The Missing Link (1927 film)

The Missing Link
The Missing Link
	Swedish release poster
Directed by	Charles Reisner
Written by	Charles Reisner; Darryl F. Zanuck ;
Starring	Syd Chaplin; Ruth Hiatt; Tom McGuire;
Cinematography	Devereaux Jennings
Music by	Erno Rapee
Production; company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	May 6, 1927;
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Synchronized); (English Intertitles)
Budget	$313,000
Box office	$608,000

The Missing Link is a 1927 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Syd Chaplin, Ruth Hiatt and Tom McGuire.^[2] While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. The title of the film is a reference to the so-called "missing link" that connects man and the ape.

Reception[edit]

The film was a major production by Warner Brothers, with a budget of $313,000. It earned $608,000, more than any other silent film released by the studio that season.^[2]

The New York Times critic Mordaunt Hall praised the film, observing "there are sequences in this comic contraption that are almost ceirtain to appeal to anybody".^[3]

Main cast[edit]

Syd Chaplin as Arthur Wells
Ruth Hiatt as Beatrice Braden
Tom McGuire as Colonel Braden
Crauford Kent as Lord Melville Dryden
Nick Cogley as Captain
Sam Baker as The Missing Link
Otto Fries
Kewpie Morgan as Baggage Master

Box Office[edit]

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $425,000 domestically and $163,000 foreign.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 5 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^ ^a ^b Stein 2010, p. 151.
^ Stein 2010, p. 150.