The Better Woman is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Joseph A. Golden and starring Lenore Ulric, Edith Thornton and Lowell Sherman. Written by Richard Campbell and produced by the Triumph Film Corporation, it was distributed by the Equitable Motion Pictures Corporation through the World Film Corporation. The film is believed to be lost.
Plot
Frank Barclay, an engineer from the eastern United States, travels west to supervise the construction of a bridge. Kate Tripler, the uneducated daughter of a local hotelkeeper, falls in love with him, but Frank is engaged to Aline Webster. When Aline's sister marries Frank's friend Jim Travers, a newspaper mistakenly reports that Aline is the bride. Aline writes to Frank explaining the error, but Kate intercepts and destroys the letter.
Believing that Aline has married another man, Frank becomes intoxicated and marries Kate. When the mistake is discovered, Aline persuades him to remain with his wife. Kate subsequently attempts to educate and improve herself, and Frank gradually falls in love with her. After Kate admits that she destroyed Aline's letter, however, Frank rejects her. He eventually returns to Kate and the couple reconcile.
A longer synopsis distributed before the film's release included a climactic labor riot in which Kate is injured while preventing the destruction of a bridge. Contemporary reporting indicated that this and several other scenes described in the advance synopsis were omitted from the released film.
Cast
Lenore Ulric as Kate Tripler Edith Thornton as Aline Webster Lowell Sherman as Frank Barclay Ben Graham as Pop Tripler Charles Hutchison as Jim Travers Will Browning as Bill Carlin
Production and release
The Better Woman was written by Richard Campbell and produced in five reels by the Triumph Film Corporation under Golden's direction. It was conceived as a starring vehicle for Ulric, who was credited under her birth name, Lenore Ulrich.
The Triumph Film Corporation registered the film for copyright on September 18, 1915. The registration identified Golden as the author and was assigned number LP6620. The film opened at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in late October 1915, followed by its general release on November 1. Equitable distributed the film through the World Film Corporation.
Reception
A reviewer for The New York Dramatic Mirror described Campbell's story as strong and said that Golden had given it a good interpretation. The review praised the use of numerous locations, the careful selection of scenes, the picturesque settings and Golden's technical handling of the production. Ulric was particularly commended for making Kate's unusual behavior convincing and for maintaining the audience's sympathy for the character.
Variety found the story conventional but considered the acting sufficient to overcome its lack of originality. The reviewer praised Ulric's portrayal of Kate, particularly her emotional performance when Frank rejects her, and also singled out Sherman and Browning.
Preservation
No copies of The Better Woman are known to survive, and the Library of Congress classifies it as a lost film.
References
External links
The Better Woman at the AFI Catalog