''The Bondman'' is an American silent film directed by

Edgar Lewis Edgar Henry Mead Lewis (12 February 1902 – 26 April 1992) was an Australian politician who was a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1958 to 1974, representing the seat of Moore. Lewis was born in Fr ...

and starring

William Farnum William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American actor. He was a star of American silent film cinema and became one of the highest-paid actors during that time. Biography Farnum was born on July 4, 1876, in Boston, Massachus ...

, L. O. Hart and

Dorothy Bernard Nora Dorothy Bernard (June 25, 1890 – December 15, 1955) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in nearly 90 films between 1908 and 1956. Biography She was born Nora Dorothy Bernard in Port Elizabeth, British Cape Colon ...

. The film is an adaptation of

Hall Caine Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during ...

's 1890 novel ''

The Bondman ''The Bondman'' is a later Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger, first published in 1624. The play has been called "the finest of the more serious tragicomedies" of Massinger. Performance and publication ''The Bo ...

''.

Plot

The narrative hinges on Jason's vow to wreak vengeance on his father for abandoning his mother. But his father dies, and Jason turns his desire for revenge against Sunlocks, his father's son of another wife. Both Sunlocks and Jason are in love with Greeba, daughter of the governor of the Isle of Man. Sunlocks and Jason go to Iceland, and are confined in prison. Jason not knowing Sunlocks, saves his half-brother from death in the mines. Jason is freed, but Sunlocks is condemned to death. Greeba pleads for Sunlocks' life, and Jason sacrifices himself by taking Sunlocks' place and dying for him.

Cast

as Stephen Orry/Jason Orry * L. O. Hart as Adam Fairbrother *

as Greeba * Charles Graham as Jorgen Jorgenson * Doris Wooldridge as Rachel * Charles Brook as Danish minister * Julia Hurley as Stephen Orry's mother * Carey Lee as Liza Killey * Harry Spingler as Sunlocks

Production

Produced by the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film ...

''The Bondman'' was the first film they released under their De Luxe brand. Shooting was done in Maine, on Long Island and in New Jersey. Dorothy Bernard's role as Greba was the biggest that she had up to that point in her career. During the making of ''The Bondman'' William Farnum sustained many narrow escapes from injury. In filming the story he was shown at work as a convict in the sulphur mines where prison guards forced him to drive his pick into a thin crust of volcanic earth resulting in flames and smoke shooting up into the air. The scene was created by using many smoke pots. Farnum as Red Jason made his escape. Carrying Harry Springler over his shoulder he had to fight his way one hundred feet up an almost vertical cliff. Almost reaching the summit both succumbed to the reeking vapour of the

Lycopodium ''Lycopodium'' (from Greek ''lykos'', wolf and ''podion'', diminutive of ''pous'', foot) is a genus of clubmosses, also known as ground pines or creeping cedars, in the family Lycopodiaceae. Two very different circumscriptions of the genus are i ...

contained in the smoke pots. The 1828 schooner ''Signal'' was wrecked in the scene in which Red Jason is wrecked on the rocky coast of the Isle of Man. Austrian born

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...

was a child prodigy, studying composition with Mahler and composing music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. After travelling to America seventeen year old Steiner became Fox Film's musical director in 1915. At the time there was no specially written music for films and Steiner told William Fox his idea to write an original score for ''The Bondman''. Fox agreed and they put together a 110 piece orchestra to accompany the screenings. The musicians came from William Fox's Circuit of Theatres, Jack Loeb's and others.

Release

It was the intention of the William Fox Film corporation to place ''The Bondman'' in special theaters throughout the country at advance prices, but pressure was brought to bear to allow the regular picture theaters to obtain this big film. On the release of the film

cabled the ''New York Times'' requesting that they inform the American public that the film of his novel and

Wilson Barrett Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his suc ...

's play was taken without his permission. Fox responded that it was public property.

Bibliography

* ''The American Film Institute Catalog, Features Films 1911-1920'', University of California Press, 1988

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bondman 1916 films 1916 drama films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Fox Film films Films scored by Max Steiner Films directed by Edgar Lewis Films based on British novels Films set in England Films set on the Isle of Man 1910s American films Films based on works by Hall Caine