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The Turn in the Road
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Wikipedia article
'The Turn in the Road' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor. His first feature film, the production was financed by the Brentwood Film Corporation and the title and the scenario based on a Christian Science religious tract.Higham 1972: ... a team of businessmen supported him in making a work exemplifying his own Christian Science principles.
Baxter 1976, p. 9
(Senses of Cinema, 2007: it made an impression on some religious [Christian] financial backers who agreed to help him make movies.
Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 24 No print of this film is known to exist,Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 28 which suggests that it is a lost film.[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/T/TurnInTheRoad1919.html Progressive Silent Film List: 'The Turn in the Road'] at silentera.com
Plot
As described in a film magazine, Paul Perry (Hughes), the son of wealthy iron manufacturer Hamilton Perry (Nichols), openly loves the younger daughter of Reverend Matthew Barker (Hall), while the older daughter, who is more practical, secretly loves him. The young couple get married, and a child is born a year later but the mother dies. Almost insane with grief, the husband reproaches the clergyman for having preached a doctrine of a God who inflicts His children with sorrow. Unable to reconcile himself with his sorrow, he leaves for the slums of Chicago and searches for the truth in connection with the purpose of God. Meanwhile, his son Bob (Alexander) is cared for by the wife's sister. Paul decides to leave Chicago on a freight train, and returns to his home town and spends the night in his father's barn. The next morning Bob, who has spent the night with his grandfather, goes out to the barn to feed some puppies and discovers the sleeping man in the hay. They talk, and Paul's sister-in-law comes to the barn and recognizes him, while Paul discovers that the child is his, resolving his quest for spiritual understanding. There is also a subplot involving a feud between the wealthy iron manufacturer and his workers.
Cast
* George Nichols as Hamilton Perry
* Lloyd Hughes as Paul Perry
* Winter Hall as Reverend Matthew Barker
* Helen Jerome Eddy as Jane Barker
* Pauline Curley as Evelyn Barker
* Ben Alexander as Bob
* Charles Arling
Production
In 1918 Vidor sought financing for a feature film, his first, from several physicians and dentists incorporated as "Brentwood Films". The group had funded a series of films produced by Judge Willis Brown of the Boy City Film Company in 1918. Vidor had directed ten of these two-reelers.Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 pp. 335-336
King Vidor describe how he broke into feature film directing in 1918:
Due to budgetary constraints, Vidor made only a single print of the picture. Nonetheless, its record-breaking run at a Los Angeles theater drew the attention of Robertson-Cole, which purchased it for national release through Exhibitors Mutual. Impressed with the pictures success, Brentwood Film Corporation (from the name of a Brentwood country club) financed three more features with Vidor as director: 'Better Times', 'The Other Half', and 'Poor Relations', all released in 1919.Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 pp. 24-25: The film an immediate success at its premiere in Los Angeles, where played for eight weeks.
The Christian Science ideals that Vidor presented in 'The Turn in the Road' suggest his financial backers at Brentwood were at least sympathetic to its precepts.Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 30: Vidors Christian Science views included "a disillusion with doctors" and their medical treatments.
Theme
The scenario and title for the film is based on a religious tract published by Christian Scientists of whom Vidor was a lifelong adherent. Vidor's religious idealism praised the power of mind over matter and Jeffersonian Agrarianism.Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 26Gallagher, 2007: Already in Vidors first feature, aptly named 'The Turn in the Road' (1918) and inspired by Christian Science, a hero wanders the world in search of truth.
Baxter, 1976, p. 5: A lifelong adherent to the precepts of Christian Science.
Film historian John Baxter cites a contemporary review by The New York Times describing a particularly powerful scene contrasting the response of a child, and a rich, powerful man to the fury of a thunderstorm: the child reacts with curiosity and wonder at the natural force; the man winces at each lightning flash and peal of thunder, daunted by an element that his money and [social] power cannot overcome. Baxter 1976, p. 9
Film historians Raymond Durgnat and Scott Simmons report that no print of the film has been discovered by archivists: Of all of Vidors features, the loss of his first is most to be regretted. From all reports it was dramatically successful and heartfelt Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 28
Footnotes
References
*Baxter, John. 1976. 'King Vidor'. Simon & Schuster, Inc. Monarch Film Studies. LOC Card Number 75-23544.
*Brownlow, Kevin and Kobal, John. 1979. 'Hollywood: The Pioneers'. Alfred A. Knopf Inc. A Borzoi Book, New York.
*Callahan, Dan. 2007. 'King Vidor'. Senses of Cinema. February 2007. http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/great-directors/vidor/ Retrieved 30 May 2020.
*Durgnat, Raymond and Simmon, Scott. 1988. 'King Vidor, American.' University of California Press, Berkeley.
*Gallagher, Tag. 2007. 'American Triptych: Vidor, Hawks and Ford'. Senses of Cinema. February, 2007 http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/the-moral-of-the-auteur-theory/vidor-hawks-ford/ Retrieved 30 May 2020.
*Thompson, David 2011. 'The Man Who Would Be King'. Directors Guild of America. https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1004-Winter-2010-11/Interview-King-Vidor.aspx Retrieved 30 May 2020.
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