The Red Lily is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo and starring Ramon Novarro, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. A print of the film exists.
Plot
Marise La Noue (Enid Bennett) and Jean Leonnec (Ramon Novarro) are young lovers who elope to Paris; however, they are separated shortly after their arrival, leading to the downward spiral of both their lives: She becomes a prostitute known as 'the Red Lily', and he learns the ways of the underworld from Bo-Bo (Wallace Beery).
Cast
Ramon Novarro as Jean Leonnec
Enid Bennett as Marise La Noue
Frank Currier as Hugo Leonnec
Mitchell Lewis as D'Agut
Rosita Marstini as Madame Charpied (as Risita Marstini) Sidney Franklin as M. Charpied - Her Husband Wallace Beery as Bo-Bo George Nichols as Concierge Emily Fitzroy as Mama Bouchard George Periolat as Papa Bouchard Rosemary Theby as Nana Milla Davenport as Madame Poussot Gibson Gowland as Le Turc Dick Sutherland as The Toad Marcelle Corday as Woman in bar (uncredited)
Censorship concerns
The film industry created the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry in 1916 in an effort to preempt censorship by states and municipalities, and it used a list of subjects called the "Thirteen Points" which film plots were to avoid. However, prostitution was not explicitly barred so long as it was not forcible (i.e., white slavery), and aspects of the prostitute’s work were not present in the film.