The New Klondike

Background

Partly filmed on location in Miami, the film is based upon a short story by Ring Lardner and was inspired by both the national baseball craze and the Florida land boom speculation of 1925. The film itself then inspired the 1926 Peggy Griffith novel The New Klondike – A Story of a Southern Baseball Training Camp. The film proved successful enough to secure Thomas Meighan a long-term acting contract with Paramount.

Plot

Small-town pitcher Thomas Kelly (Thomas Meighan) is sent to Spring training with a minor league baseball team in Florida, but is fired by its jealous manager, Joe Cooley (Jack W. Johnston). Kelly is then talked into being the celebrity endorser for a Florida real estate firm, and his former teammates invest money in the firm through him. Still jealous of Kelly's popularity, Cooley conspires with crooked broker Morgan West (Robert Craig) to sell Kelly and the investors some worthless swampland. Kelly and his friends lose their money, but Kelly struggles to recoup the losses. He eventually makes a fortune, repays the investors, and is himself appointed team manager in place of Cooley.

Cast

Reception

The New York Times wrote, "The wild scramble for Florida real estate is served up in a fairly humorous light in Thomas Meighan's latest production, 'The New Klondike,' which is Thomas J. Geraghty's adaptation of a special story by Ring Lardner." They noted that the film was predictable and not overburdened with suspense, but that the film did provide "several amusing incidents concerned with the activities of the realtors and their victims."

Preservation status

Prints of this film are held in the Library of Congress film archive. It's in 35mm however one reel is missing.