Originally published 1924 | Adaptations The Valiant (1929) | |
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Playwrights Harold Everett Porter, Robert Middlemass | ||
The Valiant is a one-act play from the 1920s by Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass. It became a popular play for local theater groups, and is still performed today.
Contents
The play was copyrighted in 1920 and first appeared in McClure's magazine in 1921. It first appeared on the stage about 1924, and first appeared on Broadway (for one night) in 1926. Running with success on vaudeville (with Bert Lytell), it was made into a film of the same name in 1929 starring Paul Muni, and as The Man Who Wouldn't Talk in 1940. The play became a favorite for amateur and local theater groups.
Characters
Referred to on the script (their name in the play)
Summary
The play tells the story of James Dyke, a confessed murderer who has been sentenced to die and now awaits his fate on death row at a prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The only problem is that no one knows who he really is or where he comes from, and he is determined to take his secret to the grave. The prison's warden and chaplain have nearly given up hope of discovering his true identity until the night of Dyke's execution when a strange young woman arrives requesting to see him. Now, she may be the only key to unlocking Dyke's mysterious past. The woman leaves thinking that James is not her brother, but after she walks out, he recites lines about the Valiant. This is how we know that Dyke is her brother. He did not want to reveal his true identity so that his mother would think that her son died nobly in the war.
Performance and canonicity
The Valiant is frequently listed and anthologized as a very suitable play for production at festivals, in educational programs for troubled kids, in high schools, and by amateur groups in schools or churches.