Hell's Four Hundred
Hell's Four Hundred is a 1926 film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. It was six reels, and the originals were very likely lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire.
I took an interest in this when I saw a couple of the production stills online, and read about the technicolor dream sequence in the final reel. The following is all the information I've been able to find about it.
Synopses
Evelyn marries the rich Marshall Langham thereby double-crossing Gilmore, her boss, who had employed her to rope Langham into a scandal because of debts he owed Gilmore. The latter is killed and North, district attorney and sworn enemy of Gilmore and his gambling house, is held on circumstantial evidence. Evelyn could clear North but in so doing, she would expose Langham, the guilty one. When he is dying, he clears North who is engaged to his sister. At this point, Evelyn sees a vision in which her sins take the forms of monsters. For a fade-out you have Evelyn waking from a bad dream and all set to go on the iceman’s picnic instead of hunting a rich papa.Film Daily, 30 May 1926, page 39, retrieved from silentera.com
A chorus girl, Evelyn, marries a rich man, Marshall, against the wishes of her boss, Gilmore, who is then killed by Marshall. District Attorney John North, a foe of Gilmore, is arrested, and Evelyn is reluctant to clear him because she would incriminate her husband. Evelyn’s guilt gets to be unbearable, but then she awakens. The whole thing has been a dream.The Fox Film Corporation, 1915 –1935 by Aubrey Solomon, page 298
Stills
My ultimate goal is to find high quality scans of these images, and any other production stills that may have been taken. I was able to source that they were taken by Max Munn Autrey, but I couldnt find them on any sort of published sources, and instead had to collect them from random posts and blog entries. These are the highest-quality uploads of each image that I could find.
I also purchased a promotional photo online which I intend to scan at some point, but I havent gotten around to it. Here's a horrible little thumbnail image of it.
Lobby Cards
I found two lobby cards listed on ebay. I currently cant afford them, but here are the images alongside versions that I straightened and cropped in photoshop.
Miscellaneous
This is the original Film Daily article I referenced above that I found in a newspaper archive. Below is a screenshot and transcript of the article
"Hell's 400"
fox
NOT HIGHBROW ENTERTAINMENT BUT WILL PROVE A GOOD BET FOR CERTAIN EXHIBITORS. ALLEGORICAL ENDING GIVES IT LAVISH FINISH.
Cast.. Margaret Livingston a spirited young lady of the chorus who has a very bad dream. Harrison Ford suitable as the district attorney hero. Henry Kolker, the gambler villain. Others, Wallace Mac Donald, Marceline Day, Rodney Hildebrand, Amber Normand.
Type of Story... Melodrama: adapted from Vaughn Kester's novel "The Just and the Unjust." Certainly the title alone will prove a lure in this case. The picture does not bid for "highbrow" patronage, but where the exhibitor has the right sort of a crowd this will no doubt prove much to their liking. Margaret Livingston, as the chorus girl out to pick herself a rich papa, makes a peppy affair of it and the ensuing melodramatic sequences afford the variation that will go well with the right audience. Director John Griffith Wray has tacked on an elaborate, though somewhat irrelevant, allegorical sequence done in color The story is a more or less hectic affair in which a chorus girl, bent on "easy pickings," becomes involved in a murder mystery
Evelyn marries the rich Marshall Langham thereby double-crossing Gilmore, her boss, who had employed her to rope Langham into a scandal because of debts he owed Gilmore. The latter is killed and North, district attorney and sworn enemy of Gilmore and his gambling house, is held on circumstantial evidence. Evelyn could clear North but in so doing, she would expose Langham, the guilty one. When he is dying, he clears North who is engaged to his sister. At this point, Evelyn sees a vision in which her sins take the forms of monsters. For a fade-out you have Evelyn waking from a bad dream and all set to go on the iceman’s picnic instead of hunting a rich papa.
Box Office Angle..... Will do very well but you have to know your audience. Will appeal to certain classes of audiences but not the high class trade.
Exploitation....Margaret Livingston may not be so well known but she is especially well suited and capable of putting over the type of role she plays in "Hell's 400" They'll probably like her very well. Other good names in the east. The color sequence will easily bring them back so use your trailer here again.
Direction John Griffith Wray: adequate
Author Vaughn Keste
Scenario Bradley King
Cameraman Karl Struss
Photography Very good
Locale New York
Length 5,582 feet