Weary River

Weary River is a 1929 American romantic drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, and William Holden. Produced and distributed by First National Pictures, the film is a part-talkie, part-silent hybrid made at the changeover from silent movies to sound movies. Based on a story by Courtney Riley Cooper, the film is about a gangster who goes to prison and finds salvation through music while serving his time. After he is released and falls back into a life of temptation, he is saved by the love of a woman and the warden who befriended him. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director in 1930. Weary River was preserved at the Library of Congress and restored by the LoC, UCLA Film & TV and Warner Brothers. It is now available on DVD directly from the Warner Archive Collection. While Barthelmess's character sings and plays the piano throughout the film, Barthelmess himself did not sing or play the piano. Frank Churchill played the piano and Johnny Murray sang into a microphone far away from Barthelmess while he lip-synced and played a piano which had strings deadened with felt.