Silent Feature: The Call of the North

Credits

Studio: Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company
Released: August 11, 1914

Featured Cast: Robert Edeson, Theodore Roberts, Winifred Kingston

Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Screenwriter: Cecil B. DeMille
Source: the George Broadhurst play, based on the Stewart Edward White novel The Conjuror’s House
Art director: Wilfred Buckland
Cinematographer: Alvin Wyckoff

Theme

A jealous man tries to destroy two generations of a family.

Production Quotes

“The Call of the North is the latest and beyond question the best of the Lasky photoplays produced under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar C. Apfel. In fact, one may glance through the full list of American-made pictures and find no names that stand for higher accomplishment, and few—very few—that signify anything half so satisfying in the nature of a film interpretation of a novel.”

– The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 19, 1914

Reviews

“Drama, comedy, and photographic spectacle are the triple alliance met in the picturization of Owen Wister’s story. They win out very easily. The strength of the dramatic and spectacular elements is to be expected; but comedy is a less familiar attribute of virile tales of the West.”

– The New York Dramatic Mirror, September 9, 1914

Artist Comment

“The Call of the North is memorable today perhaps only because it marked the first screen appearance of Robert Edeson and Theodore Roberts, two of the more established actors in the legitimate theater to succumb to the lure of films.”

Figures

The Call of the North cost $16,540.52 and grossed $52,284.48.
(These figures have not been adjusted for inflation nor do they include the considerable profits realized from reissues, television syndication, and home entertainment formats.)