The Escape | |
---|---|
![]() Still of D. W. Griffith directing is variously attributed to both The Avenging Conscience or this film. | |
Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
Written by | D. W. Griffith (uncredited) |
Screenplay by | Paul Armstrong |
Based on | The Escape by Paul Armstrong |
Starring | Donald Crisp Edna Foster |
Cinematography | G. W. Bitzer |
Edited by | Rose Smith James Smith (uncredited) |
Distributed by | Mutual Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 reels |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent with English intertitles |
The Escape is a 1914 American silent drama film written and directed by D. W. Griffith and starred Donald Crisp. The film is based on the play of the same name by Paul Armstrong who also wrote the screenplay. It is now considered lost. [1] The master negative of the production was destroyed in the disastrous 1914 Lubin vault fire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The film begins with a short prologue explaining the science of Eugenics; contrasting the careful selection observed in the animal world with the less predictable breeding habits of humans. This is illustrated by the story of the Joyce family, headed by Jim Joyce (Turner), a cruel and senseless man. Joyce's son Larry (Harron) is by nature a sensitive kid, but Jim Joyce turns him into a heartless monster, strangling a cat as a sort of coming of age ritual.
Larry Joyce contracts a case of syphilis, and seeks out treatment from Doctor Von Eiden (Moore), who also takes a keen interest in Larry's sister May (Sweet). Von Eiden encourages May to make a break with her family, and she succeeds. However she is unable to find employment and enters into a relationship with a wealthy senator (Lewis) as a kept woman. While May will not marry the Senator, her sister Jennie (Marsh) does marry a man named "Bull" McGee (Crisp), an abusive lout just like her father.
Their infant child is killed when McGee trips over its cradle in a drunken stupor, and Jennie becomes delusional, endlessly rocking the cradle with a doll inside. McGee is repulsed by her condition and puts Jennie away quietly through selling her into prostitution. May manages to wrest Jennie away from this peril, but Jennie expires soon after. Von Eiden, however, has managed to restore Larry's original sensitivity through a surgical procedure; May has broken off the relationship with the Senator and agrees to marry Von Eiden.
The Escape was based on a play by Paul Armstrong, a prolific playwright best known for his properties Alias Jimmy Valentine (1909) and Salomy Jane (1907). Griffith's film version was begun first, finished second, but released third among the cycle of five films he made at Reliance-Majestic Studios between his ouster at Biograph Company and the advent of The Birth of a Nation (1915). Filming of The Escape began in New York City, but was completed in Los Angeles partly due to an illness in the cast. [1] [2] There was a long delay in getting it out; although Mutual Film finally released it on June 1, 1914, response to The Escape was of a mixed character and the film was dumped on the States' Rights market by the end of the year. [3]
Lillian Gish recalled The Escape as one of the finest films Griffith ever made, [4] [ page needed ] whereas Griffith himself regarded its failure as a momentary distraction during the planning stages of The Birth of a Nation. [5] [ page needed ]
Iris Barry first reported The Escape as a lost film in 1940 [6] and despite an international search for Griffith's film output lasting the decades since, The Escape remains one among a small handful of Griffith features that have never been located. [7]
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl, often referred to simply as Broken Blossoms, is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It was the first film distributed by United Artists. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights. In 1996, Broken Blossoms was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Lillian Diana Gish was an American actress. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", and is credited with pioneering fundamental film performance techniques. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gish as the 17th greatest female movie star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American stage and screen actress. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great success on the stage, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Dorothy Gish was noted as a fine comedian, and many of her films were comedies.
The Musketeers of Pig Alley is a 1912 American short drama and a gangster film. It is directed by D. W. Griffith and written by Griffith and Anita Loos. It is also credited for its early use of follow focus, a fundamental tool in cinematography.
Robert Emmett Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in over 200 films, he is possibly best recalled for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed films The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916).
Judith of Bethulia (1914) is an American film starring Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall, and produced and directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the play "Judith and the Holofernes" (1896) by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, which itself was an adaptation of the Book of Judith. The film was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released.
Henry Brazeale Walthall was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915).
Hearts of the World is a 1918 American silent World War I propaganda film written, produced and directed by D. W. Griffith. In an effort to change the American public's neutral stance regarding the war, the British government contacted Griffith due to his stature and reputation for dramatic filmmaking.
Carol Dempster was an American film actress of the silent film era. She appeared in films from 1916 to 1926, working with D. W. Griffith extensively.
Home, Sweet Home (1914) is an American silent biographical drama directed by D. W. Griffith. It stars Earle Foxe, Henry Walthall and Dorothy Gish.
Two Daughters of Eve is a 1912 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith.
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch is a 1913 American silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and featuring Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish, and Alfred Paget.
The House of Darkness is a 1913 American short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith.
The Mothering Heart is a 1913 American short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art.
The Battle of the Sexes is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for the Majestic Motion Picture Company. No complete print of the film is known to exist; however, a fragment has survived. Griffith remade the film as The Battle of the Sexes in 1928 as a comedy-drama and this latter version is available on DVD.
The Greatest Thing in Life is a 1918 American silent drama film about World War I, directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, and David Butler. The film is now considered lost as no prints are known to exist.
A Romance of Happy Valley is a 1919 American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. Believed lost for almost 50 years, a print was discovered in 1965 in the State Film Archives of the Soviet Union, which donated it to the Museum of Modern Art.
True Heart Susie is a 1919 American drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the British Film Institute. The film has seen several VHS releases as well as a DVD issue.
The Little Tease is a 1913 silent black and white drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, produced by Biograph Company and starring Henry B. Walthall and Mae Marsh.
The Yaqui Cur is a 1913 American silent Western black and white film directed by D. W. Griffith, written by Stanner E.V. Taylor and starring Robert Harron, Kate Bruce, Walter Miller, Charles Hill Mailes and Victoria Forde. Griffith directed seven films with more than one reel, including The Yaqui Cur and The Little Tease (1913).