Enlighten Thy Daughter is a 1917 American silent drama film directed and written by Ivan Abramson.

Plot The exploitation/sexual hygiene film warns against the dangers of premarital sex. Lillian Stevens is young woman who ends up having sex with Harold Winthrop after both are caught in an unexpected storm during a date. Afterwards, she gets pregnant. Her mom does not realize Lillian has been out all night due to her own gambling addiction. The same young man later starts dating Lillian's cousin Ruth. They get engaged, but Lillian's pregnancy—and the identity of the father—is revealed when she dies from an illegal abortion, and Ruth breaks off the engagement.Langman, Larry. American Film Cycles: The Silent Era, p. 325 (1998)

Cast

Frank Sheridan as Daniel Stevens Katharine Kaelred as Mrs. Daniel Stevens Zena Keefe as Lillian Stevens Arthur Donaldson as Richard Stevens Marie Shotwell as Minna Stevens Rubye De Remer as Ruth Stevens (credited as Ruby De Remer) James W. Morrison as Harold Winthrop Violet Horner as Mrs. Laurence Runa Hodges as Nina Walter Gould as Walter Mathilde Brundage as Mrs. Winthrop

Reception The New York Times was critical of the film, calling it an "inept and melodramatic variant of the theme of the danger that lurks in the failure to apprise the young of dangers by which they are beset."(29 January 1917). The Newest Film Crusade: "Enlighten Thy Daughter" an Inept Movie Melodrama., The New York Times Other reviews were not as unkind, however, calling it a "remarkable drama, tense and thrilling,"(1 September 1917). "Enlighten Thy Daughter": Sensational New York Film Success Comes to Park Theatre, Youngstown Vindicator and agreeing with the movie's advertising claim to be "the most tremendous moral force the screen has ever known."(23 June 1919). Enlighten Thy Daughter Returns, Calgary Herald

The movie was a box office success, and has been described as director Abramson's biggest hit.Slide, Anthony. Early American cinema, p. 204 (1994)

A remake of the same title was released in 1934 (the only Abramson film ever remade).Koszarski, Richard. Hollywood on the Hudson, p. 302 (2008)

Censorship Before Enlighten Thy Daughter could be exhibited in Kansas, the Kansas State Board of Review required the elimination of all scenes where women are smoking, all drinking scenes, the dream of the surveyor's wife, and the shortening of a banquet to two views.

References

External links