''The Lion, the Lamb, the Man'' is a 1914 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

Joe De Grasse Joseph Louis De Grasse (May 4, 1873 – May 25, 1940) was a Canadians, Canadian film director. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he was the elder brother of actor Sam De Grasse. Biography Joseph De Grasse had studied and was a first-class grad ...

, written by Tom Forman and featuring

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

and Pauline Bush. Though once believed to be

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

, a shortened version of the film was preserved by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 2008, and was re-premiered at the 2017 Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, California. A nitrate print was discovered by film collector Bob Geoghegan and his Archive Film Agency in England in 2007. They loaned it to the Museum of Modern Art who made a dupe negative and a release print in 2008. The first public screening was at Cinecon in September, 2017. Though the film was originally released at 2 reels, the print that survives appears to be only 1 reel. Most of the opening footage is missing, so the film begins with Agnes already living in the Kentucky mountains. A still exists showing one of the actors in makeup as a cave man (see plot synopsis). Co-star Millard K. Wilson and Chaney became life-long friends. Wilson worked as an assistant director on many of Chaney's later films for MGM.

Plot

Agnes Duane returns from college to her New England home and is surprised to find that her parents have chosen an effeminate minister named Percival Higginbotham to be her husband. She laughs at their poor choice, and to cure her of her intransigence, she is sent to live with her uncle in the mountains of Kentucky. There she meets the two Brown brothers who both fall in love with her. The younger brother tries to force himself on her, but he is stopped by the older brother. In a flashback fantasy sequence, the brothers are shown as two savage cave men in the prehistoric past who fight over the primitive woman they love. Back in the present, Agnes later escapes from the two men and meets the Reverend Hugh Baxton, a real man, and Agnes realizes he is the only man she could ever truly love.

Cast

* Pauline Bush as ''Agnes Duane'' (The Woman) *

as ''Fred Brown'' (The Lion) *

Millard K. Wilson Millard K. Wilson (May 5, 1890 – October 5, 1933) was an American actor of the silent film era. He appeared in 94 films between 1914 and 1930, co-starring with Lon Chaney Sr. in some of them. Chaney and Wilson were life-long friends.Blake, ...

as ''Bert Brown'' (The Fox) * William C. Dowlan as the Reverend Hughe Baxton (The Man) * Gus Inglis as the Reverend Percival Higginbotham (The Lamb)

Reception

"Produced in a telling manner by Joseph De Grasse. Pauline Bush, Lon Chaney and Millard K. Wilson are well cast. The director has fitted the remote past with the present in a fine way, and the two reels are always entertaining."—Motion Picture News "This has been done frequently in about the same way. It always possesses a certain amount of interest. This is handled with a fair degree of strength."—Moving Picture World

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lion, the Lamb, the Man, The 1914 films 1914 short films American silent short films American black-and-white films 1914 drama films Films directed by Joseph De Grasse Universal Pictures short films Silent American drama films 1910s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1910s American films