Volume II: Filmography

 

THE TERROR OF ANGER

 

Working title: LOVE AND SAVAGERY

Alternate working title: THE TERROR OF FEAR

November 10, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (1,945 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: W. Eugene Moore

Scenario: Philip Lonergan

Cast: Morris Foster (Rawlings' son), Mignon Anderson (the girl), Lila Chester (Rawlings' unfaithful wife), Kenneth Clarendon (Rawlings' wife's lover), Joseph Phillips, Leland Benham, Helen Badgley

Location: Outdoor scenes were filmed in Larchmont, New York

Notes: 1. A picture in Reel Life, October 31, 1914, is captioned as showing Morris Foster contemplating the wreckage of the automobile in which his wife and her lover were killed, indicating that Foster played the part of Rawlings; however, a cast listing in the same issue identified Foster as Rawlings' son, which seems more probable, as another scene shows Morris Foster (Rawlings' son) and Mignon Anderson as young lovers. 2. Several pre-release articles in The Moving Picture World, The New Rochelle Pioneer, and elsewhere stated the title of this film as The Terror of Fear, and it is presumed that this was a working title.

 

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 3, 1914:

"W. Eugene Moore is producing Love and Savagery, with Morris Foster and Mignon Anderson in the leads, the exteriors of which are being taken in 'The Woods of Larchmont.' A primeval setting was required and no better place could have been found. Leland Benham and Helen Badgley are used in support."

 

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 31, 1914:

"W. Eugene Moore has completed The Terror of Fear, in which Morris Foster and Mignon Anderson starred with a strong supporting cast, among them being Joseph Phillips, who acts in the daytime and takes care of his bowling alleys at night."

 

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, October 31, 1914:

"Gilbert Rawlings, a wealthy businessman, does not realize that his wife has ceased to care for him. He is overcome when he finds her gone, leaving a note saying that she will never return. He pursues the elopers, but the chase is brief, for their automobile goes over the edge of a bluff and the wife and her lover are killed. Returning home, and seeing his baby boy sleeping, Rawlings is filled with a terrible hatred toward all womankind. That night he has a dream. It seems to him that he has taken his boy into the wilderness where he is bringing him up to be a savage and to hate women. A young girl, travelling with some tourists, strays into the forest, and Rawlings makes a drudge of her. His son, now almost a young man, in spite of his bringing up, resents his father's cruelty to the girl. At last he helps her to escape. The father pursues the runaways, and in a hand to hand fight with his son is about to kill him - when he wakes from his dream. It comes over him then, that false as his own wife may have been, he has no right to prejudice his son against women, but should permit him to believe the truth - that most women are loyal - and help him to win a wife who will make him happy."

 

REVIEW, The Bioscope, January 21, 1915:

"The imagination of a deceived husband leads him to speculate on the future of his little son, and the result is shown in a vision portraying the passions of primitive man and his desire for a fitting mate. It is laid in scenes of romantic beauty and reproduced by exquisite camera work, and makes an idyllic drama, giving admirable opportunities for the talents of Miss Mignon Anderson and Mr. Morris Foster."

 

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, November 8, 1914:

"Despite the fact that he has been deserted by his wife, a dream brings a man to realize that he must not teach his young son to hate women, that most of them are loyal and true, and that he must help the boy to find one that will make him happy."

 

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 21, 1914: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

 

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.