entitled “Just Plain Buggs". Sternberg had recently served as assistant-director and writer on Roy William Neill’s film By Devine Right (1924) and accepted the offer, with the caveat that they substitute his own screenplay, The Salvation Hunters, to which Arthur agreed. Though the details remain “confused and controversial” the film was financed by Sternberg and Arthur for just under five-thousand dollars. Sternberg contributed the bulk of his personal savings to meet budgetary shortfalls. In this respect, The Salvation Hunters may be considered an independent film and as such “an almost unique specimen in its time.” Production Filming began in the fall of 1924. The movie was shot on location in California, including San Pedro, Chinatown, San Fernando Valley and at Grand-Asher Studios. Due to budgetary restraints, Sternberg and Arthur employed Hollywood extras, so-called "supers", rather than featured players. Georgia Hale was a cabaret singer and dress extra on Vanity's Price (1924) when Sternberg tapped for the role of The Girl. She and most of the cast agreed to "defer" salaries. Stuart Holmes, who played The Gentleman, was an exception; a well-known screen "villain" - and famous sculptor - he was paid $100 in advance for his brief, but effective, appearance in The Salvation Hunters. Reception The Salvation Hunters was a “complete failure” at its New York City premiere, where it ran less than a week. Nationwide, attendance was “unspectacular.” As Sternberg, at the Hollywood premiere remarked, “The members of the cast were in the audience, which greeted my work with laughter and jeers and finally rioted. Many walked out, and so did I.” In the aftermath of the film's brief showing, Arthur took steps to see that a print was smuggled into the home of actor-director-producer Charlie Chaplin, where it received a private viewing by the film star and associates Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Mary Pickford and Joseph Schenck. Subsequently, The New York Times Sunday entertainment section of February 1, 1925 carried the following announcement: At years’ end Film Mercury movie critic Anabel Lane included The Salvation Hunters in the top-10 list for 1925: 1. Cecil B. DeMille’s Isn’t Life Wonderful 2. King Vidor’ The Big Parade 3. Erich von Stroheim’s Greed 4. Sven Gade’s Siège 5. Augusto Genina’s Cyrano de Bergerac 6. Clarence Badger’s Paths to Paradise 7. F. W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh 8. Josef von Sternberg’s The Salvation Hunters 9. Malcolm St. Clair’s Are Parents People? 10.Herbert Brenon’s