The Wrath of the Gods (1914)

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Collection: Motion Picture News, May 1914

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Collection: Motion Picture News, May 1914

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Collection: Motion Picture News, June 1914

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Collection: Motion Picture News, June 1914

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Collection: Reel Life, May 1914

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Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲) | Tsuru Aoki (青木 鶴子) | Frank Borzage | Kisaburô Kurihara (トーマス・栗原) | Henry Kotani (小谷ヘンリー) | Reginald Barker (Director)

see also Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲) — Filmography

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We have a spectacular original vintage movie poster of a 1910s re-release in our shop.

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“The Wrath of the Gods”

A six-part Japanese drama acted by Japanese for the New York Motion Picture Company.

Reviewed by W. Stephen Bush.

Productions which combine a powerful fascinating story with superb spectacular effects are still among the rare jewels in filmdom. Not the least sparkling of these gems is this feature of the New York Motion Picture Company, directed by Thomas H. Ince.

I cannot help admiring the boldness of the direction, which was not afraid to film the very elements themselves, not the elements at peace, but the elements in their fury. In The Wrath of the Gods, the camera follows the path of destruction at close range, and we see portrayed with equal and astonishing skill and facility the majesty of the angry sea, the sublime wrath of fire and the fearful quaking of the very earth itself.

In the elaboration of these impressive and at times overwhelming spectacular phases of the play there is a finish of detail which must please the most critical. The coming of the typhoon is described on the screen not at all in titles, but all in pictures — a difficult feat, which required uncommon skill in direction, and which speaks of years of hard work and observation and experience on the part of the director. The typhoon approaches just as men who have traveled in Eastern waters have told it in a thousand books, but no book can grip us as these pictures do showing with such remarkable fidelity the gradual gathering force of the storm and the final bursting of the sky. The same realism characterizes the screen depiction of the floods of fire and lava descending in never-ending torrents from the angry craters of the Sakura-Jima. I never saw an audience more plainly moved than the thousands that sat in the Strand watching this kaleidoscope of elemental rage. The scene where the earth yawned and engulfed men and women and houses in one huge grave was overpowering.

I must award no less praise to all the out-door work and scenery in this feature.. The spell of the rocks and the surf is on the screen. He who selected these seascapes had the eye and taste of a seascape painter.

Having thus roughly tried to sketch the marvelous frame in which the story is set, let me say a word about the story itself. It has a strange appeal doubly effective by the fact that all but one of the principal parts are taken by Japanese artists. The first place belongs to the handsome, talented and conscientious woman who played the part of Toya San. Toya San is the daughter of Lord Yamaki, who is the sole survivor of an old Samuarai family which, according to an old Japanese legend, was accursed of the Gods. An old prophet delivers this tradition to the young men of that country, warning them to keep away from Yamaki and his daughter. He tells his people that if Toya San ever marries the Gods will open the fiery mouth of the volcano and destroy every living thing within many miles. Consequently, Toya San is shunned by all and lives in solitude with her father, inhabiting a wretched hut near the coast and living precariously upon the food afforded by the sea. Yamaki himself believes in the truth of the cruel tradition and vainly seeks to obtain forgiveness from the Gods, who had been incensed by a sacrilege of his father. When Toya San hears of the strange decree of the Gods she refuses to accept it, saying that no just God would seek to punish the innocent. One day an American vessel is wrecked on the coast near their hovel. Only one of the crew, a sailor named Wilson, is lucky enough to be saved. He is washed ashore half dead, and is found by Yamaki. The latter brings him to his hut and with the ministrations of Toya San, nurses him back to life and strength. The sailor proposes marriage to the Japanese maiden. She tells him of the dire prophecy and when he assures her that his God is more powerful than the idols of the heathen she listens with eagerness and asks her father’s consent. The consent is given, but only after long hesitation and after the simple preachings of the sailor have converted Yamaki to the faith of the cross. The sailor then marries Toya San. The people are furious to hear of this marriage; they destroy the hut of Yamaki and murder him beside the rude Christian altar he had erected. And now the visitations of the wrath of the Gods come upon the country and her people. Toya San and her Christian husband alone escape from the universal destruction, and despite the evil prophecy the seed of the ancient Samurai survives beyond Yamaki’s daughter.

The parts of the old prophet Takeo and of the Jinrishka driver and of Yamaki were rendered with an earnestness and power which are rarely witnessed in the average screen performer. The photography is worthy of the great subject, being excellent throughout.

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Scene from The Wrath of the Gods (N. Y. M. P. Co.)

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Collection: Moving Picture World, June 1914