A little bit of research on the Broadway Database website confirms that the play Captain Applejack ran for 195 performances in the 1921-1922. It's the kind of fluff that people went to the theater to see back in the day, but wouldn't have any great audience today.
Watching it this morning two things struck me. It reminded a whole lot of George M. Cohan's Seven Keys To Baldpate which also takes place on a windswept stormy night with a group of strange characters intruding on someone's privacy. Further research shows that the producer on Broadway was Sam Harris, Cohan's producing partner who probably thought he had another similar show on his hands.
I also thought how perfect Leslie Howard or Ronald Colman would have been for the part. The film would be more well known today had either of them done it, though John Halliday does a fine job in the lead. He plays a comfortable squire with an estate in Cornwall who yearns for a more exciting life and expresses same to ward Mary Brian. Before long he's besieged by visitors who are giving him all kinds of stories and he discovers the family fortune may have had its foundation in stolen pirate loot.
Captain Applejack is a most dated item, fortunate indeed to have been preserved in both a silent and sound film. I doubt you'll see it revived on Broadway any time soon.
