Pre-production In the book, "American Cinema's Transitional Era," the authors point out, One aspect of this transition was the longer duration of films.
Feature films were slowly becoming the standard fare for Hollywood producers. Before 1913, you could count the yearly features on two hands. Between 1915 and 1916, the number of feature movies rose times or from 342 films to 835. There was a recurring claim that Carl Laemmle was the longest-running studio chief resisting the production of feature films. Universal was not ready to downsize its short film business because short films were cheaper, faster, and more profitable to produce than feature films. Laemmle would continue to buck this trend while slowly increasing his output of features. In 1914, Laemmle published an essay titled - In 1916, Laemmle ran an advertisement extolling Bluebird films while adding the following vocabulary on the top of the ad.{{efn|The moving picture business is here to stay. That you must admit, despite carping critics and blundering sore-heads, true, some exhibitors have found business so good lately — but if you get down to facts when you look for a reason why, it's a 100 to 1 shot that they are, and for some time have been, dallying with a feature program. Some of these wise ones will tell you that business has picked up since they went into features, — BUT — ask them whether they are talking NET or GROSS. They will find they have an immediate appointment and terminate your queries unceremoniously. Funny how we like to kid ourselves, isn't it? The man who is packing 'em in and losing money on features is envied by his competitor, who is laying by a bit every day, and has a good steady, dependable patronage but admits to a few vacant seats at some performances. When this chap wakes up, he will realize that he has a gold mine and that good advertising will make it produce to capacity. The moral is that if you can tie up to the Universal Program, DO IT. If you can't NOW, watch your first chance. Let the people know what you have, and let the feature man go on to ruin if he wants to. You should worry!
Motion Picture News - May 6, 1916 When Universal hired Emory Johnson in January 1916, Bosworth took the youngster under his wing. Bosworth and Johnson's first two movies for Universal were the feature-length Westerns –
The Yaqui released March 1916 and
Two Men of Sandy Bar released in April. Dr. Neighbor would be the first pairing of the Davenport-Johnson twosome in Carl Laemmle's search for screen chemistry. Later in the year, Emory would make two more films with Bosworth. They would continue collaborating in other films in the coming years. In Bosworth's long cinematic career, he appeared in nearly 300 films. •
Dorothy Davenport (1895–1977) was an established star for
Universal. year old Davenport played the flirtatious Beatrice Farley. She had acted in hundreds of movies by the time she starred in this film. The majority of these films were 2-reel shorts, as was the norm in Hollywood's teen years. She had been making movies since 1910. She started dating
Wally Reid when she was barely 16, and he was 20. They married in 1913. After her husband died in 1923, she used the name "Mrs. Wallace Reid" in the credits for any project she took part in. Besides being an actress, she would eventually become a film director, producer, and writer. •
Emory Johnson (1894–1960) was Johnson years old when he starred in this movie as Walter Croyden. In January 1916, Emory signed a contract with
Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
Carl Laemmle of
Universal Film Manufacturing Company thought he saw great potential in Johnson, so he chooses him to be Universal's new leading man. Laemmle's hope was Johnson would become another
Wallace Reed. A major part of his plan was to create a movie couple that would sizzle on the silver screen. Laemmle thought Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson could create the chemistry he sought. Johnson and Davenport would complete 14 films together. They started with the successful feature production of "
Doctor Neighbor" in May 1916 and ended with
The Devil's Bondwoman in November 1916. After completing the last movie, Laemmle thought Johnson did not have the screen presence he wanted. He decided not to renew his contract. Johnson would make 17 movies in 1916, including 6 shorts and 11 feature-length Dramas. 1916 would become the second-highest movie output of his entire acting career. Emory acted in 25 films for Universal, mostly dramas with a sprinkling of comedies and westerns. •
Gretchen Lederer (1891–1955) was a year-old actress when she landed this role as Mrs. Nevill, the wife of John Nevill. Lederer was a German actress getting her first start in 1912 with Carl Laemmle. At the time of this film, she was still a Universal contract actress. She had previously acted in two Bosworth-Johnson projects preceding this movie -
The Yaqui and
Two Men of Sandy Bar. She would unite with Emory Johnson in the 1916 productions of
A Yoke of Gold and
The Morals of Hilda. •
Adele Farrington (Mrs. Hobart Bosworth) (-1936) was years old when she played Mrs. Lake. Farrington was also a Universal contract player appearing in 74 films between 1914 and 1926. Although she got her start in movies when she was 47-years-old (1914), Universal cast her mostly in
character leads. Many of her roles were acting alongside her husband, Hobart Bosworth, whom she married in 1909 and divorced in 1920. In addition to her roles as an actress, she was also a music composer and writer. •
Jack Curtis (1880–1956) was years old when he acted in this movie. His character was Peter Sturton, a former governor, supporting Croyden's bid for a second term. Curtis appeared in 157 films between 1915 and 1950.
Director Lloyd B. Carleton (–1933) started working for
Carl Laemmle in the Fall of 1915. Carleton arrived with impeccable credentials, having directed some 60 films for the likes of
Thanhouser,
Lubin,
Fox, and
Selig. Between March and December 1916, 44-year-old Lloyd Carleton directed 16 movies for Universal, starting with
The Yaqui and ending with
The Morals of Hilda released on December 11, 1916.
Emory Johnson acted in all 16 of these films. Of Carleton's total 1916 output, 11 were feature films, and the rest were two-reel shorts.
Screenplay The story was based on the successful play by
Clyde Fitch (1865–1909) first shown on the New York stage on November 4, 1901. The story was adapted to the screen by
F. McGrew Willis (1891–1957)
Filming In this film, there was extensive use of
San Diego locations for exterior shots, as well as multiple interior scenes.. An item published in the February 26, 1916 issue of
Motion Picture News announced: An item in the April 1, 1916 issue of
The Moving Picture World stated: The articles suggest that the project was filmed between February and April 1916.
Studios On March 15, 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility,
Universal City Studios. While
San Diego served as the setting for the exterior shots, news items show that the Universal City stages were used for a big scene. The March 1916 editions of
New York Clipper and
Moving Picture World contain articles that mention a ballroom scene created for this movie.
Post production The theatrical release of this film totaled five
reels or 5,000 feet of film. As is often the case, the listed time for this feature-length movie varies. The average time per 1,000-foot 35mm reel varied between ten and fifteen minutes per reel at the time. Thus, the total time for this movie is computed between fifty and seventy-five minutes. An article in the December 1916 issue of
Photoplay points out: ==Release and reception==