The World, the Flesh and the Devil is a 1914 British silent drama film. Now considered a lost film, it was made using the additive color Kinemacolor process.
The title comes from the Litany in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: "From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, spare us, good Lord."
Contents
Plot
A very miserable woman hatches a plot to switch the babies of a poor family and a rich family. But the nurse hired to pull off this transfer refuses to go through with it, leaving each baby with its proper family. When the babies are grown, the man from the poor family (who has been led to believe that he did come from the rich family) goes to the house of the other and throws him out. The remainder of the film deals with the frustrations of mistaken identity.
Cast
Frank Esmond – Nicholas Brophy
Stella St. Audrie – Caroline Stanger
Warwick Wellington – Sir James Hall
Charles Carter – Rupert Stanger / Dyke
Rupert Harvey – Robert Hall
Jack Denton – George Grigg
Gladys Cunningham – Mrs. Brophy
Frances Midgeley – Gertrude Grant
Mercy Hatton – Lady Hall
H. Agar Lyons – The Devil
Nell Carter – Beatrice Cuthbert
Frank Stather – Inspector Toplin
Roger Hamilton – Wylde
Release
It premièred at the Holborn Empire, High Holborn, London, on 9 April 1914 as part of a Kinemacolor season. It was one of the first natural colour feature films, preceded by With Our King and Queen Through India released in February 1912, and Making of the Panama Canal, also released in 1912.