The Gulf Between: Difference between revisions

The Gulf Between
The Gulf Between
	A surviving frame of the film from a subtractive printing test, approximating the appearance of the original additive two-color projection
Directed by	Wray Physioc
Written by	Anthony Paul Kelly; J. Parker Read Jr.
Starring	Grace Darmond ; Niles Welch
Cinematography	Carl Gregory
Distributed by	Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation
Release date	September 13, 1917;
Running time	≤ 58 minutes at 32 frame/sec. (seven reels)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

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The Gulf Between is a 1917 American comedy-drama film that was the first motion picture made in Technicolor, the fourth feature-length color film,^[b] and the first feature-length color film produced in the United States. A copy of the film was destroyed in a fire on March 25, 1961 and the film is considered a lost film, with only very short fragments known to survive. These fragments are in the collections of the Margaret Herrick Library, George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Photographic History Collection.^[2]

The Gulf Between, which had a running time of approximately 58 minutes,^[3] was directed by Wray Physioc. The lead roles were played by Grace Darmond and Niles Welch.

Plot

As described in the film magazine Exhibitors Herald,^[4] little Marie Farrell (Axzelle), through the carelessness of her nurse, is lost and believed drowned. She has wandered upon the ship of the smuggler Captain Flagg (Brandt), who finds her and brings her up as his own. Her parents adopt a boy to help them forget their grief.

The girl grows up with no memory of her former life. The adopted boy moves in the smart set in Mayport, and his parents try to make a match between him and a society girl. Marie (Darmond) is brought to her adoptive father's sister, as the old captain believes she should have the care of a loving woman. She meets young Richard Farrell (Welch) and the two come to love each other. The Farrells do everything they can to break up the couple, but with the help of the captain a marriage is accomplished. There is a stormy meeting between the bridal pair and the parents, during which the captain sees a portrait of Marie as a baby and, realizing the truth, tells the story of her life. The family is reunited and Marie and Richard spend their honeymoon on the captain's ship.

Cast

Grace Darmond as Marie
Niles Welch as Richard Farrell
Herbert Fortier as Robert Farrell
Violet Axzelle as a young Marie
Charles Brandt as Captain Flagg
Joseph Dailey as Cook
George De Carlton as Dutch
Caroline Harris as Mrs. Farrell
Virginia Lee as Millicent Dunston
Louis Montjoy
J. Noa as Pete

Production

The Gulf Between was filmed on location in Jacksonville, Florida in 1917 by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, using its two-color "System 1", in which, by means of a prism beam splitter, two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white film were photographed simultaneously, one behind a red filter and the other behind a green filter.

Release

After private trade showings in Boston on September 13, 1917,^[5] and at Aeolian Hall in New York City on September 21, 1917,^[6] it was released on February 25, 1918, to play one-week engagements on a tour of a few major Eastern cities, accompanied by the special two-aperture, two-lens, two-filter projector required to exhibit it. Because of the technical problems in keeping the red and green images aligned by prism during projection, it was the only motion picture made in Technicolor's System 1. Technicolor abandoned the additive color process of System 1, and began work on subtractive color processes that did not require a special projector.

Critical reception

Photoplay magazine complained that all colors were reduced into terms of reds and greens, and that "the story is dull, trite, and drawn out interminably."^[7]

Notes

^ System 1 was photographed and projected at 32 frames per second, twice the normal speed. Thus, seven reels of a Technicolor film were equal to 3.5 reels of a normal film.
^ The first three color features were the documentary With Our King and Queen Through India (also known as The Durbar at Delhi, 1912) and the dramas The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1914), and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1914), all filmed in the Kinemacolor process.

References

^ ^a ^b "The Gulf Between - 1918". Buffalo International Film Festival. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
^ "The Gulf Between". Deutsche Kinemathek. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
^ "The first Technicolor film was a total disaster a century ago". CNET. 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
^ "Reviews: The Gulf Between". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (15). New York: Exhibitors Herald Company: 27. October 6, 1917.
^ "Photoplay in Colors of Nature Exhibited", Christian Science Monitor, September 14, 1917, p. 4.
^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Gulf Between at silentera.com
^ "The Shadow Stage", Photoplay, December 1917, p. 118.

External links

Media related to The Gulf Between at Wikimedia Commons
The Gulf Between at IMDb
The Gulf Between at Widescreen Museum with copy of film frame

[2] System 1 was photographed and projected at 32 frames per second, twice the normal speed. Thus, seven reels of a Technicolor film were equal to 3.5 reels of a normal film.

[3] The first three color features were the documentary With Our King and Queen Through India (also known as The Durbar at Delhi, 1912) and the dramas The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1914), and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1914), all filmed in the Kinemacolor process.

[Buffalo-1] "The Gulf Between - 1918". Buffalo International Film Festival. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2013.

[4] "The Gulf Between". Deutsche Kinemathek. Retrieved March 28, 2013.

[5] "The first Technicolor film was a total disaster a century ago". CNET. 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2018-06-27.

[6] "Reviews: The Gulf Between". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (15). New York: Exhibitors Herald Company: 27. October 6, 1917.

[7] "Photoplay in Colors of Nature Exhibited", Christian Science Monitor, September 14, 1917, p. 4.

[8] Progressive Silent Film List: The Gulf Between at silentera.com

[9] "The Shadow Stage", Photoplay, December 1917, p. 118.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Distinguish|text=the 1916 short film ''The Gulf Between'' directed by [[Edward Sloman]] and written by Tom Gibson}}
 {{short description|1917 film directed by Wray Physioc}}
 {{Infobox film
 | name           = The Gulf Between
 | image          = the-gulf-between-surviving-cell.jpg
-| image_size     =
 | caption        = A surviving frame of the film from a [[subtractive color|subtractive]] printing test, approximating the appearance of the original [[additive color|additive]] two-color projection
 | director       = [[Wray Physioc]]
 | producer       =
 | writer         = Anthony Paul Kelly<br>J. Parker Read Jr.
-| narrator       =
 | starring       = [[Grace Darmond]] <br>[[Niles Welch]]
 | music          =
 | cinematography = [[Carl Louis Gregory|Carl Gregory]]
 | editing        =
-| distributor    = Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation<ref name=Buffalo>{{cite web |url=http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com/buffalomovietreasures/gulfbetween1918.html |title=The Gulf Between - 1918 |publisher=[[Buffalo International Film Festival]] |accessdate=March 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126082927/http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com/buffalomovietreasures/gulfbetween1918.html |archivedate=January 26, 2012 }}</ref>
+| distributor    = Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation<ref name=Buffalo>{{cite web |url=http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com/buffalomovietreasures/gulfbetween1918.html |title=The Gulf Between - 1918 |publisher=[[Buffalo International Film Festival]] |access-date=March 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126082927/http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com/buffalomovietreasures/gulfbetween1918.html |archive-date=January 26, 2012 }}</ref>
 | released       = {{Film date|1917|9|13}}
-| runtime        = ≤ 58 minutes at 32 frame/sec. (seven [[reel#Motion picture terminology|reels]]<ref name=Buffalo/>)<ref>System 1 was photographed and projected at 32 frames per second, twice the normal speed. Thus, seven reels of a Technicolor film were equal to 3.5 reels of a normal film.</ref>
+| runtime        = ≤ 58 minutes at 32 frame/sec. (seven [[reel#Motion picture terminology|reels]]<ref name=Buffalo/>){{efn|System 1 was photographed and projected at 32 frames per second, twice the normal speed. Thus, seven reels of a Technicolor film were equal to 3.5 reels of a normal film.}}
 | country        = United States
 | language       = Silent (English [[intertitle]]s)
 | budget         =
 }}
-'''''The Gulf Between''''' is a 1917 American comedy drama film that was the first motion picture made in [[Technicolor]], the fourth [[feature film|feature-length]] [[Color motion picture film|color film]],<ref>The first three color features were ''[[With Our King and Queen Through India]]'' (also known as ''The Durbar at Delhi'', 1912) and the dramas ''[[The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1914 film)|The World, the Flesh and the Devil]]'' (1914), and ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy (1914 film)|Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'' (1914), all filmed in the [[Kinemacolor]] process.</ref> and the first feature-length color film produced in the United States. The film was destroyed in a fire on 25 March 1961. Today, the film is considered a [[lost film]], with only very short fragments known to survive. These fragments are in the collections of the [[Margaret Herrick]] Library, [[George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection]], and the Smithsonian [[National Museum of American History]] Photographic History Collection.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lost-films.eu/films/show/id/3825 |title=The Gulf Between |publisher=[[Deutsche Kinemathek]] |accessdate=March 28, 2013}}</ref>
+'''''The Gulf Between''''' is a 1917 American [[comedy-drama]] film that was the first motion picture made in [[Technicolor]], the fourth [[feature film|feature-length]] [[Color motion picture film|color film]],{{efn|The first three color features were the documentary ''[[With Our King and Queen Through India]]'' (also known as ''The Durbar at Delhi'', 1912) and the dramas ''[[The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1914 film)|The World, the Flesh and the Devil]]'' (1914), and ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy (1914 film)|Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'' (1914), all filmed in the [[Kinemacolor]] process.}} and the first feature-length color film produced in the United States. A copy of the film was destroyed in a fire on March 25, 1961 and the film is considered a [[lost film]], with only very short fragments known to survive. These fragments are in the collections of the [[Margaret Herrick]] Library, [[George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection]], and the Smithsonian [[National Museum of American History]] Photographic History Collection.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lost-films.eu/films/show/id/3825 |title=The Gulf Between |publisher=[[Deutsche Kinemathek]] |access-date=March 28, 2013}}</ref>
-''The Gulf Between,'' which had a running time of approximately 58 minutes,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/technicolor-100-years-the-gulf-between/|title=The first Technicolor film was a total disaster a century ago|date=2017-09-09|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-27|language=en}}</ref> was directed by [[Wray Physioc]]. The lead roles were played by [[Grace Darmond]] and [[Niles Welch]].
+''The Gulf Between'', which had a running time of approximately 58 minutes,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/technicolor-100-years-the-gulf-between/|title=The first Technicolor film was a total disaster a century ago|date=2017-09-09|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-27}}</ref> was directed by [[Wray Physioc]]. The lead roles were played by [[Grace Darmond]] and [[Niles Welch]].
 ==Plot==
-As described in the film magazine ''[[Exhibitors Herald]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last= |first= |authorlink= |title=Reviews: ''The Gulf Between'' |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=5 |issue=15 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |date=October 6, 1917 |location=New York |page=27 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald05exhi}}</ref> little Marie Farrell (Axzelle), through the carelessness of her nurse, is lost and believed drowned. She has wandered upon the ship of the smuggler Captain Flagg (Brandt), who finds her and brings her up as his own. Her parents adopt a boy to help them forget their grief.
+As described in the film magazine ''[[Exhibitors Herald]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviews: ''The Gulf Between'' |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=5 |issue=15 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |date=October 6, 1917 |location=New York |page=27 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald05exhi}}</ref> little Marie Farrell (Axzelle), through the carelessness of her nurse, is lost and believed drowned. She has wandered upon the ship of the smuggler Captain Flagg (Brandt), who finds her and brings her up as his own. Her parents adopt a boy to help them forget their grief.
-The girl grows up with no memory of her former life. The adopted boy moves in the smart set in Mayport, and his parents try to make a match between him and a society girl. Marie (Darmond) is brought to her adopted father's sister, as the old captain believes she should have the care of a loving woman. She meets young Richard Farrell (Welch) and the two come to love each other. The Farrells do everything they can to break up the couple, but with the help of the captain a marriage is accomplished. There is a stormy meeting between the bridal pair and the parents, during which the captain sees a portrait of Marie as a baby and, realizing the truth, tells the story of her life. The family is reunited and Mary and Richard spend their honeymoon on the captain's ship.
+The girl grows up with no memory of her former life. The adopted boy moves in the smart set in Mayport, and his parents try to make a match between him and a society girl. Marie (Darmond) is brought to her adoptive father's sister, as the old captain believes she should have the care of a loving woman. She meets young Richard Farrell (Welch) and the two come to love each other. The Farrells do everything they can to break up the couple, but with the help of the captain a marriage is accomplished. There is a stormy meeting between the bridal pair and the parents, during which the captain sees a portrait of Marie as a baby and, realizing the truth, tells the story of her life. The family is reunited and Marie and Richard spend their honeymoon on the captain's ship.
 ==Cast==
-*[[Grace Darmond]]	... 	Marie
+* [[Grace Darmond]] as Marie
-*[[Niles Welch]]	... 	Richard Farrell
+* [[Niles Welch]] as Richard Farrell
-*[[Herbert Fortier]]	... 	Robert Farrell
+* [[Herbert Fortier]] as Robert Farrell
-*Violet Axzelle	... 	Marie, as a child (as Violet Axzell)
+* Violet Axzelle as a young Marie
-*[[Charles Brandt (actor)|Charles Brandt]] ... Captain Flagg
+* [[Charles Brandt (actor)|Charles Brandt]] as Captain Flagg
-*Joseph Dailey   	... 	Cook
+* Joseph Dailey as Cook
-*George De Carlton	... 	Dutch
+* George De Carlton as Dutch
-*[[Caroline Harris]]	... 	Mrs. Farrell
+* [[Caroline Harris]] as Mrs. Farrell
-*Virginia Lee   	... 	Millicent Dunston
+* [[Virginia Lee (actress)|Virginia Lee]] as Millicent Dunston
-*Louis Montjoy
+* Louis Montjoy
-*J. Noa         	... 	Pete
+* J. Noa as Pete
 ==Production==
@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 ==Release==
-After private trade showings in [[Boston]] on September 13, 1917,<ref>"Photoplay in Colors of Nature Exhibited", ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', September 14, 1917, p. 4.</ref> and at [[Aeolian Hall (New York)|Aeolian Hall]] in [[New York City]] on September 21, 1917,<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GulfBetween1917.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Gulf Between''] at silentera.com</ref> it was released on February 25, 1918 to play one-week engagements on a tour of a few major Eastern cities, accompanied by the special two-aperture, two-lens, two-filter projector required to exhibit it. Because of the technical problems in keeping the red and green images aligned by prism during projection, it was the only motion picture made in Technicolor's System 1. Technicolor abandoned the [[additive color]] process of System 1, and began work on [[subtractive color]] processes that did not require a special projector.
+After private trade showings in [[Boston]] on September 13, 1917,<ref>"Photoplay in Colors of Nature Exhibited", ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', September 14, 1917, p. 4.</ref> and at [[Aeolian Hall (New York)|Aeolian Hall]] in [[New York City]] on September 21, 1917,<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GulfBetween1917.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Gulf Between''] at silentera.com</ref> it was released on February 25, 1918, to play one-week engagements on a tour of a few major Eastern cities, accompanied by the special two-aperture, two-lens, two-filter projector required to exhibit it. Because of the technical problems in keeping the red and green images aligned by prism during projection, it was the only motion picture made in Technicolor's System 1. Technicolor abandoned the [[additive color]] process of System 1, and began work on [[subtractive color]] processes that did not require a special projector.
 ==Critical reception==
-''[[Photoplay]]'' magazine complained that all colors were reduced into terms of reds and greens, and that "the story is dull, trite, and drawn out interminably."<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=1n0NAQAAIAAJ&lr&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1917&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1918&as_brr=3&pg=PA118#v=onepage&q&f=false The Shadow Stage]", ''Photoplay'', December 1917, p. 118.</ref>
+''[[Photoplay]]'' magazine complained that all colors were reduced into terms of reds and greens, and that "the story is dull, trite, and drawn out interminably."<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=1n0NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA118 The Shadow Stage]", ''Photoplay'', December 1917, p. 118.</ref>
+==See also==
+* [[List of early color feature films]]
+==Notes==
+{{Notelist}}
 ==References==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist}}
 ==External links==
+* {{Commons category-inline}}
-*{{IMDb title|0009136|The Gulf Between}}
-*[http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm ''The Gulf Between''] at Widescreen Museum with copy of film frame
+* {{IMDb title|0009136|The Gulf Between}}
+* [https://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm ''The Gulf Between''] at Widescreen Museum with copy of film frame
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gulf Between, The}}
 [[Category:1917 films]]
-[[Category:1910s color films]]
+[[Category:1917 comedy-drama films]]
 [[Category:1917 lost films]]
-[[Category:Lost American films]]
+[[Category:1910s color films]]
-[[Category:English-language films]]
 [[Category:American silent feature films]]
-[[Category:American films]]
+[[Category:Early color films]]
-[[Category:Silent films in color]]
 [[Category:Films set in Florida]]
-[[Category:American comedy-drama films]]
 [[Category:Films shot in Jacksonville, Florida]]
-[[Category:1910s comedy-drama films]]
+[[Category:Lost American comedy-drama films]]
-[[Category:Lost comedy-drama films]]
+[[Category:English-language comedy-drama films]]
-[[Category:1917 comedy films]]
+[[Category:Silent films in color]]
-[[Category:1917 drama films]]
+[[Category:1910s English-language films]]
+[[Category:Films directed by Wray Physioc]]
+[[Category:1910s American films]]
+[[Category:Silent American comedy-drama films]]