The Battle of the Sexes (1914 film)
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Sexes is a 1914 drama film
directed by D. W. Griffith
for the Majestic Motion Picture Company. The full 50-minute feature is now considered a lost film
, as no complete prints of the film are known to exist. However, a two-minute fragment, once belonging to Reliance-Majestic head Harry Aitken, has survived. Griffith remade
the film as The Battle of the Sexes
in 1928 as a dramedy and this latter version is available on DVD.
, by barely more than a month. He had already begun The Escape
(1914), but production had been stopped by actress Blanche Sweet's spell of scarlet fever, and the Reliance-Majestic Studio was already in trouble and in need of a viable Griffith property, fast. Griffith decided on a scenario entitled "The Single Standard," written by in-house screenwriter Daniel Carson Goodman
and filmed at the Reliance studio in New York City, rather than at the Hollywood studio, which was still being built. According to Lillian Gish, The Battle of the Sexes was shot in only five days. Although the film was complete by February, its release was delayed two months more. Several reasons have been advanced for the impasse, but scholar Paul Spehr has suggested that both Reliance-Majestic and its distributor, Mutual, were having difficulty developing an effective distribution strategy for longer, multi-reel films in a market still dominated by one- and two-reel subjects. The Battle of the Sexes was premiered at Weber's Theater in New York City on April 12, 1914, and was a considerable success; the first one Griffith enjoyed with his name over the title.
Although routinely listed as a "lost film," Iris Barry had mentioned the existence of a short fragment of it in her 1940 monograph on Griffith. The surviving scene takes place in a restaurant, where Mrs. Andrews and the children take a booth and the children note that Mr. Andrews and Cleo are seated at the one next to them. Mrs. Andrews hasn't noticed, and the children find an excuse to get her out of there just before scene ends. Were there a minute or two more of this fragment extant, we may have seen Rudolph Valentino
in his alleged screen debut in the bit part of a taxi dancer; he is known to have played as an extra in an early Griffith feature, and a shadowy figure tentatively identified in one of the stills for The Battle of the Sexes may be him.
While the familiar, and now popular, 1928 remake of The Battle of the Sexes plays largely as a comedy, the 1914 original was a straight melodrama.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
for the Majestic Motion Picture Company. The full 50-minute feature is now considered a lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
, as no complete prints of the film are known to exist. However, a two-minute fragment, once belonging to Reliance-Majestic head Harry Aitken, has survived. Griffith remade
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
the film as The Battle of the Sexes
The Battle of the Sexes (1928 film)
The Battle of the Sexes is a film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Jean Hersholt, Phyllis Haver, Belle Bennett, Don Alvarado and Sally O'Neil, and released by United Artists. The film was a remake by Griffith of an earlier film he directed in 1914, which starred Lillian Gish...
in 1928 as a dramedy and this latter version is available on DVD.
Cast
- Donald CrispDonald CrispDonald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
- Frank Andrews - Lillian GishLillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
- Jane Andrews, the daughter - Robert HarronRobert HarronRobert "Bobby" Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in scores of films, he is possibly best remembered for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed films Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation...
- John Andrews, the son - Mary AldenMary AldenMary Maguire Alden was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood.-Career:Born in New York City, Alden began her career on the Broadway stage...
- Mrs. Frank Andrews - Owen MooreOwen MooreOwen Moore was an Irish-born actor in American films, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.-Life and career:...
- Cleo's lover - Fay TincherFay TincherFay Tincher was a comic actress in motion pictures of the silent film era. She was from Topeka, Kansas. Her hair was black and her eyes were brown. Tincher's appearance was sometimes compared to that of a French woman....
- Cleo - W. E. LawrenceW. E. LawrenceW. E. Lawrence was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 120 films between 1912 and 1947.He was born in Brooklyn, New York and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:...
Plot
Frank Andrews (Donald Crisp) is a well-to-do, middle class apartment dweller who is devoted to his wife (Mary Alden) and two children, John (Robert Harron) and Jane (Lillian Gish). Andrews enters into a mid-life crisis when a fetching young lady, Cleo (Fay Tincher), moves into the apartment next door to the Andrews'. Cleo takes note of Andrews' interest in her and begins to flirt with him, going so far as to set a fire in her apartment in order to attract his aid. Before long, Andrews and Cleo are involved in an affair, and Andrews begins to neglect both his family and responsibilities at work. Humiliated and aghast at her mother's silent suffering over the situation, Jane goes next door with the idea of killing Cleo, but instead they strike up a conversation, and a mutual understanding. They hatch a plan whereby one of Cleo's former beaus (Owen Moore) appears to be courting Jane in front of Andrews, who swiftly condemns his daughter's interest in the man. Jane counters by pointing out Andrews' own poor moral choices, and he sees the error of his ways. Andrews is happily reconciled to his family, and Cleo sets out in search of new digs.History and background
The Battle of the Sexes was the second D. W. Griffith feature to be released to the public, following Biograph's long-delayed release of Griffith's first feature, Judith of BethuliaJudith of Bethulia
Judith of Bethulia is a film starring Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall. The film was produced and directed by D. W. Griffith and was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released....
, by barely more than a month. He had already begun The Escape
The Escape (1914 film)
The Escape is a 1914 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Donald Crisp. It is now considered to be a lost film.-Cast:* Donald Crisp as 'Bull' McGee* Edna Foster as Crippled girl* Earle Foxe* Robert Harron as Larry Joyce...
(1914), but production had been stopped by actress Blanche Sweet's spell of scarlet fever, and the Reliance-Majestic Studio was already in trouble and in need of a viable Griffith property, fast. Griffith decided on a scenario entitled "The Single Standard," written by in-house screenwriter Daniel Carson Goodman
Daniel Carson Goodman
Daniel Carson Goodman was an American screenwriter, who wrote the storyline for 28 silent films – the first of them was Sapho . He worked as miscellaneous crew in three films, produced two films and directed one film, Thoughtless Women .He was engaged to marry the actress Florence La Badie...
and filmed at the Reliance studio in New York City, rather than at the Hollywood studio, which was still being built. According to Lillian Gish, The Battle of the Sexes was shot in only five days. Although the film was complete by February, its release was delayed two months more. Several reasons have been advanced for the impasse, but scholar Paul Spehr has suggested that both Reliance-Majestic and its distributor, Mutual, were having difficulty developing an effective distribution strategy for longer, multi-reel films in a market still dominated by one- and two-reel subjects. The Battle of the Sexes was premiered at Weber's Theater in New York City on April 12, 1914, and was a considerable success; the first one Griffith enjoyed with his name over the title.
Although routinely listed as a "lost film," Iris Barry had mentioned the existence of a short fragment of it in her 1940 monograph on Griffith. The surviving scene takes place in a restaurant, where Mrs. Andrews and the children take a booth and the children note that Mr. Andrews and Cleo are seated at the one next to them. Mrs. Andrews hasn't noticed, and the children find an excuse to get her out of there just before scene ends. Were there a minute or two more of this fragment extant, we may have seen Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
in his alleged screen debut in the bit part of a taxi dancer; he is known to have played as an extra in an early Griffith feature, and a shadowy figure tentatively identified in one of the stills for The Battle of the Sexes may be him.
While the familiar, and now popular, 1928 remake of The Battle of the Sexes plays largely as a comedy, the 1914 original was a straight melodrama.