Death's Marathon
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About Death's Marathon
Two partners want the same woman. She marries the reckless one. He gambles, loses interest in her, and one day drops the firm's money in a card game. From the office he telephones his wife with a revolver at his head. She keeps him talking. The steady partner drives for the office to reach him.
Cast & crew
More about Death's Marathon
D. W. Griffith directed. William E. Wing wrote it. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. Biograph released it in the United States on 14 June 1913, through General Film Company. Two reels, about 17 minutes at 16 frames per second. Blanche Sweet plays the wife, Henry B. Walthall the husband, Walter Miller the partner, and Lionel Barrymore the financial backer.
Themes
Making
Griffith stages the suspense as a split between the receiver and the street: she cannot leave the line, and Miller has to cover the distance.
Look
G. W. Bitzer shot the Los Angeles interiors and the drive.
Preservation
The film survives and is on DVD.
Notes
- Kate Bruce plays the nanny. Robert Harron plays a messenger.
- Alfred Paget is a gambler at the club.
- A circulating copy runs 14 minutes 45 seconds.
- The film survives and has been issued on DVD.
- The telephone call is the device that lets the wife hear the gun while the partner is still on the road.
Scenes
- Walthall holds the receiver and the revolver while Sweet keeps the conversation going.
- Miller races the car toward the office.
