Scarlet Seas

Scarlet Seas is a surviving 1929 American synchronized sound romantic adventure film produced by Richard A. Rowland and distributed by First National Pictures. Although there is no audible dialogue, the film was released with a musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc recording process. The picture was directed by John Francis Dillon. It starred Richard Barthelmess, Betty Compson, and a teen-aged Loretta Young. Originally, the film was presumed lost.

The story was written by W. Scott Darling.

Cast

 * Richard Barthelmess as Steven Dunkin
 * Betty Compson as Rose
 * Loretta Young as Margaret Barbour
 * James Bradbury Sr. as Johnson
 * Jack Curtis as Toomey
 * Knute Erickson as Captain Barbour

uncredited
 * Shorty English as Sailor

Music
The film featured a theme song entitled "Blossoms (That Bloom In the Moonlight)" which was composed by Ben Black and James Dietrich.

Critical reception
A review in Harrison's Reports found that the film contains "offenses to logic", including the nimbleness of the hero and heroine as they climb a rope ladder despite having survived days of hunger and thirst and the way the hero easily overcomes "a giant", lifts him, and throws him overboard.

Preservation status
The film was long thought to be lost. A print has been discovered in Italy at Cineteca Italiana.