Brute Force
About Brute Force
At a party, Priscilla leaves with another man and Harry Faulkner is left with a book on primitive man. In the story he reads, Weakhands, of a weaker tribe, loses Lilywhite to a man called Brute Force. Weakhands jams a stick into a ring of stone, invents a club, takes Lilywhite back, and becomes leader. Monkeywalk's cave men move onto the ground, a horned dinosaur shows at the cave mouth, and the women help drive the intruders off. The low cave men later steal the women. Weakhands then invents the bow and arrow, kills the raiders, and brings Lilywhite home. Faulkner wakes, lifts the book like a club, and the woman returns to him.
Cast & crew
More about Brute Force
D. W. Griffith produced and directed this sequel to his 1912 short Man's Genesis. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. General Film Company released it in the United States on 25 April 1914, and again on 22 September 1915. Also titled The Primitive Man. Robert Harron plays both Harry Faulkner and Weakhands. Mae Marsh plays Lilywhite.
Themes
Background
Man's Genesis (1912) had already staged the invention of the first weapon. This sequel adds a second invention, the bow, and a rival tribe led by Monkeywalk.
In film history
Trade copy sold it as a comedy about evolution. The modern party and the cave story share the same leading actors.
Making
The prehistoric half is played as the book Faulkner is reading after he is snubbed at the party, and it ends when he wakes.
Look
G. W. Bitzer shot both the club prologue and the cave scenes. A horned dinosaur, played as a Ceratosaurus, appears at the mouth of the cave.
Preservation
The film survives and has been released on the DVD Robert Harron Rare Shorts.
Notes
- A period description called it "a psychological comedy founded on the Darwinian theory of the evolution of man.
- Wilfred Lucas plays Brute Force. Harry Carey is in the womanless tribe. William J. Butler plays Priscilla's father in the prologue.
- Lionel Barrymore, Elmo Lincoln, and Alfred Paget appear among the clubmen and tribesmen.
- Later writers have called it perhaps the first live-action film to show dinosaurs. The picture itself does not make that claim.
- It has been issued on the DVD Robert Harron Rare Shorts.
Scenes
- Weakhands wedges a stick into a stone ring and swings the first club.
- A horned dinosaur shows at the cave and then leaves.
- He builds a bow and arrow after Monkeywalk's men take the women.
- Faulkner wakes at the party and raises the book like a weapon.
Influenced by
- Man's Genesis (1912)
Also available
- Internet Archive (PreviewBruteForce)
- Robert Harron Rare Shorts (DVD)
