The Age of Innocence

In this silent film adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel, Newland Archer, a young lawyer from a prominent New York family, is engaged to the beautiful and conventional May Welland. Their engagement is threatened when May's cousin, the free-spirited Countess Olenska, returns from Europe amidst scandal. Archer finds himself increasingly drawn to the Countess's unconventional ways and intellectual spirit, creating a conflict between his duty to society and his true desires. The film explores the rigid social conventions and hidden passions of upper-class New York society at the turn of the 20th century.

As a silent film from 1924, contemporary critical reception is difficult to ascertain in modern terms. However, its existence as an adaptation of a major literary work suggests an intention to engage with serious themes and likely garnered attention for its faithfulness to the source material and its production values for the era.

• A faithful adaptation of a celebrated novel.

• Showcases the visual style and storytelling of early Hollywood cinema.

• Explores themes of societal constraint and personal desire.

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This 1924 silent film version is one of the earliest adaptations of Edith Wharton's novel, predating the more famous 1993 Martin Scorsese film by nearly 70 years.