Brute Force 1914 Directed by D.W. Griffith
A psychological comedy founded on the Darwinian theory of the evolution of man
A thin gent in formal wear, amid a club or party, reads a book about primitive man after he's ignored by a pretty lady. We see the book enacted: Weakhands loses his girlfriend to Bruteforce, but chances upon a design for a weapon to vanquish his rival and win her back. His tribe sees this and sets him up as their leader. With the club, he fends off various creatures (a winged lizard, a snake, a dinosaur) and a rival tribe led by Monkeywalk. The women even manage to repel an attack. But the rival tribe discovers the secret of the club themselves, and capture the women. Weakhands, sitting in despair, chances upon a new weapon: the bow and arrow.
Cast
Robert Harron
Harry Faulkner (Prologue) / Weakhands (The Old Days)
Mae Marsh
Lilywhite
William J. Butler
Priscilla's Father (Prologue)
Wilfred Lucas
Brute Force
Edwin Curglot
Caveman
Alfred Paget
In Club (Prologue) / Tribesman (The Old Days)
Jennie Lee
Rejected Cavewoman
Harry Carey
In Womanless Tribe (The Old Days) (uncredited)
