The Craving
About The Craving
Chemist Carroll Wayles has a formula for a high explosive and a drinking habit he has already broken. Ala Kasarib wants the formula. He sends his ward, Beulah Grey, who is under his control, to tempt Wayles back to liquor. Wayles relapses. In the delirium his spirit is dragged over battlefields and through scenes of lust. He wakes, goes to Kasarib's laboratory, and fights him. An explosion kills Kasarib. Wayles and Beulah are left free to marry.
Cast & crew
More about The Craving
Francis Ford wrote the story, directed, and played Carroll Wayles. His brother John Ford worked on the production. Some credit lists name John as co-director and as a writer. The AFI Catalog credits Francis alone, and the 2024 Undercrank release calls Jack Ford the assistant director. Edward Gheller photographed it. Universal copyrighted it on 7 June 1918 as Delirium, with different character names. It opened in September 1918, played the Broadway Theatre in New York, and was reissued by Bluebird through Universal on 13 January 1919. Ford used double exposures and cut in footage from his 1915 short The Campbells Are Coming.
Themes
Background
The war was still on when Ford staged a chemist's relapse as a tour of battlefields. The film reached theaters as influenza was closing houses.
Making
Ford made the five-reeler independently, then lost the theatrical moment to the influenza closures. Universal picked it up afterward. The battle visions reuse his own earlier footage of an Indian rebellion picture.
Reviews
Variety of 27 September 1918, reviewing the Broadway Theatre showing, called it a strange picture with not much plot, a fantasy about the sins of the flesh and the power of the mind, and found the photography "not particularly extraordinary."
Look
Edward Gheller shot it. Ford built the drinking visions from double and triple exposures, with brightly lit figures set against a black background.
Technique
The delirium is done with multiple exposures: tiny figures dance inside liquor bottles, and Wayles's spirit crosses wartime battlefields.
Music
Ben Model wrote a new score for the 2024 Undercrank restoration. No original composer is credited.
Preservation
The surviving 35mm print, with Dutch intertitles, is at Eye Filmmuseum. Undercrank Productions restored it in 2K for a July 2024 Blu-ray and DVD. The Museum of Modern Art screened that restoration on 14 January 2025 in To Save and Project.
Notes
- Mae Gaston plays Beulah Grey, Peter Gerald plays Ala Kasarib, Duke Worne plays Dick Wayles, and Jean Hathaway plays Mrs. Wayles.
- In the Delirium copyright synopsis Ford's character is Howard King and Gerald's is David Vaban.
- Silent Era also records a 10 September 1918 release and a sale from Argosy to Universal in December 1918.
- The opening title boasts of the multiple exposures.
- A 35mm print with Dutch intertitles survives at Eye Filmmuseum. That Dutch release is why the film still exists.
- Undercrank Productions issued a 2K restoration on Blu-ray and DVD in July 2024, with a score by Ben Model. The feature is listed at 52 minutes on that disc.
Scenes
- Tiny figures mock Wayles from inside his bottles.
- His spirit wanders a battlefield while his body is drunk.
- The laboratory explosion kills Kasarib and leaves Wayles with Beulah.
Also available
- Undercrank Productions Blu-ray and DVD (July 2024)
