The Escape
Cast & Crew
David W. Griffith
Donald Crisp
F. A. Turner
Robert Harron
Blanche Sweet
Mae Marsh
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After a prologue illustrating the careful reproductive process of microbes and farm animals, as opposed to the random selection of humans, the effects of unwise selection are depicted by the Joyce family, whose brutal father Jim turns his gentle dreamer son Larry into a deceitful sadist who delightedly wrings a kitten's neck. While treating Larry for venereal disease, Dr. Von Eiden advises Larry's sister May to leave home. She does, but unable to find work, she becomes the mistress of a wealthy man whom she refuses to marry. Jennie, May's consumptive sister, marries Bull McGee, May's loutish former suitor. Jennie gives birth to a sickly child, who is crushed to death by McGee when he trips over the baby's crib in a drunken state. Jennie becomes deranged and replaces the child with a doll, thus disgusting McGee who sells her to a gang of pimps. Jennie is rescued from a life of prostitution, but dies shortly thereafter in May's arms. Larry has an operation that restores his gentle nature, and in the end, having left her wealthy lover, May accepts Von Eiden's proposal of marriage.
Director
David W. Griffith
Cast
Donald Crisp
F. A. Turner
Robert Harron
Blanche Sweet
Mae Marsh
Owen Moore
Ralph Lewis
Tammany Young
Fay Tincher
Walter Long
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to contemporary sources, Thomas E. O'Brien was a production assistant for this film. Additional credits from modern sources list James Smith and Rose Richtel as film editors. This film was released late in 1914 to the state rights market by Western Import Co. According to the October 21, 1916 MPSD, Samuel De Vall, who worked in films as a technical director and on construction, worked on the film. According to the New York Times, Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman "put together" the prologue. The exact nature of Goodman's work is unclear from this reference.
