Judith of Bethulia
Also known as Her Condoned Sin in the USA
(1914) American
B&W : Four reels
Directed by D.W. Griffith

Cast: Blanche Sweet [Judith], Henry B. Walthall [Holoferness], Mae Marsh [Naomi], Robert Harron [Nathan], J. Jiquel Lañoe [the chief eunuch], Harry Carey [the traitor], Lillian Gish [the young mother with a baby], Dorothy Gish [the crippled beggar], Kate Bruce [Judith’s maid], Gertrude Bambrick, Lionel Barrymore, Clara T. Bracey, William J. Butler, William Christy Cabanne, William Carroll, Edward Dillon, Frank Evans, Harry Hyde, Thomas Jefferson, Jennie Lee, Adolph Lestina, Elmo Lincoln, Charles Hill Mailes, W. Chrystie Miller, Antonio Moreno, Marshall Neilan, Frank Opperman, Alfred Paget, Gertrude Robinson, W.C. Robinson, Kate Toncray

Biograph Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated [Special Features Department]. / Scenario by Frank E. Woods and D.W. Griffith, from the play Judith of Bethulia by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Assistant director, William Christy Cabanne. Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer. Intertitles by Frank E. Woods. Edited by James Smith. / © 31 October 1913 by Biograph Company [LP1660]. © 17 November 1913 by Biograph Company [LU1591]. © 12 January 1917 by Biograph Company [LP10278]. Released March 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / The production was shot on-location in 1913 at Chatsworth, California, and in the Biograph studios at a cost of approximately $36,000. The film went unreleased for a year, only to be released at four reels, one reel at a time. Projected at Griffith’s standard 12 frames per second, the film lasts approximately one hour. Two reels of outtakes and extra intertitles were added by Biograph and the film was rereleased in the USA as Her Condoned Sin in 1917. References to this film being rereleased in 1919 as The Unpardonable Sin are erroneous. [?] Katherine Stone (in Barry-Griffith p. 43) lists a release date of 8 March 1914; Sklar-Movie p. 57 notes March 1914 as the release month; another source lists release month as June 1914.

Drama: Historical.

Survival Status: Print exists.

Keywords: USA: California: Chatsworth

Listing updated: 18 January 2009.

References: Bardèche-History p. 65; Barry-Griffith pp. 16, 17, 26, 43; Blum-Silent pp. 34, 35; Bohn-Light pp. xix, 39, 52, 57, 260; Brownlow-Parade pp. 92, 339; Drew-Speaking pp. 213, 222, 223, 250, 286; Everson-American pp. 53, 56, 72, 73, 74, 369; Fell-History pp. 56, 59, 75; Lahue-Collecting pp. 22, 50; Lahue-Triangle pp. 35, 70; Limbacher-Feature p. 128; Maltin-Selected p. 1; McCaffrey-Guide p. 6; Mottram-Danish p. 113; Niver-Early p. 172; Niver-First p. 163; Ramsaye-Million p. 5; Robertson-Guinness p. 7; Robinson-Palace pp. 121, 130, 146; Sinyard-Silent pp. 22, 23-24; Sklar-Movie pp. 44, 55-56, 57; Slide-Early p. 13; Smith-Epic pp. xv, 254; Spehr-American p. 2; Stedman-Serials p. 10; Tarbox-Lost pp. 182, 183, 279; Vermilye-Twenties p. 85; Weaver-Twenty pp. 144, 145 : Website-AFI.