A Daughter of the Gods
Encyclopedia
A Daughter of the Gods is a silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 that featured Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman
Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, and writer...

.The film was controversial because of the sequences of what was regarded as superfluous nudity by the main character, Nydia, played by Kellerman. The scene is regarded as the first complete nude scene
Nudity in film
Nudity in film is any presentation in motion pictures of people while naked or wearing less clothing than contemporary norms consider modest. Many actors and actresses have appeared nude, or exposing parts of their bodies or dressed in ways considered provocative by contemporary standards at some...

 by a major star, which occurred during a waterfall sequence, though most of Kellerman's body is covered by her long hair. It was filmed by Fox Pictures in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

 where huge sets were constructed, and directed by Herbert Brenon.

An original score was composed for the movie, which was played by an orchestra during each screening and it was considered the most memorable movie score up to that time. Though stills or publicity photos of the film have survived, no copy of the movie itself is known to exist, so the film 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...

.

Plot

A sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...

 agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.

Production costs

The film is credited as the first US production to cost $1 million to produce.

Great cost was afforded to make a sanitary of mosquito-proofing over a section of Jamaica. Sets consumed 2500 barrels (397.5 m³) of plaster, 500 barrels (79.5 m³) of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

, 2000000 board feet (4,719.5 m³) of lumber, and 10 tons of paper. Director Herbert Brenon employed 20,000 people during the 8 months of production and used 220000 feet (67,056 m) of film to shoot the picture.

Studio head William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...

 was so incensed with the cost of production he removed Herbert Brenon's name from the film. However, Brenon sued to have his name restored to the film's credits, and won.

Background

Brenon served as writer of this original scenario/screenplay for the film. However he more than likely saw and was influenced by David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...

 and John Luther Long
John Luther Long
John Luther Long was an American lawyer and writer best known for his short story "Madame Butterfly", which was based on the recollections of his sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husband—a Methodist missionary.Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Long had been admitted to the bar...

's 1902 Broadway play The Darling of the Gods starring Blanche Bates
Blanche Bates
Blanche Bates was an American actress, born at Portland, Ore. She made her début in San Francisco in a benefit performance of Brander Matthews's This Picture and That. Among her early successes were her Mrs. Hillary in The Senator, Phyllis in The Charity Ball, and Nora in A Doll's House...

, Robert T. Haines and young George Arliss
George Arliss
George Arliss was an English actor, author and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award.-Life and career:...

, which has a similar theme of reward for rescuing a child and a large ensemble cast. The play differs in that it is set in feudal Japan while the movie is backdropped in an undersea kingdom, not unlike Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....

. Brenon makes aspects of the play cinematic ie underwater sequences, Kellerman's nudity, in an obvious effort to avoid direct plagiarism of Belasco's play and hence a lawsuit.

Cast

  • Annette Kellerman
    Annette Kellerman
    Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, and writer...

     ... Anitia (daughter of the gods)
  • William E. Shay ... Prince Omar (as William Shay)
  • Hal De Forrest
    Hal De Forrest
    Hal De Forrest was a Portuguese-born American early silent film actor.Born as Aloysius J. De Sylva, he emigrated to the United States and became a stage actor...

     ... The Sultan
  • Marcelle Hontabat ... Cleone
  • Violet Horner ... Zarrah
  • Jane Lee
    Jane Lee
    Jane Lee was a child star in silent motion pictures beginning in 1914. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Along with her sister, Katherine Lee, born 1909, she appeared in the original Neptune's Daughter filmed in 1914. In 1915 Jane appeared with Valeska Suratt in The Soul of Broadway at Fox Studios...

     ... Little Prince Omar
  • Stuart Holmes ... Moorish Merchant
  • Katherine Lee ... Nydia
  • Ricca Allen
    Ricca Allen
    Ricca Allen was a Canadian stage and film actress. She appeared in 58 films between 1913 and 1941.She was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...

     ... Witch of Badness
  • Millie Liston ... Zarrah's Mother (as Milly Liston)
  • Henrietta Gilbert ... Fairy of Goodness
  • Walter James ... Chief Eunuch
  • Walter McCollough ... Chief of the Sultan's Guard
  • Mark Price ... Slave Dealer
  • Louise Rial ... His Wife
  • Edward Boring ... Arab Sheik
  • Barbara Castleton
    Barbara Castleton
    Barbara Castleton was an American silent film actress. Castleton appeared in motion pictures from 1914 through 1923, accumulating twenty-eight screen credits.-Career:...


Production details

  • Filming date: January to August 1916
  • Filming location: Kingston, Jamaica
    Kingston, Jamaica
    Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

  • Release date: 16 October 1916; reissued by Fox Film Corporation in December 1917, in August 1918, and in February 1920
  • Release length: Ten reels
  • Copyright date: 15 October 1916
  • Written and directed by Herbert Brenon
  • Fox Film Corporation production
  • Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
  • Production supervised by J. Gordon Edwards
  • General manager Winfield R. Sheehan
  • Art direction by John D. Braddon
  • Costume design by Irene Lee
  • Prop master Joseph Allan Turner
  • Modeller Herbert Messmore
  • Chief electrician F. Sullivan
  • Technical director George Fitch
  • Cinematography by J. Roy Hunt, André Barlatier, Marcel LePicard, A. Culp, William C. Marshall, C. Richards, and E. Warren
  • Intertitle editor Hettie Grey Baker
  • Musical accompaniment by Robert Hood Bowers
  • Presented by William Fox
  • Copyrighted 15 October 1916 by William Fox (LP9325)
  • Standard 35 mm spherical 1.33:1 format
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