The Red Kimono

A woman recounts the true story of Gabrielle (Priscilla Bonner). Gabrielle finds her boyfriend Howard Blaine buying a wedding ring for someone else and she shoots him dead. In the ensuing trial, she recounts how she followed him from her small town to the big city where he convinced her to prostitute herself.

The red kimona refers to one scene in the movie when Gabrielle looks into a mirror. She first wishes to see a bridal gown but then sees that she reflects the red kimona of prostitution. The red in the kimona is probably hand painted one cell at a time. There is also a scarlet A and a red street light later in the movie. There are other notables about the production. It had a woman filmmaker and they got sued by the real person when they used her real name. The irony is hard to ignore. The drama of the story does fade as it gets away from the initial shooting incident. It meanders a bit. I get the scarlet letter idea. It gets a bit preachy and also preachy about being preachy. It's a fallen woman movie on one hand and points a finger at the gawkers staring at the fallen woman. The film leans on its Christian values and in a way, it has a lot in common with modern Christian movies except the modern ones don't like to talk about sex. It was probably very progressive for its time.

I just saw this film as part of TCM's Women Pioneers in Film series. I have heard a lot about Dorothy Davenport Reid's moral crusade, and was expecting a dry and preachy kind of film. However, the film hardly ever bogs down into preachiness and has enough dramatic momentum to move things along at a good clip. Priscilla Bonner, whom I had only seen in "It", does an excellent job as Gabrielle--we feel sympathy for her plight but she never bogs down in pathos.

A melodramatic story based on a real woman, whose (oops) identity wasn't changed nor her approval sought, resulting in a lawsuit afterwards. Nonetheless it's pretty cool that this was written, directed, and produced by women (Dorothy Davenport for the latter two), and I liked the visual effect with the red overlays on clothing and streetlights, and orange in a brief scene showing WWI.

The film supports "fallen" women in the sense that it says they're a victim of circumstance, are sympathetic characters, and can be redeemed, which I believe are the reasons the film was banned in some places (kind of surprising when you watch it now). At the same time, it also implies they're tainted, need a white knight figure to make them honest, and need to work hard to be worthy of happiness, all of which seems dated now. Overall though, there is empathy, and out of several Biblical allusions, it picks a good one in "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

The pace of the film is on the slow side as it plays itself out, told partially in a flashback, so I don't think it's one I could truly love. On the other hand, it has a pretty good performance from Priscilla Bonner, and various street scenes and carnival rides, and while those seem to appear rather often in films from this era, they always work for me. It's decent enough to take a look.

Dorothy Davenport Reid (1895-1977) was one of the most important women producer/directors during the 1920s. She came from a distinguished theatrical family. Her father Harry Davenport is best remembered as Dr. Meade in GONE WITH THE WIND. She was married to early matinee idol Wallace Reid hence her being known as Mrs Wallace Reid. When he died in 1923 of complications from drug addiction, she became an advocate for social causes. Her hard hitting film about drug addiction HUMAN WRECKAGE (1923) with Bessie Love and her next film BROKEN LAWS no longer survive but THE RED KIMON0, a film about prostitution made in 1925, does.

While the real life story of New Orleans prostitute Gabrielle Darley who murders her pimp/lover is melodramatized for the screen, it remains surprisingly effective thanks to the lead performance of Priscilla Bonner (IT, THE STRONG MAN). There are also small parts for silent film regulars Tyrone Power Sr, Virginia Pearson, and George Siegmann. The direction is credited solely to Walter Lang who would become an in-house workhorse at 20th Century Fox for many years but the film was co-directed by Reid. Why she chose to leave her name off is curious. Perhaps as producer and with her appearance as herself, she felt it would be a case of overkill. Who can say. By the early 1930s with the advent of sound and the studio system firmly in place her career was over although she lived another 40+ years.

Today like so many of the women film pioneers she is forgotten but hopefully the release of this film on DVD along with the two others in the FIRST LADIES: EARLY WOMEN FILMMAKERS series from Kino will help to correct that. While not a great film, THE RED KIMONO is an important one and still plays well today. The social criticism of judgmental attitudes and misplaced philanthropy is still relevant to our time. The print from the Library Of Congress looks great and the hand tinted red sequences for certain scenes have been beautifully restored. Robert Israel's piano score is also a plus. The title comes from the article of clothing worn by Gabrielle as a prostitute...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

This film was the subject of a landmark California lawsuit. Gabrielle Darley was a former prostitute who had been involved in a prominent murder trial in which she was acquitted. After the trial, she reformed and led an exemplary life. The film makers used her true name in advertising the film and said it was about her life. They also used events from her life prior to the trial. She sued for invasion of privacy, a suit that had been recognized in other states but not in California. Although the California Court of Appeal was not ready to recognize the right of privacy, it held that use of her name and events from her life was a violation of Darley's right to the pursuit of happiness as guaranteed by the California Constitution. The precedent evolved into eventual recognition of the right to privacy in California. (See, Melvin v Reid, 112 Cal. App. 285)