i haven not read through all the comment and but at least one poster mention that the 30 minute version might possibly be abridge . i be curious about that myself because the late part of the film just do not make much sense to me even when i rewatched them . 30 minute seem really short for a movie in 1917 also . poor little rich girl which be tourneur next film be 65 minute long and pride of the clan which be his previous feature be 84 minute long . so i be relieve to see that i wasn not crazy and there must be part of this film miss and that why the resolution do not make much sense . it hard to review or comment on a movie that youre only able to see half of . but i would recommend this film anyway because of the really fascinating view that it provide u of the inside of an east coast movie studio of the time . it the early film i have personally see that base on the movie industry itself . the main character be a movie star play by robert warwick and who be later a mainstay hollywood character actor and appear in almost all of preston sturges film . he play a western actor perhaps vaguely model on william s. hart and who warwick do resemble somewhat . after the really fascinating sequence set in the studio we see them on a location shoot where he discover a country girl ( doris kenyon ) and convince her to come to new jersey for a screen test which go very poorly . after that point the movie seem to be miss major piece in the form we have now . again and i would recommend it to anyone who interest in film history for the documentary value and but in the form we have it doesn not hold up much a a movie and isn not a particularly good example of maurice tourneur work .