Man's Genesis
D. W. Griffith is "considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture". This is an early film from an era from which not many survived. The participants and film company are all notable. Per our notability criteria for films I think this is a clear pass and would certainly not be deleted at AfD. For those reasons I am resubmitting. FloridaArmy (talk) 22:12, 25 December 2021 (UTC)
| Man's Genesis | |
|---|---|
 Scene from Man's Genesis | |
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
| Starring | Mae Marsh Robert Harron W. Chrystie Miller Wilfred Lucas Charles Hill Mailes |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Man's Genesis is a short 1912 silent American film[1] starring Robert Harron and Mae Marsh. It was directed by D. W. Griffith for Biograph Company and survives from an era in which many lost films are now unavailable. The movie's plot involves a grandfather recounting a story about cavemen fighting over a woman to his squabbling grandchildren.[2] The work was described as being the first "primitive man" film ever made[3] and, at the time, as the "greatest photoplay of its kind ever made".[4] It is credited as being responsible for creating the pre-historic film boom that occurred in the following years.[5] The film was re-issued alongside other Biograph films on July 23, 1915.[6]
Cast
- Mae Marsh as Lilywhite[5]
- Robert Harron as Weakhands[5]
- W. Chrystie Miller as Grandfather[5]
- Wilfred Lucas as Bruteforce[5]
- Charles Hill Mailes
Plot
The film begins with two children in a disagreement that they decide to fix by physical harming each other. The fight is stopped by their grandfather and, as a method to teach them that physical violence is wrong, he tells them a story about early man and the conflicts and murders that occurred by strong young cavemen in fistfights. The character Weakhands is, as titularly named, unable to win any fights involving his fists and thus was not popular and unable to win any of the suitor battles. The cavewoman he is attracted to, Lilywhite, was required to go and find a husband after the death of her mother and found herself in love with Weakhand because of his nice and gentle nature. A violent bully of the tribe however named Bruteforce fights off Weakhands and kidnaps Lilywhite to be his wife. After repeated attempts and failures by Weakhands to rescue her, he comes across the idea by accident to combine a stick and stone into a club-like weapon, thus creating the first true weapon ever made. With this weapon, he is able to defeat Bruteforce and the other men of the tribe and regain Lilywhite as his wife.[7]
Critical reception
A review in The Nebraska State Journal described the film as "marvelous" for being able to combine the themes of "love and hate" and the conflict between weakness and intelligence against brutish strength. It also criticized the "lamentable lack of vision and imagination" of other filmmakers in comparison between their works and Man's Genesis.[8] The Fresno Morning Republican called the film a "powerful conception - a real Darwinian thought" and said that it was "marvelously executed".[9] Detailed as "splendidly portrayed" in the Harrisburg Daily Independent, the film was considered to be a "distinct departure" from the other usual films produced in the era and that it dealt with a "theory of grave importance", Darwin's theory of evolution.[10] Including a description of the plot, The Moving Picture World concluded that the film "enthralls" and that the "illusion is complete" in presenting a realistic world of early man.[11] In a review on the 1915 re-issue in The Moving Picture World, the educational content of the film was praised and the use of accurate location filming, concluding that the film has a "tone of individuality which stamps it as a credit to any program".[12] Vachel Lindsay in his 1915 book The Art of the Moving Picture said the film was a "Griffith masterpiece" and considered how Americans being so into their automobile tinkering and other mechanical activities reflect on the film's initial creation of tools.[13]
Large amounts of commentary were made, both positive and negative, after a showing of the film in Fresno, California on August 29, 1912, with some audience members criticizing the idea that humans came from ape-like origins as shown in the film.[14]
See also
References
- ↑ "Man's Genesis (1912)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2017-07-22. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ↑ "Man's genesis". Blackhawk Films. November 16, 1912 – via Open WorldCat.
- ↑ "Robert Harron and Mae Marsh, Isis Tomorrow". Pensacola News Journal. August 27, 1916. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Amusements - The Penn". Intelligencer Journal. August 30, 1915. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Denig, Lynde (June 26, 1915). ""Man's Genesis" and "The Battle of Elderbush Gulch" Included in Second Installment of Notable Biograph Re-issues". Moving Picture World. p. 2110. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
- ↑ "Biograph Re-Issues Six More Griffith Pictures". Motion Picture News. 11 (25). June 26, 1915. p. 63. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
- ↑ "Man's Genesis Is Based on the Darwinian Theory of Evolution". The Montgomery Advertiser. September 12, 1915. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "At The Theatre". The Nebraska State Journal. August 11, 1912. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ ""Rip Van Winkle" and "Man's Genesis"". The Fresno Morning Republican. September 26, 1912. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Man's Genesis". Harrisburg Daily Independent. July 31, 1912. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Comments On The Films". The Moving Picture World. July–September 1912. p. 343. Retrieved December 25, 2021.CS1 maint: Date format (link)
- ↑ ""Man's Genesis": Unusual One-Reel Biograph Re-Issue Directed by D.W. Griffith". The Moving Picture World. July 17, 1915. p. 514. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
- ↑ Lindsay, Vachel (1915). The Art of the Moving Picture. Macmillan Inc. p. 9-10. Search this book on
- ↑ "Were Men Ape-Like In The Dark Ages?". The Fresno Morning Republican. August 30, 1912. Retrieved December 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
Category:1912 short films
Category:1910s action drama films
Category:American black-and-white films
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