page_title: St. Elmo (1914 film)
section_title: Reception and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: St. Elmo (1914 film) / Reception and legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: In a scene from the film, St. Elmo drinks with the devil over the body of his cousin.
context_page_description: St. Elmo is a 1914 American silent drama film produced by the Balboa Amusement Producing Company and distributed by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company. It was the first feature-length film adaptation of Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 novel of the same name. The story follows the life of the title character, who kills his cousin over the love of Agnes, falls from grace, and eventually finds redemption and love with Edna. It is disputed who directed the film; many sources credit Bertram Bracken, while others list St. Elmo as J. Gordon Edwards's directorial debut.
  Some reviewers praised the scenery and overall production quality, considering the film an improvement over staged adaptations of the novel. Others found the scenery irrelevant and the story confusing. Despite mixed reviews, the film was financially successful, reportedly setting box office records. The following year, a film adaptation of an unrelated Evans novel, Beulah, was marketed as a sequel. As with most Balboa films, St. Elmo is now believed lost.
context_section_description: Contemporary reviews were mixed. Writing for Motion Picture News, A. Danson Michell found the film superior to stage adaptations of the novel, and especially praised the photography.  Moving Picture World's Hanford Judson also gave a generally positive review, believing that its production qualities and popular appeal more than compensated for the "artificiality" of a few scenes. Not all critics praised the film. Vanderheyden Fyles of Movie Pictorial felt the Long Beach scenery lauded elsewhere was irrelevant to the plot and the adapted story was a "baffling mix-up". A particularly negative review appeared in Variety, suggesting the film was so bad that its makers "might have got a little profit out of the raw [film] by not ruining it through putting St. Elmo on it." The Chicago Board of Censorship found some scenes objectionable and required that Chicago showings of the film be edited to remove depictions of dueling and Murray's dead body.
  St. Elmo was a financial success, reported by The Photoplayers' Weekly as breaking box office records. The following year, Bertram Bracken directed a film adaptation of another Augusta Jane Evans novel, Beulah (1859), for Balboa. Though not directly related to St. Elmo, the 1915 Beulah film was marketed as a sequel. In 1923, Fox Film produced another adaptation of the novel, also titled St. Elmo, which was also a success.
  Around 90% of Balboa's films have been lost, probably including the 1914 St. Elmo. The Library of Congress is not aware of any extant copies.
caption: St. Elmo shares a drink with the Devil, with Murray's body in a coffin between them. This scene was also censored in Chicago.
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