Death's Marathon (1913) User Reviews (10)

Surprise Ending Marks This Silent Film Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 30 April 2008]

In a short D.W. Griffith silent film, things happen fast. In here, we witness a little courtship from two men, both after the same girl. The woman marries one of them, then has a baby, then marriage troubles and then witness a climactic suicide scene. All of this happens fast. You had to condense things back in the film business in the early 1900s because the average film was only 10-20 minutes long, although by the mid Teens films began to slowly lengthen.

Anyway, the losing beau for the girl's affections winds up racing across town to save the other's guy life. He's the one in dire straits. The ending is shocking, is all I will say.....certainly not what was expected.

Henry B. Walthall, as the fickle and then troubled husband, is the star of the film, although Walter Miller and Blanche Sweet have key roles, too. However, it is Walthall and his strange facial expressions that grab the viewer's attention more than anything else, I believe. (The scene with him on the telephone is pretty haunting.)

"Determined upon suicide"

[Steffi_P · 7/10 · 29 July 2008]

This is among Griffith's bleakest short pictures. Oddly enough it's also another spin on the Lonely Villa story, in which a person in distress details their plight to a loved one over the phone, although this time with a very different focus.

Death's Marathon is also a return to a smaller canvas for Griffith, with only a handful of actors and basic locations. Griffith handles the visual storytelling with skill, using only a light sprinkling of unobtrusive title cards and letting the images do the rest. For example, we open with the simple "Partners in business, rivals in love", then cut to Henry Walthall and Walter Miller sitting in an office with their backs to each other. Walthall then gets up and walks into – another cut – the next room (meaning the audience focuses more on his character), after which we cut again to Blanche Sweet sitting alone in a garden, and we know instantly that she is the disputed object of affection.

The parallel editing finale that this situation eventually builds into is one of Griffith's best in terms of its construction. Griffith works largely with repetition and symmetry, with the shots of Walthall and Sweet not changing much and virtually mirroring each other. Only at the last moment does Griffith introduce a new element – when the baby is brought to the phone. The ride-to-the-rescue is granted less significance in Death's Marathon, with only four shots of the speeding car, and again these shots are all very similar to each other. It's enough to be occasionally reminded that the car is on its way – the real drama is between Walthall and Sweet over the phone. Without the burden of intertitles, we are left to guess at what they are saying to each other, and the whole thing has a rather eerie and morbid tone. Sadly as there is not that same sense of danger we get when someone is, say, being menaced by a burglar, Death's Marathon can never be as exciting as The Girl and Her Trust or An Unseen Enemy.

It demonstrates Griffith's versatility that he could make such a diverse bunch of films out of a single idea, having remade The Lonely Villa as a western, combining it with his claustrophobic "Sealed Room" type thrillers, and now putting another new spin on it with the suicide theme. It's a very tightly constructed little work, although to be fair, Griffith probably could have done this sort of thing in his sleep by now. The trouble is for all its cleverness Death's Marathon is not quite as effective as it should be, and comes across as a kind of failed experiment, albeit a very nice looking one.

A rather odd variation on the usual Griffith formula

[wmorrow59 · 6/10 · 1 August 2006]

The best remembered motif from the hundreds of short films D.W. Griffith directed for Biograph is the last minute rescue, a frantic race over hill and dale via automobile, railroad sidecar, or on horseback, usually to come to the aid of an imperiled young woman. Griffith was masterful at building suspense during these finales, whipping up the audience with a combination of intense performances and rapid cross-cutting. Certainly there were many Biograph shorts that were more sedate, and didn't employ last minute rescues, but nonetheless the chase climax became and remains something of a Griffith trademark, fondly recalled from such accomplished short works as The Girl and Her Trust and An Unseen Enemy.

In this film, Death's Marathon, the director experimented with the formula in a curious fashion that, by definition, makes for a less satisfying experience. (And since it's impossible to discuss this variation without giving away the ending, anyone interested in avoiding a "spoiler" should stop reading here.) In this film, the aim of the climactic race is to rescue a man who is clearly not worthy of the effort expended on his behalf. And what's more, the rescue attempt fails! This approach was a bold departure to say the least, and it's a testament to the talents of the director, cinematographer and the actors that the film comes off as well as it does.

The story concerns two men (played by Walter Miller and Henry B. Walthall) who are business partners and also rivals for the same young lady (Blanche Sweet). When each man proposes to her in turn Miller is politely rejected but Walthall is happily accepted, and a year later the wedded couple's baby is born. Soon, however, it is obvious that Dad is losing interest in his hearth and home; a title card flatly announces "The Self-Centered Husband Bored with the Monotony of Married Life." Now he is going out alone and turning away from his wife, who is visibly distraught at how her marriage has deteriorated. We learn that the husband is addicted to gambling, and that he has embezzled money from his firm to pay his debts. (Young Lionel Barrymore makes a brief appearance as the firm's backer who is unaware of any improprieties.) Having lost all the firm's money in a card game -- money that is replaced in part by his business partner, in an attempt to save the firm from ruin -- the Self-Centered Husband returns to the office to commit suicide, but first calls his wife to say goodbye. His partner, the poor fellow who was rejected by Blanche and who used his own money to cover his partner's misappropriation of funds, now races across town to save him.

So, we have to ask ourselves: why save this guy? Why bother? Presumably he could reform, repay the money he stole and turn his life around, but we're not given any evidence that he desires to do so. Instead, we watch in horror as the man sits in his office with an eerie smile on his face, waving the gun around and saying God knows what into the telephone to his traumatized wife while his frantic partner races to the office to try to stop him. And in the end, the rescue attempt is a failure: the man kills himself before he can be rescued. In the final scene the surviving partner gives the grieving widow flowers and then respectfully backs away, leaving her in solitude. She smiles faintly, and we're left with the suggestion that they might wind up together after all.

Perhaps this finale was intended to demonstrate that the jilted suitor is truly a good person, far more worthy than the loser he struggled to save. Perhaps, in that sense, the failed rescue was meant to be considered a success of sorts, a kind of test which the hero passed with flying colors by simply making the attempt. Where Griffith and his Biograph output is concerned Death's Marathon marks an unusual, daring approach to the chase finale, and the film is certainly of interest to buffs, but it's no surprise that this particular variation on the formula did not become a recurring directorial device.

Great cast makes the most out of the story

[naillon-2 · 23 February 2005]

Spoilers here. The situation is a run-of-the-mill love triangle, in which an attractive young woman, with many suitors, receives proposals from two different men, who are also business partners.

Having made her choice, the young woman marries the business partner who, as it turns out, is addicted to gambling. After a year of marriage and a baby, the husband takes to going out to play cards regularly, leaving his wife at home. The hardworking partner realizes that his irresponsible coworker is embezzling funds from the company to pay his gambling debts; he covers the theft with his own money.

The truly riveting scene in this film is when the irresponsible partner, having lost yet again at cards, calls his wife from the office to inform her that he is going to commit suicide. Henry B. Walthall, as the embezzler, gives a startling and creepy performance in this scene, staring directly into the camera with a grim smile on his face as he plays with the gun. Take a look at this movie.

A Marathon Worth Running

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 19 August 2007]

Interesting early film, directed by D.W. Griffith. Walter Miller and Henry B. Walthall are partners in business, and rivals for the affections of Blanche Sweet. Ms. Sweet chooses Mr. Walthall, and the two are married. Soon, he goes out on the town, leaving her and the baby home alone. Then, Mr. Miller realizes Walthall is stealing from their company to pay off gambling debts…

This film is given great depth by Griffith's use of windows, doorways, and a mirror in background shots The performances are noteworthy, especially Walthall and Sweet, during the film's climax. A contemporary automobile is featured in the exciting race to save Walthall's life. For it's time, this must have been a shocker. The absence of blood is strange, but the performances make "Death's Marathon" worth running.

******* Death's Marathon (6/14/13) D.W. Griffith ~ Henry B. Walthall, Blanche Sweet, Walter Miller

Wow--it's like I've seen this all before! But at least the ending is different

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 August 2006]

Wow, a D. W. Griffith short that is a morality play! This sure is familiar territory for the great director of yesteryear. He did so many heavy-handed morality tales during the 1910s that it's often difficult to distinguish between them. Such important values as hard work, honesty, thrift, fidelity and simplicity are hammered home in many of his films. And, in this era, the audiences loved the films, though they would not have worked just a decade or two later--as audiences wanted longer and more complex plots.

In this case, a woman is pursued by two business partners. She apparently picked poorly, as the man she marries turns out to be both a party animal and gambler. Ultimately, he steals from the company and ruins himself. All this is, as I said, very familiar. HOWEVER, how it is all resolved it not! When he is about to get caught, he phones his wife and tells her he is about to commit suicide. While his partner rushes to his aid, the faithful wife tries to get him to stop. Eventually, he puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger!! While there are no blood or guts (after all, this was 1913), you do see the gun smoking and it a VERY intense scene! And, because of this tension, it elevates the film to a score of 6.

Sad, sad, sad

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 24 November 2016]

And the moral of today's story is: Don't marry the wrong guy, if you can help it.

Would rate this higher if it hadn't been SO interminably bleak at the end. The idea may be the woman can move on - as the title card says she is "set free from this unfortunate alliance" - but free to do what? Can she remarry? With a child already there? One might hope so; we don't know much about her as this story is really about the man. The other downside too is that, despite Griffith's effective use of cross-cutting (which he seemed to be the pioneer of), a lot of the major dramatic tension of the piece comes from the telephone conversation between Blanche Sweet, the wife, and Henry B Walthall as the husband, and the latter coming to the moment of putting a gun to his head over some extremely sour gambling debts... and, obviously, we can't hear what they're saying. The heartbreaking moment comes when the wife puts the baby on the phone - also the moment where the actor's penchant for smiling too much as he's talking in his cut-away shots makes sense - and yet I do wish it had been the sort of thing where had this been a sound-era short, there would be a little more context than simply watching two people talk for stretches of time (though short as here, it still feels a little too long, if only by some seconds).

All this said, there's a great dramatic core to the story and Griffith tells a story with an excellent beginning (the two men vying for the woman and she picks, well, the wrong one in retrospect, as is so many decisions in life) middle (all those debts happening in real time) and okay end (what I just discussed). It makes for a good short, though I wish it had been great. If there's one key flaw it's the end being too one-note in its despair, with barely a hint of any catharsis or hope, which is what a story as heavy as Griffith's style needs. This is not to say it isn't a choice that films might shy away from in other circumstances.

Death's Marathon review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 28 June 2020]

A slight - but welcome - variation on Griffith's trusted formula sees Walter Miller racing to the office of his business partner (an on-form Henry B. Walthall) to try and prevent him from committing suicide after racking up crippling gambling debts. To complicate matters a little, Blanche Sweet is the long-suffering wife on whom Miller is also sweet.

Biograph's Number One Star....

[kidboots · 7/10 · 19 November 2014]

....Blanche Sweet, didn't have a huge amount to do but play the sad young wife who finds she has married the wrong suitor. She does come into her own during the telephone scene when she desperately tries to keep her suicidal husband on the phone while "waiting in the wings" admirer, Walter Miller, dashes to the office.

"Partners in business - rivals in love" - Henry B. Walthall as the more dominating lover wins Blanche's hand but after a year of bliss the marriage is doomed. Henry finds a new love - gambling and even stoops to stealing the company's money (Lionel Barrymore is the auditor) which Walter is determined to recover and restore Henry's standing in the firm.

There are some pretty bleak scenes - the couple's make or break quarrel which has Henry raising his fist and Blanche cowering in terror and one which shows a smoking gun in Henry's mouth!!! Unfortunately the "last minute rescue" for this, arrives too late!! Owen Moore is also one of the gamblers.

Gets Pretty Good Mileage Out of a Simple Situation

[Snow Leopard · 10 September 2001]

There is some good suspense in "Death's Marathon", a short drama that gets pretty good mileage out of a simple but tense situation. Henry B. Walthall and Blanche Sweet make significant contributions, along with D.W. Griffith's story-telling ability and a supporting cast that features some other names familiar to silent film fans.

The initial premise, of a woman who must choose between two different men, is quite familiar, even routine, but the story uses it more creatively than most movies would do. After introducing us to the main characters and their relationships, one of them becomes desperate, pushing the others into a race against time which is made more memorable by all that we know about them.

Although there are no especially creative touches, most of it is done with care, and this is a pretty good, if old-fashioned, drama.