A Daughter of the Gods

{{Infobox film

| name = A Daughter of the Gods

| image = A Daughter of the Gods.jpg

| caption =

| director = Herbert Brenon

| producer = William Fox

| writer = Herbert Brenon

| starring = Annette Kellerman
William E. Shay
Hal De Forrest

| music = Robert Hood Bowers

| cinematography = André Barlatier
A. Culp
J. Roy Hunt
William Marshall
C. Richards
Marcel Le Picard
Edward Warren

| editing = Hettie Gray Baker

| distributor = Fox Film Corporation

| released = {{Film date|1916|10|17}}

| runtime = 180 mins.

| country = United States

| language = Silent (English intertitles)

| budget = US$1,100,000 or $850,000{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety78-1925-03/page/n154/mode/1up?q=%22picture+grossed%22|title=Big Picture Costs and Road Show Profits|page=27|accessdate=20 March 2022|date=18 March 1925|magazine=Variety}}

| gross = US$1,390,000{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Sheldon |author-link=Sheldon Hall (film historian) |last2=Neale |first2=Stephen |title=Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History |publisher=Wayne State University Press |year=2010 |page=42 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jhvrSwOOsRgC |isbn=978-0-8143-3008-1}}

}}

A Daughter of the Gods is a 1916 American silent fantasy drama film written and directed by Herbert Brenon. The film was controversial because of the sequences of what was regarded as superfluous nudity by the character Anitia, played by Australian swimming star Annette Kellermann. The scene is regarded as the first complete nude scene by a major star, which occurred during a waterfall sequence, though most of Kellerman's body is covered by her long hair.{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=James Crighton |title=The Hidden Cinema: British Film Censorship in Action, 1913-1975 |publisher=Routledge |year=1993 |pages=9–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNfV-Ussp0gC |isbn=0-415-09034-2}} It was filmed by Fox Film Corporation in Kingston, Jamaica, where huge sets were constructed.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/14424-A-DAUGHTER-OF-THE-GODS |title=A Daughter of the Gods |work=afi.com |access-date=March 23, 2024}}

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 and John Luther Long's 1902 Broadway play The Darling of the Gods starring Blanche Bates, Robert T. Haines, and young George Arliss, 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.

Brenon made aspects of the play cinematic (underwater sequences, Kellerman's nudity, etc.) in an obvious effort to avoid charges of plagiarism of Belasco's play and hence a lawsuit.Magill's Survey of Cinema; Silent Films Essays 1 A-Fla A Daughter of the Gods, p. 361, Salem Press c.1981 by Frank Magill[http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=5664 The Darling of the Gods as produced on Broadway Dec. 3, 1902 - May 1903, Belasco Theatre; IBDb.com]Pictorial History of the American Theatre; 1860-1970, p. 71, c. 1970 by Daniel Blum (reprint edition of 1953 original)

Plot

File:Annette Kellerman in tree, arms spread.jpg

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

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Annette Kellerman as Anitia, Daughter of The Gods
William E. Shay as Prince Omar (credited as William Shay)
Hal De Forrest as The Sultan
Marcelle Hontabat as Celine
Violet Horner as Zarrah
Jane Lee as Little Prince Omar
Stuart Holmes as Moorish Merchant
Katherine Lee as Nydia
Ricca Allen as Witch of Badness
Millie Liston as Zarrah's Mother (credited as Milly Liston)
Henrietta Gilbert as Fairy of Goodness
Walter James as Chief Eunuch
Walter McCollough as Chief of The Sultan's Guard
Mark Price as The Slave Dealer
Louise Rial as His Wife
Edward Boring as Arab Sheik
Barbara Castleton

}}

Production

After receiving the film assignment with its budget limit of $1 million, director Brenon visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City where he was inspired by paintings such as A Dream of the Arabian Nights by Villegas. The opening scene of the film was claimed to be a composite of Cabanel's The Birth of Venus and Coypel's Venus Frolicking in the Sea with Nymphs.{{cite journal |title=New Method of Creating Big Drama: Director Brenon Fills A Daughter of the Gods with Lilting Rhythm |journal=Motography |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=27–28 |publisher=Electricity Magazine Corp. |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=1 July 1916 |url=https://archive.org/details/motography161elec/page/27/mode/1up |access-date=26 March 2021}}

The film is credited as the first US production to cost at least $1 million (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1000000|1916}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}) to produce,{{sfn|Schmidt|2013|pp=29-30}} with actual costs just exceeding $1.1 million (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1100000|1916}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}).{{cite journal |title=Silver Loving Cup Is Presented to Fox at Premier; Opening Night of Daughter of the Gods Is Celebrated by Gift of Wonderful Tiffany Creation About the Size of a Fat Lilliputian |journal=Motion Picture News |volume=14 |issue=18 |page=2820 |publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc. |location=New York City |date=4 November 1916 |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew14moti_4/page/2820/mode/1up |access-date =28 March 2021}} Studio head William Fox 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.{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Frank T. |title=Lost Films: Important Movies That Disappeared|year=1996|publisher=Citadel, Carol Publ. Group|isbn=0-806-51604-6|page=60}} Advertising for the film would often note its million dollar cost.

Great cost was afforded to make a sanitary of mosquito-proofing over a section of Kingston, Jamaica. Sets consumed {{convert|2500|oilbbl|m3}} of plaster, {{convert|500|oilbbl|m3}} of cement, {{convert|2000000|board feet|m3|sigfig=1}} of lumber, and ten tons of paper. Director Herbert Brenon employed 20,000 people during the eight months of production and used {{convert|220000|ft|m}} of film to shoot the picture.{{Cite book|title=Lost Films: Important Movies That Disappeared|last=Thompson|first=Frank|publisher=Citadel Press|year=1996|isbn=0-8065-1604-6|location=U.S.A.|pages=58}} The Moorish city cost $350,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|350000|1916}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}) to build, and was destroyed in one climactic scene. The total number of persons appearing in it was 21,218, which included 200 mermaids, and 300 dancing girls and women of the Sultan's harem. The 100 women recruited from the US and Europe to portray nymphs underwent weeks of training by Kellerman to swim using a single stroke in unison and to avoid unnecessary splashing.{{cite journal |title=Mermaid Ballet in Fox Spectacle: Annette Kellerman Leads 100 Girls in Aquatic Feats |journal=Motography |volume=16 |issue=2 |page=91 |publisher=Electricity Magazine Corp. |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=8 July 1916 |url=https://archive.org/details/motography161elec/page/91/mode/1up |access-date=26 March 2021}}

An original score was composed for the film by Robert Hood Bowers, which was played by an orchestra during each screening. It was considered the most memorable film score up to that time.{{cite book|last=Altman|first=Rick |title=Silent Film Sound|year=2004|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-11662-4|page=299}}

Reception

The existing film censorship boards in the United States and Canada and the National Board of Review passed the film in spite of its brief nudity scene, calling it artistic.{{cite journal |title=Censors Commend Fox Films |journal=Motography |volume=16 |issue=26 |pages=1381–82 |publisher=Electricity Magazine Corp. |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=23 December 1916 |url=https://archive.org/details/motography162elec/page/1381/mode/1up |access-date=27 March 2021}}{{cite journal

| title =National Board of Review Passes A Daughter of the Gods; Committee Viewing the Kellermann Spectacle Sends Fox Congratulatory Letter on His Conforming to the Requirements of the Body |journal=Motion Picture News |volume=14 |issue=11 |page=1523 |publisher=Motion Picture News, Inc. |location=New York City |date=9 September 1916 | url =https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew00moti_19/page/1687/mode/1up |access-date=29 March 2021}} Fox made general distribution of the film for the 1916 December holiday season. President Wilson and his wife, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, attended the film's December 18, 1916 showing at the Belasco Theater, where it opened in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, the Wilsons had only seen films shown at the White House.{{cite journal |title=President Attends Picture Show: Accompanied by Mrs. Wilson He Sees Initial Presentation in Capital City of William Fox's A Daughter of the Gods |journal=Moving Picture World |volume=31 |issue=1 |page=61 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=6 January 1917 |url=https://archive.org/details/movwor31chal/page/n80/mode/1up |access-date=27 March 2021}}

it reportedly made a net profit of $1.35 million.

Preservation

With no prints of A Daughter of the Gods located in any film archives, it is considered a lost film.{{cite web |url=https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.4648/ |title=American Silent Feature Film Database: A Daughter of the Gods |access-date=March 23, 2024 |publisher=Library of Congress}}{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DaughterOfTheGods1916.html |title=Progressive Silent Film List: A Daughter of the Gods |access-date=March 23, 2024 |publisher=silentera.com}}{{cite web |url=http://www.thegreatstars.com/lost_film_wanted.htm |title= A Daughter of the Gods at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225003106/http://www.thegreatstars.com/lost_film_wanted.htm |archive-date=2014-12-25 |access-date=2024-03-23 |url-status=usurped |publisher=TheGreatStars.com}}

Notes

References

[https://web.archive.org/web/20071015145142/http://pictureshowman.com/questionsandanswers3.cfm The Picture Show Man entry]
[http://www.geocities.com/emruf1/adotg.html Synopsis (taken from the Library of Congress copyright deposit, with additional material from the film's original program)] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20091024171710/http://geocities.com/emruf1/adotg.html Archived] 2009-10-23)
[https://www.nytimes.com/1916/10/18/archives/kellermann-film-shown-at-the-lyric-daughter-of-the-gods-an.html "Kellermann Film Shown at the Lyric; Daughter of the Gods an Elaborate Amphibious Picture for the Submersible Star."] The New York Times (October 18, 1916)
{{cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Christine |title=The Swimsuit: Fashion from Poolside to Catwalk |year=2013 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-85785-125-3}}