The Passionate Adventure

The Passionate Adventure
The Passionate Adventure
	American advertisement
Directed by	Graham Cutts
Written by	Alfred Hitchcock; Michael Morton
Based on	The Passionate Adventure; by Frank Stayton
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Clive Brook; Alice Joyce; Marjorie Daw; Victor McLaglen
Cinematography	Claude L. McDonnell
Production; company	Gainsborough Pictures
Distributed by	Gaumont British Distributors
Release date	July 1924;
Running time	8 reels
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Passionate Adventure is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Clive Brook and Alice Joyce. The film was adapted from a novel by Frank Stayton by Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Morton, with Hitchcock also credited as assistant director to Cutts.^[1]^[2]

The Passionate Adventure is also notable as the first film released under the aegis of Michael Balcon's newly formed Gainsborough Pictures.

Plot

The marriage between Adrian and Drusilla St. Clair (Brook and Joyce) has become unsatisfactory and loveless since Adrian's return from World War I, with the couple treating each other with cold distance. Seeking escape from his unfulfilled home life, Adrian takes off to the East End of London where he disguises himself as a shabby itinerant. There he meets a pretty young waif Vicky (Marjorie Daw) and takes on the role of her unofficial protector.

This does not go down well with Vicky's East End criminal element boyfriend Herb (Victor McLaglen) who becomes increasingly suspicious and jealous about her association with Adrian, until a showdown in inevitable. Adrian uses his wits to overcome Herb's brute force, and hands him over to the police who have wanted him for some time. With Herb in custody and Vicky's safety assured, Adrian returns west to Drusilla invigorated by his East End experience and with his feelings of passion towards her evidently restored. They embrace at the bottom of the staircase, which the appreciative Drusilla starts to climb.

Cast

Clive Brook as Adrian St. Clair
Alice Joyce as Drusilla St. Clair
Marjorie Daw as Vicky
Victor McLaglen as Herb Harris
Lillian Hall-Davis as Pamela
Joseph R. Tozer as Inspector Sladen
Mary Brough as Lady Rolis
John F. Hamilton as Bill

Reception

Walter Mycroft, reviewing the film for the Evening Standard, wrote that ‘For absolute skill in production and for inspiration in setting,' The Passionate Adventure 'reaches a high level, far higher than was actually entailed by the particular story Graham Cutts and his coadjutors here had to handle.'