The Woman Who Walked Alone

The Woman Who Walked Alone is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by George Melford and written by John Colton and Will M. Ritchey. The film stars Dorothy Dalton, Milton Sills, E. J. Ratcliffe, Wanda Hawley, Frederick Vroom, Mayme Kelso, and John Davidson. The film was released on June 11, 1922, by Paramount Pictures.[1][2]

As described in a film magazine,[3] Lady Iris Champneys is forced into an unwelcome marriage to the old and cranky but wealthy Earl of Lemister (Ratcliffe) by her penniless parents and almost immediately he divorces her when he discovers her in the room of one of his guests, where she had gone to recover some letters of her sister Muriel (Hawley). Iris has casually met Clement Gaunt (Sills), a former American ace who is now employed as a chauffeur by a neighbor. Clement loses his job and goes to South Africa where he is employed by Schriemann, a Boer farmer. He becomes involved in an unsought and compromising situation with the farmer's wife Hannah (Van Buren). In a fight with Schriemann, the later is shot by his dusky wife. She throws the blame upon Clement, and he hides in the mountains. While replenishing his supplies he spies the exiled Iris, now a proprietress of a hotel where the mounted police congregate. Iris is informed by Mombo (Holland), a former servant of Schriemann, that Clement or "Yankee Jim" is a murderer. She sends for Jock MacKeinney, leader of the mounted police, and they arrest Clement. Iris has now discovered that Clement is not a murderer, and agrees, upon a coin toss, to marry him if he is set free or that he would submit to arrest. Iris wins the toss and marries Clement, but Jock is not satisfied and trails the couple when they try to escape. After a long chase scene, Clement is caught, but Iris forces a confession from Schriemann's wife, which brings about the happy ending.

Dalton wore a blonde wig for the film so that her character Iris would have an appearance similar to her sister Muriel, who was played by Wanda Hawley.[3]

A copy of The Woman Who Walked Alone is housed at the Gosfilmofond in Moscow.[5]