The Level (1914)
Motherless and isolated with her rough, unloving father, Carolyn Johnson becomes as wild and fierce-tempered as a tigress. Through an accident, she meets Bob Arnold, a young settler. While recovering from his injured leg, he conceives an affection for her and proposes, thinking that by surrounding her with an affectionate environment, her natural womanliness will be brought out. She at first refuses, but her father gruffly orders her to wed Bob. Used only to his iron will all her life, she sullenly assents, provided she be allowed to take her dog "Wolf" with her. After their marriage she repulses all Bob's well-meant kindnesses and makes him very unhappy. Accustomed only to the manners of the rough men with whom her father associated, she is unable to appreciate kind treatment, and looks upon her husband's attentions as weaknesses. She conveys her opinion to Wolf by telling the dog, "Ah, Wolf, he ain't like a man at all. He's too soft." Bob overhears this remark, and it sets him thinking. From that time on, she finds a very decided change in her husband's manner towards her. He comes home harsh and brutal, with such an irritable temper she gets to half dread his appearance. Strange to say, the peculiarities of her feminine nature cause her to think all the more of Bob and unconsciously her secret admiration for her strong-willed husband, changes, in spite of his brutality, to an intense love for him. The turning point arrives, when, in a specially ugly moment he is apparently about to strike her. She grasps his hand and humbly caresses it in her mingled fear and love, saying, "I don't want to fight any more." He pauses, and when she places her hands on his shoulders presses her to him with a smile of triumph. He quickly tells her his brutality was only assumed and he is only too glad to bestow upon her the love and kindness, so essential to the happiness of both.
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Worldwide
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Ulysses Davis | Director |
| Ethel Hill | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Myrtle Gonzalez | |
| Gayne Whitman | |
| Patricia Palmer | |
| William Duncan |
