The Great Adventure, also known as Her Great Adventure and Spring of the Year, is a 1918 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Alice Guy-Blaché, and starring Bessie Love.
The film is preserved at the BFI National Archive.
Production
The film was made at Solax Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Plot
Rags (Love), has found local success and acclaim in her small town as an actress, but dreams of stardom on Broadway. She and her aunt (Finch) go to New York, where she unsuccessfully looks for work in a Broadway chorus. On the advice of Billy Blake (Barnett), she holds up the producer of a Broadway show to get a job. The lead actor in the show, Sheen (Hall), likes Rags, but on a date together, he cannot ride a horse, paddle a canoe, or swim. Embarrassed, he leaves the Broadway show, allowing Billy to take over the male lead, and Rags to take over the female lead.
Cast
Bessie Love as Ragna "Rags" Jansen
Flora Finch as Aunt
Chester Barnett as Billy Blake
Donald Hall as Sheen
Florence Short as Hazel Lee
Walter Craven
Jack Dunn
Reception
Love received good reviews for her performance, called "likable", but the film itself did not. It was said that the plot "stretches the imagination of the spectator," with another blaming director Guy-Blaché directly for poorly adapting the source material. Despite the critical reception, the film was commercially successful.
Re-release
In 1922, the film was edited down to 3 reels, and released as a "Pathé Playlet".