The Jury of Fate

The Jury of Fate is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Tod Browning.^[1][2] Mabel Taliaferro plays a brother and sister dual role in the film, which is set in Canada. With no prints of The Jury of Fate located in any film archives,^[3] it is a lost film.

The Jury of Fate
Film poster
Directed by	Tod Browning
Written by	Finis Fox June Mathis
Produced by	B. A. Rolfe
Starring	William Sherwood Mabel Taliaferro
Cinematography	Charles W. Hoffman
Distributed by	Metro Pictures Corporation
Release date	August 6, 1917 (1917-08-06)
Running time	5 reels (approximately 50 minutes)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[4] Henri Labordie (Tavernier) is the father of twins. Jeanne (Taliaferro) is sweet and winsome while her brother Jaques (Taliaferro), pampered by her father, is ill-tempered. When Jaques dies through his own caddishness, Jeanne, to spare her father from the shock, clips off her hair and dons boys clothing so that her father will think that it was her and not Jaques who drowned in a stream. When Labordie dies, Jeanne's deception ends when she goes to Montreal to fulfill an ancient pact, and there she finds happiness.

Cast

• William Sherwood as Donald Duncan
• Mabel Taliaferro as Jaques / Jeanne
• Frank Bennett as François Leblanc (credited as Frank Fisher Bennett)
• Charles Fang as Ching
• Albert Tavernier as Henri Labordie
• Bradley Barker as Louis Hebert
• H. F. Webber as Duval Hebert

Reception

Like many American films of the time, The Jury of Fate was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors cut the scene showing a woman in travail prior to the birth of a baby, a closeup of a half-breed choking a man over a railing, and shortened a scene with a man on the floor showing blood.^[5]