Vivian Prescott

A compilation of thirteen rare silent films digitized by the Library of Congress, selected for the 2022 Domitor conference theme “Copy/Rights and Early Cinema.” Drawn from nitrate and safety film, the program spans comedies, trick films, and dramas exploring censorship, invention, adaptation, and social rights. Titles include: Pruning the Movies (Nestor, 1914); Imperial Japanese Dance (Edison, 1894); Early Edison Camera Tests (Edison, c.1890s); Censorship and its Absurdities (Edison, 1915); In Wrong (Crystal, 1914, dir. Phillips Smalley); Tillie’s Tomato Surprise (Lubin, 1915, dir. Howell Hansell); Indian Land Grab (Champion, 1910); The Stolen Play (Falcon Features, 1917, dir. Harry Harvey); And the Villain Still Pursued Her (Vitagraph, 1906, dir. J. Stuart Blackton); The Doll’s Revenge (Hepworth, 1907, dir. Lewin Fitzhamon); The Disintegrated Convict (Vitagraph, 1907); The Mexican Joan of Arc (Kalem, 1911, dir. Kenean Buel); and Fads and Fashions of 1900 (U.S., 1940s).

Set in London (but filmed in New Jersey), the story endeavors to prove that man's greatest enemy is liquor. When elderly tosspot John Warriner is shot for trespassing, Warriner's son holds property owner Sir Arthur Stanton. Thus begins a bitter and deadly feud between the Warriner and Stanton clans, fueled by rotgut booze. Prints of the film survive in the film archives of the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art.

Woman Against Woman is a tale of two sisters. Bessie, the older and more sensible one, is forever losing her boyfriends to Miriam, the younger, prettier and flightier of the two. While "doing the town," Miriam is lured into the apartment of a pair of letches named Crooke and Craven, who ply her with drugged liquor, then have their way with her. Holding Bessie's libertine friend, Rachel, responsible for all this, she heads to Rachel's flat and tries to strangle the life out of the woman. She also sees to it that Crooke and Craven are thrown out of their lodgings for their wanton behavior

An innocent man, serving a sentence of five years in prison through the perjured testimony of the real criminal, Steve Carson, foreman of a shipyard, strikes up a warm friendship with his cellmate, Harold Norwood, a defaulting paying teller. No less strange than their friendship is the befriending of Steve's wife, Annie, by Julia Seymour, prima donna, who is Norwood's wife. As a reward of good behavior, the men are released on Christmas morning. Annie is bewildered by the receipt of a bank book which shows that large deposits of gold have been made in her name and that of her sister, Mary, by their uncle, George Hosford, who, dying in Alaska, has entrusted the book to Joe Hawes, a fellow prospector.

Charlie advertises for a wife and arranges to meet widow Madeline Blue at a park gate, both wearing white roses. At the same time, the queen of the anarchists plans to meet a recruit under the same signal. Mistaken for the applicant, Charlie is dragged into the anarchists’ den and ordered to blow up a judge. Meanwhile, Madeline and her uncle are wrongly arrested as bomb-throwers when her true date proves to be a detective. After comic misadventures, Charlie escapes, reunites with Madeline, and sparks a romance.

No plot available for this movie.

Between the wealth of the aristocrat and the fortune of the successful tradesman there is a great social difference, which is emphasized in this drama.

Based on JS Le Fanu's 1850 poem "Shamus O'Brien." Copies of this short film survive at the Library of Congress and British Film Institute.

Ouida's novel made into a 1912 film -- released within days of another 2-reeler based on the same story.

An elderly actor who lives with his wife and daughter is dismissed from his acting job because he is considered too old. On his way home from the theatre he panics at the thought of telling his family the bad news and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. His daughter's beau accidentally gives him a five dollar gold piece, thinking that it was a smaller coin. A chase ensues with a policeman, the daughter, and her beau in hot pursuit. When caught he is recognized by his shocked daughter, but is quickly forgiven by all. Meanwhile the actor hired to replace him has already been fired and a messenger is dispatched to rehire the Old Actor to the delight of his wife, daughter, and fellow actors.