Auction of Souls
About Auction of Souls
Aurora Mardiganian plays herself, from her book Ravished Armenia. A New York Times account of the picture says the first half shows Armenia before the deportations, then priests and families driven into the desert. Later scenes show young women flogged for refusing Turkish harems, and a slave market. She also filmed an escape across roofs. Complete prints are gone. What circulates is a fragment.
Cast & crew
More about Auction of Souls
Oscar Apfel directed. William Nicholas Selig produced. Harvey Gates, Mardiganian, Nora Waln, and Frederic Chapin are credited with the writing. First National distributed it. The American opening, under the title Auction of Souls, was 19 January 1919. The film was eight reels, about two hours. Shooting ran in 1918 and 1919 near Newhall. Mardiganian broke an ankle jumping from roof to roof. On 16 February 1919 the Plaza Hotel ballroom in New York held a performance for the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, with Mrs. Oliver Harriman and Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt as hostesses. Wikipedia lists box-office receipts of $1 million.
Themes
Background
The picture was raised as relief propaganda for the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief while the genocide it shows was still recent.
Making
Mardiganian, a survivor, was put through a staged version of her own deportation, including the roof jump that broke her ankle near Newhall.
Reviews
The New York Times described the first half as Armenia before the devastation, then the desert deportations, the flogging of women who refused the harems, and the slave markets.
Preservation
No complete print is known. A fragment of about 24 minutes, from a reel edited in Soviet Armenia, was restored and released in 2009. A file is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Irving Cummings, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Henry Morgenthau are in the cast. Lillian West is also billed.
- A still from the production shows crucified girls. A German Wikipedia note describes Turkish soldiers passing a row of crucified women against the sky.
- The same German page says the film played the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1920, twice a day for three weeks.
- A restored segment of about 24 minutes, drawn from a reel edited in Soviet Armenia, was issued in 2009 by the Armenian Genocide Resource Center of Northern California.
- The book and the film share the title Ravished Armenia.
Scenes
- Families and priests are driven into the desert.
- Women are flogged for refusing the harems, and a slave market is shown.
- Mardiganian’s character jumps from roof to roof to get out of a harem.
Influenced by
- Aurora Mardiganian's book Ravished Armenia
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Ravished Armenia (1919).webm)
