The Whip
About The Whip
Bookmaker Joe Kelly, in league with Baron Sartoris and Sartoris's mistress Mrs. D'Aquila, wants Judge Beverley's daughter Diana, who loves Herbert Brancaster. Kelly forges a Brancaster check and has the baron turn the judge against him. The jockey Harry Anson finds that the wild horse The Whip has gone quiet and will win the handicap at Saratoga, and Brancaster bets Kelly twenty to one. Sartoris, who has compromised Harry's sister Myrtle, tells the jockey to throw the race or he will talk. When Myrtle refuses the bargain, Sartoris arranges to wreck the rail car carrying the horse. Brancaster gets The Whip off the car in time. The bet and the Beverleys' opinion both turn his way.
Cast & crew
More about The Whip
Maurice Tourneur directed the film from the play by Henry Hamilton and Cecil Raleigh. Lucien Andriot is credited with the photography. Alma Hanlon plays Diana Beverley, Irving Cummings plays Herbert Brancaster, June Elvidge plays Mrs. D'Aquila, Paul McAllister plays Baron Sartoris, and Alfred Hemming plays Joe Kelly. Wikipedia dates the release March 25, 1917; the AFI Catalog places it in April 1917, and Exhibitors Trade Review noticed it on April 7.
Themes
Making
Tourneur stages a horse, a forged check, and a planned wreck of the car taking The Whip to Saratoga. The play was a Drury Lane spectacle; the film keeps the race and the sabotage.
Look
Lucien Andriot photographed the feature, including the shipping of the horse and the Saratoga material.
Preservation
The film survives and has been released on DVD.
Notes
- Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery, and Bobby Vernon appear in small early roles.
- Warren Cook plays Judge Beverley. Dion Titheradge plays Harry Anson. Jean Dumas plays Myrtle Anson.
- The Chicago Board of Censors ordered three gambling scenes flashed, and cut a man disconnecting a brake plus the title “Our affair started on the boat. I was weak and yielded.”
- A later description of the film adds a night locked in a wax museum while the baron sets up the train wreck. The AFI synopsis stays with the forged check, the Saratoga bet, and the rail car.
- The film survives and has been issued on DVD.
Scenes
- Kelly forges Brancaster's check and the baron carries the story to the judge.
- Sartoris threatens to expose Myrtle unless Harry throws the race.
- Brancaster reaches the rail car and gets The Whip off before the wreck.
Influenced by
- The Whip, the play by Henry Hamilton and Cecil Raleigh
Quotes
Our affair started on the boat. I was weak and yielded.
