Volume II: Filmography

A DOLL'S HOUSE

July 28, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Scenario: From the play by Henrik Ibsen

Cast: William Russell

Notes: 1. Written by Ibsen in 1879, this play was translated into English in 1889, after which it was a popular stage feature. The play was variously known as A Doll's House and The Doll's House. 2. Scenes from this film were reproduced in The Moving Picture World, July 15, 1911, page 41.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, July 22, 1911:

"A Doll's House is the answer of the Thanhouser Company to the call of the exhibitors of America for another Ibsen picture, sounded immediately after the release of our first Ibsen reel, Pillars of Society, a short time ago. The picture carries all the great dramatic qualities that made Ibsen's writing so powerful in play form. You cannot go wrong if you rig up some special advertising display for this very fine feature. Simply the words 'A Doll's House, by Ibsen,' will do, outside the show, but paint 'em in big letters with the name 'Thanhouser' underneath, as a guarantee of merit."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, July 8, 1911:

"The name of Ibsen in the lobby, and within on the screen a strong film from the story by him, proved to be a good draw for picture houses throughout the country a couple months ago when Pillars of Society was released. This was the first story of the great Ibsen ever made into a film. The success of the picture decided Thanhouser to do another from the writings of this author, and The Doll's House was selected. The reception of this reel will be closely followed by the folks at New Rochelle, and if it is at all hearty, a strong series of Ibsen films will result. The picture comes out Friday, July 28th, as the chief feature reel to follow this maker's The Declaration of Independence."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, July 22, 1911:

"Nora, the only child of a kindly old man, never grew up so far as he could see. He treated her 'like a doll,' as she said later when her eyes were opened, but her girlhood was happy and carefree. She never had opinions, those of her father were enough for her, and when he suggested that she marry Torvel Helmer, a young man of probity, she was not consulted. Neither did she object, that is not one of a doll's privileges. The husband, as did the father, treated Nora like a doll. It never occurred to him that she was a being with a mind and intelligence, but he was fond of her, in his own superior, condescending way. When he was taken sick, he thought it was very kind of her old father to give them the money that paid for a health trip to Italy. He did not know that his 'doll wife' had borrowed the cash from a money lender, and to get it had to forge her father's name. Her excuse, perfectly reasonable to her doll's mind, although not legal, was that her father would have signed it had it not been that he was fatally ill at the time. And the money was needed, as the doctors told her that without the trip Torvel would certainly die.

"But the artifices of the 'doll wife' were a closely guarded secret for many years. She worked late at night, sewing, to pay off the load of her debt under which she labored. And the years passed on, and children came, and Torvel grew in wealth and knowledge, but he never once realized that Nora had troubles and anxiety, simply because she bore her cross with a smiling face. When Torvel became the manager of a bank, the crisis came. One of the clerks was lazy and irresponsible, and the new manager discharged him. And he was the man who had loaned Nora the money. He saw a chance to get his place back, and called upon Nora, threatening her with exposure unless he was restored to duty. Then for the first time, she realized that she had committed what in the eyes of the law was a crime. In her pitiful, doll-like way, she tried to get her husband to restore the clerk to duty, but was rebuffed. For he could not see what right she had to interfere in his business. He was not really angry, just provoked.

"The clerk carried out his threat, but Nora for a time was able to keep her husband from reading the letter. Then she decided to let the exposure come, believing that the husband who had guided and petted her for years, would, to clear her, take the blame upon himself. But Torvel showed that she had judged him wrongly. His terror was aroused, not for fear of consequences to her, but what might happen to himself. And the eyes of the 'doll wife' were opened. When the danger of exposure passed away, through the eleventh hour repentance of the clerk, Torvel was ready to forgive and forget. But Nora was not. She saw how her life had been spoiled from infancy, how she had been suppressed and ignored, and resolutely left her home to start life anew and alone. The pleadings of her husband and the thoughts of her children did not move her. They were all a part of the 'doll's house' and its furniture, and they had no part in the life of a woman, so she put them away from her. And Torvel, too late, realized the fault was his. She tells him that some day she may return 'if the miracle happens, in making me a different woman, and you a different man.' He lives on, striving for the miracle."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, July 30, 1911:

"Henrik Ibsen's play, A Doll's House, like all of the writings of this distinguished author and dramatist, is a subject any motion picture producer should approach with extreme hesitation. The dialogue of Ibsen, like that of his British contemporary, George Bernard Shaw, is unapproached in its individuality, and hence to endeavor to present the play as a photo drama reflects all the more credit on those who succeed in such an attempt. In this offering the Thanhouser director has followed the original with surprising closeness, while at the same time it is so clearly related that any spectator to whom Ibsen and his works are us but names can follow the play with utmost ease. The story is too familiar to require repetition herein, and suffice it to say that it is given an adequate staging and is played admirably. Especial praise must be given the leading woman for her interpretation of the role of Nora."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 5, 1911:

"Some years ago, Madame Nazimova, the great Russian actress, was advertised to appear as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House at a theatre on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. A special matinee had been announced for Monday, and just about two o'clock a long string of baby carriages surrounded by crowds of small girls was making its way in the direction of the box office. It was all due to the misleading title. It is not to be supposed that the film will escape a similar fate at the hands of the public and perhaps some exhibitor. As a matter of fact, A Doll's House is a very bad translation of the original Norwegian which really means 'the home of the puppet.' With either translation, as well as the original, a wrong impression is produced, for the play is one of Ibsen's strongest dramas, written before he began to make the stage a pulpit of morbid pessimism... [Ed. note: At this point the review contained a lengthy description of the Ibsen's story]...

"It is a fine story, and said before, if enough of it could be made by the picture to convey the general outlines the film maker is entitled to due credit. The last act is well done and the last act is the most important. To show the trip to Italy and the soldier there was perhaps not necessary, and the space devoted to that purpose might, it seems, have a better effect when used to make the relation between Helmer and Krogstad a trifle clearer. The dancing incident at the ball is not quite plain to one who has not read the play. These criticisms are offered with becoming diffidence and solely with a view of throwing out a hint that may possibly be of some value. The reel as it stands today cannot fail to please exhibitor and audience and redounds to the credit of the Thanhouser Company."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 2, 1911:

"Ibsen's play has been put into a very telling picture and adapted very cleverly, dealing only with the essence of the plot. The settings are good and the producer seems to have selected his most fitting and best players to interpret the respective roles, all of which are creditably realized. Nora forges her father's name to a note on which she obtains money to take her husband south to regain his health. The loan agent some years afterward is employed in the bank of which her husband is head and is discharged. He threatens to expose the forgery if not reinstated, and when Nora's husband learns of it he spurns Nora, thinking only of himself; but when the agent repents and returns the note he is ready to reclaim her, but no so Nora, whose eyes are opened, and she leaves her 'doll's house.' The actress might perhaps have better realized Nora's awakening, and thus made the last scene more vital."

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