The Other Half (1919 film)

The Other Half is a 1919 American drama film directed by King Vidor.[1] Produced by the Brentwood Corporation, the film starred Vidor’s wife Florence Vidor and featured comedienne Zasu Pitts.[2]

The Other Half
Promotion of film featuring Charles Meredith and Zasu Pitts
Directed byKing Vidor
Produced byJoe Pasternak
Written byKing Vidor
StarringFlorence Vidor
Charles Meredith
CinematographyIra H. Morgan
Production
company
Brentwood Film
Distributed byExhibitors Mutual
Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation
Release date
  • August 18, 1919 (1919-08-18)
Running time
50 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The picture is the third of four Christian Science-influenced films that represent a brief phase in Vidor’s output, championing the superiority of self-healing through moral strength and supplemented by the benefits of rural living. [3] In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.[4]

Plot

As described in a film magazine,[5] Captain Donald Trent (Meredith), whose father owns the mills that are the chief industry of the small town, returns from service in the American Expeditionary Forces in France with a clear vision of humanity and humanity's rights, deciding to start work in the plant at the bottom. With him returns Corporal Jimmy Davis (Butler) who takes back his old job at the mill. Donald's sweetheart Katherine (Vidor) comes around, as does Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid (Pitts), making up the quartet. Then Trent Sr. (Allen) dies and Donald becomes manager of the mills, quickly losing his new found views. After an accident at the mills blinds Jimmy, Donald refuses to see him. Katherine, through the editorial pages of a newspaper she has purchased, reaches Donald's heart with her columns, and brings the quartet back together in unity and happiness.

Cast
Florence Vidor (right)

Footnotes
  1. "Progressive Silent Film List: The Other Half". silentera.com. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  2. Baxter 1976 p. 9
  3. Gustafssson, 2016: “The film “advocated views associated with Christian Science (not to be confused with Scientology), a then relatively new religious movement that came about towards the end of the 19th century and to which Vidor claimed allegiance.”
    Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 26
    Baxter 1976 p. 9
  4. "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  5. "Reviews: The Other Half". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 9 (12): 64. September 13, 1919.
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References
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