Barriers of Society
Barriers of Society is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Lloyd B. Carleton. Universal based the film on the story written by Clarke Irvine and adapted for the screen by Fred Myton. The feature film stars Dorothy Davenport, Emory Johnson, and an all-star cast of Universal contract players. The son of a poor fish merchant rescues a society girl stranded in the ocean. The boy falls in love, and she forgets about him. Fate brings them together years later when she is a guest aboard a yacht, and he is part of the crew . The yacht's owner has devised a calculated plan to win the woman's love. He plans to fake a ship emergency, eventually stranding the two of them alone on an uncharted island. The strategy backfires when the owner, the girl, and the crew member end up marooned on the island. Both men love the same woman. Intrigues abound, and in the end, the rich girl and the poor sailor realize they love each other. Fate brought them together, and their love overcame the Barriers of Society. Universal Film Manufacturing Company released the film on October 16, 1916. Prints and/or  fragments were found in the Dawson Film Find in 1978. Plot. Westie Phillips is the son of a poor commercial trawler and his wife. One day while paddling his canoe around the ocean, he finds a pretty girl marooned on a rock. Since the tide is rising, he rescues her and takes her to safety. The young girl turns out to be Martha Gorman, the daughter of the wealthy Silas Gorman. In that instant, Westie falls in love. Martha thanks him and forgets him. Harry Arnold is a prosperous man, much older than Martha. Harry is also a man in  love. He constantly flirts with Martha, hoping to win her hand in marriage. Despite Arnold's persistent entreaties, Martha rebuffs them all. Martha's father, Silas Gorman, is not against such a wedding but will not render an opinion. Silas wants his daughter to make her own marriage choices. The time occurs for every young man to seek their fortune when they must go out in the world. That day arrives for Westie, and he leaves home to set out in the world. Westie gets shanghaied while seeking employment. He wakes up aboard a ship headed to the Orient. They  victimized Westie like most sailors, forceable impressed into service aboard a ship. Somehow, Westie jumps ship and escapes to Honolulu. Harry Arnold has worked out an insidious plot to win Martha's hand in marriage. First, Arnold invites Martha and her father to go on a cruise aboard his yacht. The thought of partying aboard a ship appeals to both of them, and they accept Arnold's invitation. Once at sea, one of the yacht's crewmen becomes troublesome. Arnold forces the captain to head to port and put him ashore. Once in port, they seek a replacement. They hire  a hungry Westie Phillips to replace the sailor. Westie comes on board and recognizes Martha. She does not know who Westie is since the rescue was long ago and long forgotten. After he assumes his duties, he sees Martha repulse lecherous Arnold's advances. Now is the time for Harry Arnold to start the next phase of his plan. Arnold will have the captain of his yacht stage a fake shipwreck near an uncharted island. The crew and partygoers will jump into lifeboats. Arnold will have one lifeboat set in the water with only Martha and himself on board. They  will head to the remote island. Arnold feels that by force or otherwise, he can persuade Martha to love and marry him. After a month, the yacht's captain will return and rescue them. Events unfold, and Westie senses Martha is in peril. Westie catches wind of Arnold's plan. He scrambles to Arnold's lifeboat and asks to go with them. At that exact moment, the captain hits him in the back of the head, knocking him out. Arnold and Martha row their dinghy towards the island. Westie gains his senses and realizes the boat is long gone. He  swims to an empty lifeboat and starts paddling toward shore. He hears a woman scream. After Westie reaches the beach, he discovers Arnold is trying to force himself on Martha. He saves her, and Arnold agrees to behave. Two alpha males and beautiful women agree to make a go of it while awaiting rescue. Arnold is driving himself into a rage after his plan goes awry. He pulls Westie aside and offers him a fortune if he moves to the other side of the island. Westie will not abandon the woman of his dreams. Arnold is beside himself. Later in  the evening, Arnold decides if he can't have Martha, then no one will. He tries to murder her. Once again, Westie comes to her relief. An epic battle occurs, and Westie kills Arnold. Time passes, a rescue ship appears, and the couple flag the ship down. Before their rescue ship arrives, they glance at each other and realize they are in love. Production. Pre production. Development. According to the book - The Universal Story, Carl Laemmle (-1939) produced around 91 movies in 1916. Lloyd B. Carleton (–1933) started working for Carl Laemmle in the Fall of 1915. Carleton arrived with  impeccable credentials, having directed some 60 films for the likes of Thanhouser, Lubin, Fox, and Selig. Between March and December 1916, 44-year-old Lloyd Carleton directed 16 movies for Universal, starting with The Yaqui and ending with The Morals of Hilda. Emory Johnson acted in all 16 of these films. Of Carleton's total 1916 output, 11 were feature films, and the rest were two-reel shorts. In 1916, Carleton directed all 13 films pairing Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson. This film would be the twelfth in the 13-film series. These totals show Carl Laemmle was clearly giving  the Davenport-Johnson pairing one of his elite directors from the working cadre of universal directors to produce the screen chemistry Laemmle was seeking. Themes. FATE as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: A movie advertisement in "The Seattle Star" stated : Besides fate, another tagline of the film was - A man's millions against a woman's will. Screenplay. This film was based on a Clarke Irvine play. The movie was adapted for the screen by Frederick Myton (1885-1955). Myton was years old when the movie was released. He would also create the screenplay for the next and last  film in the Davenport-Johnson series of films - The Devil's Bondwoman. Filming. Lloyd Carleton and Universal determined the majority of the exteriors needed to be filmed aboard a yacht. They chartered a large steam vessel, and the movie company sailed off into the Pacific. The festive atmosphere ended when the ship encountered rough seas. The ship was tossed about like a dog's chew toy; waves poured over the decks, and filming became impossible. Several of the crew became seasick, and filming had to be further postponed. Finally, the weather cleared, and the crew was able to complete the  scenes. The interiors were filmed in the studio complex at Universal Studios located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California. Post production. An article published in the March 1917 issue of "The Moving Picture Weekly" describes the ascendency of a young actress named Roberta Wilson, including her starring role in "Barriers of Society." The item was a misprint. The article meant to say - a featured role in " The Isle of Life" released around the same time as "Barriers of Society." Release and reception. Official release. The copyright for this film was filed on Friday, September 29, 1916. The  release date of Monday, October 16, 1916, was cited in several movie magazines. Yet, the film is advertised in various newspapers on Friday, October 6 (Chicago Tribune) and Saturday, October 7 (Brooklyn, New York) Since Red Feather Photo Plays were always released on Mondays in 1916, a better candidate for a release date is Monday, October 2, 1916. Advertising. Based on an American Film Institute standard, films with a running time of forty-five minutes or longer are considered feature films. In 1915, feature films were becoming more the trend in Hollywood. In 1916, Universal formed a three-tier branding  system for their releases. Universal films decided to label their films according to the size of their budget and status. Universal, unlike the top-tier studios, did not own any theaters to market its feature films. By branding their product, Universal gave theater owners and audiences a quick reference guide. Branding would help theater owners make judgments for films they were about to lease and help fans decide which movies they wanted to see. Universal released three different types of feature motion pictures: This film carried Universal's "Red Feather" brand, designating a low-budget feature film. Reviews. The critics  generally liked this film. Critical Response. In the October 14, 1916 issue of "The Moving Picture World," movie critic Robert C. McElravy points out: In the October 21, 1916 issue of "The Moving Picture World," the staff review: Audience response. "Lincoln, Nebraska population 18,498" Preservation status. In 1978, an extraordinary discovery was made in Dawson City located in Canada's Yukon Territory. The city of Dawson used a large stockpile of silent films to bolster a sagging hockey rink in 1929. The permafrost preserved the films. The film cache was discovered in 1978. The discovery would yield 533 reels of  nitrate film containing numerous lost movies. The story was chronicled in the movie - . Among the preserved films in the Dawson Film Find was the 5-reel bluebird production of The "Unattainable", released in September 1916. The permafrost also preserved this film. In both cases, only one reel was recoverable from each of the 5 reel feature films. The salvaged reels were donated to the Library of Congress.