''A Daughter of the Gods'' was a 1916 American silent

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

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 ...

written and directed by

Herbert Brenon Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of silent films through the 1930s. Brenon was among the early film ...

. The film was controversial because of the sequences of what was regarded as superfluous nudity by the character Anitia, played by Australian swimming star

Annette Kellermann Annette Marie Sarah Kellermann (6 July 1887 – 6 November 1975) was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville star, film actress, and writer. Kellermann was one of the first women to wear a one-piece bathing costume, instead of the then ...

. The scene is regarded as the first complete

nude scene In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...

by a major star, which occurred during a waterfall sequence, though most of Kellerman's body is covered by her long hair. It was filmed by

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 ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

, where huge sets were constructed, and directed by

Background

Brenon served as writer of this original scenario/screenplay for the film. However, he more than likely saw and was influenced by

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

and

John Luther Long John Luther Long (January 1, 1861 – October 31, 1927) was an American lawyer and writer best known for his short story "Madame Butterfly", which was based on the recollections of his sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husba ...

's 1902 Broadway play ''The Darling of the Gods'' starring

Blanche Bates Blanche Bates (August 25, 1873 – December 25, 1941) was an American actress. Early years Bates was born in Portland, Oregon, while her parents (both of whom were actors) were on a road tour. As an infant, she traveled with them on a t ...

, Robert T. Haines, and young

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

, which has a similar theme of reward for rescuing a child and a large ensemble cast. The play differs in that it is set in

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

while the movie is backdropped in an undersea kingdom, not unlike

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

. Brenon made aspects of the play cinematic (underwater sequences, Kellerman's nudity, etc.) in an obvious effort to avoid charges of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

of Belasco's play and hence a lawsuit.

Plot

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

agrees to help an evil

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.

Cast

Production

After receiving the film assignment with its budget limit of $1 million, director Brenon visited the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he was inspired by paintings such as ''A Dream of the Arabian Nights'' by Villegas. The opening scene of the film was claimed to be a composite of Cabanel's ''

The Birth of Venus ''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...

'' and Coypel's ''Venus Frolicking in the Sea with Nymphs''. The film is credited as the first US production to cost at least $1 million ($ in ) to produce, with actual costs just exceeding $1.1 million ($ in ). Studio head William Fox was so incensed with the cost of production he removed Herbert Brenon's name from the film. However, Brenon sued to have his name restored to the film's credits, and won. Advertising for the film would often note its million dollar cost. Great cost was afforded to make a sanitary of mosquito-proofing over a section of

. Sets consumed of plaster, of

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

, of lumber, and ten tons of paper. Director Herbert Brenon employed 20,000 people during the eight months of production and used of film to shoot the picture. The Moorish city cost $350,000 ($ in ) to build, and was destroyed in one climactic scene. The total number of persons appearing in it was 21,218, which included 200 mermaids, and 300 dancing girls and women of the Sultan's harem. The 100 women recruited from the US and Europe to portray nymphs underwent weeks of training by Kellerman to swim using a single stroke in unison and to avoid unnecessary splashing. An original score was composed for the film by

Robert Hood Bowers Robert Hood Bowers (24 May 1877 - 29 December 1941) was an American composer, conductor and musical director of operettas and stage musicals, and a conductor and musical director for radio. He composed the musical scores for some of the most popul ...

, which was played by an orchestra during each screening. It was considered the most memorable film score up to that time.

Reception

The existing film censorship boards in the United States and Canada and the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

passed the film in spite of its brief nudity scene, calling it artistic. Fox made general distribution of the film for the 1916 December holiday season. President

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

and his

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, attended the film's December 18, 1916 showing at the Belasco Theater, where it opened in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, the Wilsons had only seen films shown at the White House.

Preservation

Although stills and publicity photos have survived, ''A Daughter of the Gods'' is considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

.''A Daughter of the Gods'' at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted
(Wayback Machine)

Notes

References

The Picture Show Man entry

( ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091024171710/http://geocities.com/emruf1/adotg.html Archived2009-10-23)
"Kellermann Film Shown at the Lyric; ''Daughter of the Gods'' an Elaborate Amphibious Picture for the Submersible Star."
''The New York Times'' (October 18, 1916) *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daughter Of The Gods, A 1916 films 1910s fantasy drama films Fox Film films Films about mermaids American fantasy drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Herbert Brenon Films shot in Jamaica Lost American films 1916 lost films Lost fantasy drama films 1916 drama films 1910s American films Silent American drama films Silent horror films