''Damon and Pythias'' is a 1914 American silent

epic film Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...

directed by

Otis Turner Otis Turner (November 29, 1862 – March 28, 1918) was an American director, screenwriter and producer. Between 1908 and 1917, he directed more than 130 films and wrote 40 scenarios. He was born in Fairfield, Indiana, and died in Los Angele ...

and starring William Worthington,

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

, and

Cleo Madison Cleo Madison (born Lulu Bailey; March 26, 1883 – March 11, 1964) was a theatrical and silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director who was active in Hollywood during the silent era. Madison began her career on the stage. B ...

. It is based on the Greek legend of Damon and Pythias set during the reign of

Dionysius I of Syracuse Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Gr ...

. It was an ambitious production by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, made at a time when

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s were rapidly replacing

short films A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

as the leading format in cinema. For much of the opening

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the en ...

the cast are introduced, appearing in their modern dress rather than historical costumes.Bowser p. 147

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Bowser, Eileen. ''The Transformation of Cinema, 1907-1915''. University of California Press, 1994. * McCaffrey, Donald W. & Jacobs, Christopher P. ''Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema''. Greenwood Publishing, 1999.

External links

* 1914 films 1914 drama films 1910s English-language films American silent feature films Silent American drama films Films directed by Otis Turner American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films Films set in the 5th century BC Films set in the 4th century BC Films set in classical antiquity Films based on classical mythology 1910s American films {{1910s-US-film-stub