Going Crooked

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title: "Going Crooked" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1926-crime-films", "1920s-heist-films", "1926-films", "american-black-and-white-films", "american-crime-films", "american-films-based-on-plays", "american-heist-films", "american-silent-feature-films", "films-directed-by-george-melford", "fox-film-films", "surviving-american-silent-films", "1926-american-films"] description: "1926 film" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Crooked" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1926 film ::

::data[format=table title="infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Going Crooked
image	Going Crooked window poster.jpg
caption	Theater poster
director	George Melford
producer	William Fox
based_on
writer	Albert S. Le Vino
Keene Thompson
William Counselman (intertitles)
starring	Bessie Love
cinematography	Charles G. Clarke
distributor	Fox Film Corporation
released
runtime	6 reels; 5,345 feet
country	United States
language	Silent (English intertitles)
::

| name = Going Crooked | image = Going Crooked window poster.jpg | caption = Theater poster | director = George Melford | producer = William Fox | based_on = | writer = Albert S. Le Vino Keene Thompson William Counselman (intertitles) | starring = Bessie Love | music = | cinematography = Charles G. Clarke | editing = | distributor = Fox Film Corporation | released = | runtime = 6 reels; 5,345 feet | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) Going Crooked is a 1926 American silent crime film produced and distributed by the Fox Film Corporation. It was directed by George Melford and stars Bessie Love.

The film is preserved at the Museum of Modern Art, the George Eastman House, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Plot

Mordaunt (von Seyffertitz) and his gang use Marie (Love) as an unwitting accomplice in the theft of the acclaimed Rajah diamond. During the heist, a man is killed, and innocent Rogers (Fenton) is later sentenced to death for the murder.

Marie works with District Attorney Banning (Shaw) to get Mordaunt to confess, just in time to save Rogers from the electric chair. Marie and Shaw are married.

Cast

• Bessie Love as Marie Farley
• Oscar Shaw as Banning
• Gustav von Seyffertitz as Mordaunt
• Edgar Kennedy (as Ed Kennedy) as Detective
• Leslie Fenton as Rogers
• Lydia Knott as Mother
• Bernard Siegel as Crook
• Evelyn Selbie

Production

For authenticity, some scenes were filmed on Ferguson Alley in Chinatown, Los Angeles.

Reception

The film received positive reviews, with Love and von Seyffertitz receiving high acclaim for their performances.

References

References

1. (October 1926). "Mystery, Melodrama and an Extra Measure of Laughs Make 'Going Crooked' a Straight Winner".
2. (September 8, 2011). "The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film". Walter de Gruyter.
3. (1926). "Going Crooked: a Comedy in Three Acts, from a Tale of Hoffman's (Aaron's)". [[Samuel French, Inc.]].
4. Clarke, Charles G.. (1989). "Highlights and Shadows: The Memoirs of a Hollywood Cameraman". Scarecrow Press.
5. "''Going Crooked'' (1926)".
6. "''Going Crooked'' / George Melford [motion picture]".
7. "Going crooked (film)".
8. (1971). "The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930". [[R.R. Bowker.
9. (December 19, 1926). "Going Crooked".
10. (December 18, 1926). "Through the Box-Office Window: Reviewers' Views on Feature Films".
11. (October 2, 1926). "Chinese Complications".
12. (February 19, 1927). "George Melford Has a Good One".

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