June 24, 2009

62. Judith of Bethulia (1914)

I watched this film for four reasons :
1. Henry B. Walthall
2. Bobby Harron
3. The Gish sisters
4. And because Wikipedia said the following :
"The film caused controversy with its inclusion of an orgy scene"

Well, I should have remembered that saying "Don't believe the hype", because I ended up being quite disappointed.
First off, Henry wore a false beard that hid his beautiful face, Bobby looked clumsy and his false mustache was quite awful.. Lillian got very little screen time, Dorothy even less.
As for that orgy, well... there wasn't one.
It was just dancing ladies who wore more clothes than Isadora Duncan.


Sweet Miss Gish on the left


Mae Marsh as Naomi


Henry B. Walthall as Holofernes


Blanche Sweet as Judith






My favorite character in the whole film was the Eunuch Attendant, played by J. Jiquel Lanoe. He moved like a dancer and oozed this sort of effeminate vibe that I hadn't seen in a silent film before.



Lanoe being grand

aww, he smiled like Marc Bolan







I didn't know about Judith, I mean the actual story of her before watching this film.
Though there were no actual scenes depicting the decapitation, it was still gruesome. It gave me the creeps.


***

Rating : 7,5/10

*

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous27/11/14

    Did silent Film of 1917 have early releases? I have a phot taken in September 1917 taken in front of a movie house where poster were displayed for the film: Bluebird was displayed, but the film wasn't released until March of 1918? If someone has an answer to this mystery please email: jchs@mysmbs.com

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