Underplayed Gems

Bondage (1917)

Bondage poster
Directed by
Ida May Park
Country
United States
Rated
NR
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

A story from 1917 follows a woman caught in a difficult romantic situation. It explores her choices and their consequences.

silent-eramelodramaticrestrainedfocusedperiodemotional

What happens

Bondage is a 1917 American silent drama film written and directed by Ida May Park (based on the story by Edna Kenton), and starring Dorothy Phillips, William Stowell, Gretchen Lederer and J.B. MacLaughlin. Many sources over the years, including the authoritative Michael F. Blake book, have listed Lon Chaney as appearing in the film in an uncredited capacity, but Chaney historian Jon Mirsalis states, "There is no evidence to support that claim. The formal documents submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office do not list Chaney in the cast, nor do the cast lists submitted to trade publications such as Moving Picture World. None of the reviews of the time mention Chaney. Recent texts attribute Chaney to the role of "the seducer," but reviews of the time confirm that this part was played by J. B. McLaughlin. How this enormous piece of misinformation began is a mystery." Photos exist showing the cast members, but in all of them, Chaney is conspicuously absent. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.