''Open Your Eyes'' is a 1919 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Gilbert P. Hamilton, and starring

Faire Binney Frederica "Faire" Binney (August 24, 1900 – August 28, 1957) her name pronounced like the country ''Zaire'', was an American stage and film actress.Soister, Nicolella & Joyce p.732 Biography Born Frederica Binney in Morristown, New Jersey, sh ...

, Mrs. Joupert, Jack Hopkins, Halbert Brown, Eddie Beryll, Emily Marceau,

Viola Allen Viola Emily Allen (October 27, 1867 – May 9, 1948) was an American stage actress who played leading roles in Shakespeare and other plays, including many original plays. She starred in over two dozen Broadway productions from 1885 to 1916. Be ...

Ben Lyon Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American film actor and a studio executive at 20th Century-Fox who later acted in British radio, films and TV. Early life and career Lyon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alvine ...

, and

Gaston Glass Gaston Glass (born Jacques Gaston Oscar Glass; December 31, 1899 – November 11, 1965) was a French-American actor and film producer. He was the father of the composer Paul Glass (born 1934). Selected filmography * ''The Corsican Broth ...

. Intended to warn about

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

and shot in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in 1917, the film was given a general release by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in May 1919.

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

, one of the founders of Warner Bros., has a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

as a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

soldier.

Plot

Cast

as Kitty Walton *Mrs. Joupert as Mrs. Walton *Jack Hopkins as Mr. Walton *Halbert Brown as Dr. Bennett *Eddie Beryll as Eddie Samson *Emily Marceau as Frances Forrester *

as Mrs. Forrester *

as Harold Connors *

as Soldier

Reception

As a sex hygiene film, ''Open Your Eyes'' was subject to censorship restrictions and often was shown as an adults only film, but continued to be shown as an

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

. In 1927, the New Jersey branch of the

Motion Picture Theater Owners of America The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide List of movie theater chains, major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds ...

warned theaters not to show this "salacious and risqué" film, citing common decency and the risk that it would bring calls for censorship.

Preservation

A print of the film reportedly survives in a foreign archive.American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''Open Your Eyes''
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References

External links