken advantage of.  A few beat the system, but most were victims. But there was a commonality, a sisterhood that was shared and stamped in time, as if they were actually ONE.  And so it is fitting that all 13 of these will be played by ONE actress --  Louise Brooks, Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, Theda Bara, Marion Davies, Dorothy Arzner, Lottie Pickford, Olive Thomas, Virginia Rappe, Marlene Dietrich, Pepi Lederer and Lillian Gish.    The common stories were combined from numerous sources, biographies, auto-biographies, documentaries, newspaper articles, etc.  The Producers were diligent in using the actresses own words as dialogue, or in some cases what had been written about them as dialogue.  The intent was to maintain historical truth and allow them to have the final say.