Judith of Bethulia (1914)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (poem) (play)
D.W. Griffith (writer)

Release Date:

8 March 1914 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

A fascinating work of high artistry, "Judith of Bethulia" will not only rank as an achievement in this country...

Plot Keywords:

Bible | Melodrama | Male Female Relationship | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Blanche Sweet	...	Judith
Henry B. Walthall	...	Holofernes
Mae Marsh	...	Naomi
Robert Harron	...	Nathan
Lillian Gish	...	The young mother
Dorothy Gish	...	The crippled beggar
Kate Bruce	...	Judith's maid
J. Jiquel Lanoe	...	Eunuch Attendant
Harry Carey	...	Assyrian Traitor
W. Chrystie Miller	...	Bethulian
Gertrude Robinson
Charles Hill Mailes	...	Bethulian Soldier
Edward Dillon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gertrude Bambrick	...	Lead Assyrian Dancer
Lionel Barrymore	...	Extra
Clara T. Bracy	...	Bethulian
Kathleen Butler	...	Bethulian
William J. Butler	...	Bethulian
Christy Cabanne
William A. Carroll	...	Assyrian Soldier (as William Carroll)
Frank Evans	...	Bethulian Soldier
Mary Gish
Harry Hyde	...	Bethulian Soldier / Assyrian Soldier
Thomas Jefferson
Jennie Lee	...	Bethulian
Adolph Lestina	...	Bethulian
Elmo Lincoln
Antonio Moreno	...	Extra
Marshall Neilan
Frank Opperman	...	Bethulian
Alfred Paget	...	Bethulian / Assyrian Soldier
W.C. Robinson	...	Bethulian Soldier
Kate Toncray	...	One of Judith's Servants

Also Known As:

Her Condoned Sin (International: English title) (reissue title)

Runtime:

USA:61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Biograph Studios, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Biograph Company

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Judith of Bethulia" by Thomas Bailey Aldrich opened at Daly's Theatre on December 5, 1904 and ran for 16 performances.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Judith goes out into the city and begins to bless the young mother's baby, an extra enters the shot in the left foreground, blocking the action. She or he quickly retreats back out of view, as someone obviously yelled out.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Her Condoned Sin (1917)

The wheels of a cinema revolution beginning to churn.

D.W. Griffith fuses Thomas Bailey Aldrich's long poem of Judith's story with its basis in the Apocrypha to derive this somewhat austere and powerful film of the widow's noble sacrifice to save her besieged city and its inhabitants from an invading Assyrian army, led by Holofernes. With JUDITH as Griffith's first feature length effort, he turns away from the commercial needs of the Biograph Company, the management of which desires to maintain its policy of making only one and two reelers, and his expenditure of $36000 is double the amount budgeted, reflecting his expanded use of sets and extras and providing the requisite exercise in preparation for his next major work: BIRTH OF A NATION, made as a free agent. Eighteen year old Blanche Sweet's performance is striking as she utilizes all of her wide range of expressivity, uncommon in one so young, to mirror the emotions of a woman who is physically attracted to a man, Henry Walthall as Holofernes, toward whom her only possible final act will be his death by her hand, as depicted in many a well-known painting. The supporting cast serves the sparsely titled production well, with emotional performances from Mae Marsh and Robert Harron as endangered lovers, and among the many bit players who animate the work may be seen Lionel Barrymore, Harry Carey, Antonio Moreno and Lillian and Dorothy Gish as victims of the invaders. This version is the four reeler rather than the one of six reels released later and is Griffith's answer to the full-length epics which were being imported from Europe; its release was delayed a year by Biograph to ensure that the director had left its employ, but this brought scant gain to the company: Biograph was soon defunct, while Griffith's star was rising.