''Under the Lash'' is a 1921 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

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

and starring

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

. The film is based on the 1906 play '' The Shulamite'' by Claude Askew and

Edward Knoblock Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustavus Knoblauch; 7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of whic ...

, and the 1904 novel of the same name by Alice and Claude Askew. The film is

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 ...

with no copies of it existing in any archives.

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, Deborah (Swanson), the second wife of intolerant and bigoted Boer farmer Simeon Krillet (Simpson), first learns of kindness from the Englishman Robert Waring (Hamilton) who comes to study farming from her husband. When her husband threatens to beat her for reading one of the Englishman's books Deborah tells him, to save him from the young man's wrath, that she is to become a mother. He desists and his cruelty turns to kindness. The disclosure of her fabrication brings renewal of his wrath and a determination to kill her. While attempting a rescue, the Englishman kills the husband. Subsequent complications are disposed of which allows a happy ending.

Cast

as Deborah Krillet *

Mahlon Hamilton Mahlon Preston Hamilton, Jr. (June 15, 1880 – June 20, 1960), was an American stage and screen actor. He was the son of a bartender born in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of four children, with the rest of the siblings being girls. Census ...

as Robert Waring * Russell Simpson as Simeon Krillet * Lillian Leighton as Tant Anna Vanderberg *

Lincoln Stedman Lincoln Stedman (May 18, 1907 – March 22, 1948) was an American silent film actor. Biography Stedman was born in Denver, Colorado, the only child to Marshall Stedman and silent film beauty Myrtle Stedman. Stedman had a career in films dat ...

as Jan Vanderberg * Thena Jasper as Memke * Clarence Ford as Kaffir boy

Reception

Upon its release, ''Under the Lash'' was not well received by audiences. It was the only Paramount Pictures film released in the early 1920s starring Gloria Swanson that did not do well at the box office.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Under The Lash 1921 films 1921 drama films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Famous Players-Lasky films Films based on British novels Films directed by Sam Wood Lost American films Films based on adaptations 1921 lost films Lost drama films 1920s American films