Playing the Game
{{Short description|1918 American short comedy film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Playing the Game
| director = Victor Schertzinger
| producer = Thomas H. Ince
| screenplay = Julien Josephson (story)
R. Cecil Smith (scenario)
| starring = Charles Ray
Doris May
Harry L. Rattenberry
Robert McKim
William Elmer
Leota Lorraine
| cinematography = Chester A. Lyons
| studio = Thomas H. Ince Corporation
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1918|5|5}}
| runtime = 50 minutes
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
}}
Playing the Game is a 1918 American silent comedy drama film directed by Victor Schertzinger and written by Julien Josephson and R. Cecil Smith. The film stars Charles Ray, Doris May, Harry L. Rattenberry, Robert McKim, William Elmer, and Leota Lorraine. The film was released on May 5, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/498358/playing-the-game|title=Playing the Game (1918) - Overview - TCM.com|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=8 January 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=15136|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710135225/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=15136|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 July 2017|title=Playing the Game|publisher=AFI|accessdate=8 January 2015}} It is not known whether the film currently survives,[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/P/PlayingTheGame1918.html Progressive Silent Film List: Playing the Game] at silentera.com and it may be a lost film.[http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.8305/default.html The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog:..Playing the Game]
Plot
As described in a film magazine,{{cite journal |title=Reviews: Playing the Game |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=6 |issue=21 |page=28 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York City |date=May 18, 1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald06exhi}} believing that killed a professional dancer in a cafe brawl, Larry Prentiss (Ray) along with his valet Hodges (Elmer) flee to the west to where he owns a ranch. The two are waylaid, robbed of their clothes, and set adrift. In this condition they are picked up by the foreman of Larry's ranch, Flash Purdy (McKim). Larry, wanting to make good on his merits, refuses to make known his identity. Hardships follow in which Larry incurs the enmity of Flash Purdy. Larry later saves the ranch payroll during a running gun fight and in the midst of a hand-to-hand struggle learns that Moya Shannon (May), daughter of the ranch manager, loves him. In the days that follow he squares his account with Purdy, but his adventure comes to a close when his identity becomes known after he receives a telegram from his uncle.
==Cast==
- Charles Ray as Larry Prentiss
- Doris May as Moya Shannon
- Harry L. Rattenberry as Matt Shannon
- Robert McKim as 'Flash' Jim Purdy
- William Elmer as Hodges
- Leota Lorraine as 'Babe' Fleur de Lis
- Charles Perley as Hickey Trent
- Melbourne MacDowell as Jeremiah Prentiss
Reception
Like many American films of the time, Playing the Game was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 5, the closeup of foreman holding gun against Mexican's heart.{{cite journal |title=Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=6 |issue=20 |page=31 |date=May 11, 1918 |url=https://archive.org/stream/exhibitorsherald06exhi#page/n910/mode/1up}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0009501|Playing the Game}}
{{Victor Schertzinger |state=collapsed}}
Category:1918 comedy-drama films
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Films directed by Victor Schertzinger
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:1910s English-language films