Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1918
Playing the Game
Buy Playing the Game now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Playing the Game' is a 1918 American silent comedy drama film directed by Victor Schertzinger and written by Julien Josephson and R. Cecil Smith. The film stars Charles Ray, Doris May, Harry L. Rattenberry, Robert McKim, William Elmer, and Leota Lorraine. The film was released on May 5, 1918, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives,[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/P/PlayingTheGame1918.html Progressive Silent Film List: 'Playing the Game'] at silentera.com and it may be a lost film.[http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.8305/default.html The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog:'..Playing the Game']
Plot
As described in a film magazine, believing that killed a professional dancer in a cafe brawl, Larry Prentiss (Ray) along with his valet Hodges (Elmer) flee to the west to where he owns a ranch. The two are waylaid, robbed of their clothes, and set adrift. In this condition they are picked up by the foreman of Larry's ranch, Flash Purdy (McKim). Larry, wanting to make good on his merits, refuses to make known his identity. Hardships follow in which Larry incurs the enmity of Flash Purdy. Larry later saves the ranch payroll during a running gun fight and in the midst of a hand-to-hand struggle learns that Moya Shannon (May), daughter of the ranch manager, loves him. In the days that follow he squares his account with Purdy, but his adventure comes to a close when his identity becomes known after he receives a telegram from his uncle.
Cast
*Charles Ray as Larry Prentiss
*Doris May as Moya Shannon
*Harry L. Rattenberry as Matt Shannon
*Robert McKim as 'Flash' Jim Purdy
*William Elmer as Hodges
*Leota Lorraine as 'Babe' Fleur de Lis
*Charles Perley as Hickey Trent
*Melbourne MacDowell as Jeremiah Prentiss
Reception
Like many American films of the time, 'Playing the Game' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 5, the closeup of foreman holding gun against Mexican's heart.
References
Buy Playing the Game now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1918