A suffragist exposes a corrupt political boss who had compromised her lawyer fiancé.A suffragist exposes a corrupt political boss who had compromised her lawyer fiancé.A suffragist exposes a corrupt political boss who had compromised her lawyer fiancé.
Photos
Douglass Dumbrille
- District Attorney
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilm debut of Douglass Dumbrille.
- ConnectionsEdited into Women Who Made the Movies (1992)
Featured review
This is a very old film that in particular calls to attention the difference in such relics having historical value and in whether they have value as art and entertainment--whether it's worthy as a film. In addition to being an early feature-length motion picture, "What Eighty Million Women Want" also features rare footage of leading women's suffragists Harriot Stanton Blatch and Emmeline Pankhurst and staged scenes that give a good visual indication of some of the organization behind the movement for women's right to vote in the US, which can be valuable to historians and documentary filmmakers. Otherwise, as a film, this one is not worthy.
Its message of universal suffrage is wrapped into a thin, yet convoluted, narrative involving a suffragist and her boyfriend lawyer, who is initially at odds with the movement and becomes involved with the corrupt, politically powerful boss, who is completely antagonistic to women's voting rights. The suffragist even does some amateur detective work in the later part of the film, which seems incongruous with the rest of the narrative; by suddenly shifting to this other formulaic genre, I suppose they also wanted to show that women are clever and capable. A similar subplot worked better in another 1913 long film, "Traffic in Souls". Furthermore, the filming here was rather inept, with many title cards, broad gestures by the performers, and fixed camera positions. In short, this film isn't worth seeking unless you're interested in the history.
On a historical note, although women didn't receive voting rights equal to men until the decade after this film in either the US or the UK, the motion picture industry was often quite the promoter of gender equality. Alice Guy was head of production at Gaumont in France for years, from as early as 1896; a few years after this film, Lois Weber would be one of the highest paid and most interesting directors in America; and, especially, many of the top screenwriters and editors during the silent era were women. That's not even to mention the power female stars had in the business, which included some of them founding their own companies.
(Note: The print and transfer I viewed was in very poor shape, including a generally faded picture quality (some title cards/letters were illegible or nearly so as a result) and frequent jittering of the frame. There was even a credits title at the beginning that was from another film. After a bit of searching on IMDb, I found that it was for the 1926 film "The Fire Brigade". I've no idea how it got there.)
Its message of universal suffrage is wrapped into a thin, yet convoluted, narrative involving a suffragist and her boyfriend lawyer, who is initially at odds with the movement and becomes involved with the corrupt, politically powerful boss, who is completely antagonistic to women's voting rights. The suffragist even does some amateur detective work in the later part of the film, which seems incongruous with the rest of the narrative; by suddenly shifting to this other formulaic genre, I suppose they also wanted to show that women are clever and capable. A similar subplot worked better in another 1913 long film, "Traffic in Souls". Furthermore, the filming here was rather inept, with many title cards, broad gestures by the performers, and fixed camera positions. In short, this film isn't worth seeking unless you're interested in the history.
On a historical note, although women didn't receive voting rights equal to men until the decade after this film in either the US or the UK, the motion picture industry was often quite the promoter of gender equality. Alice Guy was head of production at Gaumont in France for years, from as early as 1896; a few years after this film, Lois Weber would be one of the highest paid and most interesting directors in America; and, especially, many of the top screenwriters and editors during the silent era were women. That's not even to mention the power female stars had in the business, which included some of them founding their own companies.
(Note: The print and transfer I viewed was in very poor shape, including a generally faded picture quality (some title cards/letters were illegible or nearly so as a result) and frequent jittering of the frame. There was even a credits title at the beginning that was from another film. After a bit of searching on IMDb, I found that it was for the 1926 film "The Fire Brigade". I've no idea how it got there.)
- Cineanalyst
- Oct 13, 2009
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- 80 Million Women Want-?
- Filming locations
- New York City, New York, USA(Monument to The Maine outside Central Park in NYC, and a few street scenes.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime56 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was What 80 Million Women Want (1913) officially released in Canada in English?
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