The End of the Road (1918)

[Frederica]

Because nothing spells the holiday season like a good history of the public health reaction to venereal disease, I'm reading Sex, Sin, and Science, A History of Syphilis in America. The author discusses a 1918 film, The End of the Road, a Commission on Training Camp (CTCA) educational/propaganda film. I checked the imdb and did not find this listed--does anyone know if the film still exists and if it has ever been released?

[urbanora]

Kevin Brownlow writes about The End of the Road in some detail in Behind the Mask of Innocence. Though he doesn't say so directly, there is no indication in his text that the film survives.

[Frederica]

Kevin Brownlow writes about The End of the Road in some detail in Behind the Mask of Innocence. Though he doesn't say so directly, there is no indication in his text that the film survives.

Thank you. The author of Sex, Sin, etc. gives a detailed synopses of the film (and a few others) in the text, but there was no indication in the references that he'd seen it or where it might be archived. I think he does list Brownlow in the bib.

[Heatherlonginla]

If you are still interested, I viewed a Dutch version of The End of the Road in the Library of Congress. They were able to provide an English transcript of the the title cards. I believe George Eastman House may also have a copy. It showed right around the world shortly after its release in 1918, though the end of the war with disbandment of NAMPI, the withdrawal of support from the Surgeon General and a bit of a public outcry almost led to a much earlier demise. I've found it was showing in regional areas in the US and here in Australia into the 1920s as a continuing tool for sex education. How do I know so much? I'm researching the biography of the leading lady, Claire Adams. I hope this helps and is of interest, even if it's a little late!

[Frederica]

If you are still interested, I viewed a Dutch version of The End of the Road in the Library of Congress. They were able to provide an English transcript of the the title cards. I believe George Eastman House may also have a copy. It showed right around the world shortly after its release in 1918, though the end of the war with disbandment of NAMPI, the withdrawal of support from the Surgeon General and a bit of a public outcry almost led to a much earlier demise. I've found it was showing in regional areas in the US and here in Australia into the 1920s as a continuing tool for sex education. How do I know so much? I'm researching the biography of the leading lady, Claire Adams. I hope this helps and is of interest, even if it's a little late!

It is very much of interest, thank you. If LoC has a copy we might be able to get a showing at Cinecon. How edifying!

[Brooksie]

It is very much of interest, thank you. If LoC has a copy we might be able to get a showing at Cinecon. How edifying!

Sounds like an interesting film. One of the Australian reviews has some info on the director, who seems to have been pretty well credentialed. From what I have read, discussion of venereal disease was quite frank during and just after WWI; it was such a major problem amongst troops that they couldn't afford to tiptoe around it.

'THE END OF THE ROAD.'

Direct from the heart is the spirit of moving picture direction that achieves the convincing film. It was direction direct from the heart that brought fame to E. H. Griffith, director of 'The End of the Road,' now being shown at the Adelaide Town Hall. Mr. Griffith stands for every thing 'The End of the Road' stands for. This means that when he undertook the creation of this most remarkable picture he was already enlisted, heart and soul, in the crusade against the social evil that begins with a risk, and ends with a wreck. For nearly 10 years before he put 'The End of the 'Road' together, Mr. Griffith bad been battling by the side of prominent citizens of Chicago and Cleveland in the public-spirited effort to annihilate the degrading red-light district, and its tragic product of disease, preventable suffering, and miserable death. He was one of the advisers of Cleveland's Mayor, Newton D. Baker (now Secretary of War), when the anti-vice crusade began in the Lake City, and he may justly claim a direct and honourable share of the credit for stamping out the evil in that city. In the same character of campaign in Chicago, Mr, Griffith advised frequently with Chief Justice Harry Olsen, and worked in close touch with the judiciary and others seeking to better conditions. He has long contended that segregation of the social evil was a farcical failure, both in Europe and the United States of America, and that any attempt to regulate it by law was really to legalize a criminal thing. Mr. Griffith was for eight years a newspaper man, and then for three years engaged with the Edison Studios as scenario writer and director. He prepared scripts for H. B. Warner, Charlotte Walker, Ann Murdook, Shirley Mason, Viola Dana, Ray McKee, Holbrook Blinn, Nance O'Neil, Otis Harlan, and others equally well known. Claire Adams, "star" of 'The End of the Road,' with Richard Bennett, first appeared on the screen under Mr. Griffith's direction.

[jameslayton]

George Eastman House completed a restoration of THE END OF THE ROAD a few years ago. It has English intertitles.

[oldposterho]

There's a bit of the dubbed version here [WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH]:



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