Synthetic Sin
Synthetic Sin is a 1929 American comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, based on a play of the same name. While filmed as a silent, it was released by Warner Bros. accompanied with a Vitaphone music soundtrack and sound effects. However most of the Vitaphone discs are still lost, apart from the final reel. Plot. Famed playwright Donald Anthony returns home to Magnolia Gap, Virginia, and proposes to Betty Fairfax. She accepts and he offers her the lead part in his next play, but the play is a disaster. Donald tells her that she is unsuited for  the role, that it requires someone with more life experience. Rather than return home defeated, Betty stays in New York, in a bad neighborhood where local gangsters adopt her as their own. When Donald comes to visit her, they eject him. There is a gunfight, and in the resulting confusion Donald sweeps in and rescues Betty. After the excitement, Betty gives up her dreams of the stage and devotes herself to Donald. Preservation status. A copy survives at the Cineteca Italiana archive in Milan. Previously it was considered to be a lost film. Colleen Moore had deposited copies of several  of her movies with the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), but it allowed the films to decompose before they could be restored. References. Notes Bibliography