The Love of Sunya (Silent)

Centuries ago, in ancient Egypt, an evil priest unfairly sentenced an innocent maiden to death. In the present day, the priest is reincarnated as a traveling yogi seeking to atone for the sins of his past life. After much searching, he finds the Egyptian maiden now in the body of an American girl named Sunya Ashling. Sunya is caught between joining her hard-working boyfriend at his new job in South America or marrying a millionaire so she can support her ailing father in New York. Seizing the chance to redeem himself, the yogi uses his crystal ball to show the girl which paths will lead to lasting happiness...or disaster and misery.

The Love of Sunya was the first film Gloria Swanson produced herself after years as a top box-office draw for Paramount. With so much at risk, Swanson chose to remake an already successful movie, Eyes of Youth (1919) with Clara Kimball Young. She even chose to employ that film's director, Albert Parker. Filming took place not in Hollywood, but in New York, where cameraman Robert Martin struggled with the elaborate double exposures Parker insisted on (he was eventually replaced by an uncredited George Barnes.) Swanson cast Broadway actor John Boles as her love interest, beginning his movie career. He is best known today for playing Victor Moritz in James Whale's classic Frankenstein (1931). The Love of Sunya was the first movie to premiere at the lavish Roxy Theatre in New York, where admission went for a-then-unheard of $11 a ticket. The picture opened to a standing ovation, but despite this, it ended up fizzling at the box office. Swanson was forced to return to Hollywood, where her next film, the controversial Sadie Thompson (1928) restored her status as Hollywood's premiere leading lady.