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The End of the Road
The End of the Road
	Newspaper advertisement for film
Directed by	Edward H. Griffith
Written by	Edward H. Griffith
Screenplay by	Katharine Bement Davis
Produced by	American Social Hygiene Association
Starring	Richard Bennett; Claire Adams
Production; company	American Social Hygiene Association / Famous Players–Lasky / United States Department of War
Distributed by	Public Health Films
Release date	February 16, 1919;
Running time	7 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The End of the Road is a 1919 American silent drama film produced by the American Social Hygiene Association.^[1] The film was directed by Lieutenant Edward H. Griffith for the purposes of health propaganda. The plot follows the lives of two young women - one raised by "the right kind of mother" and the other by a mother that is judged to be wrong.^[2] This film was targeted at young women with warnings about premarital sex and venereal disease and was notably produced during World War I.

A complete restoration of the film has been created by the National Film Preservation Foundation and may be viewed online.^[3]

Plot

As described with colorful language in a film magazine,^[4] Mary Lee (Adams), at the age of seven, is told the truth about life by her mother. Vera Lynch (Fair), her playmate, is deceived by her parents in the approved manner. At graduation time Mary is sought in marriage by Paul Horton, but she puts him off to study nursing. Vera's mother sends her off to New York City with instructions to make a money marriage. Mary also goes to New York City to work in a hospital and becomes acquainted with Dr. Bell, who falls in love with her. They rescue Vera from a drunken companion on one occasion, but are unable to prevent her from accepting the unlawful love of the same wealthy young man later on. When she develops a loathsome disease, they ensure that she receives proper medical care. Dr. Bell and Mary go to France for the war in the medical service. Paul Horton previously had made a disgraceful proposition to Mary, and she now accepts Dr. Bell's proposal of marriage. There are numerous subplots involving other characters in the film.

Cast

Richard Bennett as the Doctor
Claire Adams as Mary Lee
Joyce Fair as Vera Lynch
Raymond McKee
Maude Hill
Robert Cain
Arthur Housman
Alice Brady
Helen Ferguson

Production and release

The End of the Road was sponsored by the Commission on Training Camp Activities (CTCA), a US agency created in 1917 with the primary goal of reducing the spread of venereal disease among US troops. The CTCA produced another film with an anti-VD message, Fit to Fight (later released to the public as Fit to Win), aimed at a male audience.^[5]

The film was directed by Edward H. Griffith, who was then director of motion pictures for CTCA. Its writer, Katharine Bement Davis, was a sociologist and director of the Committee on Protective Work for Girls, under the United States Department of War. It was filmed on the Rockefeller family estate in Pocantico Hills, New York by US army cameramen.^[5]

The End of the Road was originally intended to be screened for small private audiences of women such as church groups or at YWCAs, with a lecturer speaking through the viewing and guiding discussion, and it was exhibited in this way during the war. After the war, the CTCA allowed the film to be commercially exhibited to the public, through agreements with the American Social Hygiene Association and Public Health Films.^[5]

Reception and censorship

The End of the Road was a popular success, but was subject to censorship efforts. The film was banned in Pennsylvania, and the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry ran a campaign attempting to have it banned from Chicago.^[6] Reviewers criticized "the graphic nature" of the film, which included depictions of syphilitic lesions.^[6]

References

^ "The End of the Road". American Film Institute. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
^ Davis, Katharine (1918). Social Hygiene and the War. II, Woman's Part in Social Hygiene. New York City: American Social Hygiene Association. pp. 32–36. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
^ "The End of the Road (1919)". National Film Preservation Foundation. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
^ "Reviews: The End of the Road". Exhibitors Herald. 8 (19). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 46. May 3, 1919.
^ ^a ^b ^c Posner, Miriam (2018). "Prostitutes, Charity Girls, and The End of the Road". In Bonah, Christian; Cantor, David; Anja Laukötter, Anja (eds.). Health Education Films in the Twentieth Century. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-58046-916-6.
^ ^a ^b Schaefer, Eric (1999). "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-2374-5.