• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
San Francisco Silent Film Festival

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.

MENUMENU
  • Events
    • Events

      May 6 Pandora’s Box at the Paramount

      July 12 – 16 San Francisco Silent Film Festival

    • Live Music

      Musicians
      Learn about our incredible musical partners

  • Support
    • SUPPORT SFSFF
    • Become a Member
    • Donate
    • SFSFF Preservation Fund
    • Grantors and Sponsors
    • Volunteer
  • Preservation
    • SFSFF Preservation

      SFSFF Preservation restores and preserves silent era films

      • The SFSFF Collection
      • Support Preservation
      • Film Loans
  • Library
    • Library

      • Browse the Library
        Read program articles from past SFSFF events
      • Our Musicians
        Learn about SFSFF’s incredible musicians
      • Screening Room
        Watch videos from SFSFF Preservation and past live events
      • Event Archive
        Explore past SFSFF events
Sign In Become a Member
Sign In

Below the Surface

Directed by Irvin Willat
93 min | 1920 | United States
Program Essay Borrow Title
Available Formats 35mm, DCP

About the Film

What happens when a couple of city slickers try to scam a hard-working family on New England’s stony shore? Find out in Irvin V. Willat’s follow-up to Behind the Door, another action-packed melodrama headlined by the silent era’s most flinty-eyed no-nonsense protagonist, Hobart Bosworth.

About the Restoration

A 35mm original nitrate negative of Irvin Willat’s underwater melodrama was preserved by the Library of Congress and is the second Willat-directed film in SFSFF’s collection, along with 1919’s Behind the Door. Sections with nitrate damage were made up from a 35mm safety duplicate negative that had been struck from the negative prior to its deterioration. The added color is based on a tinted 35mm nitrate print preserved at Eye Filmmuseum in the Netherlands. For digital presentation, the coloring has been digitally rendered. The restored 35mm print has been chemically dye-tinted and toned.

Details

Director
Irvin Willat
Country
United States
Year
1920
Runtime
93 min
Cast
Hobart Bosworth, Grace Darmond, Lloyd Hughes, George Webb, Gladys George
Production Company
Thomas H. Ince Productions
FPS
20
Intertitle Language
English
Year Added to SFSFF Collection
2022

Image Gallery

Download

Footer

How can we help?

info@silentfilm.org 415-777-4908
MENUMENU
  • WRAPPER
        • True Art Transcends Time

        • ABOUT

        • About Us
        • Press
        • Resources
        • SOCIAL

        • Facebook
        • Twitter
        • Instagram
        • Subscribe

        • Photos by Pamela Gentile and Tommy Lau.
          Copyright © 2019 San Francisco Silent Film Festival Privacy Terms