We Americans is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sloman and starring George Sidney, Patsy Ruth Miller, and George J. Lewis. A young Andy Devine plays an early small role as Pat O'Dougal.
Plot
Two young couples try to cross the mixed ethnic divide in America, something which is only resolved when World War I reveals the truth of American society's melting pot.
Cast
- George Sidney as Mr. Levine
- Patsy Ruth Miller as Beth Levine
- George J. Lewis as Phil Levine
- Eddie Phillips as Pete Albertini
- Beryl Mercer as Mrs. Levine
- John Boles as Hugh Bradleigh
- Albert Gran as Mr. Schmidt
- Michael Visaroff as Mr. Albertini
- Kathlyn Williams as Mrs. Bradleigh
- Edward Martindel as Mr. Bradleigh
- Josephine Dunn as Helen Bradleigh
- Daisy Belmore as Mrs. Schmidt
- Rosita Marstini as Mrs. Albertini
- Andy Devine as Pat O'Dougal
- Flora Bramley as Sara Schmidt
- John Bleifer as Korn
Production
Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. purchased the film rights to the play We Americans in support of the efforts of Will H. Hays, head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, to further the more rapid Americanization of immigrants within the United States.3 Hays organized a group of experts to advise director Sloman on the film.4 The initial outline for the film had immigrants from Russia settling in the United States but maintaining their native language and customs, while their children became assimilated through attended American high school, with the resulting family conflict.
Preservation
With no prints of We Americans located in any film archives,5 it is considered a lost film.
Bibliography
- Erens, Patricia (1984).The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20493-3
- Munden, Kenneth White (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to We Americans.- We Americans at IMDb
References
Erens p. 96 ↩
Progressive Silent Film List: We Americans at silentera.com http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/W/WeAmericans1928.html ↩
"Aid of Americanization Experts Secured by Hays for Universal's We Americans". Universal Weekly. 25 (20). New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company: 13. June 25, 1927. Retrieved October 30, 2023. https://archive.org/details/universalweekly100movi_4/page/n186/mode/1up ↩
"Aid of Americanization Experts Secured by Hays for Universal's We Americans". Universal Weekly. 25 (20). New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company: 13. June 25, 1927. Retrieved October 30, 2023. https://archive.org/details/universalweekly100movi_4/page/n186/mode/1up ↩
Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: We Americans https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.10354/ ↩