On Thin Ice (1925 film)

On Thin Ice is a 1925 American silent crime drama film directed by Mal St. Clair and starring Tom Moore, Edith Roberts, and William Russell. It was produced and distributed by the Warner Bros. and based upon a 1924 novel by Alice Ross Colver.

Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Rose (Roberts), desperately in need of money, finds a bag of money thrown over a fence by crooks. She rushes home with it only to find her father has died. She attempts to return the satchel but it is filled with paper and worthless money. The crooks become friendly with her, and although harassed by the police, she finally wins over one of them into going straight.

Reception
Film historian Ruth Anne Dywer, quoting Leonard Mosley from his biography on Darryl Zanuck, reports that producer Jack Warner was not particularly impressed with St. Clair’s directing, despite the fact that his Warner Bros. films had performed well at the box office.

New York Times film critic Mordaunt Hall characterized On Thin Ice as a “trite” and “clumsy story” in which “an effort has been made to maintain the mystery concerning the thief.” Hall concludes that that director Mal St. Clair failed to endow the film “with any original or bright touches.”

Though Photoplay ranked On Thin Ice among the best of the month, the studio canceled St. Clair’s contract following the release of the film.

Preservation
With no prints of On Thin Ice located in any film archives, it is a lost film.

The picture survives only in screenplay form at the Library of the University of Southern California. Ruth Anne Dwyer notes that the motto “Those who skate on THIN ICE always fall through” was likely carried on the introductory title of the film itself.