Biography
Producer and director Harry Revier, born Harry Jack Revier in Philadelphia, PA, in 1890, remains a somewhat mysterious figure until 1914. That year, he produced and directed The Imp Abroad (1914), a short film released by Universal Film Mfg. Co., the precursor to Universal Pictures, featuring future directors Rupert Julian and James W. Horne. Like most of Revier's work, this film was made for an independent company, Victor Film Co., although he later founded his own production company, Revier Motion Picture Co. While The Imp Abroad was distributed by a reputable company, most of Revier’s productions were handled by low-budget independent firms catering to the "states rights" or exploitation markets, often resulting in limited or no distribution. Nonetheless, he achieved several notable successes. In 1920, he co-directed the Tarzan serial The Son of Tarzan (1920) with Arthur J. Flaven, which performed well commercially. Around this time, he met actress Doris Velagra, whom he married, renamed Dorothy Revier, and helped launch her prolific career of nearly 100 films, beginning with The Broadway Madonna (1922); they divorced in 1926. His most infamous work was Child Bride (1938), a technically flawed film with uneven performances, focusing on the then-common practice in rural Southern U.S. of older men marrying young teenage girls. Its controversial content, especially an uncensored scene of a teenage girl skinny-dipping, made it a perfect fit for the exploitation market and drew large audiences. Despite facing censorship in many cities, the film's notoriety only increased its box office success.
With the advent of sound films, Revier worked in England producing a "quota quickie," fulfilling British legal requirements that a certain percentage of films shown there be made locally, though not necessarily by British filmmakers. Upon returning to the U.S., he produced a series of low-budget westerns and the serial The Lost City (1935), which is infamous among serial enthusiasts for its numerous technical, plot, continuity, and acting flaws, often cited as one of the worst serials ever made.
In 1936, Revier obtained documentary footage of flagellant monks in a remote area of New Mexico performing frenzied religious rituals. He crafted a story around this footage, shot additional scenes, and released the film Lash of the Penitentes (1936). According to one possibly apocryphal tale, Revier secretly filmed one of the monks’ nighttime ceremonies in the desert, was discovered, and was shot in the hand, leading to the amputation of two fingers and earning him the nickname "Three Fingers" Revier.
Child Bride was Revier’s final directorial effort, though in 1953 he edited footage from the 1939 serial Buck Rogers (1939) into a Cold War-themed film titled Planet Outlaws (1953).
Harry Revier passed away in Winter Park, FL, in 1957 at the age of 67.
