The Love of Sunya
The Love of Sunya is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Albert Parker and based on the play Eyes of Youth by Max Marcin and Charles Guernon. Produced by and starring Gloria Swanson, it also stars John Boles and Pauline Garon. A copy of The Love of Sunya survives in the Paul Killiam collection.
Plot
A young woman is given by a mystic an occasional glimpse into her future, notably her future with different men.Cast
- Gloria Swanson as Sunya Ashling
- John Boles as Paul Judson
- Pauline Garon as Anna Hagan
- Ian Keith as Louis Anthony
- Andres de Segurola as Paola deSalvo
- Anders Randolf as Robert Goring
- Hugh Miller as The Outcast
- Robert Schable as Henri Picard
- Ivan Lebedeff as Ted Morgan
- John Miltern as Asa Ashling
- Raymond Hackett as Kenneth Ashling
- Florence Fair as Rita Ashling
Production
The film was Swanson's first independent production; she later called it an "agonizing ordeal". She chose to film another adaptation of Max Marcin and Charles Guernon's play, for it had been filmed once before in 1919, starring Clara Kimball Young, and was a resounding success on Broadway. Swanson hired Albert Parker, who had directed the 1919 film, in the hope, given that Parker was already familiar with the material, that the production would be quicker.Swanson ignored advice to shoot the film in Hollywood and opted to rent space in William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Studios in New York City. Production began in September 1926 but problems quickly arose due to Swanson's lack of experience as a producer. The production soon ran over budget and was marred by several other problems, mainly the lack of a suitable cameraman to deal with the film's intricate double exposures. According to Swanson's autobiography, the services of cinematographer George Barnes were eventually secured, though he is given no screen credit.