I know a lot of film no0bs tend to rely on IMDB as a reliable source. However its a bit like a precursor to Wikipedia: anyone can edit it, and proof doesn't really matter. I contacted them about Miriam Cooper's filmography (such as it would be impossible for her to be in a Griffith film from 1910) and they never changed it. Other people have had similar problems. Valentino's trivia still says he was a thief and gigolo (lies from the 1977 movie...MOVIE), Lillian Gish's still says she dumped a man for being a Jew (she actually dumped him for lying to her).
One of IMDB's popular myths is that Roscoe ''Fatty'' Arbuckle and Mary Miles Minter were both in the now lost A Sainted Devil. Supposedly less than a reel exists, but even that could be untrue (no one knows WHERE). The film was one of Valentino's major flops, it was 'Rambova tries to be Mathis' and it just...didn't work well. Not (obviously) having seen the film I cant say whether it was any good or not; but the costumes don't look quite right (gay matador would be the wording I'd use). Too frilly. And don't get me wrong...I'm not Natacha hating...I liked her Monsieur Beaucaire costumes!
I asked a group of Valentino fans (a few of whom are authors on him and other silent actors) if they knew about this. They were shocked...none of them had ever heard it and they had to run to IMDB to see it themselves.
Valentino and Roscoe were said to be good friends. Valentino appeared alongside Roscoe (and a bunch of other stars) in 1924's "Character Studies" where a man pretends to put on 'fantastic make up' and reappears looking just like the star he's trying to be (when in reality its the real star). Click here to view it. I adore Emily Leider's book, but I feel she played this film up a little too much...the general consensus is it was shot as a gift for Charlie Chaplin's birthday (he's the only notable star not in it) and later was released as a short. Valentino appearing in it wouldn't be a grand gesture towards Roscoe really.
That being said they were still said to have gotten along well and liked to play poker games (with one cussing the other out for winning). Roscoe barely appeared in any films during this time, he had just been acquitted over the Virginia Rappe thing and he was still a public pariah (despite not having actually DONE anything). His work was behind the cameras, and usually drunk and sad at that. To actually appear in a film that wasn't for private use would be quite a grand gesture.
As for Mary Miles Minter well...that's just as interesting. In 1922 William Desmond Taylor was murdered after seeing dear Mabel Normand off to her car. Mabel was ruled out as a suspect (though the poor thing had many scandal troubles ahead of her) but soon Mary Miles Minter was drawn in...she was 17 and a Mary Pickford clone...sweet and innocent. Apparently she didn't like living that way and had intended to marry Taylor (who was almost 50 at the time of his death) when she turned 18. She hated acting and she hated her controlling stage mother even more. Lovey dovey notes were found and not only was Mary's career ruined, she is still a possible viable suspect to this day. I'm personally a fan of her mother having a hand in it, but lord knows we'll never know.
This had all long played out by 1924/1925 when A Sainted Devil was filmed and released. To appear with her onscreen as well would have been a hell of a gesture. In fact if true it was her last film, Minter had retired in 1923.
I didn't know Valentino and Minter were close, but Caroline Rupprecht found that they indeed had been friends after being introduced while Valentino worked on Virtuous Sinners. In fact she thinks she has a whole another story that has yet to be uncovered, but isn't ready to present it yet. I eagerly await those findings alongside the Virginia Rappe (who Valentino worked with on the infamously delicious Isle of Love ) case that hopefully will come to light soon.
So to answer the question...were Roscoe and Mary in A Sainted Devil? The general consensus is as of now...NO. Even IMDB doesn't give character names, if anything they might have had small extra parts as a token gesture. However contemporary reviews (which weren't very kind) never mention either of them. Fatty was hard to miss, and Mary greatly resembled the original Mary...both would be hard to miss even in an extra role. You think with the public lynchings going on at the time reviewers would have noticed the scandal tinged actors if they appeared, and surely the Mrs. Grundy's of the world would have called for a boycott. It never happened, but if it had it would have been the most interesting thing about A Sainted Devil.
Whether this film will ever be found we do not know, but I remain hopeful.
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