Under the Lash

Under the Lash is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film is based on the 1906 play The Shulamite by Claude Askew and Edward Knoblock, and the 1904 novel of the same name by Alice and Claude Askew.^[1] The film is lost with no copies of it existing in any archives.^[2]

Under the Lash
Lobby card
Directed by	Sam Wood
Written by	J. E. Nash
Based on	The Shulamite by Alice and Claude Askew The Shulamite by Claude Askew and Edward Knoblock
Starring	Gloria Swanson
Cinematography	Alfred Gilks
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 16, 1921 (1921-10-16)
Running time	6 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Gloria Swanson and unidentified actor (actually it's Russell Simpson)

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[3] Deborah (Swanson), the second wife of intolerant and bigoted Boer farmer Simeon Krillet (Simpson), first learns of kindness from the Englishman Robert Waring (Hamilton) who comes to study farming from her husband. When her husband threatens to beat her for reading one of the Englishman's books Deborah tells him, to save him from the young man's wrath, that she is to become a mother. He desists and his cruelty turns to kindness. The disclosure of her fabrication brings renewal of his wrath and a determination to kill her. While attempting a rescue, the Englishman kills the husband. Subsequent complications are disposed of which allows a happy ending.

Cast

• Gloria Swanson as Deborah Krillet
• Mahlon Hamilton as Robert Waring
• Russell Simpson as Simeon Krillet
• Lillian Leighton as Tant Anna Vanderberg
• Lincoln Stedman as Jan Vanderberg
• Thena Jasper as Memke
• Clarence Ford as Kaffir boy

Reception

Upon its release, Under the Lash was not well received by audiences. It was the only Paramount Pictures film released in the early 1920s starring Gloria Swanson that did not do well at the box office.^[4]