A Daughter of the Gods is a 1916 American silent fantasy drama film written and directed by Herbert Brenon. The film was controversial because it includes the first complete nude scene by a major star, Australian swimming star Annette Kellermann, though most of her body is covered by her long hair. It was filmed by Fox Film Corporation in Kingston, Jamaica, where huge sets were constructed. It is also sometimes noted as the first film to have a production budget of $1 million.

Background Brenon wrote the film's scenario and screenplay for the film, but was likely influenced by the 1902 Broadway play The Darling of the Gods, which has a similar theme of reward for rescuing a child and a large ensemble cast, The play was produced by David Belasco and John Luther Long and starred Blanche Bates, Robert T. Haines, and young George Arliss. The play differs in that it is set in feudal Japan while the movie is backdropped in an undersea kingdom, not unlike Atlantis.

Brenon made aspects of the play cinematic (underwater sequences, Kellerman's nudity, etc.) in an obvious effort to avoid charges of plagiarism of Belasco's play and hence a lawsuit.Magill's Survey of Cinema; Silent Films Essays 1 A-Fla A Daughter of the Gods, p. 361, Salem Press c.1981 by Frank MagillThe Darling of the Gods as produced on Broadway Dec. 3, 1902 - May 1903, Belasco Theatre; IBDb.comPictorial History of the American Theatre; 1860-1970, p. 71, c. 1970 by Daniel Blum (reprint edition of 1953 original)

Plot

A sultan agrees to help an evil witch destroy a mysterious beauty if the witch will bring his young son back to life.

Cast

Production After receiving the film assignment with its budget limit of $1 million, director Brenon visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where he was inspired by paintings such as A Dream of the Arabian Nights by Villegas. The opening scene of the film was claimed to be a composite of Cabanel's The Birth of Venus and Coypel's Venus Frolicking in the Sea with Nymphs.

The film is credited as the first US production to cost at least $1 million ($ in ) to produce, with actual costs just exceeding $1.1 million ($ in ). Studio head William Fox was so incensed with the cost of production he removed Herbert Brenon's name from the film. However, Brenon sued to have his name restored to the film's credits, and won. Advertising for the film would often note its million-dollar cost.

Great cost was afforded to make a sanitary of mosquito-proofing over a section of Kingston, Jamaica. Sets consumed of plaster, of cement, of lumber, and ten tons of paper. Director Herbert Brenon employed 20,000 people during the eight months of production and used of film to shoot the picture. The Moorish city cost $350,000 ($ in ) to build, and was destroyed in one climactic scene. The total number of persons appearing in it was 21,218, which included 200 mermaids, and 300 dancing girls and women of the Sultan's harem. The 100 women recruited from the US and Europe to portray nymphs underwent weeks of training by Kellerman to swim using a single stroke in unison and to avoid unnecessary splashing.

Robert Hood Bowers composed the film's score, which was played by an orchestra during each screening. It was considered the most memorable film score up to that time.

Reception The film-censorship boards in the United States and Canada and the National Board of Review passed the film in spite of its brief nudity scene, calling it artistic. Fox made general distribution of the film for the 1916 December holiday season.

On December 18, 1916, President Wilson and his wife celebrated their first wedding anniversary by attending the film's showing at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, D.C. It was the first film they viewed outside of the White House.

It reportedly made a net profit of $1.35 million.

Preservation No prints of A Daughter of the Gods are known to exist. It is considered a lost film.

See also List of lost films 1937 Fox vault fire

Notes

References The Picture Show Man entry Synopsis (taken from the Library of Congress copyright deposit, with additional material from the film's original program) (Archived 2009-10-23) "Kellermann Film Shown at the Lyric; Daughter of the Gods an Elaborate Amphibious Picture for the Submersible Star." The New York Times (October 18, 1916)

External links