Volume II: Filmography Volume II: Filmography
(Pathé Exchange)
November 19, 1916 (Sunday)
Length: 5 reels
Character: Drama; Pathé Gold Rooster Play
Director: W. Eugene Moore
Scenario: Philip Lonergan, possibly based on the stage play Outcast.
Cameraman: George Webber
Cast: Jeanne Eagels (woman of the streets), Ethelmary Oakland (Sunny, her daughter), Boyd Marshall (the man), Thomas A. Curran (James Palmer), Wayne Arey (Jim Rollins), Grace DeCarlton (Rollins' wife), Carey L. Hastings (Anna Graham)
Locations: Thanhouser studio in New Rochelle, Broadway in New York City, and the Adirondack Mountains
Note: This film represented the debut of Jeanne Eagels in Thanhouser films. Later, she was to go on to prominence elsewhere, and in the 1920s her private life became the subject of much attention. Her name was often misspelled as "Eagles," "Eagle," "Engel," "Engle," etc. In a 1930 biography of Miss Eagels, in Liberty magazine, Edward Doherty referred to this film as the screen version of the stage play, Outcast.
ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, October 14, 1916:
"Jeanne Eagels, known for her excellent work on the speaking stage in Outcast and The Great Pursuit, is to be starred by the Thanhouser Film Corporation in The World and the Woman, a Pathé Gold Rooster Play by Philip Lonergan. Eugene Moore is the director. The feature is to be released in November. Miss Eagels plays the part of a woman of the streets who is virtually reborn, and becomes a faith healer. Her characterization is splendidly done, the scenic effects are elaborate. The story starts in a New York restaurant, where the characters are carried to a little mountain town where the influence of a little child makes the woman turn back and take the better path. The feature has been shown to prominent Christian Scientists who have heartily endorsed the play. Miss Eagels is supported by Boyd Marshall, Thomas A. Curran, Wayne Arey, Grace DeCarlton, Carey L. Hastings, and Ethelmary Oakland."
ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 21, 1916:
"It is fortunate for the reputations of about a dozen persons that in the Thanhouser feature, The World and the Woman, starring Jeanne Eagels, there are no closeups of the loving cups that are used in a big scene in the Adirondack cabin of the wealthy villain. Trophies were needed to make the set complete, and the Thanhouser property man found what he wanted in a pawn shop. Included in the lot were two solid silver cups, presented by a lodge to a couple on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, one huge trophy awarded to the best tango dancer in a Los Angeles contest, and four given to different business men by their employees. The persons who contributed to buy these evidences of their esteem might lose that esteem if they knew that a New York pawnbroker now holds these evidences."
ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, November 4, 1916:
"The World and the Woman was directed by Eugene Moore from a story by Philip Lonergan. Miss Eagels, famous for her work on the legitimate stage in Outcast and The Great Pursuit, plays the part of a girl of the streets who, through the influence of a child, is spiritually regenerated and becomes a faith healer...."
ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, November 11, 1916:
"It is not often that faith-healing is the theme of a motion picture feature. In The World and the Woman, the Pathé Gold Rooster play for November 19, Thanhouser has taken such a theme and with it evolved a remarkable feature. Through faith a girl of the streets finds a soul within her awakening and through it becomes spiritually reborn. Then, thrilled with the awakening, comes the power to effect cure and to do good in the world. This may sound as though the story might be prosy and propagandist. It isn't. It is very interesting, well worked out and very well acted. Miss Jeanne Eagels makes her Thanhouser debut in this picture. She is a Kansas City girl and was a member of the Woodward Stock Company in that city when she was 12 years old."
ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1916:
"In The World and The Woman, Philip Lonergan, the author, has given Miss Eagels a most difficult part, one of those so prized by great actors who love to run the gamut of human emotions. Miss Eagels plays a woman of the streets, who, through the influence of a little child, is spiritually reborn and becomes a faith healer. The scenes taken on Broadway, New York and in the Adirondack mountains are especially fine."
ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, December 16, 1916:
"In The World and the Woman, Grace DeCarlton, the ingenue, plays a crippled child. Miss DeCarlton is excellent in a part to which at first guess she would seem entirely unsuited, for besides being a screen actress she is a splendid toe dancer."
SYNOPSIS, Exhibitors Herald, November 25, 1916:
"Through the efforts of a child the woman, who is fast going the downward path of life, is reformed and becomes a faith healer. A mountaineer, whose wife is a cripple, brings her to the healer, but her power is gone. Just as the husband is about to kill the man responsible for her injury he sees his wife walk and all ends well."
SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 25, 1916:
"A gay dinner party took place in one of Broadway's showiest restaurants. The host was the bachelor of wealth, and his guests included men of his own station in life, and young girls caught in the whirlpool of gayety. The bachelor told the young girls that the keeper of his mountain lodge had advised him by letter that she requires the services of a maid, and he offered the proposition to the girls, and they refused. A face then appeared at the window of the restaurant. It was the face of a woman who had been cast aside. The girls told their host to offer the job to her. Being in a mood to take the advice, he hurried from the restaurant, overtook the derelict and brought her back with him. The woman was starving and accepted the position in the mountain. Her past life was recalled to her that very night, for one of the guests in the restaurant was a man who had made her what she was.
"In the Adirondack Mountains the woman found life quiet, but a chance acquaintanceship with a family in the valley marked another change in her life. The family (a man, his wife and little daughter) took a liking to the maid and induced her to attend services at the village church. The weeks passed, then the owner of the lodge arrived from the city with a number of his friends. Instead of the forlorn outcast whom he had sent to the mountains he found an attractive woman, but one who would not listen to his advances. Angered by her attitude, her employer tried to force his attentions upon her. She then left the lodge and went to the home of the little family, where she was welcomed.
"Some days later the little daughter was accidentally injured. The doctor declared that her spine was broken and, despite all his efforts, the child steadily sank until her life was despaired of. The outcast prayed for divine help, and as she prayed it seemed to her that she was told to heal the child. Strengthened and transfigured by her religious devotion, she accomplished what the doctor had failed to do. The woman's power soon became known and was as effective with other invalids as it was with her first patient, while at the mountain lodge its worldly owner laughed cynically, as he thought how these respectable, narrow-minded people reverenced a woman whom they would despise if they knew her past. From the city the man came who had blighted her life. His friend at the mountain lodge had written him about the woman's new career. He came to sneer, but soon learned to respect and honor her.
"But one day the woman failed for the first time. A mountaineer brought his wife, a cripple for several years, to be cured. The owner of the lodge threatened that he would reveal the outcast's past life. Realizing that he would keep his word, the woman's great faith disappeared. While the assembled people were still discussing the failure of their idol, her former employer told them what this woman had been before she came among them, and they recoiled from her in horror, all of them except the man who had been her first enemy and had now become her friend. He asked her to marry him, and she refused, going out into the world alone. The old bitterness did not return to her and she prayed for guidance. It seemed to her that she was told to make the cure which she had failed to achieve, and she set out for the mountaineer's cabin. The mountaineer's wife had been crippled by a racing automobile, and that day the owner of the mountain lodge told her husband the name of the man who had driven the car. It was the man who had asked the outcast to marry him.
"The mountaineer decoyed the guilty man into the mountains, and there a fight took place between the two men. The man from the city was no match for the mountaineer. He was about to be hurled into the chasm when he beheld a sight which caused him to forget his vengeance forever. His wife was walking down the mountain path toward him. And with her was the healer, the woman who had failed. Realization came to him as his wife told him of the great cure, and he thanked the woman whom he had misjudged. Happiness has come to the outcast as the wife of the man who made an outcast."
REVIEW by Agnes Smith, The Morning Telegraph, November 5, 1916:
"The World and the Woman tells of a girl of the streets, who, transplanted from Broadway to the hearts of the Adirondacks, is redeemed and becomes suddenly invested with miraculous powers of healing the sick. A man who wants her for his mistress tries to break her power by destroying the faith that the country people have in her, but in the end the girl triumphs over her enemies and doubters. If you grant the hypothesis upon which the developments of the plot are based then The World and the Woman will prove convincing; if you don't, you will have to be lenient when the girl from the streets restores a mortally injured child to life and health. But whether you believe in what it is teaching or not, the story will interest you; its appeal is strong and its missteps are easily forgiven because they are on the right side of the road.
"One of the biggest reasons for the picture's appeal is Jeanne Eagels, who is splendid in a trying role. She is pretty and has screen personality, while the sincerity of her acting goes a long way toward making the story convincing. The acting of the rest of the cast is consistently good and the players are thoroughly in the spirit of the religious story. The exteriors are well chosen and the cabaret scenes in the early part of the picture are elaborately staged."
REVIEW by Margaret I. MacDonald, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1916:
"In the construction of this story Philip Lonergan used as his basic idea the difficult part of a young woman in the city. While he does not impose the harrowing story of her downfall, he shows us in a series of effective scenes what is evidently the second stage of her career in an unwholesome atmosphere, where a friend of the man who caused her to be an outcast. A man of wealth, and a lover of wine and women, offers her what seems to be an avenue of escape. The necessity of a competent maid in his country home brings the woman in touch with nature and the people who live close to it. The arrival of her proprietor with a bevy of his butterfly associates advances the situation in which the pretty maid again falls under the clutches of the licentious man. After a struggle, which ends in the man having his face soundly slapped while his friends look on and jeer, the woman rushes out into the world again, and eventually becomes a faith healer.
"The wisdom of this latter development may be questioned. Miss Eagels with sufficient spirituality of expression to suggest the manifestation of divine influence, has not the forcefulness of personality which seems to be required for the successful impersonation of such a character. It is exceedingly difficult to make a story of this sort convincing. This picture, which was made at the Thanhouser studios, has been supplied with pleasing settings, many beautiful out-of-door locations being used. Special mention is due the restaurant sets, with glimpses of cabaret performances, which have been used early in the production...."
REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 25, 1916:
"A five-part production featuring Jeanne Eagels. The story of the picture, written by Philip Lonergan, treats of the difficulties of the path of a young woman alone in the world, with the peculiar development which presents the woman at a later date in the guise of a faith healer. The story is not altogether convincing, but is pleasing in many respects. The production has been beautifully set, and has been enacted by a competent cast."
REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 11, 1916: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.
REVIEW, The Rochester Post Express, December 12, 1916:
"The World and the Woman, shown at the Gordon Theatre Sunday and yesterday has a strong appeal. It takes an outcast and after her soul has been filled with a sublime faith lifts her onward and upward, above the paths of degradation. The story is told in dramatic fashion, the action beginning in a gay restaurant where a blasé young bachelor is entertaining a gay party. A forlorn face peers in at the window. The girl is given a chance, being sent to a mountain hunting lodge as housekeeper and in that simple community she begins her regeneration. The strength of her faith gives her a wonderful confidence in the divine power and she finds that her courage and her counsel help the sick to get well with the result that she finds herself credited with miraculous powers. When a man from the city arrives and exposes her past to the villagers who have grown to worship her, a tense situation is created. Jeanne Eagels, young, talented and beautiful, has the leading role and she gives it a splendid interpretation. The World and the Woman is one of those plays that points out a strong moral without losing an iota of its dramatic tensity. It will be at the Gordon again today and tomorrow."
REVIEW, Wid's Film and Film Folk, November 2, 1916:
"Support: Some good types; some bad extras. Exteriors: Some mountain stuff good. Interiors: Satisfactory. Detail: Generally good, but too much at times. Time: 58 minutes.
"Although the action of this was slowed occasionally by construction which gave us unnecessary scenes, there were enough tense moments to make this worthwhile. The underlying thoughts presented in the story are very good, they being in fact, a combination of the themes of the two big successes, Outcast and The Miracle Man. Much of the credit for this offering registering satisfactorily must be given to Miss Jeanne Eagels, who gave us a perfect suggestion of a Broadway streetwalker in the early part of the offering, following it with a very difficult characterization, in which she registered as a faith healer curing cripples by prayer, suggesting a tremendous mental power without losing appeal of her 'clinging vine' beauty.
"The weakest link in this production was the scene in the church when Miss Eagels joined in the singing of a hymn, with the result that 'her soul was regained.' This came entirely too quickly, registering a jarring note. If there had been some lapse of time, or had she listened to a powerful sermon, this transformation would have been much more convincing. Since it was the pivotal point of her career, this scene should have been given more attention.
"At the first of the offering we had a lot of cabaret stuff, with many entertainers being introduced, and, while I know that this registers as interesting in the small towns, I believe there is such a thing as allowing it to run away with the development to such an extent that it overshadows the story. Certainly the preponderance of cabaret action retards the advancement of the plot during the first reel. The direction may have felt this necessary in order to get a five-reel picture. The plot sent the streetwalker to the country as the licentious 'willun's' [sic; villain's] maid, with the result that she became converted, and, through the strength of her faith, she was able to become a faith healer. The man who had made her an outcast came as a guest of the 'willun's' home and was also converted and 'healed,' as it were, by her transformation, so that on the finish he was the hero and married our one-time streetwalker.
"The 'extras' used as villagers were rather good types, and the mountain atmosphere got over nicely, but we had a few extras among the society folk who didn't belong. There were some good exterior shots in the latter part of the film, but we didn't have enough scenic beauty to make this in any way distinctive on that account. Frequently we found too much foreground in the interior scenes, with rather poor composition and grouping. In one or two places some of the characters overplayed. This was quite noticeable on the part of the woman who took Miss Eagels into her home during the scene wherein she welcomed her. While some of the titles carried good points, most of them were decidedly stilted in construction and lacked smoothness. A few of the most important dramatic situations were put over in such a manner as to guarantee that they will be very effective with the average audience, and I believe that there are enough good points in this offering to more than counterbalance some of the old-school methods used by the director.
"The Box Office Angle: I believe that I would openly announce in my advertising that this story contains some of the elements which made great successes of the productions Outcast and The Miracle Man. I would make it plain that the heroine is changed from a streetwalker to a faith healer through an accidental change of environment, and I believe that you can safely dwell upon the fact that this production registers the wonderful possibilities of effect upon human character by transferring a young girl from the city to the beauty and simplicity of the country."
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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.